The United States House of Representatives will be considering two marijuana related bills this year!

We have previously referred to Rep. Barney Frank’s, HR 5843, which would decriminalize up to 3.5 ounces of marijuana for adults as well as the not-for-profit transfer of up to 1 ounce. The “Act to Remove Federal Penalties for Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults” was co-authored by Texas’ own Rep. Ron Paul, and needs your help to pass through committee and become law!

Congressman Barney Frank

Congressman Ron Paul

Please take a few minutes to call AND write to your U.S. Congressmen, and urge them to support this bill!
To find your Representative go to, http://www.house.gov/, and enter your ZIP Code (4 digit ext not needed) on the upper left-hand side of the page.
To call the House of Representatives switchboard, dial 202-224-3121, and either ask for your Representative or give them your ZIP Code.

When you reach your Representative’s Office, here is a sample script for you:

I want to ask Representative [insert Rep name] to please support, and vote for, HR 5843, which seeks to eliminate federal penalties for the possession and non-for-profit distribution of small amounts of cannabis. This common sense change will ensure that adults who possess small quantities of cannabis for their own personal use will no longer be subject to arrest or prosecution, or the emotional, social, and financial hardships that follow.

Otherwise law-abiding citizens who use marijuana responsibly are not part of the crime problem, and we must stop treating them like criminals. In 2006, the last year for which national data is available, law enforcement arrested over 829,000 persons for marijuana violations – the highest annual total ever recorded. Of those arrested, approximately 90 percent were charged with minor marijuana possession only.

Seldom emphasized penalties associated with a minor marijuana conviction include probation and mandatory drug testing, loss of employment, loss of child custody, removal from subsidized housing, asset forfeiture, loss of student aid, loss of voting privileges, loss of adoption rights, and the loss of certain federal welfare benefits such as food stamps. Thousands of Americans suffer such sanctions every day – at a rate of one person every 38 seconds. Surely, our limited law enforcement resources would be better served targeting more serious and violent crimes.

On this latter point, most Americans agree. Marijuana decriminalization currently enjoys support from the majority of Americans. According to a CNN/Time Magazine poll, 76% of US citizens favor a fine over criminal penalties for the possession of marijuana. In fact, twelve states – representing one third of the population of the United States – have already enacted various forms of marijuana decriminalization, eliminating criminal sanctions for cannabis possession. Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts are currently considering similar options.

To e-mail a pre-written letter to your Representative’s office regarding HR 5843, please go to, http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=11280301.

NORML is pleased to announce that Texas Congressman Ron Paul has been joined by 4 other Congressmen in introducing HR 5842, the “Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act”, which seeks to enact legal protections for authorized medical marijuana patients, in the House of Representatives. Now is the time to contact your House member and urge him or her to support this important legislation!

H.R. 5842 will help to ensure that medical marijuana patients in those states where medical cannabis legislation has been approved will no longer have to fear arrest or prosecution from federal law enforcement agencies. However, this proposal will only receive serious consideration if your elected officials hear an unmistakable message of support from their constituents.

Please take a few minutes to call AND write to your U.S. Congressmen, and urge them to support this bill!
To find your Representative go to, http://www.house.gov/, and enter your ZIP Code (4 digit ext not needed) on the upper left-hand side of the page.
To call the House of Representatives switchboard, dial 202-224-3121, and either ask for your Representative or give them your ZIP Code.

When you reach your Representative’s Office, here is a sample script for you:

I want to ask Representative [insert Rep name] to please support, and vote for, HR 5842, also know as the “Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act.” If approved, H.R. 5842 would end the federal government’s conflict with the twelve states that have already approved medical cannabis legislation. At the same time, it will not alter or interfere with already existing federal laws discouraging the non-medical, recreational use of marijuana, nor would it force medical cannabis on states that have not approved it.

The use of marijuana as medicine is a public health issue; it should not be part of the war on drugs. According to a recent national survey of U.S. physicians conducted for the American Society of Addiction Medicine, nearly half of all doctors with opinions support legalizing cannabis as a medicine. Some 80 state and national health care organizations, including the American Nurses Association, American Public Health Association and The New England Journal of Medicine, support immediate, legal patient access to medical cannabis.

Most recently, the largest association of doctors of internal medicine and the second largest medical association in the country, the American College of Physicians, released a policy paper in support of medical cannabis, stating, “The ACP strongly urges protection from criminal or civil penalties for patients who use medical marijuana as permitted under state laws.”

To deny an effective medication to the sick and dying is cruel and unconscionable, and improperly interferes with the relationship between a patient and his or her physician. State and federal laws already allow the medical use of many drugs, such as cocaine and morphine, which can be abused in a non-medical setting. Basic compassion and common sense demand that we allow the seriously ill to use whatever medication provides safe and effective relief. That is why 8 out of 10 American voters now say they support the legalization of cannabis for medical purposes.

To e-mail a pre-written letter to your Representative’s office regarding HR 5843, please go to, http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=11280351.

Thank’s in advance to everyone who cares enough about this issue to take action!!

 The Hon. Sheila Jackson-Lee represents the 18th District of Texas, serving Harris and Houston counties.  On June 5, 2008, Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee co-sponsored HR 5842: Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act.  This act provides for the protection of patients, dispensaries, physicians, and facilitators from federal prosecution in states where medical marijuana has been legalized by the state.

HR 5843: A Bill to Eliminate Most Federal Penalties for Marijuana was referred to the House Judiciary Committee on April 17, 2008.  On April 28, 2008, it was referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security which has jurisdiction over drug enforcement, sentencing, the development of the Federal Criminal Code, and various other areas.  The subcommittee, composed of 10 Democrats and 6 Republicans,  has two Texans which are listed members.  Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee and Congressman Louie Gohmert (R).  Congressman Gohmert is a Ranking Member of the subcommittee and represents the 1st District of Texas.

Please write to these two members of Congress and urge them to support HR 5843.  It is important that this bill not be held up in committee to prevent it from making its way to the floor to be heard and voted on.  It is critical that our representatives, whether or not we reside in their respective district, know that we are aware of what committees they sit on and where we stand on the issues that come before them.  Representative Jackson-Lee has already co-sponsored one marijuana bill; urge her to extend the same compassion for patients to responsible adult users of cannabis so they are no longer persecuted by the court and prison system.

Honorable Sheila Jackson-Lee
2435 Rayburn H. O. B.
Washington, D. C. 20515

Honorable Louie Gohmert
508 Cannon H. O. B.
Washington, D. C. 20515

To find out how to host a letter writing party or if you are interested in obtaining materials to aid in writing a letter, or unbiased information to use to persuade a member of the House, please email: kourtneigh@texasnorml.org.

We at Texas NORML realize that during this non-legislative year, not much can be done in the way of changing state legislation regarding cannabis use. Our goal for 2008 is to increase public awareness regarding the issues of the medical, recreational and industrial use of cannabis in Texas.

Environmental issues have no legislative calendar and need constant attention to be maintained. While many areas of Austin’s parks are relentlessly cared for and manicured, other areas slip through the cracks and become unfit; namely the Colorado River access near 183 & Montopolis in Austin’s East Side.

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Q - Where does City of Austin water come from?
A - The City uses surface water as the source for the drinking water. There are three drinking water treatment plants for the city, two pump from Lake Austin and one pumps from Town Lake. Both of these lakes are part of the group of Highland Lakes on the lower Colorado River.

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We plan to have a wonderful day in the sun and give back to Mother Nature while informing participants on issues that concern the cannabis using public. Please plan to join us Saturday morning in our efforts with Keep Austin Beautiful to restore beauty to an area that is on a steep decline, due to neglect.For more information on volunteering or providing entertainment for this event, contact Brad at TexasNORML dot org. Click Here for Directions.

Congressman John Conyers Jr. (MI)

Congressman John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has responded to the requests of numerous citizens as well as the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco regarding the use of federal DEA resources in enforcement of marijuana laws against patients legally using medical marijuana under state law.

The Conyers letter, sent to Acting DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart, asks for the administration’s response to the complaints in advance of hearings to be held in front of the Judiciary Committee. Conyers’ questions include:

Is the use of civil asset forfeiture, which has typically been reserved for the worst drug traffickers and kingpins, an appropriate tactic to employ against individuals who suffer from severe or chronic illness and are authorized to use medical marijuana under California law?

Has the DEA conducted any analysis of the potential economic consequences of using civil asset forfeiture in an area that is experiencing some of the nation’s sharpest declines in property values?

Has the DEA considered the consequences of shutting down legally-operated public dispensaries, and whether that might drive the cannabis sales activity underground?

Given the increased level of trafficking and violence associated with international drug cartels across Mexico, South America and elsewhere, do you think the DEA’s limited resources are best utilized conducting enforcement raids on individuals and their caregivers who are conducting themselves legally under California law?

Have you considered that DEA activities against qualified individuals is negatively impacting the ability of state and local officials across California to collect tax revenue, which they are entitled to under California law?

Every month new science supporting the therapeutic value of cannabis is published. As a result, medical and scientific organizations, like the American College of Physicians and the American Psychiatric Association, are urging reform of the laws that place in legal jeopardy physicians or their individual patients who may benefit from the use of cannabis. As the Administrator, you have the discretion to decide whether to continue heightened enforcement activities in California and in other states that have authorized the use of medical cannabis by qualified individuals. Please explain what role, if any, emerging scientific data plays in your decision-making process to conduct enforcement raids on individuals authorized to use or provide medical cannabis under state law.

Would you support the creation of an intergovernmental commission comprised of law enforcement, law makers and people affected by the laws, to review policy and provide recommendations that aim to bring harmony to federal and state laws?

While Conyers awaits the response from the DEA, let me play the psychic and predict what the DEA’s answers to those questions will be: no, no, no, no, no, none, and no.

From the drug warrior’s perspective, marijuana is the lynch pin in the grand profit scheme that is the War on (Certain American Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco Free) Drugs. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health from 2006, marijuana is by far the most popular drug used in America in the past year:

Marijuana         25,378,000
Cocaine               6,069,000
Hallucinogens    3,956,000
Inhalants            2,218,000
Meth                   1,889,000
Crack                  1,479,000
Heroin                   560,000

Without the marijuana users, there are too few illicit drug users to justify the enormous budgets of paramilitary police organizations.

Without the marijuana users, who unlike users of those other drugs will pee dirty for 30 days, not 3, there aren’t enough positive drug tests to maintain the income of companies whose livelihood depends on drug testing.

Without the marijuana users who are sentenced by so-called drug courts, there aren’t enough non-violent socially-redeemable offenders to support the budgets of drug treatment centers.

Most important, without the marijuana users, the numbers just aren’t large enough to scare the public with the fear of tens of millions of “druggies” on the streets.

The survival of the War on Drugs concept is based on fear. How many times have you seen a news graphic for a story on drugs that shows a marijuana leaf, a line of cocaine, and a heroin syringe? They need to maintain the illusion that all drugs are equally bad in order to justify SWAT raids on gardeners and disabled people.

Plans are quickly coming together for the Texas Cannabis Crusade & Pot-luck for Pot-love, to be held on Saturday May 3rd. The event will incorporate speakers, live music, a march to the State Capitol, and a pot-luck picnic at the Pecan Grove in Zilker Park. Festivities begin at 10AM in Zilker Park’s Pecan Grove, with breakfast tacos available and materials for sign-making in preparation for a march to the south Capitol Steps at HIGH noon. The march will begin at Zilker Park, ending at the Capitol. A rally for cannabis legalization will be held from 1-4PM on the State Capitol’s south steps with several speakers and live music from local musicians.
You can view the event page HERE
After the rally at the Capitol, we’ll head back to Zilker for the Pot-luck for Pot-love and more live music ’till 10PM. The pot-luck for pot-love will include Barton Springs’ style fun for members and supporters. You can register a pot-luck dish entry by emailing, potluckforpotlove@texasnorml.org.

The Texas Cannabis Crusade is being orgainzed, and paid for, by Texas NORML and Outgrow Big Bro. Without help from our supporters we would not be able to bring such an awesome event to the State Capitol or to Zilker Park.

Please consider making a secure, PayPal, donation in the ammount of your choice, to the Texas Cannabis Crusade by going to this link:

We’re very much looking forward to making our voices heard at the Capitol, and we hope to see you all there!

Cannabem Liberemus!!

Josh Schimberg
Executive Director, Texas NORML
josh@texasnorml.org
http://www.myspace.com/texasnorml

NORML is pleased to announce that it has partnered with our longtime ally,Democratic Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, to introduce legislation in the House of Representatives that would strip the federal government of its authority to arrest responsible cannabis consumers. The bill, referred to by Frank as the ‘Make Room for Serious Criminals Act,’ is the first federal cannabis decriminalization bill introduced inCongress in 24 years.

“It’s time for the politicians to catch up with the public on this [issue],” Frank said Friday during an appearance on the nationally syndicated television program ‘Real Time with Bill Maher,’ in which he announced the imminent introduction of the measure.

As drafted, Frank’s proposal would eliminate all federal penalties prohibiting the personal use and possession of up to 100 grams (3 1/2ounces) of marijuana. Under this measure (based on the recommendations of the 1972 National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, also known as the Shafer Commission), adults who consume cannabis would no longer face arrest, prison, or even the threat of a civil fine. In addition, this bill would eliminate all penalties prohibiting the not-for-profit transfers of up to one ounce of cannabis between adults. In short, for the first time since 1937, the possession, use, and non-profit transfer of marijuana by adults would be legal under federal law!

Marijuana decriminalization currently enjoys support from the majority of Americans. According to a recent CNN/Time Magazine poll, 76% of US citizens favor a cannabis policy that does not place responsible adult cannabis consumers at risk of arrest and prosecution. Nonetheless, nearly 830,000 Americans were arrested on marijuana charges last year, 89% of which were for personal possession.

Currently, twelve states, representing over a third of Americans - Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Oregon, along with numerous major cities such as Seattle, Milwaukee, Madison, and Ann Arbor — have enacted various forms of marijuana decriminalization, replacing criminal sanctions with the imposition of fine-only penalties for minor pot violators. Similar proposals have passed this year in the House in New Hampshire and the Senate in Vermont, and Massachusetts will be voting on a similar initiative this November.

NORML is pleased to be leading the effort for sensible cannabis law reform at the federal level. With your support, we look forward to ending the obsolete and destructive practice of arresting responsible adult cannabis consumers.

KVII News, Amarillo, TX
http://www.kvii.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=113432

Amarillo medical marijuana case
A local jury finds a man justified in his use

By Laura Rice

AMARILLO — A local jury rules against the established law and in favor of a man using marijuana for medical reasons.

On Tuesday, the Potter County jury took just minutes to decide the case. But for one man, and perhaps many more down the road, the impact of the decision is anything but small.

Tim Stevens has HIV. He has been battling the virus since 1986 and is thankful it has not progressed to AIDs. But he still suffers. One problem: cyclic vomiting.

“You go through cycles of extreme nausea and that’s pretty horrible,” said Stevens.

The only remedy that has eased his pain is doctor-recommended marijuana.

“There are situations where this is the only avenue to take once you’ve gone through the medical gamut,” said Stevens.

In October, Stevens felt a cycle starting and bought ten dollars worth of marijuana. An anonymous tip led to his arrest for possession. But officers did not have to arrest Stevens, they could have written him a ticket.

“Potter County has chosen not to follow the state law that says they could write tickets for people like this but instead arrest and jail them,” said Stevens’ lawyer Jeff Blackburn.

Stevens spent a couple of hours in jail, then made bond. The ordeal could have been concluded, but Stevens felt he had to fight the full battle first and take the issue to trial to get the decision reversed.

“There’s a lot of work to be done and people need not be so afraid of people with HIV,” said Stevens. “It’s not going to leap across the room at you. There’s a lot of work to be done in the medical field and with the government.”

Stevens’ lawyer helped him on his mission of principle.

“That’s democracy in action,” said Blackburn.

Stevens hopes it is a mission that will help others in the future.

“For chemo patients, multiple sclerosis and such,” said Stevens.

With all he has been through he says it is the lack of compassion he encountered in the harsh judgement system that hurts him most.

“I think there was maybe a lack of understanding or knowledge about any of my issues,” said Stevens. “There certainly seemed to be a lack of compassion.”

So what happens now for Stevens?

He says he will not smoke marijuana illegally anymore. He is going to try a pill substitute with a lower success rate. To use marijuana legally, he will have to move to New Mexico.

Click for link to AmericanDrugWar.com

35 years after Nixon started the war on drugs, we have over one million non-violent drug offenders living behind bars.

The War on Drugs has become the longest and most costly war in American history, the question has become, how much more can the country endure? Inspired by the death of four family members from “legal drugs” Texas filmmaker Kevin Booth sets out to discover why the Drug War has become such a big failure. Three and a half years in the making, the film follows gang members, former DEA agents, CIA officers, narcotics officers, judges, politicians, prisoners and celebrities including General Barry McCaffrey, Cynthia McKinney, Ron Paul, Ralph Nader, Joe Rogan, Jello Biafra, and Tommy Chong.

AMERICAN DRUG WAR shows how money, power and greed have corrupted not just drug pushers and dope fiends, but an entire government. More importantly, it shows what can be done about it. This is not some ‘pro-drug’ stoner film, but a collection of expert testimonials from the ground troops on the front lines of the drug war, the ones who are fighting it and the ones who are living it.

In 2007, AMERICAN DRUG WAR won 3 Best Documentary Awards, and earned the Best Feature Award at the Artivist Film Festival.

After 4 years of production including several sold out test screenings in New York, Austin & Los Angeles, the final version of American Drug War “the last white hope” is locked and loaded.

Join Texas NORML on March 30th, 3-6pm, at the Spiderhouse Café, http://www.spiderhousecafe.com/, for an exclusive screening of, American Drug War: The Last White Hope.

Presale tickets are $7 general admission, $5 for Texas NORML members, and are available through PayPal here: (Tickets will be on available at “will-call” table) Please bring confirmation email to event.

General admission: $7

Texas NORML member admission: $5

Prison spending ballooned from $11 billion to $49 billion in 2 decades

Associated Press
February 28, 2008

NEW YORK - For the first time in U.S. history, more than one of every 100 adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report documenting America’s rank as the world’s No. 1 incarcerator. It urges states to curtail corrections spending by placing fewer low-risk offenders behind bars.

Using state-by-state data, the report says 2,319,258 Americans were in jail or prison at the start of 2008 — one out of every 99.1 adults. Whether per capita or in raw numbers, it’s more than any other nation.

The report, released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.

The steadily growing inmate population “is saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime,” the report said.

Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States, said budget woes are pressuring many states to consider new, cost-saving corrections policies that might have been shunned in the recent past for fear of appearing soft on crime.

Kansas, Texas act to slow growth
“We’re seeing more and more states being creative because of tight budgets,” she said in an interview. “They want to be tough on crime. They want to be a law-and-order state. But they also want to save money, and they want to be effective.”

The report cited Kansas and Texas as states that have acted decisively to slow the growth of their inmate population. They are making greater use of community supervision for low-risk offenders and employing sanctions other than reimprisonment for offenders who commit technical violations of parole and probation rules.

“The new approach, born of bipartisan leadership, is allowing the two states to ensure they have enough prison beds for violent offenders while helping less dangerous lawbreakers become productive, taxpaying citizens,” the report said.

While many state governments have shown bipartisan interest in curbing prison growth, there also are persistent calls to proceed cautiously.

“We need to be smarter,” said David Muhlhausen, a criminal justice expert with the conservative Heritage Foundation. “We’re not incarcerating all the people who commit serious crimes. But we’re also probably incarcerating people who don’t need to be.”

Largest increase in Kentucky
According to the report, the inmate population increased last year in 36 states and the federal prison system.

The largest percentage increase — 12 percent — was in Kentucky, where Gov. Steve Beshear highlighted the cost of corrections in his budget speech last month. He noted that the state’s crime rate had increased only about 3 percent in the past 30 years, while the state’s inmate population has increased by 600 percent.

The report was compiled by the Pew Center’s Public Safety Performance Project, which is working with 13 states on developing programs to divert offenders from prison without jeopardizing public safety.

“Getting tough on criminals has gotten tough on taxpayers,” said the project’s director, Adam Gelb.

According to the report, the average annual cost per prisoner was $23,876, with Rhode Island spending the most ($44,860) and Louisiana the least ($13,009). It said California — which faces a $16 billion budget shortfall — spent $8.8 billion on corrections last year, while Texas, which has slightly more inmates, was a distant second with spending of $3.3 billion.

On average, states spend 6.8 percent of their general fund dollars on corrections, the report said. Oregon had the highest spending rate, at 10.9 percent; Alabama the lowest at 2.6 percent.

Four states — Vermont, Michigan, Oregon and Connecticut — now spend more on corrections than they do on higher education, the report said.

“These sad facts reflect a very distorted set of national priorities,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, referring to the full report. “Perhaps, if we adequately invested in our children and in education, kids who now grow up to be criminals could become productive workers and taxpayers.”

Tough sentencing laws cited
The report said prison growth and higher incarceration rates do not reflect an increase in the nation’s overall population. Instead, it said, more people are behind bars mainly because of tough sentencing measures, such as “three-strikes” laws, that result in longer prison stays.

“For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially startling,” the report said. “While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine.”

The racial disparity for women also is stark. One of every 355 white women aged 35 to 39 is behind bars, compared with one of every 100 black women in that age group.

The nationwide figures, as of Jan. 1, include 1,596,127 people in state and federal prisons and 723,131 in local jails. That’s out of almost 230 million American adults.

The report said the United States incarcerates more people than any other nation, far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people behind bars. It said the U.S. also is the leader in inmates per capita (750 per 100,000 people), ahead of Russia (628 per 100,000) and other former Soviet bloc nations which round out the Top 10.

The U.S. also is among the world leaders in capital punishment. According to Amnesty International, its 53 executions in 2006 were exceeded only by China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Sudan.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

February 21, 2008

Sacramento, CA: The American College of Physicians (ACP), the nation’s largest organization of doctors of internal medicine and the second largest medical association in the country, called for easing the federal prohibition of marijuana in a position paper released Friday, February 15.

The ACP asked the federal government to review the inclusion of marijuana as a Schedule I drug, a classification it shares with drugs such as heroin and LSD. Schedule I substances are declared to have no medical use and a high potential for abuse by the federal government. Since its inclusion as a Schedule I drug in 1970, the scheduling of cannabis has been constantly challenged.

The conflict between federal law and the twelve states where medical cannabis statutes have been enacted have made many doctors avoid recommending medical cannabis as a treatment. Dr. David Dale, president of the ACP, said that contributed to the ACP’s action: “We felt the time had come to speak up about this. …We’d like to clear up the uncertainty and anxiety of patients and physicians over this drug.”

Officials at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy panned the ACP’s move. “What this would do is drag us back to 14th century medicine,” said Bertha Madras, the ONDCP deputy director for demand reduction.

“With the ACP now supporting rescheduling, the ONDCP can no longer claim that medical cannabis is not supported by science or the practitioners of modern medicine,” NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said in response.

With this action, the ACP joins the American Nurses Association, the American Public Health Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and many other medical associations calling for cannabis to be made a legal medicine.

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at: allen@norml.org. Full text of the ACP policy papers is available in PDF format at: http://www.acponline.org/advocacy/where_we_stand/other_issues/medmarijuana.pdf