Well I find myself today extremely saddened. Seriously. Well sort of. I believe in activism petitions and other movements to tell the government they are wrong. But honestly I feel like nothing has been done. So my question is to older folks and younger too. How can someone stay motivated with such little progress? I mean if this is a free country and we are in the 21st century, Yet with everything we've done we still have ignorfucks we call leaders that don't take us seriously. Can someone tell me what have we done in the last 5 years for this. Just some facts or stories would help. (I'm not saying I'm quiting. I'm just really fustrated.)
Tito, you lack the perspective I have after 40+ years of toking. When I started smoking cannabis things were very different. In 1968, Tim Leary was arrested for having 2 "roaches" and was given 10 years, and since he had a prior drug offense, they tacked on another 10 years! Timothy Leary - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "On January 21, 1970, Leary received a ten-year sentence for his 1968 offense, with a further ten added later while in custody, for a previous arrest in 1965, twenty years in total to be served consecutively." I can remember carefully inspecting the kitchen table after rolling a joint, for the tiniest speck of green. Cops could and WOULD bust folks for an "un-smokable amount"! In some states, selling a joint could get you life in prison! We have come a LONG way since then! Don't give up! We are almost there! 50% of the folks asked support legalization- Record-High 50% of Americans Favor Legalizing Marijuana Use Look at that chart! In the sixties when I started toking there was ZERO support for medical marijuana- there wasn't even the CONCEPT of medical use! We were all just "dopers" and "potheads"- right down there with junkies and winos! The difference is EDUCATION! The facts about cannabis are getting out! It is not the "Weed with roots in Hell"- cannabis is an effective herbal medicine that makes you feel good! Once the medical facts about cannabis are known the need for legalization becomes obvious! Granny
Hahaha hell yea. This was exactly what I was looking for. But do you honestly think we are even close to complete legalization? Your insight is gratefully appreciated. I never knew about unsmokable amounts. That would suck. Makes me feel like I'm back in the military with all those rules.
Look at that chart again! Continue the curve. How much over 50% do you think we have to go before the politicians realize that to oppose legalization is political suicide? How many people can you educate between now and the elections? Each vote counts! Granny
The best advice I can give you is to get outside of yourself a bit, so to speak, and try your best to educate others on the subject. Most importantly, try to work with others on joint efforts - as you are doing right here with this very thread. The more you engage with others who are of like mind, the better you will feel and the more you will accomplish. Maybe this is my own spiritual mumbo-jumbo belief, but I need to keep things really simple for myself. We all, as human beings, each have some varying amount of spiritual energy that we can spend on anything we want to accomplish. I believe that we, as human beings, have only 3 possible ways that we can possibly spend that energy: Thinking, Communicating and Acting. You obviously have invested a great amount of time thinking about the subject matter at hand, otherwise you would never likely have shared with us your perspective on the subject. First of all, thank you for that. You have taken the second step of honestly and clearly communication with a greater audience, your personal perspective. You are now 2/3 of the way there. Now what you need to do is act and, more importantly, encourage other people to act. When you have an idea, you breath spiritual energy into a thought and give it a life of it's own. When you share it, you allow other to do the same, with significantly more clarity of vision, reinforcing your idea. Eventually, if all goes well, people can act upon this idea in unison, affecting far more change than you ever could yourself. This is the process of creation, from beginning to end. NO accomplishment or creation in mans reality, outside of nature itself, has ever been made manifest outside of this process. The more people who believe in your vision, the more likely that it will come to pass - the more quickly as well. So, I can only surmise, that you are looking for actions to take or, at the very least, actions to suggest to others to take. My suggestion is to write a letter to your elected officials and share it here with us. Let us read it, critique it and evolve it into something we can all believe in. Than, when you are satisfied with the results, write it out (or type it out) and send it. We will do the same - or at least I will. This is an action that every one of us can, and should, undertake. It has much significance, even if it is not well received on the political end. The seed you will have planted in our minds is just as important. Just remember that doubts, fears and apprehensions are also ideas. You breath life into these as surely as you breath life into hopes, dreams and resolutions. Fears are ideas that take significantly more spiritual energy than they return. They are, in a sense, very poor spiritual investments, if you will. That being said, share these as quickly as you would share anything else! We'll set you straight every time! Keeping these bottled up only makes you bitter and keeps you from investing in ideas more worthy of your energy.
Amazingly close from an historical perspective. Adding to what Granny already stated, things are very different now than they were in the 70's through the 90's. I would say that the movement has made incredible gains over the last 40 years. The idea of walking into a retail outlet (i.e. "dispensary") and legally purchasing marijuana was unheard of back when I was a recreational user. Having any state laws protecting marijuana users was unheard of. We currently have multiple bills for reforming marijuana laws pending at the federal level. This was also unheard of. Having more than one potential presidential candidate come out publically in favor of legalizing marijuana is almost unbelievable. It may seem like progress is slow if you only look back at the last few months or years, but we are MUCH closer to complete legalization than we have ever been before. It is all a matter of perspective.
[quote name='"NefariousBredd"'] The best advice I can give you is to get outside of yourself a bit, so to speak, and try your best to educate others on the subject. Most importantly, try to work with others on joint efforts - as you are doing right here with this very thread. The more you engage with others who are of like mind, the better you will feel and the more you will accomplish. Maybe this is my own spiritual mumbo-jumbo belief, but I need to keep things really simple for myself. We all, as human beings, each have some varying amount of spiritual energy that we can spend on anything we want to accomplish. I believe that we, as human beings, have only 3 possible ways that we can possibly spend that energy: Thinking, Communicating and Acting. You obviously have invested a great amount of time thinking about the subject matter at hand, otherwise you would never likely have shared with us your perspective on the subject. First of all, thank you for that. You have taken the second step of honestly and clearly communication with a greater audience, your personal perspective. You are now 2/3 of the way there. Now what you need to do is act and, more importantly, encourage other people to act. When you have an idea, you breath spiritual energy into a thought and give it a life of it's own. When you share it, you allow other to do the same, with significantly more clarity of vision, reinforcing your idea. Eventually, if all goes well, people can act upon this idea in unison, affecting far more change than you ever could yourself. This is the process of creation, from beginning to end. NO accomplishment or creation in mans reality, outside of nature itself, has ever been made manifest outside of this process. The more people who believe in your vision, the more likely that it will come to pass - the more quickly as well. So, I can only surmise, that you are looking for actions to take or, at the very least, actions to suggest to others to take. My suggestion is to write a letter to your elected officials and share it here with us. Let us read it, critique it and evolve it into something we can all believe in. Than, when you are satisfied with the results, write it out (or type it out) and send it. We will do the same - or at least I will. This is an action that every one of us can, and should, undertake. It has much significance, even if it is not well received on the political end. The seed you will have planted in our minds is just as important. Just remember that doubts, fears and apprehensions are also ideas. You breath life into these as surely as you breath life into hopes, dreams and resolutions. Fears are ideas that take significantly more spiritual energy than they return. They are, in a sense, very poor spiritual investments, if you will. That being said, share these as quickly as you would share anything else! We'll set you straight every time! Keeping these bottled up only makes you bitter and keeps you from investing in ideas more worthy of your energy.[/quote] Damn this is very deep not only did it motivate me but it also made me think I should be doing more because I can and want to. I have allot of freinds who smoke with me people I don't consider stoners but if I teach them what I know and have learned I know for sure they will follow and spread the ideas to others
[quote name='"ocsurfer"'] Amazingly close from an historical perspective. Adding to what Granny already stated, things are very different now than they were in the 70's through the 90's. I would say that the movement has made incredible gains over the last 40 years. The idea of walking into a retail outlet (i.e. "dispensary") and legally purchasing marijuana was unheard of back when I was a recreational user. Having any state laws protecting marijuana users was unheard of. We currently have multiple bills for reforming marijuana laws pending at the federal level. This was also unheard of. Having more than one potential presidential candidate come out publically in favor of legalizing marijuana is almost unbelievable. It may seem like progress is slow if you only look back at the last few months or years, but we are MUCH closer to complete legalization than we have ever been before. It is all a matter of perspective.[/quote] Thank you your right I probably have been to impatient with it. I guess I shouldn't expect overnight progress on anything but sometimes I feel helpless because I can't change something that most of America wants and the way police treat it in Ny now its decriminalized but to minorities its used as a pivot to encarsirate minorities due to lies. Cops will illegally search (not frisk) people and charge them with public display of marijuana which is a misdemeanor.. its crazy. I just don't like marijuana to be used by cops like that. I know there are allot of injustices done across the u.s over this and our justice system isn't the best. But when will atleast improve it. Idk I guess I just need to act and tale these problems a step at a time and not overwelm myself with everysingle little issue we have to overcome.