Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2008-11-13

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2008-11-13.mp3)

Tere Joyce and Laurie Buckley join us today to talk about a new PR campaign to upgrade the image of marijuana, and from the NORML Board of Directors, George Rohrbacher analyzes the medical marijuana proposal votes in Michigan.

Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2008-09-11

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2008-09-11.mp3)

A dozen years ago a kind stranger took this photo of me standing on an incredible building called “2 WTC” – or World Trade Center Tower 2 in Manhattan, New York.  The skies were incredibly clear and from my vantage point 110 floors up – almost a quarter-mile! – I could see into three states and just marvel at the sheer mass of humanity and concrete stretching out in all directions.

Seven years ago, this kind of photo became impossible to take.

As we reflect on the events of September 11, 2001, let’s take a minute to step away from the War on Drugs and understand that the control over humanity, limitation of freedoms, and intolerance of others’ views are the real underlying issues that tie it all together, from the Drug War to the PATRIOT ACT.

We don’t fight against the Drug War because we like to get high.  Certainly, liking to get high does give you a special focus on ending the Drug War.  But self-interest isn’t the overriding factor; in fact, self-preservation would dictate keeping quiet about the Drug War.

No, we fight against the Drug War because we know it is a war of tyranny over people’s bodies, minds, health, and spirit!  We know, to paraphrase the words of the famous Pastor Neimöller poem, first they come for the “stoners”, but eventually they’ll find a way to come for you.  We know that the Drug War has killed more people just this year than died during September 11th.  We know that long before the War on Terror was used as an excuse to shred the Bill of Rights, the War on Drugs had left it a tattered and torn.

The Drug War and September 11th are two American tragedies, but they are as different as smoking cigarettes is to a gunshot to the head.  If someone shoots you in the head, the effect is sudden and shocking, like September 11th.  But smoking cigarettes, like the Drug War, is year after year of slow, self-inflicted harm.   Both have been used by tough-talking politicians as political props, and nothing much has been done to address the damage from either.

Seven years later there is still a big hole in Manhattan and Osama bin Laden is running free.  In that time we’ve spent $12.7 billion on the Drug War and arrested over 3.6 million pot smokers for nothing more than simple personal possession.  We declared a War on Drugs; there are more cheaper, purer, available drugs than ever.  We declared a War on Terror; there have been more documented incidents of terrorism than ever.

On a sadder note, we speak in our second interview with Tom Daubert of Montana Patients and Families United about the tragic death of Scott Day, a severely disabled Montana man who needed $40,000 worth of medical care per month just to live, yet faced prosecution from a county DA for growing medical marijuana to help ease his pain.  The case goes on against Scott’s widow, and Tom needs your help to pressure the DA to drop charges.