Legalize Medical Cannabis In North Carolina

I signed this. I pray and believe it will pass. It should have the signatures needed. It was close to the goal when I checked.

 

I live in NC and signed on. Hope this passes!

 

Bump!

 

just signed and bump!

 

Bumping this above the spam.

 

Can't you just push your legislators to consider legalizing and taxing like Virginia and New Hampshire?

 

Virginia is considered a southern state as well. North Carolina is pretty progressive for a southern state. They would indeed go for it because we are currently 49th in the country for per student spending. This is the same reason that they voted in favor of the lottery after shooting it down for several years. They needed money for education and that is why we have the NC education lottery. Our budget is pretty fucked as a state so we could get some money from taxing marijuana. I think it is totally possible in the next few years.

 

Hope you're right, Jimmy, and thanks for your work, Russ, but you know, the majority in the NC General Assembly is not just bizarrely opposed to cannabis (bizarre because they generally oppose government intervention in people's lives), they are also ideologically opposed to taxes. They equate more government revenue, from anywhere, with bigger government. They believe that is inherently bad. Unless it's military. They are hypocritical fucking idiots, and besides, the only way to "push them around" is with big fat contribution checks.

So, while I totally admire and appreciate NCCPN and others who are trying to bring the state along, my prediction is that NC will further decrim or legalize only after the federal government reclassifies cannabis from Schedule I and after the legislative leadership sees some other states that they consider "conservative" legalize without big adverse consequences to the incumbents.

Assholes.

 

The squeaky wheel gets the (hemp) oil!

Medical marijuana legalization getting new life at Statehouse - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register

\tIllinois House Republican leader Tom Cross’ change of heart could mean a change in the prospects for medical marijuana in Illinois.
\tCross, R-Oswego, had opposed the legislation in the past, but changed his mind after hearing from constituents and members of the medical community, spokeswoman Sara Wojcicki said.

Writing, calling and talking to your politicians does work! And you may want to remind them of this-
\t
October 17, 2011 11:06 PM - Marijuana legalization support at record high

Marijuana legalization support at record high - CBS News

In a new Gallup poll, 50 percent of respondents in a nationwide survey said they believed it was time to make pot legal...Last year, Gallup released a poll claiming as many as 70 percent of Americans approved of the use of medical marijuana.

Those are VOTERS they are talking about! You best tell your "good old boys" that supporting MMJ = votes! And that the "kids" will vote for anyone offering legalization!

Politicians will flip on almost any subject - if they think it will keep them in office!


Granny

 

Granny, you rock, and thank you for all you do--that list of yours is fantastic and so is your energy and enthusiasm. I don't mean to snuff out any of that. It is important to keep pushing, relentlessly, like the tides.

OTOH I want the out-front mmj advocates (and legalization advocates, if there are any of those out front here) to be just as realistic about the political landscape as all the other, better-paid, more experienced lobbyists are. We have in the leader of NCCPN a good person for that job, ex-military. We would benefit a LOT from having a group of doctors here come out in support of medical benefits of cannabis. We need more LEAP type support.

The national polling numbers from Gallup in the fall were good, but pols here need to feel it's true in their districts, and they don't have those numbers now. They saw the Cali initiative fail last fall. They read the headlines on the DOJ anti-dispensary actions. So they revert to trust in their money people and in business, religious and political leaders here, and none of them are out front advocates, afaik.

So we are still whistling Dixie, and I stand by my predictions. I wish I weren't in the land of cotton, in this case. Old times here--alcohol prohibition--are totally forgotten, even romanticized as they way we wish we were. It's a long, long way from Olympia, Salem or Sacramento to Raleigh...

 

One of our main problems is big-pharma's influence on NC. We have companies that do crazy shit in RTP and at the multitude of universities.

 

but pols here need to feel it's true in their districts, and they don't have those numbers now.

And the way they they begin to feel that it IS true, is by all those letters and emails! They make up those numbers! You are perfectly right about being relentless in the pressure! Every one of you should be working toward legalization!

That group of doctors you need? Unless they KNOW about cannabis, it will never happen! A survey of doctors in Canada (MMJ is federally legal there) revealed an interesting fact- most of what the doctors knew about cannabis came from their patients!

In the US, the doctors are even more ignorant as a whole! I know things are not easy in North Carolina, and that doctors may get a bit "upset" if you try to educate them about cannabis. But there are ways of educating them without attracting attention to yourself.

It is easy to slip a couple of abstracts in an envelope and address it to your doctor (or just grab a phone book and start down the list). You can stay anonymous, and your doc may be intrigued to look up the full study (especially if it is in his specialty area ).

Legalization is a matter of education! We have to change the perception of cannabis! Cheech and Chong dumb stoner image has got to go.

The "new stoner" image should be an educated person who can discuss the latest medical finds and also knows something about the various industrial uses- bio fuels, animal feed, oil, fiber, hemp-crete, etc.

The facts are there- Cannabis effectively treats many ailments. It is safer (and faster) than aspirin as a medicine. Cannabis is a cheap, growable medicine for the average person- replacing aspirin, Sominex, dramamine, stress pills and more.

And it's safer than tobacco, alcohol, "unmentionables" or other things* children may use as a drug. As a parent and educator, if kids are going to use something, I would prefer it to be something that WON'T kill them or their brain cells! (*A real eye opener from CBS- Sniffing Trumps Weed for 12-Year-Olds - CBS News )

As a multi-purpose crop there is a lot of money to be made from cannabis! Cannabis is a "mortgage-lifter" crop that requires little in the way of fertilizer or insecticides, and every part of the plant is useful- even if the strain has absolutely no THC. (The roots even have some interesting chemicals that may be useful as a heart medicine.)

When I started using cannabis, California was a lot like North Carolina is now- look up "Timothy Leary 1968" as an example! It has taken a lot of people working a long time to get California where it is now. North Carolina isn't California, but if you all work together and keep at it, you can get it closer- if not this election, then next!


Granny

 

Granny, you're probably right. I wasn't alive during that time and I wouldn't doubt that California was a lot like North Carolina when it came to cannabis. However, California had one thing that North Carolina didn't. It had the seeds. The seeds for legalization to occur, Granny. Caiifornia's overall cultural climate was a world's away from North Carolina. California was admitted to the Union as a free state in 1850. North Carolina as we all known was a slave state because it was inevitably below the Mason-Dixon line.

Now, as much as we may say that we live in a post-racial society, that simply is not true. One only need look at the policies and laws of the Southern states compared to that of the North and its almost as clear as night and day, especially where marijuana is concerned. A lot of the South is conservative and with conservatism comes the wish to keep things the way they were. This includes marijuana laws. It's also no secret that much of the South (which includes North Carolina) is much more close-minded and ultimately less diverse than that of California.

For all we know, marijuana may be legal in North Carolina within the next 10 years but I would doubt it. California has made a lot of progress as a state with marijuana laws because that is simply the nature of California - its a progressive state. You live there, Granny. You know this. Where else would have the "Summer of Love" have occurred? Where else would Ken Kesey's acid tests have occurred? Not in North Carolina, that's for sure.

Hopefully, ALL states will wake up to the benefits of legalization, not just a few. We need this plant now more than ever.

As always, thanks for your insight Granny.

 

Yes, California leads the way, but now it is YOUR TIME to break free of the past!

I challenge every one of you to stand up and be counted for legalization! If you can't be out there "singin' songs and a-carryin' signs", then write your congressmen! To their clerks you are just a "yes" or "no" on an issue and will be just another blip in their tally!

Print up stuff like these WebMD aricles-

Marijuana May Slow Alzheimer's (news - 2006)
Marijuana May Slow Alzheimer's

Teen Pot Smoking Won't Lead to Other Drugs as Adults (news - 2010)
Teen Pot Smoking Won't Lead to Other Drugs as Adults

Marijuana Ingredient May Cut Fibromyalgia Pain (news - 2008)
Marijuana Ingredient May Cut Fibromyalgia Pain

Marijuana Chemical Fights Hardened Arteries (news - 2005)
Marijuana Chemical Fights Hardened Arteries

Heavy Marijuana Use Doesn't Damage Brain (news – 2003)
Heavy Marijuana Use Doesn't Damage Brain

Marijuana Smoking Doesn't Kill (news – 2003)
\tMarijuana Smoking Doesn't Kill

Chemicals in Marijuana May Fight MRSA (news - 2008)
Marijuana Ingredients May Fight MRSA

Cannabis Relieves Multiple Sclerosis Pain (news - 2004)
Cannabis Relieves Multiple Sclerosis Pain

Leave them in laundromats, or other places bored folks gather. WebMD is readable and trusted! If your sweet "Aunt Rose" has just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, then that first WebMD article will be enough to make you vote for MMJ!

I understand staying under the radar! I work in education! If it were found out that I even used cannabis, I would lose my job! Yet, run a search on "Granny Storm Crow" and see what happens!.......... I did all that, and no one has a clue that I am anything but sweet old "Ms Crow" who hands out shiny pencils to get 3rd graders to do their math and also just loves genealogy! lol

Whether you decide to be in the spotlight, or in the shadows, become an activist and get cannabis legal. I would LOVE to see North Carolina lead the way for the South! (I have some direct-line ancestors from Anson.)


Granny