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Norton Commission to Examine Real Consequences of Synthetic Drug Tonight

November 27, 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's (D-DC) Commission on Black Men and Boys will question two witnesses who will offer personal testimony and two experts at a hearing, entitled "Synthetic Marijuana: Real Drug, Real Consequences" tonight, Tuesday, November 27, 2012, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (901 G Street NW) from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

"With effects that have been compared to LSD, our city must not let synthetic marijuana (or K2) use increase," Norton said. "The commission intends to learn what to do about K2, not only from the witnesses but also from the community audience in attendance, who also will be allotted time to testify."

D.C. residents Gene Harvey and Elijah Kiah, as well as two experts, D.C. Prevention Center Program Director Charles Dark and Psychiatric Institute of Washington Community Development Special Project Coordinator Lonnie Hutchinson, will offer kick-off testimony. Time has been set aside during the roundtable hearing for audience members to offer their own brief testimony or ask questions, which is the custom of the commission at community hearings.

Norton established the Commission on Black Men and Boys, chaired by former D.C. police chief Issac Fulwood, to provide a thoughtful forum for discussion and problem-solving on some of the most persistent and controversial issues faced by African American men and youth and their families, including drugs, crime, high unemployment, and education deficits.