Oregon NORML

By Anna Song KATU News and KATU.com Staff

PORTLAND, Ore. - While state budgets in Oregon and Washington face gaping holes, advocates of legalizing marijuana say taxing pot can help fill those holes.

Madeline Martinez, Oregon’s executive director for NORML, the national organization that’s pushing to reform marijuana laws, says she sees a golden opportunity to convince people that legalizing marijuana could be a good thing after all.

“Why don’t we capture the revenue that’s just being lost to the criminal market in many regards and bring it to the people. We’re the ones who deserve it,” she says.

Her group estimates the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, if passed by voters, would generate $140 million a year in revenue, 90 percent of which would go to the state’s general fund. The rest would go primarily to drug abuse treatment programs, Martinez says.

She calls it “Cannicare” because “we would be using cannabis money to pay for health care,” she says.

Human from The Human Revolution and Tim Pate & Friends Scheduled to Perform

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By Hempstalk Staff

By Thomas Griffin for KVAL.com

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Cannabis Cafe opened on Nov. 13 at 4:20 p.m., Oregon’s first marijuana cafe.

People must register with the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program with a doctor’s approval in order to receive a medical marijuana card, and they must also be members of the Oregon chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, to get into the cafe.

There is a $20 monthly fee and a $5 cover charge as well.

The cafe is located in a historical building, which used to be a speakeasy and a ballroom, in a neighborhood in northeast Portland on Dekum Street.

The cafe is located in northeast Portland and shares a building with a second-hand store.

No marijuana is sold at the establishment. Various certified growers donate marijuana to the cafe. Patients can also bring in their own medicine. The cafe does not serve alcohol and serves a wide variety of soups, salads, burgers and paninis.

THE FUTURE IS OURS FOR THE MAKING

NORML’s Cannabis Café

By George Rohrbacher, NORML board of directors, medical marijuana patient

The first time I met Madeline Martinez, the executive director of Oregon NORML, she told me about her dream…a meeting place for medical marijuana patients, some space to hold classes, a very different vision of healthcare. I took a drive to Portland last week to see this dream come true; to Oregon NORML’s World Famous-Cannabis Café, a trip to a Future of our own making.

Set in an older blue-collar neighborhood in North East Portland, NORML’s Cannabis Café, occupies a building that was reputed to be a ‘speakeasy’ during Prohibition, alcohol Prohibition, that is. It includes a meeting/concert space upstairs for about 200+ people, in addition to the Café downstairs. Oregon NORML signed a lease this fall with the onsite restaurant operator and took over the business in November. NORML volunteers have been working there non-stop ever since, turning the building into the Cannabis Café. Its opening last month became a world-wide press event…apparently a lot more people than Madeline thought the NORML’s Cannabis Café was an idea whose time had come.

By Anna Diaz for Oregon NORML

The American Medical Association (AMA) voted in November 2009 to reverse its long held position that marijuana be retained as a Schedule I substance with no medical value. The AMA adopted a report drafted by its Council on Science and Public Health (CSAPH) entitled, "Use of Cannabis for Medicinal Purposes," which affirmed the therapeutic benefits of marijuana and called for further research.

The change of position by the largest physician-based group in the country was precipitated in part by a resolution adopted in June 2008 by the Medical Student Section (MSS) of the AMA in support of the reclassification of marijuana's status as a Schedule 1 substance.

"It's been 72 years since the AMA has officially recognized that marijuana has both already-demonstrated and future-promising medical utility," said Sunil Aggarwal, Ph.D., the medical student who spearheaded the passage of the June 2008 resolution by the MSS and was one of the CSAPH report's designated expert reviewers. "The AMA has written an extensive, well-documented, evidence bases report that they are seeking to publish in a peer-reviewed journal that will help to educate the medical community about the scientific basis of botanical cannabis-based medicines."

"I think that if the political and social movement groups and organizations that operate in this country today had the same kind of energetic commitment that the medical marijuana people have, many things could change in this country." John Trudell

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Staff

In early December, Artist-Activist John Trudell spoke at the 2009 Oregon NORML Medical Cannabis Awards Dinner in Portland, Oregon. In the last few years, Trudell has spoken at several Hemp and Cannabis events around the Portland Area, and has quickly become an inspirational voice for the legalization and advancement of the Cannabis plant.

Trudell's words to the Cannabis Awards audience centered around the ideas of non-cooperation, creative intelligence, and the power of energy, clarity and coherency in today's global reality. He expressed thoughtful insight on the topics of sustainability, grass roots organization and the Cannabis plant as earth medicine.

By Anna Diaz for Oregon NORML

John Walsh has been collecting signatures for the hemp and cannabis movement for twenty-five years, by his report. He can tell you exactly how many signatures he has collected for each and every initiative and ballot measure that relates to hemp or cannabis throughout that twenty-five year period.

Although his home is in Eugene, he travels the state, collecting signatures and registering Oregonians to vote like Johnny Appleseed planted trees. He is willing to camp out at festivals throughout the area, doing whatever it takes to gather enough signatures to further cannabis reform.

This year, he has surpassed many of his previous records by collecting the two thousand signatures needed to re-file the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act for 2010. In an amazingly short time, John worked tirelessly, pounding the pavement, traveling the state and setting up camp at Portland's Hempstalk. These signatures were turned in to the Oregon Secretary of State's office on September 21, 2009.

John, a lifetime member of Oregon NORML, advocates for all cannabis activist groups to work together. He brings that message to each and every signature gathering opportunity.

December 12, 2009

10am to 5pm: OMCA Holiday Bazaar and Cannabis Community College

6pm to 10pm: Awards Banquet & An Evening with John Trudell

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Place: Portland Event Center
300 NE Multnomah St.
Portland, OR 97232

* Celebrate your cannabis lifestyle with the only Green Bazaar in the area, perfect for all your holiday shopping needs.

* Top glass artists from around the state featuring one of a kind medical delivery devices.

THCF and Several NORML Chapters Join In

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By Paul Stanford and Michael Bachara, Hemp News Staff

By Tracy Loew, USA TODAY

PORTLAND, Ore. — At first glance, the Cannabis Cafe, in a former adult club called Rumpspankers, looks like any other coffee shop. Customers sip coffee while playing cards, working on computers, or sharing a meal.

But here, patrons also slip away to smoke joints and pipes in the back. And the cafe features a vapor bar, where customers can get the benefits of cannabis without the harmful carcinogens.

The Cannabis Cafe is the nation's first medical marijuana smoking lounge. It's all perfectly legal and, for cancer patient Albert Santistevan, it's about time.

"It's a very positive atmosphere. We could use more places like that," the 56-year-old former jewelry shop owner said.

A few weeks ago, Santistevan would have had no place to go. But with the Obama administration's decision last month to soften the federal stance on medical marijuana, the Cannabis Cafe and a lounge across town popped up early this month.

The first marijuana coffee shop in the US has opened, posing an early test of the Obama administration's move to relax the policing of medical use of the drug.

By Nick Allen, Telegraph

The Cannabis Cafe in Portland, Oregon, is the first to give people who have been prescribed marijuana by a doctor a place to get hold of the drug and smoke it.

The Cannabis Cafe in Portland, Oregon, is the first to give people who have been prescribed marijuana by a doctor a place to get hold of the drug and smoke it, although they have to remain out of public view.

Patients who have been prescribed marijuana usually have to buy it from a licensed dispensary and then take it elsewhere.

Eric Solomon, the owner of the cafe, said he is looking forward to holding marijuana-themed weddings, film festivals and dances.

"I still run a coffee shop and events venue, just like I did before we converted it to the Cannabis Cafe, but now it will be cannabis-themed," he said.

By Anne Saker, The Oregonian

Oregon opened another chapter in U.S. marijuana history when at 4:20 p.m. Friday, about three dozen people christened the nation's first cafe for licensed residents to sit down, sip coffee and smoke marijuana.

"Welcome to a place of our own," said Madeline Martinez, a leader in the state's medical marijuana movement and the leading force pushing to open the Cannabis Cafe in Portland. "Welcome to freedom."

Excited patrons spilled down the outside steps at 700 N.E. Dekum St. as the cafe prepared to open at the appointed hour -- "420" being slang for using marijuana. In line were military veterans, grandmothers, young workers, men and women, old and young, black, white and Latino.

Gordon Cederholm, 45, of Milwaukie has lived with HIV for 25 years and said he was skeptical about using marijuana as medicine when he got his Oregon card less than a year ago.

"At first, I thought: What does being a pothead have to do with it?'" he said. "I didn't know the benefits in marijuana. Now, I find that I'm a better person when I smoke."

Kris Koa, 57, a retired nurse from Gresham, rode the bus from home to see the cafe for herself. She has been using medical marijuana for fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis.

By Dan Cook, Reuters

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - The United States' first marijuana cafe opened on Friday, posing an early test of the Obama administration's move to relax policing of medical use of the drug.

The Cannabis Cafe in Portland, Oregon, is the first to give certified medical marijuana users a place to get hold of the drug and smoke it -- as long as they are out of public view -- despite a federal ban.

"This club represents personal freedom, finally, for our members," said Madeline Martinez, Oregon's executive director of NORML, a group pushing for marijuana legalization.

"Our plans go beyond serving food and marijuana," said Martinez. "We hope to have classes, seminars, even a Cannabis Community College, based here to help people learn about growing and other uses for cannabis."

The cafe -- in a two-story building which formerly housed a speak-easy and adult erotic club Rumpspankers -- is technically a private club, but is open to any Oregon residents who are NORML members and hold an official medical marijuana card.

Members pay $25 per month to use the 100-person capacity cafe. They don't buy marijuana, but get it free over the counter from "budtenders". Open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., it serves food but has no liquor license.

By Russ Belville, NORML Outreach Coordinator

Riding on the wave of President Obama’s memo to end DEA interference in states’ medical marijuana laws and an unprecedented response from the media, Oregon NORML’s Cannabis Café opens at 4:20pm on November 13, 2009 at 700 NE Dekum St, Portland, OR 97211.

“The response has been overwhelming,” says Madeline Martinez, Executive Director of Oregon NORML. “We are excited to be able to provide a safe place for patients to medicate that is out of public view within the guidelines of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act (OMMA).”

Many patients travel to Portland for medical care and treatment and have no place they can go to use their medicine during those often exhausting and intensive trips. “Do they go out into an alley and hide in the back of their car?” Martinez said. “There needs to be a place, much like our meetings, where people can socialize and network.”

In the week since the announcement of the café’s opening, stories have appeared in most major Oregon newspapers and television stations. Martinez appeared on OPB’s Think Out Loud talk show and attended the local neighborhood association meeting to reassure the public that the café will be operated at the highest of standards and strives to be a positive addition to the area.

By Anne Saker, The Oregonian

As of next week, Oregon's medical-marijuana patients will have two smoke-easies in Portland in which to medicate and socialize, the first such places in the country to open since the federal government indicated that it will no longer arrest or prosecute patients and suppliers.

On Nov. 13, the Cannabis Cafe will open on the first floor of 700 N.E. Dekum St., to be operated by the state's chapter of , the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Executive Director Madeline Martinez said the space has been a dream of hers for years.

"We're pretty danged excited about it," Martinez said.

The Cannabis Cafe will be the second public place for medical-marijuana patients to get together. On Oct. 1, Steve Geiger opened Highway 420, a small lounge at the back of his pipe shop at 6418 S.E. Foster Road.

"We've been kind of discreet about it. It's not something that we put out on a sign," Geiger said as he rang up customers Tuesday. "We've had great response in the neighborhood from people who are just happy they don't have to go all the way to 39th and Hawthorne" to buy pipes.

The pot lounges are the first of their kind in the nation, said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the national NORML. California has dispensaries where medical marijuana can be purchased, but only Oregon will have public places where people can socialize and use marijuana.

By Eric Taylor, KOIN

PORTLAND, Ore. - A café set to open next week in northeast Portland will be serving up more than your morning latte.

Café Rumpspankers (yep, that’s the name) will open next week serving coffee and sampling different types of marijuana for Oregon Medical Marijuana Cardholders to try.

Per state law, only members of Oregon’s Medical Marijuana Program are allowed in.

The Oregon chapter of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) will run the café which will open November 13th on Northeast Dekum.

The café will be the first of its kind in Oregon and will be similar to those found in Europe.

Source: http://www.koinlocal6.com/news/local/story/Cannabis-with-that-cappuccino...

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Medical marijuana users will soon have a new place to gather.

Oregon NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) is opening a new cannabis cafe in northeast Portland. It will be the first of its kind in the state and complies with the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act.

Members must be registered with the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program and additional membership fees will apply.

Organizers named the café Rumpspankers and it will be located on Northeast Dekum Street. The café plans to host classes and seminars for medical marijuana patients.

The grand opening is 4:20 p.m. on Nov. 13. From then on, it will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

By Elizabeth Lopatto, Bloomberg

Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Madeline Martinez is in constant pain from a disease that is destroying her joints and the discs in her back. Marijuana relieves her discomfort, she said, and the Obama administration has ended her worries that she may someday be jailed for using the drug.

Martinez, 58, of Portland, Oregon, had previously been given Abbott Laboratories’ Vicodin and codeine for her pain. Use of those drugs led to stomach problems, and now she takes marijuana prescribed for her by a doctor. Medicinal marijuana is legal in Oregon, one of 14 states to allow so-called compassionate-care use.

The U.S. Department of Justice yesterday advised federal prosecutors not to seek criminal charges against those who use medical marijuana in accordance with state laws, reversing a Bush administration approach. Along with chronic pain, the American College of Physicians, the second-largest U.S. doctors group, has said marijuana can be used to treat glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and nausea.

“Having disabled people jailed for no reason, that’s terrifying,” said Martinez, who mostly uses a tincture of the drug rather than smoking it. “As a medical marijuana patient, it’s always good to have some stress and anxiety alleviated.”

"It took courageous people to stand up and question the prohibition against alcohol." Rick Steves, Marijuana Conversation

By D. Paul Stanford & Michael Bachara, Hemp News Staff

Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp (CRRH) and Oregon NORML have finished gathering the 1000 sponsorship signatures needed for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2010 (OCTA) & Oregon Cannabis Tolerance Act 2010 (OCTA Light) petitions. These were turned in to the Oregon Secretary of State's office on September 21, 2009. We are currently waiting for official ballot titles from the state and should have them in the next few weeks. After polling, we will begin circulating one of the petitions across Oregon. We will need 100,000 valid signatures by July, 2, 2010 to qualify for the November 2010 election.

Activists had previously filed OCTA in 2008, but withdrew it when polling showed antipathy about the previous version placing cannabis sales in existing state liquor stores. Activists went back to the drawing board and came up with two versions.

By Madeline Martinez for Hemp News

PORTLAND - A compelling mix of upbeat music, a cannabis law reform message and a focus on industrial hemp as the answer to many of our practical needs, the fifth annual Portland Hempstalk is set for 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, September 12th and 13th at Kelley Point Park, located at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers.

Co-sponsored by The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, Oregon NORML and Oregonians for Cannabis Reform, the event is free to attendees of all ages. With more than 15,000 people expected to attend, it will wrap up the summer festival season with a bang.

Confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers - Exit 307 off I-5

For more information about Hempstalk:

http://www.hempstalk.org
http://www.myspace.com/hempstalk
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Portland-Oregon/Hempstalk/66607353753

By Ms Sylence Dogood, Hemp News Staff

Members of Oregon NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) and THCF (The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation) worked together recently, contributing to Oregon’s community outreach program Adopt-a-Highway.

Taking on the 2.5 mile stretch of Oregon Highway 26 in Gresham, from the intersection at Burnside and Powell to Stone Road, the group of volunteers cleaned up litter of all kinds, and bagged it for proper disposal.

Groups who participate in the Adopt-a-Highway cleanup program are recognized by their name displayed on signage marking their designated stretch of road. Oregon NORML now graces two signs on Highway 26, and believes this is just another step in achieving a closer connection to their community.

“Participation in the Adopt-a-Highway program gives us a great feeling of accomplishment,” said one of the Oregon NORML community outreach team members. “We hope that this inspires others in our area to continue good work in their own neighborhoods by not only cleaning up streets, but changing attitudes and defeating stereotypes. We do this because we care about our state.”

Oregon's largest city joins the state's third largest, in officially getting behind state laws on medical marijuana.

Oregon NORML Executive Director Madeline Martinez met with Portland Mayor Sam Adams to receive his signature on a proclamation by the City of Portland that May is Medical Marijuana Awareness Month. ( Download PDF ) This proclamation follows an earlier one by Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy proclaiming Medical Marijuana Awareness Week in that city.

The event was recorded by NBC affiliate KGW for the evening news broadcast. Reporters spoke with Madeline about the proclamation.

The Oregon Medical Marijuana Program is now closing in on 25,000 patients, plus caregivers and growers, who are not threatened by imprisonment for helping people treat themselves with "the safest therapeutically active substance known to man"*.

By Russ Belville, National Outreach Coordinator, NORML

The Oregon Medical Marijuana Program

The Gold Standard of Government Programs

Full Presentation and Data Links: http://ornorml.org/data

Source: http://www.ornorml.org/data/OMMP/OMMP%20-%20The%20Gold%20Standard%20of%2...

By Kimberly A.C. Wilson, The Oregonian

Advocates for medical marijuana have a friend in Eugene's city hall, according to today's Register Guard.

That would be Mayor Kitty Piercy, who will attend the Global Marijuana March rally Saturday at the old Federal Building at Seventh Avenue and Pearl Street.

Pro-pot Web sites are buzzing about Piercy's upcoming appearance at the event -- as well as her decision to issue a formal proclamation marking today through May 6 as "Medical Marijuana Awareness Week" in Eugene.

"Eugene has always been a place for -- for lack of a better word -- marijuana enlightenment," said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, based in Washington, D.C.

"But for a sitting mayor to come out and be this public about it is really rare," St. Pierre said. "Not many of her peers are coming to events about reform."

But Price's appearance at Saturday's rally shouldn't be seen as an endorsement of legalizing pot for all, she said. For the rest of the story, click here.

More Northwest front pages are here, and stories from today's Oregonian are here. Go here for more stories from Northwest newspapers.

Kimberly A.C. Wilson; kimberlywilson @ news.oregonian.com

Related:
The Gold Standard of Government Programs Report (PDF)
http://www.ornorml.org/data/OMMP/OMMP%20-%20The%20Gold%20Standard%20of%2...