Join NORML at the Rally to Restore (Pot) Sanity

It is time to end reefer madness and restore pot sanity.

Join NORML and other drug policy reform groups at Jon Stewart’s Rally To Restore  Sanity.

When: Saturday, October 30, 2010

Where: The National Mall, Washington, DC

Time: 11am -3pm

NORML is working to organize the thousands of marijuana law reform supporters that will be attending this rally to stand together in support of California’s legalization initiative, proposition 19, and ending marijuana  prohibition nationwide.

Meet us at the Rally!  We will be handing out “Legalize Pot” posters (like the one above) with other drug policy reform groups  on the National Mall, at the intersection of Constitution Ave and 4th St.

**Note: This is not a marijuana law reform rally, this is a political rally with a mainstream message–We need to represent ourselves as mainstream activists.  Be clean and conscientious of what you wear. This is serious business. It is important to recognize that you will be representing the cause to the media and the rest of the country**

How To Prepare

-RSVP on facebook and invite all your friends

-Get to the rally on time.

-Pick up one of our signs on the corner of Constitution Ave and 4th St NW

-Bring everyone you know!

After The Rally:

Phonebanking to Restore Sanity – Time: 3:00-Midnight

Location: 1623 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC

Activists and volunteers are encouraged to join us at the Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) headquarters where there will be a phonebanking party to call voters in support of Proposition 19. There will be pizza! If you can, please bring a laptop & your phone.  RSVP for the post-rally phonebanking party.

GO-FIGHT-WIN!!

NORML Women Campaign For Cannabis in High Style

(From left to right: Sabrina Fendrick, Margot, Pepper, Shaleen Title, Anne Davis, Diane Fornbacher-Wall, Greta Gaines)

A little over one week before California voters will decide on proposition 19, a ballot initiative to legalize and tax marijuana for recreational purposes, the NORML Women’s Alliance and creators of Pot Couture, the first online magazine for sophisticated lady stoners, joined with several other female cannabis activists to spread the message of marijuana reform with a high-style photo shoot designed to reframe the perception of the marijuana legalization movement, and the stereotype of those involved.

The women gathered for the photo shoot are activists and professionals who support proposition 19.  The online magazine partnered with the NORML Women’s Alliance in 2010 with the shared mission of giving a voice to the women in America who oppose marijuana prohibition. “The passage of California’s historic ballot initiative Proposition 19 is a priority for women who recognize that legalization and regulation will create a safer environment for children and families,” says Sabrina Fendrick, coordinator for the NORML Women’s Alliance.

“There’s still this idea that supporters of marijuana reform are on the fringes of society, but that’s just not the case. Marijuana is as mainstream as it gets, and these women are proof,” says Pepper, of Pot Couture.

“Regardless of what happens in California in November, marijuana reform is an issue that is here to stay,” adds Margot of Pot Couture. “The medical benefits of marijuana are proven, and the economic opportunities are real. American women are savvy, and they have no interest in funding a losing war on drugs.”  Margot and Pepper are the two characters depicted in the magazine.

New Jersey NORML Executive Director, Anne Davis, Esq argues, “What we need are common sense marijuana regulations that are practical and enforceable. Marijuana is not nuclear energy or heroin; it is a plant with incredible qualities.  To hold that a natural substance should be prohibited while far more dangerous man-made toxins are permitted is insanity.”

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) speakers bureau director and attorney Shaleen Titlesays, “The pro-legalization cops, judges, and DEA agents at LEAP believe that taking back control of the marijuana trade is about de-funding the only groups that benefit from the prohibition of marijuana – violent gangs and cartels who control its distribution and reap immense profits by murdering rivals and supplying drugs to kids.”

Also taking part in this game-changing makeover of female cannabis consumers are Nashville southern rock singer Greta Gaines, and long-time activist Diane Fornbacher-Wall of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey.

Gaines sums up the purpose of the campaign by saying “if so-called prohibition had succeeded in reducing use rates, reducing crime, decreasing our prison population and benefiting our social and economic conditions, we, the NORML Women’s Alliance, would not be here today.”

All participants in the NORML Women’s Alliance and PotCouture.com photo shoot are available for further comment. For more information on the NORML Women’s Alliance, PotCouture.com and their upcoming campaign please contact sabrina@norml.org.  For behind the scenes footage and the making of the shoot, click here.

NORML would like to thank everyone who was involved in making this campaign possible: Michel Leroy (Lead Photographer), Jen Rosado (Fashion Stylist), Crews (Hair),  Brandon Remler (Photographer), Patricio Robayo (Photographer), Margot Mendez (Makeup), and Marvin Stevens (Hair).

A Mary Jane Mother’s Day

By: Serra J. Frank – Moms for Marijuana

I am the founder of Moms for Marijuana and I support the NORML Women’s Alliance (NWA) in their fight for the educated regulation of Marijuana. Along with the NWA, Moms for Marijuana proudly represents like-minded mothers from all walks of life. On Mother’s Day, the NORML Women’s Alliance will introduce you to a couple of Moms for Marijuana by highlighting several stories of mothers and grandmothers who hold their heads up high and proudly say “I am a mom for Marijuana.”

A lesson of history is that people enjoy altering their state of mind. History has also shown us that the prohibition of any substance is not beneficial to society and creates a violent and dangerous black market; which opens a gateway that allows our children to easily obtain these substances.

Society tolerates drug use such as alcohol and tobacco. The taxes from these substances help our schools and our communities. Open access gives adults a safe source for obtaining their drug of choice, despite the health and social ramifications that come from the decision to consume these drugs. Alcohol and tobacco consumption creates an industry that generates hundreds of billions of dollars and employs millions of people each year. Regulation and restrictions make these substances more difficult for our children to obtain.

Research has shown that Cannabis (Marijuana) is a safer alternative to drinking alcohol or using tobacco. Yet we continue to drive sensible adults to choose a more harmful substance because of Marijuana’s legal standing; and make criminals out of those who only wish to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Our country’s policies regarding the Cannabis plant are clearly misguided, uneducated and futile. Continuing to allow the enforcement of hypocritical and detrimental laws as well as tolerating failed policies is destructive to our society and the wrong message to send to our children. By avoiding discussion and change, we condemn them to repeat the mistakes of our past.

–

Support the NORML Women’s Alliance on Facebook at www.facebook.com/normlwomen

NORML Foundation To Launch Second NYC Times Square Billboard Campaign

New Ad Debuts On April 20 On The CBS Super Screen

Washington, DC: The NORML Foundation, the educational arm of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), will debut its second-ever digital ad this Tuesday, April 20, on the CBS Super Screen in New York City’s Times Square.

The animated billboard advertisement will highlight the dramatic increase in New York City’s rate of marijuana possession arrests, which increased from fewer than 1,000 annually in 1992 to more than 46,000 in 2009.

According to a 2008 study released by the New York Civil Liberties Union, City police have made an estimated 400,000 marijuana possession arrests over the past decade. The majority of citizens arrested for marijuana possession offenses are either African American or Hispanic.

The ad concludes: "Legalize marijuana. Stop arrests."

NORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre called the City’s marijuana-centric arrest practices ‘shameful’ and ‘fiscally irresponsible.’ He said: "Under state law, minor marijuana possession offenses are categorized as a violation, not a criminal offense. Yet New York City police officers are effectively circumventing state law by charging tens of thousands of young adults each year with unnecessary criminal misdemeanors by claiming that the marijuana was possessed ‘in plain view.’ This is a shameful and fiscally irresponsible policy that disproportionately targets minorities and does nothing to improve public safety. It is time for City law enforcement to stop wasting taxpayers’ dollars and to abide by the state’s longstanding decriminalization law."

The NORML Foundation’s new ad will appear eighteen times per day on the CBS’s digital billboard, located on 42nd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues. Approximately 1.5 million people walk by the billboard each day.

In March, NORML launched a 15-second digital ad trumpeting the cost savings and tax revenue that could be generated by regulating and taxing adult marijuana use. That ad, available online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeH5HrG7IfM, will continue to air until Monday, April 19.

NORML’s forthcoming advertisement will air through May 2010.

Founded in 1970, NORML is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots organization advocating on behalf of marijuana law reform. The NORML Foundation was founded in 1997 to support public education, research, stake holder organizing and impact litigation. In 2009, NORML Foundation launched the first-ever nationwide television ad campaign calling for the regulation of marijuana by adults.

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML Foundation, at (202) 483-5500.

New Strain Of Medicinal Marijuana Announced

First Unveiling of New Strain To Redefine The Medical Cannabis Industry

New Released Scientific Data Supports Medicinal Value, U.S. Government Ignores Scientific Data

Next week’s Patients Out of Time (P.O.T.) conference in Rhode Island features numerous speakers and interesting topics, but the announcement by Harborside Health Center of the development a new Cannabidol-centric strain of cannabis I suspect will be of great interest to patients, medical providers and cultivators.

I think it also a shining example of why the Drug Enforcement Administration should not bust and harass laboratories contracted or operated by cannabis wellness centers that test and analyze cannabis that is sold into the medical collective for the very reason that these forensic labs provide necessary patient information regarding potency, purity and medicinal effects based on plant strain.

Oakland, CA – The availability of a new type of medical cannabis strain will be presented for the first time by Steve DeAngelo, who has been featured on CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, and The New York Times as Executive Director of one of the nation’s top model and non-profit medical cannabis dispensaries, Harborside Health Center in Oakland, California.

DeAngelo will announce the availability of this type of non-psychoactive cannabis that has been lab tested with California strains with CBD (Cannabidol) at the 6th Annual National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics on Friday, April 16th at 12PM Noon at The Crown Plaza Hotel, 801 Greenwich Avenue, Warwick, Rhode Island.

Conference information can be found at: www.medicalcannabis.com

For three decades, DeAngelo has been an engaging speaker as he cuts through the stigma, and delivers the true facts about cannabis. His exciting and important presentation will include results of the first large scale analytical study of California’s medical cannabis supply, which revealed that one of the most medically efficacious cannabinoids—CBD—has been bred out of plants grown primarily for psychoactive effect. Only within the past year have CBD-rich cannabis varieties been identified, thanks to an analytical chemistry lab that DeAngelo helped launch.

Recent research has demonstrated that CBD is effective in slowing or reversing a number of different types of cancer; as well as other serious illnesses. In response to the shortage of CBD rich cannabis varieties, Harborside has initiated a program to identify such strains, and encourage growers to propagate them. Because CBD modulates the psycho activity of THC, some patients respond better to varieties of cannabis which couple low THC levels with high CBD levels, because they enhance medical efficacy while reducing or eliminating psycho activity. This is particularly true for cannabis-naïve patients, who have no prior experience with it, prior to receiving a recommendation from their doctor. “Ultimately, there will be greater demand for CBD-rich cannabis, than there is for cannabis that just gets you high” predicts DeAngelo. “Only a small percentage of people enjoy the psycho activity of cannabis, but almost everybody can benefit from its medical properties”.

The 6th Annual Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics is the only one of its kind in the United States for health professional to learn about the many benefits of cannabis therapeutics. Medical professionals can receive their CME (Continuing Education) credits for attending this forum through the University of California, San Francisco.

The New York Times: “Harborside Health Center, a nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland, Calif., is looked upon as a model of how others could operate.”

Contact : Gaynell Rogers/Media Relations

415.298.1114

mcmcgaynell@gmail.com