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Buzzby

Bong-Hit Benefit
Greg Baker | Miami New Times | 01/20/2005

You've heard the arguments against America's tragic prohibition of marijuana: how pot was only made illegal to protect the profits of corporate robber barons, how dangerous criminals are set free because the nation's prisons are crowded with people arrested on reefer charges, how desperately ill citizens find respite in a bit of weed. There's the theory of relativity, which notes that marijuana isn't as deleterious as tobacco and alcohol.

One example of why marijuana was made illegal in 1937 comes in the form of famous (or infamous) publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, who owned vast timberlands harvested to supply newsprint. When a machine that harvested industrial-grade cannabis (a much cheaper and ecologically friendlier source of paper) was invented, Hearst's newspapers began running headlines screaming that pot breeds homicidal maniacs.

Here's another point, from a surprising source: Many of those fighting the War on Drugs would be out of a job if drugs were decriminalized. That comes from people who fought the war on drugs, namely Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). According to a December article in The Providence Journal, U.S. taxpayers coughed up $69 billion last year to pay cops, feds, prosecutors, jailers. According to LEAP the cost of the 30-year war on drugs has emptied Americans' pockets of more than a half trillion tax dollars.

Those figures don't account for the reverse, how pot smugglers and growers make immeasurable fortunes that, with legalization and regulation, could be going to federal and state governments.

These are the reasons that organizations such as the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML, www.norml.org) exist. In the next two months the U.S. Supreme Court should render a ruling in a case that NORML, which lobbies on both the federal and state level, considers the most important anti-prohibition event of 2005: whether the federal government has a right to continue arresting people in the numerous states that have decriminalized marijuana.

NORML, formed in 1972, is a nonprofit organization, like LEAP and the Marijuana Policy Project, which also works to pass new laws legalizing marijuana. Some two dozen bands, along with spoken-word artists, dancers, artists, and speakers will put on a show to raise money for NORML at Tobacco Road (626 S. Miami Ave.) this weekend.

Irvin Rosenfeld, a longtime stockbroker and South Florida resident, will speak at the event. From age ten, Rosenfeld's body was riddled with painful bone tumors. A "very law-abiding citizen," Rosenfeld has been fighting prohibition for years. He once told a Miami crowd that he "wouldn't be here" without pot, even though he had an open prescription for any drugs he wanted, including cocaine and morphine. He was the second U.S. citizen to be permitted to smoke weed by the federal government. That was in 1983 and Rosenfeld isn't a homicidal maniac, yet.

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Cassius

Oh man, if some of the... what, seven?... federal medical marijuana users are now beginning to speak out on the reform of marijuana laws... you know it's getting close.

I mean, there's only SEVEN people that the federal government allows to use medical marijuana, and it supplies them itself. If one of those seven is now speaking out against marijuana prohibition.... I think that says incredible things for the momentum of our movement.

Hurray!

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{ Cassius, Your Humble Narrator }
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Stephanie S.

The details are here

If I were anywhere near FLA I'd so be there.


peace

__________________
"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." —George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 (Listen to audio)

Jake

While there are states that are a bit laid back on posession there are still places like Nevada one seed...FELONY!!! It's bull to have 15 different organizations fighting against this "gateway" drug. That's the point and that's why it won't be soon because without the 6 figure jobs most of these opressors have what will they do???? They can't tax it. If the gov. can't have control it's illegal. Here's the easiest solution.

LEGALIZE IT!
Make it legal to posess,but illegal to sell without a lisence. That way people still get it,and the gov still gets taxes from the businesses. Prison's would have space to harbor the rapists and murderers that get roughly the same time as someone who sells a bag of happy times. You'll never see it happen with a Big BUSH in office! SAd but true.

ganjaguru

what are the chances it will get legalized in the next 20 years...? anyone?

 

.:.evergreen.:.

i know your a smart guy if you could answer his question or cheeba. ps i just changed my account this is not my first post. theres a handful of smart guys here, someone tell us when it might be legalized, how bout the social progress in canada too?

Unregistered

All I know is that I'm gonna keep smoking up and stay high all the time.

Unregistered

The chances are any that it gets legalized in the next 20 years. Anyting can happen, hell u could wake up tomorrow and on cnn see that GW is toking up. We can only hope for liberation.

n21

i recently wrote my freshmen english term paper in college about how ridiculous the laws and regualtions are on marijiuana, and pretty much wrote a 10 page paper on the core content of what this article was about. I recieved a 95 on the paper and have sicne shown the paper to approx. 15 people who were skeptical about legilization, needless to say they are now supporters.

just lettin you know , or rather reafirm all of you that the college crowd, including many professors are still quite stronly behind this.

peace

Mamabudz

SEVENTH ANNUAL MEDICAL MARIJUANA BENEFIT

The campaign to alleviate the suffering of AIDS and cancer patients one joint at a time re-convenes for a marathon of activism and entertainment at Tobacco Road. Hosted by Ploppy Palace Productions and the Florida chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), the mind-altering fundraiser will present nearly two dozen bands, spoken-word poetry, the TranZenDance dance company and guest speakers on four indoor and outdoor stages. The lineup of musical acts will be as diverse as this nation's population of potheads, with rock, reggae, hip-hop, folk, jazz, Peruvian, funk, world-beat fusion, psychedelic and interactive jam among the styles. (See music listings for lineup.) The range of expression extends to satirist Mark Schusheim, who will provide comic relief with his views on medical marijuana laws and the drug war, and artist Carlos Rodriguez, who will render a live painting to complement the day's music. The benefit will raise money and consciousness in the areas of patient rights and the therapeutic value of the herb. Ten states have laws that allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, but Florida is not one of them.

Location: Tobacco Road, 626 S. Miami Ave., Miami

Time: 4 p.m.-3 a.m.

Cost: $10

Contact: 305/374-1198 or www.tobacco-road.com

(Who knows who might show up there? )