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  Million Marijuana March To Be Held In Rapid City
Posted by CN Staff on May 03, 2002 at 08:07:24 PT
Editorial 
Source: Lakota Journal  

cannabis "High school students should be distributing literature about the Million Marijuana March. They're the people most at risk from the current insane governmental policies," Bob Newland said today in response to a question as to whether he was concerned about youngsters passing out announcements which contain a cannabis leaf graphic.

Newland, 54, of Hermosa (SD), is the president of SoDakNORML, an affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). SoDakNORML is the organizing entity which committed to stage a march coinciding with marches in over 160 cities worldwide.

Participants in Rapid City's segment of the Million Marijuana March will begin gathering at 3:30 p.m. May 4 at the intersection of Sixth and Columbus Streets. The march will begin at 4:20 p.m. and will proceed north on Sixth Street to Memorial Park near the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. MMM literature advertises an "accoustic jam" in Memorial Park following the march.

First staged in 1997, the Million Marijuana March is the best-known single event in the world centering on law reform with respect to the cannabis plant. New York resident Dana Beal, an authority on naturopathic and homeopathic therapies, has stage-managed the event since its inception. Further information on Beal and the history of the MMM can be obtained at: http://www.cures-not-wars.org/

Newland said he decided to manage the Rapid City event because, "We have decided to do whatever it takes to get the attention of the politicians, and make them aware of the massive damage being done to all of us because of the misguided prohibition of some psychoactive substances, of which cannabis -- or marijuana, as the politicians like to call it -- is certainly the most benign."

"I'm aware," Newland said, "that, for many folks, this will be tantamount to my revealing a tail and horns and seeking to lead innocent youth to give up their souls. However, the very youth who currently are distributing flyers and posting posters are those most at risk to be damaged by the so-called 'war on some drugs'.

"Current drug policy provides huge profits to those who dare to take the risks of providing cannabis to anyone who will purchase it. Since there is no governmental oversight, cannabis dealers -- who often deal in other illicit drugs as well -- are available all the time, everywhere. High school kids often say that cannabis is easier to obtain than alcohol."

"Furthermore," Newland said, "students are subjected to a bunch of punishments not afforded to adults convicted of possession of marijuana. Their drivers licenses are suspended or revoked, they are expelled from extra-curricular activities, and they are barred from obtaining government-guaranteed student loans. Thieves and aggravated-assaulters are not barred from obtaining student loans, but a person caught once smoking pot will be. That is nuts.

"The Million Marijuana March is simply an opportunity for anyone who wants to publicly and in an orderly fashion make the statement that he or she thinks that enough is enough. We're tired of being vilified -- not just for smoking pot, but for even daring to criticize the most massive failure of public policy in the nation's history. Alcohol Prohibition was a tragic failure, but it was merely a warm-up for the death, destruction, and corruption wrought by the past thirty years of ever-increasingly vicious drug law enactment, prosecution and enforcement."

According to Newland, there has been a marijuana arrest in the United States every 50 seconds for the past four years, 85 per cent of which were merely for possession. Newland also said, "We have only five per cent of the planer's population, but we have 25 per cent of the world's prisoners - -- over two million and rising. We have more prisoners than the whole European Union, which has four times our population. The majority of our prisoners are in for non-violent sale or possession charges."

During the past four sessions of the South Dakota legislature, Newland has been a familiar figure, lobbying for industrial hemp and medical cannabis bills. "Legislators have derided us and have killed our bills after listening to credible witnesses testify as to the industrial and medical efficacy of cannabis," Newland said. "Meanwhile, we continue to import hemp from abroad and from Canada. Meanwhile, people with medical conditions are treating themselves with cannabis which they buy on the street, and for which they face jail sentences. Meanwhile, the government continues to churn out lie after lie about the most versatile plant God created.

"All these issues are what the Million Marijuana March was organized to dramatize. Call the march 'radiation therapy', if you will, for the societally-destructive cancer of prohibition of some substances -- a public policy which has provided no benefits, but which has caused incomprehensible evils."

For further information about the Rapid City segment of the Million Marijuana March, see -- http://www.sodaknorml.org/mmm2002.htm -- or call Bob Newland at 605-255-4032.

Note: Part Of Worldwide Event On May 4, 2002.

Source: Lakota Journal (SD)
Published: May 2, 2002
Copyright: 2002 Lakota Journal
Contact: editor@lakotajournal.com
Website: http://www.lakotajournal.com/

Related Article & Web Site:

Million Marijuana March 2002
http://freedomtoexhale.com/million.htm

Marijuana-March Site Criticized
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12689.shtml


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Comment #2 posted by Lehder on May 03, 2002 at 10:37:32 PT
more dumbing down
Bush's reduction of the federal student loan program, according to various recent articles, has been passed to help pay for his tax cut for the wealthy. He's taking tax money from ambitious kids who really need it and can put it to good use and forking it over the likes of...well, George Bush. His kids, of course, don't worry about student loans. The typical college graduate these days enters the job market tens of thousands of dollars in debt, and with the unemployment rate at an eight-year high now of 6% their long struggle in dumbed-down America can seem endless.

But I'm being too cynical. You can get a high paying job making people's lives difficult or impossible with a sample of sparkling pure urine. No education at all is needed to stand around in airports with a machine gun!

Starve the economy and have a thrifty meal. VAAI

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Comment #1 posted by p4me on May 03, 2002 at 10:18:23 PT
How is that working for you?
they are barred from obtaining government-guaranteed student loans

The federal budget is in a bad way. Yesterday I saw on the news where the government is wanting to reduce the federal student loans program by 1.3 billion dollars. There is no doubt that the cannabis criminals will not be placed on the eligability list.

I enjoy that Dr. Phil on Oprah. On of his favorite lines is " How is that working for you." I say the WOD minus T&A is not the best plan. America is supposed to be about freedom and not marijuana prohibition. The war for marijuana freedom is just a tip of the corrupted iceburg, you prohibitionist BAHstards.

Starve the economy and have a thrifty meal. VAAI

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