For an amazing example of marijuana law reform activism, I bring you Rev. Steven B. Thompson of Michigan NORML. He and eight members of the local Benzie County NORML (in NORML t-shirts) attended a meeting of the so-called “Tea Party” where three of their candidates were hosting an open forum.
The NORML volunteers were excited to read the Mission Statement of the Tea Partiers, with references to “less government involvement in our personal lives,” “defend Constitution even to death,” “defend our civil rights,” and so forth. ”We couldn’t have agreed more!” said Executive Director Thompson.
The candidates (Sen. Wayne Kuipers, Jay Riemersma, and Ted Schendel) were given 5 minutes each to speak and then the floor was opened up for questions. Rev. Thompson asked the following:
Question #1: Do you support our medical marijuana law? All three candidates said, “I voted against it, but I support the will of the people.” (Mmm mmm, sure…)
Question #2 If elected, would you support, and/or sponsor or co-sponsor a ‘regulate & tax system’ on cannabis, much like what is already in place for alcohol & tobacco? All three candidates said, ”NO!” followed by loud applause from audience.
Thompson had another question for the sitting Senator Kuipers regarding what Kuipers called “gray areas” in the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act. Thompson’s insisted that “There are no ‘gray areas’ in our law… The only problem is that there are those in authority who don’t like it, so THEY are saying that there are ‘gray areas’.” This led the Senator to ask Thompson and the NORML activists to speak to him after the event, so others may get their questions in. What follows is a textbook example of how to appeal to our opponents within their own frame of political persuasion:
After the meeting, we talked for about 20 minutes about various things, but none of us got arrested because we were respectful and polite and got that in return.
I asked the senator and several folks standing around us how they could have such a wonderful mission statement and then consciously trample all over OUR civil rights – wasn’t that being hypocritical?
Their answer was because marijuana is against the law and we all know that drugs are bad for you. To which I replied that they, of all people, should know that it was a God-given herbal plant (they had prayer at start of meeting) and that you couldn’t grow drugs out of the ground. Sen. Kuipers said that cocaine grows out of the ground and when I corrected him (coca grows out of the ground; it must be processed by man to become the drug cocaine), he said that he saw my point.
Now here’s the most important part as I see it. He asked me if I was stoned at that moment to which I replied that I had consumed just before I came to the meeting so that I could sit in a chair pain-free for an hour an half.
I asked, “Just what do you folks picture in your minds when you think of someone being ‘stoned’?”
Sen. Kuipers said, “someone falling-down drunk!”
I couldn’t believe his answer. I said, “Do I appear drunk, irrational, or a threat in any way?”
You could see the lite-bulbs go off in their heads. ”No, you don’t,” he said.
“Well, then, therein lies the problem. You folks don’t really know what we are like when using our medicine and until we start getting together and get to know one another, you’re just going to continue to think that we are bad people and fear us!”
To which he and the others replied that I had a point. I told them that I didn’t fear them, that I loved them as my fellow human-beings and just wanted them to see the light and the truth.
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The problem with the Tea Party movement is not their stated mission of “fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets”, but that its being coopted by Christian theocratic Republicans. The Tea Party movement was originally started by independents, disgruntled Republican, some Democrats, libertarians and economic conservatives. Here in Mexico where I now live, we have the only foreign Tea Party organization. It’s led by someone who has told me that the organization is a Christian organization and refused to agree that the organization should welcome potential members of all religious faiths and beliefs, despite their advertisements stating “All are Welcome”. She starts each meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and singing of God Bless America. I really don’t have a problem with that, except, since I’m an atheist, I don’t sing God Bless America. Any other organization would ignore this, but I’ve been called out by her publicly, accusing me of being unpatriotic and disrespectful to our troops who fought and died to protect my right not to sing God Bless America. I’ve been removed from their email notification list which I discovered only after my mother, who remarried and now has a different last name than me, continues to receive emails despite the fact she hasn’t attended a meeting in 8 months. When I pointed out this fact, she wanted my mother’s name so she could delete her name too. I refused so my mother could continue to forward their emails to me. I’m now determined to expose people like her who want to change and coopt the Tea Party movement their own personal reasons.
The choice for individuals to use drugs is a good litmus test for these so-called tea partiers. A true bare bones constitutionalist would allow it, a republican in populist disguise would disallow it.
Typical conservative hypocrites. They say they’re all for smaller government, but they always forget about that when it comes to things they disagree with.
Reality check:
Google Image: Bush Hitler
I love asking people if I seem stoned…… Much to their suprise when I tell them I just blazed one, yet I can carry on an intelligent conversation… Love it.
Freedom under someone elses terms is not freedom at all.
Awesome Rev. very Awesome. I applaud you for having no fear and keeping your civil decorum. A true example has been set.
This only proves to me that some in the tea party movement are using it to gain support for their run for office or they are involved in protesting as a tea partier because, remember I said SOME, not ALL, Some hate that the Republicans lost big time in 08 and now we have a black president and hes trying to changing everything too fast and they say “I like the old days, go back to the way things were”, I say, What when you could Own your own black president, President of the cotton picking crew that is!
With that said they have have a great message in their mission statement but the signs they hold and the way they act and or what they say, its more selfish and aimed at OBAMA to be hurtful and hateful than to get people taking to them about their movement and what they really stand for. Instead its crazy people, talking crazy, “to me it is anyhow”, Then they act like Obama is Hitler or that he is not a citizen or he’s going to hold death panels or that he is Muslim and wants to destroy our nation, thats just crazy talk! Like this, how can you have a debate about energy or graduation rates or Cannabis reform when they are finger painting signs with their own POOP. We want to work with the tea party to get all rights and freedoms back too, like freedom to grow and smoke pot, but what they truly want, well thats anyones guess.
I like the Tea Party and I like smoking “tea” cannabis.
It makes me sad when certain member of the TP are so ignorant (I don’t mean that as an insult, just as a descriptor) that they are ready to believe things about cannabis that are palpably false.
If they believe in (1) individual rights (2) local control (3) the Constitution and (4) cutting taxes (5) ending wasteful spending, they will stop tracking down sick people to investigate/interrogate/arrest/arraign/try/convict and jail.
We can work together with (some of) these people, if we just take the constructive, engaging attitude like the one described above.
So this is a good move on Michigan NORML and I applaud them but the thing I’d like to point out to activists that we need to know our audience better. This was really highlighted last time Ethan Nadelmann when on O’Reilly’s show. You can make enormously important arguments and have absolutely no effect. If you’re going on O’Reilly’s show or to a tea party debate, know that you’re going to be talking to people with a conservative world view. So, make the conservative argument for ending prohibition. There are lots of great ones out there.
Point out that alcohol prohibition required a constitutional amendment and the CSA has had no such amendment. Show the obvious lack of constitutionality of this policy. I’ve asked this question before and I have yet to hear a politician (conservative or liberal) say that it’s ok to ignore the constitution for the sake of public safety and health.
Point out that the free market, american farmer and american entrepreneur can do what military might and big government have failed to do in 70 years.
Point out that if the american farmer grew it here then there would be less illegal immigration trying to smuggle it into the country.
There are a lot of other good ones out there. But know your audience. Ask question where the speakers can’t just decry you a liberal (or conservative) nut job but actually have to give a semi sophisticated answer.
In the end ask question where people in the audience watching will have to stop and think. “well this is bad but if it’s unconstitutional then well it’s unconstitutional.” The point is to plant that seed of doubt.
ok i’m done ranting now. Kudos to michigan norml for taking advantage of this opportunity.
Good. The sooner Tea Partiers know the truth about cannabis and the drug war the sooner they will follow Glenn Beck into believing the government has something better to do than spend $15,000,000,000 on a war on Americans.