Norml E-zine

[ReformMaryJaneLaws]

NORML E-Zine
Volume 4
Issue 15
April 5, 2001

The NORML E-Zine is a free weekly compilation of major news
items regarding marijuana policy. Text of archived stories
are available
on NORML's website at:
http://www.norml.org/news/archives/index2001.shtml

TOP STORIES

* NORML to Join Gov. Ventura Tomorrow in Support of Medical
Marijuana at
State-Sponsored Forum

* Michigan Petition Drive to Decriminalize Marijuana Starts
Tomorrow

* Montana Legislature Authorizes Farmers to Grow Hemp

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NORML to Join Gov. Ventura Tomorrow in Support of Medical
Marijuana at
State-Sponsored Forum

St. Paul, MN: Members of NORML's board of directors and state
affiliate
will participate Friday in a state-sponsored forum
to discuss the therapeutic
use of marijuana. Governor Jesse
Ventura (I), who Wednesday announced
that he "fully supports"
marijuana's medical use, will also attend the
meeting, which is
being jointly sponsored by the Department of Health and
the
Department of Public Safety.


NORML board-member Dr. John P. Morgan, a physician and
professor of
Pharmacology at City University of New York
Medical School, will speak
at the forum in favor of marijuana's
therapeutic value. "Marijuana's therapeutic
uses are well
documented in the modern scientific literature," says Morgan,

who recently co-authored the book Marijuana Myths, Marijuana
Facts. "Politics,
not medical science, has stood in the way of
marijuana's approval as a
legal medication." Minnesota NORML
Chairman Aaron Neuman, who helped organize
the forum, will also
be in attendance.


Several bills pertaining to the use and study of medical
marijuana
are now pending before the Minnesota legislature.
Two of these, S.F. 1967
and H.F. 2164, seek to exempt patients
who use marijuana under a doctor's
supervision from state
criminal penalties. House File 1364, sponsored
by Rep. Scott
Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis), would establish an affirmative
defense
of medical necessity for patients charged with violating state

marijuana laws. In addition, both houses are considering bills
that would
appropriate $100,000 to conduct research trials on
the drug's therapeutic
utility.


Organizers of tomorrow's event hope that it will encourage
lawmakers
to move forward with several of these proposals.
"Our hopes for Minnesota
is that by encouraging research we can
advance the acceptance of marijuana
as an important medical
tool and ultimately address the legal constraints
at a national
level," wrote Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm in a March
23
invitation letter. Malcolm noted that under a 1981 state law,
"the
THC Therapeutic Research Act," Minnesota doctors are
permitted to conduct
medical research on marijuana's
constituents.


Additional backing for medical marijuana reform came from
Gov. Ventura
earlier this week. Speaking Wednesday at a
student question-and-answer
forum, Ventura stated: "Medical
marijuana? I fully support it, absolutely.
Who is the
government to tell someone, if they have AIDS or cancer,
what
they should be taking?" Ventura speculated that his
mother, who suffered
from respiratory disease and relied on
large amounts of narcotics to relieve
her suffering, may have
benefited from the drug, and said that legalizing
it for
medical use would not encourage the recreational use of
marijuana
or other illicit substances.


Tomorrow's forum will take place from
8 a.m. to noon at
the Snelling Office Park's Mississippi Room, 1645 Energy

Park Dr., St. Paul.


For more information, please contact Allen St.
Pierre or
Paul Armentano of The NORML Foundation, at (202) 483-8751,
or
Aaron Neuman of Minnesota NORML at (651) 334-8780.

Michigan Petition Drive to Decriminalize Marijuana
Starts Tomorrow

Ann Arbor, MI: A state-wide petition drive to decriminalize
the use
and possession of marijuana will kick off tomorrow at
the National Symposium
on Prohibition Reform Advocacy in Ann
Arbor. Speaking in support of the
campaign will be
NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup, glaucoma patient

Elvy Musikka, one of eight patients legally permitted to
smoke medical
marijuana under federal law, and petition
organizer and Michigan State
NORML Coordinator Gregory Carl
Schmid, Esq. of Saginaw.


Michigan's proposed initiative, known as the Personal
Responsibility
Amendment (PRA) of 2001, would decriminalize
the possession and cultivation
of small amounts marijuana
within an individual's private residence. The
proposal would
also exempt seriously ill patients who use marijuana medically

from state criminal penalties, and provide additional
funding for drug
education and treatment. The Board of State
Canvassers unanimously approved
the initiative's language on
March 23. Supporters have until October 3
to collect the
300,000 signatures necessary to place the measure before
a
state-wide vote.


PRA organizers are hopeful that they will collect many
of these signatures
Saturday at the 30th Annual Hash Bash at
the campus of the University of
Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Speakers for the event include R. Keith Stroup
and former
Michigan marijuana prisoner and activist John Sinclair.


For more information about the Personal Responsibility
Amendment, please
contact Gregory Schmid at (517) 239-9000
or visit the PRA website at: http://www.PRAyes.com.

Montana Legislature Authorizes Farmers to Grow Hemp

Helena, MO: Legislation approved overwhelmingly by the
House and Senate
redefines marijuana containing no more than
0.3 percent THC as an "agricultural
crop," and permits
state-licensed farmers to cultivate it. Passage of
the measure,
which the Senate approved 45-5 in February and the House

approved 82-17 Wednesday, establishes a licensing procedure
for farmers
wishing to grow hemp as a commercial crop.
Montana's legislature joins
only North Dakota in its support
of licensing and regulating hemp cultivation.


An amendment to the bill mandates Montana's Department
of Agriculture
to request the federal government amend its
federal laws prohibiting hemp
cultivation. The amendment
also requests federal officials issue a "waiver
that will
allow this act to be effective without federal preemption."


For more information, please contact either Allen St.
Pierre, NORML
Foundation Executive Director, at (202) 483-8751
or John Masterson of Montana
NORML at (406) 542-8696.

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Support NORML's efforts to change marijuana policy and
educate the public
to alternatives to marijuana prohibition.
You can join or donate online
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