NORML Does LA: The 2007 National Convention

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) held its 2007 national conference last weekend in Los Angeles, or more precisely, at the Sheraton hotel in Universal City. Hundreds of marijuana patients, activists, and aficionados from across the Golden State and the nation poured in to the upscale venue for a solid weekend of strategizing, educating, and acquaintance-making, not to mention medicating and recreating.

Below: Chris Conrad and Mikki Norris on conference panel

Recreational pot-smoking is fine, but more tokers need to get off their couches and hit the barricades, said NORML executive director Allen St. Pierre as he greeted attendees at the opening session. "I'm working 70 hours a week at NORML because I'm an adult, I smoke cannabis and I don't want to be a criminal," St. Pierre said.

But he needs some help, he said, noting that only 0.1% of marijuana users get involved with reform efforts. Imagine what could happen if even 1% got involved, he said. "We need to come off that mountaintop ignited for change," St. Pierre said. "Not united, ignited for change."

That message was especially resonant in California, where marijuana is the state's number one cash crop and the state's broadly-written medical marijuana law has resulted in hundreds of dispensaries, and numerous medical offices, cropping up around the state to serve the medical marijuana market.

Indeed, the conference was fairly Cali-centric, which is little surprise given that it was held in LA, California is the nation's most populous state, and it is on the cutting edge of marijuana law reform. Still, there were broader discussions, with different panels addressing the national reform picture, tackling common questions about marijuana, and giving out advice on "cannabis consumer safety," among other topics.

Below: Tommy Chong performs at the awards ceremony

Things are happening in other parts of the country besides California to be sure. For example, in one plenary session Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) executive director Rob Kampia announced that MPP will be involved in at least four statewide marijuana initiatives: Medical marijuana in Arizona, Maine, and Michigan, and decriminalization in Massachusetts. The organization is also involved in legislative medical marijuana efforts in Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New York, Kampia said. On the same panel, John Sajo of the Oregon group Voter Power described their pending initiative to expand the Oregon medical marijuana law OMMA.

"We have 12 states with effective medical marijuana laws now," said Kampia. "We could have 18 states in the next couple of years. Things are on a fast track."

Of course, it wouldn't have been NORML without the appearance of movement luminaries. "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" author and founder of the modern day hemp movement, Jack Herer, manned a table as well as addressing the convention and urging support for a full-blown legalization initiative. Ed Rosenthal, the "guru of ganja," swept through the crowd in a wizard's robe and cap, and travel writer Rick Steves wondered aloud why Europeans were so much more civilized than Americans when it came to marijuana policy.

And Tommy Chong showed up Saturday night to address the dinner crowed. Among other things, Chong recounted how he got paranoid too late about being involved with the bong-making operation that got him nine months in federal prison. "About three months after I got to prison, I woke up one night and thought 'Man, I shouldn't have put my face on those bongs," he said to appreciative laughter.

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