Video available at http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2009/10/20/dcl.blog.pot.cnn?iref=videosearch

[Editor's note: A version of this post was previously list-served to NORML's membership in Massachusetts. To receive updates about pending legislation in your state, sign up for NORML's free list-serv service here.]

REMINDER — On Wednesday, October 14, Massachusetts state lawmakers will hear testimony in support of taxing and regulating the commercial production and distribution of marijuana for adults age 21 and older.

Members of the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Revenue are scheduled to hear House Bill 2929, ‘An Act to Regulate and Tax the Cannabis Industry,’ on Wednesday at 10 am in Room B2 of the State House. House Bill 2929, along with its companion bill SB 1801, were introduced by request in March.

NORML founder and Legal Counsel Keith Stroup will testify in favor of the measures [Editor's note: Read Keith's written testimony here.] — along with NORML Advisory Board member Dr. Lester Grinspoon (Harvard Medical School emeritus) and members of NORML’s state affiliate, the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition.

This hearing is historic because it is the first time the state legislature has ever debated legalizing the adult use of marijuana.

If you live in Massachusetts, please show your support for these measures by contacting your state elected officials and urging them to support these common sense proposals. If your elected officials are members of the Joint Committee on Revenue or the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, then it is especially important that they hear from you. For your convenience, a pre-written letter will be e-mailed to your state senator and representative when you enter you go here. The Joint Committee on Revenue may also be contacted at:

House Staff Telephone: (617) 722-2320
Senate Staff Telephone: (617) 722-1625

For additional information about tomorrow’s hearing, please visit the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition/NORML at: http://www.masscann.org or visit: http://www.cantaxreg.com.

Fire up the ol’ DVR this weekend because C-SPAN TV is airing Washington Times‘ ‘Inside the Beltway’ columnist and author John McCaslin being interviewed by NORML founder and legal counsel Keith Stroup.

Keith interviews John for an entire hour about his new book Weed Man, a biography about Jimmy Divine–one of America’s most prolific cannabis smugglers.

Broadcast times for this one-on-one interview on C-SPAN2, BookTV are:

*Saturday, August 22 @ 10 PM (ET)

*Sunday, August 23 @ 9 PM (ET)

*Monday, August 24 @ 12 AM and 3 AM (ET)

On Monday, March 31, in the case of Commonwealth v. Cusick and Stroup, the defense team filed a Motion to Reconsider, along with three new expert witness affidavits.

The defendants had previously filed a Motion to Dismiss, along with an extensive supportive affidavit from Lester Grinspoon, M.D., requesting a full evidentiary hearing where we would proffer testimony that would support our position that there is no longer a rational basis for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to criminalize the personal use of marijuana by adults. It has been 29 years since the Massachusetts courts last made a comprehensive constitutional review of their marijuana laws, and a lot of new scientific evidence is now know about marijuana, and it is important for the courts to take another look at this matter. More than 7,300 marijuana smokers were arrested in the last year in Massachusetts, causing significant harm to the lives and careers of those individuals. More after the jump…

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When the court clerk finally called our case, the judge almost immediately called the attorneys to a bench conference, where he quickly indicated he would not have the time to hold this evidentiary hearing, but that he would refer the case to another judge in another courtroom, and we would have our evidentiary hearing that very day.

Attorney Matt Feinberg; law student Brendan Hickey; Co-Defendant Rick Cusick; Lester Grinspoon, M.D.; Co-Defendant Keith Stroup; Professor Charles Nesson; and Keith Saunders, Ph.D.

We had actually filed a motion to dismiss the case, based on our allegation that the marijuana laws are unconstitutional, and we had requested a full evidentiary hearing where we could call a number of witnesses to make our case. We had expected that the 30-page affidavit from Lester Grinspoon, M.D., would be sufficient to convince a judge to schedule an evidentiary hearing in 30 or 45 days. We were certainly not anticipating holding a hearing that very day, nor would we expect the government would be ready to hold such a hearing without some time to prepare their case.

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On Saturday, September 15, 2007, NORML Founder Keith Stroup and High Times associate publisher Rick Cusick were arrested for smoking a joint at the 18th annual Boston Freedom Rally on the Boston Common. This is an event held each year to protest the continued arrest of responsible cannabis consumers in that state, and depending on the weather, it attracts from 15,000 to 50,000 supporters to the Common.

Keith and Rick have candidly acknowledged that they were sharing a joint, but they have pled not guilty and announced their intentions to challenge the constitutionality of the Massachusetts marijuana laws, and to argue for a jury instruction informing the jurors of their common law power to refuse to convict an individual, if they do not believe the offense should be a criminal matter. This long-held power of jurors is generally called jury nullification.

More after the jump…

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