cannabisnews.com: Passion Unites Advocates Passion Unites Advocates Posted by FoM on July 09, 2001 at 06:27:51 PT By Brady Dennis Source: St. Petersburg Times Georgia Roxbury, 64, felt right at home Saturday among marijuana advocates less than half her age. "All my crowd is young people," said Roxbury, owner of Georgia's Smoke Shop in Hudson, standing in front of her table of glass pipes. "I understand them, and they understand me." If nothing else, the laid-back crowd of young and old that gathered at Zephyr Park for the third annual Hemp Revolution Bar-B-Que certainly understood one another. They all were there to support the legalization of marijuana, and to have fun doing it. It is why they threw their arms out tossing a steel bong, which is used to smoke marijuana, in hopes of winning the Bong Toss. It is why they carefully licked rolling papers in hopes of taking the Perfect Joint Contest crown. It is why they lay on blankets and listened to bands that played under a sign reading, "Welcome to Reeferhills." It is why they sprinted in the Reefer Relay, why they signed petitions. And why they ate hemp seed brownies and hemp nut peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. "It's not just about the pot, it's about the laws," said Willy Slee of Clearwater, who was selling homemade shirts imprinted with everything from marijuana leaves to a picture of Bill Clinton holding a joint. "I don't like any laws. It's about someone trying to tell you what you can do." Michael Palmieri is head of the Florida Organization for Reformed Marijuana Laws, which sponsored the event. He said he hoped the event would help educate people that pot shouldn't be grouped with more harmful drugs. "People are sending the wrong message," said Palmieri, wearing a black pirate's hat draped in plastic marijuana leaves. "Look at these people. It's nothing but peaceful out here. I'm very passionate about pot. I love talking about pot, getting people motivated about pot. I think everything is going great today." Among the other products for sale were pipes and bongs of every shape, size and color. There was hemp shower gel and hemp body lotion, called "Body Dope." There were hemp lozenges, hemp hats, hemp wallets and hemp suckers. Hemp is the parent plant of marijuana. It is very durable and often used to make rope, twine and other products. A pair of Zephyrhills Police officers walked periodically through the park, clearly amused at the hemp paraphernalia, the tie-dye T-shirts and the Stoner Games events. Because of their presence, no one smoked the event's namesake drug, at least not openly. But Roxbury admitted she would be having her daily dose later on. "I have allergies, glaucoma in one eye and high blood pressure," she said. "I smoke one pipe a day, and I see better, I feel better. It's better than liquor, which makes you do things you don't want to do. "With marijuana, it's mellow." Note: The third annual Hemp Revolution Bar-B-Que attracts both young and old in support of legalizing marijuana.Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL)Author: Brady DennisPublished July 9, 2001 Copyright: 2001 St. Petersburg TimesContact: letters sptimes.comWebsite: http://www.sptimes.com/CannabisNews - Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by lookinside on July 09, 2001 at 18:11:19 PT: it didn't start recently... there's an old saying: "the WINNERS write history"...it'sour duty to make sure WE are the winners...in the mean time,make sure that the TRUTH is recorded as far and wide aspossible so our grandchildren have the opportunity to getthe story straight... [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on July 09, 2001 at 13:07:24 PT: Doug, this is why I always have a suit and tie on when possibly facing members of the 4th Estate. Why I went to the NORML conference dressed that way. Uncomfortable as Hell; I absolutely HATE ties. But I did it. Just in case.Yes, the media does indeed engage in selective reporting. They do indeed look for the worst example of dress and deportment available to fit their stereotypes...and all too often, one of us provides them with what they want. Fifty people could be standing there in suits and spit-shined shoes, and one guy who looks like he sleeps in a dumpster. Take a guess who the cameras will zoom in on. The more disheveled and wilder looking and behaving, the better...for them.Obviously this doesn't do much for us. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Doug on July 09, 2001 at 09:39:43 PT About that comment... I agree that that comment aout not likeing any laws wasn't terrible helpful. But I wonder if the gentleman had said something more intelligent would he have been quoted. If the situration in St. Petersburg is anything like it is elsewhere, the reporter interviewed a number of people trying to get the quotes that most matched the image he was trying to sell. And I'm sure his editor had some say-so in what quotes appeared. The result is that if anyone says something truthful and intelligent, it will probably be dropped for something stupid. This is a clever way of imparting a slant to the article without seemingly doing anything. The same tendency has been seen for years when the news would cover protests, always including pictures of the male with the longest hair. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 09, 2001 at 07:32:05 PT Kaptinemo Hi Kaptinemo,Why do they say things like that "I don't like any laws. It's about someone trying to tell you what you can do."I live by rules everyday as we all do. I don't mind most laws just unfair laws. Bob Dillions words come to my mind as I'm writing this. We've got to serve somebody.I remember getting into an argument with a Priest that was really cool and so handsome all of the girls thought he shouldn't be a Priest. LOL! When I was in tenth grade and I told him that I was a non conformist and I thought I had him he smiled and said to me even a non conformist is conforming to non comformity so there is no such thing as a non conformist. That made my head spin. He left the priesthood and got married a few years later. He was really a very good person even though we argued a lot. He was also my teacher. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on July 09, 2001 at 07:15:40 PT: Typical puff-piece As usual, the media just can't seem to plough past the ever-present 'giggle factor' to get to the meat of the story.And, unfortunately, some of our own are not savvy enough not to play into their hands:""It's not just about the pot, it's about the laws," said Willy Slee of Clearwater, who was selling homemade shirts imprinted with everything from marijuana leaves to a picture of Bill Clinton holding a joint. "I don't like any laws. (Emphais mine) It's about someone trying to tell you what you can do."Examine this statement; what do you think Joe Sixpack would think when he read it?(Sneeringly) "Aw, poor kid. He doesn't like laws? Laws get in the way of doing what he wants? To smoke dope? While I have to go to work and support his sorry, Welfare-riding ass? Too bad! The punk should have to work for a living like me!"Now, if Mr. Slee had had the presence of mind to realize he had an excellent chance to explain our position, he might have gone into how innocent people, including 11-year-old Alberto Sepulveda, have been killed to prevent Americans from using a weed that itself has not killed anyone in 5,000 years of recorded human history.That kind of controversial statement makes an impact...and makes the media sit up and quit yawning and snickering; nothing like a little sharp-edged truth-telling that runs contrary to 'conventional wisdom' to stir the s**t-pot. Which is just what the media likes to do. They could care less which way the cinders fly; they just want to be able to say they are performing their 'public duty' by bringing important issues to the public's attention; it satisfies some FCC regs and lets them keep their station license.and, of course, up their ratings.But even more important: Let Joe Sixpack get the idea that his kids could wind up as burnt offerings on the altar of the DrugWarriors, too, and he starts to wonder whether it's worth it rather than provide a pat, knee-jerk reaction...as he's been propagandized into doing. Which is another reason why the antis are pee-their-pants scared to go one on one with a reformer on live TV. Wake Joe Sixpack up from his workaday somnambulism? Get him politically active? No way! He might scrap the whole gravy train! Very dangerous ideas indeed. The old Chinese ideogram from "change" is made of two symbols: Catastophe and Opportunity. It's long past time we stopped blindly allowing events to trip us up and start taking advantage of our opportunities. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment