NORML Chapter Newsletter

Originally published at blog.NORML.org

Everyday NORML Chapters from around the country invest countless hours in advocating for meaningful marijuana law reforms on the local, state and federal level! Below is a brief rundown of some of their most recent accomplishments.

Members of  NORML Chapters in Missouri Host Community Discussion About Amendment 2

“MU NORML, the Mizzou chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, hosted a cannabis conference Saturday with Missouri NORML and Show-Me Cannabis.”

Read more from ABC 17!

Follow University of Missouri NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

NORML Leaders in the Media

Abner Brown, Executive Director, North Carolina NORML

“We’re going to set ourselves up for the best chance possible,” Brown said. “We’ve sent letters out and have contacted all of our elected officials in North Carolina, and those that were running, to get their responses about how they felt about cannabis reform.”

Read more from WSPA 7 News!

Follow North Carolina NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

Alan Robinson, Communications Director, Madison NORML

Robinson could not be happier about Walker’s election defeat, since he historically has not supported legalizing marijuana and in May referred to it as a “gateway drug” during an interview on WISN-TV.

Read more from The Badger Herald!

Follow Madison NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Ali Nagib, Deputy Director, Illinois NORML

Nagib said regulations might include limits on the potency of marijuana. And he wonders whether the “number of licenses will be limited and if there’ll be something favoring small businesses.”

Read more from the Rockford Register Star!

Follow Illinois NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

Chris Goldstein, Executive Director, South Philly NORML

“Goldstein, however, said the new bill is part of a blinkered mentality that will prevent the city from taking full advantage of the medical marijuana industry and, he claims, eventually full-scale legalization.”

Read more from WHYY Public Media!

Follow South Philly NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Andy Lee, Communications Director, NORML Canada

“A diverse cannabis sector will, ultimately, provide the most innovation, establish high-quality products and a better experience for consumers,”

Read more from The Province!

Follow NORML Canada on Facebook and become a member today!

Christeen Landino, Deputy Director, Michigan NORML

“Landino recalls getting busted for pot in 1968 and attending her first demonstration about marijuana in Detroit in 1974. That one was in support of a decriminalization effort that never made it to the ballot.”

Read more from the Detroit Metro Times!

Follow Michigan NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

Dan Viets, Executive Director, Missouri NORML

“The measure will officially go into effect Dec. 6, according to Dan Viets, president of New Approach Missouri. But it could be as much as a year later before patients will have access to cannabis.”

Read more from KOMU 8!

Follow Missouri NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Dan Viets, Executive Director, Missouri NORML

“Prices will reflect the content of cannabidiol (CBD) and tetryhydrocannabinol (THC), both active compounds found in marijuana, said Dan Viets, president of Amendment 2’s campaign committee and president of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Foundation, or the NORML Foundation.”

Read more from the Missourian!

Follow Missouri NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Dan Viets, Executive Director, Missouri NORML

“‘Certification’ is the correct term,” Viets said. Doctors will provide patients with a document allowing marijuana use if the patient has been diagnosed with one or more of a list of diseases listed in the amendment.

Read more from Springfield News-Leader!

Follow Missouri NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Dan Viets, Executive Director, Missouri NORML

“Viets has been working with Missouri NORML to answer as many questions as possible about the new laws, and admits that there are still a few things that are still coming together but said they’re working to get everything in motion as quickly as possible.”

Read more from ABC 17 News!

Follow Missouri NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

David Holland, Board Member, Empire State NORML

“National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) lawyer David Holland was recruited by Tesoriero to explain the impacts marijuana arrests can have on people.”

Read more from The New Paltz Oracle!

Follow Empire State NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

David Phipps, Communications Director, Indiana NORML

“Some marijuana advocates downstate, meanwhile, think Michigan’s legalization could spur Hoosier legislators — maybe within the next year or two — to take action on the issue of medical marijuana, which has gradually gained attention over the last decade.”

Read more from News Bug!

Follow Indiana NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

Doug Greene, Legislative Director, Empire State NORML

“New York — which already allows medical use of marijuana — will legalize its recreational use next year. He noted that the newly elected senators headed to Albany in January include a number of young progressives who will support legalization.”

Read more from Times Herald-Record!

Follow Empire State NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

Eric Marsch, Executive Director, Southeastern Wisconsin NORML

“It’s clear that its popularity is overwhelming. It’s even more popular than many of the candidates who were elected in those areas.”

Read more from WISN 12 News!

Follow Southeastern Wisconsin NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

Eric Marsch, Executive Director, Southeastern Wisconsin NORML

“Both are very supportive of medical cannabis and open-minded on recreational cannabis,” Marsh said in an interview. “The close margin in those statewide races means they both owe their jobs to the hundreds of thousands of cannabis voters who came out to support the referendums.”

Read more from the Daily Cardinal!

Follow Southeastern Wisconsin NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

Jax Finkle, Executive Director, Texas NORML

“I don’t think that’s going to be a conversation this session,” Finkle told the Dallas Observer. “Texans like to consider themselves their own nation state. We like to do things our own way, and that means that [recreational legalization] will probably be later.”

Read more from Civilized!

Follow Texas NORML on Facebook and become a member today! 

Kandice Hawes, Executive Director, Orange County NORML

“Hawes founded Orange County NORML in 2003 after losing her college financial aid due to a marijuana possession charge. OC NORML has been instrumental in getting recreational marijuana legalized in California, organizing the Medical Cannabis Conference for Seniors in Laguna Woods Village, and working to end the lengthy incarceration of nonviolent marijuana prisoners.”

Read more from The Indy!

Follow Orange County NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Luis Nakamoto, Executive Director, San Antonio NORML

“San Antonio NORML, the local chapter for reform on marijuana laws, is hopeful this go-around in terms of the next legislative session. State Senator Jose Menendez filed S.B. 90. He hopes to expand the Texas Compassionate Use Program.”

Read more from KENS 5!

Follow San Antonio NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Madisen Saglibene, Executive Director, Nevada NORML

“It’s unlikely that President Trump’s new attorney general will spread reefer madness and misinformation to the same extent that Mr. Sessions has,”

Read more from the Las Vegas Review-Journal!

Follow Nevada NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Mary Krueger, Executive Director, Rochester NORML

“It’s already in our communities, kids are already getting it. When you regulate it, you take it out of the black market, you put it into a store and then you can go after the people who are giving it to kids.”

Read more from News 10 NBC!

Follow Rochester NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Mary Krueger, Executive Director, Rochester NORML

“She and other justice advocates urge lawmakers to vacate or seal records of low-level possession and sale charges brought in the past. They also push for people who are currently incarcerated for such crimes to be released or have their sentences reduced to time served.”

Read more from The River Reporter!

Follow Rochester NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Matthew Able, Executive Director, Michigan NORML

“I expect a rush on the grow stores in December because people are going to be getting lights and fans for Christmas.”

Read more from the Detroit Free Press!

Follow Michigan NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

Matthew Able, Executive Director, Michigan NORML

“It has not been a smooth roll out on the part of the state,” Abel said. “You’d think Michigan would learn from other states — simple things, like license growers first.”

Read more from Revue!

Follow Michigan NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

Michael Ford, Executive Director, Minnesota NORML

“Michael Ford and lifelong marijuana activist Oliver Steinberg, offers a moralistic wish list that includes home growing, release of nonviolent offenders, retroactive expungement, public consumption, and a purchasing age of 18.”

Read more from City Pages!

Follow Minnesota NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Mya Smith, Board Member, Purdue NORML

“I have no doubt in my mind that it would become legal if they put it on a ballot.”

Read more from WLFI 18!

Follow Purdue NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Rick Thompson, Board Member, Michigan NORML

“This isn’t done. Just because we passed legalization we have many more hurdles to accomplish. expungement is one, federal banking is one, criminal justice reform on the national scale.”

Read more from NBC 25 News!

Follow Michigan NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

Rick Thompson, Board Member, Michigan NORML

“A person who may have consumed cannabis several days ago might still test positive for the presence of cannabis,” said Thompson. “That does not indicate they were using their automobile in an impaired way.”

Read more from WSBT 22!

Follow Michigan NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

Rick Thompson, Board Member, Michigan NORML

“It was very predictable that this would happen and just underscores that there needs to be a change in federal law.”

Read more from the Detroit Free Press!

Follow Michigan NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

Pam Dyer, Executive Director, Eastern Washington Women of NORML

“Dyer says consuming raw cannabis has also relieved a friend’s rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. While she doesn’t get high from eating the leaves and stems, Dyer does say that she has to reduce how much cannabis she ingests through other methods.”

Read more from The Spokesman-Review!

Follow Eastern Washington Women of NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Paul Kirchberg, Executive Director, Connecticut NORML

“We know it’s safer than alcohol,” he said “If we can honestly have an open conversation about cannabis, we can realize that right now there are 30,000 people in Connecticut who are living proof that it’s not something to fear. Adult consumption, however, requires a certain level of responsibility.”

Read more from the Connecticut Post!

Follow Connecticut NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

For more than 45 years NORML chapters have been the driving force behind policy decisions on the local and state level. Have you connected with your local NORML chapter? If there isn’t one in your community, please email NORML Outreach Director Kevin Mahmalji at [email protected] for help with starting your own!

Ready to start a NORML chapter in your hometown? Click here to find out how!