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Congress: House Passes National Criminal Justice Commission Act

On Tuesday, Congressional Representatives passed by voice vote H.R. 5143, the House version of the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2010.
NORML first blogged about this federal legislation back in November, and encouraged supporters to contact their members of Congress in favor of this much-needed reform. This week the House did their part. Now it is up to the Senate to do theirs.
Said the measure’s House sponsor, Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA). “Today our prison population is expanding at an alarming rate, with costs to the taxpayers that are unsustainable. … (This) bill passed … will assess the current crisis, reverse these disturbing trends and help save taxpayer money.”

Medical Cannabis Dispensaries Are Coming to The Nation’s Capitol

[Editor's note: This post is excerpted from this week's forthcoming NORML weekly media advisory. To have NORML's media advisories delivered straight to your in-box, sign up for NORML's free e-zine here.]
Members of Congress have declined to overrule legislation passed by the D.C. Council in May authorizing the establishment of regulated medical marijuana dispensaries in the District of Columbia.
Congressional lawmakers had up to 30 working days to reject the law. That review period officially ended Monday evening.

Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) Sets Record Straight Regarding Prop. 19

On Tuesday I penned a commentary for the Los Angeles Times rebutting Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s public condemnation of Prop. 19 — The Regulate, Control & Tax Cannabis Initiative of 2010.
Now the California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), which provides non-partisan fiscal and policy advice, has come out with their own repudiation of Sen. Feinstein’s claims. Specifically, it sets the record straight regarding opponents allegations that passage of Prop. 19 would not result in significant cost savings, and counters the senator’s groundless argument (which nevertheless will appear in the 2010 California voter guidebook) that the measure is “a jumbled legal nightmare that will make our highways, our workplaces and our communities less safe.”

NORML Opposes President Obama’s Pick To Head The Drug Enforcement Administration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 21, 2010
Following Recent Raids, Medical Marijuana Advocacy Groups Call on President Obama to Withdraw Nomination of Michele Leonhart to be DEA Administrator

Obama’s DEA Head Must Follow Stated Medical Marijuana Policy, End Obstruction of Marijuana Research, and Base Marijuana Rescheduling on Science Rather than Ideology
CONTACT: Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director, 202-483-5500 or director@norml.org

L.A. Times: “Feinstein’s Misguided Opposition to Marijuana Legalization”

Last week California’s senior senator, Democrat Dianne Feinstein cosigned the ballot argument against Prop. 19, The Regulate, Control & Tax Cannabis Initiative of 2010, which would allow adults 21 years or older to privately possess and cultivate marijuana for personal use.

California’s Prop 19: A Word-for-Word Analysis

I’ve spent the weekend reading various blogs that have sprouted up in opposition to Proposition 19, California’s effort to legalize marijuana this November.  These “Stoners Against Legalization” blogs confound me; they remind me of Sam Kinison’s line comparing “Rock Against Drugs” to “Christians Against Christ”.
Some of these blogs are based on the notion that legalization would be worse than “what we have now”.  The assumption there is that if you smoke marijuana in California, you must already have your Prop 215 recommendation from a doctor, and you’d be losing your rights under Prop 19.

NORML’s Upcoming Just Say Now! National Conference in Portland, Oregon

Dear NORML Members and Supporters,
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws invites you and your like-minded friends and family members to attend the organization’s 39th annual national conference in beautiful, cannabis-tolerant and hemp-friendly Portland, Oregon, Thursday, September 9 – Saturday, September 11.
The national NORML conference is America’s largest and oldest gathering of cannabis law reform activists.
With the call to legalize cannabis growing stronger and louder every year in America, this year’s apropos conference title and theme: Just Say Now!
The NORML 2010 conference is convening at the historic landmark The Governor Hotel in downtown Portland, right in the middle of the ‘free ride zone’ for the City’s famous and efficient transit system.

“I Gots Mine”: Dispensary Owners Against Marijuana Legalization

(This is cross-posted in the Los Angeles section of Huffington Post – please feel free to surf over there and leave a comment that will be read outside our NORML forum.)
Evergreen Collective, one of many advertising at this year's THC Exposé in LA, promoting their $45 / 4-gram eighth ounce "specials".

NORML SHOW LIVE back with Dale Sky Clare of Prop 19, Dr. Mitch, and more

LIVE streaming every weekday at 4pm Eastern / 1pm Pacific - also available through iTunes as "NORML Daily Audio Stash"
Between our coverage of the HIGH TIMES Medical Cannabis Awards in San Francisco, my trip to Idaho to help organize new NORML Chapters and to present on legalization at the public library, followed by my first two-week vacation in years, we’ve been off the internets for a while at NORML SHOW LIVE.

Marijuana Dispensaries Are Coming To New England

While New Jersey lawmakers continue to stall statewide efforts to provide legal patient access to medical marijuana, a pair of New England states — Maine and Rhode Island — have quietly and expeditiously embraced the process.
In Rhode Island, Health officials are deciding who among 15 applicants will receive state authorization to produce and dispense marijuana to the state’s 1,800 registered patients. And in Maine health officials gave public approval today to three separate nonprofit corporations to supply and provide patients with medical marijuana via six statewide facilities.

Thomas Jefferson Quote of the Day

"Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances."

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