NORML SHOW LIVE from Portland Hempstalk this Saturday

This weekend NORML SHOW LIVE comes to you direct from Kelley Point Park in Portland, Oregon, for the fifth annual Portland Hempstalk.  The live stream begins at 6pm PT / 9pm 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):

1. Point your web browser to http://live.norml.org and follow the links to Show 002. (Or use the link on the powder-blue BlogTalkRadio player you see there on the right…)
2. 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 002.
3. 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 will be performing the show in front of a live audience at the Hemposium Stage.  We’ll be pulling in guests from the Hempstalk lineup as they become available.  Jack Herer, The Emperor of Hemp will be there and should stop by for a visit.  NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre will also be on the show.  Spoken word artist and Native American activist Jon Trudell will speak and perform.  Amy Nelson and Cathy Guthrie (the daughters of Willie Nelson and Arlo Guthrie, respectively) as the acoustic duo Folk Uke will be performing at Hempstalk.  Chris Conrad and Mikki Norris from the West Coast Leaf newspaper will be on hand to discuss Chris’s work as an expert witness in cannabis cultivation and Mikki’s work with the Cannabis Consumers Campaign.  Paul Stanford of The Hemp & Cannabis Foundation and Madeline Martinez, executive director of Oregon NORML and NORML Board memberwill speak about Oregon’s move to tax & regulate marijuana in 2010.  NORML Legal Committee attorneys Paul Loney, Lee Berger, and John Lucy IV will answer your legal questions.

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.)

NBC, CBS, ABC, & FOX happy to profit from marijuana, as long as nobody talks about legalizing it

Marijuana legalization is the hottest topic in the media these days. MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, FOX, NatGeo, and CBS News have presented special features on marijuana business, medical marijuana, and the marijuana legalization movement. Google Trends is showing double the interest in searches and news hits for the term “marijuana legalization”. Showtime’s hit series Weeds, about a suburban mom turned pot dealer, is entering its fifth season. Everywhere you look, corporate media are happy to profit from America’s most popular herb.

Unless you want to address marijuana’s illegality and the lives that are shattered by the effects of marijuana prohibition. In that case, the corporate media cannot have anything to do with you, even if you want to pay to broadcast the message of ending adult marijuana prohibition. (more…)

NORML Is Coming To Talk Radio — Be Part of ‘Marijuana Nation’

Earlier this year NORML requested your assistance to help us launch the first ever nationwide television ad campaign calling for the regulation of cannabis for adults. Because of your generous support, NORML was able to purchase over 7,500 ad buys in all 50 states on cable networks like CNN, CNBC, Fox News, Fuse, FX Networks, G4, MSNBC, CNN Headline News, and Spike TV. These ads were viewed by over 2.4 million households nationwide.

Today we are asking for your help so that we can once again make history.

For the past several weeks NORML has been negotiating with CBS radio to launch the nation’s first live talk radio show dedicated to all things cannabis: NORML SHOW LIVE: Marijuana Nation. That’s right, NORML is planning to take the talk radio world by storm – and we intend to smoke the competition!

NORML SHOW LIVE, will be hosted by Russ Belville – the voice of NORML’s daily podcast, the Audio Stash — and will air on ChatAboutIt.com, the next generation of talk radio. ChatAboutIt.com streaming online radio is powered by CBS radio and features original and cutting edge programming – available free over the internet or via download on your iPhone or Blackberry.

The cultural and political influence of talk radio is undeniable and is growing –- as is the popularity of streaming radio. Today, one in seven adults between the ages of 18 to 54 listens to online radio. This audience has more than doubled over the past four years and is expected to grow significantly in the future. NORML’s content and message naturally appeals to this demographic, which is frequently turning away from the mainstream media and turning to groups like NORML to obtain fact-based educational and political information about the world’s most popular plant.

However, before we launch this effort, we want to hear from you — the cannabis community. Please offer us your thoughts and suggestions regarding how we can make NORML SHOW LIVE: Marijuana Nation the premiere talk destination for activists and NORML supporters. I have no doubt that much of the success of this venture will be based on the active participation and support of our members and listeners.

Even more importantly, we need your donations to help defray the start-up costs associated with launching and publicizing NORML SHOW LIVE: Marijuana Nation. In the coming weeks we need to create an unprecedented “buzz” in the marijuana law reform community, and within the talk radio industry, about our new show. Specifically, we need to print and distribute flyers at upcoming events, such as the Seattle Hempfest, place online banners on marijuana-friendly websites, purchase advertising in talk-radio trade magazines, and pay for updated studio equipment and voice-over technology.

NORML SHOW LIVE intends to be the voice of the marijuana nation for the students, homemakers, retirees, soldiers, patients, professionals, and working people who demand equal treatment under the law and for an end to America’s longest and costliest war. For a one-time donation here of $100, $25, or even just $10, you can assure that your voice will heard by millions. Marijuana law reformers will no longer have to be dependent on the mainstream media; we can be a part of the mainstream media.

Finally, NORML SHOW LIVE is seeking advertisers! If you have a business or a product, and would like to utilize and cost-effective way to reach millions of listeners each week, please contact russ@norml.org or call toll-free 888-772-3422 to inquire about our discounted introductory ad rates.

NORML would like to thank you in advance for helping us make history — again.