Wow it’s been a month since my last post. I’ve been without internet for three whole weeks because of a move to a brand new building that was not cable ready yet. The withdrawal symptoms are too ugly to describe. Anyhow, the pamphlet I’ve been distributing has had a few changes to it from what I posted but it’s for the most part identical.

When I talk to people about this issue, I'm usually met with two extremes; yes legalization is surely down the road, or no way. But the difference between the former and the latter is that the former, and ok, I'll admit that I'm a bit biased, is more informed, actually know who there representatives are, the long history of prohibition, and general drug war statistics, whereas; the latter comes up with dogmatic views or various political and economic conspiracies.

I truly believe that the only reason marijuana is illegal today is because of a bad law was passed in 1937, and then another in 1970, and people all too often people muddle together law code with moral code. People just can't wrap their heads around the fact that there once was a time when the government could not tell you what to do in the privacy of your own home. Perhaps I have a bit too much faith in the workings of our political and economic system because I just don't believe it's any specific industry (alcohol or pharmaceutical) that is keeping marijuana illegal. It is simply people's misconceptions led by a powerful few that make their living off marijuana being illegal, the politicians that listen to them, and the masses that follow their lead for lack of their own better judgment. There isn’t a limited market for substances that alter the mind and body in my opinion, but I'm sure many of people disagree with me here. That's ok. I talk to many very smart people who completely disagree.

I spoke with someone who works for the legislature the other day who read my pamphlet. It was a rather refreshing conversation. This person told me that they are trying to model Iowa’s medical marijuana program after California’s. I take this as a good sign because we all know what is going on in California right now, medicine has become readily available and the sky has not fallen in on them. Oh the thought of a medical program like California’s right here in Iowa! I shall try not to get my delicate hopes up but oh what an idea!

This person also asked me if I had plans to lobby. I said I had no plans to. I do not own a nice suit, and am not so outgoing. I met a lobbyist once and he told me the most useful attribute a lobbyist could have is “the gift of gab”. This is something I do not have. Besides, Thoreau says, Beware of ventures that require new clothes. He is pretty smart so I shall listen to him. But I do have plans for another project that has not quite taken shape yet.

Pamphlet Update

I have found someone willing to print my pamphlets at virtually no cost. It’s been quite a long time but here are the reasons. Well, the first reason is because I have not been able to secure a mode of reliable transportation until just now, well next week actually. There are many things I’ve been putting on hold for this particular reason. Next, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a rather selfish creature. I treat my heart as the primary organ, and cater first to its whimsical needs, all too often, at great cost to other worthier activities. Unfortunately, it tends to find maximum contentment in gazing for long moments at the various budding plants in my backyard -- the ambitions of a green fibrous creature stretching out from under the dirt towards the light is a wondrous thing. I think I also spend too many hours trying to decipher the language of the birds that speak with each other outside my window -- I feel I am getting close though. But the time shall come, when I will get the urge to begin soliciting my ideas, and I will put on my more respectable clothes, and travel the city of Des Moines.

Greetings Fellow Corn People

Hello to everyone and no one at all. I have not had time to post much lately. Life has simply gotten in the way, but marijuana prohibition is never far from my thoughts. I have decided to scrap my medical marijuana newsletter project after laboring over it excessively because of outside input and some personal reflections.

I decided something simpler and more attention grabbing would create more of a desired effect; I have abandoned all politically correct notions, and will no longer promote freedom under the guise of “medical marijuana”. Because I am new to this Activism thing I am not as of yet so jaded, so I have decided to try and enlist the help of the public, since I feel our legislators are already aware of our presence in the form of the many angst ridden letters I and some of you have already written to them.

So I am posting here what I have of my first pamphlet, a simple two sided, 8 x 11 document, easily photocopied, soon to be distributed throughout town with the help of those sympathetic to our cause. It’s time Iowans had their noses mashed into the notion of freedom and limited government.

COMMON SENSE;

ADDRESSED TO THE

INHABITANTS OF IOWA,

ON THE FOLLOWING
INTERESTING SUBJECTS:


I. Of the Origin and Design of the Prohibition Laws in general, with concise Remarks on Marihuana Prohibition.
II. Of the origins of Tyranny and Oppression and the Cause of Freedom.
III. Thoughts on the present State of American Affairs.
IV. Of the present ability of America, with some miscellaneous Reflections.

The Author wishes to put forth the warning now that the following document is slightly offensive. Perhaps even an example of what not to do, an anti-persuasive, when trying to recruit dissenters from the other side. To be called a mindless freedom hater would brew contempt in any rational being, but nonetheless, the author could not prevent the flow of these thoughts.

Maybe individuals of higher standards, less impulsive, more patient and meticulous could restrain themselves for the better outcome; however the Author does not profess to have any of these desired qualities; but rather, has always had the amusing suspicion that she would never really amount to anything.

But it is only natural, when those oppressed have been given, or rather have taken, the opportunity to speak openly to their oppressors, with a comfortable amount of anonymity, that a certain amount of contempt and frustration seep through. Imagine that you go about living your life feeling that every fabric of your being seeks to live life kindly, and with integrity. I hope that this is not a far stretch for you. Then being told by your oppressors, that even your loftiest ambitions are not good enough, that your curiosities and explorations are corrupt, and that you are what’s wrong with society. It is enough to breed insanity and uncertainty in the most genetically gifted of creatures.

But the epiphany that facilitated the creation of this document was the realization that this is not an attempt to recruit those along the fence, or dissenters from the other side. It is an attempt to draw a line in the sand, to locate supporters of Our Cause. A call to all sympathizers: those who can lend resources, intellect, and ideas. Our Cause, be it a specific one, but put down to its basic fundamentals, is simply the cause of all man, the Cause of Freedom: the right to live and be let alone.

THE AUTHOR.

That some men would seek to control the impulses of other men, be they ambitious, hopelessly romantic, self-absorbed, or even self-detrimental, by locking them up inside concrete and metal among savages is both curious and irreprehensible.

Millions have been arrested, yet our oppressors content themselves by hanging symbols of freedom over their porches while humming its virtues, we affirm, with very little thought for its true definition. Whether it be that they lack confidence in their own moral judgments, or that they hold them as too infallible, they allow government; that which our most trusted forefathers, wise men, and polymaths defined as a necessary evil in all of their most championed philosophical arguments, to expand virtually unchecked.

They pawn their own constitutional rights for greater access inside our homes, so they can dictate our lives by force, using civilian police to enter our private dwellings by way of battering rams, with guns drawn, clothed in black paramilitary gear.

They allow marihuana prohibition to exist because they lack faith in their neighbors, in their country, and they unconsciously fear the intricate forces that make this nation great can not withstand letting those alone who do not view a certain plant in the same light as they do.

They justify their oppression by calling us reckless lawbreakers. They have forgotten, or have never known, that the questioning of authority and civil disobedience are valuable ideas; notions that led to the creation of this country and the end of segregation. It was Thoreau who wrote: The greater part of what my neighbors call good, I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior.

What demon possesses our oppressors, that they behave so well, as to condone the mistreatment of peaceful others, simply because of written law? Or that compels them towards unwavering obedience to laws they feel are wrong, just until they change, if they ever do? In doing so, they reduce themselves to the level of objects, of machines, and marionettes. Thoreau again: Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. We affirm.

In the early days of the Republic, it would have been unthinkable that Congress could prohibit the local cultivation, possession, and consumption of marijuana. These are not words written by some drug-riddled anarchist but by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

But those days ended when our first drug czar accused a certain plant species of [causing] white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others. Of being a reefer that makes darkies think they’re as good as white men, and the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind. Congress listened and enacted the Marihuana Tax Stamp Act of 1937, the evil spawn of racist intentions and yellow journalism.

Now here we are in Our time. We here at IMAP are not so old, but we have lived long enough to see plenty of the human race do good, driven by nothing but a strange inherent desire to create, love, and learn; and sadly, we have seen plenty of the human race do evil, driven by laws written to protect and to serve.

Marihuana prohibition is the most unjust law of Our time. It is a principle that pays for one group of people to oppress another. But it is now only supported by a Minority of Americans. The will of a few, force fed to all: it is happening now in our country.

Hx tells us that freedom and altruism are never enough to force policy changes in a prospering land. Instead it has been violence in Mexico, the failing economy, and overcrowded prisons that have brought the Majority to come to the same conclusion; billions of dollars would be saved, additional tax revenue generated, and powerful drug cartels crippled.

Marihuana is so safe that in the entire written history of man, there have been no recorded overdoses. Yet marihuana prohibition, the will of the Minority, kills thousands in violence analogous to violence during alcohol prohibition. Dead gangsters lying on bloody sidewalks of Chicago convinced politicians in just thirteen years the deadly consequences of the prohibition laws. Perhaps the lives of Browns down south or Blacks in the ghettos do not resonate as much inside certain consciences. If not, then let it be known that violence and injustice have seeped into our suburbs as well.

In Colorado, a disabled medical marihuana patient was arrested for growing two marihuana plants. Police seized his home, which he had paid in full with accident settlement money. In Michigan, police raided the home of a 20-year-old college student in the middle of the night and shot him in the chest as he sat unarmed on his couch over fifty dollars worth of marihuana.

These are examples of seventy years of marihuana prohibition, an idea that has been nothing but futile and deadly. Marihuana is more popular today than it ever was before it was made illegal.

A really smart guy once wrote, “A long history of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it the superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom”. That is why, frustratingly, we find even the smallest mention of easing restrictions on marijuana promotes hallucinations in the most rational of beings.

Our oppressors champion the debunked gateway theory as the foundation of their argument. They never cease to advertise their worries for the children, yet they promote an environment of unregulated sales. They place marihuana in the highest restricted drug category, even above meth, the drug of death. They say marihuana has no medicinal value but hold several patents on chemically isolated THC for its medical efficacy. They ban a substance that has killed no one, but tax for profit a noted two that have killed millions. All the while they push on us their opiates and barbiturates, their uppers and downers.

They stand in a mindless state of denial, and refuse to recognize their drug-free society for what it is, a sick and twisted totalitarian utopia. Yet, in search of their absolutist fantasies we throw away billions, spray chemicals on fertile soils, militarize civilian police forces, build prisons instead of schools, waste law enforcement resources, and force our failed policies on other countries; all in an effort to extinguish a relationship that has existed peacefully between a single plant species and the human race for thousands of years until one racist drug czar used fears of White women mingling with Blacks and Mexicans inside jazz clubs to end it.

Marihuana prohibition is an empty shell of a policy based on perceptions built upon faulty premises. That thought brings us to our primary goal here at IMAP: to change perceptions using facts, statistics, and Common Sense. We dared to hope that marihuana prohibition was on its last legs and could not sit idly by while our oppressors stomped out the hopeful, consistent pangs of freedom that beat so fervently in our little Activist hearts.

At the very least, we wanted our voices heard before they turned our unceasing cries for freedom, our noble pursuits at happiness into something insidious, evil and sinister. Before taxpayer funded efforts began to diminish our cries, demoralize them as mere selfish desires to fuel addictions and pawn away lives in an effort to mindlessly sedate ourselves, or accuse us of being blinded by a cloud of maddening reefer smoke, or hopeless junkies with no direction.

IMAP wants to make a stand, here and now, to challenge our oppressors for more intellectual arguments. Even a dog ceases to greet his master at the door if he is mistreated enough. We have decided to be the voice for the millions mistreated.

Thank you for your time. If you agree with our notion of freedom, please help by photocopying these pamphlets and distributing them by any means necessary.

IOWA MARIHUANA ACTIVISM PROJECT.

We ask now for your support by simply submitting your email for our upcoming newsletter, whatever other information you wish to give is up to you. We would especially love article submissions. If we choose your submission, we will publish it in our upcoming newsletter either openly or anonymously. Also, have you been adversely affected by the corrupt prohibition laws? Been hit with excessive fines, job discrimination, loss of citizenship rights including the right to vote and bear arms, property seizures, loss of student financial aid, thrown in jail, or forced to pee in a cup? We would like to hear from you. Want to lend your time? Any suggestions or Activism ideas are also welcome. In other words, we really want to hear from you. All correspondence can be sent to IMAP2009@yahoo.com

Had to put this video on..

Wow. A member of Congress quoting Anslinger and debunking the gateway. Thought I'd never see the day.


Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen vs. FBI Director Robert Mueller

If I were Filthy Rich...

This weeks Powerball Lottery is at $170 million dollars. I never buy tickets, but still occasionally daydream about how I'd spend the money. So if I were a millionaire, most of my money would go towards drug law reform in Iowa. I would run commercials and put stuff up on billboards. Throw some charity balls. We'd piss off a lot of people, and It’d be a lot of fun.

The other day, I was trolling for prohibitionists sites, just to keep an eye on what they were doing and saying, it’s never really anything groundbreaking. But I came across a non-profit society called Save Our Society from Drugs. The site lacks any real substance as far as persuasive arguments go. But I did find an interesting page that I’ll link here called “Follow the Money Trail”. It gives a list of wealthy contributors to past and current drug legalization ballots.

A guy by the name of George Soros appears on the list the most. Apparently he is the 29th richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of over $11 billion. If these figures are correct, the amount of money he’s donated to drug law reform is just a shiny flash in the pan, but hey, Mr. Soros, we still respect you. Cheers.

New Poll Shows Ohio Support for Medical Marijuana at 73%

A recent KCCI poll shows support in Iowa at only 53%, with 9% undecided, still a majority but not quite as good as Ohio. Come on Iowa, we can do better.

Here is a link to the article.

The end of the article mentions the following:

"The Office of National Drug Control Policy's 2008 Marijuana Source Book reported that marijuana accounted for 40 percent of drug arrests nationally -- but only 2.5 percent of inmates in state prisons across the nation are there for marijuana-only offenses.

The report disputes the notion that marijuana can be legalized for medical use without creeping into the rest of the population. It cites federal statistics that show eight of the 10 states with the highest percentage of residents who used marijuana within the past month also were states with medical marijuana programs. Five of the 10 states with the highest percentage of new youth marijuana users also had medical marijuana programs in place. "


I followed the link to Marijuana Source Book but the information wasn't there. This statistic peaks my curiosity so I'll check up on it later -- because this seems to contradict findings in a recnt state-sponsored student survey in California that found marijuana use among students have gone down since 1995 (see page 25) but remained relatively stable in recent years.

BTW, I obviously hate the ONDCP and recommend a book called "Lies, damned lies, and drug war statistics" By Matthew B. Robinson, Renee G. Scherlen.

The authors speak at the Cato Institute in this video.

If you want to become even more agitated at the ONDCP, watch this Video link to Congress's Domestic Subcommittee oversight hearing on The National Drug Control Strategy, Budget, and Compliance: Priorities and Accountability at ONDCP. Its frustrating when you hear how much is spent on futile efforts on supply side reduction when all the evidence points to the fact that it SIMPLY DOES NOT WORK, and this guy can say with a straight face that he cares about the well being of the American people -- that he actually wants drug use to decline in the county. I beg to differ. Well alas, I guess we won't have to deal with him anymore.

There's is a new drug czar now...who's been recently quoted as saying this:

"Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs' or a 'war on a product,' people see a war as a war on them," he said. "We're not at war with people in this country."

It's gonna take a little more than just a slight change in catch phrases and rhetoric to fix our current state of affairs but I shall try and be optimistic. The comments in the story also seem very encouraging...

Great Medical Marijuana Business Seminar in Los Angeles on May 23-24, 2009

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Cannabis Career Institute Workshop May 23-24

The Cannabis Career Insitute is going to be hosting a workshop on May 23 and 24, 2009 on how to safely own and operate a Medical Marijuana Dispensary. As the Charles Lynch case has shown us, the DEA seems intent on ignoring State's Rights, and the laws passed by states who have legalized Medical Marijuana. With 14 states having legalized Medical Marijuana, and with several others (including my own state of New York), it is imperiative that Medical Marijuana growers, suppliers, caregivers and patients have reliable sources of information so that they can take every step possible to be safe against the DEA's war on Medical Marijuana, which amounts to a war on innocent American Citizens. The Cannabis Career Institute is helping to fill a void that needs to be filled.

If you cannot make this workshop, they have a online course available through their Cannabis Career Institute web site.

Medical Marijuana Dispensary/Business Work Shop

Time: May 23, 2009 at 11am to May 24, 2009 at 11am
Location: Los Angeles, Ca
Organized By: George Grimes


Event Description:

Learn what it takes to safely own and operate a medical marijuana dispensary business and enjoy all the benefits of the medical cannabis industry.

For Additional Information Join the Weedworks Network.

Cannabis Career Institute

Remember Rachel Hoffman.

Twenty grams. That’s the amount of marijuana that Rachel Hoffman was pulled over with in Tallahassee, Florida. The amount that began the unfortunate series of events that lead to her death.

She died one year ago today when two drug warriors, looking to advance their careers in their chosen fight, the War on Drugs, sent her off with a wire and $13,000 cash to buy 1,500 ecstasy pills, 2 ounces of cocaine, and a handgun.

What little training she had wasn’t enough. Had she been able to contact her lawyer, maybe he would’ve told her it was a bad idea.

But she was looking at prison time, a felony record. All that money and effort spent towards school? For what? Her degree would be worthless. And prison time for four years? She was in the prime of her twenties.

Death. Always the ultimate consequence but never more than fleeting in our minds, especially when you’re young. Perhaps that way of thinking is a necessity. A mental barrier needed to disguise the inevitable in certain situations, to keep us sane and focused, when in the current moment there is nothing but madness.

So she decided to do it.

Rachel Hoffman was just 23 years old, and yes, she smoked marijuana. And that’s how it all began.

I know Rachel Hoffman. I see her everyday. Little bits and pieces of her at least in half a dozen or so of the people I know.

She was the smartest girl in my class in college, who loved, of all bands, the Beatles, and smoked every single day but never drank alcohol. She was a girl I used to work with, who bought a little more than she needed and sold the rest to friends, so she could smoke for free in order to make rent and pay her way through school. The hippie girl I see on Wednesdays listening to the live bands play at the local bar.

Today is the anniversary of a day that deserves no celebrations, only necessary reflection. For all the victims of this insane war the government has waged against a plant and on those who can’t quite grasp, or refuse to accept, their official version of the truth.

Today we should remember Tarika Wilson, Ryan Frederick, Cory Maye, Peter McWilliams, Officer Ron Jones, Veronica Bowers, Charity Bowers, John Hirko, Isidro Aviles, Ashley Villareal, Alberta Spruill, Alberto Sepulveda, Mario Paz, Kathyrn Johnson, Anthony Andrew Diotaiuto, Clayton Helriggle, Derek Hale, Lynette Gayle Jackson, and last but not least, Payton & Chase, and so many others.

Prohibition laws don't actually prevent people from using illegal drugs? What?!?

An October 2007 Zogby Poll asked "If hard drugs like Heroin and Cocaine were legalised, would you be more likely to try them?

99% answered: NO

What? You mean they're really aren't that many Americans sitting around their living rooms saying "Gosh darned it, I really wanna try that heroin. But golly gee, if only it were legal I'd go out and get me some right now."

But actually, if the point of all these prohibition laws is to win America the gold medal at the prison olympics, and/or to create a failed state in Mexico, and/or to allow local SWAT and DEA to compete over who'll be the first department to kill more dogs than Michael Vick, and/or to make a mockery of our consitutional rights and the intentions of our founding fathers...well, then, maybe they're right, and maybe I'm the one who needs to do a little soul searching.

Kinda off topic..but here's a scary story about the Idiot err, I mean, the Patriot Act.

Smart and a cute mug.

I was really reluctant to write some sort of post about the hx of marijuana prohibition on this blog -- just because it's really long and tedious, plus there's so many good ones already out there. But then I saw this frog from our Canadian blogger.

I command everyone to watch.

Iowa Democrats Want All Out Legalization? Apparently So.

I just got finished reading the Iowa Democratic Party Platform for 2008 today and wanted to share with you some interesting things I found.

Line 583: [We support] Taxing and regulating marijuana like tobacco and alcohol.
Line 593: [We oppose] The Iowa Drug Tax Stamp Act
Line 745: [We support] Legalizing Marijuana
Line 906: [We support] Research into the efficacy of marijuana.

Now as I recall, the 2006 platform didn’t outright call for legalization but merely decriminalization – this is something I’m working on verifying by requesting copies of platforms from previous years. I also don’t recall any talk of taxing and regulating marijuana – I would’ve remembered that as well.

The only other information I was able to extract from the internet was from DrugLibrary.net that was apparently compiled by Carl Olsen that stated the following about the Democratic Platform for the year 2000:

On Mental Health: Recognizing substance abuse as an illness and not criminal behavior.
On Healthcare: Medicinal use of marijuana as prescribed by a physician.

No mention of decriminalization or legalization, however that doesn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t there.

If my memory serves me right and I am not hallucinating, then it looks like the Iowa Democrats aren't too worried about political backlash associated with calling for laxer marijuana laws or alienating some of their constituents by going too "pro pot". I’m not too surprised though given the political environment with more and more politicians speaking about the failures of our countries draconian drug policies.

Although this is good news, I think I’ll try not to get too optimistic about this. However, I think this information is especially important to mention when wording correspondence to our representatives if they are Democrats. It seems that we might be able to move past quoting the scientific and economic arguments because, as the platform indicates, they might already “get” that.

As it stands now, there are 32 Democrats in the Senate and 56 in the house. We need to contact our representatives and tell them that we support lines 583, 593, 745, and 906 on their platform and that the issue decides our vote. Tell them that they need to start introducing legislation that coincides with their party's platform.

Even with strong majorities in both the house and senate, it didn't look like the Dems were able to unite and get much done this session. Lets hope they get it together for 2010.

By the way, I also went to the 2008 Iowa Republican Party Platform and nothing was stated on this particular issue. I think however, it might be a good bet that they're opposed to gay marriage. Maybe we need to call them and ask for some clarification about this marijuana thing.

Iowa Pharmacy Board Must Review Medicinal Value of Marijuana

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy must review whether marijuana has an accepted medical use, says a recent ruling by Polk County judge Joel Novak.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090425/NEWS/904250333/-1/ENT05

This forces the board to examine whether or not marijuana is properly scheduled as a Schedule I controlled substance under state law.

Carl Olsen’s blog chronicles his attempts to remove marijuana from its current Schedule I classification at the state and federal level. This is some very important stuff going on right here in Iowa folks.

Schedule I is the most tightly restricted category of drugs reserved for drugs with a high potential for abuse and no safe medicinal value. Removal of marijuana from that classification would facilitate efforts to have medical marijuana here in Iowa. It would also allow easier access for researchers who want to study the drug.

The internet brings us things faster...even progress.

A few weeks ago, the number one question posed by Americans in response to President Obama on his virtual “town hall” forum was “Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?”

Fox news called us “a plague of Internet "trolls" -- troublemakers who work to derail cyber-conversations through harassing and inflammatory posts.”

At first I became offended. But then I digressed.

It’s been many years since Google first opened the doors to the vast spectrum of information transmitted through illuminated twenty-inch liquid crystal displays -- our modern day crystal balls.

When I first started trolling the internet, Google was in its infancy. As it became more powerful, my trolling became more efficient, more meticulous. I found people with similar interests and slowly began cutting ties to many of my real life friends. In just the way my friends became more specific, so did my interests. They became limited to only a very narrow range of topics.

A long time ago I came across a statement by someone I can unfortunately no longer recall. That person claimed that ideological differences no longer existed. That the only difference now lay between those who believed citizens should be “property of the state” and those who did not. I believe this statement wholeheartedly.

Marijuana prohibition is unjust because it attempts to protect citizens from their own innate desires. It strips our freedom of choice and is a fantasy that strives for a utopia that can never exist. Ambitions towards such perfections are dangerous. They lead to absolutist ideas.

Justice William O. Douglas once wrote, "The struggle is always between the individual and his sacred right to express himself and the power structure that seeks conformity, suppression, and obedience."

I recently watched MPP’s Bruce Mirken on a CNBC debate and linked it for your amusement.

We only need more idiots like this making the ludicrous argument that we endorse giving drugs to three and five year olds to make our point heard even louder.

I’ll also add another Ron Paul video in for good measure. Please watch and learn from these two master debaters.

Many years ago, the banter around the online marijuana community was that marijuana will never be legalized in our lifetime. This is no longer the case. There is real optimism out there now, and it is refreshing.

Obama calls it transparency. That was his goal with the virtual “town hall” meeting. And he got that whether he liked it or not. The internet makes it easier for the truth to reveal itself. And what is on the minds of Americans? It is not just marijuana, but freedom. Freedom to act on their own desires as long as those desires pose no threat to others.

Now the question is, can we get together and make change or do we want to place change on the shoulders of a single individual because of catchy but empty campaign slogans. It’s not enough to vote and hide in the shadows. We are at a tipping point now and SICK PEOPLE should not have to wait for a STRONGER, more WILLING generation or for the next unfortunate series of world events if it does not go our way now. We need your help.

My goal is to have the first newsletter out to everyone and posted here on this site by next week. I'm so sorry for the delay. I’ve received a lot of positive feedback lately and it makes me very hopeful. I’ll keep working to keep everybody posted.

Medical Marijuana in Iowa? Maybe next year.

Greetings all.

Well, no longer breaking news, nor I guess, was it ever in our little city with big aspirations.

Iowa’s Medical Marijuana bill, SF 293, was shelved but with the following message from Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City:

“The committee members agreed that the bill needed more work and would not move forward this session but that there remains a need to continue to explore this issue. Thirteen states have allowed the medical use of marijuana. Bills have been introduced in 14 more states this year.0.

I have been overwhelmed at the response to this legislation. I have received more than 90 emails from around the state including many detailed personal health stories from Iowans suffering with extremely difficult conditions and seeking relief.

I will be working with other interested parties on an amendment to improve the bill for consideration next legislative session. It would be my hope to see if there is support next year to make progress on this issue.”

Ok Iowa, next year when the legislative session begins, I think we can do better than 90 emails. Remember, emails are good but letters have more of an impact. We have 9 months until the legislative session to get organized and start a letter writing campaign.

I want you all to write letters and then, in turn, find at least five others who can write. It’s not so hard friends, I know you all are social butterflies. I think these letters will have the greatest impact if they’re all delivered simultaneously at the beginning of the session so you guys just worry about writing the letters and finding at least 5 others, who in turn, find others.

I’ll be getting an information packet together soon for those who know me so you can distribute to those who can help. It’ll include facts about medical marijuana and other things pertinent to our cause that’ll help you write the letter. Half of the fight is combating the ignorance and misinformation that runs rampant in our homely little city.

They’ll be instructions for what to do with the letters once you get them together. If you have happened to come across this blog by chance – well lucky you – send me an email and I’ll send you the information packet via email at IMAP2009@yahoo.com (Iowa Marijuana Activism Project 2009).

Here are a few facts to think about for writing your letter. Try to make them as personal as possible, these types of letters will have the greatest impact – perhaps you know someone who uses in order to alleviate pain associated with a medical condition – I know I do.

1. 13 states have laws protecting medical marijuana patients from state prosecution – these laws are operating primarily as lawmakers intended and have not let to widespread abuses.

2. The American College of Physicians supports medical cannabis, stating, “The ACP strongly urges protection from criminal or civil penalties for patients who use medical marijuana as permitted under state laws.

3. The use of marijuana should be a public health issue and not part of the war on drugs so that doctors and patients can determine together the right course of treatment for diseases.

4. A recent national survey of U.S. physicians for the American Society of Addiction Medicine reported that nearly half of all doctors with opinions support legalizing cannabis as a medicine.

5. Some 80 state and national health care organizations, including the American Nurses Associate, American Public Health Association and the New England Journal of Medicine, support immediate, legal patient access to medical cannabis.

It is immoral to deny someone who is severely ill relief from pain and discomfort. Especially if the relief they seek does not adversely affect themselves or the community. As things stand now, people who seek relief with marijuana face criminal prosecution, loss of freedom, excessive fines, property seizure, loss of federal financial aid, job discrimination, loss of parental/custodial rights, their right to bear arms, to vote. The list of injustices goes on and will continue until we do something about it.

A medical marijuana program in our state would benefit everyone, not just the sick and even those misguided individuals who are against it.

On a lighter note, I am constantly thinking of ways to counter the arguments of my poor misguided counterparts. How would someone who was against medical marijuana in Iowa word a letter to Senater Bolkom?. I thought and I thought. Hmmm. What kind of vile, wretched individual would be against this bill? A right wing authoritarian? Maybe a government trusting conformist human/sheep hybrid? I couldn’t think of anything but this:

Dear Senator Bolkom,

It is my understanding that you are the Senator responsible for introducing Senate File 293, a bill that would allow a person in Iowa with a debilitating condition and a medical prescription to legally obtain marijuana for medicinal use. I understand that committee members agreed the bill needed more work and would not move forward this session but that you seek to reintroduce and reexamine this bill during the next legislative session.

I am writing to express my absolute opposition to this bill. You see, Senator Bolkom, I am a local drug dealer operating in the Des Moines area and this bill would negatively affect me in several ways. As it now stands, I profit enormously from current Iowa laws prohibiting the possession of marijuana and its use under any circumstances, even for the treatment of the sick and dying.

These laws insure that I am the most sensible way for many of my clients to obtain marijuana. Marijuana is a hardy, resilient plant, and it is able to grow in a wide variety of climates, even indoors. This program would allow those who qualify for a registry identification card to grow their own marijuana without risk of prosecution. If a medical marijuana program were enacted in Iowa, my business would suffer tremendously.

As it currently stands, I am able to sell marijuana at an enormous profit relative to the bulk rate at which I purchase it from my supplier, a cartel in Mexico. My employer would also suffer from a loss in revenue. Since he spends a fixed amount of money buying weapons, bribing government officials and paying violent henchmen, he will likely be forced to raise his prices on me in order to compensate.

I ask that you stem all ambitions of getting this law, or any law that travels down a similar path passed in the state. I spend a lot of money in the community on property, guns, and expensive designer athletic shoes and apparel. I do not wish to move my operation elsewhere. We must recognize the black market for marijuana is alive and well in Iowa and continue to foster its existence to ensure the survival of my business and the businesses of many of my colleagues.

Thank You.

Sincerely,

Joe the Drug Dealer.

Anyhow, I wanted to get out my first post as soon as possible so here it is. In the very near future I’ll be adding links to a lot more information and posts with varying levels of seriousness. We need to jam as much information into our little heads as possible so we can educate people every chance we get. Nine months until the next legislative session friends…lets get ready.

Oh, and btw, do you know any budding bloggers? Visit the home page of the American Medical Marijuana Society to see how you can help.