Pubdate: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 Source: Trentonian, The (NJ) Column: Passing the Joint Copyright: 2014 The Trentonian Contact: http://www.trentonian.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006 Author: Nj Weedman Page: A5 EMPEROR CHRIS CHRISTIE HAS NO CLOTHES! Christie Is the Naked Emperor! Sorry for putting that image in your heads. "We the People" have won the war on marijuana, but some government officials refuse to quit. They continue to inflict arrests and destruction on the populace. Most of us already know: The government could never win its war on marijuana because "We the People" know the truth. Their laws are based on lies. Opinion polls show most people don't believe the lies the government has been telling about marijuana for decades They think marijuana should be legal. An October 2013 national Gallup poll showed 58% of Americans believe marijuana should be legal. 101.5 FM recently asked its listeners if "marijuana should be legal." 64 percent said yes. It's mainly those with a connection to the failed effort who affirm why government keeps waging this war on us. Former drug-chasing prosecutor Governor Christie is a prime example. Every time he opens his prohibitionist mouth about marijuana, he sounds like the king in "The Emperor's New Clothes." In the fable, everyone knew the emperor was naked though no one would admit it. Everyone knows our government is lying, yet Emperor Christie continues to strut about in the ideological buff, making proclamations and claims that render his "prohibition stance" the laughing stock of the nation and doom his presidential hopes worse than the fading Bridgegate scandal. For two decades I've been the little kid in the crowd who's yelling: "But the emperor is naked!" The legal profession is another entity so entangled in the war on drugs it can't extricate itself. The NJ State Bar Association and the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey are silent on this issue, and their silence speaks volumes. The cannabis laws are this profession's cash cow. Prosecutors' careers are built on successful drug convictions, and lawyers profit from the pillaging of citizens. The lie is that marijuana is a Schedule I drug. Why don't legal professionals simply challenge en masse the government's Schedule 1 classification of marijuana? Even lawyers from NORML NJ (National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws) won't present this winning legal argument in court. I've given it away for free: http://www.njweedman. com/challenge.pdf. As for law enforcement, numerous times police officers and prison guards have told me when they retire they want to smoke a joint with me. Several times police officers have caught me with marijuana (it's not hard, I always have it on me) but let me go. But officially they must enforce the marijuana laws. Police officers should refuse to arrest potheads. But I know that as long as police agencies get to keep a percentage of the possessions of arrested drug violators under the asset-forfeiture laws, the arrests will continue. However, unresponsive lawmakers who refuse to acknowledge the growing public support for revising the marijuana laws are the heart of the problem. The hypocrisy of the situation was recently highlighted by Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini (R-Monmouth), who is the Legislature's most rabid opponent of marijuana legalization. Angelini runs Prevention First, a nonprofit claiming to combat drug and alcohol abuse. But she recently held a fundraiser at the Beach Bar in Asbury Park. For $800, "You can be a beverage sponsor." Alcohol is far worse than marijuana. Angelini was selected to participate in the recent Drug Abuse Policy Academy hosted by SAMHSA, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agency that leads efforts to advance the nation's behavioral health. Angelini's a typical political hypocrite. Both the Democratic and Republican parties are hypocrites when it comes to the war on drugs. Angelini says there's nothing hypocritical about her event and she doesn't believe alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana. Mary Pat Angelini, you're so naked! - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom