Community Organizer Start-Up Packet

Thank you so much for your interest in becoming a local representative for the NORML Women's Alliance. You will be standing up for millions of like-minded women and your leadership will be critical in changing the hearts and minds of people (men and women) across the country. This organizing packet will help you get started with marijuana law reform advocacy in your community.

There are several different ways you can help the cause in your community. Whether you are new to activism and/or the marijuana law reform movement, or a seasoned freedom fighter ready to take to the streets in the name of legalization, there is something for you to do.

Support for marijuana law reform varies from region to region. The NORML Women's Alliance recognizes that there are certain activities which may be more acceptable in some parts of the country but not others and we recommend you consider the social attitude of your community when creating an advocacy plan.

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

Goals & Objectives

Goals: Reaching out to women in your local communities and welcoming them to the movement. Demonstrating (by example) that mothers, grandmothers, professional women and students, all have a place within NORML. Become involved in community events or set up some events which are community/family friendly.

Objectives:

· Organize locally· Partner with a local NORML chapter

· Lobby locally· Partner with other like-minded organizations

· Be a contact for local media· How to mount an effective letter writing campaign

· Local advertising/PR campaigns· Fundraising

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

Where to Start

[The most important thing you can do is get all the women together in one room.]

Go ahead and set up your first meeting (at your home, a local restaurant, community center, library, etc). You can do it here: http://www.meetup.com/NORML-Womens-Alliance/.

Happy HourHouse meeting

Contact sabrina@norml.org to let her know know when and where it is so she can send an alert to the local list-serve. At the meeting see what the ladies' interests are and inquire about their availability. A lot of women are new to the movement and simply looking for a community of other women like them. If you already have several who are ready to get active right away then the NWA can plan something specific. We need to make you and them comfortable with the idea of getting involved. There's lots of different things you can do after that.

Don't worry about having an agenda or a specific game plan. Just get all the women together in one place, have a meet and greet, share stories and experiences. If you want lead a discussion, go around the room, have everyone introduce themselves and say why they want to get involved. If the meeting goes well and everyone is interested in meeting up again, try to agree on a time and a place before everyone leaves.

For this initial meeting you'll want to have the following materials:

• Brochures• Educational material• An e-mail sign up sheet• Blank name tags• Pens/Paper• Binder clips/folders• An open mind

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

Event/Meeting and Project Ideas [Tip: Start with what you are comfortable doing and don't take on too much responsibility.]

• Host a house meeting with local women• Hold a letter writing party to local legislators• Organize a town hall meeting• Organize a movie night with informative documentaries or movies • Mothers can speak at PTA meetings regarding the need to reform drug

education• Speak at local schools/colleges and community centers• Pass out literature• Be a contact for local media• Write letters to the editor• Advertise locally• Host a pot luck

Be creative!

*Participate in local events related to other women's issues, medical issues, freedom of government issues, or other networks. (Ex: Race for the Cure, etc)

*If your state has a pending marijuana reform bill, coordinate a lobby day.

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

Team BuildingTo maximize effectiveness and build a solid base, you're going to need a team of women to help organize events, projects and activities. Start with your local NORML chapter and see what kind of resources they may provide. There are several ways to meet and communicate online with individuals that may or may not live near you or have conflicting schedules. The following resources provide the easiest way for you to get events, meeting and activities organized with other people.

Online Organizing Resources

• Set up a local NWA Facebook group

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

Google Account (manage emails, calendars and documents in 1 easy place.)º WHY GO GOOGLE?· Allows you a ONE stop location to manage your personal,

volunteer, and social networking email addresses, but also allows you to keep those emails and accounts separate when replying.

º Embrace the Google cloud! The most innovative thing in years!º Open & Optimize Your Google Accountº Sign Up! Go to www.google.com and click at top right to sign up. Choose a

generic/professional address. (normlwomen"enter location"@gmail.com)

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

• Google Calendarº Sign Up! Go to your existing Google account, and click on “calendar” at the top.

Createyour personal calendar and name it.

º Sign In! To Your NWA Google Account! Create a public event calendar (for big public events and set calendar settings so it is a public calendar that other people can add to their calendar via Google).

º Sign In! To Your NWA Google Account! Create an internal calendar that has meetings, BBQs whatever you are doing internally.

º Share your public calendar with normlwomen@gmail.com.

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

**NOTE – Google Is Easy! Once your calendars are set up you can put reccurring eventslike city council meetings, deadlines for local publications (first Tuesday of month),birthdays, meetings, deadlines that the group has agreed to, etc. and have emailreminders go out to those who the event or calendar is shared with.

RecruitingOnce you have a solid group of dedicated activists ready to spread the word, you'll need to have the group identify key influentials in your community. Some examples are:

• Director of human service or government agency• Legislative aides• Grassroots activists/NORML Chapters

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

• Religious leaders• Business or financial leaders• People involved in service clubs• Local law enforcement• Religious leaders• Local media representatives

___You want to get influential people involved because you have a special event coming up, this is a critical point for your organization, or you want their help with a concentrated campaign.

___You realize that it is never too soon or too late to get people involved.

___You have met the influential person(s) you want to get involved possibly through community contacts or with meetings.

___You have determined the interests of the people you want to get involved and how you can appeal to those interests.

___You have contacted and asked for their participation, explaining the following: • How they can become involved • The level of involvement they can expect • Why they should be involved • When they can expect to get started

___You have taken steps to maintain their involvement.

Extra Tips and Tricks

Survival Skills for Advocacy___Accentuate the positive

___Emphasize your organization's accomplishments to the community

___Plan for small wins

___Present the issues in the way you want others to see them

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

___Develop your own public identity

___Check your facts

___Keep it simple

___Be passionate and persistent

___Be prepared to compromise

___Be opportunistic and creative

___Stay your course

___Look for the good in others

___Keep your eyes on the prize

___Make issues local and relevant

___Get broad based support from the start

___Work within the experiences of your group members

___Try to work outside the experiences of your opponents

___Make your opponents play by their own rules

___Tie your advocacy group's efforts to related events

___Enjoy yourself!

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

Extra Tips and TricksHow to Respond to the Opposition:

Your opposition is trying to intimidate your group to reduce its effectiveness with opposition tactics.

___You have recognized the tactic(s) your opposition is using:

• Deflection• Delays• Denials• Discounting• Deception• Dividing• Dulcifying• Discrediting• Destroy• Deal___You have decided to fight these tactics.

___You understand your opponent and their strategy.

___If you are meeting with the opposition, you have established or influenced the agenda.

___You have decided to publicly state the opponent's strategy if necessary.

___You have kept your opponents off balance by not relying on the same response approaches all of the time.

___You know the history including the preferred tactics of the people you are battling.

___You are willing to compromise.

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

Materials

The following items consist of educational materials, campaign posters, suggested readings and fundraising flyers. Feel free to print and distribute any of these items anytime you are holding a fundraiser, house meeting, tabling at an event or otherwise working as a representative for the NORML Women's Alliance.

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

Breathe, Push, Puff?Pot Use and Pregnancy: A Review of the Literature

By Paul Armentano

[Author’s note: This essay originally appeared in article form in the June 2007 issue ofHeads Magazine. It has been updated for publication by NORML.]

Few issues concerning cannabis and health evoke more disparate opinionsthan thequestion of maternal pot use during pregnancy. It’s easy to see why. Logic presumes that if pre-natal exposure to intoxicants such as alcohol and tobacco poses proven health risks to the fetus, then exposure to pot would likely pose similar risks to a child’s health and development. Nevertheless, much of the science surrounding this issue says otherwise – though a definitive answer remains elusive.

Reasons for this are two-fold. One, it is virtually impossible for investigators to obtain permission to conduct any type of prospective clinical trial that knowingly exposes pregnant mothers – and their future offspring – to cannabis.Two, because women often face severe legal sanctions (such as the loss of child custody or incarceration) for admitting that they have smoked pot while pregnant, most mothers refuse to divulge such information – even to researchers conducting anonymous surveys years after the fact. Moreover, among the handful of surveys that have been conducted, several fail to adequately control for mothers’ use of alcohol,tobacco, or other drugs during the course of their pregnancy.

As a result, much of the published data assessing the extent of maternal pot use and its health implications remains limited to historical texts, studies from non-Western cultures (where the use of cannabis has gained greater social acceptability), and retrospective survey data.

POT FOR MORNING SICKNESS?

Historic references regarding the use of therapeutic cannabis for a variety of female medical conditions, including difficult childbirth, date back to the 7th century BC.According to

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

“Cannabis Treatments in Obstetrics and Gynecology: A Historical Review” by Dr. Ethan Russo, various parts of the plant – including cannabis flowers and seeds – were used by

Chinese and Persian societies to induce contractions, prevent miscarriages, and reduce incidences of post-partum hemorrhage. By the mid-19th century, the use of cannabis tinctures became prevalent in Western cultures to hasten pregnancy and reduce pre-partum nausea. The historical use of cannabis use for pregnancy-associated pain and other complications is also referenced in African, Indian,and Southeast Asian cultures.

More recent documentation of the therapeutic use of cannabis by mothers-to-be is less prevalent – no doubt because of pot’s outlaw status in most parts of the world. Nevertheless, some notable references stand out in the modern literature.

Writing in the journal Pediatrics in 1994, Dr. Melanie Dreher and colleagues reported that the use of cannabis to treat nausea and increase appetite during pregnancy remains customary among women in southeast Jamaica. Though Dreher acknowledges that such use is discouraged at government-sponsored pre-natal clinics, she found that many women nonetheless consider ganja to hold therapeutic benefits to themselves and their unborn children.

More recently, Dr. Wei-Ni Lin Curry published a first-person account documenting her own use of therapeutic cannabis to alleviate symptoms of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), a potentially life-threatening condition characterized by severe nausea and vomiting, malnutrition, and weight loss during pregnancy. (While general nausea and vomiting, colloquially known as‘morning sickness,’ is experienced by an estimate 70 to 80 percent of all expectant mothers, approximately 1 to 2 percent are struck with the persistent vomiting and wasting associated with HG.) Curry recounts:

“Within two weeks of my daughter’s conception, I became desperately nauseated and vomited throughout the day and night. … I vomited bile of every shade, and soon began retching up blood. … I felt so helpless and distraught that I went to the abortion clinic twice, but both times I left without going through the with procedure. … Finally I decide to try medical cannabis.… Just one to two little puffs at night, and if I needed in the morning, resulted in an entire day of wellness. I went from not eating, not drinking, not functioning, and continually vomiting

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

and bleeding from two orifices to being completely cured. … Not only did the cannabis save my [life] during the duration of my hyperemesis, it saved the life of the child within my womb.”

Most recently, survey data collected by the directors of the Vancouver Island CompassionSociety (The VICS) and the BC Compassion Club and published in the journal Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice reported that cannabis is therapeutic in the treatment of both morning sickness and HG. Of the 84 women who responded to the anonymous questionnaire, 36 said that they had used cannabis intermittently during their pregnancy to treat symptoms of vomiting, nausea, and appetite loss. Of these, 92 percent said that cannabis was “extremely effective” or “effective” in combating their symptoms. Investigators noted that although most women chose to self-administer cannabis by smoking, many (31 percent) also reported consuming hempen edibles, and eight percent reported using cannabis-based oils or tinctures.

PRE-NATAL POT EXPOSUREAND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Though several retrospective, self-report surveys have been conducted regarding pre-natal exposure to cannabis, not all of these properly control for the use of alcohol or other substances. Among those that do,most report cannabis’ apparent impact on birth-weight and other adverse perinatal outcomes to be minimal. (Though adversere productive outcomes have been reported in rodents given synthetic THC, these results are typically only reported after the administration of extremely large doses of the drug at specific times during pregnancy. Therefore, these results likely have little relevance to humans.)

Writing in their 1997 book Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts: A Review of the Scientific Evidence (The Lindesmith Center), Drs. John P. Morgan and Lynn Zimmer assert, “Marijuana has no reliable impact on birth size, length of gestation … or the occurrence of physical abnormalities” among infants. Large-scale surveys appear to back up their conclusion.

A 2002 survey of 12,060 British women did not demonstrate significant differences in growth among newborns exposed to cannabis inutero versus those with no exposure, when controlling for co-founding factors such as the mothers’ age, pre-pregnancy weight, and the self-reported use of tobacco, alcohol, caffeine,and other illicit drugs. A 1999 survey of12,885 Dutch mothers reported similar findings after controlling for maternal tobacco use. “The use of cannabis is not a major prognostic factor regarding the outcome of pregnancy,”

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

the authors concluded. A 1997 Australian study of 32,483 mothers also reported, “There is inadequate evidence that cannabis, at the amount typically consumed by pregnant women, causes low birth weight.” Most recently, a large-scale case-control study published in the journal Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology determined that mothers who reported using cannabis during pregnancy suffered no increased risk of bearing children with acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer known to strike adolescents under age 15.

Arguably the study most often cited on the subject remains Dr. Dreher’s work from Jamaica, which examined the birth weights and early development of babies exposed to cannabis compared to non-exposed infants. (Mothers in the study reported that they occasionally mixed cannabis with tea as an alternative to smoking.) Her study reported no significant physical or psychological differences in newborns of heavy marijuana-using mothers atthree days old, and found that exposed children performed better on a variety of physiological and autonomic tests than non-exposed children at 30 days. (This latter trend was suggested to have been a result of the socio-economic status of the mothers rather than a result of pre-natal pot exposure.)

By contrast, longitudinal data assessing the potential impact of pre-natal cannabis exposure on neurobehavioral and cognitive functioning is ambivalent. Two cohorts have examined this issue, both of which assessed the impact of heavy marijuana exposure on offspring outcome. Both studies remain ongoing.

The first cohort, known as the Maternal Health Practices and Child Development Study, examines the offspring of so-called “high-risk” mothers of low socio-economic status who reported using pot, alcohol, and other intoxicants. Investigators report an association between daily cannabis use in the first and third trimesters and adverse neurobehavioral and cognitive outcomes, such as lower verbal and reading scores and increased depression. However, due to the study’s methodological limitations, researchers cannot conclude whether these outcomes are due to cannabis exposure or other pre-natal or post-natal environmental factors.

The second cohort, known as the Ottawa Prenatal Prospective Study (OPPS) examines the outcomes of prenatal exposure to cannabis and tobacco smoking in a sample of low-risk, white, upper-class families in Ontario, Canada. So far, results of the study have been mixed– showing an association between maternal pot use and higher incidences of adolescent impulsivity, overall poor behavior, and decreased “executive function” (an integration of cognitive processes) at certain ages, but not at others. (By contrast, investigators have not noted any negative association between pre-natal pot exposure and IQ scores.) Recently, a comprehensive review of both studies published in the journal Neuroscience and Behavioral in

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

2005 concluded that if an association between pre-natal cannabis exposure and certain

neurobehavioral and cognitive deficits exists, it is a “subtle” one and appears to be primarily associated with children exposed to heavy amounts of cannabis as well as alcohol and/or tobacco.

More recently, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine published findings in 2008 from a prospective study assessing the effects of prenatal marijuana exposure in 648 children in a low-income population at a six-year follow up. Researchers reported: “There was a significant nonlinear relationship between marijuana exposure and child intelligence. Heavy marijuana use (one or more cigarettes per day) during the first trimester was associated with lower verbal reasoning. … Heavy use during the second trimester predicted deficits in the composite, short-term memory, and quantitative scores. Third-trimester heavy use was negatively associated with the quantitatives core. … These findings are of concern,but they do not by themselves demonstrate causality.”

Most recently in 2009 investigators at the University of Bristol in Great Britain assessed whether maternal use of tobacco,alcohol, or cannabis during pregnancy increased the risk of psychotic symptoms in their offspring. Researchers examined the drug use habits of the mothers of over 6,300 adolescents - approximately 12 percent of which exhibited some symptoms of psychosis.

Authors concluded: Frequency of maternal tobacco use during pregnancy was associated with increased risk of suspect or definite psychotic symptoms (in offspring.) Maternal alcohol use shows a non-linear association with psychotic symptoms, with this effect almost exclusively in the offspring of women drinking >21 units (approximately a half-pint of beer or a glass of wine) weekly. Maternal cannabis was not associated with psychoticsymptoms.·

THE OCCASSIONAL TOKE: SAFE FOR MOMSOR NOT?

Unfortunately, there is not a definitive answer to this question available at this time. Nevertheless, with a reported three percent of US women of reproductive age reporting that they occasionally use marijuana, it maybe arguable that potential pre-natal and post-natal dangers posed by maternal pot use – particularly moderate use – are rather minimal, especially when compared to the in utero exposure of alcohol and tobacco. Ultimately however, any decision by the parent regarding the maternal use of cannabis should be

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

made in consultation with a physician. In addition, any decision to potentially use cannabis carries with it serious potential legal ramifications,including temporary loss of child custody.

Finally, it should be noted that scientists today are just now beginning to understand the role of endocannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system in reproduction, including their role in pre-natal and post-natal development. Whether the future understanding of this system will shed additional light onthe health implications of maternal pot smoking remains to be seen. Regardless, let’s hope that it is science-- not rhetoric -- that ultimately is the final arbiter in this decades-long debate.

REFERENCES

Ethan Russo.2002. Cannabis Treatments in Obstetrics and Gynecology:A Historical Review. Journal ofCannabis Therapeutics 2: 5-35.http://www.cannabis-med.org/membersonly/mo.php?aid=2002-03-04&fid=2002-03-04-1&mode=a&sid=

Dreher et al. 1994. Prenatal marijuana exposure and neonatal outcomes in Jamaica: An ethnographic study.Pediatrics 93: 254-260. http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/medical/can-babies.htm

Wei-Ni Lin Curry. 2002. Hyperemesis Gravidarum and clinical cannabis: To eat or not to eat? Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics 2: 63-83. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all?content=10.1300/J175v02n03_05

Westfall et al. 2006. Survey of medicinal cannabis use among childbearing women: Patterns of itsuse in pregnancy and retroactive self-assessment of its efficacy against ‘morning sickness.’ Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 12: 27-33.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16401527

John P. Morgan and LynnZimmer. Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts: A Review of the Scientific Evidence. NewYork: The Lindesmith Center. 1997.

Fergusson et al. 2002. Maternal use of cannabis and pregnancy outcome. BLOG: An International Journal ofObstetrics and Gynaecology 109: 21-27. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11843371

Balle et al. 1999. Cannabis and pregnancy. Ugeskr Laeger 161: 5024-5028. http://www.biopsychiatry.com/canpreg.htm

English et al. 1997. Maternal cannabis use and birth weight: a meta-analysis. Addiction92: 1553-1560. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/carfax/cadd/1997/00000092/00000011/art00015

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

Trivers et al. 2006. Parental marijuana use and risk of childhood acute myeloid leukaemia: a report from the Children·s Cancer Group. Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 20: 110-118. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16466429

Richardson et al. 1995. Prenatal alcohol, marijuana and tobacco use: infant mental and motor development.Neurotoxicology and Teratology 17: 479-487. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7565494

Peter Fried. 1995. Prenatal exposure to marihuana and tobacco during infancy, early and middle childhood: effects and an attempt at synthesis. Archives of Toxicology Supplement 17: 233-260. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7786162

Peter Fried. 2002. Conceptual issues in behavior teratology and their application in determining long-term sequelae of prenatal marihuana exposure. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 43: 81-102. http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=13554379

Anja Huizink and Eduard Mulder. 2005. Maternal smoking, drinking or cannabis use during pregnancy and neurobehavioral and cognitive functioning in human offspring. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 30: 1-18. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16095697

Goldschmidt et al. 2008. Prenatal marijuana exposure and intelligence test performance at age6. Journal of theAmerican Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry 47: 254-263. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18216735

Zammit etal. 2009. Maternal tobacco, cannabis and alcohol use during pregnancy and risk of adolescent psychotic symptoms in offspring. The British Journal of Psychiatry 195: 294-300. http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/195/4/294

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

Suggested Reading

Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?

By: Paul Armentano, Steve Fox and Mason Tvert

The Pot Book: A Complete Guide to Cannabis

By: Julie Holland, MD

Understanding Marijuana: A New Look at the Scientific Evidence

By: Mitch Earleywine, PhD

The Marijuana Conviction: A History of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States

By: Richard Bonnie and Charles Whitebread

Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market

By: Eric Schlosser

Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine

By: Lester Grinspoon, MD

Marihuana Reconsidered

By: Lester Grinspoon, MD

Legalizing Marijuana: Drug Policy Reform and Prohibition Politics

By: Rudolph Gerber

Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Raids in America

By: Radley Balko

Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies

By: Glenn Greenwald

Is the Grass Greener?

By Dorothy Whipple, MD

Letter to a Prohibitionist

By: Barry Lyons

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

A Parent's Guide to Marijuana

By Mitch Earleywine PhD

Marijuana Myths/Marijuana Facts

By Lynn Zimmer and John Morgan

It's Just a PlantBy Ricardo Cortes

Videos:

The Union: The Business Behind Getting High

Grass

A NORML Life

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

Essay: Why Moms Want Marijuana LegalizedBy Sabrina Fendrick, NORML Women's Alliance

Why Moms Want Marijuana Legalized

A mother’s wish is for her child or children to grow up and be able to make responsible decisions about their friendships, their education and especially their safety. It is socially acceptable for parents, alcohol distributors, and even the government to teach children about safe drinking practices with a full understanding that alcohol is directly responsible for thousands of deaths every year. On college campuses, where binge drinking runs rampant, alcohol abuse has resulted in thousands of students suffering from alcohol poisoning, sexual assault, or serious injury. No parent wants to see his or her child become a statistic and many mothers have openly stated that they would rather their adult children choose marijuana over alcohol.

The physical and behavioral effects of marijuana are significantly less damaging than those associated with alcohol. However the criminal prohibition of marijuana sends the message that "marijuana is morally wrong" and implies that there is no such thing as a responsible marijuana consumer. Yet, just like with alcohol, all use of marijuana is NOT abuse.

Society condones the responsible use of alcohol consumption, yet drinking causes far more harm to the user, and to society than does the use of marijuana. Liquor companies, Federal, State and local governments dedicate millions of dollars every year toward promoting responsible drinking practices. For example, Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc. has an entire website, called “Drink Smart,” dedicated to promoting principles of control, moderation, and education. Nevertheless, their 'Statement of Principles' emphasizes that, “moderate alcohol consumption can be compatible with a healthy lifestyle.” The same philosophy should be applied to marijuana.

Mothers from all over the country (both consumers and abstainers) are fed up with the outdated, unjust consequences of marijuana prohibition. Their unique experiences with marijuana and the current marijuana laws are diverse and wide-ranging. Some have had their families destroyed. Some have found life-changing relief from medical marijuana, as well as freedom from pharmaceutical narcotics. Some believe that prohibition improperly allows the government to interfere in the parent's job of teaching their kids about moderation and responsibility. They understand that marijuana prohibition breeds disrespect for the law and government, just as it did during America's failed prohibition of alcohol. Others would simply prefer their children be allowed to legally choose a safer alternative to alcohol.

"I'm a 54 year old mother of two teenagers…. Depression runs in my family and [marijuana has]

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been my saving grace. I have run, sold and continue to build businesses. I teach, I speak, I write, I'm a great mom judging by my children's success and I will never make an excuse for my marijuana… I'm furious that I'm considered a criminal.” Leslie Singer

“It should be legalized…because its not a substance that’s going to make me be irrational or aggressive. It’s going to relax my mind after a day of taking care of the kids, cleaning the house, running the errands, its not like I’m going to be up for the next 24 hours or am going to be spending my kids diaper money to go out and get it. It relaxes and puts you in a better mind state after a rough day and lord knows kids like to cause rough days!” Lynnsey M Nece

“I want a safer alternative to alcohol. I feel much more comfortable smoking a joint and caring for my child, than to drink and then try to care for my child. And, if it is legalized and regulated, it will become harder for my daughter to get a hold of it.”Audrey Roberts

Marijuana's legal status forces millions of responsible, hard working, tax paying citizens into the dangerous , unregulated world of the illegal black market. The only sensible answer to containing this market and achieving a sufficient level of public safety, is through state and local government regulation and a message of moderation. An ever increasing number of American citizens believe that one day, our society will no longer spend time denying the reality that millions of people are consuming marijuana every single day, and will instead focus on promoting a safe environment for those who do. Many mothers are working towards the day when we will live in a society where children's access to marijuana is actually limited (unlike under prohibition where children have ready, unfettered access to the herb). According to a major report issued in 2005 by the NORML Foundation looking at both marijuana use patterns and arrest rates, shockingly, over 1 million children sell marijuana annually. Similar to alcohol products, children need to be taught to have a sound understanding of how adults can responsibly consume marijuana. One day, we will live in a society where adults, in the privacy of their own home, can legally choose to consume marijuana and forgo the alcohol.

It comes down to this: Were it not for marijuana's legal context, would you rather your adult child engage in binge drinking (and all that comes with it), or be able to enjoy the safer activity of consuming marijuana without fear of legal repercussions? Would you rather your younger children continue to have unfettered access to marijuana or restricted access and a sound understanding of responsible adult use?

Excerpt: "Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?""When marijuana is legal, an abusive husband or boyfriend somewhere in America will realize that he is better able to control his temper when he ingests pot instead of alcohol and will cut down on the Budweiser and switch to the kinder bud. Some college student we will never hear about will choose to use marijuana one night instead of joining his fraternity brothers in a drinking contest-thus avoiding a potentially tragic trip to the hospital that was otherwise fated to happen.

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

When marijuana is legal, a man well on his way to chronic and eventually fatal liver disease will conclude that he wants to live a longer and healthier life and will voluntarily give up the booze in favor of pot. A young woman will decide to smoke marijuana and watch a movie one evening instead of going out drinking with her girlfriends, unknowingly missing a sexual assault that would have occurred after she had consumed one gin and tonic too many. By the very nature of introducing the less harmful recreational substance, marijuana, into the stream of commerce, probability dictates that these things will happen. Not just once, but hundreds and thousands of times. When marijuana is legal, we will, collectively, be safer."

**A historical note: "Mother's Day" was derived out of an intensely political effort to organize women on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line against the Civil War. The reason mothers were made the vehicle was because they were the ones whose children were dying in that war. This is more than just a "greeting-card holiday," this is the beginning of an institutional change in our society. The government's war on marijuana is unacceptable. For our children's sake, the NORML mothers of the world are being called on to demand the implementation of a rational,

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responsible, reality-based form of marijuana policy.

Marijuana Mamas!by gina kaysen fernandes

posted Thursday, June 25, 2009 filed under: family

Is pot the new pilates?

Gina Kaysen Fernandes: A new wave of reefer madness is sweeping suburbia -- but it's not just teenagers who are lighting up. Middle-aged, middle-class soccer moms are smoking pot ... a lot. These women aren't stoners: they're teachers, lawyers, and, perhaps, even your neighbor who prefers puffing a joint to sipping chardonnay.

"Marijuana is the magic in my life that helps me unwind, stay sane, and have more energy," says Sonia, a 24- year-old mother from Los Angeles. Working full-time as a restaurant manager leaves Sonia feeling stressed out and drained at the end of the day. She smokes once or twice daily to relax. "I have a stressful job, it's something that helps me wind down so I don't take out my frustration on my husband or my child." Sonia became a mother at the age of 22 and suffered from some depression. She turned to marijuana to help curb the baby blues. A doctor later diagnosed Sonia with anxiety and wrote her a prescription for the herbal remedy. Sonia gets her stash from a medicinal marijuana clinic and takes comfort in knowing the pot she smokes is legal and high quality.

Mary is a 37-year-old, self-employed mother in Seattle who smokes pot several times a week. "It is relaxing, fun, and once in a while I self-medicate for cramps or headaches," said Mary. She says she prefers smoking to drinking beer because it's easier on the body and has fewer calories. Mary buys her bags from a dealer, making it more risky because "there's still a real danger of being arrested," says Mary.

The website, Chikii.com, surveyed hundreds of women nationwide between the ages of 25 and 60 years old. Out of that group, 52% admitted to using marijuana at least ten times a year. 27%

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

smoked between one and seven times a week. And 78% of those women knew someone who got high on a regular basis. The results of recent surveys are no surprise to Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML. "These findings are indicative of women's willingness to admit to the social stigma that was so high in the 1970s and 80s," said St. Pierre.

Both women who shared their stories with momlogic say that many of their friends smoke weed. But while it seems "marijuana mamas" are everywhere, this silent majority prefers to stay in the shadows. "They think if they admit it, it makes them a bad mom," says Sonia, who believes the opposite is true. "It makes me a better mother. It clears my head and allows me to focus on my child." Mary says it's important to be a responsible smoker "by doing it mindfully, only when I have downtime."

Sonia has a 2-year-old and is a few years away from the dreaded drug talk. But she doesn't plan to hide her habit from her son. "I want to be honest, I don't want him to feel marijuana is an evil thing," said Sonia. Mary says she's very open about her drug use with her daughter, Sierra. "We talk about responsible use pretty often," says Mary. Both women say they never smoke in the house or in front of their children.

There's a lot of debate over how to talk to kids about using drugs without sounding like a hypocrite, especially if you're the one hitting the bong. Zero-tolerance proponents believe you must support abstinence only. But advocates say a more real-world approach is to discuss drug use in moderation. This method is detailed in a pamphlet called "Safety First: A Reality-Based Approach to Teens and advertisement Drugs," which is distributed by the California PTA.

This growing group of ganja smokers certainly has the attention of lawmakers. A renewed debate is heating up over legalizing (or at minimum, taxing the medicinal sales of) marijuana to cash in on this potential cash cow. According to NORML, marijuana remains the fourth largest cash crop in America, in spite of the estimated $10 billion that law enforcement spends annually to attempt to outlaw the plant. In California, marijuana is the number-one cash crop. Thirteen states (as of June 2009) have laws on the books that allow for medicinal use of marijuana. The most recent federal survey finds more than 100 million Americans have tried pot at some point, and more than 14 million used it in the past month. "I think a lot of moms are starting to loosen up," says Sonia.

Both of these moms support legalizing marijuana. "It will help our economy, help our state, and take away that stigma," said Sonia. Mary believes pot smoking should be about personal choice, not politics. "I'm an adult and I make life or death decisions every day. The drug war has killed lots of people; smoking pot hasn't killed anyone."

NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet

Now you have a basic understanding of how to start building a powerful coalition of female marijuana law reformers. Stay strong, don't get burned out and remember that this is a marathon not a sprint. Once you have your online presence up and strong team of women ready to go above and beyond the items identified in this packet please contact the NORML Women's Alliance outreach coordinator Cheyanne Weldon at cheyanne@texasnorml.org or NORML Women's Alliance National Coordinator Sabrina Fendrick at sabrina@norml.org.

NORML Women's AllianceNORLM/NORML Foundation

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NORML Women's Alliance Start-Up Packet