Speeches at the gate 3/25/99

Hello,
Some of you wonder why we are here every week.
I am here because I am an activist, which basically means I question authority and speak my mind
when ever I get an opportunity. I protest against nuclear weapons, against big government, and
against imperialistic policies and actions of our government. I protest against the pollution of our
environment, against the loss of civil rights and freedoms in this country and yes I protest the ill-
conceived war on drugs.

One of the reasons I am an activist, because marijuana prohibition and the war on drugs do not make any sense. The founding fathers through the Constitution and it's legally ratified ammendments guaranteed us us certain inalienable rights among them life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The Pursuit of Happiness...
Isn't that what smoking pot is really about, whether it be for medicinal or recreational reasons?
We are supposed to have the rights to be secure in one's person, property and home. Americans no longer have these rights.

People have been saying that because we come out here each week to protest the marijuana
laws, that we are sending mixed messages about drugs to their kids. I don't see any kids out here. All good kids are in school, where they belong. Unless of course you consider that college students are been relegated to being considered kids until they reach 21 years of age. I find this quite strange, when most cultures have ceremonies, recognizing adulthood at 12 or 14 years of age.

The question I have to ask is just who is sending mixed messages anyway? The government
calls the herb marijuana a drug and says it is dangerous. In the society in which
we live children are constantly exposed to drugs and drug use. Most children get their first doses of drugs before they are even born, though their mothers umbilical cords. Over 60% of children
with health care are on Ritalin, with those on government assistance the number jumps to 80%.

Today I would like to address the difference between the drugs and herbs, because Congress doesn't seem to have the slightest idea. Herbal health care is making a resurgence in this country. St john's wart, ginseng, kava, and echinacea are all being accepted for their healthful benefuts... Why not Marijuana?. There was a study released not so long ago in far east, that showed that people chewing poppy flowers or cola leaves don't suffer from withdrawals or the pains of addiction when quitting. Do you wonder why that is? The answer is simple. Drugs are pure, manufactured and toxic substances, herbs are natural and healing. THC is a drug Marijuana is an herb. Cocaine
is a drug, Cola leaves are herbs. .

So is our government protecting us from drugs? If you have a pain there are a wide variety of drugs to choose from aspirin, ibruprofen, tylenol, naxproxium and dozens of stronger prescription drugs like codeine or morphine. Guess what they are all drugs, complete with side effects. If you are having trouble sleeping, you can buy sleeping pills, if you are dizzy or car sick you can buy dramamine, if you can't get it up you can get Viagra. If you are going bald you can get rogaine or propecia.
Propecia is an interesting drug, a drug so dangerous that women can't even handle or touch it because it causes serious birth defects. The government has recently approved a new drug called Tamoxifen. They say that in clinical trials done by the manufacturer, that it reduces the chances of getting breast cancer by 50%. Interesting enough clinical trials in Europe could not reproduce these results. They did confirm however the down side... Tamoxifen increases blood clots by 300%, increases Osteoporosis, increases the occurrence of cataracts and finally increases uterine cancer by 250%. Yet our government has declared it safe to sell. So now women can choose where they want to have their cancer.

The War on Drugs is a war on selected drugs, it is financed by pharmaceutical companies and our tax dollars. It is a war on culture and a war on youth. Most marijuana smokers are between the ages of 18 and 23. That means college students, 50% of college students used marijuana last year. So the government wants to put 50% of our youth in jail.
Smart people are more curious, they want to learn things from experience not from books and repetition. Therefore smart people are more likely to try drugs, to experience and decide for themselves. Therefore smart people are more likely to go to jail in this country. Do you wonder where entrepreneurship, customer service and small business has gone? Straight to jail. If you get busted for using marijuana in this country, you will lose your home, you will lose your right to be educated, you will lose your right to vote, you will lose your job, you will lose your welfare and unemployment benefits. They say marijuana smokers become hardened criminals, what choice do they have left? All the rhetoric in the world will not make marijuana go away, Most people try Marijuana at some point, marijuana will not hurt them, but the system will.

Lets look at one of our favorite legal drugs alcohol, Alcohol is legal to buy, six days a week. Yet It causes brain damage and cirrhosis of the liver, where it exists in nature is beer or wine, that's about as natural as it gets. Now the biggest short term danger of drinking alcohol is poisoning causing death. Does it occur to anyone that it's a lot easier to kill yourself doing shots of grain alcohol than quarts of wine? The more concentrated alcohol is the more dangerous it is, and this is true of all drugs. Doesn't this tell us that the natural concentrations are likely the safest? The animals know which plants to eat when they don't feel well, why don't we? The pharmaceutical
companies and the government would rather we did prozac, than smoke a joint? They don't want us to know that everything we need has been provided by mother nature. There are no known diseases caused by marijuana use, there are very few that are aggravated by it.

The marijuana movements are, waking from a long hibernation.
You notice I said movements. There are five marijuana movements in this country.
There is the Medicalization movement, Who's proponents believe that many very sick people are being denied appropriate medical care, because it is a crime for a doctors to prescribe, or even advise, their patients to use marijuana. I am here because Marijuana is medicine. The AMA recognized 37 medical uses when Marijuana was banned in 1937 some of which have still not been replaced. What does the AMA say today? According to the AMA 1988 guide to prescription drugs...
Marijuana can be taken for a variety of complaints, including anxiety, insomnia, rheumatic disorders, migraines, painful menstration, strychnine posioning, opiate withdrawl, glaucoma and relief of nausea and vomiting. I believe that Doctors and their patients are best qualified to decide what is the best medicine not Lawyers in Washington

There is the Decriminalization Sector, I like them, believe that Americans should not be locked
up for using the drug of their choice.

There is the Industrialization movement. They say Hemp is a durable long lasting fiber that is very useful to the textile industry, the new world would never have been conquered with out hemp ropes
and sails I like them believe that hemp should be used for clothes, building materials, paper, the stalks, roots and bulk also make a great source of bio mass which can be used as an inexpensive energy source. Hemp seed is also listed by our government as a strategic food source, suppling protein and essential fatty acids.

The fourth is called re-legalization, which encompasses the first three.

The fifth movement is called incarceration. Now while 95% of the American people
believe in one of the first four movements, 95% of the politicians believe in incarceration.
What does this mean? It is time for the four movements to wrap their threads together
and form a strong hemp rope. It means it is time for change! It means it is time to protest!

Protest has been consistent through out our history not only as a right but as a means of change. These protests,are going on all over the country they are a public response to a farce of a civil war . They call it the War on Drugs, but it is a war on culture and youth. The first amendment tell us is that we have the power to ask the government for change when we think something is wrong... The war on drugs is wrong, very wrong and we are all here today to protest that war on the American citizens. The founding fathers by including the right to protest in the Bill of Rights as the first amendment, assuredly thought it was the most important! The founding fathers are telling us not only can we protest, but that we are expected to protest.

So why aren't more people protesting? Because they are afraid.
Now just what is it really that everyone is so afraid of ?
The Police !!! and I don't blame them. I felt the same way for years, They are afraid that the police will break down their doors, they are afraid the police will take their home. The laws are what we really fear. The laws can be changed, then those people will no longer have the excuse "because it's illegal" They will have no leg to stand on. The fear factor keeps many people away from events like this one. You don't have to do pot to support the movement, However those who do are vulnerable to arrest. Most marijuana users have some sort of marijuana smoking Paraphernalia Under current laws you can be charged for just having the tools of the trade. It has been ruled that they can confiscate your home if your have marijuana growing books !! People can write them, stores can and do sell them But you can lose your home for owning one!
In 1997 Continental Airlines sued a ex-wife of a pilot for "malicious wrong doing" which endangered the lives of its passengers. Her crime? Giving marijuana laced bread to her X, which caused him to fail a drug test and be fired. They have re-instated the pilot. If you choose to smoke marijuana, fail a
drug test or get busted you are not allowed to be a pilot in this country. But Is that pilot safe after he has partaken of the evil weed? Does this means, it only bars you from most future employment if you did it on purpose? Makes you wonder which they are judging the drug or the person?
This government sponsored fear is the result of the war on drugs, You see this is what bothers me the most 100's of thousands of people are being jailed for years for doing the same things I did as a youth. If I were to live my life over today I would serve life in prison for doing things that were acceptable twenty years ago.

Week after week year after year we make ourselves known. Next year will be the 30th anniversary for the oldest protests in this country. I find that sad very sad, Thirty years and things have gotten worse not better. We need basic changes in the way we allow government to direct and run our lives. We need a more direct democracy. The founding fathers believed that WE THE PEOPLE are smart enough to govern ourselves, to change and adjust things to a greater fairness as time passed. They did not envision a corrupt government run by corporations,legislating morality and
"undesirable cultures" out of existence just because those in power don't like the way a certain group acts or looks.
The pursuit of happiness was important enough to mentioned by our forefathers, but for their ancestors, now it is nonexistant. We must take our government back from the self-centered, self motivated fools who are running our great country in to the ground. We must protect and find balance among our Environment, personal freedoms and the economy.

What can you do about it? Get involved any way you can. Never underestimate the power of a single person. A single drop will send tiny ripples across an entire pond. Every person who gets involved touchs the lives of dozens of other people. Even if you only reach a single person, you keep the chain going. When all the drops gather together we will wash away not only marijuana prohibition but discrimination and hate as well. If you are thinking about getting involved, I say just do it. Get high on the empowerment of activism. The feeling you experience, when you realize
you are really changing the world is at least as good as most drugs. Remember you don't have to be arrested to protest or make a point !!!

I would also ask you to remember the most important way to protest, the most under used. It's called voting, When you vote, treat your vote like you are the only person voting, believe that you can cause change to happen and get these self-centered idiots who are running our country now on unemployment where they belong. And so the question lingers, are we really accomplishing anything?
Third party candidates are winning more seats than ever before local elections.
More and More of them are coming out in favor of the reform movements
Judges and Police officers are coming out against the War on Drugs.
Dear Abby has even endosed decriminalization
Last year The New york supreme court overturned 52 drug convictions, because what the
people bought from the under cover guys was not pot but oregano. The judges believe
that there is no law against buying oregano from a fraudulent narcotics officer.

Amnesty International, has launched a worldwide campaign aimed at the United States, citing abuses such as "widespread and persistent" police brutality, physical and sexual violence against prisoners, "racist" application of the death penalty.
Amesty's recently released report says  "Human-rights violations in the U.S. occur in rural communities and urban centers from coast to coast.  They are committed by sheriffs and judges, by Immigration and Naturalization Service officials and by police and corrections officers in jails and prisons across the country." Amnesty also calls the U.S.  the "world leader in high-tech repression," for police and prison use of painful, sometimes fatal, electro-shock devices such as stun guns and stun belts.
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Change is just around the corner these battles will be won through the power of the people.
Who Will you help?