Pubdate: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 Source: Trentonian, The (NJ) Column: Passing the Joint Copyright: 2016 The Trentonian Contact: http://www.trentonian.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006 Author: Ed Forchion, For The Trentonian NJWeedman.com THE CANNABIS-CONSUMING COMMUNITY CELEBRATES CHRISTIE'S DEMISE As we all know, Gov. Christie is back. No more gallivanting around the country with delusions of the presidency. He's back in time for Bridget Anne Kelly's Bridgegate trial (this April); he's back to get an ear full from the teachers' union, to deal with the pension system, and every Thursday he will once again be confronted by medical marijuana activists who for two years have staged a weekly vigil in front of the State House in support of medical marijuana. Jennie Storms, Jim Miller, Lefty Grimes, Ken Wolski, and dozens of others, myself included, made marijuana a constant issue for Christie. His arrogant responses led to him being nationally known as the anti-weed guy, the prohibitionist. He seemed to never get it - that he was "The Naked Emperor" of weed. It appears he's oblivious that his "Politics of Pot" is 30 years out of step, more in line with Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign -- thus, the online pothead "Just Say No To Christie" campaign. I even had "just say no to Christie" T-shirts made up that are now worthless. I'll get back to that later. I hope this serves as a warning to other politicians. In today's America, CNN has become the Cannabis News Network.: Most Americans favor legalization, millions of daily cannabis users live in the 24 states that have legalized marijuana for medical purposes. The District of Columbia and four states have outright legalization, and any politician who doesn't acknowledge the weight of the topic of legalization looks moronic. Besides the obvious - that Christie got "Trumped" at his own bullying, arrogant, narcissistic, Jersey-guy persona by the obnoxious New York guy - weed played a huge role in Christie's demise. He was viewed as unacceptable as a president because of his Politics of Pot. We activists among NJ's Cannabis-Consuming Community take pride in the fact that we exposed Christie's Politics of Pot in the Garden State to the nation. We constantly confronted him at his town halls (e.g., Brian Wilson, Ricardo Rivera). We inundated his websites/Twitter/Facebook with marijuana facts, news, and attacks on his "logic." We called his monthly Ask the Governor show on 101.5 FM to confront him on the air and even outside the studio in the smoke-filled WEEDMOBIL. The Cannabis-Consuming Community of NJ constantly made him respond to our rational progressive ideals regarding cannabis. We take credit for making him disparage Colorado's legalization 4/21/2014 on Ask the Governor: Christie on pot: Colorado law 'not the quality of life we want'. You see, on April 20, 2014, we held the first 420 cannabis smoke-out event at the State House. There was plenty of weed smoking, and no one was arrested. The next day, the Gov. made his infamous negative statements on Ask the Governor about Colorado's quality of life. His comments were a direct response to our 420 event the day before, which was on the front page of all the local papers, including The Trentonian. When a caller asked a weed-related question, he promptly put his shrinking-yet-still-pudgy foot in his mouth. His comments went national, even prompting Colorado's Governor to respond that Colorado's quality of life was better than New Jersey's. The Cannabis-Consuming Community of NJ constantly made him respond to our rational progressive ideals about cannabis, his blood money statement to me (3/25/2015) doomed him. As did his proud proclamation to people in cannabis states... "If you're getting high in Colorado today, enjoy it," Christie said at a Town Hall in New Hampshire last week. "As of January 2017, I will enforce the federal laws." On Fox and Friends he said, "Marijuana is against the law in the states and it should be enforced in all 50 states. That's the law and the Christie administration will support it." That put the final nail in the coffin on his chances to be president. He proclaimed himself the "Law and Order candidate," which again, he doesn't recognize as a negative. Law and Order in many of our eyes means oppression and abuse. It harkens back to Richard Nixon's creation of the War on Drugs - a failed policy. Yet, Christie appeared as a disciple of Harry Anslinger nationally whenever he voiced his illogical claims of a "gateway theory" or "brain damage"; millions laughed at him. The press downplays the importance of the Cannabis-Consuming Community as a political force, but since Bill Clinton's infamous "I didn't inhale" lie, a candidate's Politics of Pot is a huge factor. The factor has been multiplied by 420 this election cycle with #BurningforBernie. I've always believed it was the Potheads, not the Blacks, who propelled Obama into the presidency. Similarly, it is the Potheads who are now pushing Bernie Sanders ahead of Hillary. Christie was an ongoing pothead joke, and in this nation of millions of potheads, he was a buzzkill. My advice to him earlier was to pull a Sanjay Gupta and flip-flop on marijuana, and he would have been competitive. Instead, we got Trump. Last week Christie gave a concession speech in which he acknowledged his message wasn't well received and he was returning to Jersey and suspending his campaign. The activists among us were extremely happy. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom