Pubdate: Mon, 18 Mar 2013
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2013 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/mVLAxQfA
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author: Robert Nolin
Page: 3B

FORT LAUDERDALE ATTORNEY TO HEAD MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION GROUP

In nearly four decades as a Fort Lauderdale attorney, Norm Kent has 
fought for free speech and gay rights, been a radio talk show host, 
publisher and political commentator.

Now the old school liberal and inveterate pot smoker has attained a 
new pinnacle of progressivism: leadership of the National 
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

"Norm ascends to the leadership out of passionate belief in the 
righteousness of legalizing marijuana," said Howard Finkelstein, 
Broward public defender and long timeKent friend. "This is somebody 
who's a true believer. He has committed decades of his life to this."

Kent, 62, was elected chairman of the board of the Washington, 
D.C.-based organization of which he has been a member since 1971, a 
year after it started. NORML, which lobbies Congress and state 
legislatures on behalf of marijuana legalization, has 135 chapters 
and 550 lawyers to represent those charged in pot offenses.

"I cherish and relish the opportunity to serve and act in the 
capacity as president of an organization that's been dear tomy heart 
for 40 years," Kent said. "I'm hoping I can become the national 
spokesman and voice of marijuana policy reform in America."

Kent has practiced law in Fort Lauderdale since 1976, handling First 
Amendment, civil rights, media law and gay advocacy cases. "He is 
probably the best national expert on the medical necessity defense 
for marijuana," Finkelstein said.

Kent, who has a doctor's permission to smoke pot as a result of his 
successful battle against lymphoma, also authored "The Pot Warriors Manifesto."

"I've always tried to show that adults can responsibly use 
marijuana," he said. "You move social change inch by inch and year by 
year and hope that eventually the just cause emerges."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom