NORML To Advocate Regulating Cannabis Before State Legislators

NORML To Advocate Regulating Cannabis Before State Legislators At Special Joint Hearing Next Week

October 22, 2003 - Annapolis, MD, USA



Annapolis, MD: NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup will testify in favor of the legalization of marijuana at a special joint legislative hearing to be held next Tuesday, October 28, before the Maryland Senate Special Committee on Substance Abuse, the House Special Committee on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, and the Baltimore City Senators and Delegates. The hearing will take place at Coppin State College in Baltimore at the J. Millard Tawes College Center.

The hearing is in response to a 2003 Baltimore City Grand Jury report which advocates citing non-violent drug offenders rather than arresting and incarcerating them. The report further suggests establishing a government-run "regulated distribution system" whereby certain drug users could legally purchase personal use quantities of controlled substances.

Stroup will concentrate his remarks specifically on the use of marijuana by adults, noting that NORML supports the eventual development of a legally controlled market for cannabis, where consumers could buy pot from a safe, legal source.

"Marijuana legalization exists on various levels in a handful of European nations like the Netherlands and Switzerland, both of which enjoy lower rates of marijuana use than the United States," he says. "Such a system would reduce many of the health and criminal problems presently associated with the prohibition of marijuana, including the crime, corruption and violence associated with a black market. In addition, it would free up significant amounts of law enforcement resources to focus on more serious and violent crimes, including terrorism."

For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup or Paul Armentano of NORML at (202) 483-5500.

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5792