History | UCA

Norml

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws is one of the oldest activist's organizations dedicated to ending marijuana prohibition in the United States. Norml was founded in the fall of 1970 in Washington D.C.

by Keith Stroup and Larry Schott. The two were motivated to start Norml after the arrest of a

friend for possession of a small amount of marijuana during a traffic stop.

Influenced by the pro-consumer advocacy of Ralph Nader. The two imagined Norml as a respectable advocate for the marijuana smoker. With a 5,000 dollar donation from the Playboy foundation, Norml opened its first office in early 1971 in Stroup's basement. Through the 1970s Norml Attempted to capitalize on the work of the Nixon administrations National Commission on Marijuana and Drug abuse. After a year of investigation and testimony (including Normls) ruled that marijuana was harmless and should

be decriminalized.

Norml used the commission's findings, as well as an early decriminalization victory in Oregon, to attempt to convince state legislatures across the United States to decriminalize marijuana. In 1973 Norml established a sister organization, called the Center for the Study of Non-medical Drug use. During this time Norml discovered the medical benefits of marijuana for people suffering from the

effects of multiple sclerosis, chemotherapy and glaucoma. Norml started working on the medical reclassification of marijuana.

In 1974 Norml and Amorphia a California based marijuana activist organization merged and Amorphia became the California state chapter of Norml. In 1975 five state legislatures passed decriminalization bills and the Alaska supreme court ruled the personal use of marijuana at home

was protected by the right-to-privacy provision in the state constitution. During this time Norml began to gain respectability in the political arena. In 1977 President Jimmy Carter endorsed the decriminalization of marijuana. Norml had a friend in the White House, however their influence would not last.

During Normls annual conference party in 1977, Dr. Peter Bourne, the director of the White House office of drug abuse policy was seen using cocaine. A year later Keith Stroup leaked this information to the press in retaliation for the Carter administrations failure to stop the use of paraquat by the drug enforcement agency. Norml

lost its connections to the White House and the Norml board of directors pressured Stroup to resign as executive director in 1979. During this time the Norml organization was kept alive by national director George Farnham, Kevin Zeese and Jon Gettman. Gettman was responsible for building the grassroots / active base of Norml.

In the late 1980s following an IRS audit initiated by a U.S. congressman the board of directors fired the national director, Jon Gettman. In 1992 Norml hired Richard Cowan as the national

director. In mid 1994 Cowan was alleged to have made several financial improprieties with Normls

funds. Cowan, with support from some board

members and staffers, voted to dissolve the existing board and elect a new board. The new board included Lester Grinspoon, Ann Drugan and John Morgan who then appointed fourteen

additional board members including Keith Stroup.

In 1995 Keith Stroup was rehired as the national

director. In 1997 Norml split into separate organizations. A lobbying organization and a tax

deductible nonprofit called the Norml foundation.

Allen St. Pierre was chosen to lead the foundation. With the legalization of medical marijuana in California in 1996 via proposition

215 and Stroup's restructuring, Norml was once again stable and able to capitalize on the wave

of public support for addressing the marijuana issue.

In 2012 Colorado and Washington state legalized

the recreational use of marijuana. This helped to usher in a new Eara. With state-by-state legalizing

the use of medical and recreational marijuana.

The green rush of investors, differences between

state and federal laws and the inconsistencies of

state tax and regulations. Norml will continue to fight for our rights until marijuana is legal in all

states either for medical use or for recreational

use.