According to Justin Strekal, Political Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, their efforts may not only deny patients immediate access to CBD, they also threaten to significantly delay the implementation of any kind of cannabis reform.

"As GW and their lobbyists go door-to-door selling lawmakers on the wonders of their proprietary product," Strekal tells me, "it gives those legislators the political out to say 'we did something,' when they really didn't."

Thirty states now regulate marijuana's therapeutic use, and eight states and Washington, D.C., authorize its use and sale to all adults. Here in Indiana, Gov. Eric Holcomb just signed legislation that for the first time permits patients’ access to cannabis-derived oils for those suffering from intractable epilepsy.

Nonetheless, Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is still trying to mislead my fellow Hoosiers with fear-mongering and distorted data.

Contrary to Hill’s claims, statewide marijuana regulations are not associated with increased marijuana use or access by adolescents, adverse effects on traffic safety, increased crime, or workplace absenteeism.

By contrast, regulating marijuana is associated with less opioid abuse, fewer opioid-related hospitalizations, and fewer opioid induced fatalities. Such results have serious implications for Indiana, where ER visits related to opioids have spiked some 60 percent.

Unlike Hill, most voters now acknowledge that the enforcement of marijuana prohibition financially burdens taxpayers, encroaches upon civil liberties, engenders disrespect for the law, and disproportionately impacts young people and communities of color. It makes no sense from a public health perspective, a fiscal perspective, or a moral perspective to perpetuate the prosecution and stigmatization of adults who choose to responsibly consume a substance that is safer than either alcohol or tobacco.

Voters are tired of seeing over 600,000 of their fellow citizens arrested annually on marijuana charges. In Indiana alone, there were 67,872 arrests for simple marijuana possession between the years 2008 to 2012.

A majority of Hoosiers support broad changes to our state’s policies when it comes to cannabis. 73% of Indiana voters now support a robust medical marijuana program and 52% support outright legalization.

Furthermore, when presented with the simple question ‘should we tax marijuana like alcohol/cigarettes’ support rises to 78%.

Of course, reform our state’s marijuana policies does not mean replacing criminalization with a marijuana free-for-all. Rather, it means the enactment of a pragmatic regulatory framework that allows for the licensed commercial production and retail sale of marijuana to adults, but also restricts and discourages its use among young people. Such a regulated environment best reduces the risks associated with the plant’s use or abuse.

By contrast, advocating marijuana’s continued criminalization does nothing to offset the plant’s potential risks to the individual user and to society; it only compounds them.

It’s easy for Attorney General Hill to opine for maintaining the status quo - keep on arresting marijuana consumers and spending our tax dollars to jail otherwise law abiding citizens. It justifies the budget and salary for many in his department. Yet as more and more states realize the the benefits of ending prohibition and adopting sane public policy, more and more Hoosiers will recognize the disadvantage of being stuck in the dark ages.

Indiana’s laws will reflect this eventually - let’s stop arresting our neighbors in the meantime.

Steve Dillon

Chairman of the Board, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)

“New Hampshire remains the only New England state where an adult can be arrested, face up to a year in jail, and suffer a lifelong criminal record simply for possessing a personal use amount of marijuana,” Erik Altieri, the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), said in a statement when the Senate passed H.B. 640 earlier this month. “We commend lawmakers for finally correcting this injustice.”

“We’re moving into licensing a newly regulated business, so it’s expected that we’d need inspectors to insure regulatory compliance.” He added, “I’m disappointed about how much law enforcement resources have been used to prosecute medical marijuana patients.”

"Nettles, who left his post a year ago, and Barry Grissom, who left his job as U.S. attorney in Kansas in April 2016, spoke Thursday at a legal seminar put on by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws at The Gant."

[Tom McCain] The former Deputy Sheriff of Johnson County, Georgia is now the Executive Director of Peachtree NORML, the state branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. He told Complex that in Georgia, African-American men are 3.7 times more likely than white men to be busted for weed.

“We have some of the most Draconian laws in the nation about marijuana,” he said. “We’ve got a ‘weed warrior’ mentality in a lot of the cops.”

In 2015, the state substantially overhauled its marijuana infrastructure with the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MCRSA), streamlining and clarifying laws pertaining to how and where medical marijuana-based businesses could operate in the state. Critically, the legislation made it possible to set standards for issuing licenses to operate. Why the delay? Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, says that the legislature spent two decades dragging its feet – in a sense, it was this inaction on the state level fed the voter push to legalize, and regulate, the market.

"This is still a historic time," said Justin Strekal, political director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). "For the first time, we saw a state legislature pass a bill removing all penalties for the possession and consumption of marijuana by its citizens. We've had great victories in the past 10 years, but they've all been through the initiative process. Now, with the polls continuing to show majorities favoring outright legalization, legislators are feeling more emboldened to represent their constituents, but it won't happen overnight."

While marijuana advocates welcome the move, they see little hope for such legislative efforts as allowing legal state marijuana businesses to hold money in federally insured banks — a major problem cited by pot entrepreneurs in California and other states where it's legal.  

"No bills are going anywhere in this Congress,” said Gieringer from NORML. He said Rohrabacher’s Republican congressional colleagues are the ones really holding up marijuana reform, not President Trump and Attorney General Sessions.  

“It is disappointing that Gov. Scott would not only defy the will of of state legislators, but also the will of the majority of Vermont voters who support ending criminal penalties for those adults who consume cannabis responsibly,” said Justin Strekal, the political director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, NORML. “Minor marijuana possession offenders should not be saddled with a criminal record and the lifelong penalties and stigma associated with it. Rather than looking to the future, Gov. Scott seems intent on repeating the failures of the past.”

“It is disappointing that Gov. Scott would not only defy the will of of state legislators, but also the will of the majority of Vermont voters who support ending criminal penalties for those adults who consume cannabis responsibly,” said Justin Strekal, the political director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, NORML. “Minor marijuana possession offenders should not be saddled with a criminal record and the lifelong penalties and stigma associated with it. Rather than looking to the future, Gov. Scott seems intent on repeating the failures of the past.”

Odor nuisances can be a problem, and we agree that it’s appropriate to abate them in the event of complaints,” said Dale Gieringer, who holds a doctorate in engineering from Stanford and leads NORML’s California branch. “As for the threat of theft, the same concerns (apply to) any property left outdoors, including cars, garden art.

"Berard is now an advocate with the Texas chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Like other veterans, Berard is working to try to raise awareness of the many lives that might be transformed for the better if medical marijuana were an option for veterans in all states."

NORML Political Director Justin Strekal accused the governor of "repeating the failures of the past" rather than looking ahead.

"It is disappointing that Gov. Scott would not only defy the will of of state legislators, but also the will of the majority of Vermont voters who support ending criminal penalties for those adults who consume cannabis responsibly," NORML Political Director Justin Strekal said. "Minor marijuana possession offenders should not be saddled with a criminal record and the lifelong penalties and stigma associated with it."

"NORML is committed to a de-schedule effort," Strekal says. "The growing acceptance of marijuana reform and the growing consensus that we inevitably need to take cannabis out of Schedule I is demonstrated by the introduction of these bills, but quite frankly, we don't think they go far enough. We want it to be regulated in a similar manner to alcohol."

Fear-mongering headlines claiming that marijuana use causes birth defects, heart-attacks, and psychosis are common in the mainstream media. But newly published scientific evidence makes it clear that what is often portrayed as ‘conventional wisdom’ is really nothing more than ‘reefer madness.’

The ongoing effort by New Jersey Senate Democrats to legalize recreational marijuana took another step forward last week with the introduction of a bill by Senate Judiciary Chairman Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, that would legalize the possession and personal use of up to an ounce of marijuana in New Jersey for anyone 21 and older. Gov. Christie has promised to veto any bill that would legalize recreational pot, but all four major Democratic gubernatorial candidates favor legalization. The two major Republican candidates oppose it. Polls in New Jersey and nationally show growing support for legalization. Eight states already have legalized it in some form.The arguments for and against legalization are debated below by advocate Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and by opponent Kevin A. Sabet, president and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana.

Given the current opioid crisis, the fact that marijuana remains on the Schedule One list of federally banned substances is a prime example of an obsolescent, dysfunctional government regulation that this administration would do well to repeal.

 "Marijuana positive drivers possess virtually no statistically significant crash risk compared to drug-free drivers after controlling for age and gender"

While Herzberg saw the legislation as only “token” opposition to Sessions’ anti-marijuana attitude, Kandice Hawes, executive director of the Orange County chapter of NORML, said the legislation was more than merely a statement worth making. “Cannabis business owners need a state law protecting their interests after going through a lengthy regulation process,” Hawes said.

"Nonetheless, the Governors’ report purports that drug-influenced drivers are overtaking drunken drivers as America’s primary traffic safety threat — an allegation so dubious that it motivated representatives from Mothers Against Drug Driving to publicly denounce the GHSA’s claims."

A panel of four experts — Paul Armentano of pro-legalized pot organization NORML, Berkeley scientist and professor Amanda Reiman, Vallejo Assistant City Manager Joanna Altman and Maurice Solis, operator of ReLeaf Alternative Healing, a medical marijuana dispensary in town — addressed the assembly from their own areas of expertise.

“The pivotal question that guides all of this is: What do you think about people who consume marijuana?” said Judd Golden, an attorney and board member of Colorado NORML, a group that advocates for legalization.

“Every single Democratic candidate for governor, a number of Republican candidates, and 60 percent of New Jersey residents support legalizing, regulating, and taxing cannabis in the Garden State,” said NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri. “It’s only a question of when, not if, in regards to legalization in New Jersey. We applaud the bill’s sponsors for getting the ball rolling by introducing this fiscally and socially responsible legislation that would spell the beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition in the state.”

Altieri also noted NORML will strongly advocate for improvements to the current draft, including the addition of home cultivation, but believes this bill represents a strong first step in the right direction and “indicates that there is a bright future ahead once rabid drug warrior Chris Christie is no longer in the governor’s office.”

Building on the success of a course in medical cannabis offered in March, Sonoma State University will be offering more courses in cannabis for professional development.

The Regulatory Environment portion of the workshop will be co-taught by criminal defense lawyer Omar Figueroa, state director of California National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Dale Gieringer, and attorney Lauren Mendelsohn, from Sebastopol.

"The government is worried about the feds cracking down if Colorado legalizes cannabis clubs. They are afraid of what could become a negative headline."

"She has her work cut out for her as executive director of the Alabama chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), which pushes for both recreational and medical marijuana. There’s no voter initiative process in Alabama like the ones that put legalization on ballots in other states, so she’s been limited to managing Alabama NORML’s Facebook page and trying to rally support to sway legislators."

“These tourists come from all over the country and the globe, representing a wide array of personal backgrounds and political beliefs. Many of these visitors may not necessarily take a ski trip in Colorado or spend a weekend in San Francisco,” he said. “[But] given its designation as one of the premier tourist destinations in the country, it is very likely many of those tens of millions of individuals will have their first interaction with the legal cannabis industry while [in Las Vegas].”

Jax Finkel, executive director of Texas NORML, lobbied at the capitol for the entire session to help see the MMJ bill through. “While it may not feel like it in the moment, we have actually experienced some wins in Texas,” Finkel wrote in a letter to disappointed MMJ patients and supporters.