A powerful editorial in support of Senate Bill 409 in today’s edition of the Concord Monitor.

Is it any wonder that the US government fights tooth-and-nail to hinder researchers’ attempts to conduct clinical trials assessing the therapeutic utility of cannabis as a medicine? After all, each and every time the federal government begrudgingly allows for such studiesthey’re faced with credibility-shattering results like this:

Marijuana relieves muscles tightness, pain of multiple sclerosis: Study via the Toronto Star

Mannheim, Germany: The administration of the non-psychotropic plant constituent cannabidiol (CBD) is associated with a significant reduction in psychotic symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, according to clinical trial data published in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

After a raucous debate last night that lasted longer than anticipated, the Connecticut senate passed a medical cannabis bill approved by the House earlier in the session that will now head to Governor Dannel Malloy’s willing pen for signature.

Contact: Michael Cindrich (619) 262-2500 | Lance Rogers (619) 333-6882

Please be advised that on Monday, May 7, 2012 at 4:20 p.m., the local chapter of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) will protest the Drug Enforcement Administration’s detention of UCSD Engineering student Daniel Chong for five days without food and water. The protest will take place outside of the DEA office compound at 4560 Viewridge Avenue in San Diego. If you can’t be in San Diego, show your solidarity by joining the protest live online at live.norml.org.

The most widely read political website, Politico.com, covers the now clear controversy the Obama Administration has found itself in regarding it’s semi-articulated medical cannabis policy position post hundreds of law enforcement closures of medical cannabis dispensaries since the fall of 2011.

Beyond bringing this political quandary regarding medical cannabis to a well informed readership, what is notable about the reportage is that buried in the piece is an apparent recent confrontation between cannabis law reform proponent Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and President Obama at a swank fundraiser directly across the street from NORML’s offices at the St. Regis Hotel where Frank confronted the President about the disparity between his rhetoric in favor of medical cannabis and the recent law enforcement actions of his Justice Department.

Dear NORML Supporters from far and wide,

Despite nearly three quarters of a century of government-imposed Cannabis Prohibition, it is, again, that oh so magical day that cannabis consumers celebrate … and prohibitionists loathe:

A day (and a time of day) that signifies the ever increasing cultural and commercial acceptance in America (and internationally) of millions of consumers’ and medical patients’ want and need for Cannabis Prohibition to end.

As in the previous twenty years, there is a fast growing acknowledgement that on April 20 … all things in America are cannabis-related in that major newspapers like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times now provide major coverage to this day’s significance; radio networks like National Public Radio deign to point their mics toward the issue of Cannabis Prohibition; and even major TV networks such as G4, SpikeTV, Comedy Central and Showtime will all devote blocks of time to ‘4/20’ programming with the rebroadcast of ‘stoner movies’, comedy specials and documentaries.

Dear NORML Supporters:

The 2012 NORML Aspen Legal Seminar is scheduled for Thursday, May 31 through Saturday, June 2, 2012 in Aspen. For those non-lawyers who may be interested in learning more about some of the legal issues arising regarding the medical use of marijuana, and meeting some of the activist lawyers who specialize in this area of the law, you are invited to join us for this Rocky Mountain weekend. We offer a special reduced registration fee for non-lawyers.

Details of the program and the registration information are now available on the NORML website:

http://norml.org/about/aspen-legal-seminar

Trenton, NJ: Members of the NORML Legal Committee filed suit Wednesday against the State of New Jersey over regulators’ failure to implement the Compassionate Use of Medical Marijuana Act.

BREAKING: “Oakland’s Oaksterdam University was taken over by federal officials Monday morning.

Officers wearing U.S. Marshals, IRS and DEA jackets swarmed the Oakland medical marijuana facility on Broadway before 8 a.m. Investigators put yellow crime tape around the entire building.”

NORML will keep you updated as more news breaks.