-Intro
by Michael Mazack, Vice President of PSU NORML
-Credits
to Activism
Diane
Fornbacher, formerly of Buzz mag of State College, SPITE (political underground
tabloid), High Times Freedom Fighter (January 1999), co-organizer of PSU
Smoke-Out Protests & Freelance Journalist
"Q:
How do you get a one-armed hippy out of a tree?
A:
Pass him a joint (laughter)
Allright, allright, enough of the b.s. Let's get to business. Do me a favor everyone. DON't BE PARANOID! It's okay to a little careful with your ganja, like plugging your door with a wet towel while lighting a fresh doobie with your pals or ALWAYS checking your peephole before you open the door, but do not be afraid to protest orwrite letters to your representatives. No one is going to send the FBI, CIA or DEA toy our house for exercising your rights. WHEN YOU FEAR, you take power from those who need it most and give it to those who need it least.
People
say, "Protest? Why?" Shouldn't one protest in their own home? Expand the
mind as a protest?" I am serious, people have posed these inane
questions to me. What's the point of expanding your mind if you're never
going to apply it for your own good or at the very least, the good of the
world?? And I was smoking in my own room not too many years ago
and that is where the space invader policecame for me!
Up
until that point, I'd thought I was exempt from the Drug War and after
I was charged and fined and shunned by people who knew me, I decided I
was no longer going to live a life of complacency! Please, PLEASE don't
wait to get busted to get fed up with the draconian laws. Use your right
to oppose what is wrong before your right to do that as well is gone!
Although it would do me proud if you fought for cannabs rightsm there is no limit to a cause which you can give some of yourself. Be it human rights, prison reform, volunteering to feed or clothe the poor or the elderly, ANYTHING, just PLEASE DO SOMETHING FOR YOUR WORLD!
I don't wanna preach to you. I, myself, hate when people preach to me, so let me put it to you straight. I know enough about the efforts to legalize cannabis for a variety of reasons like medicinal, industrial or recreational to sound liek a fanatic. But a fanatic I am not. I never cease to be shocked at how far a supposed "democratic" society will go to suppress human behavior! They will kill, maim, poison crops and virtually sell all of a person's assets in the name of molding one's neighbor into him or herself! Is this right? Is this individual freedom? IS THIS THE UNITED STATES?!?!?! I DO NOT FEEL UNITED!
About 30 yrs. Ago, this country had the massive unrest of the 1960's. People didn't get restless because the country was attuned to the needs of the people. And today, we are facing the same dilemma with the drug laws which aren't even just about drugs anymore. It's about invasion of privacy, the extinction of the right to choose, putting a person in jail, taking away their children, seizing their homes, selling their cars, etc etc etc..! There are people screaming in the face of democracy because we are not being treated with the dignity of being a human with an ability to consciously make our own decisions to do what we please with our time and selves, as long as we are not hurting or infringing upon the rights of others!
Last year, at Cannabis Festiva, I pledged to you that i would fight until I was satisfied with the cannabis laws in this country. I am FAR FROM SATISFIED!
I need your help. I need you to put down your bowls, pipes, bongs, joints, blunts and occasional brownie. NOT FOR LONG, but long enough to have the hope that one day, you will not only be able to smoke a phat one while walking downtown, but people who are either seriously ill or mildly in pain can ease their suffering, THAT people will once again be proud to say that they are A FREE AMERICAN, A FREE HUMAN. THAT this country will be able to feed its children w/ the complete protein hempseed gives the body all the essential amino acids to maintain health.
I need you to care what happens to your fellow brothers and sisters on this planet. We are ALL human. We ALL bleed red blood! We ALL have an inborn desire to be free! Our freedom is being syphoned from us and fed to the very people elected to protect and uphold our best interests! Remember:
"Each
time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others.
. .they send forth a ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million
different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that
can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
--Robert F. Kennedy
THANK
YOU AND ENJOY YOURSELVES TODAY--YOU've GOT A LOT OF WORK AHEAD OF YOU AND
I WILL BE THERE ALONGSIDE YOU UNTIL THE VERY END!
(APPLAUSE)
Pictures of Cannabis Festiva '98:
*Stephen Gaskin: Successful Counterculture leader & Author
*Rastaman George Wesley preparing to headline in the evening.
Pictures from the PSU NORML Joint-rolling contest on the Thurs. before the actual Festiva:
*Bag of rolled doobies to give out at the celebration