Roger Christie, "danger to the community", according to the court.
On July 8, 2010, fourteen people were raided in Hawaii on charges stemming from a secret indictment by a federal grand jury of the THC Ministry, a church claiming the religious right to use cannabis as a sacrament. Of those fourteen, thirteen were released on bail, but the District Court denied bail to one, the leader of the church, Roger Christie.
The felony marijuana charges include:
(1) conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 100 or more marijuana plants;
(2) manufacturing marijuana (240 marijuana plants); and
(3) possession with the intent to distribute.
In denying bail for Mr. Christie, the government claims he is a “danger to the community”:
CHRISTIE AS A DANGER TO THE COMMUNITY, AS EVIDENCED BY HIS DECISION TO RECOMMENCE THE MINISTRY’S MARIJUANA TRAFFICKING OPERATIONS AFTER BEING SEARCHED ON MARCH 10, 2010:
Of particular importance to Magistrate Chang’s decision was Christie’s conscious decision to recommence the Ministry’s marijuana trafficking activities after March 10, 2010.
On March 10, 2010, Federal law enforcement officers searched the Ministry’s business premises (located at 94 Kamehameha Avenue, Hilo, HI), Christie’s residence, and Christie/St. Cyr’s safety deposit box. At that time, about 12 live marijuana plants, marijuana seeds, and various liquids in vials suspected to contain marijuana by-products (as tinctures and oils) were found and recovered at the Ministry’s business premises.
Aside from the [$21,494 in] cash discussed above, approximately 845 grams of processed marijuana (453.6 grams = one pound) and various bottles/jars containing suspected marijuana tinctures and oils were also seized from Christie’s residence.
So, the danger to the community in this case is that if Roger Christie was out on bail, he’d reopen his church and continue growing and sharing cannabis with the people of Hawaii? In Christie’s petition to the court, he promised he would cease church activities if released on bail but the court apparently didn’t buy the promise since he didn’t cease church activities after the March 10 search.
Regardless, holding someone without bail is something we should reserve for flight risks or truly dangerous offenders. Nobody could reasonably argue that a gentle soul like Roger Christie is going to harm society. It is not as if the people who would go to THC Ministry for their sacrament are going without cannabis while he’s in jail; surely there are marijuana suppliers in Hawaii who will take up the slack.
What this is really about is the silencing of a successful activist. It’s the same principle used to shut up Marc Emery. It is Roger Christie’s political activism that is being persecuted here. No standard grower caught with a plants, seeds, tinctures, and less than a kilo of pot would be held without reasonable bail, especially considering the lack of firearms, prior criminal record, and any other drug activities.
This case illustrates why it is so important to legalize marijuana for all adults. The “danger to the community” angle only works if marijuana is criminal. The state feels a danger from a church because the marijuana they use as sacrament is criminal. Roger has preached a religious right to use cannabis protected by the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but even with that right, illegal cannabis for all would still result in unreasonable restrictions for religious users, just as medical users are limited in plant numbers and possession amounts, subject to evictions and firings and drug tests, and still forced to prove their legitimacy lest they face arrest like everyone else who uses cannabis.
If you’d like to help Roger, send him mail, or donate to his case, please visit the THC Ministry website.
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[...] a religious defense for use of marijuana in Canada might not take you any farther that it would in the states. A judge has thrown out a legal challenge that claimed Canada’s marijuana laws violates the [...]
[...] Amendment/Religious use rights. NORML was blindsided by the angry barrage of comments and quickly enlisted Russ Bellville to salvage the big huhu. The investigation of the THC-Ministry was conducted by a joint team of the Drug [...]
I don’t know if html works here, I will post my card via a link and I will try to use html too.
http://xcannabis.com/norml/medcard.jpg
See, nothing is said about any possibility of failure during an arrest. It says nothing about an affirmative defense, and there is no mention of any possibility of being able to go to jail for possessing as recommended “24 ounces or 15 plants”.
It does say that it is a “Medical Authorization” and thats about it.
And if you want to talk about extreme prices.
I can go to the doctor and get a physical and get my DOT testing done fore less than $100 at a regular doctor. But this “Medical Authorization” took the doctor less than 10 minutes of visiting with me, and cost $200.
So how is it fair that you berate Roger Christie for offering a legal defense, but not med-card companies who offer the same?
Russ I wish I could post images. I will show you my card from CBR Medical, and it says ABSOLUTELY nothing about only being an affirmative defense. Certainly it does not say anywhere that jail is possible. Honestly.
I knew you weren’t really done.
“why people get so incensed when NORML doesn’t engage in the tactics they believe in”
Not expecting NORML to do other than respect the truth about Cannabis & Christie: unique, essential & heroic.
Thanks for your consideration.
Good luck to you too.
OK. Go abolish the DEA and the IRS. That would be very helpful.
Registering people to vote and forcing government to change its policy is what now has medical marijuana in ten states that have passed it by initiative. I do believe the people can change the laws without tax revolts and treason charges.
But I’m not stopping you from engaging in those tactics. Go right ahead. Like I said, no DEA would be helpful. Not so sure about the IRS.
I don’t understand why people get so incensed when NORML doesn’t engage in the tactics they believe in. We’re not stopping you from forming groups and taking action. Good luck to you.
I can be even more “argumentative” when one of my best friends is being sniped at while in prison, unable to respond for himself. Likewise, when some condescending brat anoints himself as a spokesperson for the “radical” perspective, then engages in sophomoric banter, I take exception out of respect for the truly great radicals I have known and loved.
No matter, I’m done here after addressing the salient features in your most recent post.
“What is fact doesn’t matter” sums up the neutered concession that attempts to minimizes the power of truth, as it lends false gravity to spurious arguments. You seem to lack understanding of the combined impacts of science, historical fact and climate change on public sentiment; and in turn on how political decisions are influenced by the overwhelming weight of reason. In the recent past that was true to a greater degree, before most people could see global extinction approaching.
As the planet heats up, so-called “political realities” are luxuries no longer credible or affordable. Suspension of what’s real is quickly giving way to the compounding environmental consequences of ignoring truth for too long.
Changes are accelerating in several directions at once. Critical mass in consciousness is being achieved as polar ice caps crumble. Majority opinion & awareness of hemp’s true value for healing the Earth are being hindered by attempts to regulate and control Cannabis by big pharma, Rich Lee, George Soros…rather than planting seed as fast as we can, everywhere we can and praying it’s not too late to stop global broiling by increasing UV-B.
Survival trumps “legalization.” What’s required for survival is no tax and no regulation on Cannabis farming. Forget trying to fit Cannabis agriculture into bureaucratic boxes. It’s simpler and cheaper to just get rid of the expensive, counter-productive bureaucracies, beginning with the DEA and the IRS. Confusion doesn’t work. No magic Prop 19 or Prop 215 or any other little prop is going to have measurable effect in the shrinking window of time we’ve got left, on the massive scale that’s required.
“It’s a steady process of getting enough people to …register and vote to force the government to change its policy.”
That’s worked well, hasn’t it…please…How long are you going to believe that one…?
After 40 years of periodic registering to vote, and decades of combined voting effort wouldn’t you expect to be further along toward Cannabis freedom than we are? You can wish there was enough time to take the long way ’round if that’s your way of avoiding effective, efficient direct action, but the harsh reality is that it may already be too late to indulge in further debate. Bees, bats, reefs, forests…dying….
It’s not voting or “essential civilian demand” that are “The Answer.” All strategies applied all at once are the task at hand. Whatever works is fair. I’m not willing to sit on my thumbs watching Mexico melt-down for two years waiting patiently for gringos to vote an end to the “drug war” in 2012.
Majority vote wasn’t the only strategy for securing civil rights or getting the U.S. out of Viet Nam. Grassroots anti-war uprising and civil disobedience did that. Is NORML ready to lead a coordinated tax revolt? I doubt it. What about levying charges for “misprision of treason?” for failing to recognize Cannabis as critical to national security?
I’m done here. You’ve bashed yourselves without my help by demonstrating a snide & condescending hubris that typically obviates other than the party-line.
Plain and simple, Roger Christie is a hero, standing up for what is your children’s First Amendment too. Sadly, shamefully NORML hasn’t been willing to fully appreciate the stunning significance of Roger’s imprisonment-without-trial.
A crime against national security is being quietly, illegally executed by the incumbent, outlaw regime. Who has the guts to call it what it is? Nobody here…
Are you talking about Washington cards? Every clinic I know counsels Washington patients as they are getting their card that it is only an affirmative defense in court.
In Oregon, the card is defense for arrest unless the cardholder’s dong something obviously illegal, like medicating in public view, which all the clinics in town counsel on as well.
Plus everyone is always told that marijuana remains illegal under federal law – it’s on Oregon’s paperwork.
Plus the websites of the state agencies don’t promote the idea that the card will prevent arrest with terms like “zero negative experiences”.
Plus these are states taking fees set by statute to implement a law passed by voters, not private individuals accepting donations for guarantees to press a legal theory currently counter to the law.
The analogy is a bit of a stretch, in other words.
You are an argumentative little troll, aren’t you? Assume all you like, but leave “me” out of it. There may be other reasons people avoid you at conferences.
Water is unique and essential. Trees are unique and essential. Air is unique and essential. Government regulates all of those things. Cannabis is unique and essential. Government bans that. What I think doesn’t matter. What is fact doesn’t matter. Prohibition exists.
There is no magic bullet or good talking point or final argument that ends prohibition. You think we knock on the White House door and say, “Excuse me, Mr. President, cannabis is both unique and essential to human survival. Government can’t ban that, period.” You think we spend $35,000 on a week of p.r. and protests and cannabis is liberated?
It’s a steady process of getting enough people to recognize that unique and essential nature of cannabis to register and vote to force the government to change its policy. It’s as mundane as that. If every monthly toker voted, that’s a bloc of 15 million. If every annual toker voted, that’s 25 million. The NRA has 4 million members. NARAL has 1 million members. We could be the largest voting bloc in the country.
It’s also a process of shepherding incredibly disparate interests within our own movement. People who know cannabis is unique and essential can’t even agree on what “legalization” means! For some it is unique and essential to their wallet just the way it is. For some it is holy. For some it is medicine. For some it is just fun. For some it is no big deal. For some it is everything in the world.
And every one of those groups have their set of people with magic bullets and talking points and final arguments. How could you screw the mom-n-pop grower? It’s my religious right! You cannot deny a suffering patient! I’m just getting high; I’m not hurting anyone. Who cares if it’s illegal I get it anyway. How dare the government infringe on our rights!
I do not claim to have “The Answer”. But I am truly serious about ending cannabis prohibition and resent implications that I’m not if I disagree with someone. I’m tired of you coming over here to NORML-bash; if you want to end prohibition with your magical talking points, go right ahead, we won’t be in your way. It’s a free country and you can form and run your own million-dollar non-profit organization if you like. There’s good reason we still enjoy popular support and operate on mostly small personal donations after forty years and why you’re an annoying comment on our blog.
Apparently the question still remains,
“Does NORML recognize Cannabis as BOTH unique and essential to achieving sustainable human existence on Earth?”
I assume not, since I asked Keith Stroup that question (at a NORML conference in SF) and he avoided answering it also.
Too bad. It’s a good “talking point” for ending prohibition — like the final argument. Government can’t prohibit natural resources that are unique and essential. Period.
If you are truly serious about ending Cannabis prohibition, then simply acknowledge its real value.
“@XCann – two things about medical cards:
“1. It was made very clear to me that my patient status will not keep me from being arrested or spending time in jail for marijuana – it only allows me to use a medical defense in court should I ever run afoul of the law. ”
My reply. That is hearsay, because there is nothing in print at least in my case for that claim. Russ is saying that Roger should print on his cards that “this card will not save you from arrest”.
I can show you my card from CBR, and it does not say anything of the sort.
“2. It did not cost a dime.”
Lucky you. Where do I get a deal like that! That is unhead of Darla!
Again, if Russ demands these things of a religious defense card. Then Russ should be fair and demand or even criticize medical providers that do not provide the same.
Just my opinion.
Have you saw a CBR Medical card?
@XCann – two things about medical cards: 1. It was made very clear to me that my patient status will not keep me from being arrested or spending time in jail for marijuana – it only allows me to use a medical defense in court should I ever run afoul of the law. 2. It did not cost a dime.
Russ I don’t know how I missed this one. I guess it’s been a huge week for us.
Being sick, and working a long weekend, plus the holiday.
But I am so glad that you posted this. This renews my confidence in NORML! You have no idea!
Thank you for all of your hard work!
Also you said: “I still am opposed to Get Out Of Jail Free cards.”
I still am looking for an article written by you that treats medical marijuana cards (i.e. get out of jail free cards) the same way that you treat Roger Christie’s ministry kit.
I know a plethora of folks who are legit patients with their recommend who have no more than their allotted amount of medicine that have spent time in jail, even if as so little as a few hours. Some are in jail still after months.
So all I hope for is for you to treat ALL “get out of jail free cards” with the same scrutiny.
A lot of time has been spent on Roger Christie’s kits. But in the years that I have been spending here, I haven’t saw much about the MMJ cards.
I admit I do have a MMJ card. So that I can enjoy the convenience of the dispensary system. Unfortunately my status as a minister doesn’t help get me access to my meds. So I had to get the card. But I don’t feel totally safe with my MMJ card. And there is absolutely nothing on this card that says jail is a possibility.
PNP
The question remains,
“Does NORML recognize Cannabis as BOTH unique and essential to achieving sustainable human existence on Earth?”
That’s the REAL ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question that people everywhere on this planet need to understand the right answer to in record time.
So far I haven’t heard any of the foremost experts or expensive lawyers at NORML point this out. $990,000 !! and you can’t communicate the fact that Cannabis (with a capital ‘C’ — don’t you have a CBE Style Manual in the NORML library?) is both unique and essential?
Since Cannabis IS, in fact, both unique and essential, then, factoring in the power of truth and the urgency of the crises we face, then your better choice is to hope I’m right and that 5 grand a day for a week (in Sacramento — NOT New York) IS enough to successfully exercise “essential civilian demand” for a federally recognized “strategic resource.”
The amount of money it takes to end prohibition is beside the point anyway. 35 grand or 35 million won’t matter soon. There is no money on a burned-out planet. We can always print more money, but we can’t make more time.
Strategically located in the middle of an agricultural cornucopia, Sacramento is where the national and international momentum generated by Prop 19 was and may still be waiting for a proactive continuum. Since Jerry Brown is California’s homegrown governor, again, and a smart politician, all Californians have to do is to show him that we know what he would be politically savvy to acknowledge (i.e. the true value of Cannabis) — or face charges for “misprision of treason” for failing to act in the interest of national security.
Instead, as soon as Prop-up Prohibition #19 failed to pass, all the groups packed-up, & ran to Colorado, hypnotizing the public into waiting for 2012 while they busily write the next ‘magic ‘Prop.
The shift in values from “illegal” to “essential” is the point. Prohibition can’t last if Cannabis is recognized for what it is truly worth. NORML (and you personally) have failed to recognize the simple truth, ultimately powerful truth that Cannabis is both essential and unique. An objective, comprehensive science-based review of Cannabis, is what Jack Herer strived for all of his life.
It’s not endless amounts of time, misdirected human effort and piles of money that will end prohibition. It’s the increasingly urgent necessity of avoiding synergistic collapse, combined with the power of the truth and the ability to communicate the strongest arguments, objectively and comprehensively in the court of national and international public opinion.
NORMLDPAMPPASA continues to fail in this by ignoring the legitimacy of the First Amendment, under-estimating the power of State and Federal Constitutions, casting dispersions on the legitimacy of the THC Ministry and minimizing Roger Christie’s decades of public service, spiritual study and Cannabis scholarship.
$5,000 a day is enough of a catalyst to secure a week of venues in Sacramento before Spring. Fund-raising strategies would be initiated to extend the effects to a national campaign of grassroots activists and social leaders who support ending the “drug war” completely, nationalizing the effect of essential civilian demand in Sacramento.
I’m working for your kids too, Russ. Your self-indulgent sarcasm and contentious response to science-based information is counter-productive & comes off as adolescent. Did you know about “monoterpenes” and UV-B radiation before I told you about it? Do you GET it?
There y’go, two more questions.
Cannabis is “the savior” — I’m simply a determined messenger.
35 Gs, one week. Don’t say I didn’t tell you so…
Please, everyone contribute $35,000 to Paul so prohibition can be ended in a week. We’ve all waited far too long. Only Paul has The Answer. It is amazing to me that with The Answer, he hasn’t already successfully raised $35,000 in the decades he’s been at it. That’s only $25 donations from a dozen people each week for ten years. That’s likely because so few people can recognize The Truth when it is right in their face. Obviously, everyone who studies this issue and everyone who contributes to the drug policy organizations has missed the power that showing documentary videos and hosting gala banquets will have on ending 100 years of global drug prohibition.
For just $5,000 per day, it would be all over! For $5,000 on Monday, we can host film screenings all over the US. Yeah, I know, you couldn’t book a single film screening in New York for less that $15,000, but I’m sure all the theater owners and cable outlets in America will drop their rates by 99.5% because it’s about pot. Then for $5,000 on Tuesday, we convene all the international experts in that big city convention center or hotel (luckily they will all pay for their own flights and hotel rooms as a favor to Paul.) On Wednesday, $5,000 buys us access on CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, cable, internet, and newsprint, because the 99.5% discount will still be in effect. Thursday brings us the $5,000 gala hemp seed banquet for the nation at a bargain price compared to, say, a typical wedding. $5,000 on Friday gets us the planting of hemp seeds in Sacramento (Wait, isn’t this “national”? What about Salem, Olympia, Juneau, Boise, Helena…) Saturday’s $5,000 pays for the top-notch attorneys to write and file this heretofore never considered challenge over the Constitution’s Commerce Clause. Sunday we spend the last five grand harvesting the hemp seeds… that we planted on Friday? Maybe I missed something there.
The NORML alternative is to fund…
1) Educating of the public through NORML chapters that screen “Grass”, “Busted”, “10 Rules for Dealing With Police”, “Hemp for Victory”, “Does Cannabis Cure Cancer?”, and many others. And education through the most trafficked marijuana reform website, containing archives of study after study on cannabis use, cannabis and driving, cannabis and cancer, state laws, harvest projections, etc. And education through a free daily podcast and live webstream you get from my salary.
2) Convening national and international experts at one national conference and two legal seminars every year, as well as paying the salary of one of the world’s foremost experts on cannabis, Paul Armentano.
3) Blitzing the media with a 520 square foot billboard in Times Square, appearances on CNN, CSPAN, and local news and radio all around the country, of which Allen St. Pierre will probably do a thousand before the year is done.
We have to admit, you’ve got us on 4), 5), and 7). But you have funded with NORML 6) our lawsuits against the DEA, amicus briefs in most high-profile pot cases, and our lobbying of state and federal officials.
Surely there’s got to be some reason, given the plain and simple logic Paul demonstrates, why people have supported NORML for 40 years when just $35,000 in Paul’s hands would end prohibition once and for all. Wait… you don’t think all our donors, like the lawyers at NORML, secretly want to keep prohibition alive for their own selfish purposes?!? That’s got to be it! All the weed dealers and lawyers making massive prohibition profits are keeping NORML around to surreptitiously maintain prohibition and funnel away essential resources from Paul J. von Hartmann, the savior of hemp!
(In answer to your question, no, that’s not all I’ve got.)
‘scuse me……………………? That’s I T ? That’s ALL you’ve got? — a sarcastic, unaccountable, dismissive response? Whew! — impressive, in a sad, weird way.
Why don’t you ask Saint P or Stroup for some of their “scratch?”
“[NORML] and its foundation have an annual budget of about $990,000, six full-time employees [who? & how much?]…NORML formed a PAC in 2001, and has contributed $37,100 to date.”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/36179727/The_Marijuana_Lobby_All_Grown_Up
Hmmm, let’s see… $999,000 minus $31,100, equals $961,000…for what, eggzactly…?
Better yet — and lots cheaper ! — one more opportunity to respond, in a mature & constructive way, to this…
“…recognize Cannabis as both unique and essential, for three very good reasons…”
See my blog and previous comments here & elsewhere for details by Googling “global broiling”.
And YES, PLEASE, NORML supporters, if you want prohibition to end, and/or you don’t want to be extinct, then by all means…
“Please, someone send Paul $50,000 so prohibition can be ended in a week”
Make that $35,000 — 5 grand for each day [7] that it would take to
1) Educate the public in a week-long series of film screenings (including “Hemp and the Rule of Law,” “Run From the Cure,” and many others)
2) Convene an international panel of experts from agriculture, environment, economics, the social sciences
3) Coordinate a media blitz, objectively assessing the true value of Cannabis agriculture, manufacture and trade in the context of crises we face in the 21st Century
4) Host a gala hemp seed banquet
5) followed by a public planting on the steps of the state capitol in Sacramento.
6) Formal challenge of rightful jurisdiction over unique and essential natural resources
7) Harvest American hemp seed for planting in Spring (if it’s not too late)
Legally empowered by the First Amendment, our freedom to farm “every herb bearing seed” is the first test of religious freedom — inclusive of atheists, agnostics, former-Mormons and the undecided…
Exercise “essential civilian demand” for the “strategic resource” referred to as “hemp” in SIX Executive Orders signed by SIX American Presidents (FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, and Clinton). Was it just a figure of speech for Jefferson to identify “hemp” as being “of first necessity” …?
Why do you think Roger is being spanked by the feds, Russ? Could it be because he’s more of a threat to prohibitionism and more effective than NORML, MPP, DPA & all of the other porkyorgs put together?
Anyone who is serious about ending Cannabis prohibition is invited to pony up — tax deductibly! (Contact: projectpeace at gmail dot com for particulars) Consider well that there is no money on a burned-out planet.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/11/26
The NORML alternative is to wait two more years for the next vote in 2012, as you are being hypnotized into believing is the next opportunity to end the most destructive policy ever conceived by humankind.
Y’all good with that?
Jeez.
I came to Hilo from Kaua’i to help Roger. He inspired my art – http://www.infoart-hempgoddess.com
Dear Paul J.vonn Monoterpenes; We can’t wait to have you on the THC Ministry Hour and your Cali-Cannabis Ministry blog is GREAT. Always enjoy your lucid writing and NORML should send more ‘fat cat’ money to Russ. His work load and emotional investment in re-legalization is immense. I admire,respect and love what he and all do for the sacred cause.
This piece of writing is meant to capitulate on ATTACK vs. SYMPATHY as a family of LOVE. Just look at the posters on fresh stash..many have pastor or REV. in front of their name…We are PASSIONATE as are many others. Yet,now we are weary of debate,and this article is being a healing.
KUSH CON can highlight this difficult nexus as NORML gets the “fruits and nuts” all under the tent…working as a united front…NORML brain-trust see that it’s self destroying to diss their ‘church voice fringe’.
Fat budget NORML has? Where do I get some of that scratch?
Please, someone send Paul $50,000 so prohibition can be ended in a week. I’m getting weary.
Jan 2nd huh? I had forgotten all about that. It’s going to be a nice early birthday present when Da Bears kick the cow-shit out of those cheese-farts at home! DA BEARS BABY!!!!!!!!!
& Just so folks know, I’ve witnessed Roger Christie take infuriatingly inordinate amounts of time to painstakingly explain to people who didn’t care to join the THC Ministry, that to initiate construction of an individual “religious defense” to prosecution it is primarily important to establish a legal date-of-inception. For the bureaucratically-averse Cannabis consumer, this means simply writing a statement recognizing Cannabis as a part of your legitimate spiritual development. Photocopy the statement for your records, then mail the original to yourself and don’t open it. That will establish a postmarked date for law enforcement or the court to consider. No “church” necessary.
The THC Ministry evolved out of Roger’s sincere open-hearted commitment to helping people and his belief that he could construct a legally valid sincere group church. The THC Ministry is responding to the obvious need people have for recognizing the Constitutional legitimacy of religious freedom for the world’s oldest global culture.
Roger’s case is a lot different than “any first-time non-violent offender held without bail for marijuana growing.” If you don’t recognize the opportunity in what Roger is trying to achieve, then at least show some respect for true greatness, and learn.
“In common speech, the term acceleration is used for an increase in speed (the magnitude of velocity); a decrease in speed is called deceleration. In physics, a change in the direction of velocity also is an acceleration: for rotary motion, the change in direction of velocity results in centripetal (toward the center) acceleration; where as the rate of change of speed is a tangential acceleration.”
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceleration
Re: “Roger Christie absurdly considered “danger to the community”, held without bail”
By “Radical” Russ Belville on November 23, 2010
Thanksgiving that Russ has finally figured this much out. Really, the very least you could say, understating the obvious to regain some credibility as a capable spokesperson for the pot culture. I agree with appreciate how you state a lot of the rationale for ending prohibition, but Russ, you’ve still got a hellllluva long ways to go before you’re anywhere near “radical.” Listen up young man…
Roger has already admitted mistakes, that are minor issues anyway. What is important is the good the Reverend Roger Christie has achieved (which he also, typically, fails to mention, but I won’t) is so much greater than you apparently comprehend, the courage demonstrated so much more to be respected, that I am actually concerned for you. When you come to understand how miniscule and effectively treasonous your issues with the Ministry are; when understand how important it is to forgive Roger’s over-enthusiasm and optimism (which has propelled his incredible successes for almost thirty years!) in appreciation for the great, then I trust you will be proportionately ashamed of not flying to Honolulu on the fat budget NORML has, to demand of Governor Lingle and Governor Elect Abercrombie that they immediately effect the release of Roger Christie!
The point is that for ten years, Roger has risked his life and the safety of his loved ones by mitigating the hard drug epidemic and abuses of power in Hawaii so successfully, that the feral DEA is now suspending due process and shred the Constitution in order to persecute a good & honest man. One whom you continue to help disrespect by harping on the minor, understating the obvious and ignoring the enormous. Impinging on the motivations and legitimacy of the THC Ministry from within the Cannabis culture helps the DEA characterize Roger as a black market charlatan in the court of public opinion. This is the only court where he can and will be saved, for all the right reasons.
Obviously, the federal courts are not objective. We are an occupied country.
Do you really want marijuana prohibition to end Russ? Then sign on to federal “essential civilian demand” for “hemp” a “strategic food resource” as stated in Executive Order 12919 and FIVE other Executive Orders signed by five other Presidents.
Ending hemp prohibition will do more to end marijuana prohibition than any other tiny step we could take, yet NORML, MPP, DPA, ASA and other publicly funded non-profits fail to present the strongest arguments for ending all Cannabis prohibitions — without taxes to the insolvent, anti-Constitutional regime that occupies our government.
Do you understand how critical Cannabis agriculture manufacture and trade are to our survival? Do you under-estimate the power of the truth?
I’ve asked you before to openly recognize Cannabis as both unique and essential, for three very good reasons, and you disappeared from the conversation. Then I read your post-mortem on “Prop-Up Prohibition#19″ (a.k.a. “Whoring the Diva” — A short story of political tar baby seduction, cashing-in bigtime on people’s sincere desire for “legalization” and an end to the world’s most violent, cruel and destructive social element. Essential civilian demand recognizes the legal suspension of Cannabis prohibition (and the outlaw operations of the DEA) through objective, comprehensive, international, science-based assessment.
Dammit, NORML must be a sham. I could end Cannabis prohibition with fifty grand in one week. THAT’s the power of the truth. That’s the true value of Cannabis. It will be enough to end prohibition as soon as people in positions of responsibility within the Cannabis culture begin to present the strongest arguments.
Checkout my blogs, videos and radio shows for this pilot’s manual for flying Spaceship Earth. Radical begins in extreme attitude combined with extreme acceleration.
NOT the Defense and NOT special teams…when we get to the offense…they still suck ! GBPack are very strong this year…Jan 2nd baby !
Come on Russ be nice. I didn’t say the Packers suck. Hay, didn’t Jim Macmann #9 end up in Green Bay?
[...] full post on The NORML Stash Blog Find a [...]
BRAVO Radical Russ!
The denial of Bail is one of the most glaring misappropriations of justice in this case so far, and cannot be allowed to set a precedent.
Dido Russ… We both acted like asses… Best of luck to you…
Thank you BZ, and I apologize for letting my emotions get the better of me and for behaving in an unprofessional manner.
And on further review… the Bears still suck!
What would happen if we reopen the THC Ministry ourselves? Thy can’t stop us from having church & if we happen to smoke at mass, so be it. All of our members need to find a place for services. We can maybe use my place. What dose everybody thank of my idea? You can contact me at thedeskofthemadwriter@yahoo.com. Oh Russ, I have a message for all Green Bay Packer fan & it’s only two words — DA BEARS
This article was the right thing to do…
“It’s the same principle used to shut up Marc Emery.”
It’s the winning principle applied by almost all tyrants, repressive regimes and bullies.
“It is Roger Christie’s political activism that is being persecuted here.”
Stalin, Hitler, Anslinger, Nixon, Bush… Now Obama? Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts even choomers.
You’re welcome. But notice I took great care to leave religion out of the story. I treated Roger no differently than I’d treat any first-time non-violent offender held without bail for marijuana growing. Thanks for all your lengthy replies to help me see this angle to the story.
I still am opposed to Get Out Of Jail Free cards.
If this was the NORML letter From Allen in Christmas HT issue???, Please gentle mention the government have a great fear or resistance to religious defense to cannabis. Please be careful with these “faith” cards,as they may help feed the lions of prohibition.
Thanks for helping us frame our concerns with government tyrannical over-kill.