MARIJUANA ACTIVISTS GATHER IN PORTLAND FOR ANNUAL NATIONAL MEETING

Ten years ago, pot activists could get together and rail against
marijuana laws but couldn't hope for a lot of progress in the immediate future.

Thursday at the Governor Hotel in downtown Portland, more than 300
members of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
chanted "just say now!" as they convened their annual national
meeting with a sense of approaching victory in the air.

"Like a big boulder on the edge of a cliff," Indiana lawyer Steve
Dillon, chairman of NORML's board of directors, said to the
gathering. "We need to push that damn rock off the cliff, don't you think?"

An easy applause line anytime for such a crowd, to be sure. But with
California considering a Nov. 2 vote that would legalize marijuana
and Oregonians voting on whether to permit marijuana dispensaries,
the stoners are feeling confident that prohibition is dying after 73 years.

"First thing, we've kind of outlived our opposition," said Keith
Stroup, NORML's founder and legal counsel. "And then we've largely
won the hearts and minds of voters, especially where medical
marijuana is concerned."

Next month, NORML celebrates 40 years of urging Congress, state
legislatures and the electorate to repeal laws against hemp and
marijuana, particularly the 1937 federal ban that not only drove pot
use underground but also wiped out the American hemp crop.

Much of this year's convention centers on building on the gains of
the past decade, in which 14 states and the District of Columbia now
issue licenses for people to use marijuana as medicine under a
doctor's recommendation.

When organizing, speakers said, the Internet helps. Michael Whitney,
who works for the liberal blog firedoglake.com, organized a Just Say
Now! campaign online Aug. 3 and by Sept. 3 had signed up 75,000 people.

"People are far out front of establishment politicians and
establishment media when it comes to legalization," Whitney said.

John Sajo of VoterPower, the Oregon group that got the dispensary
initiative on the general-election ballot, reminded the convention
that while building a majority for legalization, activists cannot
forget about the other critical component in politics.

"It cost a lot of money to get that initiative on the ballot," Sajo
said. "If we want to legalize marijuana, we're going to have to pay
for it, and it's not going to be cheap."

Today, the convention's keynote speaker is former New Mexico Gov.
Gary Johnston, a longtime advocate of legalization, and travel writer
Rick Steves.

A panel today titled "The New Jim Crow" will discuss, among other
things, a study that found 53 percent of arrests in New York state
for the lowest-level possession charge are of black men.

On the second floor of the hotel, a valet closet was converted into a
"medication lounge" for license holders to smoke marijuana.

The convention's trade expo has been named in memory of Jack Herer,
the author of the hemp history "The Emperor Wears No Clothes." Herer
suffered a heart attack a year ago just after speaking at Portland's
Hempstalk festival; he died April 15 in Eugene.

The convention runs through Saturday, overlapping with this year's
Hempstalk at Kelley Point Park.