I left State College in the fall of 1999. I will carry on the fight from wherever I live to legalize marijuana for recreational and medicinal use.


Artsfest 30 hour protest pictures-CLICK TO ENLARGE!


"Congress shall make no law... abridging... the right of the people... to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
                                                                             -- United States Bill of Rights
30 HOUR SMOKE-OUT!
July 9-12, 1998, Noon to 8:00 PM
sponsored by:
SMART ON CRIME
&
CENTRECOUNTYLIBERTARIANPARTY
My account of the happenings after the first day of protest, when Julian got arrested:
 On Friday, I arrived
right after Dr. Morgan was speaking for about ten minutes w/out any sort
of sound amplification. He quit because being a professional lecturer
and professor, speaking on a personal non-amplified level isn't his
style. Apparently, it is neither Dr. Zimmer's nor Dr. Grinspoon's style,
for they left after discussing whether or not they wanted to try doing
what Samar, John Galt and myself had been doing the day before.  They
did answer some questions from ogling admirers (including myself) before
deciding to leave. I must say, they were quite disappointed Dr. Heicklen
was not there and also seemed perturbed to say the least. Jeremy Garber,
from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, spoke for about 1 1/2 hours on
hemp education, history and compassion.  Samar Lovejoy, webmistess of
Dr. Pot's pages, read her personal reasons for recreational
legalization, citing quotes from  Abe Lincoln and JFK.  I read my speech
at 3 pm and cried the entire time. I was audible from what friends
across the street told me.
John Galt Jr., founder of Web Station 19, spoke continuously throughout
the day.  He actually got a huge crowd gathered. All of us who spoke
helped literally hundreds of journalism students who were at PSU for a
few weeks at summer seminar report about the weekend's events.
Saturday
On Saturday, we obtained over a thousand signatures for NORML's petition
to decrim an ounce for personal use. PSU police woman tried to badger
Jeremy Garber and I to move off of the street and we asked her who her
supervisor was and by whom she was told that we were obstructing
traffic. She became flustered and when a student photographer was
snapping pictures of her confronting us, and stated she was," extremely
uncomfortable and wanted equal resect." The student replied," I am
mutually respecting you and if you want to take my picture that's fine!"
the officer (after no success with either Jeremy and I AND the student
photographer) went across the street to speak with State College borough
police but they apparently had better things to do than screw around
with a few peaceable sign holders. She came back disappointed that her
power struggle was lost. (HAHAHAHAH!) Approximately twenty new people
came and held signs throughout the day. A retired physician came and
hugged all of us and told us to keep it up. An elderly lady came up and
listened to our views and another woman brought her two teen daughters
so she could have us explain our viewpoints and to show the girls what a
protest really is. I was filled with such a sense of strength, mostly
derived from these people who thought enough of our efforts to listen to
us and check out how very versed and extensive our research was. I was
humbled all throughout the day. It was a change from the day before when
many of the people were very cold and unfriendly. Also, there were a
great many people honking their horns and they weren't mostly youths
like many would have thought. There were middle aged folks with children
in their cars, elderly folks traveling together and beeping their horn
while throwing us the peace sign and some were even lighting up as they
drove past. One old guy, even held his bag out of the car while passing
us. A police officer with a D.A.R.E. sticker even gave a thumbs up (I
think the horn beeping would have gotten him into trouble). PSU EMS
bikers stopped to talk to us as well and asked about medicinal aspects
of legalization.
Overall, Saturday was sucessful.  * a riot occured Sat nite, but of
course was sparked by excessive drinking. It had zero to do with weed.
Big bonfire in the middle of downtown road, ten light poles torn down,
14 officers injured. hmmmm....as compared to how many real people
were injured but not reported.
Sunday
Simon Grille, lawyer for NORML came and took several pictures and held a
sign for a bit and Tanya Kangas (litigation for NORML) spoke to us for
quite sometime about NORML's efforts and what they are doing in D.C.
More folks from out of state who had heard about the protest on the
internet came up and introduced themselves (Jim Incollingo from South
Jersey, included), asking if they could stand with us and hold signs.
Other passers-by asked if we could take a break and hold our signs so
they could get a good amount of pictures of themselves as "freedom
fighters." It was great fun.
We were smoking joints by days end.  All in all, everyone made new
contacts and all became close or closer friends. Many said they would
organize their own peaceable protests and write to us to let us know
what happens.
A letter from Dr. Heicklen after his release from prison after the 30 hour Smoke-out
Hi All:
        Here is a copy of my opening address to the 30-hour Marijuana Smoke
Out.  After many weeks of ignoring us, the Penn State police took a heavy
hand, and disrupted our planned activities. They forbade us from using a
bullhorn, and prohibited us from using tables to distribute literature or
chairs to sit in.  They even tried to prevent the demonstrators from
sitting on the grass.  Charlie Miller counted 8 violations of our
constitutional rights.  This was the police state in action.
        In spite if the police interference, signs were carried, many
thousands of leaflets were distributed, and speeches were given as best as
possible without amplification.   More details will be posted on my web
page.
        Best wishes-Julian
MARIJUANA SMOKEOUT NEWS
State College, PA
July 9, 1998
E-mail: jph13@psu.edu
        Hello! Welcome to the 30-Hour Marijuana Smoke Out.
        The reasons to re-legalize marijuana are several:
1. Moral
        It is immoral to arrest someone for owning a vegetable. We have the
right to keep and bear vegetables. The most fundamental of all human rights
is to have control over your own body. As long as you are not harming
others, your body belongs to you to do what you wish.
2. Economic
        It costs about $26,000 per year to keep someone in prison. In
addition, the inmate is not earning, so his tax dollars are lost to the
community. Often an inmate's family has to go on welfare. The total cost
for imprisonment can run up to $50,000 per year per inmate. There now are
about 50,000 people incarcerated in the U. S. for non-violent marijuana
offenses. The total cost to keep these people in prison is about $2.5
billion per year.
3. Social
        We are criminalizing an enormous percentage of the population. In
1994, 7% of all U. S. males of age 18 or older entered prison or jail.
        A male has a 9% chance of being incarcerated in state or federal
prison during his lifetime based on 1991 incarceration rates.
        Two-thirds of convicts now entering prisons are doing so for
non-violent crimes.
        One-half of these are for non-violent narcotics violations.
        From 1980 to 1995, the incarcerated population in the Pennsylvania
Department of Corrections quadrupled.
4. Agricultural
        Hemp is a valuable agricultural product. It is used to make
clothing, shoes, diapers, rope, cellophane, paints, fuel, chain lubricants,
biodegradable plastics, paper, fiberboard, cement blocks, food, cosmetics,
and soap. The Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Constitution were
written on hemp paper. Hemp was the number one crop on George Washington's
plantation at Mount Vernon. It was the number two crop on Thomas
Jefferson's plantation at Monticello.
5. Food
        Hemp seed is a highly nutritious source of protein and fatty acids.
Hemp seed has the second-highest amount of protein of any food (soya being
the highest). It is low in saturated fat. One handful of hemp seed per day
will supply adequate protein and essential oils for an adult.
6. Environmental
        Hemp normally requires very little fertilizer and grows well almost
anywhere. It is pest resistant, so it requires no pesticides. Hemp puts
down deep roots, which is good for the soil. Hemp has been known to grow on
the same soil for 20 years in a row without any noticeable soil depletion.
One acre of hemp can produce as much paper as four acres of trees. Hemp
paper is more durable than paper from trees. Hemp requires a growing season
of 100 days, while trees must be grown for 20 years or longer before they
can be used commercially.
7. Medical
        Marijuana has been used as a medicine for 4800 years. It helps
epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and glaucoma. It is a pain killer and an
anti-nauseant. Many very sick people are being denied appropriate medical
care, because it is a crime for a doctor to prescribe, or even advise, his
patients to use marijuana.
8. Pleasure
        Finally a reason to legalize marijuana is because it provides
pleasure to some people. That is what the anti-drug people really detest.
You will notice that there is no movement to outlaw glue, which probably is
much worse for you than marijuana. That is because glue sniffing does not
provide much pleasure.
        The reasons against re-legalization of marijuana are:
1. We must protect our youth from harm
        It is often heard that drugs must be illegal, because we love our
children and must protect them from harm. This argument is insincere. The
prohibitionists do not care one bit about our children. If they really
wanted to protect our children from harm, they would outlaw football. Now
there is a dangerous activity. It glorifies violence. Every single football
player suffers some permanent injury that nags him for the rest of his
life. Some are paralyzed from football. Occasionally one dies. Those things
do not happen from marijuana use.
        Unlike marijuana, football is highly criminogenic. It leads to
student riots, public drunkenness, gambling, and ticket scalping. Football
has completely corrupted our universities. Football players are terrible
role models for our youth. Any prohibitionist that seriously wants to
protect children would not be interested in marijuana, but would be
fighting to ban football.
2. Marijuana is a gateway drug to hard drugs
        Many people, especially government officials, propagate the belief
that marijuana is a gateway drug; it leads to use of harder drugs. The fact
is that 83% of marijuana users do not graduate to hard drugs.
        However, these people will tell you that 95% of cocaine users used
marijuana before they used cocaine. They are wrong. Marijuana is used by
99.8% of cocaine users. But let me tell you something else. Milk was used
by 100% of cocaine users before they started snorting coke or crack. Milk
is the true gateway drug, and it should be made illegal.
        Unlike marijuana, which is not addictive, milk is highly addictive
to a certain segment of the society; that segment under 6 months of age. Do
you know what happens if you take milk away from a milk-addicted baby? The
withdrawal symptoms are excruciating. The baby gets terrible stomach pains
and screams uncontrollably. It is terrible to hear. Eventually if deprived
of the milk, the baby gets sick and dies. There is nothing else known that
is this addictive.
        If we are going to stamp out hard drugs, we must stamp out milk
first. Milk should be made illegal. If a woman gives her baby milk, she
should have her breasts removed. Some of you bleeding hearts may say that
without milk many babies will die. Probably so, but isn't this preferable
to the disease of addiction that inflicts and undermines our society?
3. Irresponsibility should not be rewarded.
        It is not right that the responsible people have to care for people
that harm themselves. Why should the taxpayers support with welfare and
medicare, those irresponsible people that have abused their bodies by using
drugs? I say we shouldn't do it. Anyone that abuses his or her body does
not deserve government support. That includes illicit drug users, as well
as users of alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco. It includes any one that has an
athletic injury or medical problem. Any person that recklessly endangers
his or her body should not receive government benefits. That includes
anyone that rides a bicycle, drives a car, or flies in an airplane. Many
accidents happen in a shower or bath tub. Any person that bathes should be
prohibited from partaking in government programs. Mining, farming, and
cooking are particularly dangerous. Anyone engaged in these activities
should be barred from benefits of all government programs. Why should we
responsible people pay the bills of the irresponsible?
        Of course, it is only fair that anyone barred from all government
programs should be exempt from income and social security taxes. I have
just recited for you the Libertarian Party Platform. If you agree with it,
register Libertarian, sign up with the Party, and sign the Party petitions.
All the necessary papers are available at the Libertarian Party table at
this Marijuana Smoke Out.
Summary
        We are involved in a struggle for the soul of America. The issue is
not marijuana. Marijuana is the messenger, not the message. The issue is
whether we will live in freedom or under tyranny. Choose freedom. The
lighted marijuana weed is the torch of freedom.
        I ask that no-one under 18 years old smoke marijuana. We appreciate
your support, but if minors smoke, it will hurt our cause. If arrested,
give only your name and address. Go limp and make the officers carry you
away from the demonstration. Plead not guilty and ask for a speedy, jury
trial.
        If you are attacked by either police or bystanders, go into the
fetal position, and use your hands to protect your head. Under no
circumstances, even if provoked, use violence. Thank you for your
cooperation.
        Smoke a weed and enjoy the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the
Arts. Thank you for coming.
        This was the opening talk at the 30-hour Marijuana Smoke Out, which
began at noon. I was using a bullhorn, so about 400 people heard this talk.
I then smoked a marijuana cigarette. The Penn State Police approached and
did not care about the marijuana cigarette. In fact when asked about the
marijuana cigarette by a FOX news reporter, two police officers denied that
they smelled marijuana.
        However the police were upset about the use of the bullhorn. They
pointed out that the use of bullhorns was against University policy, and
they wanted me to stop using it. I pointed out that the University had no
legislative authority, and that my policy was to use it. Since they could
not arrest me for using the bullhorn, they snatched my cigarette. At 12:45
PM, I was arrested. I went limp and was dragged into a patrol car. I was
taken to the Campus Police headquarters, where I remained limp until
dragged away to the district magistrate's office for a 2:40 PM arraignment.

        District Magistrate Carmen Prestia set my bail at $50,000 straight
bail for an offense with a usual bail of $500. The purpose of the high bail
was not to insure my appearance at court, but to keep me incarcerated until
the 30-hour Marijuana Smoke Out was finished. It was a violation of my 8th
Amendment right to no excessive bail. Then I was dragged into a patrol car,
driven to Centre County Prison in Bellefonte, and dragged into the prison.
I remained in prison for 4 days until Charles Andrew generously posted the
$50,000 bail money.
Letter # 2 from Dr. Heicklen
This is a letter of apology to all of the speakers at the 30-hour
Marijuana Smoke Out.  Things did not go as planned.  After 13 weeks of
benign neglect from the campus police, they became bugged by the bullhorn.
Apparently there were some complaints.  I felt that I could not give in on
this issue, because the bullhorn was necessary to reach the uncommitted
across the street.  During my talk about 300 people were across the street
listening to me.  If we could have kept crowds that size, we would have
fulfilled our expectations.  The noise was not even the issue.  I
understand that on Sunday, some system was developed where the talks were
carried on FM radio, which was just as loud, and the police did not
interfere.
        I could not be arrested for using the bullhorn, which was legal.
Therefore I was arrested for possession of marijuana.  I expected that bail
would be set at at $1000, and that I would return to the 30-hour Marijuana
Smoke Out.  Instead the outrageous amount of $50,000 was set as bail to
keep me away.  The police then moved into its full police state mode.  They
made the demonstrators remove the tables, stop selling printed matter
(against the First Amendment), stop placing signs on the ground, sitting in
chairs, or even sitting on the ground.  In State College (across the
street), the police did not allow handing out of literature (against the
littering laws, they claimed).  Apparently the littering laws supercede
<Freedom of the Press>.
        Many speakers did not talk, because the conditions were so
restricted.  I can not blame them.  I appreciate the support that we did
recieve.  We all learned how oppressive our society has become.  The
ultimate irony is that this occurred at a university that supposedly is
dedicated to the dissemination of ideas.
        In spite, or perhaps because, of all the harassment, the 30-hour
Marijuana Smoke Out was a huge success.  First my arrest generated enormous
publicity.  Stories were carried several times on each of the major local
radio and TV stations.  Fox News from Johnstown carried the story at least
regionally, and perhaps nationally.  I was told that the story appeared on
CNN.  The story appeared on DRCNet News, and I presume, on other internet
news services.  I assume that there will be a story in High Times magazine.
The $50,000 bail generated enormous sympathy for our cause.
        Second, thousands of pieces of literature were distributed.  I have
been informed that our copying costs ran into the hundreds of dollars.  The
public reception was uniformly favorable.  Hundreds of signatures were
obtained on each of our three petitions.  Charlie Miller  and Carla Moquin
told me that they were making instant conversions to the cause.  No counter
protests or hecklers appeared.  We ran out of <Free Julian Heicklen>
buttons.  We have dozens of requests for more.  Yesterday I picked up
another 250 such buttons.  Both Carla Moquin and John Weber thought that we
were at least as successful as we had hoped.  The feeling is that enormous
momentum has been given the movement in State College.
        Therefore, in spite of the fact that the planned speaking program
collapsed, our objective was realized.  You may not have had the
opportunity to deliver your remarks.  I am sure that you are disappointed
by that, and I apologize to you.  However you were part of an important
process in State College.  Your efforts and support were essential.  Thank
you for your help and inconvenience.
        I hope that you will stick with us.  Remember that the important
thing is to win the war, even if we lose some of the battles.  We cannot
win without your help and support.
        Best wishes-Julian


Speakers:
1. George Brusstar, Libertarian Party candidate for PA state
representative, 149th District.
2. Andrew Burke, Penn State student and one of the arrestees
3. Jennifer Corbett, Penn State Student and one of the arrestees.
4. Diane Fornbacher, Honey Bud Weed Whacker, illegal medical marijuana user,
columnist, poetess.
5. John Galt, Author of Mininum Acceptable Marijuana Policies (MAMP) and
Founder of web Station #19.
6. Jeremy Garber, Organizer of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania
upcoming Marijuana Smoke Outs.
7. CANCELLED
8. Lester Grinspoon, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical
School, co-author with James Bakalar of Marijuana, The Forbidden Medicine,
(1993) and author of Marijuana Reconsidered (1997) http://www.pdxnorml.org/MTFM_Depression_1997.html
http://www.rxmarihuana.com/
9. Dan Groves, Past President, Libertarian Party of Penn State.
10. Julian Heicklen, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, Penn State
University; Founder, Smart on Crime; Organizer, Centre County Libertarian
Party; and one of the arrestees. http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/j/p/jph13/index.html
11. Lawrence Elliott Hirsch, Attorney filing an action class suit for
therapeutic cannabis. http://www.gnv.fdt.net/~jrdawson/announce.htm
12 Ken Keltner, High-School Senior, poet, and one of the arrestees.
13. Ken Krawchuk, Libertarian Party Candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania.
14. Samar Lovejoy, Marijuana Smoke Out Webmeister. http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/j/k/jkl122/weed.html
15. Ryan Matlock, President, Libertarian Party of Penn State.
16. Charlie Miller, Secretary and Press Liaison, Centre County Libertarian
Party; Secretary, Libertarian Party of Penn State.
17. John Morgan, Professor of Pharmacology, City University of New York and
co-author of Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts. http://206.61.184.42/guide8-97/mythsfacts.html
18. Carla Moquin, Consulting Director, Smart on Crime, and Past Treasurer,
Libertarian Party of Penn State.
19. Ben Norman, Co-Director, Penn State NORML. http://www.grassplanet.com/psu-norml/
20. Sam Richards, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Penn State University;
Faculty Advisor, Penn State NORML.
21. Allen St. Pierre, Deputy Director, NORML http://www.norml.org/
22. Ted Vallance, Professor of Human Development and Associate Dean
Emeritus, Penn State University; author of Prohibition's Second Failure:
The Quest for a Rational and Humane Drug Policy. http://www.ndsn.org/FEB93/VALLANCE.html
23. Lynn Zimmer, Professor of Sociology, Queens College, City University of
New York and co-author of Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts. http://206.61.184.42/guide8-97/mythsfacts.html
 
 


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