A Mother’s Day Message

By Diane Fornbacher

Vice Chair of the NORML Women’s Alliance

and writer for Freedom is Green

On Mother’s Day we celebrate and honor those who gave us life. However, as a mother, every day I am reminded of a terrible war that is destroying the fabric of our families and putting our children at risk. It is the so-called War on Drugs. It happens all around us and is primarily a war on cannabis consumers. Today I hope that mothers will join me in advocating for a cease fire in the war on cannabis consumers.

As a compassionate and reasonable society, it is time to legalize cannabis for responsible adult use. Drug dealers do not card children. Prohibition has only kept our youth in constant contact with pot instead of putting it safely behind the counter. Cannabis belongs in a controlled environment where taxpaying and responsible adults can purchase it.

Let me be clear – I do not want my kids to use or abuse cannabis. But I certainly don’t want them going to jail or losing their chances at a college education if they end up getting caught with a joint. Prisons do not protect children, parents do. By legalizing marijuana we can begin to have more truthful conversations with our kids and teens about using it.

Further, legalizing marijuana will keep families together. Mothers do not deserve to be persecuted in the courts or in the delivery room for their private use of marijuana. Children should not be separated from their parents over pot. Hard working Americans should not lose good paying jobs because they medicate or recreate with cannabis. Mothers played a crucial role in calling for an end to alcohol prohibition almost a century ago. I hope mothers will join the growing effort to end marijuana prohibition today, for the sake of us all but mostly for the children.

NORML Update: A Mother’s Day Message

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.

Advertise Now On Oldest, Largest And Best-Branded Online Community Focusing On Marijuana

NORML’s very popular homepage is now open for advertising from cannabusinesses such as medical cannabis dispensaries and delivery services, cultivation centers, lawyers, physicians, patient ID card companies, medical delivery device makers, consultants, expert witnesses, hemp companies and publishers.

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Reach out today to one of the largest and most dedicated cannabis-adoring and knowledgeable communities online, while at the same time, providing much needed financial support for America’s oldest and largest cannabis law reform organization.

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NORML Women’s Alliance to Hold First Major Fundraising Weekend Dec 17-19 at KushCon II

NORML women will be descending upon Denver, Colorado next week to hold their first major fundraising event at KushCon II’s three-day lifestyle convention.  From Friday, December 17 to Sunday, December 19 the Colorado Convention Center will be buzzing with thousands of medical marijuana experts and enthusiasts in the largest cannabis lifestyle convention of the year, and the NORML Women’s Alliance (NWA) will play a prominent role.

Hydrobotanical Engineering, LLC, the company that owns the GrowBots franchise, has generously donated one of their major products, the GrowBot Garage to the NORML Women’s Alliance to be raffled at KushCon II.  Tickets will be sold throughout the weekend at the NORML Women’s Alliance booth inside the Denver  Convention Center.  If you are in town for KushCon II make sure to stop by the NORML Women’s Alliance booth to show your support and buy your raffle ticket (only $20 a ticket).

Several women of the Alliance’s newly formed steering committee will be in attendance, including Cheryl Shuman, Director of Public Relations and Media for Kush Magazine, KushCon and DailyBuds.com. Other NORML women who will be speaking and performing throughout the event include Nashville singer Greta Gaines, New Jersey NORML head Anne Davis, Esq, Colorado NORML’s Georgia Edson and NWA director Sabrina Fendrick.

The NORML Women’s Alliance fundraising weekend begins with a business-to-business networking event sponsored by the Medical Marijuana Business Alliance and KUSH Magazine on Thursday, December 16^th where the elite of the cannabis industry will gather to celebrate the movement and organize product and service giveaways expected to raise thousands of dollars.  For more information on the NWA’s involvement with KushCon II, please contact Cheryl Shuman at cheryl@dailybuds.com, 818.223.8011 or 818.835.7131.

The NORML Women’s Alliance is a nonpartisan coalition of prominent, educated, successful, geographically diverse, professional women who believe that cannabis prohibition is a self-destructive and hypocritical policy that undermines the American family, sends a mixed and false message to our young people, and destroys the cherished principles of personal liberty.

NORML Explains Why It Supports Prop. 19

California stands on the precipice of great change. This November 2nd, the Golden State is poised to make history by passing Proposition 19 and legalizing the adult recreational use of cannabis. Passage of Prop 19 would have a profound and cascading impact on marijuana reform movement in this country. It is impossible to understate its significance. In light of the state’s bleak economic outlook, the legalization of marijuana would provide a leg up out of this fiscal hole. A regulated industry for producing and distributing cannabis will provide additional taxes revenue and create new jobs. The money and resources that will be saved on the enforcement and prosecution of the state’s flawed marijuana laws could be reprioritized to combat violent crime. It would also allow us to control who consumes the product and prevent it from easily falling into the hands of children (who can currently acquire it more easily than regulated tobacco or alcohol).

Proposition 19’s victory would go beyond California’s borders; it would provide a beacon of hope to all of us still living in the dark ages of marijuana prohibition. This initiatives success would set the example for the rest of the states to follow. So I beg of you in California, act as though the whole world is watching (because it is) and vote ‘yes’ on 19.

Please watch the embedded video to hear why NORML’s Executive Director, Allen St. Pierre, and Founder/Legal Counsel Keith Stroup, support Proposition 19 and think you should too. It’s time to legalize marijuana use for responsible adults.