From the desk of Lanny Swerdlow, RN LNC
When it comes to Breaking News about marijuana you’ll read, see and hear all about cities and counties passing bans and onerous regulations, states ignoring and refusing to implement voter imposed legislation and federal officials actively impugning and invalidating legally enacted state and local laws.
What's not Breaking News is people coming together to protect their hard won rights because people are barely discussing it let alone coming together .
Can anyone name a single organization that is holding any public meetings where actual strategy is being developed, where collaboration is being achieved and where coalitions are being formed to promote and protect our so far successful herculean efforts to end marijuana prohibition? There must be some going on somewhere, but I haven’t heard of them. Yes there is lots of talk, but there is no action and without action, all will be lost.
Today over half the nation lives in states where medical marijuana is legal and over ¼ live in states where all marijuana use is legal. We have these rights and it is time to follow the words of our patron-saint Bob Marley who wrote in the song Get Up Stand Up:
“Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, Stand Up, Don’t Give Up the Fight.”
It seems that many have forgotten or repressed the horrors of the past as we find ourselves in a semi-glorious present, but the moment is hanging on by the skin of its teeth and won’t last if we don’t defend it. Wherever you live, it is now or never. The longer we put off defending our hard gotten gains, the less likely it becomes that we will be able to retain them.
If you are not involved with a marijuana organization, then it is time to get involved now because if we lose the rights we have just gained, there may never come a time again in your lifetime when you can get involved with an organization promoting marijuana without being branded a traitor, a deviant and a criminal.
In the Inland Empire the first step to protecting, defending and promoting our rights to marijuana will take place at the MAPP meeting this Wednesday, February 1 at 7:30 p.m. The Drug Policy Alliance, the organization behind the coordination of the successful passage of Prop. 64, is working to fully implement Prop. 64 and is developing a strategy to overcome the obstacles being erected by a politically powerful consortium of elected officials, government bureaucrats and police agencies.
At the Feb. 1 meeting you will hear Cat Packer, California Policy Coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance, reveal, discuss and explain what is happening in government backrooms on the local, state and federal level, the strategy for defeating local defacto bans on marijuana cultivation, kicking legislative butts to implement Prop. 64, mitigate the disaster found in the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act and what to expect from the Trump Administration and AG Sessions and the nationwide development of coalitions to oppose them.
This is one of the first meetings of its kind in California and although that speaks well of the Inland Empire, it does not speak well of the rest of the state of California. Hopefully the IE will set the example and what we do on Wed. Feb. 1 will spread throughout the state. If and when it does, it will have started right here and you can be part of this historic meeting.
Come to the Feb. 1 meeting to learn what is happening, become motivated to take action and be a part of this momentous meeting that can help lead the way to stopping our opponents from taking our rights to marijuana away. Become empowered so that freedom and marijuana loving citizens never have to live again under a police state dictating what they can and cannot do in matters of their own personal well-being and health.
As an added bonus, you can win one of two ¼ ounce sachets of the finest quality marijuana donated by All The Way Up Collective located next door to our meeting place. Plus hear Ronnie Downey’s tips on cannabis cultivation.
There are forces, very powerful forces, that want to make everything we are doing at the meeting - conspiring to protect our rights to access marijuana, presenting information on growing marijuana and giving away a bit of cannabis - into crimes again with prison sentences and punishing fines. We are going to fight them in every way we can and one of those most important ways will be your participation, so come to the Feb. 1 meeting to learn, empower, grow and win.
The Wednesday, Feb. 1 meeting of MAPP begins at 7:30 p.m. and takes place at our new meeting location at Greenview Medical, 22275 Alessandro Blvd, Moreno Valley, CA 92553
For those who would enjoy a chance for an informal give-and-take on these issues, please join us for a pre-meeting dinner at the Happy Buffet. A full Chinese buffet including sushi, salad bar and a Mongolian Grill are available for just $7.99. The Happy Buffet is 1 ½ miles east of Greenview Medical at 23750 Alessandro Blvd., Moreno Valley 92553.
If you live in the Coachella Valley/Palm Springs and Morongo Basin/Joshua Tree area, I know it’s a drive to Moreno Valley, but if you can make the drive, I can assure you that you would not regret taking the time to come there. If you can’t make the meeting, then I will be at the PS and JT meetings to discuss what transpired at the Moreno Valley meeting and provide information on how to get involved locally.
Palm Springs/Coachella Valley meeting – Saturday, Feb. 4 at 12 noon at Crystal Fantasy, 268 N. Palm Canyon Dr., downtown Palm Springs 92262.
Joshua Tree/Morongo Valley meeting – Saturday, Feb. 4 at 3 p.m. at the - Beatnik Lounge, 61597 Twenty-Nine Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree 92252.
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