cannabisnews.com: Lighting Up for Mother Earth





Lighting Up for Mother Earth
Posted by CN Staff on April 23, 2008 at 09:03:18 PT
By Nora Feinstein
Source: Columbia Daily Spectator
New York -- As I sat upon the Low Library steps—minding my own sweet business and soaking in the rays of the first beautiful day of spring—my ears were accosted by a raucous salutation. “Yo dude! You pumped for 4/20?” I looked up to find the source of this cryptic aural assault. It was your average lanky Columbian greeting his friend with a goofy grin as he took the steps two at a time. The cogs of my brain whirred, flipping through my veritable Encyclopedia Britannica, my urban dictionary, of hip and with-it college kid terms. 4/20? As in Hitler’s Birthday? The anniversary of the Columbine shooting? The second night of Passover this year? Two days before Earth Day? Or maybe Miss Rhode Island’s idea of “the perfect date” in Miss Congeniality. None of these seemed to be applicable though, to the subsequent dialogue.
“Absolutely!,” replied the other boy. And, with this, he met his friend’s outstretched palm with a resounding high five.Okay, enough. Look, unfortunately I’m not that out of it, obtuse, or ill-informed. 4/20 is indeed the High Holiday of pot smokers, the Motherload of Smoke Sessions for stoners. It is correlated with words like baked, bong, bowl, brownie, and bud—just to name a chosen few. 4/20 and the accompanying marijuana-smoking ethos are emblems of an anti-institution, anti-war, anti-hate, anti-the-man, pro-peace, love and unity subculture. Thus, marijuana and college campuses, just like marijuana and hippie communes, go together like traffic and weather.The number 4/20 is a rallying cry, a mating call, a secret handshake. This lucky number of the idealist subaltern has, through the past three decades, leaked to the masses. Movies like Half Baked, Grandma’s Boy, Smiley Face, Harold & Kumar, and Knocked Up, television shows like Weeds and That ’70s Show prominently feature, glorify, and poke fun at stoners. Pot-saturated counterculture has bubbled up into the mainstream with rappers and reggae, a heightened awareness of marijuana Meccas like Amsterdam and Jamaica. To go into every single pot reference or even a smattering would be impossible, exhausting, and probably pointless. Pot references are everywhere, as explicit as the language on Flavor of Love or as disguised as that white and red striped shirt in Where’s Waldo? No wonder it’s turned up on Columbia’s campus.This holiday did not originate here on campus, nor did it come from Hollywood soundstages. Like any folk tradition, the roots of the commemoration of 4/20 are not easily determined. Karen Bettez Halnon, in her sociological study of 4/20 in smoker culture for High Times Magazine, writes “Most pot-smokers would probably accept as fact that 4/20 originated in San Rafael, California with Steve Waldo, who used the expression ‘4/20 Louie’ in high school. Waldo used it as a secret code to remind friends to meet for smoking sessions at the Louis Pasteur statue.” Other myths have to do with the number of chemicals in marijuana, the police code used by narcotics officers to notify other cops of pot smoking, the official tea-time in Holland, and so forth. But, if one were to ask anonymous Columbia students what they think of the origin of 4/20, which I took the liberty of doing, one’s findings would be, “Who cares? Let’s blaze.”Now this day commemorating grass is all well and good, but I’ve got a bone to pick with all you smokers out there. Do not let 4/20 become the most involved you get—“activism” must go further than this. We should not let the idealism and the desire for positive change that is intrinsically linked with counterculture to be lost. In America, where Veterans Day has become synonymous with low interest rates and Memorial Day with clearance sales, it is important that all of you stoners do not give up the dreams that are the real power behind 4/20, the spirit to fight conformity and for revolution. No matter what the actual source of the holiday is, the motivation is a desire for camaraderie betwixt those who light up for change.So, April 20 of 2008 has passed, but, today is April 22, 2008. Earth Day. Believe it or not, a holiday that wants to save the world, not just save the herb. But in all seriousness: pot smokers and not smokers, put down the toke—momentarily, if need be—and take up the banner for a better planet. Ignite the spirit of 4/20—the revolutionary spirit—and fight for our planet in the wake of this hazy holiday. Let’s move forward, let’s utilize our youthful idealism to make our voices heard and our presence known: not just as silly goofy kids on the steps but as earth shakers.The author is a Barnard College first-year. Source: Columbia Daily Spectator (NY Edu)Author: Nora FeinsteinPublished: April 22, 2008Copyright: 2008 Spectator Publishing CompanyContact: opinion columbiaspectator.comWebsite: http://www.columbiaspectator.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #13 posted by Hope on April 24, 2008 at 07:53:11 PT
Mr. and Mrs. BGreen
Have a good time!
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Comment #12 posted by w000t311 on April 23, 2008 at 22:43:34 PT:
Godspeed Rev!
You're just in time Rev. Argentina's federal court just essentially decriminalized all drug consumption, citing the arrest of drug users as a "total failure" and that they are gonna start attacking the supply-end of the market. Hope you can still find something. Try sparking a fatty and observing the night sky. I hear in the Southern hemisphere they have a better view at the galaxy than we do in the Northern, so enjoy!
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on April 23, 2008 at 19:25:15 PT
RevRayGreen 
That sounds like fun. Please keep in touch and have a wonderful time.
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Comment #10 posted by RevRayGreen on April 23, 2008 at 19:17:17 PT
I'll be leaving 
for Buenos Aires soon, I'm sure I can get the internet stil :)
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Comment #9 posted by Dankhank on April 23, 2008 at 18:47:06 PT
mayhap this ...
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-5843
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on April 23, 2008 at 18:26:42 PT
Richard
This is all I could find.http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query
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Comment #7 posted by Richard Zuckerman on April 23, 2008 at 18:18:58 PT:
WHERE CAN I OBTAIN A COPY OF THE BILL, FoM?
I'd like a copy of Congressman Barney Frank's Bill.By the way, Congressman Ron Paul submitted H.R. 5842, only one number under Barney Frank's Bill, for medical Cannabis "Marijuana"!In as much as the illegal aliens will be out protesting on "May Day", I plan to attend the Anti-Illegal Alien Protest in Lekewood, New Jersey, on Saturday, May 24, 2008, 12 Noon to 2 P.M., with music by POKER FACE, as described in the flier on www.njcitizensforimmigrationcontrol.com, in the "events/announcements" category. An article on today's www.amren.com describes a State Senator's attempt to have school children taught about the mass deportation of Mexicans in the 1930s. I SAY BRING BACK OPERATION WETBACK for all of these illegal aliens, especially the large numbers of illegal Hispanics and Indians!!! These people are partly responsible for our Health Care crisis. If you people have not learned about the evil "North American Union" by now, then your public school "education" is definitely failing you!! Bush and his Council On Foreign Relations globalists want to eliminate our international borders, for a one-continent country, and repeal our U.S. Constitution and State Constitutions by the year 2010, only two years from now!! And Americans will gladly vote for it with Obama, whose wife is a member of the Council On Foreign Relations. This week's gossip newspaper, known as the GLOBE, April 28, 2008, issue, has an article entitled "EXPOSED! OBAMA'S RUTHLESS WIFE! She controls EVERYTHING he does". Hillary Clinton, a Bilderberg, also supports the end of our sovereignty! John McCain, also a member of the Council On Foreign Relations, also supports this enslavement! Don't forget, people: THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT SUPPORT MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION!!! You'll notice President Bush never consulted with the American people before embarking on this plan for a "North American Union"!! One of the ways to try to stop this "North American Union" is to oppose subsidizing illegal aliens with all of our might. One plausible Bill now pending is known as the SAVE Act, H.R. 4088, which would crack down on employers of illegal aliens and would man the Southern Border to stop the guns for money & drugs, which sounds like something the prior Bush Administration was known to do, and it would not surprise me in the least if this dopey President was involved in continuing it. They even put two Border Patrol officers in jail, Ramos and Compeon, in jail for doing their job, while withholding exculpatory evidence of drug smuggling by the government star witness, and won't even charge illegals crossing into this country unless it is several pounds of pot!! Why else would they be going out of their way to keep the Southern Border open? Did you hear President Bush speak at the North American Union summit the other day? He said the border is more affluent than ever and that "we need" these illegal border-crossers! Whenever Bush says "we" or "our", it means his oil/pharmaceutical criminal Bush Family, NOT the American people!!! So, when he says we are not in a recession, it's only a "slowdown", he is referring to his own Family's business interests. Did you see his jaw jutting forward when he spoke? This President must be one of the dumbest Presidents this country has ever had. I sincerely hope all of their crimes catch up to them!! I hope they [President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson] are not able to run and hide in Dubai or anywhere else!!
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on April 23, 2008 at 16:30:45 PT
Press Release From The Drug Policy Alliance
No More Marijuana Arrests***Tuesday, April 22, 2008The first federal marijuana decriminalization bill in 25 years was just introduced in Congress. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced H.R. 5843, the “Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008,” which would decriminalize possession of marijuana for personal use. Please urge your representative to support this important legislation. A deluge of messages from constituents will help members of Congress feel more confident in declaring their support for the bill. We don't expect the bill to become law just yet, but it will help us find out which members of Congress support marijuana decriminalization and which do not. The more representatives who co-sponsor it, the more support we can show for marijuana law reform.Take action now.Last year alone the police made almost 830,000 arrests for marijuana law offenses in the United States. 89 percent of those arrests were for posssession for personal use. Those arrested were seperated from their families, branded criminals, and in many cases fired from their jobs and denied school loans and other public assistance. The arrests cost taxpayers billions of dollars and consumed an estimated 4.5 million law enforcment hours (that’s the equivalent of taking 112,500 law enforcement officers off the streets).H.R. 5843 would make it legal under federal law for adults to possess up to 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of marijuana for personal use. It would also allow not-for-profit transfers of up to one ounce of marijuana between consenting adults. Please urge your member of Congress to support this bill.Our executive director, Ethan Nadelmann, made a powerful case for ending marijuana prohibition in a 2004 cover story in National Review (PDF).http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/Nadelmann_National_Review_Article_with_Footnotes.pdfSincerely,Bill PiperDirector of National AffairsDrug Policy AllianceMore Information:--In 1972 a special commission formed by Congress and President Richard Nixon concluded that punitive marijuana laws do more harm than good. Among other things, the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse urged states and the federal government to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. Twelve states eventually did, but most states and the federal government ignored the report. You can read the National Commission’s 1972 report here.--Since 1972 twelve states have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use: Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Ohio, and Oregon. Decriminalization generally means people caught possessing marijuana for personal use are not subjected to imprisonment for at least their first offense, although they may be subject to a small fine.--A 2001 Zogby poll found that 61 percent of Americans oppose arresting and jailing nonviolent marijuana smokers. A 2002 Time/CNN poll found that 72 percent of Americans think people arrested for marijuana possession should face fines and not jail time.--A study that examined arrest statistics for smoking or possessing marijuana in public in New York City from 1980 through 2006 found that blacks were four times as likely as whites to receive jail time for possession of marijuana. Hispanics were three times as likely. In 2002 about 2.4 percent of all marijuana users were arrested for marijuana possession. The arrest rate for blacks was 94 percent higher. 
http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/042308mj.cfm
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Comment #5 posted by RevRayGreen on April 23, 2008 at 15:36:38 PT
I just sent a message
to one Rep. Clel Baudler :)
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on April 23, 2008 at 12:05:30 PT
News Article From The Seattle Times
Police, Feds Raiding Seattle's Indoor Marijuana GrowersApril 23, 2008http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004368231_webhomegrown23m.html
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Comment #3 posted by dongenero on April 23, 2008 at 11:49:57 PT
sorta OT- Supreme Court says
 Supreme Court says police may search even if arrest invalidWASHINGTON - The Supreme Court affirmed Wednesday that police have the power to conduct searches and seize evidence, even when done during an arrest that turns out to have violated state law. snippedhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080423/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_search_4This highlights the problem of unjust laws and the "War on Some Drugs". Nobody would say much about this if some botched traffic stop led to a serial killer with a body in the car. But, when you begin to have unjust laws, which unnecessarily reduce people's freedoms, there is going to be push back. How will government react to this citizen push back and consolidate their grabbed powers? They will respond by further reducing freedoms and grabbing more governmental power without accountability.The "War on Some Drugs" is leading us down a slippery slope of less and less personal freedom and responsibility and toward more and more fascist, totalitarian government. Right where the Bush administration, PNAC and the neo-conservatives want it.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on April 23, 2008 at 11:40:34 PT
Iowa: Associated Press
University of Iowa Marijuana Study Gets Lawmakers' AttentionApril 23, 2008 
 
 
 AP -- A study by a University of Iowa professor on the effects of marijuana use has gotten the attention of state lawmakers.An amendment to an education budget bill in the House would require the state's public universities to tell the Legislature about research involving activities that violate the law.The study by Robert Block is funded federally by the National Institutes of Health.Rep. Clel Baudler, a Greenfield Republican, says the point is not to stop such research but to keep lawmakers informed when research involves or studies illegal activity.The Iowa Board of Regents and the university are looking at the amendment to see what it would mean for research at Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa.Copyright: 2008 The Associated Presshttp://www.whotv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8214101
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Comment #1 posted by w000t311 on April 23, 2008 at 10:07:19 PT:
Say you want a revolution?
You first, frosh.
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