Celebrating 4/20 is NORML

NORML’s content is offline for today only.

That is the headline that pops up every time that an icon is clicked on the NORML website. The only icons that do work on the website are the one’s that direct the viewer to online store where they can buy NORML merchandise. For this marijuana holiday NORML isn’t offering special prices, but they are donating all money made on 4/20 to Control and Tax Cannabis California 2010, which is an organization that supports legalizing marijuana in California.

April 20, 2010 (aka 4/20), is an unofficial holiday. 4/20 is also known as Marijuana Freedom Day. As a group who is fully in support of the legalization of medical marijuana, NORML and it’s website are taking a break to celebrate the holiday.

NORML is an organization that works to change Marijuana laws throughout the nation. There are different chapters in the country and each of them works within their state to help legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. Normally on the NORML website there links to different chapters, state-by-state laws and contact information, but for 4/20 the website focuses on celebrating their efforts to legalize marijuana.

Tomorrow morning NORML will get back to their cause but for today, for Marijuana Freedom Day the members of the group can celebrate their efforts and their successes. Legalization of medical marijuana is slowly becoming a hot topic around the nation and in states where legalization is on the upcoming November ballot.

-A. Dennison

2010
04/20
CATEGORY
marijuana
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Cannibus University

1600 Boradway, Oakland, CA 94612

That is the address for the first Cannabis Univeristy in the United States. Founded three years ago in 2007, the campus was founded “to provide students with the highest quality training for the cannabis industry,” according to their mission statement.

Richard Lee founded Oaksterdam University after placing a provocative ad in a northern California paper proclaiming “Cannabis Industry Now Hiring.” However, instead of just focusing on the horticulture industry like its predecessor in Amsterdam, Lee created a curriculum that focused on the entire industry.

The advertisement brought in 200 phone calls in the first week. Of those first 200, 20 students were handpicked to pack into one small classroom. They attended classes on Legal Issues, Politics, Cooking, Concentrates and Horticulture. Through word-of-mouth, Oaksterdam University soon had a 3-month waiting list.

As demand grew, class size and frequency increased. They moved to a larger location and began holding semester-length classes during weekday evenings.

In 2008, the school expanded to include satellite locations in Los Angeles, Michigan and North Bay. The demand is continuing to grow after 2 years. In November 2009, they moved the Oakland campus to its third and current location on 1600 Broadway. It is now a 30,000 sqft. campus with multiple classrooms, 2 auditoriums, a grow lab and a theatre.

Now, students can chose to take courses in Federal vs. State Law, Politics & History, Methods of Ingestion: Extracts, Cooking, Vaporizing, Patient Relations 101, Horticulutre or the Science of Cannabis. Additionally they offer weekend seminars.

All you need to sign up is $650, a stamp and a completed enrollment form. Who knew it could be so easy?

-C. Lyerly

2010
04/16
CATEGORY
marijuana
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Dinner and Drugs

I met him when I was fourteen. At that time we were in eighth grade playing basketball and wondering what high school would be like. Now, at 22 I am learning more about my old friend than I ever thought possible.

We sat in the booth at a restaurant that boasted it’s family atmosphere and it’s homemade pie. The waiter, Michael, would come by and offer friendly conversation as well as another refill on my sweet tea. When he was gone, the conversation turned back to Bryan* and that night’s topic: his former use of marijuana.

Since he is my friend, I knew about his self-proclaimed “troubles” with the illegal substance. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that after our middle school game of horse, Bryan was sneaking away have his next joint.

“How old was I? I was ten.”

That’s right! Ten years old! He was ten years old the first time that peer pressure from his cousin and a camping trip with his buddies led to his first encounter with illegal substances.

“I didn’t even know what it was.” Bryan said.

From ten years old the marijuana use continued.

“I was bored,” he said.

As the waiter reappears to bring Bryan’s turkey melt and my Boston Crème Pie, the conversation halts. Michael informs us that they are out of sweet tea and that they will give me another drink with no extra charge. The gesture is appreciated but I am grateful when he leaves so that the conversation turns back to Bryan. This time he wants to tell me about his family.

He skips the part about telling me about how he stopped using marijuana. I already know that he wanted to be a better role model for his younger siblings and I also know that He gets cravings when his friends are smoking around him and that even though they try to convince him to take a hit, that’s it’s hard for him to ‘just say no’, but he does it anyway.

For Bryan, even now that he’s drug free, the struggle continues. Not only does he still have friends who use marijuana and try to convince him to use it, but his two younger brothers, Jake* and James* have now gotten in the habit of using marijuana. Jake is a senior in high school and James is an eighth grader, much the same as Bryan the first time that I met him.

“I wish that I could talk to them,” Bryan said.

It would do them well to listen to him because he has experience with the life that they are currently living. Will Bryan’s experiences have an effect on his younger brothers? Or has it already had a negative effect on them? Only time will tell how much Jake and James follow in his footsteps.

As dinner ends we say goodbye and I can’t help but hope that his brother’s follow in his footsteps because now Bryan can not only share his story, but he can learn from it.

*Names were changed

-A. Dennison

2010
04/13
CATEGORY
other drug related material
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Equal Evils

It’s not easy for me to hide my sympathy for those convicted of drug crimes. Last week I read about the arrest of “Don Pepe,” a Mexican drug kingpin who allegedly was in charge of transporting 440 pounds of heroin per month into southern California.

My first thought was, “Well, now where will Californians get their heroin?”

But that same day, I read about the murder of a southern Arizona rancher at the hands of drug cartel scouts (http://www.fox11az.com/news/local/89803402.html).

Though I consider myself an inflexible and even theoretically militant supporter of natural human rights – such as the right to purchase, possess, and consume any substance – my admitted preference for indulgent and libertine tendencies causes me to forget how deplorable drug cartels and their associates can be. I guess because I never considered a law enforcement agent to be any less reprehensible than a drug dealer, I would err on the side of sympathizing with the criminal.

But reflecting on the numerous uninvolved, innocent people who die each day in a manner similar to Robert Krentz’s case forced me to reexamine the reality. The same reality that all my principles are based on: everything must eventually be reduced to the individual and the choices made by the individual.

Similarly, the drug cartels must be reduced to the individual. As a collective, it’s only an organization of people providing a service. This is where my judgmental scope has been limited. Because in theory I do support their right to conduct such business. But when it’s broken down to the individuals comprising such an organization as a drug cartel, I should not support their means of conducting business.

In my opinion, would violence and property crimes decrease if our drug laws were reformed (dissolved)? Yes. In my opinion, are drug users and drug traffickers unjustly persecuted? Yes. But nevertheless, they have made a choice to be involved in illicit practices and when they commit acts of violence and murder, they are only choosing further.

I am now in a position where I deem the law to be evil, and I deem the drug cartels to be evil. I’m left with the fairly simple deduction that when two indefensible ideologies clash, choosing evil becomes the mainstream methodology and to seek morally justifiable alternatives is forgotten or ignored.

-Joe M.

2010
04/07
CATEGORY
other drug related material
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