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         REPORT EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL SATURDAY, AUGUST 2, 1997
                               July 31, 1997
        NORML Report Highlights Failures Of Marijuana Prohibition On
                60 Year Anniversary Of The Marihuana Tax Act
 "When compassion and justice are in conflict with current law, then the law
                                must change."
          August 2, 1997 marks the 60 year anniversary of a failed and
devastating American public policy: marijuana prohibition.  This Saturday,
NORML will release a new 30 page report, Still Crazy After All These Years:
Marijuana Prohibition 1937-1997.  This report explores in-depth the dismal
failure of marijuana prohibition and the detrimental fiscal and social
impact it wages upon America.
Did you know:
*  The Clinton administration is waging a more intensive war on marijuana
smokers than any other presidency in history.  Marijuana arrests are up 60
percent since Clinton took office.
*  Law enforcement arrests a marijuana smoker every 54 seconds in America.
Over ten million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges since
1972 and police charged nearly 600,000 individuals with marijuana violations
in 1995 alone.  More than 85 percent of these arrests are for possession,
not sale.
*  Marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers at least $7.5 billion annually.
*  Despite massive increases in marijuana enforcement, marijuana remains the
third most popular recreational drug of choice in America.  According to
government figures, nearly 70 million Americans have smoked marijuana at
some time in their lives.  Of these, 18 million have smoked marijuana within
the last year, and ten million are regular marijuana smokers.
*  Marijuana offenders today may be sentenced to jail terms longer than
those commonly served by violent criminals.
*  Marijuana prohibition disproportionately impacts minorities.  Blacks and
Hispanics are over-represented both in the numbers of arrests and in the
numbers of marijuana offenders incarcerated.
*  Marijuana prohibition makes no exception for the medical use of
marijuana.  Between 1978 and 1996, 34 states passed laws recognizing
marijuana's therapeutic value in the treatment of cancer, glaucoma, and
other serious illnesses.  Yet, states remain severely limited in their
ability to implement their medical use laws because of uncompromising
federal prohibition.
          NORML board members Drs. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard Medical
School and John P. Morgan of City of the University of New York (CUNY)
Medical School will be available for comment this weekend and next week.
NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup, Esq. and Allen St. Pierre,
Executive Director of The NORML Foundation will also be available.  Copies
of NORML's report are available upon request.
                                  -- END --
  MORE THAN 10 MILLION MARIJUANA ARRESTS SINCE 1965 . . . ANOTHER EVERY 54
                                  SECONDS!
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