One of the first things to strike me about the thousand-plus attendees was that it appeared the older generations and the younger were pretty much equally represented. It’s good to know that if our work isn’t done by the time we die off there are others coming along to finish it, but I hope that will not be necessary.

At this conference, more than at any of the past, it seemed the air was charged with positive change. Several times I heard speakers say, “The wind is at our backs.” They were referring to several recent developments in drug policy:

Within this past year Argentina, Columbia, Mexico, and Portugal all have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana and drugs for personal use. Governors Schwarzenegger of California and Paterson of New York have called for a serious debate on regulation and taxation of marijuana.

Cannabis has been featured this year on the covers of nationally respected magazines, including Fortune and The Wall Street Journal. The Obama administration has announced a shift in medical marijuana policy, and in a major change of policy, the American Medical Association has called for the reclassification of marijuana so that clinical studies may be conducted to determine once and for all whether it has any medicinal qualities.

The three-day conference featured sessions on many facets of drug policy reform. I tried to concentrate primarily on those having to do with medical marijuana or marijuana prohibition:

• Medical Marijuana Production and Distribution Systems: Patients’ Rights and Access

• Medical Marijuana Research and Policy: The Latest Developments

• Marijuana’s Cultural Moment—this one was for fun and that it was.

• The Well-Rounded Activist (training)—extremely helpful and empowering

• Ending Marijuana Prohibition—momentum continues to build!

The sessions were very informative, and even though I’ve been an advocate for decades I gained new knowledge and valuable insight, and one startling new statistic caught my attention: in every state with a medical cannabis program, marijuana use among teens has dropped. Proof of the old “forbidden fruit” factor?

These conferences have been some of the most powerful and inspirational events of my life; every activist should have the opportunity to attend at least one. Rubbing elbows with more than a thousand like-minded reformers is an incredible experience, especially given that most of the attendees looked more like someone you would encounter at church than at a hard rock concert.

One of the most touching gatherings was a twilight candlelight vigil at a downtown plaza to remember people currently and formerly incarcerated for drug law infractions. Speakers at this moving event were particularly powerful and their messages quite stirring. Several major news organizations had crews recording the event. For the sake of our society I hope those images and messages are seen and heard around the world.

Website: www.reformconference.org

Who's Who in Medical Cannabis - Dr. Lester Grinspoon

“I believe it would be good for the country if more people in business, academic and professional worlds were known to be marijuana users,” Dr. Lester Grinspoon writes in his essay To Smoke or Not to Smoke: A Cannabis Odyssey.

Dr. Grinspoon then goes on to say, “The government has been able to pursue its policies of persecution and prosecution largely because of the widespread false belief that cannabis smokers are either irresponsible and socially marginal people or adolescents who ‘experiment,’ learn their lesson, and abandon all use of the drug. That lie is unfortunately perpetuated when those who know better remain silent.”

Back in 1967 Dr. Grinspoon had become alarmed that so many young people were using the “terribly dangerous drug” marijuana so he set out to review existing medical and scientific literature on cannabis and write an objective, scientific paper on the dangers of the substance in order to expose its mental and physical toxicity and save these youngsters from inflicting irreparable harm upon themselves.

As Dr. Grinspoon delved into his research it wasn’t long before he began to question his “knowledge” about cannabis. He began to realize that what he believed was based largely on myths, both old and new, and misinformation perpetuated by the federal government. As his research progressed, Dr. Grinspoon began to recognize the vast potential of this complex plant and became an advocate for its legalization. His compassion and commitment to the truth remain unparalleled to this day.

Lester Grinspoon was born in Newton, Massachusetts in 1928. He is married and the father of three. The first American physician to prescribe lithium carbonate for bipolar disorder, Dr. Grinspoon is Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He has authored or co-authored more than 160 journal articles or chapters and twelve books on marijuana and psychedelics, beginning in 1971 with Marihuana Reconsidered (recently republished as a classic) and continuing through his latest book, Marihuana, the Forbidden Medicine, co-authored with James B. Bakalar.

Also among Dr. Grinspoon’s accomplishments:

• 40 years as Senior Psychiatrist at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston

• Founded Harvard Mental Health Letter; editor for fifteen years.

• Has testified before Congress, and as expert witness in legal proceedings.

• Worked with AG Ramsey Clark on a number of international marijuana-related incidents.

• Alfred R. Lindesmith Award of the Drug Policy Foundation for "achievement in the field of drug scholarship."

• Operates two websites:

1. Marijuana: The Forbidden Medicine (thousands of individual anecdotes)

2. Uses of Marijuana (user essays on 'enhancing' effects of marijuana)