NORML: The Struggle is Real

At this point I think it’s safe to say that just about everyone would admit that the legalization of cannabis is a foregone conclusion, whether or not they like it. But, obviously, this was not always the case. The fight for legalized cannabis began in earnest in the 1960s and ‘70s when hippie counter culture work hard alongside civil rights activists. They argued that harsh laws against the use of marijuana were more strictly enforced against poor and minority communities while white, middle class offenses were largely ignored. In 1970 Keith Stroup, a young attorney just two years out of Georgetown Law School, started the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and set up shop in Washington D.C. to start lobbying for change. By the time he left NORML’s executive directorship—amidst some controversy after outing Jimmy Carter’s drug adviser, Peter Bourne, as a cocaine user because Bourne disagreed with Stroup over some policy issues—in 1979 11 states had decriminalized minor marijuana offenses. Jimmy Carter himself told congress in 1978 that ‘penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to the individual than the use of the drug itself. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marijuana in private for personal use.’ And with that, the stage was set for wide-scale cannabis reforms throughout the United States.

In 1970 Keith Stroup was working for the Consumer Product Safety commission. While there Stroup met Ralph Nader, a famous consumer activist in his own right, and Nader inspired Stroup to start a consumer advocacy organization specifically for cannabis. With $5,000 from Hugh Hefner and his Playboy Foundation, Stroup set up an office in Washington D.C. and began lobbying the federal government to remove cannabis from the Schedule 1 controlled substance list, as well as state legislatures for significant changes to their cannabis statutes. The Playboy Foundation continued to give NORML hundreds of thousands of dollars, elevating them above other pro-cannabis lobbying groups like LeMar (Legalize Marijuana was founded at the end of 1964 and was the first group dedicated to ending cannabis prohibition in the US) and Amorphia (the group known for Prop 19, a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana use in California in 1972). After merging with LeMar in 1971, Amorphia became the California chapter of NORML in 1974 due to funding issues. In 1976 Robert C. Randall, a glaucoma patient, got the first favorable legal ruling allowing him to legally use medical cannabis thanks in large part to the guidance and contacts provided by Keith Stroup. And NORML has been working tirelessly to this end ever since.

Since its founding, NORML has been focused on educating the public and defending individuals who have been charged and/or convicted for low level cannabis crimes. In 1972 (the same year as Amorphia’s Prop 19 struggle) NORML organized the first People’s Pot Conference in nation’s capital. The conference was attended by over 300 surrogates—from private citizens to federal politicians—from 36 states, and NORML continues to host annual conferences to this day. NORML has expanded from that first D.C. office to include 135 chapters across the country as well as sister groups in other countries such as Canada, Australia, France, and the UK. NORML has published several reports over the last two decades that address the harmful effects of harsh cannabis laws and now has over 550 affiliated lawyers dedicated to making impactful changes to the law and defending victims of our current system. NORML’s mission statement declares their dedication ‘to move public opinion sufficiently to legalize the use of marijuana by adults, and to serve as an advocate for consumers to assure they have access to high quality marijuana that is safe, convenient and affordable.’ The struggle is real, but NORML has been doing its very best to minimize that struggle for the last 50 years. And they’ve shown no sign they’ll let up before seeing it through to the end!