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Anne Davis: A Mother’s Prayer to End Prohibition

B0ard — Sun, 09 May 2010 15:13:48 +0000

A Mother’s Prayer to End Prohibition

by Anne M. Davis Esq., NORML-NJ Board of Directors 5/9/10

The video of the SWAT Team raid on the home of the Whitworth family was one of the most graphic acts of violence that I ever had the unfortunate experience of viewing. True, the man in the home was in possession of marijuana. The quantity was so small it was only enough to charge him with a misdemeanor resulting in a $300 fine.

The amount in his possession certainly did not justify a nighttime entry into a family’s home by a team of gunmen dressed in black. Marijuana possession did not justify firing seven rounds of gunshots at the family dogs in front of the seven year old little boy who sat in terror clenching his mother as these gunmen jacked his father up against a wall.

It brings tears to my eyes to think of the horror that this little boy experienced. I subsequently learned that police are permitted to shoot animals if they feel endangered. The right to kill pets applies in every raid because most dogs will bark and react to a team of gunmen entering their families’ home. In my opinion, the Missouri drug enforcement team acted no different than terrorists like the Taliban.

I wish I could believe that this was an isolated incident and wasn’t the norm. Unfortunately, I know the truth from the experiences of my friends in the marijuana community. I know how the DEA’s SWAT teams armed with guns knock down doors and destroy lives. I know that loving and good parents have their children taken away for possessing marijuana in the home in quantities as small as a joint.

The most disturbing of all of this reality is that many of these victims of the drug war are medical patients with chronic illnesses. This madness must end.

Thank you God for giving us the courage to make the progress we have seen in the past year. Please give us the strength to end the violence and peacefully conquer the drug war.

VIDEO: PhillyNORML 2010 Global Marijuana March

B0ard — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:36:23 +0000

More info at http://www.examiner.com/x-29881-Philadelphia-NORML-Examiner~y2010m5d3-VIDEO-PhillyNORML-2010-Global-Marijuana-March

Mainstream Media Get Serious About Legalizing Pot

B0ard — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:25:19 +0000

by Chris Goldstein

Intense. That’s the only word to describe the recent focus of the national mainstream media on issues related to cannabis. Last week alone there are 3 Newsweek articles and an investigative piece on PBS Newshour. Several of the recent items feature Richard Lee and Oaksterdam.

How Oakland Is Leading Marijuana Legalization

Ethan Nadelmann’s Fight to Legalize Marijuana

How L.A. Became Overrun With Legal Marijuana

PBS News Hour – 10-15-09: Marijuana

Recently there was a 7500-word cover story in Fortune Magazine and a major piece in the Wall St Journal.

Even the FOX Business folks chimed in with an entire week of segments culminating in this editorial by Cheryl Casone:

Again, I don’t smoke the stuff, but I listen to those that do to ease pain, and I don’t have a problem with what they choose to do. In fact, marijuana is a plant that grows naturally. I’ve been trying to eat healthier foods and choose organic items. Is there that much of a difference between my choices and the choices of those who want to smoke a joint? Read full

Paul Armentano the deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws told me last Friday “We may be seeing a high-water mark this week for media covering this issue. They have covered pot for sure, but now the tone is certainly different.”

Prior to 2009, media were quick to give false facts and have classic reefer madness enter into their stories. But now there is a decidedly more pragmatic approach. Instead of covering the emotional side of the issue, they are looking at the real-life mechanics of cannabis reform taking place in America already. There is also not the deference shown by the media in the past toward opposition and law enforcement. Now it is the prohibition reform advocates who take center stage.

And why not? Two states are actively considering the legalization and regulation of recreational cannabis: California and Massachusetts. Thirteen states allow medical marijuana programs and 5 states have active medical marijuana legislation. The FBI Uniform Crime Report shows that almost 850,000 Americans were arrested in 2008 for marijuana violations, most for minor possession. Now there are even Stiletto Stoners in Marie-Claire and celebrities like Megan Fox boldly call for legalization.

The issues of marijuana law reform have compelling activity on the ground every day. And the media seems to have wised up that marijuana consumers are part of their audience too. In the ever-competitive world of blogs, print, tv and radio, marijuana remains a topic that most are interested to see.

The media may also have some big green dollar signs in their eyes. If the #1 Cash Crop in America were indeed legalized it is the media themselves who will benefit directly from marketing and advertising.

All of this action is not just at the state level. There are three federal pieces of legislation still active this year in Congress:

FEDERAL MARIJUANA BILLS

The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009

HR 2943, the Act to Remove Federal Penalties for Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults

HR2835 The Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act of 2009

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowski told us this year that he has yet to add ‘legalize’ to his vocabulary. Just in case there is not a Webster’s nearby on Capitol Hill:

Main Entry: le·gal·ize
Pronunciation: 'lE-g&-"lIz
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: -ized; -iz·ing
: to make legal; especially : to give legal validity or sanction to —le·gal·i·za·tion noun —le·gal·iz·er noun

NORML-NJ Asks Jay Leno for Apology

B0ard — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:27:50 +0000

Georgine DiMaria speaks at the NORML Freedom Forum 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NORML-NJ
www.normlnj.org
Working to reform Marijuana Laws in the Garden State

WHAT: Jay Leno vs. Miss New Jersey 2006 Georgine DiMaria on Medical Marijuana
CONTACT: Chris Goldstein director (at) normlnj.org

NORML-NJ Asks Jay Leno for Apology

On the Oct 22 episode of the Jay Leno Show the iconic host mentions NORML-NJ Board member Georgine DiMaria in the opening monologue.

Jay Leno- “Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker reports this week that the 2006 Miss NJ winner Georgine DiMaria – Miss New Jersey- She uses medical marijuana to treat asthma. Smoking to treat asthma really? Isn’t that like eating at Taco Bell to control your diarrhea? Let me tell you something, you know If Miss New Jersey wants to help her breathing Move out of New Jersey.”
WATCH http://www.thejaylenoshow.com/video/episodes/#vid=1169189

Georgine DiMaria is Miss New Jersey 2006 and serves on the Board of Directors at NORML-NJ, the local chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

In April of this year, Georgi revealed for the first time publicly her personal experience with medical cannabis to treat asthma though vaporization.

Washington post columnist Kathleen Parker mentions that fact in her article this week: A woman’s crusade to legalize marijuana READ HERE

While pleased at the mention in the Jay Leno Show there were a number of inaccuracies contained in the short joke. NORML-NJ is asking that an apology be issued to Ms. DiMaria by NBC Universal, the Jay Leno Show and Mr. Leno himself.

Georgine issued a full statement today. “Even though Mr. Leno’s remarks were misinformed about my personal use and took a tiresome shot at New Jersey’s air quality it’s another indication of just how mainstream medical cannabis has become. The whole reason I originally went public with my medical marijuana experience is to advocate for the compassionate use of marijuana and our rights, as patients, to feel healthy.” READ FULL STATEMENT

Georgine does not advocate personally for smoking medical cannabis. She has found that the most beneficial and effective way to ingest medical marijuana is through vaporization, which has served as her method of treatment.

Frederic DiMaria, Jr., Esq., Chairman of NORML-NJ said today, “As a practicing criminal defense attorney, every day I am forced to witness the arrest, vicious prosecution and jailing of countless sick and dying New Jerseans for doing nothing more egregious than turning to the enormous medicinal benefits of natural marijuana for relief. Unfortunately, not even Jay can make that fact funny.”

NORML’s national office in Washington DC issued the following statements about Leno’s remarks.

NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano, “To the uninformed and the non-afflicted the medicinal use of marijuana as a bronchodilator may sound humorous, but to those stricken with asthma the issue is no laughing matter. Even a cursory reference of the scientific literature will reveal that marijuana inhalation has historically been used as an asthma remedy, as the compounds in cannabis open the airways rather than constrict them. This effect is just the opposite of that experienced by those who inhale tobacco. A key word search on the site Pubmed using the terms “marijuana” and “asthma” reveals over 60 references in the scientific literature on the subject, among them: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1099949

Effects of smoked marijuana in experimentally induced asthma:
After methacholine-induced bronchospasm, placebo marijuana and saline inhalation produced minimal changes in specific airway conductance and thoracic gas volume, whereas 2.0 per cent marijuana and isoproterenol each caused a prompt correction of the bronchospasm and associated hyperinflation.

Jay Leno should stick to the subject he knows best: comedy, and leave the medical discussions to the experts — physicians and their patients.”

NORML’s National Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said, “Ironically, the use of medical cannabis for asthma, and other respiratory conditions, are some of the oldest reported uses of the drug for medicinal purposes, and the subject of numerous scientific papers going back to the late 1880s.”

NORML-NJ Executive Director Chris Goldstein welcomed the attention to the medical marijuana legislation moving ahead in New Jersey. “Medical cannabis is a serious issue and patients may soon have legal protections for their use of cannabis therapy. We need to pass our bill this year.”

More about NORML-NJ at www.normlnj.org

More about medical marijuana in NJ at www.cmmnj.org

CONTACT: Chris Goldstein director (at) normlnj.org

Georgine DiMaria-Jay Leno Response

B0ard — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:20:11 +0000

10/23/2009

Georgine DiMaria-Jay Leno Response

While I am thrilled that Mr. Leno took notice of my use of cannabis therapy, his facts about my personal usage of medical marijuana and comments about marijuana, in general, are both naive and false.

Hopefully, correcting this misinformation can be an opportunity to further advocate the strong benefit of medical marijuana and the grave importance of marijuana reform here in my home state of New Jersey.

As a life-long severe asthmatic, living with a debilitating disease and staring death in the face almost every day of my twenty-five years, I know firsthand how important finding a miracle drug can be. Finally, after years of constant suffering, I have found that miracle in marijuana, yet I am denied access to my lifesaver due to its illegality and a general lack of knowledge about marijuana as a medicinal substance. Used responsibly
in its purest form through either vaporization or ingestion, marijuana has saved my life numerous times, and has the potential to do just that for so many others.

Contrary to the implication in Mr. Leno’s “joke,” I have opposed and continue to oppose smoking in any capacity, as I am a National Spokesperson for the American Lung Association for Asthma and Tobacco Control, and I feel that smoking in any case, is negative for one’s health. The most beneficial and effective way I have found to ingest medical marijuana is through vaporization, which has served as my method of treatment.

Even though Mr. Leno’s remarks about my personal use were seriously misinformed , and while he took a tiresome shot at New Jersey’s air quality, his comments are positive in that they are yet another indication of just how mainstream medical cannabis has become. The whole reason I originally went public with my medical marijuana experience is to advocate for the compassionate use of marijuana and our rights, as patients, to be and feel healthy.

Jay utilized the provocative nature of an asthmatic using marijuana as the *crux of his joke last night, but this matter is no laughing one and has now become so much larger than just a medicinal/health issue*: it is a matter of personal autonomy and liberty.

It is a cruel tease to have breathed freely due to marijuana’s positive and scientifically well-documented bronchodilation effects, only to then have that ability stripped away from me because I do not have legal access to the medication. Hopefully the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act will pass this year in 2009 and provide us all with relief. *However, because cannabis is not legally available to me, I have not even come close to overcoming the disease and I continue to struggle with the crippling effects of asthma. Instead I use deadly steroids on a daily basis.

These drugs I pump into my body, whether orally, through injection, or inhalation, are extremely harmful. While they have absolutely no longterm positive effect on my health and breathing, I have become chemically dependent on them . They have made me even more ill than before, raising my chances of death each day I continue to take them.

However, marijuana, the drug that I know for a fact will help me breathe–a drug that has never been associated with even one overdose or death -is at the tip of my fingers yet completely out of reach. It is unfortunate that I may not survive because I have no legal access to cannabis. Even more sadly, I am just one of millions of patients being denied their miracle, and we will all continue to fight death and the destruction of our quality of life unless we end prohibition.

*In the Washington Post article by Kathleen Parker that sparked Jay Leno’s comment, we are reminded that it was women who led the movement toward ending alcohol prohibition. I believe Ms. Parker is right when suggesting that women may lead “the next revolution in personal autonomy.”

*Women can be the most powerful source in breaking the stereotypes and stigmas associated with marijuana use. This is the perfect opportunity for more women like me to break the silence and come out in support of sensible marijuana reform rather than unnecessarily hiding in fear. I believe we can and will be the driving force to end this fight and begin saving lives.

So thank you again, Mr. Leno, for taking notice and allowing me to “Stone the Stigma,” once and for all!

CONTACT: director (at) normlnj.org

NORML Petition/Contact Rally Thanks President

B0ard — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:44:36 +0000

TAKE ACTION!

10/20/09 – Chris Goldstein NORML-NJ Executive Director director (at) normlnj.org

National NORML has an online petition available to communicate our support for the new Department of Justice memo on medical marijuana.

This is a tangible shift in White House policy on the topic and will help efforts to pass the medical marijuana bill here in New Jersey.

Please take a moment to participate online -

http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=14205391

While you’re at it, take a moment to contact your NJ elected officials about reform in the Garden State!

http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=12767456&type=ST

NORML NEW JERSEY OPEN MEETING IN NORTH JERSEY!!

B0ard — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:05:17 +0000

WHEN: October 20, 2009 at 7:00pm

WHERE: Dog House Saloon
270 Pascack Road
Washington Township, NJ 07676

Agenda: Rally Support for Bill S-119 and A-804, New Jersey’s Medical Marijuana Compassionate Use Act.
Contact Your Legislators.
Organize Volunteers and share information.
Recruitment of Members.

Please come to our meeting and learn how you can be apart of ending marijuana prohibition in New Jersey!!!

GUESTS MAY NOT BUY, SELL, EXCHANGE OR USE MARIJUANA AT THIS MEETING. NO MARIJUANA IS PERMITTED ON THE PROPERTY.

NORMLNJ June meeting

NORML-NJ Board Member Gets Medi-Pot Into Governor Debate

B0ard — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:44:50 +0000

10/8/2009 – NORML-NJ Executive Director

Last week New Jersey Network’s NJN News took their cameras to the street looking for questions to pose to the candidates for Governor. Rick Cusick, a NORML-NJ Board Member and the Associate Publisher of High Times Magazine, took the opportunity to ask the candidates their view on medical marijuana.

The question ended up being posed directly to Democrat Jon Corzine, Republican Chris Christie and Independent Chris Daggett. Video of Rick was shown during the first televised debate of the 2009 election on NJN. All three supported medical cannabis access. The surprise was Republican Christie, who in the past had criticized any concept of medical marijuana.

Candidates on medical marijuana

The media picked up on the candidates’ answers to the issue from The New York Times to network television news.

The Newark Star-Ledger printed the transcript of those answers today http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/nj_gubernatorial_candidates_ad_1.html

Corzine: “I’d sign that legislation. I want to make sure, as it goes through the Assembly, that it has the right constraints on it but I think we’re in the zone. I need to actually run through it with my counsel, all of the alternatives, but I think we’re close. I think we ought to move to this quickly. I think the people who would benefit from it, we would want to get to that sooner rather than later. I don’t think this, in any way, should be allowed to be a back-door access to recreational marijuana and we’ll make sure any bill that comes to my desk that gets my signature, we’re secure in that.”

Christie: “I do think that we can do a little bit better on the restrictions. I do favor allowing folks who have serious illnesses — in a restricted number of illnesses — to have medical marijuana to alleviate suffering. I do want to make sure that we don’t have what’s gone on in California, where you have marijuana shops all over the place and people who are not really using it for serious illnesses. The current legislation, I think, is still a little bit weak on restrictions. I’d want to see it tightened up a little bit, but assuming that we could do that I would support it. I would take an active part in trying to make it the best bill we could so that I’d be able to sign it. It’s something that I would like to have be available to people who have significant pain and suffering issues connected with tragic illness.”

Daggett: “I don’t know all the details of the bill. I generally support the use of marijuana for medical purposes as long as it can be done in a way that targets its use by the intended patient and has adequate safeguards against misuse or illegal use. I would be willing to consider being actively involved but I tend to also agree in the separation of various parts of the government. The Legislature will likely want to put its stamp on it in its own way and we need to let that process have its own course.”

NORML-NJ’s Board and volunteers would like to thank Rick for making medical marijuana a priority in the debate! This was a great example of how effective speaking up can be for the vital issues of marijuana reform.

NORML would also like to point out to the candidates that The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act would already be the most conservative marijuana program in the United States. The restrictions already included into the bill far exceed anything that exists in the 13 states that already allow for safe cannabis access.

Though some work still needs to be done, there is nothing more sensible than passing the medical marijuana bill in 2009.

Rick Cusick will be speaking on behalf of NORML-NJ at Rutgers University New Brunswick on October 19^th. More information is available at www.normlnj.org .

NORML-NJ will be having an open public meeting on October 20^th at 7:00PM. We will gather at the Dog House Saloon 270 Pascack Road Washington Township, NJ 07676.

Medical marijuana information and how NORML volunteers can support the local effort will be the lead topic at the meeting.

For more information please contact NORML-NJ director@normlnj.org www.normlnj.org

NORML-NJ on Stage at Boston Freedom Rally

B0ard — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:18:19 +0000

Georgine DiMaria represents NORML-NJ on stage at the Boston Freedom Rally 9/19/09

NORML-NJ has been going around the country building support and raising awareness for marijuana law reform in the Garden State. Georgine DiMaria is a former Miss New Jersey and on the Board of Directors at NORML-NJ. Georgi spoke about the medical marijuana effort here and was cheered by the crowd. The following is a blog I posted about the event.

Boston: 30,000 smoke pot, celebrate decrim

9/20/2009 - Chris Goldstein

An estimated 30,000 people were crowded onto the Boston Common at the peak moment of the 20th annual Boston Freedom Rally on September 19th 2009.

That moment was 4:20PM ET.

The thousands celebrated freely under a landmark victory for cannabis prohibition reform. In 2008 Massachusetts decriminalized marijuana possession of less than 1/4 ounce by adults with a Ballot Initiative, Proposition 2. That means you can only get a NON-criminal ticket with a $100 fine for a pot violation. The decrim effort was won because of the hard work of the very same folks who organize the rally: MASSCANN/NORML.

A Parks Services officer (who strangely had a thick eastern European accent) agreed that 30,000 seemed a likely estimate of the peak attendance.

A police officer, who did not wish to be named, said the department does not officially release crowd estimates for any event. But Boston Police confirmed that there were 3 arrests for distribution and over 100 citations issued for marijuana possession.

Keith Saunders, MASSCANN’s president, told me that over 50,000 people had probably walked through the grounds over the course of the day and encountered the message of marijuana legalization.

Overall, the police were civil although I saw numerous random searches and heard stories of many more. At past events there have been more than 150 arrests for pot possession… but not on Saturday. Without fear of arrest the crowd was polite and almost everyone I saw was openly enjoying marijuana.

An impressive line-up of bands and speakers appeared on two stages. Styles P, a big time reform supporter showed up and did a surprise set thanks to High Times Magazine. Because of some juggling to accommodate the last minute act, the countdown to 4:20 got squeezed. A sea of people were gathering before the main stage and filling in the large hill.

Steve Bloom of CelebStoner corralled the final 60 seconds, holding a clock up opn stage and pointing as the hands came together. Looking out from that stage you could see huge clouds of smoke rise up from the crowd. There were dozens of spontaneous circles formed in a surreal organic collage of people. They cheered from across the rolling hills of the Common as giant 6-foot long joints were passed around.

Everyone smoked. There really was a quite visible haze over the entire crowd at 4:20. The sweet and fragrant odors of a wide variety of plant strains and hash drifted by offering this interesting quilt of cannabis.

The crowd was extremely well behaved. There cannot be a finer exhibition of the positive effects of human cannabis smoking than large crowds of people doing it together. Without alcohol available at the event there were no fights, pushing or shoving. But with free cannabis consumption there was dancing, conversation and a genuinely happy atmosphere.

Personally, this was the most wonderful day for prohibition reform I have witnessed.

Our country deserves this freedom that Massachusetts already enjoys.

I have seen Victory for Cannabis in Boston. It is sweet and green. It needs to be nationwide.

The first two pics were from my cellphone, this last one is from Derek at PhillyNORML. I’ll have some more blogging about the bands, speakers, backstage and social events from the Boston Freedom Rally.

CNN Declares Marijuana Legal

B0ard — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:59:18 +0000

Irv Rosenfeld lights federally supplied medical cannabis at the NORML conference in 2007. Photo c/o NORML

CNN Declares Marijuana Legal

9/14/09 – Chris Goldstein NORML-NJ Executive Director

In one of the best pieces of recent mainstream journalism on the reality of cannabis in America, CNN uses a bold title:

How Marijuana Became Legal

This title is true in the context of the story: The California Medical Marijuana Industry.

Originally for Fortune Magazine this extensive piece of writing on the part of Roger Parloff carefully looks at the somewhat quiet success of this new business model and health service. It also looks at the history of medical cannabis use in America, which is a fascinating topic.

He interviews Irvin Rosenfeld, one of the four federal medical marijuana patients. Irv has been helping us in the effort to pass HB 1393 in Pennsylvania. He is a most wonderful person and personality who has been very outspoken about reform.

Steve DeAngelo of Harborside Health Services also is featured, he runs perhaps the largest marijuana service in California.

Next week I’ll be joining Steve and hundreds of advocates at the National NORML conference in San Francisco. Harborside is also a conference sponsor.

This weekend the Boston Freedom Rally will see 15,000 people gather to support reform. www.bostonfreedomrally.com NORML-NJ will be there along with PhillyNORML.

It’s time to give our attention and energy to this vital social issue. Marijuana Legalization represents nothing less than a full bailout of our society at a moment when we need it most (taxes, jobs, health and wellness, relief to public safety budgets etc).

2009 marks the year of modern marijuana becoming fully mainstream in the United States. This year will be an important milestone on what is becoming a shorter road to an end of cannabis prohibition.

CNN and Fortune have declared pot is legal : It’s time to make that a reality everywhere in this great country.

WHAT YOU CAN DO-

Joining and supporting NORML-NJ is an excellet step towards reform!

To help the medical marijuana effort in please visit the Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey at www.cmmnj.org

Full CNN link
http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/11/magazines/fortune/medical_marijuana_legalizing.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009091116

Boston Freedom Rally 2009

NORML conference 2009 poster