#1 Landslide At The Ballot Box: Election Day Voters Reject Bush War Doctrine

Millions of Americans nationwide voted on Election Day for marijuana law reform, approving nine out of ten ballot measures to liberalize penalties on cannabis use and possession. In Massachusetts, [...]]]> NORML’s Top Ten Events That Shaped Marijuana Policy in 2008

#1 Landslide At The Ballot Box: Election Day Voters Reject Bush War Doctrine

Millions of Americans nationwide voted on Election Day for marijuana law reform, approving nine out of ten ballot measures to liberalize penalties on cannabis use and possession. In Massachusetts, where 65 percent of voters decided to reduce marijuana possession penalties to a $100 fine, and Michigan, where 63 percent of voters approved legalizing the medical use of cannabis, supporters for pot law reform outnumbered supporters for President-Elect Barack Obama.

#2 Members Of Congress Demand An End To Federal Pot Possession Arrests

Members of Congress convened a Capitol Hill press conference in July to demand lawmakers enact legislation to eliminate the government’s authority to arrest and prosecute adults who possess marijuana. Lawmakers called on colleagues to endorse HR 5843, which sought to remove federal penalties for the possession and non-profit transfer of marijuana by adults. 

#3 California Courts Rule: Medical Pot Statutes Don’t Conflict With Federal Anti-Drug Laws

State provisions allowing for the possession and use of medical marijuana do not conflict with federal anti-drug laws, according to a series of California court rulings. In two separate cases, the California Supreme Court refused to hear challenges to the state’s 12-year-old marijuana law finding that counties are obligated to issue identification cards to qualified patients and that police cannot seize marijuana from state-sanctioned medical pot users. Read the full story at: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7678 .

#4: Marijuana “Exceptional” At Reducing MRSA

The administration of natural plant cannabinoids significantly reduces the spread of drug-resistant bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus (aka MRSA), according to a study published this fall in the Journal of Natural Products. MRSA is responsible for over 18,000 hospital-stay deaths each year.

#5 Marijuana Arrests For 2007 Reach All-Time High

Police arrested a record 872,721 Americans for marijuana violations in 2007, the highest annual total ever reported by the FBI. Since 1965, over 20 million Americans have been arrested for violating state or federal marijuana laws.

#6 Cannabis Determined To Be Less Harmful Than Alcohol

The potential health risks associated with cannabis are less than those associated with alcohol and do not justify the continued criminalization of the plant or its users, according to a report published in October by The Beckley Foundation an independent British think-tank that analyzes drug use and drug policy.

#7 Teen Pot Use Declines In States With Medical Cannabis Laws

States that have enacted legislation authorizing the use of medical cannabis by qualified patients have not experienced an increase in the drug’s use by the general population, according to a comprehensive report issued in June by the Marijuana Policy Project.

#8 Medical Marijuana Use Not Associated With Adverse Side Effects

The medical use of cannabis is not associated with serious negative side effects, according to a meta-analysis published this summer in the journal of the Canadian Medical Association (CMAJ).

#9 California Attorney General Issues Guidelines Recognizing Patients’ Medical Cannabis Use

State and local law enforcement should not arrest state qualified patients who possess, cultivate, or travel with medical marijuana, according to guidelines issued in August by the California Attorney General’s office. The guidelines also permit for the distribution and non-profit sales of medical cannabis is permitted by qualified “collectives and cooperatives.”

#10 NORML Daily Audio Stash Gains record Listenership

The popularity of NORML’s podcast grew significantly in 2008, topping more than 110,000 downloads in the month of October alone. Said host Russ Belville, “When it comes to the subject of marijuana, more and more people are turning away from the federal government and away from the mainstream media; instead, they are turning to groups like NORML and the NORML Daily Audio Stash as their most trusted source of information for all things cannabis.”

NORML and the NORML Foundation: 1600 K Street NW, Suite 501, Washington DC, 20006-2832
Tel: (202) 483-5500 Fax: (202) 483-0057 E

Medical marijuana has been legal for years in California, but the state only sees a fraction of the potential tax revenue. A very small percentage of medical marijuana dispensaries in California currently pay local and [...]]]> Excellent take in the latest issue of Esquire on increasing likelihood of the Obama administration making a move to decriminalize cannabis.

Medical marijuana has been legal for years in California, but the state only sees a fraction of the potential tax revenue. A very small percentage of medical marijuana dispensaries in California currently pay local and states, for one primary reason. It could invite serious scrutiny from the IRS.

With economists predicting a dismal first 100 days of 2009, it is imperative that President Obama and his team consider all viable suggestions that could produce an immediate economic impact. Legalizing, regulating and collecting taxes on both medical cannabis and industrial hemp would be an enormous windfall to the US economy.

We are putting our fellow citizens in prison for what…

Growing a plant?

Selling a plant?

Lighting it on fire?

The insanely oppressive and incredibly aggressive marijuana laws in most USA states are putting a huge strain on both our justice and prison system. Not to mention the lives ruined and strain on families that these unjust laws are causing.

America needs common sense and immediate economic stimulus. The USA could reap billions and billions of dollars in 2009 by decriminalizing, regulating and taxing cannabis.

This Esquire article raises some super compelling points. Read the whole thing here. Highlights below.

Merry Christmas!

In a paper titled “Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition,” Dr. Jeffrey Miron of Harvard argues that legalized marijuana would generate between $10 and $14 billion in savings and taxes every year — conclusions endorsed by 300 top economists, including Milton “Free Market” Friedman himself.

And two weeks ago, when the Obama team asked the public to vote on the top problems facing America, this was the public’s No. 1 question: “Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and a billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?”

But alas, the answer from Camp Obama was — as it has been for years — a flat one-liner: “President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.” And at least two of Obama’s top people are drug-war supporters: Rahm Emanuel has been a long-time enemy of reform, and Joe Biden is a drug-war mainstay who helped create the position of “drug czar.”

Meanwhile, in 2007, the last year for which statistics are available, 782,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana-related crimes (90 percent of them for possession), with approximately 60,000 to 85,000 of them serving sentences in jail or prison. It’s the continuation of an unnecessary stream of suffering that now has taught generations of Americans just how capricious their government can be. The irony is that the preference for “decriminalization” over legalization actually supports the continued existence of criminal drug mafias.

Nevertheless, the marijuana community is guardedly optimistic. “Reformers will probably be disappointed that Obama is not going to go as far as they want, but we’re probably not going to continue this mindless path of prohibition,” NORML executive director Allen St. Pierre tells me.

Some of Obama’s biggest financial donors are friends of the legalization movement, St. Pierre notes. “Frankly, George Soros, Peter Lewis, and John Sperling — this triumvirate of billionaires — if those three men, who put up $50 to $60 million to get Democrats and Obama elected, can’t pick up the phone and actually get a one-to-one meeting on where this drug policy is going, then maybe it’s true that when you give money, you don’t expect favors.”