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Note: Portland (Pdx) NORML became Oregon NORML in the fall of 2001.  This website, http://www.pdxnorml.org/, is preserved by Drug Policy Central for its historic, educational & informational value and is being maintained by volunteers for that purpose.  It is not officially sanctioned by nor the responsibility of NORML or any of its affiliates.  Any opinions, viewpoints, ideas and action items that may be perceived here are those of past contributors and/or the current Librarian/activsts.

Former school counselor says he's a target after drug arrest
By Pam Gehl, Special to the Gazette

SOUTH HAVEN, February 16, 2006 -- A former Bloomingdale Public Schools counselor arrested on a marijuana-possession charge said he has been targeted for prosecution because he has been a member of national groups critical of drug laws. Greg Francisco is a former board member of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and a former member of Educators for Sensible Drug Policies.

Van Buren District Judge Arthur Clarke III ordered during a hearing Wednesday that a trial be scheduled within 60 to 75 days to decide Francisco's guilt or innocence on the misdemeanor charge, connected to a May 5 incident in the Bloomingdale Junior High School parking lot. ``I write lots and lots of letters to the editor, and I send them all over the United States and Canada and Europe on the efficacy of the war on drugs,'' said Francisco, 48, of Paw Paw. ``It is not that I advocate using drugs, it is just that what we are doing is just making the problem worse.'' The case has attracted the attention of advocates for drug-law reform from across the state.

Charles Ream, a trustee in Scio Township, near Ann Arbor, and a member of Michigan's chapter of NORML, attended Wednesday's hearing. He said the case would get national media attention if it goes to trial. ``This is a free-speech case,'' Ream said, referring to Francisco's writings on drug-law reform. ``It has nothing to do with drugs.''

Van Buren County Assistant Prosecutor Cory Johnson said Francisco has not been targeted and that prosecution in the case is a routine matter.

``Until the case was brought to my attention I had never heard of Mr. Francisco,'' Johnson said.

A search of Francisco's truck was conducted May 5 in the school parking lot after a drug-detecting canine was brought to the school for a routine check. Francisco said he had cooperated in the past, allowing routine searches when detection dogs were drawn to his vehicle, but decided to refuse the May search on principle.

According to a discussion by both Johnson and defense attorney Matthew Abel during Wednesday's hearing, after the dog targeted Francisco's truck, a stem and some roach material that tested positive for marijuana were found. Francisco said he already has lost his job over the matter because he was forced to resign after the May search. Bloomingdale Public Schools Superintendent Dale Schreuder said Francisco resigned voluntarily.

``This will take his livelihood and all because of a stem the size of atoothpick on the floor of his truck,'' Francisco's wife, Amy, said.

Welcome to the OpdxNwoL HOME page.   

  About this page ...

 The Old pdxNORML Website  is intended to be used as an Online Library; an interactive, multi-media, web-driven source of information and Tool for outreach.  It is Dedicated to and In Memory of those who risked and sacrificed in the cause of cannabis law reform. 

Committed to helping the people - from the innocents just looking for info, to the precious volunteer few looking to act - knowledge is power and the truth shall set us free.

pdxNORML is gone, BUT, the ideals live on! This site itself is not dead, it is a living, growing thing.  Maintenance personnel wanted!  Sign up and be a part of maximizing the use of this cannabis law reform archival and action "toolshed".

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Browse on to see more, like history about this site.



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Taxing And Regulating Cannabis Could Yield $14 Billion In Annual Savings And Revenue, Study Says

Boston, MA: Enforcing state and federal marijuana laws costs taxpayers an estimated $7.7 billion annually, according to a report released this week by visiting Harvard University economics professor, Jeffrey Miron, and endorsed by more than 500 economists.

The report, entitled "Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States," estimates that legalizing marijuana would save state and local governments $5.3 billion annually, while saving the federal government $2.4 billion.  A previous analysis of marijuana arrest expenditures published by the NORML Foundation in March estimated that enforcing marijuana prohibition, primarily at the state level, costs approximately $7.6 billion per year.

Miron's report also estimates that legalizing cannabis would yield $6.2 billion in annual revenue if it were taxed at rates comparable to those imposed upon alcohol and tobacco.

"We ... urge the country to commence an open and honest debate about marijuana prohibition," states an open letter accompanying the report, signed by over 500 economists, including Stanford University's Milton Friedman.  "We believe such a debate will favor a regime in which marijuana is legal but taxed and regulated like other goods.  At a minimum, this debate will force advocates of current policy to show that prohibition has benefits sufficient to justify the cost to taxpayers, foregone tax revenues, and numerous ancillary consequences that result from marijuana prohibition."

A previous survey published in the April 2004 issue of the journal Econ Journal Watch found that most US economists believe that current drug prohibition strategies are ineffective and favor liberalizing American drug policies.

Full text of the report, "Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States," is available online at: http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/mironreport.html

Cannabinoid Neuroprotective Against Cerebral Infarction, Study Says

Fukuoka, Japan: Administration of the non-psychoactive cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) is neuroprotective against cerebral infarction (localized cell death in the brain) in mice, according to clinical trial data published in the May issue of the journal Stroke.

"Treatment of cannabidiol ... significantly reduced the infarct volume ... in mice" in a dose dependent manner, a research team at Fukuoka University's Department of Neuropharmacology concluded.  Authors speculated that CBD "exerts a neuroprotective effect through its anti-oxidant, anti-spasmodic, and anti-emetic activity, [as well as through] vasorelaxation."

Researchers at the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) have previously reported that cannabinoids are neuroprotective in animals against brain damage caused by alcohol and/or stroke.

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500.  Full text of the study, "Cannabidiol prevents cerebral infarction," is available in the May issue of the journal Stroke.


International News

from Radical Bulletins by the Transnational Radical Party eBulletins [www.radicalparty.org ] ) hosted by The International Antiprohibitionist League (http://www.antiprohibitionist.org/)

26/05/2005
Soldiers for Drug Peace, Unite! EUROPEAN UNION / AUSTRIA
CONSUMPTION
DIE PRESSE (Vienna)
The director of Vienna’s Drug Consultancy, Dr. Hans Haltmayr, speaking at a conference of physicians, reported that ten per cent of the country’s population are addicted to alcohol whilst only one per cent are slaves to opiates.  But fully seventy per cent have experimented with cannabis.

27/05/2005
EUROPEAN UNION / UNITED KINGDOM
JUSTICE
THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH / ABC
A Court of Appeal Has rejected an application for the use of cannabis as a pain reliever on the reasoning that the perpetration of one evil is not justified because it may diminish another.  Three judges voted thus in the case of five persons who had been fined or sentenced to social labours for having imported and used marijuana.

30/05/2005
NORTH AMERICA / CANADA - Alberta
JUSTICE
CANOE NEWS
Grant Krieger, forefront fighter for the therapeutic use of marijuana, was convicted last December by a court of Appeals for trafficking and producing marijuana -- twenty-nine plants were found on his property.  He used the substance to relieve the pain of victims of multiple sclerosis.  He will now ask the Supreme Court to intervene.

30/05/2005
SOUTH AMERICA / BRAZIL
LEGALISATION
FOLHA
Minstrel singer and Culture Minister Gilberto Gil says that he began smoking marijuana in the nineteen-seventies and to have quit when he turned fifty.  ‘Why should it be prohibited?’ he asks.  Drugs ought to be reconsidered strictly in the light of public health, not criminal law.

20/05/2005
EUROPEAN UNION / UNITED KINGDOM -- London POLITICS
THE INDEPENDENT
The new chief of Scotland Yard, Sir Ian Blair, opposes the government’s plan to re-upgrade cannabis to an arrestable offence.  ‘Arresting people for small quantities is a waste of time and resources’, he said.

21/05/2005
EUROPEAN UNION / NETHERLANDS
POLITICS
THE SCOTSMAN
‘Drug tourists’ number about one and a half million annually.  To combat this collateral effect of Holland’s tolerant policies, the government are considering limiting access to the ‘coffee shops’ to Dutch citizens only.  A pilot programme will get under way in Maastricht this summer.


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the Library index pages the Library. "What happened?" Archive of stuff built by Portland NORML volunteers and other remains of the old site. News and other items of historical interest. Unique articles about the movement in Oregon and the world at the time.

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  - Need Help?

    > involving medical aspects of cannabis? Medical Cannabis Organizations and information Medical Cannabis Orgs & info; How to become a cannabis-legal patient, if possible, and other relevent resource info.

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  - ORGANIZATIONs and other Resources  ORGANIZATIONs and other Resources.  Such as ...

    The Monthly NORML Newsletter The Monthly NORML Newsletter. For printed news and such, for your Cannabis Law Reform Information and Outreach. This unit works in conjunction with others to provide a hardcopy medium of communication for the cause.

da Biz - Bizness Associations  Bizness Associations; cannabis friendly Sources for products; potential donors, sponsors and supporters of events or ideas; and, someday, cannabis friendly employment guide (at least tell you who/how to avoid!) This will include Bizness DisAssociation, where we boycott those who support the war or any of it's tentacles.

- Hemp for Victory  Hemp for Victory; Not only should we buy hemp and unilaterally support the biz, but work to get a seed planted in the US of A! > Action; Legis

* cannabis friendly media and communications  Media. It's up to us to get the word out. It's up to us to choose cannabis friendly media and communications.

* A&E. cannabis friendly Art, Music, Theatre, Literature and all the mediums.

The Librarians maintain this site as a matter of compassion, because ...

* Cannabis is Medicine.
- Grow guide index  Grow Tipz. Grow guide index.
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... and for the sake of industry & environment ...

* Hemp Networking. Hemp Clubs of America - student based, political action. Hemp Car Clubs and Cookoffs. Hemp fashion shows and expositions. Combine education with bizness with voter registration and engagement!

... and because it's a matter of basic, equal rights!

* Need help? Legal info  Legal info and Liberty resources index. For simple possession or even small grows. Also hassles; ie- opening a hemp store, or patient and doctor rights, even crossing the border with literature!

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