tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13638234.post7341500551247480159..comments2023-10-31T08:05:38.800-04:00Comments on Sterling on Justice & Drugs: Hempfest is huge, but is it good politics?Eric E. Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09061193531254728800noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13638234.post-84997160104103111862009-08-22T10:20:44.971-04:002009-08-22T10:20:44.971-04:00YOU KNOW YOU MISS THE NY HARVEST FEST...DON'T ...YOU KNOW YOU MISS THE NY HARVEST FEST...DON'T LIE TO ME ERIC! WE MISS YOU! <br />~ JEN ~ <br />WWW.DAMNSAM.COM420 Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02746619181383390394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13638234.post-55200621425561984222009-08-22T09:59:34.293-04:002009-08-22T09:59:34.293-04:00Those alcohol prohibitionist in their button-down ...Those alcohol prohibitionist in their button-down shirts and ties didn't do so well in the long run.palmspringsbumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04478732929222610875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13638234.post-2748236309387367732009-08-21T23:44:28.507-04:002009-08-21T23:44:28.507-04:00Aside from the fact that no drug is illegal in the...Aside from the fact that no drug is illegal in the US or any western democracy: what is unlawful is unauthorized activities such as possession, supply, cultivation, manufacture, etc, we at the Drug Equality Alliance wholeheartedly agree with your tone, attitude and insights gathered within this article. Responsibility begins with the willingness to be cause in our own lives and thus in the efforts we put forth in to right the wrongs of a 'War on some people concerned with some Drugs'.<br /><br />DrugEquality.orgMaffickerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00967087178902133975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13638234.post-44527256511979565912009-08-21T17:39:15.186-04:002009-08-21T17:39:15.186-04:00I agree that Hempfest should be more inclusive. I ...I agree that Hempfest should be more inclusive. I also feel that people who offer constructive criticism should not be punished for doing so - even if their criticism turns out to be incorrect.<br /><br />The main problem I have with this opinion editorial is that it puts cannabis in the "not quite harmless" category - which makes about as much sense as putting a hammer into the "not quite harmless" category.<br /><br />Drugs are tools. They are neither harmful nor harmless - they are only used or misused. Cannabis can be used or misused, but so can sugar, chocolate, TV, masturbation or anything fun. Please don't use the word "harmful" or "harmless" the next time you write about pot - talk in terms of proper use instead please.DMLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12798077821388049706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13638234.post-86195287833608570232009-08-21T13:52:50.490-04:002009-08-21T13:52:50.490-04:00Boston Freedom Rally changed the law in MA to decr...Boston Freedom Rally changed the law in MA to decrim. Seatle Hempfest did the same in Seattle. Hard to argue with that. What have you done that's had bigger results than this? <br /><br />Not to mention the money, awareness, new activists raised at these events. <br /><br />That one small negative for people who will never support us, doesn't mean anything. <br /><br />http://www.mikecann.net/2009/08/sterling-on-justice-drugs-hempfest-is.htmlMikeCannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11633922558987686572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13638234.post-4750834506957232222009-08-21T13:07:25.515-04:002009-08-21T13:07:25.515-04:00Eric:
You have been a positive force but you do n...Eric:<br /><br />You have been a positive force but you do need to lighten up a little bit:<br /><br />Let's face it, hemp rallies are not only a fraud as serious political events go, they are worse -- they are advertisements of irresponsible drug use. Prohibitionists are on the mark when they describe hemp rallies as "pro-drug" events. We do not know that they contribute to the increase in juvenile drug use, but we do not know that they don't.. Do those of us in drug policy reform who are committed to public health perhaps have a responsibility to change the character of these events, or to boycott and help end them?<br /><br />Hempfests should be thought of as a new and safer Octoberfest: like the harvest fests in Germany which were celebrated with days of drinking, dancing and sex.<br /><br />I would also like your views on the MERP Model that is beginning to get some serious support:<br /><br />MERP Headquarters<br />The Marijuana Re-Legalization Policy Project (MRPP)= "MERP"<br />http://www.newagecitizen.com/MERP.htmAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13638234.post-74255070435009835642009-08-21T04:47:37.128-04:002009-08-21T04:47:37.128-04:00The whole pot predicament is self-defeating. No su...The whole pot predicament is self-defeating. No sucessful lawyers, architects, doctors, police, politicians can admit to use.<br /><br />There are no positive role models. <br /><br />I learned that Carl Sagan smoked, but not until after he had died.<br /><br />As for linkage to accidents; well the pot residuals stay with you for a month. Someone is texting while driving a train, or driving drunk, has the wreck, and two+ week old pot shows up. An unfair blame assignment that can't be worked around.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13638234.post-12561543674542529812009-08-20T20:59:48.265-04:002009-08-20T20:59:48.265-04:00(continued) “...I call upon serious drug policy re...(continued) “...I call upon serious drug policy reformers to reform hemp rallies or end them. To associate our movement with hemp rallies makes our movement repellent to the most important constituencies we claim we are trying to reach....”<br />Who? The police? The politicians? Mom & Pop? Evangelical Christians? They believed all the bad things you claim Hempfest propagates before Hempfest existed and would still believe it even if Martin Luther King Jr. himself reincarnated on the Main Stage to lead a clean-cut tie-wearing audience in a chorus of "We Shall Overcome". To them, you're just a dirty stinky hippie gone incognito. No, Hempfest is about rallying <em>our side</em> to realize their power in numbers, not to try to convince the squares we're something we're not. From the once-a-year-at-Hempfest toker to the daily pothead, there are 22,000,000 of us of voting age in America. That's more voting power than Texas or African-Americans (another point Hempfesters learned from my speeches). The regular users - once a month or more - number 12.7 million adults; that's greater than the memberships of the NRA, ACLU, NARAL, NOW, NAACP, Greenpeace, PETA, the Elks, and the John Birch Society COMBINED. The true stoners - once a week or more - number 8.1 million adults; that's greater than the US membership of the Mormon church.<br /><br />But I never read about a Texan telling Texans to lose the cowboy hats and drawls because the dumb redneck image hurts the chances their bill will pass in Congress. Nobody from NAACP tells the Million Man Marches to tone down the blackness a bit because it scares away the white folks they are trying to reach. PETA doesn't try to position themselves as "anti-cruelty" instead of "pro-animal" and the NRA will hold a pro-gun rally right after a deadly school shooting in the same town. The Mormon Church, with only 5.5 million, managed to help invalidate the marriage rights of hundreds of thousands of gays and lesbians in California; they didn't tell their members they needed to cut back on the Jell-O and stop knocking on my door Saturday mornings to get it done.<br /><br />I really believe that a lot of this criticism is just bigotry, plain and simple. "I'm a clean-cut, employed, well-educated, middle-class guy who likes to smoke pot," I imagine they think, "and dammit, those dirty stinky tie-dyed patchouli-smellin' reggae-lovin' dreadlocked hippie kids are making me look bad for supporting marijuana legalization!" Well, guess what, Eric? Without those hippies there would be no NORML (thus no MPP or DPA, since they were formed by former NORML staffers), no 13 decrim states, and no 13 medical marijuana states. And how did those medical laws pass from 1996-2008 while Hempfest, Freedom Rally, and Harvest Fest were in full swing if nobody could "take seriously a rally that purports to be for medical marijuana when 99.9% of the marijuana smoked is done so recreationally, and with indifference to use by children?"<br /><br />It's a bit much to ask the hippies who've been driving the marijuana law reform bus for forty years to get under it because you want to smoke pot, too. You might say, yeah, but maybe that's why it's taken 40 years and hasn't happened... well, except for 13 decrim states and 13 medmj states and public support for medmj pushing 80%, decrim pushing 70%, and outright legalization pushing 50%. I'd say it's tilting at windmills; you're never going to change the hippies, the hempfests, or the people who hate hippies and hempfests. Go ahead and organize Squarefest, let's see how that goes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13638234.post-51863250147740757572009-08-20T20:59:01.864-04:002009-08-20T20:59:01.864-04:00(continued) Personally, I'm tired of the "...(continued) Personally, I'm tired of the "I'm not pro-pot, I'm pro-control" people denigrating the summer festival circuit. <strong><em> I am pro-pot</em></strong>. Many of these organizers and attendees are pro-pot. When you know that cannabis can <a href="http://blog.norml.org/2009/08/17/if-pot-prevented-cancer-you-would-have-read-about-it-right/" rel="nofollow">stave off head and neck cancer</a>, <a href="http://blog.norml.org/2009/08/18/reuters-pot-kills-cancer-but-dont-even-think-about-using-it/" rel="nofollow">kills prostate cancer</a>, <a href="http://blog.norml.org/2009/08/18/if-cannabis-smoking-didnt-adversely-impact-lung-function-you-would-have-read-about-it-right/" rel="nofollow">doesn't lead to lung damage</a>, <a href="http://www.fcda.org/judge.young.htm" rel="nofollow">safely elevates mood</a>, is a <a href="http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7596" rel="nofollow">superior pain killer</a> (among <a href="http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7002" rel="nofollow">many medicinal uses</a>), <a href="http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7118" rel="nofollow">doesn't lead to hard drugs</a>, and can provide us a <a href="http://crrh.org/biodiesel/" rel="nofollow">sustainable fuel source</a>, <a href="http://crrh.org/food/" rel="nofollow">nature's best protein source</a>, <a href="http://www.votehemp.com/vhr/vhr_v2no6.html" rel="nofollow">a carbon "sink" for greenhouse gases</a>, and <a href="http://crrh.org/sustainability/" rel="nofollow">so much more</a>, why would you moderate that stance because a few people (the smallest rate of any recreational drug) have problems with it or lying D.A.R.E. cops don't like it? How can you expect the undecided public to think pot legalization is OK when the button-down marijuana policy reform supporters like you are doing everything you can to divorce yourself from any inference that cannabis use is acceptable and cannabis is a wonderful thing?<br /><br />I'm fully aware that the vast majority of attendees are at Hempfest for the party. In that respect I liken it to events like the <a href="http://www.katu.com/news/local/52374137.html" rel="nofollow">Oregon Brewers Festival</a>, an event one fifth the size that runs twice as long. (I have a request in with the Portland Police Bureau for a log of arrests from that fest, anybody want to bet it had more arrests for violent behavior than Hempfest?) But nobody says that Teens Against Drugs & Alcohol should boycott the festival because it provides a pro-alcohol celebration; TADA shows up and uses the event to help educate about responsible use and "We Card" ID programs. If my speaking at Hempfest educated just 1% of the attendees and motivated just 0.1% to register to vote and drove just 0.01% to become actively involved in marijuana law reform, I just educated 3,500; registered 350; and enlisted 35 new activists.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13638234.post-46029665228176678502009-08-20T20:58:03.783-04:002009-08-20T20:58:03.783-04:00350,000 people gather in a park, smoke marijuana, ...350,000 people gather in a park, smoke marijuana, and nothing bad happens. How in the world is that not by some measure a political success?<br /><br />We are told that marijuana smoking will make you lazy, yet the pot smokers who put on Hempfest organize a world-class NASCAR-sized event with no major incidents.<br /><br />We are told that marijuana smoking leads to anti-social behavior, yet even when standing shoulder-to-shoulder in an 8,000 person traffic jam (as happened on Saturday), everyone is calm, polite, and respectful.<br /><br />“...We rarely hear calls to “Register to vote here. Join a political campaign here.” No one is here for a reasoned analysis or education. The repetition of cliches is always dependable....”<br />Then you're not listening to me speak at these rallies, Eric. I both entertain and inform. Thousands of young people now have the White House and Congressional comment lines programmed into their cell phones because of my speeches. Thousands now know the holy trinity of police encounter replies -- "I do not consent to a search", "I wish to speak with my attorney", "Am I being detained or am I free to go?" -- and more about their Fourth & Fifth Amendment rights than they were ever taught in high school. Thousands now know through my retelling of news stories the horrors of prohibition.<br /><br />But "reasoned analysis" is the point of a drug policy conference, not a public rally. I've heard those speeches at Hempfest and watched as the crowd fell asleep. I'll take 1,000 cliché-spouting young people to the polls over 1 middle-aged guy full of "reasoned analysis" any day.<br /><br />“...We do not know that they contribute to the increase in juvenile drug use, but we do not know that they don't....”<br />The old "what about the children?!?" cliché is something I expect from prohibitionists; it hurts to hear it used by a supposed ally. What about the children? Sure, I saw lots of young people probably under age 18 at Hempfest. I didn't see them fighting or being anti-social. I didn't see them puking from alcohol overdoses. Chances are the vast majority of them are good kids and will grow up to be good adults. I counsel them onstage and in person to wait until they are eighteen, but you and I both know that many young people aged 12-17 will smoke pot anyway - so should that happen in secluded places with no adult supervision or in public where they are surrounded by adults, police, and medical staff?<br /><br />“...Compare our events to the newsreel footage of political rallies of the 1930s and 40s......”I think all these button-down, I-used-to-speak-at-rallies-but-now-I'm-above-that critics ought to but together the 1930's-style shirt-and-tie or 1960's-style preacher-led rallies about which the author reminisces. I'll be glad to speak there, too.<br /><br />But I'll bet ya 350,000 people won't show up. I'll bet ya you're lucky if you get 350.<br /><br />“...I commend MPP and DPA for leaving behind the rock concert model as the paradigm for drug policy reform fundraisers....”<br />Yes, because a fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion priced well beyond the range of the average reformer is a far better model. Nothing gets your average conservative Christian soccer mom on board for marijuana law reform than pictures of celebrities cavorting with "bunnies" at a pornographer's house.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13638234.post-86242058471566956152009-08-20T11:40:58.708-04:002009-08-20T11:40:58.708-04:00Excellent article - I share your concerns across t...Excellent article - I share your concerns across the board - I believe it is incumbent upon the hemp movement leadership to represent the key hemp issues to the mass population in a manner they can embrace - in order to bring about the critical policy and regulatory changes - failure to do so means the many negative impacts that current prohibition imposes will be borne by the hemp leadership and not the prohibitionists. In order to spread this important discussion, have reposted this article on my blog:http://hempnewstv.wordpress.com/podchannelshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05877099298150738716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13638234.post-61852755012118530902009-08-20T05:11:57.755-04:002009-08-20T05:11:57.755-04:00Completely agree with you on this front Eric. Tran...Completely agree with you on this front Eric. Transform in the Uk moved from festival based activism to dedicated policy analysis and lobbying / campaigning as it becamnme clear where our limited resources were most usefully deployed. Festivals are festivals and should not be confused with political action. Smoking pot in itself is completely ineffectual form of political protest.Steve Rolleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487781869462634203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13638234.post-80060226336743242552009-08-19T14:57:11.835-04:002009-08-19T14:57:11.835-04:00(Fyi, Dominic was not ejected from the festival, j...(Fyi, Dominic was not ejected from the festival, just the back stage at the main stage.)<br /><br />I used to be concerned about the image of Hempfest, being someone who works in an organization who is trying to put the issue of drug reform into not only the mainstream, but the professional organizations (as you know). But year after year, the festival grows. Who are we to say what is or isn't mainstream? I hear criticisms all the time that "people from Kent" (a seattle poor suburb) were there, as if "those people" are scum. Those people are people, too, and are just as legitimate in their views, hopes and dreams as anyone else.<br /><br />I've come to the conclusion that the political punch of the festival isn't in the message but the numbers. Some estimates this year put the festival at 350,000 - that's as big as a NASCAR race, and no one criticizes the atmosphere of NASCAR rallies and the fact that Budweiser sponsors people driving really fast. Instead, they see them as a constituency worth courting, merely because of the numbers. If this was a "rally" with only speakers, no tie-dye, and threats of arrest, about 200 people would show up, and where's the political punch there?<br /><br />We're always pushing people to "come out" about their pot use. Hempfest is a way to do that with some anonymity - someone may not be on the stage proclaiming their use, but they are one of the 100's of thousands that attend an event celebrating cannabis. This isn't a drug policy conference - it's a festival! People should be allowed to celebrate, have an enjoyable time, and learn something from the great speakers while they're at it. Out of the 350,000, some of them really are listening.kurtzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07372859272437367307noreply@blogger.com