Pubdate: Thu, 02 May 2002
Source: Lakota Journal (SD)
Contact:  2002 Lakota Journal
Website: http://www.lakotajournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1116
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

MILLION MARIJUANA MARCH TO BE HELD IN RAPID CITY

Part Of Worldwide Event On May 4, 2002

RAPID CITY SD  -- "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.
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