NORML: America’s Best Known and Respected Marijuana Lobby Organization Turns
40-Years Old!
by PENCIL METHOD News, pencilmethod.com
March 3rd 2011
The Cause: Cannabis
In early November of 1970, a young public interest lawyer named R. Keith
Stroup, along with a few of his friends who also believed that state and
federal laws that criminalized the responsible use of marijuana by adults was
counter-productive and unenforceable, met in a Georgetown row house in the
nation’s capital of Washington, D.C. and decided to form an organization called
‘National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws’, aka, NORML, the now
brilliantly infamous acronym and service mark that is readily recognized as
America’s ‘Pro-Marijuana Lobby Organization’.
However, after filing the necessary paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service
and the Washington, D.C. government, it was not until this day forty years ago,
March 2, 1971, that ‘NORML’ came to be a formally recognized as a non-profit
public interest group with a clearly unique and revolutionary mission
statement: To End Decades Of Marijuana Prohibition.
Bittersweet Birthday!
So, it is on this day that we bittersweetly recognize NORML’s improbable
existence and remarkable longevity in opposition to all-powerful American
governments (and their bureaucratic and law enforcement agents) and to the
organization’s clear contributions to reforming the nation’s (and, very likely,
much of the world’s) marijuana laws.
However, the organization is chagrined that it is still in existence despite
the clear failure of Cannabis Prohibition laws and the popularity among the
general public for ‘soft’ reforms (the public overwhelmingly supports medical
access to cannabis and for ‘decriminalization’; a near majority of Americans in
recent surveys support legalization for responsible adult use).
The principle goal of NORML, after 40 years of public advocacy for ending the
criminalization of cannabis by the state and federal governments, is still to
put the organization out of business.
So, again, it is with equal degree of frustrated embarrassment and great civic
pride that we mark this day in both the organization’s impactful history as
well as that of America’s five-decade old effort to end another failed
government prohibition (placed into historical context and cost to the public,
Alcohol Prohibition barely lasted a dozen years).
Reefer Reflections
In the coming year, NORML and NORML Foundation will mark the organization’s
40th anniversary not so much in celebration, but in reflection of the amazing
public advocacy efforts, setbacks and achievements that have led the nation to
this day where 15 states have ‘medical’ cannabis laws, 13 states have
‘decriminalized’ possession, and, by the end of 2012, likely one or more states
will either pass cannabis legalization legislation or state voters will approve
legalization initiatives.
NORML interns have been scanning hundreds of photos, documents, interviews and
news articles from the organization’s huge archives for the purposes of
memorializing and informing America’s experience with Cannabis Prohibition and
the organized activities to reform the laws.
Change Is In The Air…You Can Smell It
Cannabis law reformers are on the precipice of major social changes in favor of
the liberalization of cannabis laws—and the state and federal governments, law
enforcement and competitors to legal cannabis all recognize this to be true.
None of this would have been possible for NORML over these many years without
the dedicated grassroots support provided by stakeholders.
Recognizing that most of the hardest work that entailed the greatest amounts of
personal self-sacrifice are thankfully behind us, we also have to recognize
there is still much work left to do before adults can lawfully use cannabis
products in a manner and form similar to the way adults can consume alcohol
products.
On this day, NORML’s official birthday, I’m asking NORML supporters and
cannabis consumers far and wide to join me in celebrating a most remarkable
public interest group that exists to serve and protect cannabis consumers,
lobby and litigate for reforms, and educates the public, media and elected
officials about cannabis (and why Cannabis Prohibition laws must end now).
What has been ever fascinating to me in the nearly 20 years I’ve worked for the
organization is how much positive change NORML achieves on a shoestring budget
of well under one million dollars annually. None of this would have been
possible without a large network of volunteers, lawyers and activists willing
to both care and share.
There are some public interest organizations that reportedly scare the clothes
off of elected policymakers, groups like the National Rifle Association, NAACP,
AIPAC, ACLU, Operation Rescue, etc…However, according to popular Internet
tracking sites (i.e., Alexa), none of these organizations have the web traffic
that NORML has.
Money Is the Mother’s Milk Of Politics
What these groups have that NORML does not possess is committed funding sources
and/or endowments.
That’s OK; on one hand being cash-starved keeps a public interest group like
NORML innovative, humble and committed to representing stakeholders’ interests.
However, on the other hand, despite the general public’s increasing support for
reforming cannabis laws and recognizing prohibition’s failure, NORML’s ability
to politically persuade the body politic is greatly hampered by finances that
belie the genuine and festering public support in favor of NORML’s reform
agenda.
Make a $40 Donation in Support of NORML
Please join my family and I in making a $1 donation to NORML (or the NORML
Foundation if you’d like the tax deduction) for every year NORML has been
working in the public eye in support of cannabis consumers and to reform our
country’s antiquated cannabis laws.
You can make a quick-n-easy online donation here.
On behalf of the membership, NORML’s chapter network (over 150 chapters), NORML
Legal Committee of Lawyers (over 600 lawyers nationwide), the board of
directors and national staff…thanks very much for making NORML the longstanding
and responsible voice for cannabis consumers for forty years!
Source: NORML
Original Page:
http://www.pencilmethod.com/2011/03/03/norml-america%e2%80%99s-best-known-and-respected-marijuana-lobby-organization-turns-40-years-old/
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