NORML’s letter to the editor of New York Times, April 15, 2008: The April 15,…
Author: Allen St. Pierre, Former NORML Executive Director
With all the bleak talk in America about the economy, including record fuel and medicine prices, one would think that elected policy makers and mainstream media would gravitate towards an obvious storyline on this day, April 15—America’s dreaded Tax Day—and that is the tens of millions of Americans who’d happily trade in the government-imposed label of ‘criminal’ for ‘sales taxpayer’.
The arrest and prosecution of a professional, baby boom couple in Pennsylvania helps underscore the genuine waste of taxpayer dollars and overall ineffectiveness of government to stop adult citizens who want to use cannabis, as well as highlight a well known, but underreported fact among millions of victims of cannabis prohibition laws: Punishment in the modern criminal justice system does not necessarily equate with incarceration
When Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, first strode onto the public stage in 1832 and stepped into American History, he was wearing a pair of hemp pants.
Hemp is legal for farmers to grow in virtually all countries where marijuana is still illegal and to help highlight the non-sensible government policy Native Americans on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota will soon build a home constructed of hemp in conjunction with the 2008 Hemp Hoe Down.
More than a whiff of pro-pot comedy will be in the air on April 20…
If you live in Tennessee please consider attending the first ever ‘Nashville Marijuana Movie Festival’, being held at the beautiful ol’ Belcourt Theatre. This is a benefit event to support NORML’s nationwide cannabis law reform advocacy efforts–including support for pending medical marijuana legislation in Tennessee.
However, amazingly, and at terrific costs to the federal and state taxpayers, cannabis prohibition in America has frustratingly lasted over 70 years.
Tonight, if I were to enjoy some cannabis responsibly in the privacy of my home, I can be arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated.