Pubdate: Thu, 14 Nov 2013
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2013 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/mVLAxQfA
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author: Norm Kent
Note: Norm Kent, a Fort Lauderdale attorney, is the Chairman of the 
Board of Directors of NORML, and the publisher of South Florida 
GayNews, a media partner with the Sun-Sentinel.

POT SMOKERS OUT OF HIDING AS MARIJUANA BECOMES ACCEPTED

When 64 percent of voters in Miami Beach in a straw ballot said they 
would support medical marijuana in Miami Beach last week, itwas no surprise.

Pot smokers may not wear rainbow flags, but they have finally come 
out of the closet.

For forty years, since early in the 1970's, the National Organization 
for the Reform of Marijuana Laws has been fighting to change 
repressive and regressive laws against the responsible use of 
cannabis by consenting adults.

The truth is the 'war on drugs'was never a war on drugs. It was a war 
on good and decent people, whose only crime was smoking a joint at 
the end of the day.

Most Americans have always known the horror stories about pot 
consumption were delusional hallucinations by cowardly politicians 
afraid to be seen as 'soft on dope.'

NORML is winning the battle today because a raised consciousness 
amongst Americans realizes they can trust themselves more than their 
government.

This new awakening is why in 21 states where citizens have been asked 
if they want pot to be decriminalized, they have resoundingly said 
'yes.' It is why current Gallup polls have showed nearly 60 percent 
of Americans wants pot legalized.

It isn't because we are all stoners, though many of us are. It is 
because we as Americans are fed up with the lies and laws our 
legislators have passed and prosecuted. Over four decades, we have 
empowered our government to create draconian drug laws that 
compromised our civil liberties and sacrificed common sense.

They have enacted statutes allowing our sons and daughters to be 
jailed, our cars to be seized, and our scholarships to be forfeited. 
In certain places, moms and dads can still lose custody of their kids 
because they are caught smoking pot.

The only reason Miami Beach even agreed to a straw ballot is we 
showed them 8,000 petitions we had signed by residents supporting a 
special vote to make pot arrests the lowest priority of law 
enforcement. The public is always one step ahead of the politician.

Today, though, from Miami Beach to Maine, from Seattle to South 
Florida, we are saying 'Free the Leaf.' It's not just to get high. 
There are valid medical and curative reasons to support normalizing marijuana.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans who were living with HIV learned 
years ago medical cannabis enhanced their appetite and inhibited a 
'wasting away' syndrome. Others, like Elvy Mussika, a grandmother 
from Hollywood, Florida, who gets monthly prescriptions of cannabis 
from the DEA, found out pot can retard glaucoma and cataracts.

Scientists in Israel have discovered cannabis can control muscular 
spasticity and arthritic conditions amongst the elderly. One 
housewife in Manatee County, Cathy Jordan, has used cannabis for a 
quarter of a century to combat Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Baby boomers from the 1960's are now in their 60's. For those of us 
who smoked joints watching Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, we have 
seen an America supplicate itself to pharmaceutical companies who 
gave us a sea of prescription pills which have led to multi million 
dollar class action lawsuits and premature deaths from unanticipated 
consequences.

Still, it does no good to enter an era of recrimination. As we 
approach an age of decriminalization and even legalization, let me 
just say 'welcome.' If you support reform now, and you have not 
before, thanks for joining a good cause.

In Florida, an effort has been launched to place medical marijuana on 
next year's ballot as a constitutional amendment. If the signature 
requirements are met, you will get to vote on it. Like every other 
state where people vote on cannabis, it will pass, with 
cross-sectional support in both red and blue counties.

Support those communities that want to legalize and medicalize 
cannabis, and you will be on the right side of history, part of a 
community wrongfully denied a voice and now, finally, after all these 
years, rightfully being recognized.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom