420 protests and the medical marijuana override

[Pat K]

How do you know you were smited for this?
Maybe they did not like your avatar.

I was going to comment on how cool the alice avatar is
also ... there may be no such thing as a free lunch, but there seem to be free puffs available at 420 events

I like the avatar to I was just pointing out there could be multiple
reasons for smiting.

[KBCraig]

UL editorial, 10/9:

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?articleId=84b83576-b59c-41aa-b960-e2273a0ce21e

Matt Simon: Public pot use makes little sense
By MATT SIMON

As the Union Leader has reported, activists in Keene have been engaging in daily public "smoke-outs" to protest marijuana laws. Encouraged by a few activists who do not believe in changing bad laws through the legislative process, these individuals have been gathering on Keene's Main Street to smoke marijuana in defiance of state law.

If some of these people are truly interested in reforming marijuana laws, and not just acting out for the sake of acting out, perhaps they should first consider a lesson from history.
....

[AntonLee]

right, we're just little stupid children gathering.  They'd rather I take time off of work, go hang out at the state house to play some game with some old people.  Dress up in a suit and pretend like someone gives a shit about what I have to say.

Then nothing will come of it, and we're right back where we started.  It sounds like Matt wants me to believe I'm going to be more free after his bill goes through but refuses to believe that the exact sort of freedom I'm looking for at this moment is actually happening everyday in the park.

I remember joining the liberty movement back in the day because I tried weed, I liked it, and didn't know why it was illegal.  All I wanted was the freedom to go down to Hampton Beach, sit down on the cool sand, dig my feet in, pop open a blueberry soda, turn on some Johnny Cash, and light a fat mofo and smoke it with whoever wanted to stop by and pull up some sand beside me.

ok so I do that anyways, but I'd like to do it, I dunno, when it's fucking daylight.

BUT THE FURHERS in the STATE HOUSE NO APPROVE!  Hell, even people I thought were looking to push for freedom don't approve.  There could be kids around.  Everyone knows when a kid smells marijuana from afar he starts to grow a third leg and his brain falls out of his mouth.  DUH!.

[thinkliberty]

If some of these people are truly interested in reforming marijuana laws, and not just acting out for the sake of acting out, perhaps they should first consider a lesson from history.
....

I learned a lesson in history recently where the governor vetoed the medical marijuana bill.

Working at the state house to stop the thugs in government from attacking sick people because they might use a safe and natural cure does not work.

History shows me that one man in government can and will try to deny the right to life and liberty of everyone else with a stroke of the pen.

a person who is diagnosed with a serious illness late in life may have no idea where he or she can turn for relief.

That is no longer a problem.

These people need to show up at the 420 events to find relief. We are in keene and manchester at the park 7 days a week.  It's easy to spot us, we are the ones protesting the fact that the government is outlawing the medication that they need.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Blueberry soda and Johnny Cash?

[ny2nh]

What's really interesting is that the people in my office are talking about ALL marijuana usage in a positive light, BECAUSE of the protests in Keene.
It started off as a huge joke about the pot-head students out there. Then some non-teens were seen and they started to wonder what the troublemakers were up to. I pointed out that there was only 1 arrest out of the 100 plus people present and they jumped all over the "law breaker". I further went on to say that he was arrested for possession and released when he was found not to be in possession of any drugs. And now the guys are a little bit coming over to the side of freedom.
So Matt, they may be harming the chances of the Medical Marijuana Veto Override this year, but the activists are paving the way for the total decriminalization next year (or whenever in the future NHCommonSense or some similar group decides to propose the legislation.)

How many people in your office actually come out and vote?

In order to pass any sort of decrim bill, people need to elect people who might be willing to support it. All the protests in the world can't force a legislator who refuses to support a bill to support it.

People need to elect better legislators. In order to do that, they need to vote. Otherwise they are just Monday morning querterbacks.

[ny2nh]

a person who is diagnosed with a serious illness late in life may have no idea where he or she can turn for relief.

That is no longer a problem.

These people need to show up at the 420 events to find relief. We are in keene and manchester at the park 7 days a week.

I think this is maybe the single most ignorant comment I have read yet. That's your solution? These extremely ill patients should come down to the park for relief? Someone dying of cancer in Tilton should what hop on a bus and come on down for an afternoon in the park?

[Tom Sawyer]

Has Matt's position changed since I made this video at the Boston Freedom Rally. He was concerned about the arrests... you know of people smoking publically. Of those arrested that day was Keith Stroup, Esq. NORML Legal Counsel... so was Keith, who has been at the forefront of the marijuana movement for 30 years, hurting the effort to end the war on marijuana people?

[Lloyd Danforth]

I don't think he meant patients with tubes in them. It could be an opportunity for someone, ambulatory, suffering from nausea or pain that Pot might help, to give it a try.

I support libertarian candidates, I vote and I support all Civil Disobedience. While none of us are likely doing all that we could, to dismiss the importance of either in achieving Liberty is letting prejudice get in the way of the Goal.

[Russell Kanning]

I like the avatar to I was just pointing out there could be multiple
reasons for smiting.

sure you can like the avatar .... sure you can support Friday's/Alice's right to smite and be smitten ... but where will you and your pot smoking buddies be when the smiting turns to fists of death
I denounce your open joking and rabble rousing and HL Menken quoting. You should be quiet and take your ideas to the proper authorities.

[sandm000]

How many people in your office actually come out and vote?

In order to pass any sort of decrim bill, people need to elect people who might be willing to support it. All the protests in the world can't force a legislator who refuses to support a bill to support it.

People need to elect better legislators. In order to do that, they need to vote. Otherwise they are just Monday morning querterbacks.

Quite a few vote, but not nearly half. But still public opinion on the matter is shifting. You can feel it. And who knows, maybe some enterprising group could run one-issue candidates who are only voting 'Yes' on marijuana legislation.

[thinkliberty]

a person who is diagnosed with a serious illness late in life may have no idea where he or she can turn for relief.

That is no longer a problem.

These people need to show up at the 420 events to find relief. We are in keene and manchester at the park 7 days a week.

I think this is maybe the single most ignorant comment I have read yet. That's your solution? These extremely ill patients should come down to the park for relief? Someone dying of cancer in Tilton should what hop on a bus and come on down for an afternoon in the park?

I have been fighting cancers for the last 3 and a half years, I don't think my comment was ignorant at all. Why do you think my comment was ignorant?

If you are so concerned about sick people in Tilton not being able to access medication that they need,  Maybe you could go to a park in Tilton at 420 everyday so you can get the sick people the medication that they need, so they don't need to come down to Manchester.

I live close to Manchester so that is the park that I go to. Hopefully someone in Tilton will care enough to take up the cause that the people in Keene started, like we have in Manchester. 

I talked to other patents at the oncology ward at dana-farber at my last doctors appointment. They *all* liked that we were smoking marijuana illegally in the park. Not a single person disapproved.

My solution is for extremely ill patients like myself is ignore the marijuana laws, just like the protesters in the parks. It saved my life, maybe it will save their life too.

[Mike Barskey]

Has Matt's position changed since I made this video at the Boston Freedom Rally. He was concerned about the arrests... you know of people smoking publically. Of those arrested that day was Keith Stroup, Esq. NORML Legal Counsel... so was Keith, who has been at the forefront of the marijuana movement for 30 years, hurting the effort to end the war on marijuana people?

Wow. Matt still appears angry and/or rude to me, but now he's coming off as hypocritical, too. Thanks for sharing this info.

[thinkliberty]

All the protests in the world can't force a legislator who refuses to support a bill to support it.

All the legislators in the world can't force a movement of peaceful people who refuse to support or follow their bad laws. They might be able to stop one protester, but they can't stop the movement.

Every time one protester is stopped 10 new protesters will take their place. -- That's how it's worked in Keene so far.  I think that is why the police in Manchester have left the peaceful people in the park at 420 alone. They might understand that and don't want to turn Manchester in to another Keene.

Either way the protesters win. Police action just speeds up the process.

[MengerFan]

a person who is diagnosed with a serious illness late in life may have no idea where he or she can turn for relief.

That is no longer a problem.

These people need to show up at the 420 events to find relief. We are in keene and manchester at the park 7 days a week.

I think this is maybe the single most ignorant comment I have read yet. That's your solution? These extremely ill patients should come down to the park for relief? Someone dying of cancer in Tilton should what hop on a bus and come on down for an afternoon in the park?

Seems not particularly more unreasonable than expecting them to get fingerprinted and registered on a recurring basis and traveling to one of three depots in the state, each having their supply arbitrarily limited by decree.