FLORIDA NORML

Join NORML Today @ FLNORML.ORG!
***** Florida NORML Inc is a non profit organization that supports "National" NORML in the state of Florida by:
*Adopting NORML's Mission and Principals of Responsible Cannabis Use.
Florida NORML lobbies for sensible marijuana policy reform aimed at ending the destructive un-intended results of marijuana prohibition that include:
Keeping much needed safe and effective medicine from people struggling with Cancer, HIV..AIDS and Multiple Sclerosis.
Marijuana has proven to be very safe and effective in providing relief even when all other medications have failed. Misguided organizations and politicians that actively keep marijuana from patients who desperately need help are morally irresponsible and criminally threaten the lives of patients struggling to survive.
*For example (and there are dozens and dozens of more examples), recently published research in the Journal of Molecular Pharmaceutics indicates that nothing on the market slows or stops the progress of Alzheimer's Disease as effectively as THC.
Unfortunately there was an effective public misinformation campaign in the 1930s based on fear and racism by ex-alcohol prohibitionists. Expressly against the science and statistical based recommendations of the American Medical Association marijuana became prohibited and subsequently removed from the United States Pharmacopeia. Now it is nearly impossible to get federal approval for any research involving positive aspects of THC.
*Fostering an environment where organized crime and violence flourishes.
"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this."
Albert Einstein
Drugs being marketed and distributed directly to children in our classrooms.It is not peer pressure you need to worry about: 24% of all drug dealers are between the age of 8 and 17 and they are financially incentivised to sell drugs to your children. Guess what? Unlike government regulated outlets of recreational intoxicants, drug dealers do not card for minors. Children are finding that dealing drugs is a compelling alternative to working hard in school.25% of Florida's children do not graduate high school. Courts, Jails and Prisons are needlessly being overrun for simple marijuana possession charges (780,000 nationwide marijuana arrests in 2005) requiring costly annual capacity expansion.Over 2.2 million people are currently behind bars in the United States. This represents the highest per capita incarceration rate in the history of the world. In one year alone, 150 new U.S. prisons were built and filled. *Creating an atmosphere of perceived institutionalized racism by the obvious selective enforcement of marijuana laws against the African American community at a rate greater than 4X than that of the Caucasian community.According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics "Blacks were almost three times more likely than Hispanics and five times more likely than whites to be in jail." *Families are being broken up in unprecedented frequency (single moms are one of the fastest growing segments of prison populations).The annual rate of increase in women (behind bars) has averaged 4.8 percent per year for the past decade compared to an average of 3.1 percent for men. Police being spread so thin that the vast majority of violent crimes in Florida go unsolved.In the last 10 years the annual amount of arrests for simple marijuana possession has gone up by 300,000 a year while the amount of arrests for violent crime has gone down by 200,000. CLEARLY priorities need to be changed. *Encouraging corruption and collusion amongst Politicians, Law Enforcement, Correctional officials and special interests that profit from the privatization and expansion of forced drug related treatment, incarceration and drug testing for otherwise law abiding tax paying citizens that choose to use cannabis in a responsible manner creating no harm for themselves or others.