By John Payne
This Saturday, April 26, we will co-host the Spring 2014 Missouri Cannabis Law Reform Conference with Missouri NORML, MU NORML, and MU SSDP. The event will be held in Allen Auditorium at the University of Missouri in Columbia, located in the Arts & Science Building at 9th St. and Conley Ave. The intended schedule for the conference is as follows:
- 10:00 a.m. Opening Remarks with MU NORML & SSDP Chapters: Benton Berigan, MU NORML Chapter President, Duell Lauderdale, MU SSDP Chapter President
- 10:30 a.m. Missouri Chapter Updates (Trish Bertrand of Springfield NORML, Brent Monger of Lake of the Ozarks NORML, Joe Welch Greater Saint Louis NORML)
- 11:30 a.m. Show-Me Cannabis Board (John Payne, Dan Viets, Amber Langston, Maranda Reynolds)
- 12:00 p.m. Screening of Sanjay Gupta’s Weed II
- 12:30 – 1:15 p.m. LUNCH BREAK
- 12:30 p.m. Alice O’Leary, widow of Bob Randall, the first legal medical marijuana patient in America since 1937
- 1:15 – 2:15 p.m. Medical Cannabis Panel (Dr. Gil Mobley, Heidi Rayl, Brandy Johnson, and Dolores and Gene Halbin)
- 2:20 – 3:15 p.m. Missouri Police and Asset Forfeiture Panel (Chief Tony Kirk, Sgt. Gary Wiegert, Eapen Thampy of Americans for Forfeiture Reform)
- 3:20 – 4:00 p.m. Free Jeff Mizanksey Panel (Attorney Tony Nenninger, Mike Mizanskey, brother of Jeff Mizanskey)
- 4:00 – 4:15 p.m. Missouri State Representative Paul Curtman (R – Pacific), co-sponsor of industrial hemp bill
- 4:20 p.m. Keynote Address: Mason Tvert, Marijuana Policy Project Director of Communications, Co-Campaign Director Amendment 64, Co-founder and Director Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER)
- 5:20 p.m. Q&A with all Missouri Cannabis Conference Speakers
Admission to the conference is free and open to the general public. It will be followed by a fundraiser dinner at the Grand Cru, located at 2600 S. Providence Road, where you can hang out with the speakers and participate in raffles and auctions to support the cause!
You can purchase tickets for the fundraiser in advance here for $10. The price will be $15 the day of the event. If you are able, please bring one or more items to contribute to the auction.
For my part, I will be contributing some historical documents of medical cannabis use near the turn of the twentieth century. At that time, cannabis was discussed commonly in mainstream medical journals and openly advertised in magazines as a treatment for insomnia, epilepsy, and migraines, among other ailments.
You can see those documents on our website here. Pay particular attention to the location of the company on the first ad!
I am also pleased to announce that we have scheduled a town hall meeting in Branson for Thursday, May 29, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. The event will take place in the Community Room of the Branson RecPlex located at 1500 Branson Hills Parkway, 65616.
Former medical cannabis patient and SWAT raid victim Daryl Bertrand, his wife Trish Bertrand, and I will all speak with more panelists announced soon. Keep up to date about new speakers by joining the event page here!
Source: National Cannabis Coalition – make a donation
