NY NORML | Get Active

Join NORML. Because if you're too busy to do anything, the NORML staff in Washington, DC are working full time on your behalf. They need your continued support to keep doing it!

If you are not signed up to our NY NORML yahoo group, we would like you to consider joining the list. It is a low volume discussion list on the actions and events of NY NORML. To join go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NewYorkNORML
For now we will leave this an open forum, to allow for questions, comments and discussions. Please keep this board for discussions that are legal and on topic only. We are going to be expanding our membership and do not want to swamp people with non-related e-mails.

Start a local NORML chapter in NY (contact us) or join an existing one.

NY Action Alerts

1. Support NY State Assembly Bill 9016 and Senate Bill S. 4041-B.

2. Collect Petitions for NY's Governor Paterson to legalize cannabis for responsible adult use, for all its other uses, to strengthen NY's economy. Follow this link to download the petition as a PDF file.

3. Kirsten Gillibrand replaced Hillary Clinton's U.S. Senate position. Gillibrand voted NO on the Hinchey bill to defund the DEA in states where medical marijuana is legal. Please contact her to let her know you want her to protect medical cannabis patients, and to end prohibition in general.

4. Please contact Governor Patterson and tell him you support releasing all non-violent marijuana prisoners and legalizing marijuana. Please ask him to ask the state legislature to act promptly to pass medical marijuana legislation.

5. Please contact the new NY State Senate Majority Leader, Malcolm A. Smith and tell him the same as above. He is new to the position and needs to hear from a lot of us so he knows how we want him to lead.

Please remember to be polite and to leave your updated voting address with whomever you speak to, or on whatever correspondence you have with their offices. Personally-written letters are always very effective (see suggestions below).

6. Letters to the editor are also necessary to get a good public dialogue going. Ever get sick of not seeing enough pro-legalization articles in the media? Published letters are just that in their own way, counting as column space gained for our message which did not cost us a dime! Make sure to give an accurate phone number so that they can verify you wrote the letter (you can ask that they print anonymous, or just your initials, as the author if you choose).

1. Who is my NY State Senator?	2. Who is my NY State Assembly Member?	3. How did they vote on the issues you care about? Senate Assembly
NY residents, if you cannot make it to the event please contact your elected representatives on or before April 17, 2009 to help increase our impact! *USE THE LINKS ABOVE TO DETERMINE HOW TO WRITE TO THEM*.
WRITE TO YOUR SENATOR
WRITE TO YOUR ASSEMBLY MEMBER
Please Copy and Paste one of our Sample Letters into an Email and send to your Senator, Assembly Member and The Governor.
Dear [SENATOR OR ASSEMBLY MEMBER ________], In essence, the United States government has yielded jurisdiction over cannabis hemp (marijuana) to the individual states. Each state can now adopt whatever laws it wishes regarding cannabis, including its regulation and taxation. Legislation has already been introduced in California to do so. New York has the opportunity to finally gain this huge source of revenue and direct it toward budget deficits, education, health care and more. Simultaneously we can stop enriching the criminal black market and regulate who it is sold to. Children will have less access to buy cannabis under legalization. New York could realize at least $65.5 million annually in new tax revenues (CNN) and cut the cost of health care because of its benefits as a natural medicine. We would also save millions in NY on police, court, jail and prisons. Prison is the last place we should be putting productive citizens who should be out in the NY workforce, improving our economy. Police resources are best spent on violent crimes, not consensual adult cannabis use. We no longer have to wait for permission to do this. We now have it. The question is, does our legislature have the leadership and intelligence to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lift New York from unnecessary suffering and poverty? I call on you, my elected official, to adopt a system to allow adult use, that will tax and regulate cannabis (and hemp as an industrial crop for food, paper, fuel and more). Please let me know what your views are and any actions you will take. Thank you for your time and consideration on this extremely important issue.
Just Cut and paste these letters and send to your elected representatives. Feel free to change them and make them your own.
Dear Governor Paterson, In essence, the United States government has yielded jurisdiction over cannabis hemp (marijuana) to the individual states. Each state can now adopt whatever laws it wishes regarding cannabis, including its regulation and taxation. Legislation has already been introduced in California to do so. New York has the opportunity to finally gain this huge source of revenue and direct it toward budget deficits, education, health care and more. Simultaneously we can stop enriching the criminal black market and regulate who it is sold to. Children will have less access to buy cannabis under legalization. New York could realize at least $65.5 million annually in new tax revenues (CNN) and cut the cost of health care because of its benefits as a natural medicine. We would also save millions in NY on police, court, jail and prisons. Prison is the last place we should be putting productive citizens who should be out in the NY workforce, improving our economy. Police resources are best spent on violent crimes, not consensual adult cannabis use. We no longer have to wait for permission to do this. We now have it. The question is, does our legislature have the leadership and intelligence to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lift New York from unnecessary suffering and poverty? I call on you, Governor Paterson, to adopt a system to allow adult use, that will tax and regulate cannabis (and hemp as an industrial crop for food, paper, fuel and more). Please let me know what your views are and any actions you will take. Thank you for your time and consideration on this extremely important issue.
MEDICAL MARIJUANA LETTERS:
Dear [SENATOR OR ASSEMBLY MEMBER ________], In essence, the United States government has yielded jurisdiction over cannabis hemp (marijuana) to the individual states. New York patients are suffering needlessly without this valuable medicine. I call on you, my elected official, to co-sponsor or at least vote "yes" on medical cannabis in 2009. Please let me know what your views are and any actions you will take. Thank you for your time and consideration on this extremely important issue.
Just Cut and paste these letters and send to your elected representatives. Feel free to change them and make them your own.
Dear Governor Paterson, In essence, the United States government has yielded jurisdiction over cannabis hemp (marijuana) to the individual states. New York patients are suffering needlessly without this valuable medicine. I call upon you to create an executive order to legalize medical cannabis in NY in 2009, or to at least sign it into law when the NY legislature passes bills. Please let me know what your views are and any actions you will take. Thank you for your time and consideration on this extremely important issue.

Federal Action Alerts

1. Boycott Kelloggs products until they renew their contract with Michael Phelps.

Email them at: media.hotline@kellogg.com and corporateresponsibility@kellogg.com

Maybe marijuana should be labeled a performance-enhancing substance, considering Michael Phelps’ athletic record. Joking aside, it is a tragedy that he is being embarrassed because of hitting a bong, a stress-relieving activity that millions of Americans do every day. Considering Phelps’ noted history with alcohol, it is troubling that he may now turn to alcohol, at least while in public, to enhance his enjoyment of life. Alcohol is a far poorer health choice than smoking cannabis. Cannabis can also be eaten or vaporized, thus eliminating the potential harm that smoking any substance can bring. As far as smoking goes, water pipes like the bong he was using are the healthiest due to the filtration and cooling through water. He is quoted as saying “…it won’t happen again”; I only hope he is referring to not being photographed while enjoying cannabis.
-Jen Rog

2. Contact the White House

Contact the White House and leave a comment for President Obama to end cannabis prohibition! 202.456.1111