Pubdate: Thu, 16 Oct 2014
Source: Trentonian, The (NJ)
Column: Passing the Joint with NJ Weedman
Copyright: 2014 The Trentonian
Contact:  http://www.trentonian.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006
Author: Edward Forchion, NJWeedman.com

LEGALIZE MARIJUANA MARCH TO HAPPEN SATURDAY IN TRENTON

I consider myself a peaceful, proud, patriotic pothead, and I've 
always been a civil disobedience aficionado. "F the law, smoke it 
anyway" has been my rallying cry for a couple of decades now. In my 
opinion this nation's War on Drugs is built upon a foundation of 
unjust laws that have infringed upon the freedoms of all Americans, 
especially people of color. I have come to understand that one of the 
most pivotal duties of a patriot is to question the government.

Nowhere have I seen in our nation's Constitution where the government 
granted the right to regulate anyone's body or mind. But that's 
exactly what these freedom traitors - the Democrats and Republicans - 
have done. They proudly enacted unjust laws to imprison citizens for 
what they choose to ingest. A Plant.

Forty-four years ago in October of 1970, a bi-partisan Congress 
passed the Controlled Substance Act and President Richard Nixon 
signed it into law. A few months later the president officially 
declared an all-out "War on Drugs," which we all know was really a 
war on "us" - not on drugs.

I believe in civil disobedience. This strategy to affect change is 
the open refusal to comply with certain laws, statutes, or orders of 
a government or an occupying power. Civil disobedience is one of the 
many ways people have traditionally rebelled against what they deem 
to be unfair laws. It is sometimes, though not always, defined as 
nonviolent resistance, and it was a huge factor in the success of the 
American Civil Rights Movement of the sixties. Martin Luther King, 
Jr., employed civil disobedience as a way of combating the nation's 
segregationist policies, and he did so in such memorable ways as 
organizing the march on Selma, Alabama. Through his support and 
organizing of sit-ins throughout the South, he deliberately broke 
laws he deemed unjust in order to affect social change. He attributed 
his adherence to civil disobedience to the example presented to the 
world by Mahatma Gandhi's campaign for India's independence from British rule.

MLK had said, "One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust 
laws," and he further stated: "An individual who breaks a law that 
conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty 
of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community 
over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law."

With this in mind, we can apply the tactic of civil disobedience to 
the current struggle for marijuana legalization.

ATTENTION TRENTONIANS:

If you are a pot smoker, ganja toker, medical marijuana user, etc., 
your presence is wanted for a massive act of civil disobedience this 
Saturday, October 18. The Cannabis Conference is being held here in 
the city of Trenton, and the entire state's peaceful weed users are 
invited. Also invited were Gov. Chris Christie and Trenton Mayor Eric 
Jackson. The Conference is really a march and a public demonstration 
of our refusal to comply with the state's marijuana laws. It's our 
physical demand to the Demo-Publican politicians of NJ to change 
them. "Legalize It."

The government has been lying about the uses and effects of marijuana 
for decades and using those lies to justify criminalization of this 
plant - and it must stop. Bozos like NJ State Senator Mary Pat 
Angelini and Kevin Sabet, the director of the Drug Policy Institute 
at the University of Florida, are still spreading "reefer madness" lunacy.

We all know the gov's stance, but I have no idea where Mayor Jackson 
stands on the issue of marijuana legalization. I really hope he takes 
this opportunity to attend. Maybe he's brave like Mayor Nutter of 
Philadelphia, who recently signed a marijuana decriminalization bill 
that makes marijuana offenses a summary charge in Philly that are 
punishable by a simple fine. It goes into effect on October 20. 
Hopefully I'll still be free to go to Philly to smoke to that on the 
20th, and I'd gladly pay the fine.

At the October 18th rally, one of the featured speakers will be 
Legalize Marijuana Party (12th district) Congressional candidate Don 
Dezarn, who was recently suspended from his job of 18 years at 
Princeton University for enrolling in the State of New Jersey's legal 
medical marijuana program. Members of the Green Party and the 
Libertarian Party will also be in attendance, and statewide freedom 
groups such as "Decarcerate the Garden State" are coming together for 
this event. Marijuana comedian and activist Michael Hayne will be 
doing a stand-up routine, and local performers and artists are 
invited to the open mic session.

In the spirit of all those who have ever employed civil disobedience 
to affect social change, we are marching from the Trenton train 
station down State Street (openly toking) to the State House where we 
will stage a smoke-out at 4:20. If he takes his presidential 
aspirations seriously, Christie won't be the Bull Connor of this era, 
doing everything in his power to douse the flame of the people's 
will. While I hope not to be arrested, I am ready and willing to 
write my next column from the county jail.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom