I'm fucking tired of hearing about "man, we should totally get together and protest" and then a million fucking people saying "yeah totally, you organize it and I'll be there". This is a great idea, but it always trails off there. Nobody ever says "alright, let's actually do this." Why is that? Are we not passionate enough? Are we not motivated enough? Are we partly living the stoner stereotype? I have no clue. I'll say that legalization of marijuana is one of the biggest things I want to see in life and it's, at this time, what I'm most passionate about. Not just so I can smoke freely, but because this shit ruins goddamn lives and that's not fair as we all know. I got a possession, paraphernalia, and misdemeanor trafficking charge years ago. I've been job hunting like crazy and haven't found anything. It's been over 3 goddamn years and I feel like this is a big reason why I'm still jobless. I know there are many like me, and fuck that. I propose it's time that we actually do something instead of talking about it. I think we should use this thread to pitch ideas on a location(s), dates, and all that jazz. I want people to post actual ideas, not just "I'm down". I know you guys are down. This thread might just slip into the back of this forum or it might take off. Hopefully it's the latter, but only if you guys are willing to put in effort. Currently GC has almost 450k members. A sizable handful of which are active users, passionate about the cause, and willing to take part. Even if we only got 1000 members involved, it would be great. Because the users extend further than GC and when they come, they can pack down a carload of friends with them. The numbers are there and in my opinion could build very quickly and somewhat easily. California is currently getting fucked over, polls are saying that approval ratings of legalization are a record high, and more and more people are questioning the government. This seems like the perfect time So does anybody have ideas?
As for my ideas: as for a location... I don't think we should pick a generic choice like California. Cali already has strong support and if people hear of a protest/event there, I think some would think "well, that's Cali for you." I think we need a location that will somewhat catch people off guard and make them a little more interested. If it's somewhere they would expect, it would be easier to look past I think. Winter is coming up and shit's gonna be cold. That's obviously a major thing to consider. We need somewhere reasonably warm, so a more southern place would be a good start. And in my opinion conduct is going to have to be perfect if we want to be successful. In another thread, people discussed a sort of dress code. I don't necessarily think that this would be needed because I think we'd attract many types of people and diversity is honestly one of the best things we can have. If you wanna wear a suit, do it. If you wanna wear a shirt with a million colors, do it. The biggest thing though would be to NOT smoke at the event. That's only asking for trouble. If you wanna get high, edibles would be a better option.
Do it in Texas or Florida. Prohibitionist hold-out states if there ever where any. Austin would be a good liberal city to hold an event like this. In Florida, Tallahassee is considered pretty liberal as well.
I thought about Florida and it seems like a decent location. I always got the impression that Texas would be too intolerant to not act stupid if people tried something like this, but I'm not really aware of how liberal Austin is, so it might be worth considering
Somewhere central to all locations, Texas sounds like a better option than Florida, but I bet both would be hard to have a protest/gathering/march approved.
Well then why not try Oklahoma? Tulsa Oklahoma is filled with people who use marijuana, at my last job even the corporate boss smoked. It's still in the bible belt of the country so plenty of opposition and publicity but not too intolerant to put up with it awhile. EDIT: and look how close Colorado is wouldn't be so bad a trip as would be Florida or Texas
Your best option is to wait until Spring so information on an event can spread and people can plan. The best location is the capital because it would get more attention. You also want it organized not full of chaos. Find some speakers who support legalization (ie actors, politicians, lawyers, professors, veterans, law enforcement, etc.) You want to target conservatives and liberals even though this issue is considered liberal. I've seen numerous legalization events but nothing is every truly organized and it needs to be, it needs to be powerful messages, not just a gaggle fuck of people getting together and lighting up. That does nothing but piss people off. Also I disagree with being able to smoke "freely". People shouldn't be out smoking around other people as its disrespectful. Some people don't want to be around the smell, or smoke. Time and place. If you did this right it could be great.
I live in Tulsa and seriously like 80% of the people under 25 smoke here. I would defiantly help as much as I could if it was here. Edit: its also fairly warm here still and I don't think anyone in the government here is for legalization. Laws in other states move closer to legalization but they get worse here. Its a felony to make edibles and even have a grinder with a screen for keif now There is also a NORML here in Tulsa
Austin Texas has a nice Occupy movement going on right now. My father keeps me updated regularly on it. The cops are being very fair in their enforcement. Austin population has A LOT of say in how the Police Departments work and the police get paid really high salaries on the average. Extremely liberal. Very good location for an event like this, in the south central. http://occupyaustin.org/ Perhaps TX Norml could assist? http://texasnorml.org/
what about Pittsburgh? I know that there would be A lot of support in this city, our DA (I know him personally) doesn't really prosecute for small amounts of pot, and the laws on the books in PA are intolerable.
I'd be careful about doing anything in Oklahoma. They issue life sentences for hash, and 20 years for simple possession.
Oklahoma is a bad spot to have such an event. You want attention but you don't want to associate this issue with occupy. I bet Willie Nelson and Snoopaloop would come. We should have a Legapalooza fest. Music, speeches, camping, 3 day event!
Cool Idea, but understand that is a pipe dream right now. (Unless someone is holding a pot of cash they want to throw at this) Lets keep this on track. 2012 is a good plan, imho, as it gives time for proper planning and organization. It also holds political weight, as a lot of presidential talk will be going on. I think the best way to obtain some media exposure would be to protest at/near different GOP&obama campaign trail stops. I think states that hold a large electoral swing (Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire) are some ideas. If we get a couple hundred or even a few thousand to participate, that will be great. I don't think holding an event in a MMJ state would have the same impact as MMJ already gets tons of coverage in those places, but it wouldn't be a horrible choice given the current situation with the feds vs MMJ. If we can get media exposure I think we might make some kind of impact. We saw what direction Obama has chosen to go after his campaign and early office statements regarding MMJ. I think this is a good opportunity to highlight that and have some impact on the next figurehead put into office. We are a voice. Even if we are a small one, we can plan and strategize to make that voice an impactful one on a local and/or national level. Thats my 2c, and I'd like to hear some others. Lets get this moving in a productive direction.
Florida for sure. My suggestions: Tampa, Miami, jacksonville, or Tallahassee. Do you want this to be a protest or an event? If you want an event, your gonna need a stage, speakers and a shitload of wires, important pro mj people, banners, seats, and something for people to do in between speeches/music. If anything gets started I will donate and volunteer.
Like a few people have said Austin, Texas would be a good place. We have had some protest going on down here, and as far as I know they still are (peacefully). Im sure we would have tons of local volunteers with any people coming from out of state as well. But Texas is only a good option for fall/winter/ early spring, not a good idea to have masses of people protesting in the 100 degree weather.