For anyone keeping track of NORML news Kelly Maddy and his group just celebrated their third anniversary for the Joplin Chapter.

Maddy, president of the Joplin Chapter of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws, said he had an excellent turnout at the Saturday night show at The Kitchen Pass.

The event featured three bands, including One Shade of Grey, Jah Roots and McGill. There was also a vendor’s table and several pieces of information available on the subject.

But the highlight of the event, at least for the chapter, was Maddy’s speech on the progress of the local chapter and the plans for the future. He spoke about the ballot, the Cannabis Revival and other goals the group had set out to accomplish.

However, there was some bad news. Maddy asked everyone in the crowd of 400 to raise their hands if they smoked resulting in almost the entire bar raising their hands. Then he informed them that they were the reason the initiative didn’t make it on the ballot.

“It was the inability of our supporters to get active and take action,” Maddy said.

He mentioned there was a lot of support verbally, but he only had five people collecting signatures. But just because the initiative didn’t make it on the ballot doesn’t mean Maddy will give up by any means.

“We’re going to continue to be active by pushing for marijuana law reform and motivating the youth to be more active in politics,” Maddy said.

The next demonstration of that will be Joplin NORML’s co-sponsorship of tonight’s Rock the Vote.

Overall the event raised $2,000 for the chapter. For more information please visit Joplin-NORML.org or attend one of the meetings held at 7 p.m. every first and third Thursday of the month at The Blackthorn.