Organizations

August 19-20, Seattle, WA, Seattle Hempfest, visit http://www.hempfest.org for further information.

July 24, 7:30pm, Asheville, NC, fundraiser and art opening benefiting the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies 20th Anniversary Celebration at Burning Man 2006. Space limited, tickets $45 minimum donation for first ten, $50 minimum for second ten, $50 for next fifteen. At the Flood Gallery, Phil Mechanic Building, 109 Roberts St., contact Logan MacSporren at (772) 708-6810 or

Please join us at Growers Market (upstairs, elevator in the back) for our monthly meeting. It's between the Downtown Post Office and the Train Station on Willamette St. Remember, our meetings are every fourth Saturday of the month.

The Drug Policy Alliance is hosting a benefit concert with four extremely talented local artists. There will be a discussion on the war on drugs in between musical acts. Please join the fun at Velvet Lounge!

On May 15, the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) updated its 2002 Report to Congress on Federal Cocaine Sentencing. The USSC report once again finds that there is no rationale for the sentencing differences between the two forms of the drug. Under current law, possessing or selling 5 grams of crack cocaine results in the same five-year mandatory minimum sentence as selling 500 grams of powder cocaine. The law harshly punishes low-level offenders, and has had a disparate impact on African-American and low-income communities. Join us in a frank discussion on avenues for reform of this unjust law.

On May 15, the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) updated its 2002 Report to Congress on Federal Cocaine Sentencing. The USSC report once again finds that there is no rationale for the sentencing differences between the two forms of the drug. Under current law, possessing or selling 5 grams of crack cocaine results in the same five-year mandatory minimum sentence as selling 500 grams of powder cocaine. The law harshly punishes low-level offenders, and has had a disparate impact on African-American and low-income communities. Join us in a frank discussion on avenues for reform of this unjust law.

Hear Us Out will feature the writings of 16 and 17-year olds who have been charged and incarcerated as adults in the DC Jail. Poems will be read by Free Minds members who have been released and are now living and working in the DC community. Come celebrate their successes at this free community event!

Please mark your calendar now and plan to join us for our annual political conference where we focus on the latest marijuana policy developments at both the state and federal levels, celebrate our victories over the last year, analyze our losses, and hear from an array of the leading NORML activists and cannabis law reform organizers from across the country.

The International Community Corrections Association (ICCA), The Sentencing Project, and the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office and National Prison Project, in collaboration with the Justice Roundtable Reentry Coalition invite you to a Congressional Staff Briefing: "Can Probation and Parole Supervision Reduce Recidivism?" hosted by Representative Bobby Scott, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.

The village of Nimbin is beginning to get ready for its fifteenth annual MardiGrass, the cannabis law reform rally and gathering which swallows the village every first weekend in May. “Until we are no longer criminals”, says Michael Balderstone, spokesperson for the MOB (MardiGrass Organising Body!) ”That’s the promise we made to ourselves and it looks like we might be doing it for a few years yet, though if Rudd replaces Howard at least the Federal reefer madness campaign might diminish.”