The issue of the legalization and regulation of marijuana has consistently been in the news over the last few years in North America with some major developments occurring. Marijuana is currently legal in Oregon, Alaska, DC, Colorado and Washington with California most probably soon to follow. Polls have consistently shown that the majority of Americans favoring legalization and it has contributed to a wider debate around our current drug laws.
One organization that has been tirelessly working on this issue is the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws, better known as NORML. With current developments gaining speed in the United States, I recently chatted with NORML founder Keith Stroup on what NORML does and what role lawyers play in the organization. Here is that conversation.
Progressive Lawyer: Please introduce yourself and describe your role in NORML.
Keith Stroup: I am a 70-year old attorney who first smoked marijuana when I was a freshman at Georgetown Law School in 1965, and I have been a regular smoker since that time. In late 1970 I founded NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a lobby for responsible marijuana smokers, with the goal of ending the criminal prohibition of marijuana and stopping the arrest of marijuana smokers.
I currently serve as Legal Counsel for NORML and the NORML Foundation.
PL: Why was your organization started? What issues does it confront?
KS: My decision to start NORML was based on my experience, right out of law school, working for the National Commission on Product Safety. During the two years that commission was in existence, I had the privilege of working around consumer-advocate Ralph Nader and the young attorneys working with him, known generally as the “Nader’s Raiders.” That experience introduced me to the concept of public-interest law, in which one uses their legal training to try to impact public policy, rather than representing individual clients.
But my real interest by then was legalizing marijuana, not product safety, so once the Product Safety Commission ended; I elected to establish a public-interest organization to represent the interests of marijuana smokers.
Over the last 44 years, we have lobbied state and federal legislators to adopt more reasonable marijuana policies; attempted to educate the public about the relative harmlessness of marijuana; provided a professional voice in the media to counter the “reefer madness” mentality that had been fostered by the government for many decades; and attempted to provide support and assistance to those victims of the current laws.