From john at montananorml.org  Fri Oct  9 20:05:22 2009
From: john at montananorml.org (John Masterson (Montana NORML))
Date: Fri Oct  9 20:09:52 2009
Subject: [Mtnorml-list] What does legal marijuana look like?
Message-ID: <4ACFEBE2.6060008@montananorml.org>


High everyone,

While we have great sympathy for Montana patients and do everything we 
can to help them out (in fact that's 90% of what we do these days),* the 
mission of NORML is the liberation of this remarkable plant from the 
shackles of prohibition, so that citizens who choose to can responsibly 
grow it, smoke it, vaporize it, eat it, brew it, etc, without fear of 
persecution/prosecution/incarceration. Medical or not.

*
But what does that look like exactly?


*I've highlighted a few ideas here. What do you think 
<http://blog.montananorml.org/2009/10/09/what-does-legal-marijuana-look-like/>**?*

I /really/ want to know what you think, because if this pendulum keeps 
swinging our direction at this rate, /we'll have legal marijuana within 
the next 5 years or so/.

*Therefore, we have an opportunity, and a /responsibility/, to help 
define what legal marijuana looks like here in Montana.*


Finally, a few other updates from the blog 
<http://blog.montananorml.org/>, including info on marijuana /curing/ 
/cancer/ and other diseases, reasons not to talk to police, "stiletto 
stoners", the Prince (and Godfather) of Pot, and star athletes' pot use :

    * Highlights from the 2009 NORML Conference
      <http://blog.montananorml.org/2009/09/27/highlights-from-the-2009-norml-conference/>
    *

      D
      <http://blog.montananorml.org/2009/09/26/does-pot-protect-your-brain-from-booze/>oes
      Pot Protect Your Brain From Booze?
      <http://blog.montananorml.org/2009/09/26/does-pot-protect-your-brain-from-booze/>

    * Marc Emery and Jack Herer -- Two Cannabis Activists Who Need Your
      Good Vibes
      <http://blog.montananorml.org/2009/09/22/marc-emery-and-jack-herer-two-cannabis-activists-who-need-your-good-vibes/>


And, for you registered patients and patients-to-be out there, we've 
updated our medical marijuana page 
<http://montananorml.org/News-Information/medical.html> to include 
several new caregivers, and a medical clinic in Missoula (unaffiliated 
with any specific caregiver) which is advertising medical marijuana 
evaluations for patients who suffer from a qualifying condition.

Thanks for your interest,

--

John Masterson

Montana NORML - Working to reform marijuana laws in Montana.

Web: http://montananorml.org

Blog: http://blog.montananorml.org

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4730742559

Twitter: http://twitter.com/mtnorml


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From john at montananorml.org  Sat Oct 24 14:36:54 2009
From: john at montananorml.org (John Masterson (Montana NORML))
Date: Sat Oct 24 14:37:09 2009
Subject: [Mtnorml-list] new federal medical marijuana policy
Message-ID: <4AE36566.8020708@montananorml.org>


Hi everyone,

As you may have heard on the news this week, the United States Federal 
Government issued a medical marijuana "lowest priority" statement 
addressed to federal prosecutors in the 14 states with medical marijuana 
laws, including Montana.

Here's the Missoulian's article on the topic:
<http://www.missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_4c97c728-bcad-11de-abc3-001cc4c002e0.html>

In essence, the new guidelines 
(http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/192) tell prosecutors to stay away 
from patients and caregivers who are 100% compliant with state law.

Of course, marijuana is _still illegal_ federally; there is no 
recognition of medical marijuana as an exception to or exemption from 
federal law.  The new guidelines help, but they don't change federal 
law, and you can still be arrested by DEA for marijuana. Not just that, 
but you wouldn't even be allowed to /mention/ medical marijuana in 
federal court because for the feds, /there is no such thing/*.

*Go here now to tell our Senators to help fix that*: 
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/montana

Finally, we should let you know that we've posted a few more caregivers 
on our medical marijuana page, and a link to the state's medical 
marijuana FAQ, which is a great resource:  
http://mtnorml.org/News-Information/medical.html

* despite the federal Compassionate IND program, for which the federal government still grows marijuana, rolls it into cigarretes, and ships them to an ever-dwindling number of patients.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassionate_Investigational_New_Drug_program#Origin


--
John Masterson
Montana NORML - Working to reform marijuana laws in Montana.
Web:  http://montananorml.org
Blog: http://blog.montananorml.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4730742559
Twitter:  http://twitter.com/mtnorml

*P.S., Anyone doing anything fun for "Potoberfest"?*



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