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Posted by Gary Storck
Friday, March 5, 2010

Here is the latest event to help pass the JRMMA. Please join us, wherever you may be all day on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 and pray for compassion and the passage of the JRMMA.

Hi All, Oakland County NORML will hold it's next meeting Monday evening at 6 pm on March the 15th at the Bloomfield Township Public Library. The library is located at 1099 Lone Pine Rd, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302. A map can be found here: http://www.oaklandnorml.org/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=15" target="_blank" title="http://www.oaklandnorml.org/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=15>http://www.oaklandnorml.org/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=15" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">Oakland NORML MAP PAGE I am still finalizing the agenda, but I wanted to give you as much notice as possible. Hopefully my announcement for the next meeting will be 4 weeks in advance with a reminder 2 weeks out and 1 week out as well. Let me know if you have any questions. I hope to see you all there, or at least as much as the room can possibly hold. As you may know the small room is free for us at the Bloomfield Township public library, but the big one costs $100 per night, so we don't reserve it unless we are expecting an unusually large crowd. Thanks, Neil

A tune sent in by one of you awesome stashers.  The group and name of the tune is Wombaticus Rex – Winter in Space.  Thank you for making the search easy.  Very appreciated.

This is a GREAT hip-hop tune that has its roots planted deep in old school rhymes.  Just a beat and a voice is all some people need to tell a complete story, and paint the most vivid picture that can be imagined by those who don’t stand in their shoes.  That’s what I love about hip-hop.  The storytellers, and the magical way they bring into view their surrounding world.

I don’t know too much about Wombaticus Rex, but what I found online was the 3 man group was founded in ‘99 with the release of an album to Canada, and they are from Vermont.  You can pick up a free track of their music on their website WombaticusRex.bandcamp.com.  Good times, good music.

Download link: Secret Stash - Register to access

Download audio file (Wombaticus%20Rex%20-%20Winter%20in%20Space.mp3)

I’m pleased to announce the formation of two new NORML Chapters. Northern Californians can now join NorCal NORML, which has been meeting in Anderson, California. Michigan continues to thrive with the formation of Schoolcraft County NORML, one of the dozens of counties represented by chapters of Michigan NORML.

Contact information as it becomes available will be posted at http://norml.org/chapters.

​Host John Stossel will take a look at the effects of prohibition during part of his Fox Business Network show, Stossel, Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern time."In part of my show tonight, I'll talk about how laws against prostitution, organ selling, and drug use hurt more people than prostitution, organ selling, and drug use do," Stossel wrote Thursday.Stossel notes that the first argument against legalizing drugs is usually "Then more kids will abuse drugs!""But there's little evidence for that," Stossel points out. "The Netherlands has officially 'tolerated' marijuana for 30 years. So is there violent marijuana crime? No. Fewer young people in Holland smoke marijuana than do Americans. Legalization took the mystique away. A Dutch minister of health said, 'We've succeeded in making pot... boring.' " Continue reading "Stossel To Look At Drug Prohibition Thursday Night" >

​Residents of Laguna Woods Village retirement community have a new club to promote education on medical marijuana.The Village Cannabis Club was started by Lonnie Painter, who also directs Laguna Woods for Medical Cannabis, a 100-member patient collective centered in the community, reports Claire Webb of The Orange County Register.The main difference between the Village Cannabis Club and the patients' collective is that any resident can be a member of the club regardless of medical status, while the collective requires members to have a doctor's permission to use marijuana for medical purposes."We want the collective to be able to have a low profile," Painter said.According to Painter, the club will be a way for anyone to participate and learn more about medical cannabis.Painter said the first meeting of the Village Cannabis Club, at which officers will be elected, will take place this month. The medical marijuana club will join more than 250 other clubs in Laguna Woods Village.The club will provide residents with information on laws regarding medical marijuana, therapeutic effects of the herb, and the latest research. Continue reading "Old Folks Set Up Medical Marijuana Club In Retirement Community" >

Download Link: Secret Stash - Register to access

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2010-03-04.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

1. St. Louis doctor reports severe reactions among over 30 teens who used the “K2″
2. Barry Cooper from “Never Get Busted Again” gets busted again
3. Rhode Island introduces legislation to legalize adult use of cannabis

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by John Doe Radio.com

• Groovin’ Thursday: Wombaticus Rex – “Winter in Space”

Southern California Scene with Tere Joyce

• Jeffrey Petersen from “The Dopest Show on Earth”

Government at Work

• Matt Simon from NH Common Sense on decriminalization bill

​Alabama is the last state many would expect to legalize medical marijuana; after all, the Heart of Dixie isn't exactly known for its liberal ways.But one determined group of Southerners there exemplifies the rebel stubbornness for which the state is famous -- by refusing to give up their fight for the safe, legal, medicinal use of cannabis.The brave efforts of Alabamians for Compassionate Care (ACC), ably led by legendary libertarian and former gubernatorial candidate Loretta Nall, have arguably made the state a good bet to be the first former member of the Confederacy to get a medical marijuana law.For the past several years in a row, ACC has, against all odds, gotten a bill onto the floor of the Alabama Legislature, and 2010 is no exception. House Bill 642, the Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act is expected to come before the House Judiciary Committee later this month.Toke of the Town got a chance to chat with Nall about the state of medical marijuana in Alabama. Continue reading "Determined In Dixie: 'Medical Marijuana By 2012 In Alabama'" >

​The fight around CBS's initial refusal to run a pro-legalization ad from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) ended in victory Wednesday afternoon, reports Te-Ping Chen at Change.org.Last month, CBS denied NORML's request to place an ad in Times Square that featured the potential billions of dollars in tax revenue that would result from legalizing marijuana.Remember, this is the network that runs stoner-friendly ads for their Showtime Network show, Weeds. CBS is also the network that had no problem running an extremely controversial anti-abortion ad aimed at peak viewership during the Super Bowl. Continue reading "CBS Reverses Decision; Accepts NORML Marijuana Legalization Ad" >

​Looking to make that perfect tee shirt statement? Want to let the world know that you are in favor of the legalization of marijuana? Say It Phree Tees can help you out.The online shop has a whole line of "420 Phriendly" designs. Styles from the attractive "Pot IS Medicine" caduceus design (pictured at right) to The Original Green Man (perfect for that hard-to-buy-for Pagan on your gift list) is available.Everyone from experienced ganja gurus to the greenest n00b is showing their allegiance to "Mother Nature's Greatest Gift" with these stylin' tees.And while you're rockin' your sartorial splendor, you'll also be helping a good cause. Say It Phree donates $1.00 from each tee shirt sold to support the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)."This includes every tee that we sell, not just our 420 Phriendly line," said the Say It Phree guy himself, Dylon Whyte. Continue reading "Say It Phree: Stoned Is The Way Of The Shirt" >

A 2008 study by the RAND Corporation showed that 20 percent of soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD. Despite widespread evidence showing medical marijuana to be a safe and effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs forbids all VA doctors from recommending medical marijuana to veterans.

Branch County Compassion Club first meeting on

Time: March 7, 2010 from 2pm to 4pm
Location: "Los Tequilas"
Street: 32 Railroad St.
City/Town: Coldwater MI 49036
Website or Map: http://maps.google.com/places…
Event Type: compassion, club
Organized By: Branch County CC

read more

Last Friday, Feb. 26, the Maryland House Judiciary and Health and Government Committees held a public hearing on a bill that would allow chronically ill patients to have safe access to medical marijuana with their doctor’s recommendation. Dozens of witnesses—including physicians, patients, and former law enforcement officials—testified in favor of the bill, and no one testified in opposition.

It does beg the question... should you buy a "Never Get Busted" video from a guy who just got busted?

(Odessa American) The former Odessa narcotics agent and producer of the promotional video series “Never Get Busted” was jailed Tuesday on multiple charges — including possession of marijuana — while conducting one of his notorious hoaxes on police in Florence, Texas, authorities said.

Williamson County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. John Foster said Cooper recently called in a suspicious package on the campus of the Florence Middle School. Foster said the package contained “a glass pipe that is normally used to smoke crack cocaine.”

“Apparently, he was doing this to test us,” Foster said. “When you do something like this on a school grounds, even though it’s after school hours … I’m sure the parents and faculty would probably have been quite alarmed to find a crack pipe on their campus.”

Foster said the officers were being filmed but did not know it at the time. Cooper was jailed on charges of filing a false report, a misdemeanor. Travis County authorities searched his house shortly after the arrest and reportedly located a small amount of marijuana, Foster said. Cooper also was charged with one count of misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Say the name “Barry Cooper” in marijuana law reform circles and you’ll get a panoply of responses.  Civil liberties champions cringe at Barry’s advice to “go ahead and let cops search your car” if you’ve followed his advice on proper smuggling of cannabis (I’m one of them – never surrender willingly your 4th and 5th Amendment rights!)  But those same champions have to applaud his explanation of the fallacy of drug-detecting dogs as reliable unbiased tools, especially since he had first-hand experience training and handling these “K9 units”.

Marijuana consumers who’ve been the victim of corrupt lazy cops cheer when he sets up his famous “KopBusters” stings that prove what many of us have claimed about police malfeasance in drug cases.  But others note that taking police away from real police work, even for the purposes of a sting, potentially endangers the victim of a real crime by misusing police manpower.  It’s even more disturbing when the sting is taking place on public school property and involves hard drug paraphernalia.

This K2 will only hurt you if you try to climb it.

ST. LOUIS (St. Louis University) – In the last month, Anthony Scalzo, M.D., professor of toxicology at Saint Louis University, has seen nearly 30 cases involving teenagers who were experiencing hallucinations, severe agitation, elevated heart rate and blood pressure, vomiting and, in some cases, tremors and seizures. All of these teens had smoked a dangerous, yet legal substance known as K2 or “fake weed.”

According to Scalzo, K2, an unregulated mixture of dried herbs, is growing in popularity because it is legal, purported to give a high similar to marijuana and believed to be natural and therefore safe.

“K2 may be a mixture of herbal and spice plant products, but it is sprayed with a potent psychotropic drug and likely contaminated with an unknown toxic substance that is causing many adverse effects. These toxic chemicals are neither natural nor safe,” said Scalzo, who also directs the Missouri Regional Poison Control Center at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center.

What makes K2 so dangerous? Further testing is needed, but Scalzo says the symptoms, such as fast heart beat, dangerously elevated blood pressure, pale skin and vomiting suggest that K2 is affecting the cardiovascular system of users. It also is believed to affect the central nervous system, causing severe, potentially life-threatening hallucinations and, in some cases, seizures.

While JWH 018, a synthetic man-made drug, similar to cannabis, may be responsible for the hallucinations, Scalzo suspects that there is another unknown toxic chemical being sprayed on K2.

Do you really, really want to stop people from smoking K2?  Legalize cannabis.  Only prohibition could create a system where people are so desperate for access to a safe, effective, non-toxic natural relaxant that they’ll smoke a new, synthetic, untested substitute with no consistency of effect and control over the ingredients.

The other pressure leading people to K2 is employment pee testing, which detects a THC metabolite called THC-COOH.  Current tests do not detect metabolites of JWH-018 and it would be prohibitively expensive for drug testing companies to begin to do so.  Even if they did, JWH-018 is but one of many possible synthetic cannabinoids, so any attempt to police JWH-018 metabolites will just lead to an “arms race” where consumers keep trying newer, more exotic synthetic cannabinoids.

Posted by Gary storck
Thursday, March 4, 2010

Some days it seems as if the entire establishment in Wisconsin has united to suppress AB554/SB368, the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act. Little news about the bill has made state news outlets since the public hearing in December.

Did the Tiffany Network finally realize there's gold in them thar buds?

(Change.org) Last month, NORML reported that CBS had denied the group’s request to place an ad in Times Square that touted the potential billions in taxes that would result from legalizing marijuana. Remember, this is a network that boasts marijuana-infused advertisements for their Showtime Network show, Weeds. It’s also the network that was perfectly willing to air a controversial anti-abortion ad aimed at peak viewership during the Super Bowl. But still, somehow CBS decided that NORML’s message (“Legalize Marijuana – Billions in Taxes”) would ruffle the network’s too-delicate sensibilities.

In a Feb. 3 rejection email, NORML was told, “If CBS changes their morals we will let you know.”

Well, it turns out that a month later, the network has decided to stop censoring NORML’s message. This afternoon, our organizing director here at Change.org spoke with CBS’s communication vice president, Shannon Jacobs. Jacobs told us that the network “communicated to the people who wanted to place the ad that they will accept the ad if they still want to run it.”

Congratulations to NORML for winning this well-deserved turnaround — and thanks to all the Change.org readers who helped rout CBS’s decision.

Why do I feel like Lucy just told me that this time she swears she won’t pull away the football when I try to kick it?

We’ll keep you posted on whether and when we get the ad (below) on the CBS Super Billboard in Times Square.  See, when we first were approached on this in January, we had to scramble to raise the thousands necessary to pay for the ad.  Once the ad was scrapped, some of the donors requested their money back and some of the others insisted it be plowed back into other NORML projects.  We’re not like a huge corporation that has millions of unbudgeted dollars lying around and we’re not supported by a billionaire who can just cut a five-figure check on a whim.  All our funds come from the small and medium donations from regular cannabis consumers and supporters like you.

But we know how badly you all want to see that ad on the 26′ x 20′ electronic billboard in Times Square.  We’ll find a way to make it happen.

Click here to view the embedded video.

House lawmakers today for the first time introduced legislation that seeks to legalize the production, distribution, and personal use of marijuana for adults age 21 and older.

As introduced, House Bill 7838: The Taxation and Regulation of Marijuana Act, would exempt adults from any statewide criminal or civil penalty for the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana, the not-for-profit transfer of small amounts of marijuana, and/or the cultivation of up to three marijuana plants.

The proposal also establishes licensing requirements for the commercial cultivation and distribution of marijuana via retail facilities. The measure states that “at least one” marijuana retailer shall exist per county within one year following the passage of this act. Licensed commercial producers will be imposed a $50 per ounce excise tax under the measure.

Full text of this legislation is available here.

House Bill 7838 has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.   For your convenience, pre-written letters will be e-mailed to your member of the House when you enter your contact information below.   Thank you for supporting NORML’s marijuana law reform efforts in Rhode Island.

View post:
Rhode Island Lawmakers Introduce States First Ever Marijuana Legalization Bill

On Friday, February 26, Senate lawmakers passed Senate Bill 2450, an act to reclassify the possession of minor amounts of marijuana from a misdemeanor to a civil offense.

This measure would reduce penalties for the adult possession of up to one ounce of marijuana from a criminal misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine to a civil offense punishable by a $300 fine for first-time offenders.

The bill passed unopposed in the Senate. You can read NORML’s written testimony in support of this measure here. The measure now awaits action from the House.

Otherwise law-abiding citizens who smoke marijuana responsibly are not part of the crime problem, and we must stop treating them like criminals. Please take a moment today to contact your House member and urge him or her to support SB 2450. For your convenience, a pre-written letter will be e-mailed to your state representative when you enter your contact information below.

Thank you for supporting NORML’s marijuana law reform efforts in Hawaii.

Continue reading here:
BREAKING NEWS: Senate Passes Marijuana Decriminalization Measure Unopposed

NORML’s mission is to move public opinion sufficiently to achieve the repeal of marijuana prohibition so that the responsible use of cannabis by adults is no longer subject to penalty.

Sometimes, it is time to say goodbye to former associates and seek out new ones. You have to decide. I, personally, have no problem cutting fellow cannabis consumers out of my life for attempting to cajole me into supporting anything less than the re-legalization of cannabis for responsible adult use. I include those who would repeatedly attempt to abridge my freedom of choice in the origin of the cannabis that I can afford to use with words to the effect of… you are supporting the slaughter of innocent people in Mexico by smoking Mexican brick weed.

On the other hand, those of us who have a large enough income to pay taxes are financially supporting, although against our will, the war on our own citizens resulting in imprisonment, loss of property or death of those who choose to use cannabis and a lifetime of trying to live a decent life with the stigma of an arrest record for the it’s use. Not only that, but we also financially support other wars which also results in the loss of innocent lives.  So, should we stop paying taxes also? I believe that the slaughter or imprisonment of the innocent for any reason is immoral and tragic. I also believe that innocent lives snuffed short because of the war on drugs will not be stopped by boycotting brick weed, but rather it will only be stopped by re-legalizing cannabis for responsible adult use.

I stand and fight for freedom of choice, the right to choose what I, or you, will put into our bodies or what not to put into our bodies. This freedom of choice includes the freedom to choose to smoke (once again my choice) cannabis I can afford and which is available to me. Once again, by re-legalizing cannabis the price of it will decrease so that I will be able to afford to purchase, or better, grow my own high quality stuff.

So, why do I smoke cannabis? The short and simple answer to that is this. I smoke cannabis because I enjoy the feeling of a cannabis high. The fact that it almost immediately stops the pain of a migraine, the pain of my degenerative disks, and stops the nightmares of PTSD so that I can enjoy restful sleep and live a happy and productive life is coincidental. The medical and psychological benefits of my cannabis use are a big bonus, but not the reason I use it.

Where do I stand on the medical marijuana issue? I will vote for the candidate who supports medical marijuana and will fill in my name and address on pre-written emails to my elected officials to urge them to support medical marijuana and if it were a matter of voting on the issue, I would vote for it.  I am boycotting Paypal, as well as Starbucks, for the cause of medical marijuana, and by doing so I have cut my own income by approximately 25% because I can no longer sell the Merriam turkey (a threatened species) eggs on Ebay, but when it comes down to writing my own thoughts, in my own words, with a hand written letter to those elected officials, or a protest, it is for the cause of the re-legalization of cannabis for responsible adult use. That is my goal.  It’s only NORML.

On the 17th of April I will mail out 6 postcards to my state and federal elected officials stating my support of re-legalization of cannabis for responsible adult use as I have since 2001. That will, in effect, support medical use as well as recreational use. If I only supported and acted for medical use, I would only be acting on behalf of a very small percentage of all cannabis consumers and leaving out the vast majority of users.

So, that is where I stand. Where do you stand? Do you stand for medical use, or the responsible use for adults? Do you stand for all cannabis consumers, or just yourself and a few others? Choose and act, but don’t try to change my mind or act against my freedom of choice. It will only result in ill feelings and frustration.