cannabisnews.com: March for Mary Jane





March for Mary Jane
Posted by CN Staff on November 18, 2007 at 19:20:07 PT
By Robyn Sidersky
Source: Central Florida Future 
Florida -- Members of the UCF chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws marched near Millican Hall Wednesday in their continuing fight to get marijuana legalized."We had a marijuana march for the legalization of marijuana medicinally, industrially and recreationally," senior education major and NORML member Troy Bennett said.
At around 12:45 p.m., NORML members and supporters marched from the Student Union toward Millican Hall. Led by skateboarders, the group chanted slogans such as, "One, two, three, four, time to end the drug war. Five, six, seven, eight, time to get the facts straight."As the group stood before Millican Hall, holding up signs and a NORML banner, the chant's final line evolved into a passionate statement: "Smoking weed is really great."After the march, the group set up a tent in front of the Union to continue spreading the word about its cause. "Our basic goal is to raise awareness to people in the community, educate people about the many uses of marijuana and the lies that have been put into people's heads," Bennett said. "We're not a smoking group here just so we can enjoy marijuana. We're here to advocate smarter drug policy by the government to advocate non-wasteful spending."The group is very active on campus and won the Organization of the Year award from the Knights of the Roundtable in 2005.The group's main argument is that the government is spending too much money in the war on drugs. According to the National Drug Control Strategy for the 2006 fiscal year, the government recommended $12.4 billion in spending to stop drug use, rehabilitate drug users and disrupt illegal drug trafficking.Brandon Polley, the public relations director for NORML, said that if the marijuana market were regulated, the money would go into the economy instead of being wasted."Marijuana never killed anyone in U.S. medical history," Polley said. "Tobacco, alcohol and aspirin kill."Sophomore economics and political science major Chad Weatherstone said that marijuana poses no health threat in comparison to other legalized drugs."It's the safest drug out there," said Weatherstone, who is also the treasurer of NORML. "Government just doesn't make sense to me."Polley said that it would be better and safer if marijuana were sold in stores rather than by drug dealers.James McIntyre, the vice president of NORML, said the group tries to hold marches once or twice every year. He has his own personal reasons for being involved in the organization."It's something I'm pretty passionate about," McIntyre said. "I've had so many friends arrested by police."McIntyre said NORML is the perfect medium to get involved. "Being involved gives me a great opportunity to meet people and make connections," he said.Source: Central Florida Future (Orlando, FL Edu)Author: Robyn SiderskyPublished: November 19, 2007Copyright: 2007 Central Florida FutureContact: http://tinyurl.com/2t5sy4Website: http://www.ucffuture.com/NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/CannabisNews NORML Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/NORML.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by rchandar on November 19, 2007 at 15:26:56 PT:
March
nine, ten, eleven, twelve, DEA, go to hell.thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen,
Impeach George Bush, know what I mean?seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty,
legalize weed, make it plenty.
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