cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Proponents To Protest





Marijuana Proponents To Protest
Posted by CN Staff on April 20, 2004 at 13:46:27 PT
By Tom Wilemon
Source: Sun Herald 
D'Iberville -- The "Cannabis Awareness 420 Get-Together" planned for today will become a protest because the city revoked the permit for the event, according to Jim Smith of Stop the Madness.The cannabis, or marijuana, advocacy organization had secured the D'Iberville Farmer's Market for the event, but security issues were never resolved. Smith blamed Capt. Lou Bissonnette of the Harrison County Sheriff's Department for the glitch but admitted he twice failed to show up for scheduled meetings with the captain to discuss security.
"I was under the impression that just the minor details about security was all that was left to do, like how much manpower we would need," Smith said.Manpower is not a minor detail, according to Bissonnette and D'Iberville Mayor Rusty Quave."He has failed to meet with me and other city officials on two occasions, just not showed up," Bissonnette said. "We had been waiting on him to plan the event, but we never heard another word from him until he walked in on Friday and expected me to bring the manpower out of the sky."Smith in a news release issued Monday said Bissonnette had the permit jerked. Bissonnette said city officials made that decision after he told them security had not been planned. Quave said Smith "dropped the ball" on planning for an event that required extra security. The city contracts its police protection through the sheriff's department.The group, which had circulated fliers about the event, will still set up information tables and speak publicly from 3 to 9 p.m. today, Smith said."The only thing that changes is we were going to do some music," he said. "Now, we will not have music. I'm prepared to exercise my First Amendment right to protest government regulation."Source: Sun Herald (MS)Author: Tom WilemonPublished: April 20, 2004Copyright: 2004, The Sun HeraldContact: letters sunherald.comWebsite: http://www.sunherald.comRelated Articles:Marijuana Backers Will Meet in Park http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18688.shtmlPotheads Ready To Roll on Day They Call 4:20http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18682.shtmlSmokers Celebrate Joys of Marijuana on Holiday http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18681.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #8 posted by jose melendez on April 21, 2004 at 11:15:36 PT
Comment #7
"slam 'em hard"Hear, hear." . . . I want to make it clear that I see issues as issues and if business generally in America is encouraging open and free trade, why shouldn't it apply to pharmaceuticals as well?"Self described "transparent" Republican Senator Charles Grassley, as reported on BBCTo win that battle with rapid response, John Kerry's job, in my most humble opinion, is to ask why Americans should be jailed for the possession, use or trade in drugs known for thousands of years, noting that:1 - rich pharmaceutical interests make sure no laws permit fair and open competition, and are widely known to cover up safety and efficacy data, 2 - similarly wealthy incarceration interests are handed a cottage industry that rivals the world's largest employers and government agencies in infrastructure, budget, staff and corruption, to the detriment of our most economically and socially disadvantaged citizens, and at the expense of us all.*** "No way" does
NOT MEAN 
no rights. - jm
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by dididadadidit on April 21, 2004 at 08:54:05 PT:
Culture Wars
Drugs, sex, and rock and roll.Fundamental religious insecurity.Somewhere, someone may be enjoying something and we need to pass a law to put an end to it as this could detract from 24/7 devotion to the almighty. The same people driving the cannabis prohibition the hardest are the ones that gave us the disaster of alcohol prohibition. They are also the hard liners on sex, against all manifestations that are not expressly for the making of babies in a married relationship, looking to ban not only abortion, but birth control, non married sexual activity (especially homosexual), and even discussion of the topic beyond the "abstinance only" mantra. Rock and roll may also allow someone (possibly even thousands at a time) somewhere to have a good time and receive from the music messages contrary to the prohibitionist teachings with respect to the other two topics, drugs and sex.Uniform belief in their culture, without question, is the goal of those who would see the U.S. as a fundie Christian Talibanish nation. Good non questioning robots also serve well the fascist coporate/government complex.The Republican party takeover by these forces has raised the level of the clash of cultures to our current state of affairs where all aspects of the war are simultaneously addressed. The drug war intensifies as the feds attempt to stifle MMJ with show trials wherein the accused can't even mention "medical" in furtherence of their defense. Examples are made of those who disagree by jailing pipe makers with a bad attitude. The DOJ and FBI persue prostitution in New Orleans and target porn producers in California as higher priorities than defense against terrorism. Constitutional mischief is promoted to write discrimination into the document. And then there is the Democrat (?) Biden with his (what is he running for?) Rave bs targeting the music.The opposition Democrats may provide a break on some of the worst aspects of the culture war, but they fear alienating voters they think they need if they fail to look religious enough. Hence a long history of trying to (and unfortunately, suceeding) outstupid the Republicans on drugs (Clinton signed the college loan restrictions into law, threatened doctors with loss of prescription writing ability if they even discussed MMJ, and saw the arrest levels (mostly simple possession) go to 3/4 million a year on his watch).An encouraging vote last summer saw the Dems vote over 2 to 1 (135 to 65) in the House to restrain the feds from overruling the states in the MMJ arena, while the Reps were 13:1 against the measure (Rohrbacker-Hinchley?). A further observation on the culture war aspect of this fight is that in the Confederacy where religious fundies are at their strongest, the Dems were 3 to 1 against the measure (even tho' 2 to 1 in favor nationwide) as they tried to stay competetive with the Reps who were 74 to 1 (both ratio and actual vote count) against (the one being Ron Paul, a libertarian in a Rep suit).So there is some hope, but it is a tough row to hoe for a politician to buck God and morality by advocating sensible debate (we want only one sided propaganda, not debate) and policy at risk of offending fundie religious constituents. We do need to remind Dems of the overwhelming poll support for MMJ (they do seem to finally be reading the polls instead of just blindly trying to outstupid Reps) and use to issue to point out the hypocrisy of the "compassionate (NOT) conservatives" and slam 'em hard on this issue.Send Kerry a check for $54.20 while pointing out the 4.20 is a marker indicating where the money came from. If his campaign got 50 million from a million of us with the 4.20 markers, it couldn't hurt, might even help.Cheers:  
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by jose melendez on April 20, 2004 at 23:38:33 PT
thanks JR Bob Dobbs
here's what I sent via:http://www.airamericaradio.com/pub/resContactUs.htmYou are doing great, except . . .Please speak out against the continued drug war, Janet Reno and Louis Freeh pointed out it was Congress that insisted on spending many billions and profiting certain corporations many billions more by waging war on Americans than protecting or serving us:War on ( some ) drugs, waged on citizens,
 corrupts enforcers and lawmakers who ignore far
 more harmful consumables. Professional and habitual drug-war chicken hawks
alike should note: "Treason against the United States, shall
 consist only in levying war against them, or in
 adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and
 comfort." The 9/11 attacks cost a few hundred thousand
dollars, and $43 million Washington approved as "aid"
to the Afghans to prohibit poppies in May 2001
certainly comforted the Taliban. Their stockpiled
opium now floods America as cheap heroin. We feed animals to animals, yet viable Cannabis
(marijuana hemp) seeds are prohibited. John Kerry's Congressional Iran-Contra investigation
concluded that leaders of the 80's "were not blind to
the idea" that drug money could fund extra-judicial
military operations. The resulting crack cocaine epidemic continues,
overshadowed by rules that mandate penalties
inversely proportional to the user's skin color.Drug war is crime. It's not just the hypocrisy. It's
the fraud and corruption, stupid.Prohibitionists are traitors.If you want the youth vote, note that well over 50 percent of high school seniors use pot, and ask them and the rest of us to VOTE!Jose Melendezhttp://pipepeace.com/z
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by ron on April 20, 2004 at 21:40:06 PT
Great Letter JR
Your last sentence helped me realize that the effectiveness of ONDCP ads is irrelavent to the criminaliesers. Walters advertising budget of nearly a million dollars a day is just hush money for the media.Nothing has disgraced the fourth estate in America as much as the WOsD. Their performance has been as shameful as the churches'. Thanks sukoi, for the report on burger abuse. Humour sure helps in coping with this immoral crusade. Pete's writing was worthy of Swift.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by Cannabis Enthusiast on April 20, 2004 at 18:09:29 PT
A new instant messenger for your 4/20 day
ftp://ftp.icq.com/pub/ICQ_Win95_98_NT4/ICQ_4/Lite_Edition/icq4_setup.exeHave fun!
ICQ 4
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by sukoi on April 20, 2004 at 14:58:17 PT
Something for everyone to enjoy on 4/20
Courtesy of Pete Guither from the Drug War Rant:
http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/Increase in Burger Abuse Seenby Pete Guither (Staff Writer)
New York Tribune
Wednesday, April 20, 2043Hot on the heels of reports that arrests for burger consumption have gone up 5% this year, Burger Czar John Walters, Jr., of the White House Office of National Burger Control Policy (ONBCP) was in town yesterday to promote his controversial new "Eat a Burger, Kill an Adorable Little Child" ad campaign and talk about the dangers of burger abuse.
 
Burgers are made from grinding portions of the bovine, or "cow," as it is popularly known (the term is often credited to cult icon Bart Simpson) and shaping it into an individual portion. The resulting burger is "cooked," usually on homemade grills, and then consumed orally. In recent years, the phenomenon has spread even to the wealthy, where rare select cuts, called "Filet Mignon," sell for as much as $10 per gram. Some historians say that burgers were introduced in this country by Mexicans, who consumed ground burger wrapped in tortillas. Others credit the Italian crime families, who apparently prepared it in a ball shape (the burger was later generally flattened to a patty shape). Whatever the origin, it's clear that a large number of Americans have at least tried burgers at some point, including a number of prominent politicians, despite its illegality.
 
Medical professionals are divided on the dangers of burger consumption. While some say that it promotes heart disease and obesity, others point to positive effects from its high protein content. Burgers are known to affect brain chemistry, sometimes resulting in a burst of energy and a satiated feeling. The Modern Association for the Reform of Burger Laws (MARBL) has emerged as an opposition organization to burger prohibition, claiming that the dangers of burgers are overstated. MARBL also promotes the acceptance of "industrial cow farming" and notes that parts of the cow can be utilized for a variety of products, from heavy-duty shoes and clothing to "dairy products" for consumption which supposedly contain as much calcium as a glass of soy milk. Walters dismisses such organizations as "a bunch of meat-heads who just want cows to be legalized so they can indiscriminately gorge on burgers." 
Walters seems genuinely outraged at the rhetoric of burger reformers. "Harmless? Well I can tell you right now that there has not been a single scientific study that proves conclusively that burgers are not harmful." He goes on to cite a recent experiment that involved force-feeding rats 34 burgers each day. After just 10 months, 90% of the rats showed signs of extreme obesity. Walters is always prepared with anecdotes to demonstrate the horrors of burgers. He relates tales of young people having sex after eating burgers, people found dead of a heart attack with a partially digested burger still in their stomach, and the well-circulated stories of parents who reportedly gave their young children pieces of burger mixed with other items which they frighteningly referred to as "happy meals." Walters says that hundreds of cows are smuggled in across the border each day. Some distributors have even tried curing the burger into a chewy "jerky" and wrapping it in plastic to sneak it past customs. The problem of controlling supply is complicated by the fact that cows can also be grown fairly easily here in the U.S. Companies such as Del Monte and Green Giant have begun to alert authorities to individuals who purchase excessive amounts of corn, but even ordinary grass will work to produce mature cows. The grass-raised cows are the domain of burger cartels known as "cow-boys," who have been known to raise literally thousands of cows, keeping them on the move through vast areas to avoid detection. In response to this trend, last month Congress passed "The Personal Freedom for All and Protecting our Environment Act" which authorized the BEA to begin spraying a new high-potency cyanide over large tracts of grasslands in the west and midwest. While the chemicals are instantly lethal to grass and cows, BEA head Noelle Bush claims that innocent residents should suffer no ill effects as long as they stay far away from the sprayed states. Walters also noted that clever dealers have taken to establishing "basement-ops" in residential areas. In confined spaces, dealers can actually produce high potency burgers, with significantly increased tenderness and fat content. Although these operations are smaller in scale, a fully mature cow can provide over 1,000 pounds of high-grade burger with a street value of over $100,000. Neighbors are warned to be alert to the smell of manure and to any unexplained "mooing" sounds. 
The legalization debate continues overseas in Amsterdam, which officially tolerates burger "joints" where people can walk in and legally purchase a variety of burgers, including the exotic "cheeseburger" (a regular burger covered with a substance that's fermented in vats from another part of the cow). Reformers point to the Dutch experiment as an example of legalization without ill effects, but Walters counters by noting Amsterdam's notorious red light district. "You think sex just happens? That's the result of burgers destroying the moral fiber of their country. We don't want that for our children." Walters is determined to continue the war for a burger-free nation. "It's important that the American people get the true facts about this menace to our society and our way of life. We need to make sure they hear the truth: eat a burger and you kill an adorable little child. And that's a fact."Happy 4/20 everyone! JR Bob Dobbs, do you mind if I post your comment on the Kerry forum? 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by Virgil on April 20, 2004 at 14:09:40 PT
They call it cannabis
The cannabis, or marijuana, advocacy organization had secured the D'Iberville Farmer's Market for the eventIt is a rare thing to see the word cannabis used in reporting. Maybe it had something to do with "Cannabis Awareness 420 Get-Together" forcing an expansion of vocabulary.JR, that was a great email on the WOsD. I wondered why people had not mentioned the AirAmerica commentary on such failure. It seems they are ignoring it on purpose and maybe ONDCP ads are just bribes to see that it stays that way.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on April 20, 2004 at 13:56:40 PT
An open letter to Air America Radio
This is something I've been contemplating for a while; 4/20 seems like as good a day as any. If you agree with me, then please write too - if they hear this from enough people maybe they'll listen. They're at www.airamericaradio.com, I'm sending this using the web contact form.Sirs,  I have been enjoying your critiques of the foibles of the Bush Administration's various policies. I do appreciate hearing their lies called as such. However, I think there is one area where your network - as well as most Democrats, Kerry included - has a major blind spot. That issue is the War on Drugs. What was the first major war offensive after 9/11? The DEA's raid of California's medical marijuana clubs. 500 dead in a year in Iraq? The drug war kills one policeman a month, and saddles 750,000 Americans with criminal records. That's 750,000 disenfranchised citizens, mostly black and lower class, who would cast more votes against W if they had the opportunity to vote.  Maybe I missed a show where you tackle this issue; if so, point me to the archive and I'll listen. But even more than talking about this issue, I'm concerned about the "Public Service Announcements" coming from the ONDCP which I have heard on your network on more than one occasion. It is very unnerving to hear Mr. Franken go straight to the heart of Bush's Iraq lies, then cut to a commercial, only to hear the same Bush administration lying about marijuana. They do seem to have a strong focus on marijuana, which is odd considering it is impossible to die from an overdose - unlike, say, alcohol. There is no good reason for marijuana's continuing illegality - unless you're an oil company concerned about cheap biofuel alternatives, or a drug maker worried about losing profits to a natural and unpatentable plant, or the liquor lobby struggling to maintain their monopoly on intoxication.  There's a lot of people who would make great guests to discuss this issue: Marc Emery, Ed Rosenthal, Dennis Kucinich, Woody Harrelson, Elvy Mussika, Peter Lewis, and George Soros, to name a few off the top of my head. Please consider devoting time to this important issue - we're in a few wars at the moment, but this is the only one we're fighting against our own citizens, the same citizens who are paying for all these wars. In the meantime, I'd like to kindly request that you stop airing any propaganda from the ONDCP, Parents for a Drug-Free America, and other prohibitionist organizations.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment