As the smoke cleared at the 2008 NORML national conference in Berkeley, California, most conference attendees – whether activists, lawyers, patients, growers, smokers, doctors, lawyers, or all of the above – left a little more confused than they arrived. And that's a testament not only to the unique pleasure of arriving in Northern California during harvest time, but also the confusing times we pot smokers live in as America's largest oppressed minority. While California lurches closer and closer to legalization, and twelve states have approved medical marijuana, we still see staggering arrest figures and the eternal refusal of the federal government to even acknowledge the existence of medical marijuana, never mind the rights of responsible, recreational pot smokers.
 
Billed as "Not Your Parent's Prohibition," three days of insightful NORML panels examined this brave new world, including panels on the media's lies about cannabis, the war on pot's negative effect on the young, the politics of marijuana and health, drug testing in schools and the workplace, pot's place in popular culture, and breakout sessions where more intimate groups of activist could plan and coordinate strategies.
 
Notable speakers included Prop 215 leader Dennis Peron, Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, NORML founder Keith Stroup, HIGH TIMES associate publisher Rick Cusick, Oaksterdam founder Richard Lee, California Assemblyman Mark Leno, and many others key activists. Keeping with the central theme, a panel discussion called "The War on Pot is a War on Young People" featured Kris Krane, head of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, Mason Tvert, co-founder of SAFER, young, radical lawyer Omar Figueroa, and NORML's own Paul Armentano.
 
 
Oaksterdam University also took center stage this year, hosting a special day of panels designed to teach the cannabis community how to operate in the grey market world of California's cannabusiness environment, whether as growers, caregivers, or members of cannabis collectives. Oaksterdam, the freewheeling section of Oakland that contains not only the university but several coffeeshops and dispensaries for medical marijuana patients, also hosted one of the legendary parties in the history of NORML, an important reminder that this movement is concerned not only with legal issues, but also the social bonds that make us a tight-knit community.
 
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