by Delia Pratico (at right with Anne Davis, Esq. on left. Extra hyperlinks by “Radical” Russ.)
When I first read the article entitled “Stiletto Stoners” in Marie Claire magazine this month, I thought, “Wow, I can’t believe they’re talking about this ‘taboo’ subject.” The article dives into the lives of young professional women who enjoy smoking marijuana at the end of a long work day.
These are the women who are choosing to smoke a “plant” to relax instead of downing a vodka martini or a Xanax. These are the women who are making the smarter “safer” choice. Many women would rather take a few puffs of cannabis and feel great the next day instead of being hung over from alcohol, or groggy from prescription medications that doctors give out like candy (both being completely legal).
I have been an activist with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws for about a year. During this past year, one thought that always lingered in my head was, “how can we end the stigma surrounded by marijuana?” You know the old sayings “pot head” “Rastafarian” “lazy stoner”.
Our opponents of the marijuana law reform movement use these stigmas to their advantage which is most likely why half of them are still around. They advertise slogans such as “smoke pot and you can become a burrito taste tester” or “a couch potato remote controller specialist.” They are basically implying that if you smoke pot you will amount to nothing and become a loser “pot head” who can’t accomplish anything in life. Really? So how is it that young professional women in powerful positions with tons of responsibility can smoke marijuana and still work 12 hour days? Doesn’t make much sense does it? So why is there still this stigma about marijuana? Because professional women around the country have not “come out of the closet.” It’s not often that you see a typical “pot head” wearing “stilettos.”
Women are so “hush hush” about using marijuana because of two basic fears; losing their jobs and facing criminal prosecution. I am surrounded by my close female friends who are all in their mid-twenties and just starting their careers. These are women who are teachers, managers, nurses, and even some who work for the local, state, and federal governments. Although they all wholeheartedly support ending marijuana prohibition they all fear coming out and saying so. Most of them fear that if they speak out the authorities will be after them or they will get fired because of it. It takes a lot of courage for young professional women to come out of the closet, which is why in the Marie Claire article the names of the women in the stories were changed. Although this article is a huge step in the right direction because it spreads awareness of marijuana prohibition, we still need more women to come forward.
Fortunately, I don’t need courage to come out of the closet. I don’t have the two basic fears most women do. I work as a paralegal for an attorney (also a “Stiletto Stoner” and a member of NORML’s legal committee). That being said, the first fear for me is completely moot. Now I wouldn’t say I have no fear of criminal prosecution because that would be naïve, but it does ease your nerves working in the legal profession and knowing your rights. As a member of the NORML organization, I know I have some of the best criminal defense attorneys in the country on my side. So for me it doesn’t take courage. I’m proud to be able to put a name and face to the “Stiletto Stoners” and to be fighting against the War on Drugs.
There are women in the marijuana law reform movement who are professionals, mothers, grandmothers, patients and even retired law enforcement. Cheers to them all for having enough courage to come out and stand up for their rights, our rights, and the rights of our future generations. Ladies, lets all come out of the closet to end this stigma associated with marijuana and end marijuana prohibition for good!
Delia Pratico
Board of Directors, NORML NJ
(National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws New Jersey)
Paypal, the well-known internet payment company has told California NORML that it will no longer accept payments to our “type of business” because we accept listing payments from cannabis-recommending physicians.
After years of offering free listings to physicians and collectives at our website http://www.canorml.org, CaNORML began charging a yearly listing fee to cover our costs last year.
PayPal froze CaNORML’s account in June, saying that by accepting listing fees fromcollectives, we were violating their Acceptable Use policy, which says, “you may not use PayPal in the purchase or sale of narcotics.” Although narcotics were not being sold over the CaNORML site, we reluctantly agreed to stop accepting listings fees from collectives that dispense medical marijuana, recognizing that even though they are legal under state law, they are illegal under federal law. However, we continued to accept payments online from doctors, attorneys, and members.
Now PayPal has stopped accepting payments from the CaNORML site because we continued to accept listing payments from physicians.
Under a ruling upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court (Conant v. Walters, 2003), physicians have the first amendment right to discuss and recommend medical marijuana for their patients, although they may not distribute it or help patients in finding it. PayPal was informed of this and wrote back, “We are not arguing the legality of this issue; we are simply stating that we have made the business decision to not be involved with this type of business.”
Because of its discriminatory policy and disregard of physicians’ first amendment rights, CaNORML submits that PayPal is not the “type of business” to be used by those who advocate for human rights. We will file a complaint with the federal banking committee over their practices.
Located in San Jose, California, PayPal was founded in 1998 and was acquired by eBay (California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman’s former company) in 2002.
Complain to: PayPal, 2211 N 1st St, San Jose 95131 (408) 376-7400
We appreciate the fact that you chose PayPal to send and receive payments for your transactions.
Under the Acceptable Use Policy, you may not use PayPal in the purchase or sale of narcotics, steroids, certain controlled substances, products that present a risk to consumer safety or drug paraphernalia. PayPal makes such decisions after reviewing laws, regulations and other actions by governmental agencies, other available evidence, and marketing content related to the product.
To learn more about the Acceptable Use Policy, please refer to our Help Center page here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/helpweb?cmd=_help
We are hereby notifying you that, after a recent review of your account activity, it has been determined that you are in violation of PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy regarding your sales at http://www.canorml.org/prop/collectivetips.html. PayPal cannot be used to accept fees for listing information related to marijuana dispensaries, delivery services and cannabis physicians.
I don’t drink coffee. But, the appeal of cannabis and coffee is abundantly clear from Amsterdam to Oaksterdam.
NORML supporters, professional comedians and apparent wake-n-bakers Rob Cantrell and Arj Barker sing the praises of one of the world’s most beloved, but largely undisclosed ‘drug’ combination, in their new high-definition video ‘Coffee and Weed!‘ [Warning: adult language and imagery is employed]:
Notice some of the interesting cameos from notable Brooklynites! This song is from Rob’s new album ‘Stay on the grass!‘
NORML’s 38th annual conference in San Francisco, convened September 24-26, was the best attended, ever. Held at the Grand Hyatt, downtown, under classic San Fran weather conditions: 78 degrees and sunny, with the fog creeping up over the hills and a river of fog laying atop the water, streaming in from the ocean through the Golden Gate, sailboats, freighters…the sun-drenched surrounding hill…all of which was to be seen from the hotel’s restaurant on the 36th floor. Medicating could be done, down at street level, on the plaza surrounding the hotel. NORML’s annual conference was held downstairs in the grand ballroom and adjoining meeting spaces. Well, my brothers and sisters in the movement to legalize marijuana, we kicked ass this during this amazing weekend!
Travel author Rick Steves, publisher and comedian Ngaio Bealum and others on the 'Pot, Parenting and Prohibition' panel
The caliber of the presenters and breath of topics @ NORML 38.0 was just astonishing; everything from martial artists using cannabis just before the fight for calming and focus, to how current tax court decisions are shaping the trend toward a wider range of services delivered to patients at dispensaries, to a deep and satisfying look into the science of the exceptional safety profile and utility of cannabis as a medicine. And, if you couldn’t have been there in San Francisco with us, now for the very first time in history, you can attend conference from anywhere in the world, free, on the Internet, simply by visiting NORML’s 38th conference broadcast.
I arrived in San Francisco early enough the day before Conference started to do the NORML “walk through” with Grand Hyatt hotel staff. My morning had started at home at 4:00am doing chores before the two-hour drive to the airport, then my flight to SFO and transport to the Hyatt, only to find out that I was one of the 57 attendees who were being bumped to other hotel properties for one night, because a nasty overbooking computer-glitch. The cynical among us made muffled comments that this “glitch” might have something to do with the US Customs Service/Homeland Security Conference in progress at the hotel the day of NORML’s arrival. The overbooking problem ruffled a few feathers, but we got over it quickly and everyone with a reservation at conference was booked onsite by the end of the first day. The Grand Hyatt staff was awesome in dealing with the mess. And after all, really, how can you be in a bad mood anyway, you’re in San Francisco at a NORML Conference???
A tiny case in point: on day 1 of Conference, during our 4:20 afternoon break, as several hundred of us medicated on the plaza, San Francisco’s Thursday Green-Transportation Bike Protest, with police escort, pedaled by, a significant number of their ranks biking buck-naked…
As I lay in bed that night, finally in my rightful hotel room, my head a-buzz with all the people I’d talked to and some of the world’s finest cannabis, I pondered why NORML Conference was so much fun, and why I had gotten such a huge emotional lift from the day’s events. Sure, I was seeing old friends, making new ones, the common struggle and all of that…but as I continued to think about it, I realized that while those were all important elements of it, but they did not account for the power of what I was feeling.
Then it struck me! Just three weekends before NORML’s Conference, over the Labor Day weekend, my wife and I had held our daughter’s wedding on our ranch, with 70 campers and 120 guests for a sit-down dinner under a tent set up next to our home. We had the first rain in 14 weeks and rainbows the day of the ceremony. The feelings I was getting from the first day of NORML’s Conference was something very much akin to those same feelings that welled up inside that big tent during my daughter’s wedding. Yes. NORML, too, was a meeting of family, self-chosen family, the very tip of an iceberg, a worldwide network of people who, with cannabis, are strung through the heart.
The more I thought about all the people I’d talked to that first day, our wheelchair warriors, our intellectual samurai, our organizers at ground zero…the more I realized that almost to a person, they were at NORML’s 38th annual conference because there was a truth that must be told, a wrong that must be righted, sick people who must be cared for, the defenseless defended…they were there in San Francisco primarily because their hearts demanded it, their internal compass of right-and-wrong would accept no less. And, after all the many years of losing our battles, after 20 million marijuana arrests, the tide has started to turn…
We are winning on many fronts now…but, it is not over, there is so much left to do, please help. Join the fight; please join NORML, if you haven’t done so already. And, I hope to see you at the 39th annual conference, next year.
By Sabrina Fendrick , Executive Assistant, NORML/NORML Foundation
I have never been more proud to be a part of the marijuana movement as I was after reading an article in the October issue of Marie Claire titled “Stiletto Stoners”. The feedback and comments in relation to this have been fast and overwhelming.
The woman cited in the article is quoted as saying, “‘I hate the term pothead—it connotes that I’m high 24/7, which I’m not,’ Jennifer Pelham says, wincing. ‘I don’t need it to get through my day. I just enjoy it when my day is over.’ Her nightly ritual costs only $50 a month. It never induces a post-happy-hour hangover and, unlike the Xanax a doctor once prescribed for her anxiety, never leaves her groggy or numb… ‘It’s really not a big deal’.”
The normalizing of recreational cannabis consumption is not just happening with men, which is what most people think of when they think of pot smokers. Women, who are not necessarily left out of the movement, are rarely recognized as a major demographic that is essential for the reform effort to push forward in a truly legitimate fashion.
This underreported phenomenon is now spreading across the mainstream media. From Matt Lauer and the Today show,
This story is spreading like wildfire across the Internet and I am willing to bet, it will only get bigger.
To be honest, I didn’t even realize the extent of this closet practice among my female cohorts. Perhaps it’s just that they’re not as outspoken as the men? Or maybe it’s because they have more at risk? Whatever it is, the fact that more and more women are admitting to smoking cannabis (or marijuana or pot) is truly inspiring.
As a side note, I posted this article to the NORML Facebook page and within an hour there were already more comments on this post than almost any other on NORML’s facebook page! Here are just a few from some NORML women:
-“ Finally, Female stoners who aren’t classified with dreads and no make up. It’s definitely been around for a while but now there is recognition! Successful Stoner Ladies Unite!”
-“Hell yeah! Finally some coverage of us smart, sexy pot smokers.”
-“That’d be me!”
-“I am a successful Optician by day, and a happy pothead by night!”
-“And some of us run three business’s and support a household too!”
-“Exactly!”
-“Wooo! Thanks for the shout out guys!!”
-“This is so great…I actually read this in a salon the other day…”
-“I know a dentist, a lawyer, a paralegal and a few managers who all smoke and they are brilliant women who just like to relax after making all that $$…lol”
-“I’m a stay at home mother during the day and at night i have a job and go to school, and i rather smoke a joint once I’m home from work and the kids are passed out then have a glass of wine.”
-“Agreed everybody!! Don’t know what I would do without this option!”
This is a major response that reinforces my belief that women need to get on the bandwagon and start to fight for an end to these archaic marijuana laws. When was the last time you saw this many comments, from women about women and their marijuana use? What does that say?? Let’s go ladies! It’s time to get vocal and become an active participant in your own liberation.
Like one person commented on my wall earlier, “Blaze on Stiletto stoners. I am proud to be one of you!”
I hope you’ll join me tonight in the chat room and on the air for NORML SHOW LIVE, coming up at 6pm PT / 9pm ET. I’m streaming from the University Inn on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in room 207. There are young men staying in every room on the floor but me, and if tonight is like last night, they will be yelling and drinking and partying. Should make for an interesting show.
My guests tonight will include Paul Stanford from The Hemp & Cannabis Foundation to give us an update on the health of the Emperor of Hemp, Jack Herer. Paul has been at his bedside at Portland Emanuel Hospital and will squash all the internet rumors about Jack’s condition. You can help by donating to The Jack Herer Fund at ANY US Bank location.
My very special guests on this 39th Annual Great Midwest Harvest Fest edition are Wisconsin activist Gary Storck (http://immly.org), New Jersey activist Jim Miller (http://cmmnj.org), and medical marijuana patient and activist Jackie Rickert, for whom Wisconsin’s medical marijuana bill is named.
Cannabis Karri will bring us the latest news stories and we’ll be taking your calls live at 347-994-1810.
Check it out on http://live.norml.org – Rick Steves coming up soon, plus discussions from the founder of Oaksterdam, Richard Lee; Dr. Harry Levine on race and marijuana arrests; and California NORML’s Dale Gieringer on the current legal landscape there.
Three hours of live audio from Thursday’s panels at NORML National Conference are now available at our archive of NORML SHOW LIVE. You’ll hear NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano on the science and medicine of marijuana, followed by a panel on patients, caregivers, and small patient collectives moderated by William Panzer, one of the co-authors of Prop 215.
Chris Goldstein and Russ Belville are collecting all the photos, audio, and video from the conference for upload as the day continues.
NORML’s new talk radio program, NORML SHOW LIVE, will be streaming for three days at the 2009 NORML National Conference, “Yes We Cannabis”, live from the Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Francisco. These special three-hour episodes will be available at live.norml.org at the following special times and archived for download later just fifteen minutes after broadcast:
Thursday, September 24
11:00am – 2:00pm Pacific Time
Friday, September 25
11:00am – 2:00pm Pacific Time
Saturday, September 26
3:00pm – 6:00pm Pacific Time
The show will be hosted by “Radical” Russ Belville, but with very limited commercial interruption and the occasional narration. After the shows broadcast remotely in the difficult wireless environment of Portland’s Kelley Point Park and the noisy backstage of the Boston Freedom Rally, Russ is excited to present an indoor event that will take its audio directly from the conference PA system.
[Update: check out the recording - a little tough to hear at times, but great interviews with Miss New Jersey 2006 Georgine DiMaria, High Times Cultivation Editor Danny Danko, rap star Styles P, MMA fighting champion Toby Grear, NORML founder Keith Stroup, a new activist patient named Lori, NORML New Jersey's Chris Goldstein, and live audio from 4:20 at Boston Freedom Rally. -- "R"R]
This weekend NORML SHOW LIVE comes to you direct from Boston, Massachusetts, for the twentieth annual Boston Freedom Rally. The live stream begins at the special time of Noon PT / 3pm ET (since Freedom Rally only runs Noon to 6pm ET) and continues for two hours.
You can listen to the show live three ways (and no, regular terrestrial or satellite radio is not one of those ways… yet):
Point your web browser to http://live.norml.org and follow the links to Show 003. (Or use the link on the powder-blue BlogTalkRadio player you see there on the right…)
Point your mobile phone’s browser to http://m.blogtalkradio.com/norml. Click the link at the bottom of the page for Shows and Blogs. Click the link for Show 003.
Call 347-994-1810 on your mobile phone. (”347″ is a New York area code, so long distance charges, if any, would apply. Probably only an option if you’ve got unlimited minutes and free domestic long distance.)
The show will also be archived about one hour following the live broadcast. You’ll be able to hear it all week on the embedded player to the right or by subscribing to it as a podcast on iTunes. (The live show should be available at 6pm Pacific and should stay on this page until Thursday. Click the “play” button to begin.) You can listen to last weekend’s show up until showtime.
We’re also taking your calls at the bottom of each hour. Dial 347-994-1810 to listen in on your phone and press 1 at any time if you’d like to speak to the host or guests. Your call will be screened and we remind you to have a question ready, keep it short and to the point, and avoid profanity (we’re not FCC regulated on the net, but if we want to take this to terrestrial radio, we need to act like it.)
by Delia Pratico (at right with Anne Davis, Esq. on left. Extra hyperlinks by “Radical” Russ.)
