SAFER will be heading out to the 2008 national conference of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), which will be held in Berkeley from October 17-19.

Along with having an information booth present, SAFER Executive Director Mason Tvert will be a member of what is expected to be one of the more popular panels during the weekend: The War on Drugs Is A War on Young People. Tvert will be joined by Kris Krane and Micah Daigle of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, as well as attorney Omar Figueroa, to discuss how the prohibition of marijuana has a highly disparate effect on younger people.  

The panel will be moderated by NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano (left), who recently had a couple great pieces. One was a featured post on The Hill's Congress Blog, and the other -- which discusses the panel's subject -- appeared as an essay in In These Times. 

According to data compiled by the FBI, 74 percent of all Americans busted for pot are under 30. One out of four is 18 or younger.

We now have a generation (or two) that is so alienated that many young people believe the police are an instrument of their oppression rather than their protection.

While young people suffer the most under current anti-pot laws, they lack the financial means and political capital to influence politicians to challenge them. They also lack the money to adequately fund the drug law reform movement at a level necessary to represent and protect their interests.

As a result, marijuana arrests continue to climb unabated. And few in the mainstream press — and even fewer lawmakers — feel any sufficient political pressure to address it.