AZ4NORML

I hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend. Let us remember our soldiers who are fighting in a desolate land far away. On this weekned, with family and friends, we must try to think of their tremendous and diffcult sacrifice. Thank you for doing your part to make a difference!

We had our 2nd summer forum on Cooking with Marijuana last week and it was a huge success. Michelle, Mary and Roz answered lots of questions and helped patients figure out whether edibles might be a good choice for them. It is a safe, long lasting way to receive the benefits of medical marijuana. Stay tuned for our next forum on the Legal Aspects of Medical Marijuana on Wednesday, July 21st, more details to follow.

We also had an informational tent at the St. Phillips Farmer’s Market on Saturday, July 03rd! Ed runs the show down there and does a tremendous job! Although traffic was light we were able to engage the public on this important issue. Thank you to Garrett, Kyl, Mary, Michelle, and Chris for holding this successful event and our table later that night at the Top Dead Center show at The Hut!

On a serious note, medical marijuana patients are being arrested in Arizona. We must put an end to that., Please support Proposition 203 and help medical marijuana patients get the medicine that helps them best!

AZ4NORML needs your donations! We accept donations via our google checkout link on the Donate page of www.az4norml.org. Keep in mind, whenever you buy something at www.amazon.com, please link through our website so AZ4NORML can earn a small commission that costs you nothing additional. Thank you!

Our next meeting will be the leadership meeting this Wednesday July 07 at 3PM. Please join us as we determine the future events that AZ4NORML will be participating in as well as helping us establish our community presence. We meet at the Ward 6 Council Office, a huge thank you to the Ward 6 Council Staff who have treated us very kindly.

The next general meeting will be Saturday, July 17th at 3PM at the Ward 6 Council Offices at 3202 E. 1st St, 1 Block South of Speedway, 1 Block East of Country Club Rd in Tucson. New members are welcome! Please bring a canned food donation for the food bank!

We will be staffing informational tents around town all summer. If you would like to participate, please reply to this email.

Also, we heard the story this week about a man who was fired from his job because he was charged with a drug offense over 10 years ago, charges that were dismissed for lack of evidence. Those charges were used to deny this man a job! This is another outrage that we must speak up against!

News & Information

Hello Friends and Supporters of AZ4NORML,

This upcoming week some members of AZ4NORML are putting on a program at the
River Library on cooking with Medical Marijuana. You may already have seen
theflyer, but I wanted to invite you personally to come attend this program.

COOKING WITH MEDICAL MARIJUANA
Wednesday, June 30 from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm River Center Library (corner of River & Craycroft)
5605 E. River Rd.

This program is part of our summer/fall public forums on medical marijuana
and an exciting line-up will continue until the election on November 2.

Please feel free to bring a friend or a family member to learn more about
medical edibles. A short film (Making Cannabutter) that was produced and
shot locally by graduates of the Pima College Digital Arts program will be
shown on Wednesday.

Any questions please let me know and I’ll get right back to you.

Highest regards now,

Michelle
Chapter Secretary ~ AZ4NORML

Pot for Pain?

Supporters of Arizona’s medical-marijuana initiative say the law will pass—and better yet, survive this time

by Mari Herreras

About 10 years ago, a near-fatal car accident left Jon Gettel in unbearable pain, especially during therapy, when the then-25-year-old was forced to learn how to walk again.

The only thing that helped him get through the pain, he says, was marijuana.

Gettel, director of the local chapter for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, aka NORML—a marijuana-legalization group—says the illegal drug saved his life.

“I spent six months in the hospital, and four months in intensive care. I nearly died. I had to go through months of grueling physical therapy,” Gettel remembers.

The painkiller that doctors prescribed made him nauseous, Gettel says.

“I had remembered marijuana from my college days. I found I could get through it much easier with the help of marijuana, and I could use less painkillers,” Gettel says. “And it improved my mood. Here I am, a 25-year-old man, using a walker. You get depressed. Marijuana elevates your mood and relieves your pain, and does that nontoxically, so I found it incredibly helpful during that time, and I recovered fairly well.”

Gettel says he knows many others in Tucson who use marijuana to treat pain and other illnesses—and have to break the law to do so. That could change, however, if Arizona voters approve a medical-marijuana law in November.

The medical-marijuana law would only allow patients with a terminal or serious illness to get the drug with a doctor’s approval. The initiative defines the qualifying illnesses as “debilitating medical conditions,” such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and HIV/AIDS. People with prescriptions for medical marijuana would be allowed to buy 2.5 ounces every two weeks.

Gettel continues to use marijuana to treat pain from nerve damage in his feet and fingers that he says was probably caused by an allergy to CT scan dye.

“It doesn’t take away the pain, but it does help me to not focus on the pain,” he says.

Gettel says he belongs to a medical-marijuana dispensary in California, but he only goes there when visiting, and he never brings that pot back to Tucson. He buys his pot from local dealers, or what he calls the “black market.”

“I recommend that people never travel between states with marijuana, even if it’s medical marijuana from California. The problem is at the Border Patrol checkpoints: They are zero-tolerance checkpoints,” Gettel says. “The police here (in Tucson) are very fair-minded and seem to evaluate the facts of the case before they will arrest you.”

If the Arizona law passes, there will be reciprocal benefits for card holders between Arizona and California. And until then, Gettel says, his organization is holding events to campaign for the initiative—and to dispel lingering misconceptions.

Gettel says he hears people comment, “Isn’t smoke bad for you?” He agrees that “burning plant material may not be the best choice,” but says the marijuana’s benefits are immediate for someone who needs instant relief, whereas it takes time to, say, make brownies or brew tea.

Gettel says smoking it also makes it easier for someone to control the dosage.

“While a cancer patient may need four to five puffs or inhalations of marijuana smoke, someone like me, I can get relief from my pain from one or two. You can pick the number you need to get the relief you want. That’s why smoke has to be an option. Sure, you can make edibles, but you can’t control the dose.”

Another concern he has heard—from people he describes as “prohibitionists”—is that marijuana strains are getting stronger, and are therefore more dangerous. But to him and other medical-marijuana advocates, stronger is better. Most of the marijuana bought from dealers is low-quality, he says, which means patients have to smoke more to get anything out of it. Meanwhile, strains sold legally through pot dispensaries are “simply more effective.”

California is often used as an example by people opposed to medical marijuana, because of the growing number of marijuana pharmacies or clubs there.

“I often hear the mainstream media say, ‘There are more marijuana shops (in California) than Starbucks,’” Gettel says. “But Arizona’s law is tightly controlled.”

According to the initiative, only one medical marijuana dispensary will be allowed for every 10 pharmacies registered in Arizona. However, the initiative also says the state can go over the limit to make sure there is at least one dispensary in each county.

However, the biggest hurdle Gettel thinks the initiative may face is disillusionment from voters who have passed medical-marijuana laws before, in 1996 and 1998, only to see them dismissed by the state legislators.

However, in 1998 voters also approved Proposition 105, the Voter Protection Act, which prohibits lawmakers from substantially altering voter-approved ballot initiatives.

“So when people say to me, ‘Why should I vote for it this year when they ignored it in previous years?’ There are things that are different this time,” Gettel says.

Organized efforts against the initiative have had little fanfare thus far. Stop the Pot, a campaign committee against the initiative, was started by Max Fose with a $2,500 contribution of his own money. Fose, a former John McCain political aide, owns a website-development and political-consulting firm. He developed the committee’s website, www.stopthepot.com.

Fose did not respond to e-mail requests for comment.

Andrew Myers, campaign director for Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project, which led the effort to get the initiative placed on the ballot, says he’s unsure how many people in Arizona will access pot dispensaries if the initiative passes. However, he compares Arizona’s law to that recently passed in Colorado, where 60,000 people are registered to receive medical marijuana.

While Myers says he was pleased the campaign was able to collect more than enough signatures to put the initiative on the ballot, he admits he’s surprised by its across-the-board support.

“Much of that is passive support,” Myers says. “Most elected officials have remained silent, and that is telling. No one wants to come out in favor or against, and that’s OK.”

Join us tomorrow, Saturday June 19th for the monthly meeting of AZ4NORML. We meet at 3PM at the Ward 6 Council Offices at 3202 E. 1st Street. The council offices are 1 Block East of Country Club Rd and 1 Block South of Speedway Blvd in Tucson. New Members are welcome!

Thank you to our volunteers and visitors to our booth at 2nd Saturdays downtown last weekend. We met and spoke to many members of the community who stopped by our booth and showed their support for sensible marijuana policies. We raised over $190 to continue our outreach to the community.

Several members of the public have visited our website and donated money through our Google Checkout system. Thank you all who have donated time, money, or goods and services for our raffles. AZ4NORML is an extremely busy chapter and we work tirelessly to stop the arrests of over 10 Tucsonans each day for marijuana violations. Please visit our website and check to see how you can help!

The AZ4NORML summer forums are continuing! Our June forum will be “Cooking with Medical Marijuana” hosted by AZ4NORML’s Michelle Graye. This informative and entertaining event will be Wednesday, June 30th at 630PM at the River Center Library on the Northeast corner of Craycroft and River. Please come early to get the best seats and don’t miss the special video premeire Michelle and Pima College film students have put together on making Cannabutter.

Our AZ4NORML band is meeting every Monday through the summer! If you have some musical talent and would like to participate and have fun, please contact us at music@az4norml.org.

Police have killed another innocent person in their freedom ending quest to rid America of marijuana. Check out this article and much more below.

News & Information

-NEWS- Cops kill father-to-be in botched marijuana raid. also Feds arrest 2200 people on drug charges, the war on drugs is almost won! Check out this article entitled “Drug Lords“

-VIDEO- Watch some videos from the recent NORML Aspen Legal Conference. Check out the reading of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Check out Bill Panzer and NORML’s “Radical” Russ Belville playing “I’m Growing Marijuana in My Backyard” And finally, please check out some more music from the conference. You can also listen to many of the excellent speakers at the conference (Thank you Russ!).

-VIDEO- Watch AZ4NORML’s Tom Maza and Marc Haberman discuss the medical benefits of marijuana at our first of the summer series on marijuana.

-NEWS- Do permissive marijuana laws lead to more marijuana usage? Statistics show they don’t! Also, another NPR article goes on to discuss Medicinal Marijuana: Patient-driven.

-NEWS- Canadian Marc Emery is still in prison here in the US for selling seeds. Please consider sending Marc some mail, prison mail is very restricted so please read the guidelines and also please read Marc’s blog. Marc helped Arizona pass its first medical marijuana law in 1996. Marc also was placed in solitary confirnement for recording his blog! Listen to that blog here. Here is a great article on Marc Emery at the LA Times.

-NEWS- California woman flies on a private jet to Ohio with bodyguards, a secretary, and…. over 500 pounds of marijuana.

-VIDEO- Seniors support medical marijuana. Watch a documentary about the elderly in prison.

-NEWS- Huge, Legal Marijuana Farm Study Surprises Industry and Officials

-NEWS- FAMM, Families Against Mandatory Minimums has issued their Spring 2010 newsletter, this is an excellent organization that deserves our support.

-INFO- Did you know shopping on line can earn a donation to MPP (Marijuana Policy Project) It can! Just link through IGive and donations will be automatically sent to MPP whenever you make an eligible purchase.

-NEWS- Is Marijuana growing in Union Square Park? Some say yes!

-BLOG- Check out the history of medical marijuana laws and how many of them were ignored or invalidated by our politicians.

Jon C. Gettel
Director
AZ4NORML
3400 E. Speedway Ste 118
Tucson, Arizona 85716
www.az4norml.org
www.myspace.com/tucsonnorml
www.facebook.com/aznorml
www.twitter.com/az4norml
AZ4NORML YouTube Channel

Good Afternoon,

It was disappointing to hear that Canada’s conservative government has signed off on the extradition of Marc Emery.  As you may remember Marc Emery was arrested during the Bush administration and at the time, DEA Administrator Karen Tandy said “[the arrest] was a significant blow to the marijuana legalization movement” and although Marc contributed thousands of dollars to the movement throughout the years, the medical and legalization movement will not stop.  As long as people are being arrested, lives ruined, and property destroyed, we will fight against this oppression.   Marc stood for freedom and we must stand for Marc.  Check out how Canadian activists shut down Conservative Parliament Members Offices here.

Please join us at the Marc Emery extradition protest at PDQ Records on the SE corner of Grant and Dodge in Tucson this Saturday, May 22, 2010 at 3PM.   Come earlier to help us setup and create signs and banners.  Please visit http://bit.ly/bFMmnS to find out more details.  A huge thank you to PDQ Records for helping with this event.  Do more to help Marc by visiting here.

Phoenix NORML is sponsoring a “Free Marc Emery Rally” at 420PM on Saturday, May 22^th in Phoenix.  Join concerned citizens around Arizona as they protest this injustice done to Marc by the Bush Administration and continues to this day.  Please remember to bring signs, mega phones, and your loud voice as members in Phoenix protest at the Canadian Consulate.   Help make signs tomorrow, May 21^st at 4PM at Steele Indian School Park at 3^rd and Indian School inside the covered walkway area.   Make a difference for Marc and visit here.

Thank you to everyone who visited our table at the Tucson Volunteer Fair. AZ4NORML tabled next to 80 other nonprofits from around Southern Arizona.   We had about 60 people sign up for more information from us.  We had several people offer donations to help us increase our presence in the community.

AZ4NORML will be sponsoring a medical marijuana healthcare forum on May 26^th from 6PM – 8PM at St. Frances Cabrini Church at 3201 E. Presidio Rd in Tucson.  If you are interested in speaking at one of our summer forum panels, please reply to this email.  The forum  will be open to the public and will be a discussion of the benefits of medical marijuana and why we should pass the medical marijuana bill in November.

The next AZ4NORML leadership committee meeting will be Wednesday, May 26th  at 3PM, please join us to help steer the direction of AZ4NORML in the future.  Please contact us at lead@az4norml.com for more information.

The next general meeting of AZ4NORML will be on Saturday, June 19^th at 3PM at the Ward 6 Council Offices in Tucson.  The meeting is held at Ward 6 Council Offices which are located at 3202 E. 1^st Street in Tucson near the intersection of Country Club Rd and Speedway Blvd.  Please check our website at www.az4norml.org for more information.  New members are welcome.  Please bring a canned food donation for local charities which will be collected at the meeting.

ACTIONS and NEWS

[NEWS]  Canadian Justice Minister signs the extradition order for Marc Emery.   Read more: http://bit.ly/c4QbQx and  http://bit.ly/bkZ4QS and take action!

[VIDEO]  Watch a horrific video as police shoot family dogs for a small amount of marijuana.  Charges of child abuse, but not for cops who use guns violently in front of children, but for parents who use a little marijuana.  Take care in watching this video, but know that it happens all the time:  http://bit.ly/dwrTpi Help NORML end these violent unnecessary raids:  http://bit.ly/9CUJpb

[NEWS]  Learn more about LEAP member Dean Becker and The Drug Truth Network: http://bit.ly/am8wF6

[NEWS]  New York Knicks forward Wilson Chandler arrested for marijuana possession in Queens, New York.   News that he played for two months with a broken nose and ankle problems surely means it was medical marijuana.  Prohibition is alive in New York.

[NEWS]  Can Marijuana Ease PTSD? A Debate Brews.  [NOTE:  AZ4NORML knows of several medical marijuana patients who use the herb to combat serious effects of PTSD]

[NEWS]  29-year-old blind woman who suffers from cerebral palsy and epilepsy and her mother file suit against Dana Point, California, the town that wants to close the only medical marijuana dispensary in the area.

[NEWS] Marijuana Fuels a New Kitchen Culture. Chef and Author Anthony Bourdain says “Everybody smokes [marijuana] after work”

[NEWS]  Marijuana dispensary owner tries citizen’s arrest, and is busted again.

[VIDEO]  The Drug War Has Accomplished NO Goals.   Video from CNN News Room.

[VIDEO]  SAFER: 5 Years of Marijuana Reform With Attitude.

[VIDEO]  “Henry Hemp” shows us a marijuana garden in flower.

[VIDEO]  Montel Williams Reveals the Truth About Marijuana.

[NEWS]  The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Gone to Pot. Video here.

[NEWS]  Greenway University Secures $2 Million in venture Capital and Private Investments for a Medical marijuana Business.

Highest Regards,

Jon Gettel

Director

AZ4NORML

www.az4norml.org

www.myspace.com/tucsonnorml

www.facebook.com/az4norml

www.twitter.com/az4norml

http://www.youtube.com/user/AZ4NORML

Greetings AZ4NORML Friends, Donors, Supporters and Activists,

We have a great week of events this week, please take a look at the details below and join us to help fight marijuana prohibition in Tucson and in Arizona.  We are also getting ready to start our summer fundraising and raffle and we already have some great donations.  If you can, please donate something to our raffle and get your tickets soon at one of our events.

Thank you to everyone who visited and volunteered at our booth at the Tucson Folk Festival.   The Tucson Kitchen Musician’s Association put on a fantastic event weekend! The weather was nice and many people came out to enjoy the great music, gather information from social justice organizations, and purchase art and music from local artists.  Check out AZ4NORML.org for great pictures from the weekend.

On Tuesday, May 11th at 1PM, AZ4NORML’s Hemp Committee meets!   This is a group of committed members who work to design our signs, costumes, fabrics, tents, displays, and any other items we use in our important community outreach.  If you have any paint, supplies, money or anything to donate, please reply to this email.  New members are welcome, no artistic skills are needed but artists and artistry are welcomed.   The meeting will be held at 1206  N. Jones Blvd in Tucson.

On Wednesday May 12^th at 7AM at the Arizona Inn in Tucson, Project Vote Smart will be hosting a debate with Ethan Nadelmann (Director and Founder of the Drug Policy Alliance ) and John Leavitt (Assistant Chief of The Tucson Police Department and 27 year veteran of the force).  The debate topic will be “The War on Drugs Has Been a Failure.  As a Beginning to Reform Marijuana Should be Legalized”.   Asst. Chief Leavitt is a strong prohibitionist and Mr. Nadelmann is an accomplished reform advocate, this promises to be an exciting debate.  The cost is $35 and you must RSVP to kate@votesmart.org.  Reply to this email to get more information or to car pool.   You cannot miss this event, it promises to be a great debate!

The next general meeting of AZ4NORML will be on Saturday, May 15^th at 3PM at the Ward 6 Council Offices in Tucson.  This is going to be a very interesting meeting, Andrew Myers, director of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project, will be speaking about the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act that will be on the ballot in November 2010. Please bring your questions and join us at this important meeting.  The meeting location is the Ward 6 Council Offices which are located at 3202 E. 1^st Street in Tucson near the intersection of Country Club Rd and Speedway Blvd.  Please check our website at www.az4norml.org for more information.  New members are welcome.  Please bring a canned food donation for local charities which will be collected at the meeting.

The next AZ4NORML leadership committee meeting will be Wednesday, May 12th  at 3PM, please join us to help steer the direction of AZ4NORML in the future.  Please contact us at lead@az4norml.com for more information.

Phoenix NORML is sponsoring a “Free Marc Emery Rally” at 11AM on Tuesday May 11^th in Phoenix.  Join concerned citizens around Arizona as they protest this injustice done to Marc by the Bush Administration and continues to this day.  Please remember to bring signs, mega phones, and your loud voice as we join all four corners at 24^th Street and Camelback and converge on the Southeast corner and march South to the Canadian Consulate.

Our AZ4NORML music group will be meeting Monday, May 17th at 1PM, and every Monday this year.  Help us make great pro-cannabis music and come have fun.    All musical skills are accepted and new members are welcome.  Please email music@az4norml.com for more information.

We are looking to do a medical marijuana healthcare forum on May 26 or 27th.  If you are a healthcare professional, nutritionist, naturopath, or pharmacist please contact us by replying to this email.   This event will be open to the public and will be a discussion of the benefits of medical marijuana and why we should pass the medical marijuana bill in November.   We need a central location to host this discussion although we may confirm space at the local library.  Stay tuned to az4norml.org or the newsletter for all the details.

ACTIONS and NEWS

[NEWS]  Canadian Justice Minister signs the extradition order for Marc Emery.   Read more: http://bit.ly/c4QbQx and  http://bit.ly/bkZ4QS and take action!

[VIDEO]  Watch a horrific video as police shoot family dogs for a small amount of marijuana.  Charges of child abuse, but not for cops who use guns violently in front of children, but for parents who use a little marijuana.  Take care in watching this video, but know that it happens all the time:  http://bit.ly/dwrTpi Help NORML end these violent unnecessary raids:  http://bit.ly/9CUJpb

[AUDIO]  Check out the “Pothead Pundits” radio show:   http://bit.ly/9OONZK

[VIDEO]  Take a look at some medical marijuana products at a Long Beach Dispensary:  http://bit.ly/cFpOZ3

[NEWS]  “Mom’s for Marijuana”  made a statement this Mother’s Day!   http://bit.ly/bS7G6z

[NEWS]  Los Angeles moves to close 400 dispensaries.  Closing small businesses?  Putting people out of work?  Removing tax revenue?  Gov’t at work!

http://bit.ly/9xQNGP .  Check out the letter sent to business owners:  http://bit.ly/bpmZ9U

[NEWS]   Obama’s first National Drug Control Policy:  The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.  Read about it here:  http://bit.ly/cfuNL3

[NEWS]  The “Coalition for a Safer Detroit”  turns in twice as many signatures needed to decriminalize marijuana in Detroit!

[VIDEO]  US Government admits they deal Heroin yet terrorize American families for marijuana.   http://bit.ly/b0pcLC

[NEWS]  California could make $120 million a year in tax revenue if Cannabis was taxed the same as other herbs and supplements.  Support Tax Cannabis 2010

[NEWS]   A great use of our tax dollars:  A 74 year old woman arrested on a 30-year-old marijuana charge:   http://bit.ly/bmwSil

Highest Regards,

Jon Gettel

Director

AZ4NORML

www.az4norml.org

www.myspace.com/tucsonnorml

www.facebook.com/az4norml

www.twitter.com/az4norml

http://www.youtube.com/user/AZ4NORML