[UPDATE from Russ Belville: NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano and MPP's California director Aaron Smith join me this afternoon's NORML SHOW LIVE, airing at 1pm Pacific / 4pm Eastern, to discuss this historic vote in California.  Call in with your questions to 347-994-1810]

Tuesday’s vote will mark the first time since 1913, when California became one of the first states in the nation to enact cannabis prohibition, that lawmakers have reassessed this failed policy.

If a majority of the Public Safety Committee votes ‘yes’ on AB 390, the bill will immediately face a separate vote in the California State Assembly Committee on Health. (I have been tentatively invited to testify before this committee; you can read my prepared testimony here.) In short, members of both committees will likely be voting on this historic measure next week. That is why we need your support in contacting the members of these legislative committees today!

To date, over 8,000 of you have contacted your California Assemblymembers via NORML’s Capwiz ‘Take Action’ Center. This is a tremendous outpouring of public support, but we need to ramp up our advocacy before next week’s vote.

If you reside in California please click here to find a list of Assembly members who sit on the key committees overseeing AB 390. Constituents in their districts are urged to phone or fax support their for AB 390 today. Lawmakers’ district phone numbers, fax numbers, and e-mail contact information appears here.

If your member of the Assembly does not appear on this list, please take a moment this week to call and leave a polite, concise phone message voicing your support for AB 390 with the Assembly Committees of Public Safety and Health. You can find the direct line for these committees, as well as for their Chair and Vice-Chairs, here and here.

Finally, Californians can also send a letter of support directly to their individual member of the Assembly by using NORML’s pre-written letter service here.

Let’s begin 2010 by letting California’s politicians know that the time to end the state’s nearly 100-year failed experiment with marijuana prohibition is now!

Over the past few weeks, an unprecedented number of you have used NORML’s Capwiz tools to write your legislators in support of pending marijuana law reform in your state. In fact, so far this week more than 2,500 of you have taken the time to e-mail your elected officials! And while this tally is impressive — and your actions are making a political difference — think about this:

Did you know that each time a legislator hears from a constituent, they count it as representing much more than that one person’s opinion? The numbers below illustrate just how much of a difference you can make by sending an e-mail, writing a letter, or placing a call.

one e-mail represents 100 people

one letter represents 500 people

one phone call represents 500 people

one personal visit represents 1000 people

In other words, the 2,500 e-mails (and counting) generated this week represent the public opinion of 250,000! And those 8,500 e-mails generated by NORML supporters in February represent the public opinion of 850,000 Americans!

Is it any wonder that legislators in Montana, New Jersey, Illinois, and Minnesota have all voted in favor marijuana law reform in just the past few days? Politicians in those states heard from you — and they received the message loud and clear. And they have responded!

With this kind of strong showing of support, how could they not have?

Of course, now is hardly the time to rest on our collective laurels. In fact, now is the time to step up our efforts and make our voices heard at an even higher decibel!

If you haven’t written your state elected officials, now is the time to visit NORML’s Action Alert page and do so. If you have already written your state senator and representative, why not pick up the phone today and give them a personal phone call? Or even better, if legislation is currently pending before a Committee in your state, take time out to call the Chairperson of that Committee and urge him or her to support sensible marijuana law reform. Need contact information? You can find it all here.

In the coming days, legislators in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Montana will hold hearings and/or votes on significant marijuana reform measures. On Tuesday, March 10, members of the Montana House Judiciary Committee will hear testimony in favor of House Bill 541, which seeks to reduce marijuana possession penalties to a $100 fine! Want to see this proposal become law? Then consider sending and e-mail or getting on the phone.

In the fifteen years I’ve been with NORML, I’ve never witnessed legislators more responsive to enacting common sense pot law reform than right now. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t need to hear from you.

So keep up the pressure and act now! Changes are on the horizon, and your efforts are helping to make them a reality.