cannabisnews.com: Festival To Highlight Marijuana Legislation 





Festival To Highlight Marijuana Legislation 
Posted by CN Staff on October 04, 2002 at 09:17:32 PT
By Adam Edelman, News Reporter
Source: Badger Herald
These aren't your typical potheads. They're not lying around listening to Phish and eating Teddy Grahams. These potheads are up and about, advocating the substance they cherish -- marijuana. The 31st Annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival will be held in downtown Madison this weekend to inform the public of the possible benefits of legalizing marijuana, in addition to what the event's sponsors assert are the harms that marijuana's prohibition has already caused. 
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, claims that the festival is "up there among the famous Madison events." This year's Harvest Festival, which is being run -- as it has since it's inception -- by marijuana activist Ben Masel, will address such topics as alternatives to U.S drug policies, civil rights, efforts to pass medical marijuana legislation, local drug policy, and drug testing in schools. The complete event will feature speakers, live bands, DJs, workshops, and a celebration of the Cannabis plant. Although Madison police are not anticipating considerable problems, they will be prepared to deal with any disturbances of the peace. "We'll be monitoring the event, but the history is that we've not had any significant problems in the recent past," said Madison Police Department Capt. Luis Yudice, of the Central District Police Force. The police say they really have no reasons to be concerned, as many past festivals commemorating marijuana have been executed very well. However, five or six years ago, this was not the case. "Things in the past got a little out of hand and we had to make some arrests," Yudice said. "But since then it's been fine." One of the matters police are aware of is the fact that many people will smoke marijuana at the festival. In fact, it has become a tradition to make a pilgrimage to the Capitol and light up on the steps. But Yudice remains composed. "For people who are smoking pot, we'll deal with them as they come up ... some people try to provoke the police by smoking something that looks like marijuana, but actually isn't," he said. Yudice said he does not think medicinal marijuana should be legalized. "The medical use may be appropriate, but I think that we have seen the affects of illegal drug use and the impact it has on society, so I'm a little leery on the idea of free drug use," he said. Conversely, Verveer voiced support for legalizing marijuana. "Not only do I think that medicinal marijuana should have been passed by the U.S. years ago, but also that personal possession and consumption should be legalized," he said. Speakers at this year's festival will include Elvy Musikka, one of seven patients who receive 300 pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes monthly as part of a federal government program; Steve Silverman, director of Flex Your Rights, a Washington, D.C., based organization that teaches individuals how to protect their liberties from overzealous law enforcement; and Valerie Gremillion from the Global Dialog Project. Closing the festival will be a march Sunday from State Street to the State Capitol at 3 p.m. Complete Title: Harvest Festival To Highlight Marijuana Legislation Source: Badger Herald (WI)Author: Adam Edelman, News ReporterPublished: October 04, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Badger HeraldContact:  editor badgerherald.comWebsite: http://www.badgerherald.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Weed Stockhttp://weedstock.com City, Pro-Marijuana Group Apply for Permit http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12258.shtmlWeedstock Case Goes Up in Smokehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11497.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on October 04, 2002 at 10:49:45 PT
Doonesbury Day 5 - Medical Marijuana Series
http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/db.htm
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on October 04, 2002 at 10:47:29 PT
Gary
I'm sending our weather up to you so when the sun breaks out smile and think of me! Have a great time.
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Comment #5 posted by Gary Storck on October 04, 2002 at 10:39:48 PT
Weather not optimum, but that won't stop the party
Send us some of your weather, FoM! Going to be in the mid-upper 50's here, with possible rain on Sunday. It was in the low 80's Monday. This time of year you never know.But, nonetheless, it will be a great time. A lot of planning went into this year's event.Gary
Drug Policy Forum of WI
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on October 04, 2002 at 10:18:46 PT
Gary
Have a wonderful time! The weather is beautiful where I live and hope it is as nice for all of you!
What's New
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Comment #3 posted by Gary Storck on October 04, 2002 at 10:14:18 PT
Join the party in Madison this weekend!
Looking forward to another great Harvest Fest this weekend. Good music, lots of speakers, and even a medical cannabis roundtable Saturday afternoon in the UW-Madison Memorial Union with folks like Elvy Musikka and Jacki Rickert, from 3:30-5:30.LP candidate for WI governor Ed Thompson and Green party candidate Jim Young will both speak on Sunday.Hope to see some of you there!Gary
Drug Policy Forum of WI
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Comment #2 posted by The GCW on October 04, 2002 at 09:56:20 PT
Another party.
Medical Marijuana Patients, Activists Demand End to Attacks on the Sickhttp://www.mpp.org/releases/nr100402.html Marijuana Policy Project Joins White House Protest Oct. 7
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- With California medical marijuana patient and provider Bryan Epis facing a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for growing marijuana for himself and other seriously ill people, the Marijuana Policy Project will join patients and activists in a protest at the White House on Monday, October 7, at 11:00 a.m.   Epis, convicted in July by a jury that was not allowed to consider evidence that the marijuana was for medical use, is scheduled to be sentenced in a Sacramento court on Monday. The protest, sponsored by Americans for Safe Access, will include medical marijuana patients and members of at least a dozen organizations supporting the rights of patients to use medical marijuana without fear of arrest and jail.   Epis' sentencing comes amid a new wave of Drug Enforcement Administration attacks on medical marijuana patients and dispensaries. During the Sept. 5 raid on the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz, camouflage-clad DEA agents pointed automatic weapons at Suzanne Pfeil, disabled by polio, and ordered her to stand. When she couldn't comply, they put her in handcuffs. The raids have provoked anger in Congress and outraged editorials nationwide, from the Seattle Times (Sept. 10) to Michigan's Lansing State Journal (Sept. 19) and Middletown, New York's Times Herald Record (Sept. 20), among others.   "I'm joining this protest because I have friends in California who are alive because of people like Bryan Epis," said Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project. "My friends living with AIDS -- some of whom have such terrible nausea they literally can't keep their pills down without medical marijuana -- need a safe, reliable supply of medicine, which is exactly what California voters intended to give them when they passed Proposition 215 in 1996. The real crime is that Bryan Epis will be separated from his eight-year-old daughter for 10 years for simply trying to help other sick people."   Last week DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson rebuffed California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's plea to stop the raids, claiming in a letter to Lockyer that "the scientific community has never determined" that marijuana has medical value. "Ironically, Hutchinson's letter was sent just as the American Academy of Pain Management was hearing dramatic new data at its annual clinical meeting showing marijuana's safety and efficacy," Mirken noted. "The federal ban on medical marijuana will collapse under the weight of its own dishonesty and cruelty. The only question is how many innocent people will be made to suffer first."WHAT: Protest to demand the pardon of Bryan Epis and an end to attacks on medical marijuana patients
 
WHO: Patients and supporters from Americans for Safe Access, Marijuana Policy Project, and other groups
 
WHERE: The White House, north side (facing Lafayette Park)
 
WHEN: Monday, Oct. 7, 11:00 a.m. 
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on October 04, 2002 at 09:22:22 PT
Party?
Join Us In San Francisco For The Fourth Annual NORML Benefit PartySeptember 26, 2002 - San Francisco, CA, USAhttp://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5420San Francisco, CA: The fourth annual NORML benefit party will be held on Saturday evening, October 12, at 6:30 p.m. at the SomArts Gallery in downtown San Francisco. This event will be co-chaired by San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan and Marsha Rosenbaum, Ph.D., the director of the San Francisco office of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA).The official host committee for this year's NORML benefit includes state Senator John Vasconcellos; San Francisco Supervisor (and Democratic nominee for the State Assembly) Mark Leno; spiritualist Ram Dass; medical marijuana patient and provider Valerie Corral of the Wo/Mens Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM); former California Congressman Dan Hamburg; and local criminal defense attorneys Michael Stepanian and Tony Serra, among many luminaries.Attendees are asked to make a minimum $100 contribution. There will be a silent art auction and a special performance by the Extra Action Marching Band (who stole the show at this year's NORML 4/20 conference party). Proceeds from the event will be used to continue and expand NORML's legislative and educational activities in California.Individuals can register for the benefit party online. For additional information, please contact NORML at 202-483-8751.  
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