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Freedom Action of the Week
Email List Archive
Free-Market.Net's F r e e d o m A c t i o n o f t h e W e e k ------------------------------------------------------------------ Edited by Mary Lou Seymour. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this and other lists, click to: http://www.free-market.net/features/lists/ Third Week of June, 2002: Take Action for Safe Access for Medical Marijuana Patients Voters in eight states have legalized medical marijuana, including Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, plus Washington, DC. However, the federal government has continued to raid marijuana distribution centers and arrest medical marijuana patients, claiming that possession of the drug remains a federal crime despite the states' actions. June 6 was a nationwide day of direct action to push back DEA attempts to re-criminalize medical cannabis. For those who, like me, missed the June 6 DEA protest actions, there's still time to jump on the medical marijuana protest bandwagon. The June 6 actions were only the opening salvo in a coordinated, year-long grassroots campaign to alert the American public to the medical marijuana issue and the horrible abuse of power the feds are taking against the states which have passed laws legalizing medical marijuana. Common Sense for Drug Policy, NORML,and other drug law reform organizations have formed a coalition, Americans for Safe Access (ASA), whose goal is "to spread creative resistance across the country that tackles the absurdities and injustices of the drug war and build our momentum until we have stopped it." The ASA website has a plethora of information on outreach activities, state contacts and an excellent guide to organizing, as well as links to resources on direct action, medical marijuana and the latest news stories from the June 6 protests, (which got excellent press, by the way). The 6/6 protests were well planned (with only three weeks of lead time) and well executed, with a broad coalition of activists from left and right taking part. (ASA also offers civil disobedience training to participants.) So what can we do to join in this growing movement? As with most actions, there are several levels of involvement; you choose those you feel comfortable with and have time for. First, sign the "pledge of resistance" on the ASA site, to be ready for the next round of events. The pledge states "I oppose federal harassment, closures, and arrests of medical marijuana patients, dispensaries, and care givers." You then choose from two options: "I pledge to take part in nonviolent civil disobedience in the event of any action denying patients access to medical marijuana" or "I pledge to support people in my community carrying out nonviolent civil disobedience in the event of any action denying patients access to medical marijuana." Second, sign up for the emergency response listserv, to be notified of DEA raids as soon as they happen. The ASA network will mount "day after" protests at local federal buildings nationwide at noon on the day after a federal raid against a medical marijuana dispensary. June 6 was only the first in a series of such direct actions. I'd like to note here that, although non-violent civil disobedience was undertaken at the June 6 protest in Washington D.C. and, will again be utilized at future protests, and although I personally am in favor of civil disobedience as a tactic, it IS illegal (that's what "civil disobedience" means). If you are interested in reading more on why the medical marijuana movement is using this tactic, see the essay by CSDP President Kevin B. Zeese, "Why I am Willing To Go To Jail For Medical Marijuana." You may also want to re-read Dr. Martin Luther King's classic "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." In an interesting "modern twist" on civil disobedience, some supporters of the medical marijuana movement co-ordinated a "netstrike on the DEA to demonstrate how much public support (for medical marijuana) we have, to stop DEA misinformation if only for a day, and to afford supporters who fear visibility an action they can take from any computer." Whether "DEA netstrikes" or other cyber civil disobedience will be a part of future protests is not stated, but there are resources for more information on the concept. Third, you can print out the Adobe Acrobat (PDF) version of the "pledge of resistance" and pass it around to your friends, post it on public bulletin boards, or (hehe) leave a few copies in doctors' waiting rooms. To get into this movement on an even deeper level, go to the ASA website state contact page and contact the person listed for your state to join or assist in starting a local ASA chapter. (Note: even if you don't live in a state that has already legalized medical marijuana, ASA is forming chapters and protesting nationwide.) If you don't choose to participate in civil disobedience yourself (it can mean going to jail) you can choose to be part of the "support team" at the actions, or, if you don't support civil disobedience as a tactic at all, there are still perfectly legal actions you can take to support safe access for medical marijuana patients. Go to the "Take Action" link to email your Congresscritters. (This leads to the NORML "Alert" page, which has one of those nifty form letters that you can either send as is or edit to your taste; this particular one urges Congress to stop wasting money on DEA raids, I had to "edit" the form letter a bit, but it gives you a general idea.) And, of course, you can write letters to the editor, using the form letter as a guide. Medical marijuana is an excellent "wedge issue" for outreach to our friends on the right, who understand laissez faire economics and gun rights, but balk at social libertarianism and legalizing drugs. The war on medical marijuana is causing compassionate conservatives to rethink their positions; the federal intrusion into state policy is likewise affecting the federalists. Til next week ... For freedom! Mary Lou ===== Americans for Safe Access Coalition: http://www.free-market.net/rd/997413417.html Common Sense for Drug Policy: http://www.free-market.net/rd/462430976.html "Why I am Willing To Go To Jail For Medical Marijuana," by CSDP President Kevin B. Zeese: http://www.free-market.net/rd/768792855.html Letter from a Birmingham Jail, by Dr. Martin Luther King: http://www.free-market.net/rd/392229989.html Netstrike the DEA: http://www.free-market.net/rd/394680232.html Hacktivists: http://www.free-market.net/rd/395900310.html Action of the Week archive: http://www.free-market.net/features/list-archives/activism/maillist.html
In December 2004 this page was modified significantly from its original form for archiving purposes.
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