From: Albertus Magnus Area: Magical Plants To: All 1 Mar 94 00:14:42 Subject: Hemp rally in Portland UpdReq From: nyt@blythe.org (NY Transfer News) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 94 03:57:27 EST Organization: NY Transfer News Collective A crowd averaging about 250 people gathered under chilly but dry skies in Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square from 2 pm to 6 pm, today, Saturday, 19 February 1994 to listen to speakers and discuss strategies for advocating an end to the War on Some Drugs. The rally attracted minimal press coverage, but it did make the nightly news on many local television stations, and passing motorists responded with startling enthusiasm to our "Honk if you smoke marijuana" signs. The small but passionate rally was principally organized by Floyd Ferris Landrath and his American Anti-Prohibtion League, which has been active in Portland for some time. Featured speakers represented the AAPL, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse, the Fully Informed Jury Amendment Oregon affiliate, and several other organizations. They included sufferers of Multiple Sclerosis and HIV disease who testified to cannabis's superiority to prescription medications in palliating their conditions and FAMM members who gave emotionally charged testimony about their relatives' imprisonment for ridiculous lengths of time on marijuana-growing and LSD-dealing charges. In addition, a retired physician spoke calmly and clearly about the overwhelming evidence in favor of cannabis's safety, inclu- ding Administrative Law Judge Francis Young's celebrated recommendation in favor of rescheduling cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III at the most. At the end of the featured speakers' block, an open-mic session was held, during which time over a dozen people, including myself, got up to share our thoughts about the WoSD. A dominant theme in these short speeches, including my own, seemed to be the overwhelming need for drug policy activists and educators to work to counter *fear* with *facts*, calmly, rationally, and without growing bored or exhausted, and to recognize the pervasiveness and insidiousness of fear on all sides of the drug question. Plans for larger demonstrations in the warmer months were announced, and the relatively small size of the crowd was attributed to the less than optimum weather conditions and the fact that the rally took place in the middle of a holiday weekend. Nevertheless, many passersby seemed interested in the lit- erature being distributed by the various organizations who had tables at the rally, and the event as a whole was judged a success by most of the partici- pants. Your humble scribe, Bear Wilner -- "Seems like the more I think I know/The more I find I don't/Every answer opens up so many questions... Ever notice hard line radicals/Can go on star trips too... What better way to turn people off/Than to twist ideas for change/Into one more church/That forgets we're all human beings..." -- Dead Kennedys 201434369420143436942014343694201434369420143436942014343694718 From: Kayla Block Area: Magical Plants To: Rose Dawn 28 Feb 94 22:05:46 Subject: Re: MS Rec'd UpdReq 93 rose dawn, RD> I used to have an account at Purgatory, but it's been RD> so long I've forgotten my pass! My bbs-trollin' days i got your post with your number and will post it to phanerothyme tonight. RD> Hmmm, in the interests of topicality, I really enjoyed RD> reading the stuff you keyed in right before you split! gracie and zarkov are great! i think i have some other similar things that i may post here soon. 93, --kayla 201434369420143436942014343694201434369420143436942014343694718 From: Deep Black Area: Magical Plants To: Phanerothyme 28 Feb 94 19:01:00 Subject: Re: Mano a Mano UpdReq Ph> Suggest we meet in Stroud. I'll be holding a "Life" magazine with a Ph> pic of Bert Lahr on the cover, dated May 13, 1957. In the upper Ph> right cornor it says, "Great adventures III: The discovery of Ph> Mushrooms That Cause Strange Visions" I'd like to come to OKC for a weekend and meet you and yours. I'll give you a call in the evening within the next few days. Ph> maybe you did. There was a guy standing in line behind me who looks Ph> like what I'd picture you to look like. If that was you, I'm going Ph> to freak. I'll never tell! }:D 201434369420143436942014343694201434369420143436942014343694718