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.
Even in the continually uncertain world that Nevadans find themselves in, Nevada NORML is continuing to advocate for cannabis reform despite the strange corona-world of 2020.
NORML leadership today sent an open letter to Nora D. Volkow, M.D., Director of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), asking her to recognize the detrimental impact that racially-discriminatory marijuana law enforcement has had on the public health of communities of color.
Few people contributed more to NORML and our efforts to assist the victims of marijuana prohibition during our early years than Gerry Goldstein.
If you haven’t read our statement on the murder of George Floyd and the intersections…
Since 1619, when the first ships arrived on the coast of Virginia with enslaved Africans in chains, our country has long had to struggle to address the inequality and structural racism embedded within our public institutions — particularly within the criminal justice system.
“Just as doctors are entrusted to make decisions regarding the use of opioids, the law should provide doctors with similar flexibility for recommending cannabis therapy to a bona fide patient.”
“It is a positive sign that after years of heightened enforcement, we’re now seeing a downward trend in marijuana-related arrests in Virginia.