Today I participated in the Million Marijuana March. The idea is to get 1,000,000 worldwide to take to the streets, protesting laws and governments that continue the War on Marijuana.
I was part of probably 300-400 people who marched through Downtown Portland. I brought my Marijuana Quotes poster (download from my Politics page) which got a lot of positive feedback. I also read many of the quotes aloud to the crowd as we marched through the streets. It was a peaceful protest with no incident. The police were friendly and professional, and the crowds on the sidewalks seemed either to support our cause, or were at least ambivalent. We did have one bible thumper who told us that the wages of sin is death. So of course I had to shout back:
“Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth, and every tree that has fruit in it.” –Genesis 1:29-30
“They forbid marriage and inculcate abstinence from certain foods, though God created them to be enjoyed with thanksgiving by believers who have inward knowledge of the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected when it is taken with thanksgiving.” –1 Timothy 4:3-4
(I know a whole lot of bible quotes for an atheist. As Sun Tzu told us, “know thy enemy”. Even though they’re not really “enemies”, more like “debate opponents”. But the principle is similar.)
But as liberating as the experience is, I feel it could have been better. It was not at all well-organized. I think that hardly anyone knew about it. It wasn’t advertised. Where’s our marketing people, eh?
And the problem I have with nearly all of the political side of the marijuana legalization movement is the image being projected to the common people. I think people in general don’t have a problem with marijuana, they have a problem with dirty stinky hippies. So when they see the dreadlocked, tie-dyed, bearded typical stoner, their suspicions are confirmed, the stereotype is continued, and people tend to see the issue as something that does not affect them.
Don’t get me wrong; I like the dirty stinky hippies (well, from a distance, anyway). They are the most peaceful, thoughtful, friendly, and environmentally-aware people on the planet. And I don’t think they are an embarrassment to the movement, no, they are a vital part of the movement. They provide the energy and the commitment we need. I just wish that there were more diversity in the crowd. I just wish there were ten middle-aged professionals in Dockers and Polo shirts for every one tie-dyed Deadhead.
The reason this stereotype persists is that the only people who can come out to show their face and own up to being a pot smoker are the fringe element of hippies and medical marijuana patients who have nothing to lose. The vast majority of smokers who are average, law-abiding, productive, working citizens can’t come out for fear of losing their job or alienating their family. Admitting to smoking cannabis is tantamount to admitting you’re a criminal, and it is hard to use reason and logic against the government’s 65-year multibillion-dollar campaign to demonize the plant and its enthusiasts.
It’s illegal because it’s bad because it’s illegal because it’s bad because it’s illegal because it’s bad because it’s illegal because it’s bad because it’s illegal… The same people who look down their noses at the pot smoker are downing aspirin, acetaminophen, tobacco, alcohol, Prozac, Viagra, and a whole host of other mind-altering drugs. Did you ever notice that the illegal drugs are the ones that grow freely and can be used without processing (marijuana) or the ones that can only be grown in places inhabited by brown or yellow people (cocaine, heroin)?
My favorite sight of the march is watching the people in wheelchairs and with obvious handicaps who are prescribed medical marijuana. They have found a safe, effective medicine for their suffering and just want the government to leave them and their doctors alone. Thank my non-existent-supreme-deity I live in Oregon!
Or as Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller said, “Living in a free country means you should be able to put anything you want into your own body, as long as that does not harm anyone else. Anything else is bullshit.”
Meanwhile, this news nugget came over the AP wire today. Good thing it was the DEA agent who was shot and not one of the innocent kids he was speaking to…
DEA agent shoots self during gun safety class for kids
ORLANDO, FLA. – A federal drug agent shot himself in the leg during a gun safety presentation to children in what police describe as an accident. His bosses, however, are still investigating the incident.
The Drug Enforcement Administration agent, whose name was not released, was speaking April 9 to about 50 adults and students organized by the Orlando Minority Youth Golf Association, witnesses and police said.
He drew his .40-caliber duty weapon and removed the magazine, according to the police report. He then pulled back the slide and asked an audience member to look inside the gun and confirm it wasn’t loaded.
Witnesses said when the agent released the slide, one shot fired into the top of his left thigh. The gun was pointed at the floor.
The agent was treated at Orlando Regional Medical Center and returned to work, a DEA official said.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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