"I'm a stoner and I vote...."
Bill Maher, on Real Time with Bill Maher 03.30.07


The Forgotten War on Drugs
America's Forgotten War - Five Part Series

Stories in This Series

Part 1: War on Drugs Hasn't Stemmed Flow Into U.S.
Part 2: Deep in the Colombian Jungle, Coca Still Thrives
Part 3: Winning the War on Drugs One Life at a Time
Part 4: Release of Drug Offenders Strains Communities
Part 5: Drug Czar Blasted for Lack of Leadership



NORML Affiliates To Protest Pot Prohibition On Tax Day

Washington, DC: On Monday, April 16, 2007, NORML chapters around the country will hold protests at their local post-offices to call on elected officials to tax and regulate cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol and tobacco.

"No day is more appropriate for America's citizens to protest their government's criminalization of cannabis than tax day," said NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre. "Cannabis consumers may be the only community in America who are demanding the federal government to tax and regulate our product of choice."

Replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation similar to alcohol could produce combined savings and tax revenues as high as $14 billion per year, St. Pierre said �- citing a 2005 study by Boston University economist Jeffrey Miron.

A 2006 study reported that cannabis ranks as the top cash crop in twelve states and is worth more than $1 billion per year in five states: California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii, and Washington.

Most recently, California's Board of Equalization announced that it will seek to collect taxes on the state's 150 to 200 medicinal cannabis dispensaries.

'This tax day, when millions of Americans are lamenting filing their paperwork with the IRS, federal officials should remember that at! least o ne community is standing up and demanding to be counted," St. Pierre said.

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500, or visit: http://www.norml.org.

It's Been an 'All Out War' on Pot Smokers for 35 Years
Paul Armentano

Thirty-five years ago today, a Congressionally mandated commission on US
drug policy did something extraordinary: they told the truth about
marijuana.

On March 22, 1972, the National Commission on Marihuana (sic) and Drug Abuse
chaired by former Pennsylvania Governor Raymond P. Shafer � recommended
Congress amend federal law so that the use and possession of pot would no
longer be a criminal offense.

On today's anniversary of the Shafer Commission's findings, NORML is
encouraging activists to contact their elected officials, reminding them
that the Commissions were right then and are even more applicable now.

For more information, please go here

In addition, never-before-public audiotapes of President Richard Nixon and
Governor Shafer discussing the report, and an exclusive interview with
former Commission member Dr. Thomas Ungerlieder -- are available on the
Wednesday and Thursday editions NORML's Daily AudioStash

Related

Paul's 'All Out War' article on Alternet.Org

Shafer Commission Report - The Report of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding

This commission was directed by Raymond P. Shafer, former Republican governor of Pennsylvania, and had four sitting, elected politicians among its eleven members. The commission also had leading addiction scholars among its members and staff and was appointed by President Nixon in the midst of the drug-war hysteria at that time. While the commission supported much existing policy, it produced two reflective reports, this being the final comprehensive document, which recommended research, experimentation, and humane compromise. The first recommendations of the commission were:

1. Possession of marihuana for personal use would no longer be an offense, but marihuana possessed in public would remain contraband subject to summary seizure and forfeiture.
2. Casual distribution of small amounts of marihuana for no remuneration, or Insignificant remuneration not involving profit, would no longer be an offense.

The recommendations in this reports were endorsed by (among others) the American Medical Association, the American Bar Association, The American Association for Public Health, the National Education Association, and the National Council of Churches.