^ State Affiliate of theS Na t iona l Organ iza t i on fo r t he

N O R M L L R e f o r m o f M a r i j u a n a L a w s"We shall by and by lftlant a world of hemp more for our own consumption." John Adams, 1763

T H E 2 0 1 3 M A S S C A N N / N O R M L F A L L M E M B E R S ' M E E T I N G

N O V E M B E R 2 3 F R O M 1 : 0 0 U N T I L 4 : 0 0At Demos Restaurant, 64 Mount Auburn St., Watertown (617) 924-9660 Iminute walk from Watertown SquareDIRECTIONS The public is welcome, Greek salad to die for www.DemosGreekCuisine.comDRIVING - From the Mass Pike take the Watertown exit 17 at Newton Corner and follow thesigns for Galen St. You will travel north on Galen about Vi mile before coming to a bridge overthe Charles River and a large conjunction known as Watertown Square. Take a soft right ontoArsenal St. and park. Demos is on the left at #64TRAIN or BUS - Travel to Harvard Square Station on the Red Line. Take the #71 Busto Watertown Square. Walk up Arsenal St. about 150 yards. Demos is on the left.

Bay State Repeal announces aCheck the date above your addresson the envelope. That date is when

2016 Statewide Ballot Question that will I your membership either has or willT * e x p i r e . E i t h e r w a y , p l e a s eRepeal Cannabis Prohibition rene^ your membership today.Release; Campaign committee launched to end marijuana prohibition in Massachusetts in 2016

Reading, MA - Bay State Repeal filed the necessary paperwork with the state earlier this week to form aballot question committee seeking repeal of the state's marijuana prohibition. Bay State Repeal is lead bylocal veteran advocates for marijuana law reform with decades of experience in Massachusetts politics. Withvoter attitude evolving rapidly and the deadline for filing over 21 months away the exact wording of theproposed initiative is a work in progress.

Bay State Repeal's intention is to construct the nation's simplest and least restrictive plan for marijuana lawreform focused on preventing non-medical distribution to children. To explore public opinion. BayState Repeal intends to present a variety of public policy questions around the state in the election of 2014;

Committee member Terry Franklin of Amherst explains, "Recent initiatives in other states resulted in overlyburdensome rules and excessive costs to businesses and consumers to support bureaucrats and present gravedanger of political collusion and monopolistic practices. Our objective is to nip such restrictiveness in theb u d . "

Committee member Bill Downing of Reading, who currently serves as Treasurer of the MassachusettsCannabis Reform Coalition (MassCann/NORML) notes that "in 2011 a DAPA Research poll of registeredvoters commissioned by MassCann/NORML found 58% support for legalizing marijuana and regulating itin the same manner as other agricultural commodities with sales prohibited to underage persons."

The Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition/NORML, Inc.P.O. Box 211, Reading, MA 01867-0311

Voice - (781) 944-CANN (2266), www.MASSCANN.org

Committee member Attorney Steven Epstein of Georgetown has spent parts of four decades advocating formarijuana law reform. He hopes that, "the Legislature, or if it fails to act the voters on Election Day 2016,will replace prohibition with a law that treats the adult cultivation and commerce in marijuana as the herb itis and punishes the non-medical distribution to children. It will also free Massachusetts farmers to produceraw materials for bio-fuels, textiles, paper, construction and insulation materials, plastics and composites,foods, body-care products and industrial oils."

For more information contact; Bill Downing, 857-210-5930, Bay State Repeal, PO Box 211, Reading, MA 01867

i n f o @ b a v s t a t e r e p e a l . o r g w w w . b a v s t a t e r e p e a l . c o m

Family Law & Cannabis Al l iance announces i ts formation

MASS GRASS Columnist and long-time cannabis activist Sarah Arnold posted this announcement:

Hello from Central MA! Just wanted to let you guys know of two exciting developments:

1. Jess Cochrane & I have launched the Family Law & Cannabis Alliance (FLCA), a national nonprofitorganization headquartered right here in the Commonwealth. We provide information, assistance, advocacy,and activism regarding the issue of marijuana use and Child Protective Services (CPS) & family court. Ofcourse, MA was in our first batch of state profiles & is involved in much of our writing! Please check outour website, www.flcalliance.org, like us on Facebook (/flcalliance), & follow us on Twitter (sahrakant).

2.1 wrote a vitally important expose on CPS & cannabis use published in Ladybud Magazine yesterdayat http://www.ladvbud.eom/2013/l 1/05/child-protective-services-familv-court-the-last-gasp-of-the-drug-war/. Long, but crucial. Please read & share!

Best,Sara Arnold (aka Sahra Kant), Co-Founder, Family Law & Cannabis Alliance (FLCA)h t t p : / / w w w. t 1 c a l l i a n c e . o r g /F a c e b o o k : © f l c a l l i a n c e & @ S a h r a K a n tTw i t t e r : © f l c a l l i a n c e & @ S a h r a K a n t

A note on the passing of our good friend and fellow activist

T H E K I N G O F P O TThe cannabis activist community in general and in Massachusetts in particular, suffered aterrible loss with the recent death of Michael "KOP" Malta - The King of Pot, Mike was astrong middle-aged man and his sudden death was completely unexpected. The Massachusettscannabis community extends our deepest condolences to Michael's wife, former MASSCANN/NORML Board Member, Valerie Malta.KOP worked hard for our cause. He broadcast our message far and wide. He dedicatedhimself and his money on behalf of our effort selflessly.Michael had a great and terrible story and he told it to everyone who cared to listen.

Featuring

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As best as I can recall, here is my version of KOP's story :

How Mike Malta became The King of PotMy son Andrew and I enjoyed sitting around talking with KOP when KOP was able to stop by on his wayhome from work. KOP and Andrew shared a special bond. Andrew, KOP and KOP's Mom Vera all suffer orsuffered from debilitating obsessive/compulsive disorder (OCD). Andrew's OCD left him socially isolatedand sharing with KOP as a fellow sufferer was more valuable than a millionaire's money could buy.Though there has never been any hope for a cure for OCD, KOP described for us in great detail treatmentregimen, including cannabis treatment, he had found effective after many years of trial and error. Andrewand I have been following KOP's advice ever since and we all are much happier for it.KOP prefaced his advice with his personal journey, which is a compelling narrative. This is how MichaelMalta became the King of Pot.As was mentioned before, Mike suffered from debilitating OCD as did his beloved Mother. He had beenhospitalized more than once and was prescribed very dangerous psycho-drugs some of which causedfrightening hallucinations, panic attacks and sobbing fits. Though these drugs could treat his symptoms byforcing him to sleep or lightening depression caused by such a condition, they never had any effect what-so-ever on the root issue - OCD. The truth is, there is no known effective treatment for OCD, but for one.C a n n a b i s .

So Mike was going through drug trial after drug trial until Mike was near suicide and his doctor became soabsolutely desperate he tried the one thing doctors hate most to try. He enrolled Mike in a medicinal cannabistrial. Mike knew nothing of medicinal cannabis. He was not yet the KOP. Mike knew pot as a street drug andwas very skeptical.

After a few weeks in the trial, Mike's life had changed much for the better. As he learned about this trial drugthat was the only drug that ever had an effect on OCD, his skepticism turned to wonder. He began to wonder,if cannabis is so much safer than Haldol and Resperidol and Guanfacine, why is it tried as a last-ditch effort?Why is the government spending billions to tell us cannabis fries your brains - when it is so not true?The scales fell from KOP's eyes. He saw The Matrix for what it is. He knew that government drugpropaganda had kept him from the only medicine that could save him. He told Daddio.Realizing how cannabis could positively impact KOP's Mom, KOP and his Daddio convinced Vera to trycannabis. Getting her to try it was not easy. She had swallowed the Reefer Madness Kool-Aid served-up byour federal government.Vera tried cannabis once and said it didn't help her. Everyone around her noticed a positive changeimmediately. Despite great encouragement, KOP's Mom never tried cannabis again. Not too long afterward.Vera died of a heart at tack.

KOP, logically, was convinced Vera's heart attack resulted from decades of stress due to the constantanxieiies associated with OCD. He r^alize^ the cure Jiad heen^^t hand all her life, but that politics held swayover medicine. That he and she - all OCD patients - and the entire medical community were being actively,needlessly deceived. He consulted with Valerie, Daddio and his friends. He built a website. He becamei n v o l v e d i n t h e c a n n a b i s m o v e m e n t .

KOP followed the maddening prosecution of Mark Emery, publisher of Cannabis Culture Magazine. Emerywas extradited from his home in Canada by our DEA on a bogus drug dealing charge for selling cannabisseed to Americans, which is not illegal where he lived in Canada. For his activism, Emery had been dubbedThe Prince of Pot. In fellowship with the imprison Emery and with the consent of Emery's wife JodyMichael became The King of Pot.

KOP and Valerie made huge commitments to the movement. KOP built a video production company - KOPProductions. He committed lots of time and resources assuring the finest streaming video ran on his site -www.TheKingofPot.com. He and Valerie brought the KOP production crew to every cannabis event in theUS he could afford to, and many he could not.

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KOP and Valerie became involved in MASS CANN/NORML. Valerie eventually ran for and earned aposition as Director. When he heard MASS CANN/NORML's greatest single expense, other than rallyexpenses, was printing, KOP offered to get MASS CANN/NORML its printing and that he would pay for ithimself. Few people have made such a magnanimous donation to our organization.KOP started doing audio blogs with his recording partner Rich FU and invited me to host a segment calledDowning on Drugs. Though my forte is cannabis, my teenage years during the drug laden 1970s has left menot unacquainted with other drugs as well. We recorded segments concerning LSD, speed and mushroomsand had plans for many more.There was a period when both KOP and Valerie took a break from activism. KOP's OCD was aggravated bystress and cannabis activism can, unfortunately, lead to stressful situations. The period passed and KOPeventually was back as strong as ever.Since then we have had a few Freedom Rallies and everyone who saw KOP at a Freedom Rally could tell hewas swimming in glory. One constant shit-eating grin. Video-taping every pot personality with unmatchedverve. Remembering everybody's name and greeting everyone as though they were an old friend, whetherthey were an old friend or newly acquainted. That was just the way he was.In 2013 it was as true as ever. KOP and Mike CANN had the KOP Productions crew videotaping everythingat the Freedom Rally from the stage to the crowd, to the vendors and to MASS CANN/NORML rallyorganizers. KOP was ecstatic.Freedom Rally 2013 was the last time I and most MASS CANN/NORML people saw KOP. I will alwayscherish my memories of KOP from that happy day. Less than a month later KOP died suddenly andunexpectedly from a massive heart attack while at home with Valerie. The horrific news sent shock wavesthrough the cannabis community. KOP's funeral was a very difficult experience for everyone involved.Though his life was disappointingly short, KOP accomplished much good and earned the adoration of a verylarge group of us, his friends. Though many of us, other than through this story, might never realize it, all ofus who work for reform owe deep gratitude for all that KOP did, which was an awful lot indeed, to exposethe injustices of the war on cannabis users.

Bill Downing

J e n n K u s h C h i l d r e n s ' M e m o r i a l F u n dThe death of The King of Pot is not our community's only recent tragicloss. Jenny "Kush" Monson, a fellow cannabis activist in Colorado, waskilled by a drunk driver on August 10. Jenny leaves behind four newlyorphaned children. An online fundraiser is collecting donations athttps://fundrazr.com/campaigns/dapAc and they need our help.The campaign is struggling to raise a paltry $100,000 (for four kids!!!).They have only raised $15,000 so far. MASS CANN/NORML has been offered a matching giftopportunity. As soon as we raise $500 for Jenny's kids our donor will give another $500bringing our total contribution to $1,000. We all have many, many responsibilities but few riseto the level of our responsibility to protect orphaned children, particularly orphaned childrenborn of those in our cannabis activist community. I expect few, if any, of us knew Jenny, butlet's not let that stop us from appreciating the plight of four orphaned children and givingtangible meaning to our feelings of compassion for these poor, lonely, frightened children.Every dollar you give will be matched with another dollar, dollar for dollar, until we raise the$500 our donor has pledged to double to $1,000.Please mail a donation today to MASS CANN/NORML, POB 211, Reading, MA 01867. Makeyour check payable to MASS CANN/ NORML, but note on both your check and envelopeyour donation is for the Jenny Kush Fund.

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P u b l i s h e d o n A l t e r N e t

By Paul Armentano (Paul is NORML's Deputy Director)

Don't Buy into the Fear Campaign About Dangers of Marijuana SmokeNovember 1, 2013

As public support for amending America's antiquated and failed cannabis criminalization policies continues to grow torecord levels, [3] stalwart prohibitionists - predictably - are doubling down on tried-and-true propaganda tactics toattempt to turn the tide. One of their most common strategies is to emphasize alleged health risks associated withmarijuana consumption, in particular the claim that cannabis smoking causes cancer and other tobacco-relatedrespiratory risks.

A recent example of this argument appeared in an October 29, 2013 Seattle Post-Intelligencer commentary [4], entitled"Marijuana smoking and the risk of lung cancer" by Eric Vallieres of the Swedish Cancer Institute. (Sweden, as anation, imposes strict anti-drug prohibitions relative to most jrf Eujrope.) Predictably, his alarmist commentary is heavyon rhetoric but woefully short on facts.

Of course, no one argues that the ingestion of combustive smoke, whether it is tobacco smoke or cannabis smoke, ishealthy. However, it is inaccurate to allege that the risks to the consumer posed by these two substances are equal. Infact, the most recently available peer-reviewed science clearly rebukes the allegation that cannabis is as equal to or moredangerous than tobacco. For example, writing in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)in 2012, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco reported that occasional to moderate cannabisconsumption was not associated with the adversely pulmonary risks associated with tobacco smoking. Investigators"confirmed the expected reductions in FEVl (forced expiratory volume in the first second of expiration) and FVC(forced vital capacity)" in tobacco smokers. By contrast, "Marijuana use was associated with higher FEVl and FVC atthe low levels of exposure typical for most marijuana users. With up to 7 joint-years of lifetime exposure (e.g., 1 joint/dfor 7 years or 1 joint/wk for 49 years), we found no evidence that increasing exposure to marijuana adversely affectspulmonary function." The full study may be read online here [5].

The findings in JAMA were hardly a surprise. Previously, the largest case-controlled study ever to investigate therespkatory effects of marijuana smoking reported that cannabis use was not associated with lung-related cancers, evenamong subjects who reported smoking more than 22,000 joints over their lifetime. Summarizing the study's findings inThe Washington Post, lead investigator and pulmonologist Dr. Donald Tashkin of UCLA concluded [6], ""Wehypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the associationwould be more positive with heavier use. What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion ofsome protective effect." The full study is available here [7]. (Notably, pot propagandists such as Dr. Vallieres try to invain to undermine these findings by citing a 2008 New Zealand study, which some purport to definitively demonstrate alink between cannabis use and lung cancer. In reality, that study [8] only reported a positive correlation in 14 heavyusing subjects - a sample size far too small to draw any conclusions from and a result that has, to date, never beenreplicatedriii-^y l ge-^eale population case-controHnodets. Moreover, the same sludy also found that light b-moderate lifetime cannabis consumers, who consisted of the majority of the trials' participants, possessed no increasedrisk of cancer.)

More recently, this past May presenters at the annual meeting of the American Academy for Cancer Research reportedthat subjects who regularly inhale cannabis smoke possess no greater risk of lung cancer than do those who consume itoccasionally or not at all — according to an analysis of six case-control studies, conducted between 1999 and 2012,involving over 5,000 subjects (2,159 cases and 2,985 controls) from around the world. They concluded [9], "Our pooledresults showed no significant association between the intensity, duration, or cumulative consumption of cannabis smokeand the risk of lung cancer overall or in never smokers."

Most recently, an editorial in July published in the journal Annals of the American Thoracic Society concluded [10]:"Cannabis smoking is not equivalent to tobacco smoking in terms of respiratory risk. ... [C]annabis smoking does notseem to increase risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or airway cancers. In fact, there is even asuggestion that at low doses cannabis may be protective for both conditions. ... This conclusion will affect the wayhealth professionals interact with patients, parents with teenagers, and policy makers with their constituents. ... Efforts

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to develop cleaner cannabinoid delivery systems can and should continue, but at least for now, [those] who smoke smallamounts of cannabis for medical or recreational purposes can breathe a little bit easier."

Why have scientists not identified a cannabis smoke/cancer link? The answer may be because cannabis, unlike tobacco,contains anti-cancer causing agents [11] - a fact most recently reaffirmed this week in Newsweek on October 29 underthe headline "Marijuana might kill cancer." Reports the storv [12], "In a paper published in October's AnticancerResearch, Wai Liu, a senior research fellow at St. George's University of London, reports that he found sixcannabinoids - active components of the cannabis plant - that can slow or outright kill cancer cells." Previous peer-reviewed assessments of the properties of cannabis smoke and tobacco smoke further acknowledge [13] that thepharmacological activities of these substances differ in such a manner that they are by no means equally carcinogenic.

It is true that some studies of cannabis smoke and pulmonary function indicate [14] that chronic exposure may beassociated with an increased risk of certain respiratory complications, including cough, bronchitis, phlegm. That said,the ingestion of cannabis via alternative methods such as edibles, liquid tinctures, or via vaporization [15] — a processwhereby the plant's cannabinoids are heated to the point of vaporization but below the point of combustion — virtuallyeliminates consumers' exposure to such unwanted risk factors and has been determined [16] to be a 'safe and effective'method of ingestion in clinical trial settings.

Cannabis smoking is certainly not without potential risks. But these risks should not be overstated, nor should they beasserted as a justification for a public policy that continues to criminalize and stigmatize responsible, adult cannabisc o n s u m e r s .

H E L P E N D j V l A R I J U A N A P R O H I B I T I O NS U P P O R T I V I A S S C A N N / N O R I V I L

M O N E Y = P O L I T I C A L P O W E RWhen you contribute at least $15 to MASS CANN/NORML, you receiveour newsletter MASS GRASS, the chance to help educate fellow citizens,notice of Members' Meetings, the right to be heard at MASSCANN/NORML meetings and a renewed sense of hope for a sane and

peaceful world. When you contribute at least $25 you receive the above and the right to voteat Members' Meetings.

[ / ] SIGN ME UP! I'm tired of repugnant laws that criminalize millions of people andprohibit cannabis/hemp for any purpose![ ] Here's $40 for my annual dues and a hemp blend members' tee shirt size (S, M, L, XL,2XL, 3XL)

P L E A S E I N D I C A T E S I Z E

[ ] Here's $25 for annual dues with voting rights[ ] Here's $15 for annual dues without voting rights[ ] Here's an additional contribution of to help the causeContributions and gifts to MASS CANN/NORML are not tax-deductible.P l e a s e s e n d n e w s l e t t e r s a n d o t h e r i n f o r m a t i o n t o :

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