Madison NORML

Thu, 13 Jul 2006
Eco-Store Strives To Retail Hemp, Dissolve Myths
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Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI)
Section: Business, E1
Hempen Goods
911 Williamson St.
608-287-0410

Sat, 15 Jul 2006
Letter: Green Lacks Compassion On Medical Marijuana
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Source: Waukesha Freeman (WI)

This letter kicked off voter education efforts as to GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Green’s anti-medical marijuana zealotry.

Sat, 22 Jul 2006
They Barged In And Met Death
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Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI)

Sun, 23 Jul 2006
Secret Room Hid Interesting Stuff
Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI)
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Marijuana prohibition has taken a simple herb that relieves stress, eases suffering and heals into a commodity as valuable as gold. The failure of society to acknowledge the failure of marijuana prohibition and the costs to society lead to all kinds of preventable problems. If cannabis were taxed and regulated like alcohol and tobacco, people would not be turning their homes into cannabis stores or production facilities. The absence of regulation means disputes are settled outside the law. In this case, a pot grow proved too tempting for some locals caught up with hard drugs, and the result was tragedy for several families.

August 28, 2006
Champagne & Reefer" at Orton Park "

Attendees at Madison’s Orton Park Festival were surprised with “Champagne and Reefer” at the near east side Madison park on Saturday, August 26.
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Source: Madison NORML blog

Sat, 09 Sep 2006
Officer Reveals His Undercover Role In Drug Case
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Source: Wisconsin Dells Events

A young nark discloses how he befriended and targeted numerous people in the WI Dells area and entrapped them in drug deals. Meanwhile, just how many bars are there in the Dells, and isn’t alcohol the REAL problem drug in the Dells and everywhere else?

Sun, 10 Sep 2006
Weedstock Organizer Tries to Unseat Kohl
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Source: Green Bay Press-Gazette (WI)
Copyright: 2006 The Associated Press

Wed, 13 Sep 2006
Kohl Scores Easy Victory Over Masel
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Source: Capital Times, The (WI)

While Ben Masel never expected to beat Herb Kohl in the primary, he did manage to garner over 51,000 votes spending only a few hundred dollars. These voters represent people open to the kind of ideals Ben has championed. In addition, Masel’s vote total in the primary was 10,000 votes higher than Green Party challenger Rae Vogeler got versus Kohl in the general election, despite much higher expenditures and much more campaigning.

Wed, 04 Oct 2006

A rare victory for the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution occurred when a state appeals court overturned a man’s conviction for cannabis possession due to the lack of a search warrant by police. The Fourth Amendment is one of the biggest victims of the drug war. It is now so riddled with drug war exemptions that it has become a shell of what our nation’s founders intended. Good to see it still exists in some form.

Appeals Court Overturns Drug Conviction
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Source: Pioneer Press (IL)

APPEALS COURT OVERTURNS DRUG CONVICTION

Police Search With No Warrant Was Illegal

WAUSAU - A state appeals court Tuesday overturned a drug conviction because police in northern Wisconsin illegally entered a man's apartment without a search warrant after another tenant complained about smelling marijuana.

[snip]

Saturday & Sunday October 7 & 8, 2006
The 36th annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival

Harvest Fest, now well into its fourth decade, again caught some nice weather this year, with very comfortable temps, especially on Sunday. The festival, again a two-day event, featured a lineup of Wisconsin bands interspersed with speakers on Saturday, with the traditional parade to the Capitol on Sunday.

While the 2005 theme had been activism in support of Rep. Gregg Underheim’s medical marijuana bill, the bill’s untimely and messy death at the hands of Rep. Underheim himself earlier in the year was duly noted. New Jersey activist Jim Miller, also a carpenter, making a fourth consecutive appearance since 2003, constructed a coffin and drove it out from New Jersey. On Saturday, the coffin was on display all day at the Library Mall with appropriate signage noting which representatives helped kill it in committee. Inside was a copy of AB-740, and a spray of roses. On Sunday, Jim carried the coffin in the parade, now decked with a sign stating, “Et Tu, Underheim?” The coffin and sign inspired chants of “Et Tu, Underheim?” as the parade proceeded up State St. to the Capitol, where it was placed onstage.

Wisconsin's medical marijuana bill AB 740 lying in state on Library Mall on October 7, 2006.at the 36th annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival.

2005-2006 session Assembly Bill 740's coffin on the State Street steps of the Capitol, Sunday, October 8, 2006.

I talked about the coffin onstage at Harvest Fest, and with Underheim leaving office, the “funeral” brought his attempt at medical marijuana legislation to a close. It was a journey that began in 2003. The day after Harvest Fest, Jim Miller and I visited some lawmakers’ offices trying to build support for introduction of a bill that session. On a whim, our final stop was Underheim’s office to ask that he allow a fair hearing should a bill wind up in his Assembly Health committee. We knew that back in 1997, when Rep. Frank Boyle and then State Rep. Tammy Baldwin introduced mmj legislation, Underheim was strongly opposed. According to High Times, he said the bill would not get a hearing. "It's not about medicine, it's about intoxication," he says of the medical-marijuana movement. The movement, he adds, will not have any credibility until it presents "sound intellectual rationales, not aging hippies."

January 1999
Wisconsin Marchers Wheel Into Madison
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Source: High Times
Author: Steve Wishnia

But Jim and I were warmed up and armed with pictures of Cheryl Miller and Jacki Rickert, and ready to go. It turned out the aide we spoke with was very open to the idea, so much so, I gave her a Cherylheart pin click here. A week or so later she summoned me to meet with Underheim to discuss the issue.

Not long after, he announced plans to introduce an mmj bill. Thus, it seems fitting that three years later, with the bill dead at his own hands and Underheim vacating his roomy Capitol offices for a reported job as a lobbyist, that Jim Miller would be there with a coffin to give it a proper sendoff. While Underheim had been content to let AB-740’s death to go unnoticed, the peculiar circumstances combined with the extreme disappointment of state patients compelled us to make sure the bill got a public funeral.

But while the death of AB-740 was a component of Harvest Fest, it still remained what it has been for 36 years: a celebration of the harvest and a reunion of the regional cannabis community.

Media coverage was extremely positive, with reports filed by print, television and radio outlets.

Mon, 09 Oct 2006
Hundreds Rally To Legalize Marijuana

“We’re good members of the community. We’re otherwise law-abiding citizens who are taking a safer alternative to alcohol. We shouldn’t be punished for that.” Gary Storck Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival organizer

"No police calls were made to the event Saturday or Sunday, and no arrests were made for marijuana use, said Madison Police Sgt. Dave McClurg."

Read entire article: click here
Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI)

Mon, 09 Oct 2006
Marijuana Fest Ignites Fight For Legalization

"The sky didn't fall, nothing happened, nobody got hurt, and we went all the way down the road in full public view and nothing went wrong," activist Jim Miller from New Jersey said.

[snip]

Gary Storck, cofounder of the Madison branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), lamented the death of the medical marijuana bill during the past congressional session and pointed to the Capitol building behind him when he spoke at the rally.

"The people in this building are responsible for that bill dying in committee," he said.

Read entire article: click here
Source: Capital Times, The (WI)

Mon, 09 Oct 2006
Supporters Of Legalizing Marijuana Rally In Madison
Read entire article: click here
Source: La Crosse Tribune (WI)

Mon, 09 Oct 2006
Harvest Fest Unites Pro-Pot Crowd

This article is interesting in that it incorrectly states, ” Keith Stroup, founder of NORML, also made an appearance to rally the crowd and boost morale for a prolonged struggle.” Keith was at the 2005 fest, but he was not at the 2006 event. One has to wonder if the reporter simply recycled the prior year’s article.

Read entire article: click here
Source: Daily Cardinal (U of WI, Madison, Edu)

Jim Miller also had a letter about Harvest Fest published in his hometown paper in New Jersey:

Mon, 16 Oct 2006
US NJ: PUB LTE: Marijuana Festival Example Of Peaceful March
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Source: Ocean County Observer (NJ)

Mon, 16 Oct 2006
Sheriff's Department Uses Google Earth To Pinpoint Marijuana Fields
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Source: Journal Times, The (Racine, WI)
DOVER - The Racine County Sheriff's Department used Google Earth - an online mapping program - last week to pinpoint marijuana fields in Mount Pleasant and bust a Racine man for harvesting pot.

[snip]

October 26, 2006
Shepherd Express: Where's Jacki's Medicine?

Milwaukee's Shepherd Express covered Jacki's fight to get an answer from Mark Green in an article in this week's edition. One small correction, Jacki is not receiving federal medical marijuana supplies. She was approved, but never supplied.

The day before, in Green Bay, Jacki's friends continued to keep up the pressure on Mark Green to reply to Jacki's letter. A small protest was held at the Brett Favre Steakhouse, the site of a small fundraiser for Green. Spotting a sign supporting medical marijuana with the universal "no" symbol over his name on the way in, Green reacted with a comment.

With the election less than two weeks off, will Green give Jacki an answer?

Read article: click here
Source: Shepherd Express

November 08, 2006
Election results raise hopes for medical marijuana in Wisconsin

Good news for Wisconsin medical marijuana supporters! Both Mark Green and John Gard went down to defeat and back to private life, meaning Gov. Jim Doyle will serve four more years and Dr. Steve Kagen will be representing Green’s former congressional district instead of Gard. Green’s running mate, outgoing Rep. Jean Hundertmark, who badgered medical marijuana patients at last fall’s Health Committee hearing, joined him in defeat.

Continues at: click here
Source: Madison NORML blog