Yesterday was a GREAT DAY for Yamagoo

Though it isn't yet official Minnesota is set to become the 13th state to legalize medical marijuana. From Tim Pugmire, Minnesota Public Radio

"The Minnesota Senate has given narrow approval to legislation legalizing the use of medical marijuana. Lawmakers passed the bill Tuesday on a preliminary vote of 33 to 31. The House version of the bill also cleared another committee and moved closer to a floor vote. Supporters say marijuana could help ease the suffering of patients who are critically ill or suffering from persistent pain."

Way to go Minnesota...Illinois are you watching cause you really need to become #14!

Then there was NY, more specifically New York City. From the NY DAILY NEWS by Chrisena Coleman

"The ganja granny is free.
All charges against Barbara Jackson, a 71-year-old great-grandmother busted for buying two dime bags of pot, were dropped yesterday on a technicality."

This means that cooler and more reasonable heads prevailed in NYC. Officially the "paperwork" was incomplete, and therefore the charges were dropped. I say that the face of Medical marijuana, from coast to coast, stepped out from the shadows and it wasn't evil, it wasn't threatening.

It was proud. It was human and it was desperate.

This is the problem folks! If you're not a pot smoker that's fine. I have no desire to change your mind or mess with your personal beliefs. However there are literally thousands upon thousands of people for whom marijuana represents hope. Hope for the appetite to feed their ailing bodies. Hope for a day without debilitating pain. Hope for clearer sight. This herb, that grows wild, naturally (when allowed to) provides a relief that people in this country pay big drug companies BILLIONS of dollars to enjoy. How can we justify spending billions of tax dollars fighting a war on "drugs." A war, mind you, that is prosecuted so vigorously that innocent people can have their rights trampled and even their lives ended, on the word of a single street dealer, or a busted user looking to lighten their sentence. I'm thinking of the 3 Atlanta police officers charged with manslaughter, 2 of whom have plead guilty, after having shot a 92 year old woman to death on a bad tip. Why? No Knock Warrants have led to many deaths in this country. Wanna cry? Read this list, it should do the trick. Yes I know many people are going to say well, that was cocaine, or heroin...well my gentle snowflakes (obscure reference?) marijuana is classified 100% the same as the 2 nasties just mentioned. This isn't coincidence cause the government had a chance to get this right, and almost did 35 years ago...even their own experts admitted that marijuana was "different" (Read the report here.) Is it a coincidence that our brains are specifically wired with receptors for the active ingredient in marijuana, THC? Is it a coincidence that this herb can quell so many vastly different ills, including a much more effective control of adult ADD/HDD than any manufactured drug currently available. And what are the beneficial by-products of the pharmacological alternatives...?? That's right..none. Marijuana...OMG where to begin, renewable resources for textiles, paper goods, industrial applications and YES, YES, even the newest darling of the media, fossil fuel alternatives. We exploit natural resources seven ways to Sunday in this country but for some reason there's a lot of hatred directed at this, amazingly versatile natural resource. All in the name of....what exactly?

Anyhow when I saw this on the news I was struck by the line from Mrs. Jackson..

"I went to see the sidewalk chemist"

It got me to imagining one of my neighbors or family members having to try and make connections with dealers as they suffered through the latter stages of chemo-therapy or the on-set of Glaucoma. If they would they could ask me and I would certainly, eagerly oblige them in making a safe "connection" (I have built the "relationships" that I have over trust & time, I am also a reasonably fit, 6ft tall, 225lb (yeah right!)guy that was built like a linebacker, so I usually don't sweat the physical risks involved in buying weed) but I know there is no way they would ever ask me. They would, I believe reach that point, you know the one right before you decide it is better to die than go on this way, where they would have to try to do something, ANYTHING, and would begin to explore "the neighborhood." I had visions of my Grandmother pulling up to a corner in a seedy neighborhood and rolling down the window so someone could palm her a dimebag.

THAT mental image is disgusting and should make us all ashamed.

Thank you NYC for doing the honorable thing. Now join Alaska | California | Colorado | Hawaii | Maine | Montana | Nevada | New Mexico | Oregon | Rhode Island | Vermont | Washington
and soon to be Minnesota and Illinois and make this madness stop! Help the people you can help, in the best way you can.

This post is ad free because we believe that doing the right thing is its own reward. Medical Marijuana, and federal decriminalization are indeed the right things. If you agree won't you please support your local chapter of NORML -The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

People of Illinois Contact your State Senators-SB650 MUST PASS

All right if you're from Illinois, or know someone who lives there, you need to contact your state senator (clicking the link will bring you to a page with their contact information) and encourage them to bring senate bill SB650 to the floor and to vote, and to vote in favor of this important legislation
.
The bill is aimed at legalizing medical marijuana, and has the support of approximately 20 of the 30 senators it needs to pass. Legislation pending in the Senate would allow people diagnosed with "debilitating'' medical conditions to legally possess up to 12 cannabis plants and as much as 2.5 ounces of usable cannabis.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. John Cullerton, D-Chicago, has passed committee and is awaiting a Senate floor vote. Additionally 40 religious leaders, from around the state, have submitted a letter which was distributed to all state senators supporting the legislation, on moral grounds, as a way to ease suffering. One of the clergy who signed the letter, Pastor Robert C. Morwell of Union United Methodist Church in Quincy, said he had never used marijuana nor had any desire to. "But I think it's a little silly to say we can prescribe morphine … and other drugs that are more addictive,'' but not marijuana, he said.(from ST. Louis Today POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU 04/21/2007 By Kevin McDermott)

I don't think I need to go in to all the benefits of medical marijuana here in this post. 12 States AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ME,NM, NV, OR, RI, VT and WA have already "seen the light" and passed medical marijuana laws, despite heavy handed tactics from the federal government to interfere with programs or to target users for federal prosecution. it's time for Cannabis to be "rescheduled" and taken off the illicit drugs list. There are hundreds of thousands of people in this country, who in one way or another, could be treating their conditions more safely, more effectively, and FOR LESS MONEY, if they had access to medical marijuana, and protection from federal persecution prosecution. So who are we helping? A bunch of hippies? Some ne'er do well stoners? Nefarious criminals? Take one look and tell me if this woman seems threatening to you. Any questions? Good now go turn out your senators vote.

This post is ad free because we believe that doing the right thing is its own reward. Medical Marijuana, and federal decriminalization are indeed the right things. If you agree won't you please support your local chapter of NORML -The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.