cannabisnews.com: Tommy Chong Addresses NORML Conference





Tommy Chong Addresses NORML Conference
Posted by CN Staff on April 22, 2006 at 07:40:16 PT
By Chris Durant, The Times-Standard 
Source: Times-Standard 
San Francisco -- Actor and comedian Tommy Chong entertained more than 500 National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws conference-goers Friday. ”If more people were stoned there would be less violence in the world,” Chong said. Chong was introduced by NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre. ”It was Tom Chong the man that was wrongly sentenced to nine months in jail when everyone else paid a fine,” St. Pierre said. “I'm so proud and happy that Tommy is joining us today.”
Chong took the stage to a standing ovation. ”I would like to thank what's his name,” Chong joked. He began by talking about his time in prison, saying the rumors about prison are wrong. ”It doesn't hurt,” Chong said. “But it does hurt when the government is doing it to you.” He talked about politics, too. ”I know Dick Cheney's Secret Service guys smoke pot,” Chong said. “The reason I know that is I sold them bongs.” He insinuated that President Bush was on methamphetamines. ”The dangerous thing about tweakers is they can take things apart but they can't put them back together again,” Chong said. “That's what George Bush has done to this country.” Chong described when law enforcement officials raided his home as part of Operation Pipe Dreams. ”When they raided my home they asked me, 'Do you have any drugs in here?'” Chong said. “Of course I do.” In prison he was enrolled in a drug education class. ”I signed up, I wanted to learn,” Chong said. “I ended up teaching it.” Marijuana wasn't the only drug Chong talked about. ”Coke (cocaine) karma is the worst,” Chong said. “There's nothing worse than a coke-head talking to another coke-head.” Chong appeared to get nostalgic when he talked about his former comedy partner Cheech Marin. ”When Cheech and I broke up it was weird,” Chong said. “I didn't know we were broken up for four years. I went to the last Cheech and Chong movie and I wasn't in it.” At the conclusion of Chong's speech there was a showing of a new documentary about Chong called “AKA Chong.” As soon as the lights were dimmed lighters started to spark and the banquet room at the Golden Gateway Holiday Inn began to fill with smoke. About half-way through the movie hotel security turned on all the lights and ordered everyone out of the banquet room because they were concerned that the smoke would set off the smoke alarms. Medical marijuana was the topic of Friday's panel discussions. Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperative, discussed dealing with federal law enforcement's involvement in medical marijuana dispensaries. ”We have to see it coming and we have to be able to move and shake,” Jones said. He talked about the growing number of dispensaries and that it's overwhelming federal law enforcement. ”There's no way they can keep up with us,” Jones said. People from all over the United States are attending the conference, like Tammera Halphen from Houston, who is part of the Texas medical marijuana effort and Rodolfo Rivera, a student from Florida Atlantic University who is part of the NORML chapter on his campus. Rivera's NORML chapter was recently featured in High Times Magazine as the “Freedom Fighters” of the month. The conference was also attended by people from Japan. Humboldt County was represented at the conference. A woman selling T-shirts and other merchandise trying to raise money for a Bayside resident who needs a medical procedure. The woman, who only wanted to be known as a family friend, said Miranda Kelly, 21, has a “serious lung condition” and needs a transplant. She raised $500 Thursday, the first day of the conference, and had her donation jar filling up Friday. A fund-raiser is planned for the Bayside Grange May 6. More information on Kelly can be found at: http://www.mirandakelly.org/ The conference is scheduled to conclude today, with panel discussions focussing on the drug war. Source: Times-Standard (Eureka, CA)Author: Chris Durant, The Times-Standard Published: April 22, 2006Copyright: 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc. Contact: editor times-standard.comWebsite: http://www.times-standard.com/NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/CannabisNews NORML Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/NORML.shtml
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Comment #18 posted by whig on April 23, 2006 at 00:48:03 PT
Dear Mr. President video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eDJ3cuXKV4&eurl=
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on April 22, 2006 at 20:00:04 PT
Speeches from NORML's Conference
April 20-22, 2006Hear selected speeches from the conference. You can download the MP3 files or listen to NORML's podcast.Tommy Chong's 
Keynote Address
April 21
MP3 Dominic Holden's Speech
April 20 
MP3
 http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6881
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on April 22, 2006 at 16:35:09 PT
Lombar
Louie Armstrong ~ What a Wonderful World MP3: http://tinyurl.com/erce9
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Comment #15 posted by lombar on April 22, 2006 at 16:08:26 PT
It's a wonderful world...
By John Forrest
Apr 20 2006Oh yeah, it's time for more Louis Armstrong. He often said those words too, he did, ole' Satchmo or Pops or Bubba Louis. Except when Satch said it he leaned heavily into the Ooooooooh. Then came Yeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhh.Let's start off with a quote from the late great 
Miles Davis: "There ain't nothin' nobody ever done on the horn that Louis ain't never already played," or something along those lines (didn't anyone ever teach Miles the perils of the double negative?)But hold it right there, please. Stop everything. I know you all know how great Louis Armstrong was. How he went from the N'Orleons slums to Chicago. How he took improvisation to a completely new level. How he could belt out a dozen high C's in a row, and how he went on to play for kings and presidents.The white folks loved him. The black folks loved him. Everybody loved him, everywhere. Even Nanaimo. (There's a photo of Louis on stage at the Pygmy Ballroom complete with the lanky, nineteen year old Dexter Gordon on tenor sax.)So Louis was a man who walked with one foot in the hearts and minds of white upper-middle-class American pop culture and the other deeply rooted in black American jazz subculture. The same people who wouldn't let him have a room at the Hotel Vancouver revered him as a god. A jazz god. A trumpet god.And then there was the marijuana.There's that story of Armstrong on the Tonight Show and Johnny Carson asked him about his pot smoking. When Louis openly admitted to using marijuana Carson asked if he was not concerned about addiction. "Hell no, I been smoking every day for 40 years and I ain't addicted yet," was his reply (to the house band's absolute delight.) -clipped-Armstrong loved music ... and marijuanahttp://tinyurl.com/n3lpq----------------------------------------------------In the 1980s Melanie Dreher and colleagues at UMass Amherst began a longitudinal study to assess the well-being of infants and children whose mothers used cannabis during pregnancy. The researchers lived in rural Jamaican communities among the women they were studying. Thirty cannabis-using pregnant women were matched for age and socio-economic status with 30 non-users. Dreher et al compared the course of their pregnancies and their neo-natal outcomes, using various standard scales.No differences were detected three days after birth. At 30 days the exposed babies did better than the non-exposed on all the scales and significantly better on two of the scales (having to do with autonomic stability and reflexes).Follow-up studies were conducted when the kids were four and five (just before entering school and after). The moms were defined as light users (1-10 spliffs per week), moderate (11-20), and heavy (21-70). Consumption of ganja tea was also taken into account.The children were measured at age four using three sets of criteria: the McCarthy scale, which measures verbal ability, perceptivity, quantitative skills, memory and motor; a "behavioral style" scale measuring temperament, based on a 72-item questionnaire filled out by the child's primary caregiver; and a "quality of housing" index to indicate socioeconomic status."No differences at all."
More Suppression of Marijuana Research
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Comment #14 posted by Toker1776 on April 22, 2006 at 15:47:54 PT:
Couldn't agree more!!!!
I'm so glad to finally hear more people being brave enough to get right to the root of the whole problem! Yes, rich Elite in Washington hwo have nothing better to do than to play God with other peoples lives. Not only that but hammering the PEOPLE over petty laws on the books that end up becomming nothing but huge contradictions in either direction.
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Comment #13 posted by Dankhank on April 22, 2006 at 15:35:09 PT
how old ...
Dear Mr President lyrics ...http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/group/DenverCountypssssst ...nothing about that Madman is OT:-)
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Comment #12 posted by Genthirdday on April 22, 2006 at 14:44:27 PT
OT........PINK SERENADES BUSH
I only heard this song today!!!Guess I'm OLD.  Will Bush hear the truth? http://www.radionewsamerica.com/media/kynd/president.mp3
Pink Serenades Bush
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Comment #11 posted by global_warming on April 22, 2006 at 13:29:51 PT
as long as 'we those people
are working until April 15,we are "SLAVES" to some aristocrats in DC,If you haven't noticed,DC is populated by some very, very Rich People,This latest statement by the FDA,Tells me, that these people in DC,Are starting a civil war,This latest decision, in DCGoes against the people and electoral initiatives,It flaunts its powerLike some privileged Lord Fontolroy,Who is about to taste this Earth.Earth DayThat is our' the people, the poor people,Who inhabit this blue marble,For generations upon generations,It is always us.
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Comment #10 posted by global_warming on April 22, 2006 at 13:07:04 PT
repeal that tax amendment
and watch all this bs shrivel
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Comment #9 posted by museman on April 22, 2006 at 11:45:45 PT
Bush coke and meth
1933-37: George Bush Senior is president of J.P.Lily Drug company. Ronald Reagan is president of the M.C.A. The three of them, along with the finances of W.R. Hearst have an agenda conerning black Jazz musicians and marijuana.1936-45 The Bush family secretly funds the Nazis. Somewhere in this time the recipe for meth is pased on to the bush dynasty. 1952: Eisenhower warns of the continuing 'War based economy.'1960: American Camelot; Kennedy shows fresh promise for a new generation.
1963: Death of JFK- LBJ comes to power.1968: LBJ bows out (after accelerating the 'police action' in Vietnam.) The shadow gov eliminates the opposition, taking out Martin Luther King Jr. And Bobby Kennedy.1970-73: Nixon uses NSA to attempt to get Congress to grant the executive office "War Powers." He uses NSA to spy on Amercian citizens, gets caught with the Watergate breakin.Gerald Ford becomes the first un-elected president.1976: We elect Jimmy Carter. Sanity and common sense comes to the White House, solar panels on the roof, the decriminalization of marijuana starts.It took George senior little over a year as director of the CIA to set up the Iran Contra connection- little George samples the Contra product-quite often.1980 The deal with Iran ensures Reagans election, as the Ayatola refuses to negotiate unless Reagan wins the election. Carters attempt at rescue is sabotaged (undoubtedly by CIA operatives) and Reagan wins.1984: Reagan institutes the WOD. Then gets congress to grant the president more War Powers.For 8 years hollywood sits on the throne of America as a good looking puppet for the Shadow Government (about which GWB let slip after 9/11.)George Bush Sr. gets 'elected' on the coat-tails of Reagan. The Shadow Govrnment is now 'on the throne.'1992: George throws in the towel, making it absurdly easy for Clinton top get elected.Clinton gets elected and everybody exhales a sigh of relief, but relief don't come, though the flow of money between the rich gives the illusion of prosperity. Everyone gets comfortable.2000: George Junior gets election handed to him by the machinations of the CIA, and who knows how many corporate covert ops. HE STEALS THE ELECTION, and gets away with it.9/11 2001: The illegal shadow government attacks New York under the convenient guise of 'terrorism.'The use of meth amphetamines skyrockets. The
local police forces are instructed to concentrate on marijuana growers/users, while the CIA or equivalent supplies the various meth kingpins with all the Nazi field recipes for meth. Trust funds are set up to provide lawyers for these picked pusher/manufacturers.And on and on it goes. Is it just me or is there a pattern here?
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on April 22, 2006 at 10:59:14 PT
THE MARIJUANA LOGUES
Richard, I hope you and whoever you take to the show enjoy it. Looking forward to hearing about it.
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Comment #7 posted by Richard Zuckerman on April 22, 2006 at 10:27:46 PT:
THE MARIJUANA LOGUES
I have two tickets to the Marijuana Logues, scheduled for May 5, 2006, at the State Theater, on Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, New Jersey!Yesterday, I called the U.S. President's Comment line. A lady heard my comment to LEGALIZE MARIJUANA, ALLOW HEMP TO BE USED AS AN ALTERNATIVE SOURCE OF FUEL JUST AS BRAZIL BURNS SUGAR CANE FOR FUEL, and oppose giving Amnesty to illegal immigrants. I also called N.J. Governor Jon Corzine's comment line and expressed similar sentiments. N.J. Governor Jon Corzine has a tax package he wants passed. Besides among the most polluted and corrupt States, New Jersey property taxes and auto insurance rates are among the highest in the nation.The Bush Family financed Adolph Hitler. See: www.john-loftus.com. Adolph Hitler was addicted to Methamphetamines! 4/20 is Adolph Hitler's birthday. It is now around 4/20. Comment number 6, supra, by joegames, makes a good point!
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Comment #6 posted by joegames on April 22, 2006 at 10:13:25 PT:
Bush On FDA Approved Stimulants
There was an article posted in 04 regarding the president being on stimulant med's.Based on his impulsive actions and the involuntary jaw movement present during his speaches, the fact he is on some form of Methylphenadate amphetamine (Concerta/Adderall/Ritalin) is very likely.
Trust Nature
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on April 22, 2006 at 09:14:53 PT
Whig
We had an expression back in the 70s for people who drank and did Meth. They were called wide awake drunks.
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Comment #4 posted by whig on April 22, 2006 at 08:58:34 PT
FoM
That actually makes a lot of sense to me. When you're on stimulants like amphetamine, too, you can drink a lot more without it knocking you down, so you can get much more buzzed.I don't know if Bush is drinking again, really. But I think his behavior is certainly consistent with being on amphetamine or something like it.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on April 22, 2006 at 08:54:25 PT
Happy Earth Day
http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/betherain.htm
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on April 22, 2006 at 08:25:51 PT
Whig
Years back on Politically Incorrect Carrie Fisher (sp) asked a question why do people that drink like cocaine? Bill Maher said why? She said so they can drink more. I thought that was very interesting.
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Comment #1 posted by whig on April 22, 2006 at 08:21:38 PT
Tweaker in Chief
He insinuated that President Bush was on methamphetamines.I think it's likely. Not necessarily meth but amphetamine or adrenergic stimulants of some kind. This isn't even a strange thing to imagine, they are regularly prescribed and given to our military like candy. Since the president has such a demanding schedule that requires him to be alert when he might otherwise be exhausted, it would seem almost to go without saying that he'd be on stims.
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