Cannabis Study House - NORML Weekly News in Audio 2006.4.13

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Weekly News in Audio

April 13, 2006

Tommy Chong To Appear At 2006 NORML Conference In San Francisco

Alaska: Recrim Measure On Its Way To Governor

University Of Maryland Approves "Marijuana Equalization" Initiative

Washington, DC:
Tommy Chong To Appear At 2006 national NORML Conference In San Francisco

Veteran actor/comedian Tommy Chong has announced that he, along with writer/director Josh Gilbert, will appear at next week's 2006 national NORML Conference in San Francisco to screen their award-winning documentary A/K/A Tommy Chong. The duo will appear on Friday, April 21, from 1 to 3 pm.

Chong will also speak to conference attendees on the need to reform America's laws criminalizing the use and possession of cannabis. Chong also plans on discussing the appearance of the typical marijuana protestor: "They should all start dressing like Montel Williams," said Chong.

In 2003, Chong and members of his family were among 55 people indicted by the federal government for selling glass pipes over the Internet in a sting operation known as Operation Pipe Dreams. Chong was sentenced to nine months in federal prison, fined $20,000, and was forced to surrender more than $100,00 in cash and merchandise as a result of the bust. He was the only person arrested in the nationwide sting who was sentenced to time in prison. Most legal experts believe that Chong was singled out by government officials because of the actor's high profile as a cultural icon among the cannabis community.

A/K/A Tommy Chong documents the federal raid on Chong's family-run business, Nice Dream Enterprises, as well as his prosecution, incarceration and release in 2004 through numerous personal and heartfelt interviews with the noted actor and his family.

"Rather than simply recount the events of Chong's case, filmaker Josh Gilbert conducts a fascinating study of the aging hippie culture, at odds with the straight-laced neo-con establishment anxious to erase the country's counter-culture past. Always lovable, entertaining and (most importantly) funny, Chong makes for a fascinating and even inspirational subject." at the review of The Festival Daily, Toronto International Film Festival

"NORML is pleased to bring Thomas Chong to San Francisco to speak first-hand of the injustices of the government's war on cannabis," said NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre. "This will not be an appearance of Tommy Chong the comedian. Rather, this will be an appearance by a man who was targeted by the federal government and served time in prison as a result of this country's misguided pot policies, and who has pledged to use his fame to bring about their long-overdue repeal."

NORML's 2006 annual Conference will take place from April 20-22 at the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway in downtown San Francisco. The three-day "extravanganja" will feature presentations from over 50 of the nation's top cannabis activists, educators, and advocates, as well as an awards banquet and auction, live musical entertainment, and a special Saturday evening High Times Cannabis Comedy Night to benefit NORML Foundation. 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.

For more information about this year's Conference, please visit http://www.norml.org/

Juneau, AK:
Alaska: Recrim Measure On Its Way To Governor

A legislative conference committee voted last night in favor of Senate provisions that seek to overturn a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court ruling (Ravin v. State) upholding the right of citizens to possess up to four ounces of marijuana in the privacy of their homes.

The committee decided to keep the controversial provisions -- which make the possession of less than four ounces of marijuana a misdemeanor and the possession of greater amounts a felony -- as amendments to House Bill 149, which primarily addresses the manufacturing of methamphetamine. The Alaska Senate had approved adding the anti-marijuana provisions to the bill earlier this year, but House members ordered them to withdraw the changes, arguing that they had not been properly debated by lawmakers.

House Bill 149 now returns to the House and Senate for ratification, and then to the Governor, who strongly supports the recrim measure. According to a recent telephone poll of 500 Alaskan voters, 56 percent oppose the legislature's effort.

If the bill becomes law, it will likely compel the Court to revisit its 1975 ruling. If that happens, NORML Legal Counsel Keith Stroup predicts that the Court will strike down the new law.

"The right to privacy, enshrined in the Alaska state constitution, is more important to the Court and to most Alaskans than the Governor's ill-advised war on marijuana smokers," Stroup says.

In 2004, the Alaska Supreme Court rejected a petition by the state attorney general's office to reconsider a September 2003 Court of Appeals ruling finding that the possession of marijuana by adults within the home is constitutionally protected activity.

College Park, MD:
University Of Maryland Approves "Marijuana Equalization" Initiative

Students at the University of Maryland voted overwhelmingly this week in favor of a campus referendum calling on officials to decrease university-imposed marijuana penalties.

Sixty-five percent of U-Maryland students approved the "Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Referendum," which demands University officials reduce sanctions for minor marijuana offenses so that they are no greater than university-imposed penalties for alcohol possession.

"It's time for university leaders to recognize marijuana for what it is -- a relatively benign recreational substance that is less likely than alcohol to lead to violence, riots, or even death," said Victor Pinho, president of NORML Terps, which coordinated the campus referendum, along with the University of Maryland chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) and SAFER (Safer Alternatives for Enjoyable Recreation).

NORML, SAFER, and SSDP have previously coordinated similar campus initiatives at Florida State University and the University of Texas at Austin.

SAFER, which successfully passed a citywide initiative eliminating municipal marijuana penalties in Denver last fall, is now gathering signatures to place a similar proposal on the November 2006 Colorado ballot.

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