For NORML’s 50th anniversary, every Friday we will be posting a blog from NORML’s Founder…
Tag: NORML
When I started NORML in late 1970 I realized that our movement would need the support of some courageous doctors and other health experts to overcome the widely-held perception that existed at that time that marijuana must remain a crime to protect the public health. I found that support in Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Dr. Norman Zinberg, and others.
High Times founder Tom Forcade and Legal Counsel Michael J. Kennedy assured the magazine remained a major NORML financial supporter, until it was recently sold to corporate greedheads!
Hugh Hefner and the Playboy Foundation ended up providing NORML’s initial funding in early 1971 and subsequently became our primary funder throughout the 1970s.
Democratic Governor Ralph Northam officially signed legislation today decriminalizing marijuana possession. The new law takes effect July 1, 2020 and reduces penalties for offenses involving the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana to a civil violation – punishable by a maximum $25 fine, no arrest, and no criminal record.
NORML founder Keith Stroup reflects on his 33-year friendship with author and NORML ally Hunter S. Thompson
An unlikely activist fighting for reform in the Commonwealth of Virginia and on Capitol Hill
As one reviews the modern history of marijuana policy in this country, beginning with the adoption of federal marijuana prohibition in 1937 (i.e., the Marijuana Tax Act) and continuing to where we are today with 33 states having legalized the medical use of marijuana and 11 states and the District of Columbia having legalized adult recreational use, perhaps the single most important step along the way was the report issued in 1972 by the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse.