Is state-level medical cannabis access mitigating or fueling America’s opioid crisis? Testifying before Congress last week, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) acting administrator Robert Patterson claimed the latter. But when he prompted to provide evidence in support of the agency’s position, he acknowledged that he could not.

“I think there is a recognition from federal lawmakers that advocating in favour of legalizing marijuana is a position that is more popular than they themselves are,” said Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

This hardly represents a change for NORML, whose political director, Justin Strekal, notes that "we've long maintained that it's imperative to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, given that it's a disproportionate policy response."

"Democracy isn't a spectator sport," he emphasizes. "The reason we're seeing multiple pieces of legislation for de-scheduling at the federal level, and more and more states moving toward state-level reform, is because of the pressure created by advocates at every level. Now is not the time to let off the gas. Now is the time to floor it."

Speaking with The New York Times, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) executive director Erik Altieri suggested Boehner’s pot pivot was “really just a sign of the times in terms of where the American public is going.”

"Our mission with this rally is to bring attention to HB 5394 and educate the community about cannabis legalization, so they can urge their legislators to vote favorably, on this issue before the end of the session," NORML spokesperson Avery Press said.

All three of the Lehigh Valley's major cities have had marijuana decriminalization ordinances on the table in the last two months.

The 8th annual March for Cannabis was organized by the local chapter of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

"Nobody should be arrested for a plant," said Deputy Director for Delaware NORML Michael Pukatsch. Dozens of supporters gathered at Rehoboth Beach's Boardwalk in Delaware to take part in the annual global cannabis march and bring awareness to House Bill 110.

"In a world where Senators McConnell and Schumer agree on almost nothing, having both Senate party leaders sponsoring legislation to end the federal prohibition of hemp only further reinforces the need for bipartisan legislation to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act entirely," Justin Strekal, political director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), said in an interview.

Former Johnson County Chief Deputy Tom McCain now leads NORML, a group seeking to legalize all marijuana use in Georgia.

“Right now, if you believe in the social justice side of ending marijuana prohibition, you need to speak up louder than ever,” Goldstein said during an interview with AL DÍA on April 17. “When you see guys like John Boehner getting into the marijuana industry, you better get active in politics to make sure these laws turn out right for the people on the ground.”

Goldstein is a former member of the Board of Directors at several chapters of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws).

But growing public support for legalization is placing new pressure on legislators to back legalization laws, said Keith Stroup, a founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, a leading marijuana advocacy group.

“Realistically what you are seeing is a reflection of higher polling numbers that marijuana legislation has been getting over the last 5 years.”

As noted by NORML political director Justin Strekal, Gardner has confirmed that he's teaming up with Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, "to craft legislation that would reduce the tension between federal prohibition and states that have moved forward with legalizing marijuana for medicinal or adult use. And we're working with a number of offices to make sure the language is going to be right and palatable to a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate."

"The doctor would then sign a certificate that the patient could keep with their cannabis oil. That certificate then acts as a legal defense in the case that one might get caught up in law enforcement," said Scott McLellan, with Harrisonburg NORML.

But that didn't stop Grinspoon's fight against America's draconian drug laws. In the 80s, he worked with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) to advocate for sensible drug laws. In the 90s, he published another highly influential book on cannabis. Despite - or perhaps because of those efforts, Harvard again refused to offer him a promotion in 1997.

Oliver, who is also the executive director for NORML’s Washington chapter and a national NORML board member, expects to see some sort of resolution or clarification coming from the federal government soon.

NORML political director Justin Strekal told Marijuana Moment: “Over two million registered medical marijuana patients throughout the legal markets can attest to the attorney general’s newfound revelation. What we need is better research on consumer grade marijuana and lawful protections for legal markets, not further deliberation from the DoJ.”

“The people of Michigan deserve this. They earned it,” said Rick Thompson, a board member of the Michigan chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.

NORML’s main lobbyist in Capitol Hill, Political Director Justin Strekal, also told Cannabis Now that he thinks Schumer’s 420 announcement is a positive step forward for federal cannabis decriminalization.

“With this announcement, Senator Schumer has effectively made it clear that a legislative priority for the Democratic Party is to end the federal prohibition of marijuana,” Strekal said. 

“These conclusions are consistent with those of prior studies — in particular, recent longitudinal twin studies reporting that cannabis use is not independently associated with any residual change in intelligence quotient or executive function,” said Paul Armentano, the deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) at NC State is making strides to bring hemp and marijuana legalization to the forefront of the public discussion in North Carolina.

Ellen Komp of the marijuana law reform group, California NORML, echoed the ACLU’s concerns.

“If we start opening up for cities and counties to do forfeiture at the local level, then we’re going to see terrible abuses,” she said.

Paul Armentano, Deputy Director of the National Organization for Marijuana Laws (NORML), explains the factors driving this momentum.

Of the nearly 531,000 marijuana arrests reported to the FBI in 2016, the most recent year for which data is available, an estimated 12 percent of arrests occurred in Texas. (Marijuana arrest data for the states of Florida, Illinois, and Washington, DC were not reported that year.) Six addition states – Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia – also reported 20,000+ marijuana arrests in 2016. Here is a look at the top 5 states on this list.

California Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher—once a speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan—is a known medical marijuana user. Rohrabacher stated marijuana use has been the most effective treatment he has found for his arthritis. Rohrabacher said this at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML): “I tried it about two weeks ago, and it’s the first time…in a year-and-a-half that I’ve had a decent night’s sleep, because the arthritis pain was gone.”

Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), emphasizes the fact that this particular study assessed rats, and therefore, it doesn’t accurately explain how weed smoke effects humans. “Longitudinal studies in humans haven’t replicated these results,” he says. And science corroborates his claim: A 2017 study found that lifetime marijuana use isn’t associated with an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease (including blood clots, heart attack and/or stroke).

"Descheduling marijuana should and will likely be a litmus test in the 2020 Democratic primary," said Erik Altieri, the executive director of The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "As we have seen, leaders from the party are seeing that leading the charge on this is not just good policy but is good politics."

“It’s important to note that African-Americans only make up 20 percent of Virginia’s population yet are arrested three times more than whites for marijuana possession when use is equal between races,” said Jenn Michelle Pedini, executive director at Virginia NORML.

"Historically, taxation is rarely a pathway to social justice," Paul Armentano, Deputy Director of NORML, told Salon by email. "Politicians possess the discretion to spend tax revenues as they wish, virtually irregardless of the public’s priorities. By contrast, ending the prosecution, incarceration, discrimination, and stigmatization of responsible adult cannabis consumers is a pathway toward social justice."