Martin A. Lee’s latest book, Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana – Medical Recreational and Scientific reflects his skills as a researcher, especially in the historical sections and his analysis of scientific and medical research. The copy is dense and packed with detail, frequently footnoted for those readers who may be skeptical of his scientific claims. If most Americans would take the time to read this book, it would certainly put the topic of legalizing marijuana in some helpful historical context, and it might help convince those who oppose marijuana legalization that they should reconsider their opposition.

So far every attempt by Obama to directly reach out to young voters through some form of online question and answer system has resulted in young adults overwhelming voting to confront the President with questions about our government’s marijuana policies. It happened with his transitional website Change.gov, his first Youtube townhall and with the White House’s new “we the people” petition site. Now it’s happened again.

The National Journal reports that the Senate Judiciary Committee will move the nomination on Michelle Leonhart for DEA administrator next week after a seven-month delay. Leonhart, a drug warrior to the core, has served as the temporary head of DEA since she was promoted to that position by George W. Bush in 2007.

In her time at the DEA, Leonhart has organized the campaign against medical marijuana, and ignored the clear directive from Attorney General Eric Holder to stop raiding dispensaries. Despite this flagrant insubordination, President Obama saw fit to nominate Leonhart to serve as the official DEA head earlier this year. And now, it looks like Leonhart will move through the Senate, with few signs that anyone in the Senate will actually fight her nomination, let alone stop it.

Voting Yes on Proposition 19 should be a no-brainer. Laws banning drugs, especially those that are mostly innocuous, are discriminatory. Legalizing marijuana will help save lives, and put a serious dent in the power of the drug cartels and criminal gangs preying on the defenseless.

More Interweb censorship of Prop 19 and marijuana advocates, this time from YouTube. The preeminent marijuana legalization group NORML released a video last week with musician and comedian Steve Berke that was a brilliant pro-Prop 19 parody of Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie” music video titled, “Should Be Legalized.”

NORML says they had more than 100,000 views of the video in just two days – no easy feat. Then, of course, YouTube stepped in and “flagged” the video, requiring users to log in to view it. How can we fight to make something legal, when we’re censored from showing our issue because it’s illegal?

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) is pushing a bill that aims to put yet more people in jail for using marijuana, even hoping to create a crime for “conspiracy to possess” marijuana that could put people in jail for planning to fly to Amsterdam with their friends to smoke pot.

That’s bad enough, and luckily Nancy Pelosi pulled the bill of the House’s fast track. But Lamar Smith continues his war on marijuana, hilariously suggesting on Fox News that Barack Obama is “encouraging the use of marijuana.”

But Paul Armentano, Deputy Director of NORML, took to the pages of The Hill newspaper to give a reality check to Lamar Smith’s lies.

Live at the final day of NORML’s 2010 “Just Say Now” convention in Portland, OR: former New Mexico Governor and marijuana legalization advocate Gary Johnson (also: probable 2012 GOP Presidential candidate). Watch Governor Johnson live here.

I’m about to go on a panel at the NORML convention in Portland, OR to discuss California’s Prop 19 and how it will affect the future of the marijuana legalization efforts. Joining me on the panel are: Paul Armentano, Deputy Director, NORML Ethan Nadelmann, Ph.D, Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance (invited) Matt Welch, Editor, Reason [...]

At the national conference of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) here at the Governor Hotel, in Portland Oregon, our own Michael Whitney is on a panel this morning to talk about the marijuana legalization campaign.