Cannabis Study House - NORML Weekly News in Audio 2006.4.06

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Weekly News in Audio

April 6, 2006

Only Two Weeks Left Until the 2006 NORML Conference and High Times Cannabis Comedy Night

Ohio Legislature Passes Per Se "Drugged Driving" Bill

No More Decrim Debate In Canada, New PM Says

Washington, DC:
Only Two Weeks Left Until the 2006 NORML Conference and High Times Cannabis Comedy Night

Only two weeks left until the 2006 Annual NORML Conference in San Francisco. If you haven't already done so, sign up today! The three-day "extravaganja" will take place April 20-22 at the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway in downtown San Francisco. Discussion panels at this year's event include:

Grassroots to Grasstops: Activists Effectively Working Together at All Levels
Race, The War on Drugs and Effective Legal Advocacy
Reefer, Rhetoric and Retorts: Winning Ways to Frame The Marijuana Debate
A Look Ahead at This Fall's Pot Initiatives
Cannabis Dispensaries and Their Carrying Capacities
Marijuana and Health: Myths, Facts and Mysteries
Religion, Sacrament and Marijuana
Big Brother Is Watching: Drugged Driving, Student Drug Testing and Dog Searches
Emerging Clinical Applications For Cannabis
American History, Marijuana and Marijuana Prohibition

But that's not all! Tickets are still available for the High Times Cannabis Comedy Night, a special benefit for NORML. Featured comedians include Doug Benson of Best Week Ever, Greg Proops of Whose Line Is It Anyway, Rick Overton of The Aristocrats and many more! The NORML benefit show is at 8pm on Saturday, April 22 at Cobb's Comedy Club

Network with the nation's top marijuana activists and advocates, mingle with celebrities and members of High Times magazine, as well as NORML's staff and board of directors, and enjoy a one-of-a-kind Cannabis Comedy Night!

The National NORML Conference is the most respected and well-attended marijuana law reform conference in the US. Join us for the widest range of panels and speakers on topics of interests to cannabis consumers, and law reform activists!

For more information, please visit NORML website: http://www.norml.org/

Columbus, OH:
Ohio Legislature Passes Per Se "Drugged Driving" Bill

The state House and Senate gave final approval last week to per se legislation sanctioning motorists who operate a motor vehicle with trace levels of marijuana or non-psychoactive marijuana metabolites (compounds produced from chemical changes of a drug in the body) in their blood or urine. Once signed into law, the measure will go into effect in 90 days.

Senate Bill 8 criminally penalizes motorists who drive with levels of THC above 2 ng/ml in their blood and/or levels of the inactive marijuana metabolite THC-COOH in their urine above 35 ng/ml. Ohio is only the third state to pass per se DUID (driving under the influence of drugs) legislation for motorists with trace levels of THC in their blood, and it is the sixth to criminalize motorists who drive with levels of non-psychoactive marijuana metabolites in their bodily fluid.

NORML Senior Policy Analyst Paul Armentano called SB 8 an "all out assault on Ohio's marijuana smoking community." He said: "THC may remain detectable in the blood at low levels long after the intoxicating effects of the drug have worn off. In addition, marijuana's main metabolite remains detectable in urine for days and sometimes weeks after past use. As a result, this legislation may potentially and improperly define sober drivers as if they were intoxicated. Someone who smokes marijuana is impaired as a driver at most for a few hours, certainly not for days or weeks. To treat all marijuana smokers as if they are impaired, even when the drug's effects have long worn off, is illogical and unfair."

Armentano added, "Ohio already has effect-based laws on the books targeting and prosecuting drivers who operate a motor vehicle 'under the influence' of illicit drugs. Under Section 4511.19 of Ohio's Revised Code, motorists face up to six months in jail if they drive 'while under the influence of a drug of abuse.' By contrast, SB 8 creates a separate crime of 'drugged driving' that is, potentially, divorced from impairment. This troubling bill looks to be nothing more than an attempt by the legislature to misuse the traffic safety laws to target the state1s cannabis community."

A similar legislative effort was rejected by members of the California Assembly earlier this week.

Ottawa, Ontario:
No More Decrim Debate In Canada, New PM Says

Proposed legislation to depenalize the possession of minor amounts of cannabis will not be introduced in Parliament, according to public statements made this week by Canada's new Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper. While campaigning, Harper had vowed to enact tougher penalties for drug offenses.

Harper's position marks a sharp contrast to that of the previous administration, which had on several occasions endorsed decriminalizing marijuana, but had failed to act on a number of depenalization proposals.

In 2002, a Canadian Senate inquiry recommended legalizing and regulating marijuana for those 16 years and older, while a House inquiry recommended decriminalizing the possession of up to 30 grams (approximately one ounce) of marijuana. However, neither recommendation ever gained significant support from members of Parliament.

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