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Florida NORML Inc. 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.
- Providing honest accurate information regarding marijuana and
marijuana policy to elected officials, politicians and the general
public.
- Actively seeking new members, volunteers and resources to carry
out it's mission.
- Helping coordinate activities and resources between the
National, State and Florida campus chapters.
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.
- Blocking research into the medicinal benefits of THC the active
ingredient in marijuana.
For example (and there are dozens and dozens 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.
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