They need a total of 700,000 signatures from voters registered in Florida, and donations exceeding $5 million. I’m not sure where we stand so far, but these things need to be attained for the 2010 ballot are needed by Fed, 1 2010. Not a lot of time.

I’m working out the details to find a place to take my chunk of petitions for signing. It will likely be downtown Jacksonville, but I’ll post here when I know when and where for sure.

In the mean time, why not do your part while you’re here? You can download the petition here, and follow these instructions to do your part:

1. Download the petition
2. Print it on ONE sheet of paper (2 sheets are not valid)
3. Fill it out completely and sign it in BLUE ink
4. Send it to P.O. Box 560296, Orlando, FL 32856

I would also like to urge you to print a few extra copies and have your friends and family sign them. Also, donations would help a great deal, so you send your money to them online or by sending a check or money order to:

PUFMM
P.O. Box 560296
Orlando, FL 32856

So, stop complaining. There are more than enough people in Jacksonville alone to get the required signatures, let alone the whole state.

I’ll post when and where I’ll be when I get my stuff together. If you want to wait until then, that’s cool, but don’t rely to heavily as I am lazy.

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It occurred to me that I was helping to perpetuate the problem instead of the opposite. So, I called my wife and asked that we cancel Showtime. Inadvertently, it seems that we canceled a few other channels as well (some package thingy or something), but we will call our cable provider to find a resolution later.

At the end of the day, I won’t watch CBS stations and I certainly will not pay for episodes of Weeds anymore. And I ask that you do the same.

Now, I know this is a bit easier for me than it may be for most other people as I don’t watch a lot of television anyway. But think about it, do you need to watch ‘Weeds’ (which has sucked for a few seasons anyway) or would you like to watch ‘Weeds’ while legally smoking it?

I would also ask that you one-up it and let them know that you aren’t going to pay for Showtime anymore. I submitted the following to them via the Showtime site.

I would like for someone at CBS/Showtime to read this article:

http://blog.norml.org/2009/08/03/nbc-cbs-abc-fox-happy-to-profit-from-marijuana-as-long-as-nobody-talks-about-legalizing-it/

and understand that I will no longer pay for Showtime until this is resolved. I know I’m just one guy, but I’m one guy that just told my wife to cancel Showtime. You are all too happy to profit from the entertainment value marijuana has produced, but not obliged to let a sensible voice be heard on the matter.

I just got a text from my wife letting me know that it is done. You have my email address on file. When you have given better consideration to NORML please feel free to email me and let me know. Until then, you are minus one viewer.

I don’t really give a lot of the other networks mentioned in the article any money, but I’m going to dig a little deeper into my life to see what I can cut out. If you do that same, let Russ Belville over at NORML know (http://twitter.com/RadicalRuss) and maybe he will talk about it some more on his show. The only way to get those exec. dorks to pay attention is to cut into their profits.

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It’s a good piece on America’s prohibition and its impact on the rest of the world.

Pretty good indeed.

What’s more interesting is the second comment on the post. It starts with:

I suppose it’s easy for someone who doesn’t use Marijuana to argue against its legalization, but this isn’t about the effects it has on its users. It’s about personal freedom…

And these 2 things are what today’s post is all about. First, we haven’t won anything (and I don’t think we are close enough to celebrate). Second, I don’t think segregation among the people is a good idea, even in thought. Let’s discuss.

I don’t use marijuana, and haven’t for almost 12 years now. Perhaps I will entertain the idea again, but I don’t see it in my immediate future. However, I whole heartedly believe that marijuana should be legal, even for recreational use.

No, I don’t think it’s a case of users vs. non-users. I think it’s a case of misinformation by a noneducational system perpetuated by our government. Pair those things with the greed associated with the war on drugs and we are on the losing side of this battle.

Make no mistake. I love articles like this, but I really don’t think we are even remotely close to a national reform. It feels like it, but that’s only because our government let’s us feel like it.

This is all the more reason to act, and NORML is a perfect place to do that. Get involved, donate, tell a friend; it doesn’t matter, just do something to help others become educated and get this “war on drugs” to end. But whatever you do, don’t place yourself on the other side of the non-users. This creates an exclusion and can be perceived as aggression (however passive or subtle it may be). This would make us look just like the government, and they have more money.

No, instead I think we need band together, users and non-users alike. You can’t reason with America’s government. They are like umpires; right or wrong, they stick with their answers. They don’t care who loses.

So what do we do?

Educate

I think the most important thing you can do is educate the people around you. Marijuana use comes up all the time, whether you partake or not. These conversations happen. Take it as an opportunity to educate rather than debate or argue (leave that to the lobbyist, they are better at it).

If the setting is appropriate, perhaps you could show a documentary on the subject. I spoke about the manner in which I talk to my oldest child in this post. Maybe that’s right for you, maybe it isn’t, but education starts with our kids. Maybe even purchasing a book for kids would help.

Action

I posted on an idea posed by NORML themselves. I think it’s a really good idea. This is a physical action that will be noticed. People, especially those that comprise our government, don’t always hear words or logic; they sure as hell pay attention to physical actions if on a large enough scale (please keep it non-violent though, as violence just gives more reason to keep it illegal).

Even if you don’t do that, there are plenty of gatherings across the nation that offer open arms to those that want to participate. You can even start a NORML chapter in your area if there isn’t one already, and perhaps brainstorm some gatherings and actions of your own.

Voting

I know it doesn’t seem like it most of the time, but voting is how we the people exercise what little power we have. Show your government that you aren’t some lazy pothead, but a pothead that pays taxes, and has a belief regarding the direction of YOUR country.

In the same respect, tell your elected officials who are already in office that you think marijuana should be legal, and that this topic is a large part of the determining factors when deciding on your ballot submission.

Money

Our government is arguably the most powerful on the planet. They use that power to make a lot of money. And they use that money to get what they want. We aren’t going to stop that cycle for sure, but we can get some money of our own. I know we don’t have much, but every little bit helps. NORML also has plenty of opportunity to do so.

For crying out loud. I’ve typed “NORML” so many times on this post, maybe I should approach them about a kick back or something.

Rest assured I don’t actually get anything for sending you there. I would gladly take donations here, but to be honest I wouldn’t know what to do with it, and would probably just send it to them anyway.

Learn More

No matter what you know, you can always learn more. Learn more about the problems facing the legalization of marijuana, and think of ways to get through them. The first article that comes to my mind is that by Jon Gettman on the Top Ten Obstacles to Marijuana Law Reform. Believe you me, there are plenty more out there.

In Closing

We haven’t won anything until it is over. This is not that time. We need everything we can get, and that includes non-smokers. I’m a non-smoker, and proud of it. If I were a smoker, I would be proud of that too. That doesn’t matter. What matters is the amount of research I’ve done on the subject, and my willingness to stand up for what I believe in. You…do that too.

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We’re a country of free speech, and so I think the last thing anyone in the administration would do would be to supress free speech and that discussion. As regards to “legalization,” it’s not in the president’s vocabulary, and it’s not in mine.

So what does NORML think we should do? Well, what any friend would do, help Gil out. Let’s send him a dictionary.

You have a couple options, but I think the first would have the bigger impact.

1. Go to your local discount store and buy a cheap pocket dictionary.
2. Find legalization inside and mark it with a yellow highlighter and a Post-It® or paper-clip on that page
3. Mail that dictionary to the Drug Czar at:

Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
Executive Office of the President (EOP)
Attn: Director Gil Kerlikowske
Washington, DC 20503

The other options are a good choice too, simply send a postcard, or donate directly to NORML (a good idea even if not for dictionaries) as noted on their page on the subject.

Again, I want to stress the impact I think a truck full of dictionaries would have. At the least, it would make for a good news story, and perhaps force Gil to seriously answer the question.

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If you, like me, want to learn more about some of the reasons you can’t puff for fun legally then you should really read that article. Kinda eye-opening. And you should probably learn more about, and follow Jon himself. You can do this at least by checking these sites:

• HighTimes.com/JGettman
• DrugScience.org

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