cannabisnews.com: Dr. Ganj's Report on the Million Marijuana March! Dr. Ganj's Report on the Million Marijuana March! Posted by FoM on May 01, 1999 at 21:23:18 PT Thank You So Much! Source: Million Marijuana March I just got back from the march at the UN building in San Francisco, and let me say it was truly incredible! What a wonderful group of diverse people all coming together to make their opinion known: Let this plant be utilized, and consumed without interference!The guest speakers included Chris Conrad who wrote "Hemp: Lifeline to The Future", and his wife Mikki Norris, who co-wrote "Shattered Lives". They both spoke of the problems of prohibition, and the negative consequences it produces. They emphatically demanded an end to our destructive war on the people of the United States.Other notable speakers included Rob Raich, who is an attorney in Oakland, California, who has indefatigably fought for realistic guidelines concerning medical marijuana. He should be commended for all his efforts.Another attorney, Bill Panzer, also vehemently spoke about the utter failure of the drug war.The most compelling speech came from Pete Brady, who was arrested on his last day of probation for a previous marijuana related charge. The latest arrest was because he was seen with Steve and Michelle Kubby, and was considered a "conspirator" in their case. Pete Brady, when arrested again, had a little marijuana, and a few psilocybin mushrooms at his house. He now faces potentially years in prison due to a violation of his probation, even though it was his LAST day of probation! Although his attorney advised him not to speak today, he did anyway, and with eloquence and passion! The whole crowd of several thousand people were all shocked by the hard truth this war on people causes innocent people. It took great courage to stand up to all the forces against him. I will always remember his speech, our reaction, and the collective hope we all have that we are making a difference. Our favorite plant will be freed from the terrible grips of restriction, and there is a light of hope, and we all saw it today. Dr. Ganj Thank You for sharing your story! Write another one too if you want! Peace, FoM! Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #11 posted by Rev. Scat on May 19, 1999 at 11:43:41 PT: News coverage Not too long ago, one of the online media sources (I believe it was Salon) ran a story about how the government is collaberating with Hollywood to encourage more "moral" messages in TV shows. Specifically, McCaffrey's office set up an agreement with the WB to have uplifiting messages and to put drug use in a bad light. As a direct result of this we have the ads currently running on the WB that has the kids from Dawson's Creek condemning drug use. The media is a tacit complicitor in the WoD. It faces heavy criticism for its supposedly liberal/violent/sexually explicit content, especially in the wake of Columbine. News organizations prefer stories that are easy for viewers to digest, and that don't rock the boat. So don't be too surprised if they pay no attention to the Million Marijuana March.But we must NOT let the lack of media attention deter us! Legalization will only occur by spreading the word, taking and publishing polls, and forcing the issue. There are people who are paying attention to this issue, even if Peter Jennings isn't. Think [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by FoM on May 02, 1999 at 22:52:16 PT Million Marijuana March! Dr.Ganj,I got three pictures up! It might take a reload to get them fully loaded because they are large! They're just great! Thank You!PS: I'll put this on my web page!I love them!Peace, FoM! Million Marijuana March 99 [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by FoM on May 02, 1999 at 20:27:07 PT Please Keep Writing! Dr. Ganj and John, Please keep writing to keep us all connected! That's the purpose of the Internet to me! I know we have very conservative people reading these news articles and they really are learning I've been told. We need to educate those who don't care or just haven't figured anything out about why all the hoopla about marijuana anymore.I posted this page for you both to look at and I'll tell you what I do when I'm not doing the news. Each page I've made has a purpose and this page is one I only put people that I have talked to enough to know I think they are really wanting things to change and show dedication. I can make an almost duplicate page for both or either of you and put it on Our Friends page. If not that's ok. They are similar but different. If you read Brown Bears and DdC's you will see comments. I can do that too. I added a link for Pat's page today, My Hero! Pat was my first friend at Cannabis.com and will always be number one in my book. My husband is Stick and he gets to sit up there above everyone! ( On the page LOL!)I made Cryote's page today and already added one special link he wanted. I guess because I'm a woman I'm a gatherer or so they say! LOL! I feel good when I make someone smile and that's the only reason I do it. It makes me happy! Let me know. Dr. Ganj, I posted the ACLU article! Thanks!I'll check the e-mail later tonight if I have any energy left or tomorrow morning for sure! I hope I covered everything! LOL! Whew! Our Friends! [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Dr. Ganj on May 02, 1999 at 18:48:33 PT Posting names correctly I meant to say John, not Bill, Mr. Bills. :-) http://www.home.com [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Dr. Ganj on May 02, 1999 at 18:40:53 PT Reporting the news that the major media ignores Bill...Great idea! Yes, I'm sure it would be well received. We can, and are, making a positive impact.FoM- I just e-mailed you (via cannabisnews.com) several photos I took of the MMM in San Francisco yesterday. I hope you find them useful.If I can be of help, please let me know.Oh, look at this link below. It's quite informative. All the best, Dr. Ganj http://www.aclu.org/forms/nytimesad051298.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by John R. Bills on May 02, 1999 at 18:19:52 PT: Reporting the news that the major media ignores To FoM, Sure, I would be very honored to have my article on your front page! I have always been interested in writing and would be tickled pink to have made the front page. I, unfortunately, am only just learning HTML, and I do not,as yet, have a web page to link to. You can be sure that I would have a link to your site, if I could be so honored. As of now, the only link that I would suggest, besides cannabis.com would be http://www.mapinc.org, the wesite for the Media Awareness Project. And I would wish to thank Dr. Ganj for his thoughts on my article. If it would be of interest to you, I would like to make a suggestion. I am going to begin attending as many rallies and events that I can go to. If you want, I would be ecstatic to write up a piece on each event that I attend and you can post on your site. If we can get a network of people doing this, all over the world, it would be an instant hit! I'm sure there are more like-minded people in the movement who would be more than happy to write up pierces for events in their areas. It could be a LOT of fun. Anyone reading this should report about events in their area and submit it to www.cannabisnews.com people will begin to realize that WE ARE NOT ALONE!!! Peace. Media Awareness Project [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by FoM on May 02, 1999 at 16:22:08 PT Million Marijuana March, Cleveland, OH John Thank You So Much!May I post your post on the front page? I'll be back in a little while and I would be honored too!Peace, FoM!If you say ok what link would you like me to put where I put the link at the top of the page?Be Back after I feed my animals!Peace, FoM! [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Dr. Ganj on May 02, 1999 at 15:57:49 PT Million Marijuana March, Cleveland, OH Bill...Thank you for your well written post! By doing so, you allow many others to feel and see what happened in Ohio.Change will only happen if we make the effort. You are helping, and do know, we are reading. All the best, Dr. Ganj http://www.aclu.org [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by John R Bills on May 02, 1999 at 15:09:19 PT: Million Marijuana March, Cleveland, OH About 1500 people showed up for the lively and loud march around the Cleveland Justice Center for the first Million Marijuana March here. It was quite a crowd, but I was saddened by the fact that I saw none of my pot-smoking friends in the crowd. Still, the size of the crowd, and their jubilation soon made me forget this fact. I also heard more than a few horn blasts from drive-by closet supporters, which enlivened the crowd to shout and chant slogans like, "Free the weed!", "Let my people grow!", etc... There was a reverent attempt to encircle the jail; there was more than enough people in my opinion, but there were not enough organizers to make it happen. Hopefully, this will get better as the movement gains momentum. Hopefully, next year some of those corporate heads will come out and support this peaceful and constitutionally just movement next year. I made it a point to join NORML and donate some $ for the cause, and also sported my new Million Marijuana March t-shirt. More people wanted them but I don't think the organizers forsaw the crowd that would show up. There were quite a few fans waving from captiivity in the Justice Center, which made for more hoops and cheers of protest. Eventually, the crowd gathered around the park just north of the Justice Center. Everybody seemed to be anticipating some exciting stuff, but, unfortunately, the most moving speakers did not come to the pulpit until much of the crowd had dissipated. Again, the organizers need to be a little bit more on top of the situation; there were a lot of potential voters in the crowd who could be convinced to become more proactive in the fight to end the War on Drugs. Susan Sunshine was there, one of the eight legal medical marijuana users. She was very passionate about the subject, spouting poems and music for the crusade. She should have started when the crowd was still very large. There was also one of the plaintiffs in the class-action suit against the federal government. I don't recall his name, but his speech was very good, hitting on just about every point in the medical marijuana movement, and moving the crowd to sigh in digust at the rediculousness of our prohibitionist government. The Libertarian Party showed up to hawk their cause, which is essentially that of our founding fathers. The War on Drugs is slowly stripping away the freedoms of the Contitution, and people need to become aware of this. People must remember that there is no where else to run. America is the last frontier of freedom. If we lose it here, there will be nowhere to go. I was hoping to see genuine leadership on this front. Again, the organizers need to do a better job in speaking to these masses, and making them proactive in politics. They did make the very important point that becoming politically active is a very important and powerful means to affect a change for the better, but the crowd was down to about 500 by this time. The music was very good, a band from Pittsburg played a good set of reggae-style dance music that lasted for about an hour. There were only three policemen on duty, and they were far enough away from the crowd to allow the wandering spliff to be passed around during the music. I caught a good buzz and wandered around and enjoyed the atmosphere of relative freedom. Toward the end, another man came on, someone in the legal profession, and let everyone know how the law stood in Ohio. It seems we still have some of the most liberal laws in the country. They need to get a little more liberal and legalize it. The man was very knowledgeable and seemed to me like a good prospective candidate for public office. Of course, when he gets elected, his stance would probably change for the old party line, because that seems to be what happens all the time these days. Seems it did not take very long for McCaffery and Reno to scare new California Attorney General Lungren into forsaking his own state's constitution. Toward the end, there was another set of excellent acoustic music. There were only about 2-300 people by this time, but people were still dancing, including two girls who were both probably only in their early teens, if that. They were trying to dance that hippie dance that the older girls were doing(I'm sure there is a name for it, but I don't know it) and they were doing a descent job of it. What struck me was how young they were. But I soon realized by their sad, affectionate waving and undulations toward the window of the Justice Center, that their dads were probably just another statistic in the War on Drugs, and maybe they would get to be fathers again if only people would listen. That was when I slowly departed the scene, wondering how many little girls and boys are out there, feeling the pain of separation, feeling the pain of the War on Drugs, the War on America. Peace. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on May 02, 1999 at 12:43:24 PT So.. where's the news?? That is what I was wondering too! I only found one article and I don't undertand either. I'll keep looking!Hopefully more tomorrow! [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Ivan on May 02, 1999 at 10:22:40 PT So.. where's the news?? Where's the news about the Million Marijuana March? I saw NOTHING about it on CNN or other news channels. NOTHING!!I guess people's freedom isn't worth mentioning on the news anymore.. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: