Pubdate: Thu, 9 Sep 2010
Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Copyright: 2010 The Oregonian
Contact:  http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324
Author: Anne Saker, The Oregonian

NORML IN PORTLAND

Center of Marijuana Politics Shifts for Three Days to the Rose City

Portland becomes the center of the nation's marijuana discussion this 
week when the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws 
convenes its 39th annual convention Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 
the Governor Hotel downtown.

Several hundred activists, political figures and scholars are meeting 
in Portland as the movement anticipates Election Day, Nov. 2, when 
Oregon will decide whether to permit marijuana dispensaries for 
patients who use it as medicine. But the even more significant 
question arises in California, which could be the first state in 73 
years to legalize personal use of marijuana.

The United States outlawed hemp and marijuana in 1937. Since its 1970 
inception as a lobbying group in Washington, NORML has long 
campaigned for the repeal of the federal ban and removal of criminal 
penalties on adults who possess marijuana. The lobby also advocates 
for farmers to be able to grow hemp as a sustainable crop, to make 
cloth, rope, paper, building materials and other goods.

The Oregon chapter of NORML, with 2,200 members, is the largest of 
NORML's 41 chapters in the United States. Madeline Martinez, the 
Oregon chapter's executive director, said the national convention 
last came to Portland in 1982, and she campaigned to bring it back 
again. The meeting will overlap with Portland's annual Hempstalk 
festival at Kelley Point Park Saturday and Sunday.

"Right now, we seem to be right on the cutting edge with California," 
Martinez said.

Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Portland will speak Thursday to 
the convention. Friday's keynote address Friday will come from former 
New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, an outspoken Republican advocate 
formedical marijuana and drug-law reform. Travel writer and TV show 
host RickSteves, who has long argued for marijuana legalization, also 
speaks Friday.

Convention goers will also get an overview of pot's prospects in this 
year's elections, a discussion on what the marijuana movement can 
learn from the campaign to throw off Prohibition and a panel on women 
and cannabis. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake