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Rise and Fall of Norml as a Professional Social Movement Organization

NCJ Number
157825
Journal
International Journal on Drug Policy Volume: 2 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1990) Pages: 15-22
Author(s)
R A Castro
Date Published
1990
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the activities of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) since 1971 concludes that since NORML was mainly a reactive organization, it was excessively vulnerable to external events and circumstances.
Abstract
NORML's activities between 1971 and 1978 represented the single most successful attempt in post-prohibition United States history to change policy parameters designed to control illicit drugs. However, NORML's standing as a politically active and effective organization declined significantly in 1978 after the founder's retirement. Although NORML has recently become politically reactivated, its contemporary media exposure has been comparatively limited. NORML's failure to become a permanently effective political entity is unsurprising, considering the changing social and political climate in the United States in the late 1970's, shifts in popular culture toward increased awareness of health issues, the multitude of negative events directly or indirectly related to NORML, and the competition between the proactive and reactive orientations of Families in Action and NORML respectively. Figure and 47 references

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