Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 10:29 am | By: Radical Russ
Jack Herer holds his book, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" at Portland Hempstalk
(Salem-News) [November 1st], Jack Herer was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Eugene from the rehabilitation center where he has been receiving care. His breathing became more distressed throughout the afternoon, and finally he was rushed to the Emergency Room.
He was diagnosed with bronchitis, and given antibiotics to overcome the illness. Such prevention may not have been possible just a few days ago, when a “Do Not Transport” order was in effect. Because of a recent change in Jack’s care, they were able to get him appropriate treatment, which could literally have saved his life.
More good news, Jack has been responding well to Speech, Physical and Occupational therapy treatments administered at the care center where he’s residing in Eugene, Oregon. He is coherent. His speech is beginning to come back. He has no IV’s, no breathing tube, and though he has a feeding tube, they expect to remove it as soon as this week.
The bad news, is the breakdown within the ranks of Jack’s supporters. While Jack works to heal and rehabilitate, the world outside his room is swirling with controversy.
Much has been said as of late regarding the recent change of Jack’s care management, and the subject has seemingly taken on a life of its own. Jeannie Herer and others are unhappy with the new decision by the care center to acknowledge a Power of Attorney that moves authority of Jack’s care to Joy Graves and Chuck Jacobs.
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Sunday, September 13th, 2009 at 11:43 am | By: Radical Russ
I’ve arrived at Portland Hempstalk this morning and picked up the latest news on Jack Herer from my friend and Hempstalk volunteer Brian, who tells me Jack is in critical condition and lies in a medically-induced coma. His wife Jeannie and his son are with him.
Sunday, September 13th, 2009 at 9:32 am | By: Radical Russ
Jack Herer speaks at Portland Hempstalk
The author of the seminal marijuana legalization tome The Emperor Wears No Clothes, Jack Herer, collapsed backstage at the fifth annual Portland Hempstalk, shortly after delivering a fiery speech on the Main Stage. NORML’s Madeline Martinez followed Jack in the speaking lineup and noted his apparent weakness, telling him he should find some shade from the high temperatures that were close to records in this usually cool Pacific Northwest climate.
A Hempstalk security volunteer named Matt and a hired park security officer were first on the scene to attend to Jack, performing CPR and trying to keep him comfortable as paramedics arrived at the Kelley Point Park. Hempstalk musicians and speakers gathered backstage, including activists and friends who have known and worked with Jack for many years, stood in shock as the medical personnel fought to keep Jack alive using breathing tubes, IV drugs, and the defibrillator. The decisive action by Hempstalk staff in responding to the emergency and subsequently clearing the paths for the ambulance certainly made a huge impact on Jack’s fight for life. Madeline commented, “Matt is my hero today; he was just phenomenal. He knew exactly what to do and immediately started CPR. He probably saved his life.”
Jack had suffered a stroke a few years back at another hemp rally, coincidentally while posing for photographs with Madeline and others. Ironically, at the Cannabis Common Sense show the night prior, Jack was discussing the stroke and his recovery since. Paul Stanford had noted how much Jack’s speech has been improving even since the prior year at Hempstalk, to which Jack replied “I’m feeling better than I have in ten years.”
Initial reports of the incident occurred as I was preparing NORML SHOW LIVE. I could see the entrance of the ambulance from my vantage point at the Hemposium, but was unaware that it had arrive for one of my heroes. Cannabis Karri ventured out to recruit live guests at 6:20pm and that was when we got first word of the attack, with the only news at that point being “Jack Herer has collapsed, people performed CPR, paramedics said ‘he has a pulse’ as he was taken from the backstage.”
As the evening rolled on we spoke with one of the staff at Jack’s booth, situated next to Oregon NORML’s and just two booths away from the Hemposium. She told us that Jack’s son was with him at Emanuel hospital, he’d suffered a heart attack due to arterial blockage and was on the operating table in critical condition undergoing an angioplasty[UPDATE: Initial reports I received of an angioplasty were unfounded; he had had an angiogram and the volunteer relaying the information to me confused the two terms. I apologize for the misinformation - things were a bit chaotic]. A decidedly somber tone had fallen over the entire Hempstalk proceedings, with onstage speakers telling the crowd about the situation and calling for best wishes and prayers for Jack, his wife and family.
Thursday, August 27th, 2009 at 2:50 pm | By: Radical Russ
As I gear up for Saturday’s Fire On The Mountain Buffalo Wings El Hefe Hot Wings Eating Contest to Benefit the Red Cross, 2009 Winner of the Long Event Title Award, I have Stashers asking “Are you going to video / audio / take pictures?” Absolutely I will!
I have already been using Twitter, the “micro-blogging” service that allows me to send 140 characters of text and hyperlinks live from all the events I attend. You see those “tweets” up in the cloud of smoke in the header and the last five on the lower right sidebar. You can also follow them all at http://twitter.com/radicalruss and you can even have them delivered by text message to your cell phone if you choose.
Then came TwitPic. This service lets me take pictures with my cell phone camera and post them on the web at http://twitpic.com/photos/radicalruss. TwitPic delivers those pictures via a hyperlink in a tweet, so everyone who is following RadicalRuss on Twitter automatically gets those pictures, too. (I can just hear my dad, “Twits and tweets and blog and pods, what the hell are you talking about?”)
Now comes Cinch. This is a feature included with our new NORML SHOW LIVE BlogTalkRadio platform. It’s like an “audio tweet”. All I do is call the dial-in number and talk (646-200-0000 – you can dial it if you like, but warning; there is no “delete”). Whatever I say gets posted to http://cinch.blogtalkradio.com/norml as an MP3 file. (And if you call, it goes to cinch.blogtalkradio.com/########## where the #’s are your phone number.) You can hear my introductory “cinch” down the right side of the sidebar. When I have the time I’ll craft the PHP to put those in handy Flash audio players… and I hope soon they’ll integrate it with Twitter.
Starting September 5 we’ll be using BlogTalkRadio to stream NORML SHOW LIVE, which you’ll find on players here and NORML.org, or on the main show page at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/norml. The first show will be from NORML West Coast Media HQ with my fancy-schmancy studio, but for the following four weeks, I’ll be doing live remote broadcasts from Portland Hempstalk, Boston Freedom Rally, NORML CON 2009, and Great Midwest Harvest Fest using just a laptop, a small Mackie board, and a couple of mics.
So if it is happening in the world of NORML and I’m there, you will read it, see it, and hear it here first!
Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 2:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in San Francisco Monday sentenced a Lake County man to 10 years in prison for growing more than 1,000 marijuana plants, saying the marijuana activist appeared to “want to be a martyr for the cause.”
The sentence for Charles “Eddy” Lepp, 56, was the mandatory minimum under federal law for growing more than 1,000 plants.
U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel said Lepp didn’t qualify for a so-called “safety valve” exception with a lesser sentence because he testified at his trial last fall that he was a proud leader of others who grew marijuana on his land.
Patel told Lepp, “I think Mr. Lepp is very proud of what he’s been doing. The problem is that now unfortunately, Mr. Lepp, it’s caught up with you.”
“Maybe you want to be martyr for the cause,” Patel said. “That will be your lot.”
The U.S. law doesn’t allow the safety-valve exception for people who are leaders of drug crimes.
Patel said she thought the length of the sentence was excessive, but said it would be up to Congress to change the law.
I’ve been working in marijuana law reform now for four years. Eddy Lepp is the first activist I’ve known personally to become a prisoner of drug war. I last spoke with Eddy last September at our Portland Hempstalk:
To know that this gentle man is going to prison for a decade at age 56 makes me physically ill. This religious man who so bravely helped so many sick and dying and sense-threatened Californians find relief through the medicine grown on his land is going to spend more time in prison than the average rapist, manslaughterer, and child molester because our country has not yet overcome its prudish impulse to punish people for moral reasons.
President Obama, you can commute his sentence. With the stroke of a pen, you can see that Rev. Eddy Lepp receives no more punishment for being convicted of growing plants for sick people than Scooter Libby received for felony convictions of obstruction of justice, perjury (twice), and providing false statements to federal investigators. Eddy Lepp’s felony conviction will still stand, but we will save the taxpayers the unnecessary burden of feeding, clothing, and housing a man who is no threat to society.
Or you could do the truly just thing, Mr. President, and pardon Eddy Lepp, removing all prison punishment and the felony convictions, seeing as Eddy Lepp was forbidden from entering any real sort of defense to the charges, since federal courts do not allow testimony regarding California’s medical use law.
I just cannot stomach the notion that people that ordered torture are getting away with it, people that greedily sacked Wall Street are getting away with it, and the guy that ordered 9/11 has gotten away with it, but one middle-aged Rastafarian minister who grows medical marijuana must be punished according to strict adherence to the “rule of law”. President Obama: FREE EDDY LEPP!
Call President Obama at 202-456-1111 and tell him to FREE EDDY LEPP!
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Sheesh, I barely made it! Â A Wednesday post with just minutes left in Wednesday out here on the West Coast. Â I tells ya, I’s a busy media producer these days, and on top of that I had an urgent database project to complete for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA2010.org).
Then I’ve got exclusive audio from last weekend’s Portland Hempstalk with NORML Founder Keith Stroup’s keynote address. Â It was such a thrill to have “Papa NORML” fly across the continent just to join us at my hometown hempfest. Â Don’t let him con you about my lack of driving and navigating skills in my Hyundai trying to find a restaurant to meet Madeline Martinez for dinner… I was just being a gracious host by trying to show Mr. Stroup as many Portland side-streets as possible.
You should also check out last Friday’s episode of Cannabis Common Sense with John Trudell, Keith Stroup, Vivian McPeak, Bill Drake, Jack Herer, Eddy Lepp, Tim Pate and Madeline Martinez, hosted by Paul Stanford.  It was like a Mt. Rushmore of my heroes on TV!
RevRayGreen: I'll post a pic of me and my son....gimme a minute
Missippi Hippy: Guess what... I'm gonna be a new... ummmmm well, my pet piggie Ganja is in labor and they ain't mine in the same sense. See what your wife [...]
RevRayGreen: days they didn't talk back..or act disrespectful..
RevRayGreen: feel so lucky my son is 18 going 19 and my daughter 16 going on 17..relish the days that can't talk back
Urb Age: Congrats Spof thats awesome. My little Clara is about to hit 20 months. Im not the activist I used to be, but its made me a better man.
Urb Age: Heck I was gonna go up there, but just not feeling well this weekend..Dang it, I hate it when that happens..
RevRayGreen: wishing I was hanging at NORML cafe...
JohnH: Just a quick comment about tokin' and sperm motility....been tokin since age 14 and have 8 kids ranging in age from 30 to 9...(what can I say, I found 2 [...]
slash5city: really ..oprah 35 yr or more in the closet toker ...outed ....o my god !!
SneakerPimp: that would be huge news just imagen the headline
RevRayGreen: maybe Oprah smokes and keeps it on the DL...
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Bonnie King reports latest updates on Jack Herer
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