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Hemp 4 Usa
NORML
YOU DON'T HAVE TO SMOKE MARIJUANA
TO JOIN NORML
By Don Fiedler, National Director
When Keith Stroup founded the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws in October of 1970, he defined NORML as the marijuana
consumer's lobby. In an interview in Gallery magazine in August, 1978, the
first National Director estimated that there were "15 million regular users of
marijuana". Stroup went on to say, "Can you imagine? If you can get 15
million people that cared enough about reforming marijuana laws...?" Can you
imagine? Can you imagine if each marijuana consumer would have sent NORML just
one dollar a year since Keith made that statement more than a decade ago?
There was, and is, a political sleeping giant snoozing away with our natural
constituency. If there ever was a time for an awakening, it is now; and a rude
awakening it will be.
The Drug War:
The plan serves up the casual user of marijuana as one of the main
courses, with recipes of zero tolerance, user accountability and demand
reduction that threaten the marijuana consumer's liberty, assets and job
security. The sobering fact is that, even if our natural constituency becomes
activated, it is going to require another important ingredient to stop the
marijuana prohibition pendulum's repressive swing backward. Simply put, the
issue was, is and always will be one of choice. The nation's citizens should
have the right to make responsible decisions regarding how they control their
bodies, especially when intoxicants like alcohol and tobacco are legal and
pose a far greater harm than marijuana. You do not have to be a woman or have
an abortion to be Pro-Choice; you do not have to use marijuana to support
NORML. There can be a strong case made for non-marijuana users to join NORML.
The current marijuana laws are draconian enough. After the National Drug
Control Strategy is implemented by Congress, enforcement of the new laws will
present the next major step in the creation of the police state/martial law
mentality which is so pervasive in the country today.
True Justice:
In the age of Pericles, some 2,500 years ago, a famed Athenian jurist
named Solon said, "True justice will exist only when those not affected by a
law are as indignant as those who are." There are millions of indignant
non-marijuana users who are fearful of what America is becoming in the name of
a drug-free society. When the prohibition becomes worse than the drug itself,
it is time to end the prohibition. You do not have to use marijuana to share
these thoughts.
Constructive Use of Tax Revenue:
The over-burdened taxpayer understands the hypocrisy of alcohol and
tobacco being legal and taxed, while marijuana is neither legal nor taxed. The
difference between enforcement costs to continue the prohibition and the tax
yield with regulation is conservatively estimated at $50 billion - another
fact which supports the proposition that NORML is not just for the marijuana
consumer. With the $50 billion tax revenue, NORML offers the best solution to
the drug problem. Solutions which can answer the question the politicians
can't: How do you take an inner-city youth (which, as Jesse Jackson says, is a
code word for "Black or Hispanic"), and motivate him or her to get a job
working at Burger King for $3.50 an hour, when that youngster can go out on
the streets and earn $350 an hour selling crack? And it's not just a financial
question. The minority viewpoint - and a justifiable one - is that they can
count on their buddies or fellow gang members more than they can expect any
help or hope from the government. The increased tax base from legalized
marijuana offers funding which could go for educational and occupational
programs that are meaningful, and to an alternative way of living that offers
hope. No one in America is more willing to pay the cost of solving the
problems which go to the very roots of drug abuse than the marijuana smoker.
That fact alone should motivate non-smokers to join NORML.
Marijuana as Medicine:
Marijuana prohibition prevents doctors from treating their patients
with the plant's therapeutic powers. Marijuana spells "relief" to those
unfortunate fellow citizens in the throes of nausea from cancer chemotherapy.
Marijuana has a stabilizing effect on intra-ocular pressure of the eye, which
is a primary symptom of glaucoma. Marijuana can be used effectively in
conjunction with other medicines to reduce the frequency and severity of
epileptic seizures. Marijuana literally has given such relief to victims of
multiple sclerosis that they are able to get out of their wheelchairs. Use of
marijuana as a folk medicine for headaches, depression, stress and menstrual
cramps is documented throughout recorded history. The friends and families of
loved ones as well as the patients themselves who are denied the therapeutic
aspects of marijuana do not have to smoke marijuana to support NORML.
Industrial Hemp:
Of course, marijuana's potential as a cash crop should motivate
farmers to grow legally a crop that is more valuable than oil, a crop that is
not used just for recreational purposes. Virtually every part of the hemp
plant, which produces marijuana, has some major use in the marketplace,
whether it be cloth, paper, particle board or methanol.
Marijuana and the Environment:
Hemp is a big industry in China, Korea, Italy, France and the Soviet
Union. Hemp offers environmentalists positive solutions for acid rain, the
ozone layer, the greenhouse effect, and as an alternative energy source. All
of these uses go undeveloped in America because of marijuana prohibition - all
more compelling reasons why it is not necessary to smoke marijuana to support
NORML.
Sign Up a New Member:
To accomplish our goals, we need your generous donations, energy,
wisdom and moral support. However, we must broaden our membership base. Let
this be a call to action for every person to recruit one more supporter in
this membership drive - not necessarily a marijuana smoker. NORML has evolved,
from a marijuana consumer's lobby into an organization that has a much broader
constituency. You should know this; other marijuana smokers who are not
members of NORML should know it. But most important of all, the non-smoking
public should know: YOU DON'T HAVE TO SMOKE MARIJUANA TO SUPPORT NORML.
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