Dear NORML members and supporters,
We all find ourselves this weekend at the precipice of the year’s most propitious date on the calendar for cannabis consumers and freedom lovers: April 20th.
As always, there will be large public gatherings all around America (and other countries too) to celebrate the responsible adult use of cannabis. The day is a cultural phenomenon, with both substantial media output (some entire cable networks broadcast cannabis-centric programming and entertainment–like Comedy Central) and coverage of public celebrations (cities like Denver expect downtown public pot celebrations drawing 80,000 or more Saturday and Sunday).
The patchwork of cannabis law enforcement in this country is so disparate that in some locations the gatherings will celebrate their appreciation of the herb, but under harsh threat of arrest and criminal sanctions. Contrastingly, in other parts of the country, where I write this letter from, the city of Denver–where I’ve paid an effective 35% tax rate on the retail purchase of a small amount of a strain called ‘Tangie’, and where over 40,000 attendees are expected for High Times’ Cannabis Cup Awards–the events here are decidedly in celebration of the only place currently on earth where an adult can purchase and legally consume cannabis in a similar manner to that of alcohol products.
By July of this year, the citizens and visitors to Washington State will enjoy the same freedoms and responsibilities when their cannabis retail market officially commences.
Two down, forty-eight more states and territories to go…
Dozens of NORML’s 150 state and local chapters will be very busy this weekend working to end cannabis prohibition in their region of the country. Check out your local NORML chapter event here.
For over a dozen years NORML has had unique 4/20 fundraisers, promoting an annual membership* for as low as $4.20, and this year is no different. Hats off to legalization–upgrade your membership for $42 and get a limited edition hemp hat* from Grassroots California.
With Alaska and Oregon voters likely propelling their states to join Colorado and Washington this election season via binding voter initiatives, we will all have even more to rejoice (and consumer choices for safe, affordable, legal and taxed cannabis) next April 20th.
Thank you for supporting NORML’s long standing public advocacy efforts to end cannabis prohibition and replace it with a far more rational and responsible public policy that has sustained the organization to this day–when I’m reporting to you the first legal and taxed cannabis purchase in my lifetime.
Cannabem Liberemus,
Allen St. Pierre
Executive Director
NORML
* NORML 420 membership offer is valid until 4/20/14 at 11:59pm EST. (Limited quantity of hemp hats)
LTRIVXX
Now!
Happy 420 Everyone!!!!
I just made my donation to NORML, keep the conversation going.
Thank you.
Happy 420, and thank you for all of your hard work!
“Lord, when did we come to you when you were sick or in prison and bring you comfort or medicine? When did we see you naked and bring you clothes?”
“Amen. I say to you, that even what you did for the least of these, my brethren, you did it for me, the Lord says.”
-Mathew 45:20, 34
Then Jesus finished carrying the cross, and they crucified him. And when Joseph of Arimaia took his body to the tomb, the body of Christ was prepared with the holy oils of kaneh bosem as was the Jewish tradition of Kings. And after he was ressurected, after the third day, who remembered that Jesus had used the holy healing oils not only on the Kings and priests as Moses directed in Exodus 30, but also on the sick and the poor?
Who remembers on this Easter Day, on 4-20, that cannabis was prohibited from the poor and the sick since the time of Moses, more than 3,000 years ago?
Happy 420 Alan!! Enjoy the Denver highlife for me.
Mahatma Gandhi:
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
God Bless today, Happy Easter and 4/20 everyone. Let’s make a change!!
I wish you all well for the coming year, no matter what, or how you believe. Thanks Idaho activists outside the Chubbuck Wal-Mart I’m irreverently yours.
How dare you to want marijuana legalized or allowed for medical use. My “Gore Files” are full of stories of “Reefers” who use this “Narcotic Menace” and “Run Amuck” and amuck means kill.
The marihuana addict, commonly known as a ‘reefer,’ becomes a grave menace to community and state. “Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”
“Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.”
“…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”
Make me proud Michelle and keep this evil weed from the hands of our citizens and doctors. Cancer, HIV, Dravet Syndrome, pain, PTSD, and so many other illnesses are only a ploy to legalization. You stand for EVERYTHING I believe in.
Fire Michelle Leonhart, let’s see if we can reach 35,000 signatures.
https://www.change.org/petitions/president-barack-obama-fire-anti-marijuana-dea-administrator-michele-leonhart
Harry Anslinger was an asshole.
Hello Fellow Tokers
Spring is here at last! There is a new resistant trying to stop us from gaining the freedom to smoke. Please help NORML help us, Norml has to go to almost every state who wants to legalize Marijuana and set everything up. This cost a lot of money. So get out your checkbooks and send them a donation or better yet pledge a monthly donation. We need NORML to fight for us and they deserve our support financially. So send NORML a check today, call and make a donation with your credit card. Make a donation NOW click on the link below and do a fast donation with your credit card. Don’t just talk the talk, we need to walk the walk as well. So be generous and think about how much NORML has done for us.
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=73924
I envy all of you who were fortunate enough to celebrate by consuming with friends yesterday. I am a great believer in the life enhancing power of cannabis…aka…the remedy!. I miss its medicinal, life balancing properties. I must endure hair testing to keep a good job I have had for 36 yrs. i have consumed for 32 of them. well wishes to you ALL!
@The Ghost of Harry Anslinger. You are a racist! So you don’t belong on this Blog. Marijuana Legalization is coming, you can’t STOP IT” Harry Anslinger was an crooked, racist cop, Read more about Harry Anslinger. and some of his crooked deals he committed while he was in office as Commissioner of Prohibition.
http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/1xzkpw/us_drug_policy_fuels_push_for_legal_pot_worldwide/ .
@The Ghost of Harry Anslinger;
posted wrong link here is a quote from Harry Anslinger which proves he was a racist,crooked Cop!
“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US,
and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers.
Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage.
This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations
with Negroes, entertainers and any others.”
Here are some more quotes by Harry Anslinger.
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quotes_by/harry+j.+anslinger
Organize a march on Washington DC so We the People may protest for our rights, in accordance with natural law, to make the personal choice freely & without fear of prosecution in the NORML human use of cannabis.
Don’t worry. We got Harry spinning fast enough to bore his own hole down.
Relax Grandma3d,
I think our “ghost” is being a bit facetious. @ the ghost of Anslinger; Try using a bit more satire next time. Jeez, you’re gettin Grandma all riled up! You know, like, Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast.” You could write a satire from your own identity or persona to a prohibitionist like “instead of prohibition of marijuana through piss testing at the lab, Mr. DuPont, why dont we just make every employee in the U.S. piss at your house? Y’know, that way, you could have full control of your empire of piss. No cheating. You could watch everyone as they urinate.” It would be like, “There will be no bathroom break on this flight; U.S. Law prohibits the urination of anyplace but Robert DuPont’s house, or a federally registered location where Robert DuPont can watch you urinate.” And then “ding” the fasten your seat belt sign goes on, and theres some guy in the back yelling, “For crissake! Im about to pass a kidney stone! When will this madness END!?” Then we could overflow our prisons with urinating defectors.
A Urine-Nation. Thats what we are. Great perspective, aint it?
Satire is just another way to reveal subjugating plots for individuals to opress others for financial exploitation; without having to sound pissed off. (Sorry, couldnt help it).
And if I may pick on your choice of ghosts, why advertise the easy ones? Why repeat their propoganda? If we want to gain historical perspective, why not choose Moses? I mean, how did Moses ever come up with the idea that only priests and kings should partake in the holy oils? Were the priests and kings whispering Exodus 30 in his ear? “Yeah, so Moses, about that kanneh-bosem… You cant just whip that stuff out every time a kid has a cough, or your Aunt Mildred has a back-ache. Me and the other priests and kings were talkin, and we think we need a few RULES here… Y’know, prohibition$… Lets make people TITHE for it!” I mean is that how it all started?
…
I don’t necessarily believe that Sulah Benet’s “Early Diffusions and Folk History of Hemp” is absolute hemp-law either; I think she does a wonderful job of clearing up the etymology of the word “cannabis,” but the reality is lots of stuff that wasnt supposed to probably ended up in the holy healing oils. No matter how strict the banishment, excommunication or whatever punishment was bestowed for not getting the ingredients of Kaneh Bosem right, the ingredients probably changed from one river to the next, some with cannabis, perhaps some without. Like, “Hey, Aaron, you get that calabus I ordered?” …”Well, no Moses, I thought you said ‘kanneh-bos.’ …”What?! I told you! They look like cat-tails? They grow along the riv… *tch, Were gonna get banished from the Kingdom of God! … Aaaaw, forghetit, just throw it in the hin of olive oil. …wait, let me smell that *sniff” Hey, thats good stuff. Where’d you get that from the Sofi tribe? Yeah, Aaron, you wise guy. Good job bro.”
Or maybe the Jews ran out of olives from time to time and had to use hemp oil. Or after Jesus used it on the sick and the poor, whatever a priest could find. “What’s this brother Tuck?” …”I dont know, but it could cure a Roman bath from sin!”
Ive seen that done in Mexico, (not a Roman bath… Well, except for this pool party… There was tequila…) I mean where a local curandera provided the local church healing oils with a special cannabis ingredient. Yeah. Thats what I meant.
Or maybe, just perhaps, cannabis was always intended and cultivated for use for healing and spiritual communion with our Creator.
And I’m not convinced of what my local Catholic priests say; theres no way that every church in the world gets their healing oils from the Vatican. Thats logistically impossible. Could you imagine the insurance claims from Fed Ex? “Waitaminute Jim, we got another broken hin of healing oil. Well, we’re going to Hell now; may as well land the plane in Buenos Aires and get wasted.” “10-4, Captain.”
Fact is, people have to make do with what they’ve got. And if you ask from any local, traditional garden, big or small, the ingredients of a healing oil, it’s gonna be whatever is growing around, and the question is inevitably going to be, ‘Got Weed?’
@Julian
Your right,I am riled up! Because I am sick and tired of seeing my people get arrested, and lose everything. Their job,their house, their car,and everything they worked so hard for, just get’s tossed. Too many of my people get arrested just because they want to smoke Marijuana. They are destroying my peoples’ lives.
“This INSANITY HAS TO STOP!”
Not to mention the millions of tax revenue, we fork out to house all these non-violent Marijuana prisoners.
http://hashexpress.wordpress.com/the-hash-express-news-2010/marijuana-prison-statistics/
I will never forget the opportunity to address my health issues on my conditions without the condensending oversight of the healthcare industry. I’ve been disabled all my life, worked hard and built a world of mututal respect and family values tha supports and understands where I am and where I am going to go as patient’s rights trump corporate profits. Keep up the good efforts and educational enlightenments. Peace
@grandma3d-I apologize for my offending remarks,as Julian suggested I should try and use more satire. Most of what was stated is just copy and paste from my speeches during my career. And I’m not really that racist I hate poor white people also.
@Julian- I think I chose Harry A. because not only did I target the black, Mexican and American Indian population in my lifetime, but I also included hemp prohibition to ensure the success of Herst, DuPont and Mellon (my father-in-law).
OK now for my satire,
Question: What’s the most dangerous part about smoking pot?
Answer: The color of your skin.
Did I mention that I disregarded the LaGuardia reports just like Nixon disregarded the Shafer Commission.
@NORML-Not a single word I ever posted was ever edited, NOTHING. You guys have balls, and I appreciate that. Although sometimes the spelling is fucked up after I hit send and I sound like an idiot, damn auto correct. Plus it’s really dark down here and there’s no place to plug in my kindle.
[Editor’s note: Satire can be a powerful force in politics…Carry on Ghost of Harry J. Anslinger.]
@grandma3d-Harry Anslinger was a big fat racist asshole. To him the only good black person was one that was either dead or incarcerated.
Remember what was happening during Harry’s rise to power? WW 2 where over 6 million people were exterminated in Europe, mostly Jews but people of color as well.
Rather than killing people like Hitler did, our wealthy were just looking for a way to keep our colors separate like we do our laundry, whites from the darks. And to Harry this was the best solution he could come up with.
History in America is filled with racial intolerance from where to sit on a bus to what school you can attend. Ask some of the old timers about the Peekskill race riots and they will tell you stories on how they sat on roof tops with guns ready to shoot the first “Nigger” that comes this way. This was the 1960s!!!
It pains me to even write that word but our history is full of this intolerance. Do a Google search on the code name for when the Mohne Dam was breeched during WW 2.
Politicians don’t know about these events just like our kids don’t know what life was like before the cellphone.
Ask Greg Ball why he hates hemp so much, he couldn’t tell you. Why? Because he was educated that it’s bad. Why is it bad? Because it’s the drug of choice for blacks, Mexicans and the American Indian.
The best part is that hemp isn’t even a drug. It’s a pot smokers nightmare, like salt water to someone who is thirsty.
@Julian – you are awesome, as is Mexweed, grandma3d, demonhype, Galileo, Jimmy p, voice, and so many others. I read your responses every day, fact check and open my eyes a little more.
Every study shows that our bodies do better with cannabinoids and the great American experiment starved us from this compound.
Jobs, jobs, medicine, clothing, food and every vacuum cleaner bag in America. The cure for cancer?
@Ray
Thank you for speaking the truth. This is exactly what we should be doing, exposing the Stupidity, and absurd reasons some misinformed citizens who were bombarded with denigrating, false,and outrageous propaganda that supported the unconstitutional prohibition of Marijuana and Hemp.
Wake Up CITIZENS OF America! The United States was SOLD to the highest Bidder!
CORPORATE AMERICA SET MY PEOPLE FREE!!
A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
John F. Kennedy
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_fear.html#yvYZqvFW193VR3oy.99
I think the Letter written was very positive; and I gained alot of knowledge by reading this…so I thank you Norml!!! Peace always !!
Anne/Conn./1951
The healing plant has been let to live free again, born again, god loves us. blessing.m
Can a person,does a friend, will you,stop all the pain in this world? To choose god means we want to follow the plan if we can, the rest is grace, mercy and pain and suffering, till he comes, with glory forever.m
We have to leagalize Go vote