NORMLtv: Day 2 & 3 Conference Recaps

Get all the highlights from the last two days of this year’s NORML conference with recaps of Day 2 & Day 3, streaming now on NORMLtv. The agenda this year in Denver was certainly not short on compelling content. The NORML Women’s Alliance discussed how to bridge the “Cannabis Gender Gap,” a sitting United States Congressman endorsed full legalization, and marijuana maverick Lester Grinspoon held an intimate open question and answer session. See clips of these and more in the videos below.

Day 2 – April 22nd

Day 3 – April 23rd

Don’t miss our previous updates including a floor report from Day 1 and coverage from the NORML/HighTimes Activism Awards. Tune in next week for a closer look at the Denver mayoral debate hosted by Montel Williams and Rep. Jared Polis’ keynote address.

In honor of our friend Ben Masel, the great Wisconsin activist who passed away this weekend from lung cancer, NORMLtv will be posting the presentation of his lifetime achievement award from this year’s Activist Awards Ceremony on Monday.

You can get the latest updates from NORMLtv by following us on Twitter.

Madison NORML’s Ben Masel loses battle with lung cancer

Madison NORML's Ben Masel with me at the 2009 Great Midwest Harvest Fest in Madison.

It is with great sadness I report on the death of one of the most outstanding activists in the NORML family – Ben Masel has passed away at age 56 following his battle with lung cancer.

Friends are leaving tribute on Ben’s Facebook page.

I met Ben at the 2009 Great Midwest Harvest Fest. He and Gary Storck flew me out to speak to the crowd of thousands on the campus of University of Wisconsin and the statehouse steps. I quickly found him to be exceptionally brilliant (he was just shy of “grand master” in chess) and loaded with fabulous stories of his past activism with the Yippies.

Ben had hoped to make it out to the NORML Conference last week, but obviously his health had taken a turn for the worse. The NORML Board presented to him a special award for his lifetime of work. My own tribute to Ben appears in the August 2011 issue of HIGH TIMES Magazine where we named him “Freedom Fighter of the Month”… unfortunately too late for him to read it. It will be one of my bigger disappointments that Ben never received the recognition he deserved while he was alive to enjoy it.

Following is the article for HIGH TIMES with my sincere condolences to family and friends who had the privilege of knowing and loving him more than I.

If you watched the TV news coverage of the Wisconsin labor protests in Madison last February, you may have seen this month’s Freedom Fighter Ben Masel. A longtime activist with Madison NORML, Ben was instrumental in creating the vibrant cannabis community in the state, including organizing Weedstock and the Great Midwest Harvest Fest that celebrates its fortieth anniversary this October 1-3 (see madisonhempfest.com). He’s currently been fighting over the past few legislative sessions to get Wisconsin to pass the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act.

While Ben fights for the end of marijuana prohibition, his activism also extends into mainstream politics as well. He’s a passionate civil libertarian, advocating equally for free speech and gun rights, personal privacy and a return to stronger congressional control of war powers. Ben has run many times for elective office, from a challenge to Governor Tommy Thompson in 1990 to his current candidacy for the US Senate seat held by Herb Kohl. He first caught attention for his radicalism when at age 17 he became the youngest person placed on President Nixon’s infamous “enemies list” and “the man” has kept his eye on Ben ever since.

This March at the age of 56, Ben received the horrible news that he’d been stricken by lung cancer. Speaking to the Wisconsin State Journal, Ben said, “I’m feeling pretty upbeat about stuff. Not about having (cancer), but overall. I’m definitely not in the ‘Oh, no, poor me, I’ve got cancer’ mode.” In reviewing our records, we’re stunned and embarrassed that Ben had not been listed among the 206 activists who’ve won the award since 1990. Everyone at NORML and HIGH TIMES extends our highest hopes for Ben’s good health.

UPDATED: NORMLtv is now streaming the presentation of Ben’s award from this year’s conference in his honor:

Reformer’s Calendar: Drug Policy Alliance Biennial Conference in Los Angeles

Now that the 40^th annual NORML conference has concluded and is committed to the history books, the next big organized drug policy conference on the reformer’s calendar is the biennial Drug Policy Alliance’s 2011 International Drug Policy Reform Conference.

This year’s DPA conference will be held Wednesday, November 2 through Saturday, November 5 in Los Angeles @ The Westin Bonaventure. Over 1,000 reform-minded activists, non-governmental organizations, scholars, government officials, and religious and business leaders are expected to gather to explore and discuss effective and moral alternatives to warring against some drugs—notably marijuana.

This year’s attendees will have the opportunity to spend three days interacting with people committed to finding alternatives to the war on some drugs while participating in sessions given by leading experts from around the world. Don’t miss the opportunity to be a part of this event.

For more information on the DPA conference, scholarships and to enjoy earlybird savings for pre-registering, check out www.reformconference.org

A Centennial Anniversary That’s Hardly Worth Celebrating

Marijuana prohibition ‘celebrates’ its centennial anniversary today. That’s right, the government’s war on cannabis consumers is now officially 100-years-old.

Self-evidently, cannabis has won.

Although many credit the passage of the federal Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 with the initiation of pot prohibition, the reality is that one hundred years ago today, Massachusetts Governor Eugene Foss signed the first statewide anti-pot prohibition into law. Following Massachusetts, over 30 states quickly followed suit — including California, Maine, Indiana and Wyoming in 1913 — leading the way for federal prohibition some two-and-a-half decades later.

Of course, cannabis use was practically non-existent in Massachusetts (as well as in most of the rest of the country) in 1911. Yet today, 100 years following the plant’s criminalization, the state boasts one of the highest rates of pot use in the nation.

Former NORML Board Member Richard Evans, author of Massachusetts House Bill 1371, the Cannabis Regulation and Taxation Act, nails it:

“Despite a century of ever-zealous enforcement and thunderous propaganda at taxpayer expense, marijuana inextricably permeates our culture. Its cultivation, commerce and use have proven ineradicable. We have tried mightily and we have failed to extirpate it. If anyone, anywhere, believes that spending more money on marijuana enforcement will drive out pot, let that person come forward and tell us plainly what it will take to make that happen, how much it will cost, and where the money will come from.

The futility of enforcement, however, is not the urgent reason to legalize it. The reason is that prohibition has become a destructive force in our society.

Most perniciously, marijuana prohibition provides the tools and the excuses for the oppression of minorities. No historian denies that the early drug laws were conceived for that purpose, and today’s grotesquely disproportionate incarceration rate of African-Americans proves that the drug laws have shamefully accomplished that purpose.

Prohibition divides us. Getting caught with pot, or the fear of getting caught, divides parents and teens, employers and employees, friends, neighbors, colleagues, doctors and patients, and citizens and the police. That divisiveness weakens us as we face colossal challenges like a sick economy, the insolvency of states and municipalities, climate change and our addiction to imported oil. As long as cannabis remains illegal, it cannot be a part of the solution to those colossal challenges.

… Our immediate challenge is not to legalize cannabis, but to legalize serious talk about it, without smirks and snickers. How legalization can best protect public health and safety, and discourage abuse, and how to tax the substance, are issues not just for politicians, but for everyone. Legalization is no longer for stoners; it’s for taxpayers, entrepreneurs and grandparents, horrified at the likely state of the planet on which their grandchildren will grow up.

Let the debate begin now, lest another hundred years go by.”

NORML’s Weekly Legislative Round Up

Immediate action is needed in the following states:

Hawaii: Hawaii’s decade-plus medical marijuana law is under fire. The chairman of the Senate Health Committee, Sen. Josh Green (District 3, West Hawaii), is pushing for additional amendments to SB 1458 (which NORML already opposed) that would eliminate chronic pain, nausea, and Crohn’s disease as qualifying conditions under the state’s medical marijuana program. Lawmakers will decide on these draconian proposals this Thursday. Our allies at the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii are encouraging advocates to contact Sen. Green and urge him to withdraw his amendments. Please contact the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii for further information on how you can take action to preserve Hawaii’s medical cannabis law.

Illinois: Members of the House of Representatives are anticipated to vote next week on House Bill 30, the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act. In the previous session, similar legislation was approved by the Senate but was narrowly defeated by the House. You can contact your member of the House regarding HB 30 via NORML’s ‘Take Action Center’ here. You can further support this effort by contacting Illinois NORML.

Montana: Montana’s patients are once again in legal jeopardy. House and Senate lawmakers this week approved Senate Bill 423, which seeks to severely curtail the number of state-authorized patients who have legal access to medical cannabis. According to a recent summary in The Billings Gazette: “The latest version of SB423 seeks to greatly limit the number of people licensed to use medical marijuana, now at 28,300, with backers hoping to bring that number fewer than 2,000. SB423 first would repeal the current law and shut down medical pot growing and dispensing operations on July 1.”

Our allies Patients and Families United have accurately labeled SB 423 “Repeal in Disguise.” It would “require the Board of Medical Examiners to review the practices of any physician who recommends marijuana for more than 15 patients in 12 months. Furthermore, the bill would require the physician to pay the cost of the board’s review.” Montana NORML has an action alert here urging the Gov. Brian Schweitzer to veto or amend SB 423 here. Montana activists may also wish to leave a message for the Governor urging him to stand up for Montana’s patients by rejecting SB 423. Call to leave your message here: 406-444-3111.

Pennsylvania: Legislation to allow for the physician supervised use of marijuana has been re-introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate. Senate Bill 1003 would allow state-authorized patients to possess and cultivate cannabis for therapeutic purposes. The measures also seek to allow for the state-licensed distribution and sale of medical marijuana by authorized ‘compassion centers.’ For more information, or to become involved in this campaign, please contact Philly NORML or Pennsylvanians for Medical Marijuana.

Washington: Lawmakers in both chambers have approved an amended version of Senate Bill 5073, which seeks to provide state licensing to medical marijuana producers and dispensaries in order to assure that qualified patients “will have access to an adequate, safe, consistent, and secure source of medical quality cannabis.” The proposed law does not amend patients’ existing rights to possess up to 24 ounces of marijuana for medical purposes and cultivate up to 15 cannabis plants. The measure now awaits action from Gov. Chris Gregoire, who has expressed concerns regarding the measure and has threatened to veto it. Washington advocates may contact the Governor’s office and leave her a message in support of this bill by calling 360-902-4111 or via email here. Additional information and up-to-date information regarding this measure is available from the Washington state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) here, or by contacting Washington NORML here or visiting them on Facebook here.

For a listing of all of the pending marijuana law reform proposals that NORML is tracking, please visit NORML’s ‘Take Action Center’ here. (For a map of pending legislation, please visit here.)

NORML National Conference 2011 – On Demand Video

Your home for exclusive coverage of NORML and cannabis community events

We’ve concluded the 40th Annual NORML Conference in Denver.  There are so many amazing moments, informative presentations, and great photographs to share.  We’ll be posting more throughout this week.

You can view most of the plenary sessions from all three days of the conference at our On Demand Video archive for NORML SHOW LIVE.  Click here to view all the videos from the conference.

These are the “raw feed” videos that were captured during the presentations so they are not edited.  You may have to cue ahead a minute or two to get to the beginnings of the presentations and there may be a couple that get cut off at the end by Stickam’s 65-minute time limit.

From these videos and from other hi-def recordings we are going to put together edited versions of these panels for a DVD that will be available through the NORML Online Store.

Here is the opening presentation – a look at the statistics on cannabis consumers in America (cue forward to 3:10 for the beginning):

NORMLtv: Ziggy Marley and the NORML/HighTimes Awards

The annual NORML/High Times Activist Awards and Silent Auction was held the evening of Thursday, April 21st at the Denver Grand Hyatt. Attendees were treated to an evening of great entertainment while at the same time getting to honor those who showed exemplary work in our movement. This year, NORML had another special treat, an intimate acoustic performance by none other than Ziggy Marley. Watch the video for brief highlights of the evening and stay tuned to NORMLtv for continuing conference coverage from Colorado.

Follow NORMLtv on Twitter for the latest updates and be sure to check out all our NORMLCon 2011 videos here.

Final Day Conference Agenda and Live Stream

Saturday, April 23

Moderator: George Rohrbacher, medical patient, NORML Board of Directors

8:00-10:00am: NORML Chapter Breakfast (invitation only)
Moderator: Russ Belville, NORML Outreach Coordinator

9:00-10:00am: NORML Conference Registration and Products Desk

10:00-Noon: Breakout Sessions

1. High Times Cultivation
Moderator: Danny Danko, High Times Magazine

2. Colorado’s Cannabis Commerce Laws
Moderator: Warren Edson, Esq.

• Jill Lamoureux, BCC the MMED advisory board and the CDPHE advisory board
• Dan Hartman, Director, Colorado State Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division

3. NORML Legal Committee: How Not To Get Busted
Moderator: Dan Viets, NORML board of directors and MO NORML

• Stephen Dillon, Esq., Chair – NORML Board of Directors
• Norm Kent, Esq., Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• Leonard Frieling, Esq., Boulder, CO
• Jeri Shepherd, Esq., Greeley, CO
• Lauren Maytin, Esq., Aspen, CO

4. Medibles: Cannabis & Cooking

• Scott Durrah
• The Candy Girls
• Jessica of Twirling Hippy Confections

Noon-1:30pm: Marijuana: Physicians and Researchers Perspectives and Experiences
Moderator: Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director

• Alan Shackelford, M.D., Amarimed
• David Bearman, M.D., American Academy of Cannabinoid Medicine; Sutter County Health
  Department
• Amanda Reiman, Ph.D, UC Berkeley; Berkeley Patients Group
• Robert Winnicki, Full Spectrum Labs
• Larry Bedard, M.D., American College of Emergency Physicians

1:30-3:00pm: Keynote Luncheon – U.S. Congressman Jared Polis
Introduction: Keith Stroup, NORML Founder

3:00-4:30pm: Marijuana and Safety: Real Myths, Real Concerns
Moderator: Marsha Rosenbaum, Ph.D

• Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director
• Dale Gieringer, Ph.D, CA NORML
• Amanda Reiman, Ph.D, UC Berkeley and Berkeley Patients Group

4:30-4:45pm: Break

4:45-6:00pm: Lester Grinspoon, M.D. – Questions and Answers with a Marijuana Maverick
Noted cannabis researcher and author, Harvard Medical School (Emeritus)

8:00pm: NORML Annual Fundraiser, hosted by Mile High NORML of Colorado
Tickets $75/pp, purchased directly from NORML, limited space available!
Performance by Nashville singer/songwriter Greta Gaines
Music, food, kegs of hemp ale, video games, pinball machines, glass blowers and other ‘fun’!
Transportation for the fundraiser provided by Rasta Bus

NORMLtv: Day One at America’s Marijuana Conference

NORML’s 40th Annual Conference got into full swing yesterday with highlights that include a talk from NORML’s founder, Keith Stroup, a Denver mayoral debate moderated by Montel Williams, and an intimate evening performance from Ziggy Marley. Couldn’t make it to Denver? Missed our live stream? NORMLtv has you covered. Tune in to our day one floor report to get an overview of the days panels and stay tuned for more in depth coverage on the mayoral debate and coverage of continuing events on the ground in Denver.

Be sure to subscribe to NORMLtv and keep up to date on our postings by following us on Twitter.

Day Two Conference Agenda

Friday, April 22

Moderator: Madeline Martinez, Executive Director, Oregon NORML

9:00-10:00am: Law Enforcement, Prohibition and State-Sanctioned Violence
Introduction from Neill Franklin, LEAP

10:00-11:30am: Medical Marijuana: It’s Not Just THC
Moderator: Dale Gieringer, CA NORML

• Jahan Marcu, PhD, Temple University
• Steve DeAngelo, Harborside Health Center
• Martin Lee, Project CBD
• Samantha Miller, Pure Analytics

11:30-11:45am: Break

11:45-1:00pm: NORML Women’s Alliance: Closing The Cannabis Gender Gap
Moderator: Sabrina Fendrick, NWA Coordinator

• Diane Fornbacher, Freedom is Green
• Georgia Edson, Herbal
  Connections and Mile High NORML
• Kyndra Miller, Esq., Cannabusiness Law, Inc
• Stacia Cosner, SSDP

1:00-2:00pm: Lunch (On Your Own) or

NORML Women’s Alliance Luncheon

2:00-3:30pm: Marijuana, Seniors, and Aging
Moderator: Paul Kuhn, NORML Board of Directors

• Valerie Corral, WAMM
• Lester Grinspoon, M.D.
• Clint Werner, Author, Marijuana, Gateway to Health: How Cannabis Protects Us from Cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease
• Ben Masel, Wisconsin NORML activist and medical patient

3:30-4:15pm: Marijuana and The Media: Friend or Foe?
Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director

4:15-4:30pm: Break

4:30-6:00pm: Blogging and Social Networking: The Cure For Decades Of Reefer Madness
Moderator: Steve Bloom, Celebstoner.com

• Jane Hamsher, FireDogLake
• Russ Belville, NORML
• Jerri Merritt, Esq., TalkLeft.com
• Chris Goldstein, Freedom is Green
• Michael Roberts, Westworld

9:00-Midnight: The Supervillains at the Bluebird Theater
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/2C0046681C6D55F1?did=predid