SAY IT AGAIN SAM

"Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty."
-- Samuel Adams (1722-1893), American revolutionary

I was glad to get a call from John Leonard, another friend from the Merida conference. He's back in Beantown and lending an hand at Mass Cann. It appears your favorite drug czar and mine is slipping into town with his hound and nag show to try to subvert H.2965 in the Mass legistature.

There will be a demonstration at the Sam Adams statue in front of Fanuiel Hall on Wednesday. Hope to see some of you there. If you can't make it, then please contact your reps and tell them to support H.2965. While you're at it, you might as well contact your Congressfolks about state's rights to make these decisions. Thanks.

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ROLLING DOWN A RIVER

There's a lot going on in the Happy Valley these days. I was sorry to miss Dr. Ethan Russo's lecture at UMASS last week. I'm glad the university hosted him however. He's published some compelling evidence in validation of the medicinal use of cannabis.

I like the energy I'm feeling on campus there these days. There seems to be a resurgence of political activism. I met Aaron and Deepak last week, the student organizers at the ACLU event. If they are any indication of the level of involvement today's students are willing to undertake, I think there's hope for this planet yet. I have a feeling I may be crossing over the Coolidge Bridge again soon.

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Photo courtesy Berkshire Eagle
MOVING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION

Sad news from the Berkshires today. Thomas Overbaugh, owner of Taconic Valley Trucking in Pittsfield and alleged kingpin of a drug organization, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and the distribution of marijuana, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering.

His long term partner also pled to criminal charges. This investigation, targeting suppliers of only marijuana. has been ongoing for many years and involved wire taps and 24 hour video surveillance. The feds have been involved since 2001. A lot of people went down on this one.

The local State Police Lt. Joseph McDyer, who began investigating Overbaugh in the early 1990s, tries to justify this colossal expenditure of your tax dollars by portraying these unfortunate people as school yard purveyors of hard drugs. Absurd. Western Mass is rife with middle aged, otherwise respectable cannabis consumers who do not do other drugs.

One cannot fail to notice that the state police now end up with millions of dollars worth of a US citizen's hard earned assets and dozens of productive lives have been ruined in the process, because 60 years ago, the government decided to make a common plant illegal. Marijuana smokers contribute to the community in many ways. It violates every premise of a civilized society to incarcerate a human being for possessing or even distributing what the universe gave to humanity. If God didn't want us to use it, he wouldn't have made it so easy to grow.

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LAST WORD

Why is marijuana against the law? It grows naturally upon our planet. Doesn't the idea of making nature against the law seem to you a bit... unnatural?

- Bill Hicks

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