Charlotte, NC: On Tuesday, September 4th at 5:30 pm, during the Democratic National Convention, North Carolina NORML will be hosting Libertarian Presidential candidate Gary Johnson, former special agent Jamie Haase, and southern rock artist Greta Gaines as they speak on behalf of the organization to raise awareness and support for ending marijuana prohibition.
The chapter issued the following statement:
“The North Carolina chapter of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws is excited to have such an esteemed group of individuals speak on behalf of the marijuana movement at this politically symbolic event, and especially during such a historic time in our fight for legalization. Marijuana prohibition continues to feed a violent criminal economy and waste precious tax dollars.
Legalization could generate approximately $10 billion annually in tax revenue and law enforcement savings. Seventeen states, along with the District of Columbia, have already passed pro-marijuana legislation. With Colorado, Oregon and Washington all voting on legalization initiatives this November, it is more important than ever that we bring as much attention to this issue as possible.”
Event Information:
Date: September 4th at 5:30pm.
Location: Speaker’s Podium (The corner of E. Stonewall Street and S. Caldwell Street in uptown Charlotte)
About the Speakers:
Gary Johnson: The former Governor of New Mexico, Mr. Johnson is the current Libertarian candidate for president in the 2012 election. In the marijuana discussion, Mr. Johnson believes that by making the plant a legal, regulated product, we can restrict availability, curtail underage use, and reduce the legal costs associated with prosecuting marijuana offenders.
Jamie Haase: As a former ICE Special Agent, Mr. Haase brings a unique perspective to the conversation of marijuana reform. Having worked as a federal agent along the Mexican border, he’s been involved in multiple narcotics investigations. In 2011, he resigned from the United States government to become an advocate for marijuana legalization. He is now a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
Greta Gaines: Ms.Gaine’s career has crossed the entertainment industry in many forms. She performed with Sheryl Crowe and Alanis Morissette on the Lilith Fair tour, hosted her own show on the Oxygen network, Free Ride with Greta Gaines, for three years and worked as a correspondent on ESPN2. She has also produced four albums as a southern rock musician. In 1992, Gaines became the first winner of the Women’s World Extreme Snowboard Championship. Currently, she serves on the National NORML Board of Directors and is actively involved with the NORML Women’s Alliance.
I am voting Gary Johnson for Prez, now that Ron Paul is out. Real reform, not empty rhetoric.
It sucks people are willing to throw away their votes. Obama isn’t a sure bet, but he’s the most realistic candidate to legalize in his 2nd term. But what do I know? I only watch the news 100 hours of news a week.
I sure hope Mr. Gary Johnson have working on his speech to listen to him.
If it will be? god I hope it is truth, get tired of being a lier.
All I want is true.
Then I,ll vote him if he don,t lied like Obama.
I’ll be watching. I wonder if Obama will be watching too? Thanks for the info Norml.
It is great that these individuals are helping spread the word for decriminalization and legalization in NC! They need to keep putting these kind of speakers in seminars all over the country!
Thank u for having Ms Gaines she has class.
Get it legalized this November N.O.R.M.L.
Didn’t Obama say that legalizing mj was a “second term question?” I say smoke the vote and vote for Obama and just keep banging the legalization drum. If not by Obama, then by one state after another we’ll see this wall torn down!
People seem to be hoping that Obama in a second term would help MM. The man has been silent, that says it all.
Notice how Obama is always saying, “It’s not the time for Marijuana Legalization.” Maybe he’s giving us a message? Vote him in for a second term and THEN it’ll be the time. Maybe not but I think it might be. Just so shit romney gets crushed big time! =D
I agree with Chris that Obama is the best candidate who has any chance of winning the election. However, it is naive to think that Obama will be good for cannabis law reform. His administration has been far worse than Bush’s when it comes to medical marijuana policy. He has shown himself to be a staunch prohibitionist and a liar considering what he said during his last campaign about medicat pot. I wouldn’t vote for Johmson if I lived in one of the “battleground” states. But, since I live in California, I probably will vote for him. Obama chose to write people like us off. He made a calculation that he didn’t need our votes. I don’t see how I can vote for him. Voting for Johnson sends a message. If the Libertarain vote gets large enough, the Democrats may take notice and realize that people are tired of having their liberties trampled on by the heavy-handed feds. Romney would be worse than Obama in many ways, but I’m afraid that the DEA under either administration is going to act the same.
I will also be voting for Gary Johnson, in the hope that enough votes will bring him into the debates in the future and maybe get his messages out there. He is the only one ive seen who seems to understand how life works
Chris, one cannot “throw away their vote” by voting for who they want. If one follows this idea to it logical result, you undermine your own self-interest and everyone else’s! You’re making sure we’ll never have quality people to choose from.
Don’t fall into this mind game trap. We don’t get negative votes in any election for office, only positive votes. We will never get what we need by voting for something that isn’t it. If we had a system where you could vote against someone i.e. cast a negative vote this idea might work. But voting for Johnson and against Romney requires two separate votes folks! Voting for Obama doesn’t help in either system. Since we don’t have “negative votes” you have to vote for the candidate you want or you’re voting for your political enemies. Got it???
I.e. if you don’t vote for your candidates, you know the people you believe will do a good job in office; you’re just a brained washed pussy working for the other side making sure good candidates don’t stand a chance. Fear is running your head and making decisions for you. Can we (America) really get somewhere better by acting like wussies when it is time to vote? Voting for someone that loses is a lot less painful than being arrested for no good reason. Think people!!!
If that wasn’t clear enough, if you don’t vote Johnson; you are voting for continuing the war against Marijuana.
Even when people lose their bids for office, the votes for them never go away and do continue to influence to future elections and sometime even current policy. You have to vote for who you want, or we have to change our system to include negative votes first. We can’t hack the system by voting against the people that do represent us–a vote for Romney or Obama is against our self-interest and extremely foolish when we’ve just about won this fight.
All that *has to happen* is for either main party candidate to lose the election by the margin or voters that support Marijuana Reform policies, and that party will make sure next time they have a pro-reform candidate.
Gary Johnson it is
I just wonder one thing. If the only thing that would get Obama re-elected was to push for legalization/rescheduling (whatever he CAN do)before the election, would he do it?
Because honestly…don’t most politicians make up their mind based on what gets them elected, not what they really think?
He should “throw in the towel” on this debate…or even start a national debate (which would not go well for Romney).
@ Chris,
Are you serious? Obama the most likely to legalize? Why on Earth would you think that?
I live in NC and I know people that have cancer and only got through the pain, sickness/ lack of appetite, and emotional stress of chemotherapy by smoking cannabis. Some people say even there doctors recommended if they knew where to get cannabis that they should try it and see if it helps them. So I believe that medical marijuana would be a very good thing in our community and any presidential candidate that garunteed the repeal of prohibition would win the election hands down.
Change Congress….They can change the laws, not a puppet president like Obbummer .
@Dave…well said. There is no such thing as the “lesser of two evils”. Evil is evil. I believe voting for someone that you don’t believe in, is the only way one can “waste” a vote. I will be voting Gary Johnson, just as I voted Libertarian Bob Barr last election.
Obama already said he was against legalization and he didnt even say that was an evolving position. The hypocrit in chief has spoken do not fall for this He is just waiting for his second term crap.
The (R) will be real bad this time for our cause. This Guy and his (V-P) Will cross the line. They want to end cannabis once and for all
Don’t choose the lesser of two evils again. Vote for Gary Johnson! I hope you will join me in voting for Gary Johnson this November. If you haven’t heard of him yet, don’t worry you will. Hell, look him up on YouTube, and his running mate Judge Jim Gray. I’m willing to bet that if you give them a few minutes of you time they will restore your hope for this country. !!! LIVE FREE !!! I love you, USA, now let’s vote these pricks out!
Obama is not going to legalize Cannabis or Hemp…if he was then Why in the Hell is trying to close down all the Cannabis shops in Californa. He’s not touching Chicago, or Michigan and a lot of other States. Romney might go back to the Bush days. Romney also said he would let states govern themselves. So I am hoping he will let the states go as they please. I guess we will see huh. I hope We Americans Wake Up and demand that these Congressmen and women work for the People, not the other way around. As much I would like to Vote for GARY…I would not Vote for Obama…cause he has lied to us too many false Promises.
If you watched the Republican Convention and how Ron Paul was treated, The rule changes taking away your voice in the nomination process… how could you ever vote for that kind of corruption.
Obama has no intentions of decriminization, let alone legalization.
To continue to vote for the lesser of two evils is to continue the failed policies and continue to support the corruption that is the federal government.
If you have’t realized by now that they plan to put us in a stranglehold and to hell with liberty and freedom then you are not paying attention.
They are already planning for the civil war that’s coming. That’s why they created the TSA, the National Defence Act of 2012, and this years purchasing of an extra 750,000,000 rounds of ammo by the TSA.
If you’re not alarmed you should be. If you don’t vote for freedom you will continue to lose it.
Ron Paul was by far the best choice to lead this country forward. But the establishment will not have it. You best be careful who you vote for.
I’ll no longer vote for there choice. I’ll vote for mine.
Now I’m going back to hoping that Ron Paul is President and Gary Johnson would be Vice President under the Libertarian Party.
For a very big second chance of the seriousness on saving the United States.
I want a good 16 years of Freedom, Liberty, and people having real money to save with no need of an income tax.
Vote!
A strong third party that is made up of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents that are tired of the Federal Reserve corruption would be a big impact on the election.
Clearly the appetite for an end to marijuana prohibition will be one state to state. While Obama may have followed the lobby to enforce the unjust outlaw, the tides are quickly turning and peoples votes will make that happen in November in much the same way that the city council in Los Angeles went about face when 50,000 signatures turned up to keep marijuana dispensaries open in the city. Politicians are paying close attention to these votes. We should not overlook what is happening in Missouri; Springfield Missouri is working on pro-marijuana legislation for its city, during which the Republican candidate for senate made a fool of himself and may very well have handed Congress back to the Democrats in November. With a Democratic Congress and Senate and Presidential administration the nation will be able to pass laws (and a budget God willing). With so many states passing marijuana law, and a full house for Dems we may see laws turn the tides against marijuana prohibition by next year.
Mark, don’t be fooled by what Romney says about letting states govern themselves. That never holds true for cannabis policy. The last two presidents both said, as candidates, that they would let states set their own medical marijuana policies, and we saw how that turned out. That’s right; when Bush was asked about medical marijuana as a candidate, he said that the states should make their own decisions about that. And we all know how Obama lied on the issue. Romney’s Justice Department will go after medical cannabis just as hard as Obama’s has. The Justice Department has the ball rolling now and there is no chance in hell that Romney would stand in their way.
Big government has both Republicans and Democrats on a leash and feeding them both with their own gourmet agendas from the Federal Reserve and income taxes from the hard low income workers who cannot save anything because their money will rot into nothing.
It takes a third party to break loose the both parties so that they will stay true to their philosophies and free the federal legalized slavery from using shitty fiat money from the Federal Reserve.
Bring back Ron Paul
How come I haven’t heard of this guy before now?!?!?!?!?! I’ve been Ron Paul from the beginning and after reading a million articles about the election that just happened to forget to mention Dr. Paul I’m really not surprised just a little ticked. Stupid media only telling the news they want you to hear.
I am at the DNC, including yesterday’s protest. I have not seen one single sign to legalize marijuana anywhere. There was not one person at the protest speaking out for weed. Surely NORML will have more visibility here.
I’ve been waiting long enough, its time, no more excuses. Obama had his chance and he blew it. The excuse of it being the ‘third rail’ is no longer viable. Sure, Rommel and the new Republican Reich will be no better but watching Obama advocate/order the incarceration of more people in 3.5 years then Jr did in 8 demonstrates that they will be no worse. Obama’s actions have been discouraging …… but enlightening as well, our interest, rights, and our future are as irrelevant to the Democrats as they are to the Republicans. Time to return to Jr High Civics, vote for whom ever you think will do the best job at preserving/encouraging freedom in our society, how can that be throwing it away?
Demand Gary Johnson and Jill Stein be included in the debates!
http://longhairedpoet.blogspot.com/2012/08/seattle-hempfest-2012-jill-stein-take.html
I refuse to vote on the lesser of two evils anymore. Mr. Johnson has the ability to win and his support is growing rapidly after the RNC shananigans. Obama wont legalize it, he has already said so, Romney wants a stricter America that takse away civil liberties but thinks its a state issue. We need it on a federal level. As far as this election goes, Johnson is the only candidate with sensible policies and true reform. He’s on the ballot, just check his name and see what freedom, prosperity and PEACE is like for a change. We used to have more than a two party race, lets go back to that.
will this be shown or recorded I would like to hear these speeches.
Really Chris? Why did Obama go into his first term being pro medical marijuana, and then once elected why did his administration use your tax dollars to raid over 100 legal dispensaries in his first 3 years? You really still think Obama is pro legalization of anything? If reelected Obama will continue shutting down coal plants and deindustrializing our country while also converting us to a fascist police state while also starting more wars that he was “against” in his campaign. He will not legalize anything. And Mitt Romney will do basically the same as Obama because Democrats and Republicans, and honestly, probably Libertarians, all answer to the same boss, aka big business/central banks. Green Party candidate Jill Stein is the only candidate who not only refuses donations from corporate lobbyists, but also seeks to end the corrupt influence that comes from said corporate lobbyists. You may watch the news everyday, but be aware the news is owned by the same people who are corrupting your government and seeking to end all of our sovereignty. So believing mainstream news to deliver any sort of truth is a very very bad idea.
As we lead up to the election, you will hear it repeated endlessly on TV, the internet, the radio and the papers: They will be interviewing folks and they never forget to include someone that says, ‘well if if you don’t vote the democrat or the republican you’ll be wasting your vote. This is brainwashing folks, plain and simple. Every vote is recorded and maintained permanently.
Think like a sheeple and you start acting like a sheeple and you get treated like a sheeple. My votes are too important to waste on people without skills and a vision of a better future.
Democrats and Republicans are supposed to work together, yet any time they do we get stuck with an ever increasing tax bill; and crazy unconstitutional laws. The system is broke, so please stop feeding it your votes that it needs to live.
Whether or not my vote will go towards the winning candidate is not the issue.
Because when I endorse the “lesser of two evils” instead of endorsing the candidate that I fully believe in – I lose.
Being taken for granted is no longer an option. I intend to vote my conscience. If one party or the other finds that disturbing, let them come around to support my issues for a change instead of me supporting theirs.