420 protests and the medical marijuana override

[Rocketman]

I also want to say that I think Rich Paul is an decent guy who seems to have kind of gotten caught up in this.  Ian is the person who has always argued for the dubious merits of smoking pot in public.  I haven't met Big Mike, but I'm open to thinking he's a decent guy as well.

This isn't something personal I have against Ian.  He and I have debated the merits of this kind of civil disobedience many times (prior to the schism).  Now he has finally gotten his way, and yes, I am quite thoroughly annoyed about the timing.  Oh right, nobody cares...

But does anybody remember Andrew Carroll?  Although I hated to see him get a criminal record and I doubted much good would come of it, his marijuana protest actually made a clear point.  He wanted to enlighten people, not confirm the stereotype that marijuana users are antisocial jerks.  Too bad some people can't see the difference.

[thinkliberty]

(1) If you continue to smoke pot and celebrate recreational pot use in public between now and Oct. 28, please don't ever speak to me again as if you are my friend, and please un-friend me if you are my Facebook friend.  I can respect individuals with differing ideologies and different strategies for achieving liberty, but if you don't have any respect for what these patients are fighting for (i.e. their lives), then you are just an asshole.  After Oct. 28, do whatever you think makes sense. 

(Again, this is not a cease-and-desist order -- I just want to know who my friends are.)

(2) There will be a rally at the state house Oct. 28 for patients, legislators, and supporters.  If anybody tries to hijack this event with a mixed message, that person will be crowned "Asshole of the Year."

I was at the 420 rally today in Manchester. I have fought 2 cancers the last 3 years including a bone marrow transplant last November.

I don't have enough time left on this earth to wait for you to fix your broken violent system. I guess that makes me an asshole who will never be your friend.

I think everyone should be able to grow their own medication without the government's permission. 

I was kept in the hospital for an extra 45 days one time during intense chemo sessions, because I could not keep down food and liquids. My health insurance company would not pay for me to stay in the hospital after exhausting every anti nausea medication they had including synthetic marijuana pills. (When you can't even keep water down, pills don't work when you vomit them back up 2 seconds after you swallow them) They sent me home to die.

My doctor told me I should try marijuana, but he could not prescribe it to me because it was illegal.

I guess that makes me a huge asshole to not die and to use marijuana as medication to save my life, before you've tried pass your precious laws.

I go to the oncology ward for tests and treatment every month and see dozens of people that are denied the right to ease their pain from chemo every day, because some asshat in concord or washington thinks he knows what is best for them. -- Sick people dying of cancer should not have to wait for your legislation to use marijuana. They should be growing it now in their homes. 

Please show up at 420 in Manchester at the veterans memorial park on elm street, or in keene, or start one in your town in support for everyone to use marijuana as medication without a doctors prescription.

This asshole will see everyone next weekend at 420 in Manchester.

[Rocketman]

I think you misunderstand, thinkliberty.  I strongly support your right to defy the law.  I have no qualms about anybody breaking any law that is truly unjust.  I just don't see why you think it's even remotely useful to do it in public.

[Rocketman]

I think everyone should be able to grow their own medication without the government's permission.

So do I.  Easy question.  But people call me every week, people who are desperately ill, and they are not willing to risk arrest.  Some suffer rather than break the law, and others have no idea where to get marijuana, or if it would be likely to help.  Some of the patients already have good connections, and I'm very very glad they do, but others don't.

I was kept in the hospital for an extra 45 days one time during intense chemo sessions, because I could not keep down food and liquids. My health insurance company would not pay for me to stay in the hospital after exhausting every anti nausea medication they had including synthetic marijuana pills. (When you can't even keep water down, pills don't work when you vomit them back up 2 seconds after you swallow them) They sent me home to die.

My doctor told me I should try marijuana, but he could not prescribe it to me because it was illegal.

This is exactly the type of injustice I am working to end.

I guess that makes me a huge asshole to not die and to use marijuana as medication to save my life, before you've tried pass your precious laws.

Geez, certainly not.  Smoke away!

I go to the oncology ward for tests and treatment every month and see dozens of people that are denied the right to ease their pain from chemo every day, because some asshat in concord or washington thinks he knows what is best for them. -- Sick people dying of cancer should not have to wait for your legislation to use marijuana. They should be growing it now in their homes.

Amen.

Please show up at 420 in Manchester at the veterans memorial park on elm street, or in keene, or start one in your town in support for everyone to use marijuana as medication without a doctors prescription.

If you want to see the law change, you'll stay home and smoke in peace.

[Russell Kanning]

I don't think the guys smoking in the park are hurting anyone. I don't think the guys who are asking the government to stop hurting med. mj users are hurting any of us either.

If that puts me on your naughty list for this year Rocketman, then I will have to take my lump of coal this Christmas.

I definitely prefer attracting and hanging around those that actively support other people's freedom as much as their own.

I have not done anything to help the 420 smoking crowd, but I don't want to stand in their way.

As far as strategy is concerned, I think that publicly defying laws speeds up their death.

[AntonLee]

(1) If you continue to smoke pot and celebrate recreational pot use in public between now and Oct. 28, please don't ever speak to me again as if you are my friend, and please un-friend me if you are my Facebook friend.  I can respect individuals with differing ideologies and different strategies for achieving liberty, but if you don't have any respect for what these patients are fighting for (i.e. their lives), then you are just an asshole.  After Oct. 28, do whatever you think makes sense. 

(Again, this is not a cease-and-desist order -- I just want to know who my friends are.)

(2) There will be a rally at the state house Oct. 28 for patients, legislators, and supporters.  If anybody tries to hijack this event with a mixed message, that person will be crowned "Asshole of the Year."

I was at the 420 rally today in Manchester. I have fought 2 cancers the last 3 years including a bone marrow transplant last November.

I don't have enough time left on this earth to wait for you to fix your broken violent system. I guess that makes me an asshole who will never be your friend.

I think everyone should be able to grow their own medication without the government's permission. 

I was kept in the hospital for an extra 45 days one time during intense chemo sessions, because I could not keep down food and liquids. My health insurance company would not pay for me to stay in the hospital after exhausting every anti nausea medication they had including synthetic marijuana pills. (When you can't even keep water down, pills don't work when you vomit them back up 2 seconds after you swallow them) They sent me home to die.

My doctor told me I should try marijuana, but he could not prescribe it to me because it was illegal.

I guess that makes me a huge asshole to not die and to use marijuana as medication to save my life, before you've tried pass your precious laws.

I go to the oncology ward for tests and treatment every month and see dozens of people that are denied the right to ease their pain from chemo every day, because some asshat in concord or washington thinks he knows what is best for them. -- Sick people dying of cancer should not have to wait for your legislation to use marijuana. They should be growing it now in their homes. 

Please show up at 420 in Manchester at the veterans memorial park on elm street, or in keene, or start one in your town in support for everyone to use marijuana as medication without a doctors prescription.

This asshole will see everyone next weekend at 420 in Manchester.

thanks for this think. . . and it was great meeting you

sorry you think I'm your enemy Matt.  I love you and wish only the best for you.  Tonight I'll think about all the good work you've done and won't let your angry demeanor of this evening cast a bad shadow on you.

I fear that your friends here are telling you the truth, yet you seem somehow to believe that some politician actually cares about you, your cause, those damn pothead patients, the damn potheads in the park.

I fully support all medical patients right to use whatever substance they feel like.  If people disagree with that, it's fine and dandy.  My belief doesn't require their affirmative agreement.  The problem is your politician friends like to hurt others, not hurt others like you believe that we're doing (the not hurting anyone kind) but real, honest to goodness aggression.  No freedom activist at any of these political rallies has harmed anyone.  For you to take the side of someone who gladly condones jailing people for possession, use, cultivation of a plant they don't particularly care for is quite distasteful in my humble opinion.

These are what your open-minded political buddies do.   

I hope all goes well for you on the 28th.  I had actually heard that some political people were going to openly light up if the bill fails.   I was going to show up.  I won't now knowing that the rumors I heard were not true (maybe).

Of course, putting out a crown for "asshole of the year" might have actually gotten you what you didn't want.  Some people out there might want to enter the contest for that crown.  Let's hope otherwise, we wouldn't want to see someone doing something so dastardly in public.

[Rocketman]

If that puts me on your naughty list for this year Rocketman, then I will have to take my lump of coal this Christmas.

No lump of coal for you, Russell.  I got to know you and Kat pretty well back in the early days, and although I often disagree with you both, I know you are caring human beings.

As far as strategy is concerned, I think that publicly defying laws speeds up their death.

I'm asking people to voluntarily chill out on the public pot smoking for a few weeks.  If that makes me a tyrant, somebody better hand me a crown or something.

[Rocketman]

sorry you think I'm your enemy Matt.

My political enemies are people who want HB 648 to fail.  I have lots of political enemies, not too many personal enemies... maybe you do not want the bill to fail, but others here do, and I thought you were one of them based on your comments.

I love you and wish only the best for you.  Tonight I'll think about all the good work you've done and won't let your angry demeanor of this evening cast a bad shadow on you.

Thanks, I have had a very long week!  Perhaps I was too quick to judge you as an egotist.

I fear that your friends here are telling you the truth, yet you seem somehow to believe that some politician actually cares about you, your cause, those damn pothead patients, the damn potheads in the park.

A few legislators do really care about the patients, and others don't, just like here on NHFree.com.

I fully support all medical patients right to use whatever substance they feel like.  If people disagree with that, it's fine and dandy.  My belief doesn't require their affirmative agreement.  The problem is your politician friends like to hurt others, not hurt others like you believe that we're doing (the not hurting anyone kind) but real, honest to goodness aggression.  No freedom activist at any of these political rallies has harmed anyone.  For you to take the side of someone who gladly condones jailing people for possession, use, cultivation of a plant they don't particularly care for is quite distasteful in my humble opinion.

These are what your open-minded political buddies do.   

Who am I taking the side of exactly?  I have a few true friends in the legislature, and I can assure you that they are anti-prohibition through and through.  I don't generally socialize with people who think I should be in jail for smoking pot, although I try to be civil to everybody in the legislature. 

I hope all goes well for you on the 28th.  I had actually heard that some political people were going to openly light up if the bill fails.   I was going to show up.  I won't now knowing that the rumors I heard were not true (maybe).

If anybody is going to engage in medical marijuana civil dis, I think it should be seriously ill patients, not recreational users.  There it is again... the tyranny of caring about how certain actions will be perceived.  How awful.

Of course, putting out a crown for "asshole of the year" might have actually gotten you what you didn't want.  Some people out there might want to enter the contest for that crown.  Let's hope otherwise, we wouldn't want to see someone doing something so dastardly in public.

Yep, I know.  Sometimes it's necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff. 

[thinkliberty]

If you want to see the law change, you'll stay home and smoke in peace.

I don't think anyone has ever changed any of your laws by staying home and doing nothing.

Of course, if cared about your laws and followed them I would be dead right now.

[Rocketman]

I don't think anyone has ever changed any of your laws by staying home and doing nothing.

My laws? 

The only way to change a law is to build a majority of support in the legislature.  Actions which help build majorities are actions that help change a law.  Actions that erode public support decrease the chances of changing a law.  These are facts.

Of course, if cared about your laws and followed them I would be dead right now.

Again, my laws?

I wish every seriously ill patient had your attitude, and many do, but in case we hadn't noticed, the majority of human beings don't like to break laws.  I don't think any adult should have to break the law to acquire and use marijuana, but I especially don't think sick people should have to break the law.

[thinkliberty]

Yes. your laws. You support them.

The only way for sick people to live is to ignore them. I think everyone should ignore them in support of people who have died from being denied the right to buy and grow medication. Where doctors are forbidden to prescribe a safe and natural medication that will save their patients life.

Your laws violate the rights of every human being. No one should follow them. No one should wait a few weeks to protest them.

I am not going to stay home because some people might think sick people should die. (your new law only applies to sick people.)

the majority of human beings break laws every day. They speed, smoke weed, download music, etc... The majority of human beings don't mind braking the law.

I especially don't think sick people are special. I think that people have the right to their body and their life, even if they are not sick.

[Johnson]

Well, I'm a GIANT asshole...

I'm not in New Hampshire...

but... I still have to ask...

Ever consider that maybe the protests might HELP get the bill passed?

People might just think "well they are going to smoke anyway"

People might just see "well, these protestors are smoking all the time in the park, and they don't hurt anything"

People that don't usually vote, might see all these activists and decide to get involved...

just sayin'.

[Rocketman]

Okay, thinkliberty, I will chalk you up as somebody who is against changing the marijuana laws.  To me that is very strange and kind of sad, given the injustices you have experienced, but if you insist...

FYI, the only drug laws I support are the ones that require accurate labeling of medications.  The only federal drug law I support is the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, an anti-fraud measure which forced drug peddlers to accurately label their medicines.  Beginning with the Harrison Act of 1914, the rest has all been bad news.

That said, I am willing to compromise to bring about outcomes that are less bad than those produced by Prohibition.  Too many real people are harmed by these policies.

[thinkliberty]

Okay, thinkliberty, I will chalk you up as somebody who is against changing the marijuana laws. 

Please stop with the intellectually dishonest propaganda. I have not implied I am against changing the marijuana laws. I just think activism is needed to change them.

I am against the any law that violates the right of people to grow or buy medication, I think you are too.  I don't think you can change the marijuana laws without activism and protesting.

Please people show the politicians and media that you want the laws changed go to or start a 420 in your town. Start as soon as possible.

Why do you feel that people being free at a park will stop you from changing your law?

[Pat K]

Gee his tag line reads = Live and let Live, y'all.
I guess he should add = unless I don't like what ya do.
Then your an asshole.

It is amazing how you come here to threaten and spread your anger
at folks who have done nothing to you and yours.
Yet you will show the utmost civility and compromise again and again
with vile people who have no problem using force to stop people from doing anything they don't like. They would even keep your friends in pain and agony over a "perception" . Yet you figure it is the folks here
who are the problem. I don't know what I can even say about such a disconnect of where the problems of freedom lay.

If I was a praying man, I would pray for your soul brother,
for you are surely losing it.