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Montana NORML Newsletter – Tax and Regulate Bill, Upcoming Events and the News

September 3rd, 2010

Friends,

This morning I woke up and sent the following question to over 200 Montana legislative candidates. I asked the question, “Would you support a bill that taxes and regulates marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol? Why or why not?”

I already have some encouraging responses (and potential bill sponsors), and will be posting some news about that soon.

Next week, I’m off to the national NORML convention, a 3-day, information-packed, energy-multiplying, strategy-refining summit of marijuana policy reform leaders and experts from around the nation and the world.

So, there will be no newsletter next week.

However, there’s lots for you to do in the coming weeks.

  • Make sure you’re registered to vote, and write on a slip of paper what Montana House and Senate district you vote in. Tape it to the side of your monitor. Click here for help.
  • If you want to take personal action to help a candidate in Billings defeat his anti-marijuana opponent on Saturday, Sept 11, reply to this email right away and say “I want to help in Billings”. Transportation might be available to and from.
  • Sep 7-10, Polson, a medical marijuana “awareness day” hosted at the Jette store. Call 406-249-0801 for details.
  • Sep 9-11 in Portland, Oregon, the national NORML convention.
  • Sep 11, Missoula: 15th Annual Missoula Hempfest, a family-friendly hemp-focused event with fantastic music, a beer garden, hemp vendors, and fun for all. Visit our NORML table and say “high” to volunteer Cynthia.
  • Sep 14, Bozeman: “Montana Cannabis Forum: Fact from Fiction”,  featuring local and international experts, starting at 7PM at the Emerson Cultural Center Theatre.
  • Sep 24, statewide: last day to register as a write-in candidate (PDF form here). It would be great to have someone (anyone) run in HD60 (Park City). An anti-marijuana candidate is running there unopposed. Ready to run? I’ll help!
  • Oct 10 & 11, Bozeman: MMGA event, details to be announced soon.

Oh also — anyone know of a dentist who would be willing to barter for services with a friend of NORML?

Oh, here’s the latest news:

Montana Marijuana News

More Marijuana News

By the way, Montana NORML is an all-volunteer organization. There are no paid staff.  You can help us offset expenses by becoming a supporting member today. Thanks.

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Posted in Medical Marijuana, Montana, Prohibition, Tax & Regulate

Cannabis: A Poem

August 22nd, 2010

The following poem was sent to us by a supporter who wishes to remain anonymous. Enjoy.

M E D I C A L    B U L L S H I T

how dare you imprison a plant of the earth

how dare you deny the truth of the effects

your instinct should tell you how powerful it is

just look at it

smell it

smoke it to place the natural chemicals into your ancient receptor sites

discover the message

how dare you bring humans down in the name of this plant

imprisoning them

ruining their lives and families

how dare you create wars in the name of this plant

salaries chopping life down with brute force killing both life and the meaning of life

drug wars

innocent prisoners of war right here under your nose in the place you call home

wasting hard-earned taxpayer money

how dare you run opinionated yellow journalism in sections that are entitled news

you must be feeling passionate

and so am i

and the best you can do is medical

waving it under the noses of the apparently underprivileged

no wonder you have problems

yes very very medicinal that is obvious you dumbshits but that is not the point

unjust laws are not to be followed

i am going to stuff this bong with carefully cured dried flowers

not because I have a card

or an ailment

because I have a right

as a human being

on this earth

2 comments »

Posted in Medical Marijuana, Prohibition

Montana NORML Newsletter – Proposed Medical Restrictions, Caregiver Expo Speech and the News

August 20th, 2010

Friends, Just a brief note today, and an excerpt from my talk at the Caregiver Expo in Missoula yesterday. The committee working to “fix” medical marijuana just released their updated draft bill. This isn’t law yet, but it’s proposed law which might end up redefining the system next spring. It’s a 59-page document based in many ways on Colorado’s recently updated law, but a few things you may be interested in are:

  • allows 3 immature and 3 flowering plants (instead of just “6″)
  • eliminates “affirmative defense”
  • eliminates “caregivers”, and instead creates a tiered system of providers, dispensaries and commercial growers (with hefty annual licensing and inspection fees).
  • restricts providers from selling more than two ounces to any patient in a 30-day period
  • requires a pain specialist in addition to another doctor — just for pain patients
  • makes failure to carry your card a misdemeanor
  • prohibits provider/doctor partnerships or financial arrangements

Get all the details here. Here’s a portion of my speech yesterday at the Caregiver Expo. Thanks to all who attended:

These United States of America are headed for marijuana legalization. This will happen at different times in different states and with different details, but make no mistake, it’s happening. More and more, the standard answer to the question “how should we deal with marijuana?” will become “pretty much like beer.”

Some of you may object “no, it’s a sacred and precious medicine, not beer!”

Look — the best possible thing for cardholders is full-blown legalization. It might not be the best thing for your caregiver business, but it is certainly best for everyone else — including people for whom cannabis is truly medicine.

Allowing anyone to grow their own or buy marijuana from licensed storefronts would reduce prices, increase reliability and quality, and allow the free market to determine which merchants have the best combinations of quality and price.

It’s easy to get mired in debates about details like plant counts, organic versus pesticide, tax policy, and commercialization versus nonprofit co-ops.

But the most important thing, the thing we all need to keep our eye on, is making all of that possible. Through the legalization of cannabis for all adults. I’m saying it’s important to cut to the chase, and not get bogged down in complicated, half-tongue-in-cheek pseudo-medical regulations.

I cringe when I hear caregivers say ‘we should be regulated like pharmacies!’ — I acknowledge that many of you are experts at your craft, but you are expert farmers, not pharmacists. Don’t mix the two up.

Don’t get me wrong — quality and cleanliness, safety — of cannabis matters, whether you’re talking medical or social. But we don’t need to pharmaceuticalize cannabis. Consider: microbreweries tell you the alcohol content of their varieties.

The public and the legislature already subconsciously understand that marijuana will soon be regulated like beer. Look at what’s often proposed: “away from schools and churches!” (just like bars)

Finally. As many of you doubtless know, people in California will vote on marijuana legalization in a few months. The initiative they’re voting on isn’t perfect, but deserves your support. Visit taxcannabis.org for details.

If it passes, the dominoes truly start to fall, and we need to be ready. We need to be ready to stand up without fear and say: Marijuana prohibition is an expensive and tragic failure. It’s time to regulate marijuana for all adults.

I hope you’ll join me.

And now, the news:

Montana Marijuana News:

Bonus News:

We could use your help, by the way. Would you like to get involved? You can always start a subchapter or become a supporting member. I am also looking for a volunteer with Excel skills and an eye for detail to do some data auditing. Let me know. Onwards and upwards.

4 comments »

Posted in Medical Marijuana, Montana, Prohibition, Tax & Regulate

Montana NORML Newsletter – Pot Lady Put Down, Getting Involved and the News

August 12th, 2010

Good evening all,

As you might recall, last week there were a couple wacky anti-marijuana letters printed in Montana newspapers. I responded to one, and the Indy gave it a great title:  Pot lady put down

Our friend Rose also demolished Ms. Nalepka in her letter. Sweet!

Don’t forget — if you get a positive cannabis-focused letter published in the print version of any Montana newspaper, send us an email with a link to the online version, and your physical mailing address, and we’ll send you some goodies.

The legislative subcommittee met today for hours to discuss changes to Montana’s medical marijuana law. They were scheduled to discuss various regulatory models, so I emailed them and advised them to draft what they needed to, but do it in such a way that it’ll be efficient to drop the “medical” aspect and regulate cannabis for all adults soon.

They seem to be focused on expanding the 6-page law into a 26-page law to create new hurdles and penalties for applicants, remove legal protections for cardholders, and give law enforcement more control. As a friend of mine recently said though, what’s the point of working hard to punish people who are just trying to treat themselves with an herbal remedy that works for them?

Meanwhile, I’m circulating a non-medical cannabis regulation proposal to a few trusted advisors (some of whom are current legislators). It would (in a nutshell):

  • allow adults to grow a personal cannabis garden
  • license and regulate commercial wholesale producers
  • license and regulate commercial retailers
  • tax commercial sales

Plenty of details to work out, but if Montanans had a chance to vote on such a proposal, I’m confident it’d pass. Whether legislators will have the policitcal will to support it is another question.

Legislators, take note: Nobody wants kids on drugs. But everyone knows that cannabis prohibition is a destructive and expensive failure. And, raising $24 million for the state would be a nice way to fund (anti-drug) education, responsible law enforcement, fix some roads, build a park, upgrade the sewer, reduce fees, provide a tax rebate to families, or whatever you like.

Speaking of the government, Missoula County’s Initiative #2 Oversight Committee needs two volunteers to join the committee. I chair the committee currently and would welcome your help. It’s probably a 4-hour/year commitment minimum, just showing up at meetings to discuss the fact that someone still gets busted for cannabis in Missoula County roughly every day. If you want to take some responsibilities for gathering and analyzing data, and helping to write the reports, that’d be additional.  Call me at 406-542-8696 with any questions.

Finally, there are a series of “Caregiver Expos” next week put on by the (in)famous Montana Caregivers Network, and I’m participating in the expo on Thursday the 19th in Missoula. Drop by and say “high” if you like. I’m speaking to the group at 5PM.

And now, the news….

Montana Marijuana News

News from Beyond

Want to get more involved? How about starting a Montana NORML subchapter, or becoming a supporting member? At an event last year, I asked attendees to contribute 1/1000 of their annual wages. Sounds easy, right?  Can you help?

Let me know what’s on your mind… and be careful out there.

1 comment »

Posted in Medical Marijuana, Montana, Prohibition

NORML Newsletter: Giant Weed-Harvesting Robots, and the News

July 16th, 2010

It seems there was some confusion about last week’s newsletter headline about $88 ounces. That price was projected by the venerable RAND corporation in their report analyzing likely effects of marijuana legalization in California.

Does that mean tobacco-company weed harvested and ground up by the acre by giant robots? Maybe.  Don’t worry, there will always be room for high-end marijuana, just like we have plenty of options in the high-end beer and wine categories. But there’s no getting away from the fact that with full legalization comes a potentially dramatic price reduction.

Legalization might cut into growers’ profits, yes. I’m sorry about that, but reduced profits are no reason to keep arresting people for something that should not be a crime.  And, you’ll have lots more legal customers!  For more on this phenomenon in California, check out this NORML blog post.

Moving on — most of you already know that a committee of legislators is meeting throughout the summer to discuss changes to Montana’s medical marijuana law.  The idea is that bringing interested parties (law enforcement, schools, growers, patient advocates) together in the same room enough times will identify areas of concern and generate thoughtful discussion, and eventually a proposal that is tolerable to all sides will result. And, the thinking goes, this proposal will therefore sail through the legislature and be implemented in the spring.

We should expect significant changes to the law next year. If you’re a patient or caregiver, pay close attention, because, who knows, your legal status may flip to criminal with the stroke of a pen.  If you want to know more, don’t forget these meetings are public. Anyone can attend, or watch over the internet. Check the committee website for details.

If you show up, you’ll optionally have 30 seconds to state your case to the committee. Of course we recommend you tell them politely to have the courage to get past medical.

Speaking of getting involved, our friends at Montanans for Responsible Legislation (the group suing the city of Great Falls over their marijuana business ban) are throwing a huge fundraiser at the Rock Creek Lodge this weekend. Three days of music, food, and camping, with drum circles, fire dancers, vendors, caregivers and general fun to be sure. Check their website for details.

RUMOR ALERT: We’ve heard some fascinating rumors and conspiracy theories about Montana NORML in the last few weeks. I’d like to respond to all of them at once, so please, if you have heard anything, let me know.

Finally, here’s the news of the week:

Montana Marijuana News:

Thanks all, and remember:  we have Truth, Justice, and Liberty on our side.

You can get the free weekly NORML newsletter delivered to your inbox by signing up here.

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Posted in Bozeman, Events, Medical Marijuana, Missoula, Prohibition, Tax & Regulate

NORML Newsletter: Ounces for $87.95 & medical marijuana crime

July 9th, 2010

Yesterday the venerable RAND Corporation predicted $88 ounces of marijuana in a fully legal market in California next year, if the initiative passes.

That’s about in-line with my expectations. I have heard from some growers that it’s incredibly difficult to make a profit at $250/oz, but I’m not buying it. If you have persistent business or agricultural inefficiencies, sure, but not if you really have your act together.

It can’t be harder to grow than saffron. It’s just a plant, after all.

In other news, the Missoulian published my article on the “medical marijuana crime issue”.  Weigh in with comments, or let me know what you think.

From The Blog:

Montana Marijuana News

Lots more on our Twitter feed, if you’re into that sort of thing.

If our messages are valued, you can help offset our costs here. Thanks in advance.

And get the free weekly Montana NORML Newsletter delivered to your inbox here.

2 comments »

Posted in Medical Marijuana, Prohibition, Tax & Regulate

Truth, Justice, and Liberty

July 8th, 2010

Truth, justice, and liberty. Three powerful words that are ensconced deep in our national psyche.

And, three words that provide a foundation from which cannabis activists can draw confidence and vigor. Our opponents are on the other side of the fence from these three words.

Truth

The truth about cannabis? It is a plant that has been used by humans for thousands of years in thousands of ways. It’s a useful fiber, a nutritious seed, a natural and effective medicine, an enhancer of experience, and an element of social ritual.  It is remarkably non-toxic; no one has died from overdose.  It has been studied and studied and studied, and found to be relatively benign, with some therapeutic benefits and a very low potential for addiction.  Driving under the influence is not advisable, but nowhere near as dangerous as alcohol.  It is incredibly expensive to enforce marijuana prohibition, which leaves control of and profits derived from marijuana in the hands of criminals. And, prohibition does virtually nothing to reduce use. Prohibition is an expensive and tragic failure.

Justice

In Montana, you can go to jail for 20 years for selling a joint to a friend.  Same as beating someone with a crowbar.  Growing 31 plants in Montana can earn you life in prison. Same as rape of a child. For growing a plant in a garden? Are these just laws? Do they uphold justice, really? Is this how we want our precious and important criminal justice resources used?

Besides the police resources,  legal fees, and imprisonment, a criminal conviction under marijuana laws can lead to loss of employment, loss of financial aid, loss of child custody, and even loss of housing. Even when there’s no evidence of any other “criminal” behavior.

Bad laws, laws that hurt far more than they help, should be eliminated.

Liberty

Definitions of liberty include “immunity from arbitrary exercise of authority” and “personal freedom from servitude or confinement or oppression.” Read that again.

These are fundamental ideals of freedom enshrined in American history and culture. Marijuana prohibition is a horrible mistake, a backwards attempt to control behavior which does nothing valuable. Instead, it creates criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens and is slap in the face to the Founding Fathers.

There is simply nothing wrong with adults consuming cannabis responsibly, and policies to the contrary are a misapplication of the criminal sanction.

Our nation, and Montana in particular, has always held up truth, justice, and liberty as important ideals, a firmament upon which the infrastructure of civil society is built.

What are we waiting for? Why is responsible adult use of marijuana still a criminal act?

The answer, in a future blog post.

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Posted in Prohibition

Montana NORML Newsletter – Dangers of Medical Marijuana, Hints of Law Changes, and the News

June 24th, 2010

Friends,

With every passing week of sensational medical marijuana news in Montana, I become more and more impatient. In fact, sometimes I wonder if medical marijuana is dangerous.

No, not clinically dangerous — it’s one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to humankind, and effective at treating the symptoms of a broad array of medical conditions.

But here are four questions to consider:

  1. Will the ~20,000 registered Montana patients continue to care about the efforts of NORML and other organizations attempting to remove the threat of arrest for all cannabis consumers? After all, they have their card now; mission accomplished, right?
  2. As Montana and other states further refine their medical marijuana laws to be morestrictly regulated as a medicine, do our efforts to re-legalize marijuana as a personal social/spiritual/recreational herb become further marginalized?
  3. Will the rhetoric of “medicine for the sick and dying”, combined with the thousands of grinning green-carded 20-somethings poison the well for additional reform? Will the mockery of both law and medicine be too much for the public, and push reform backwards years or even decades?
  4. Will the approval of Sativex(TM) in the UK begin additional calls for the repeal of medical marijuana laws in the US? After all, if a whole-cannabis medicine was available through the Official Medical System, why do we need mite-infested, chemical-dripping, electrical-hazard “grow operations” in residential neighborhoods?

If my concerns are warranted, then it seems to me we should be pressing for re-legalization hard, fast, and strong, right now, before it’s too late. If cannabis becomes over-medicalized, the rest of us who are sufficiently healthy and honest will be left out in the cold, as criminals, as we have been for far too long.

Maybe I’m blowing this out of proportion. Feel feel to reply and let me know what you think, or leave a comment on the blog. I’d like to hear your opinion.

In any event, here’s the news:

Montana Marijuana News

Marijuana News from Beyond Montana

Thank you for your continued interest and advocacy. If our mission is important to you, you can become a Montana NORML member here.

You can get the free weekly Montana NORML Newsletter delivered to your inbox by subscribing here.

4 comments »

Posted in Medical Marijuana, Montana, Prohibition

Insights from the “Candidating” Forum in Missoula

May 17th, 2010

After work today, I was a guest speaker at one of the local Rotary Clubs in Missoula. The members were gracious and generally agreed with my statements that the best way forward with cannabis policy is a regulated market for adults. I was prepared for a vigorous debate but didn’t get it. Everyone was nodding. The more people I talk to, my belief in public support for regulated marijuana gets stronger and stronger.

Afterwards, I headed to the Badlander for a candidate forum put on by Forward Montana. It was called “candidating“, and was modelled on speed dating, in which you just have a few minutes with your partner, and then everyone switches. Cool idea, and a great way to meet a bunch of candidates and ask the questions you need answered. What follows is my brief recollections of those conversations.

Tyler Gernant, candidate for the U.S. House: He agreed that marijuana has no business being a schedule I drug federally, and that a system of responsible regulation is the wisest policy.  Results: Thumbs Up.

Tom Facey, candidate for Senate District 48:  I never really got out of him his position on the prospect of tax & regulate, as he kept coming back to medical marijuana.  Results: Inconclusive.

Ellie Hill, candidate for House District 94: She supports our efforts. Results: Thumbs Up.

Bryce Bennet, candidate for House District 92: He supports our efforts. Results: Thumbs Up.

Brad Giffin, candidate for Missoula County Sheriff: Right out of the gate, he said he thought it was inevitable that marijuana would become legal in the not-too-distant future, and he was fine with that.  He reminded me of William Macy.  Regarding Initiative #2, he would not change policy; i.e., his deputies would continue citing people for marijuana when it was encountered. He was concerned about the lack of an empirical test for impaired driving.  Results: Inconclusive.

Bob Parcell, candidate for Missoula County Sheriff. Now this guy seems like a SHERIFF. A smokejumper and 30-year Marine reservist with experience in the battle of Fallujah, he’s a no-nonsense military tough guy. I sat with him for 10 minutes or so, and he’s thoughtful and reasonable and willing to hear facts that counter his preconceived notions, such as marijuana causing cancer (which it does not). I talked to him about LEAP, and he was nodding in understanding that veteran narcotics cops may well end up believing that the Drug War was a tremendous waste of time and money and lives.  He said repeatedly that alcohol is about the worst thing out there.  (UPDATE: When I replied that well, maybe we should prohibit alcohol?” he said “no way, we know how that turned out”. ) He also said that no new policy would be issued by him related to Initiative #2, but pointed out that a guy smoking cannabis in his house is already the lowest possible priority. When I asked him how he would vote if an initiative that provided for responsible regulation of marijuana for adults was on the ballot, he paused, and said he’d abstain from voting, because he has to answer the question from “the other side” too. (I read that as cautiously supportive.)  He also was concerned about the lack of an empirical test for impaired driving. He said repeatedly that as a “lawman”, he’d enforce the law, as long as he didn’t believe it was unconstitutional or immoral. Results: Inconclusive.

On balance, because I chair the Initiative #2 committee, I think Brad Giffin might be easier to work with, but I didn’t spend too much time with him.

In a few weeks, we’ll have a chance to vote on the folks who might be headed to Helena to create the law of the land. The above is a subset of what you’ll find in our upcoming voters guide.

Not sure whether you’re registered to vote, or need to figure out who you’ll be voting for? The state provides the tool you need here.

If you can get to candidate forums and ask questions about where the hopefuls stand on regulating marijuana, please contact us with your findings!

-JM

2 comments »

Posted in Initiative #2, Missoula, Prohibition, Tax & Regulate

What Would Happen if we Made Marijuana Legal?

March 9th, 2010

A common objection to the prospect of making marijuana legal is that use would immediately skyrocket and we’d become a nation of pot-addled zombies. After all, the thinking goes, once it’s legal, all the people who have refrained from breaking the law will rush to the new marijuana stores and get hooked.

NORML’s Paul Armentano recently released a review of the available literature on the topic and found no evidence to support that view. In fact, according to study after study of societal effects of marijuana law changes, the most common conclusion is that marijuana laws (whether strict or lax) simply have no effect on use.

Here’s the report: NORML_Real_World_Ramifications_Legalization (PDF)

1 comment »

Posted in Prohibition, Tax & Regulate