So here we are, over 40 years since the passage of the Federal Controlled Substance Act and the overriding moral of the story seems to be prohibition still doesn’t work. About 10 years ago, when I was working with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a friend and I were working around the clock to help people understand the failures of prohibition. We sat in room after room with people working on the ancillary issues caused by prohibition. We felt it was easy to see the real damage was created by prohibition and the rest were symptoms. We called prohibition the 900 pound gorilla in the room that no one wanted to discuss.
In an e-mail exchange today a new ally called prohibition the dead elephant in the room. In a Republican led legislature we don’t take stabs at elephants, but none the less ….
Whether you want to call it a dead 900 pound gorilla or a dead elephant the metaphor is working for me. I like the idea that we have gone from a big, damn beast – screeching – terrifying and something no one wanted to face, to a carcass. A stinking mess even. So how do you get a dead gorilla out of the middle of a room, unfortunately the answer may be – one piece at a time.
I’ve never been much of an incrementalist. I worked with cops calling for the end of prohibition and when you look at the likes of Al Capone and the corruption laid out in shows like the HBO drama Boardwalk Empire, you have to look twice at prohibition. But prohibition is a huge beast.
Our medical cannabis bill in the Florida House and Senate isn’t perfect, but it begins the process of cutting the dead gorilla into manageable pieces. Even I had no idea how illegal cannabis is in Florida. Statute after statute makes cannabis a little more illegal. So while HB 1139 and SB 1250 are only talking about medical access to cannabis and does nothing for the 40,000 people arrested in Florida for under 20 grams of cannabis, it does takes patients out of the criminal justice system and that is a good place to start.
We need good policies. We want cannabis policies that increase public safety, protect patients and provide the public with piece of mind. We need the stinking beast out of the room and we can do this, even if it means tackling the beast one piece at a time.
Day 8 of the legislative session
52 days left to bring safe, legal access to Florida in 2013.
Showing posts with label Florida Senate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Florida Senate. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Sunday, January 22, 2012
When The Choir Sings
Day 9
Remaining Committees – 7
Remaining Days to be heard – 38
Remaining funding – 21 days
I’ve worked with a number of wonderful people in the drug reform movement who say they don’t like to speak at hemp festivals and pot rallies. They feel as though they are just “speaking to the choir” at those events. Over the years, as the number of people supporting safe, legal access to cannabis increases, it seems, more people qualify as converts.
So, in a fellowship you have converts, but it is the choir singing that will often move you as much, if not more, than the spoken message.
The choir of supporters in Florida have begun to sing. Nearly 1000 people sent e-mail messages to key members in the House and the Senate. Those voices moved two lawmakers who agree we should let the voters decide.
I feel pretty blessed to be here, seeing the lawmakers come to understand what it is we know about this plant. Being away from home is hard, even when the work is this important. I stayed in Tallahassee to make some strategic meetings making me more than a little homesick.
Each week we have identified select targets for educational efforts. This week we’ve adopted a pretty ambitious agenda. From our target list of Senators and House members, we’ve identified 600 supporters from their districts. If we can move our choir to share their story with their own personal representative and invite their neighbors to do the same, we will create the avalanche of support we need to pass a medical protection bill this year.
My job, as I go door-to-door meeting with these lawmakers is to listen for their hidden fears and find a way to move them. We already know the greatest misperception we have to overcome is the idea Floridians don’t support safe, legal access to cannabis medicine.
On the average, when we send out a “request for action”, a narrow percentage of people actually open the e-mail and take action. If only 1 in 20 of the people we asked to contact their lawmaker takes action, only 30 letters will be sent.
Do you believe the voice of 30 people is enough to move lawmaker in a state with nearly 18 million people? Surely, the walls of Jericho fell with just the blast of a trumpet and in this world of infinite possibilities nothing is impossible, but I believe we need more people to join the chorus.
Sometimes the choir sings, sometimes we all sing along.
Today, we need to all sing along. What are you waiting for? When will you talk to your neighbor about writing a letter, your barber, the stock boy and cashier? When will you call upon your congregation and office friends? If you wait for someone else to carry the message, we will be waiting another year for safe access for our patients.
Every day I wear a couple cannabis leaf lapel pins on my suit jacket. In the halls, in the elevators, in line at the cafeteria in the Capital, I am constantly asked about them. Last night, I went to a college bar with a former NORML board member. No one seemed to notice the embroidered pot leaf on my shirt. In the bars, in the streets, among the people this is not an issue, people already agree with you.
It takes a lot of courage to contact those lawmakers each day. It took a lot of strength for Cathy to come here with her caregiver to go door-to-door among scoffers. It is hard being here, away from a family I adore, dogs that always miss me and a home I love.
Yes, it is hard, it is a little scary to come out of the closet and show your true colors, but for now, we need you to join the choir and sing along! Don’t be afraid, it is the right thing to do.
Remaining Committees – 7
Remaining Days to be heard – 38
Remaining funding – 21 days
I’ve worked with a number of wonderful people in the drug reform movement who say they don’t like to speak at hemp festivals and pot rallies. They feel as though they are just “speaking to the choir” at those events. Over the years, as the number of people supporting safe, legal access to cannabis increases, it seems, more people qualify as converts.
So, in a fellowship you have converts, but it is the choir singing that will often move you as much, if not more, than the spoken message.
The choir of supporters in Florida have begun to sing. Nearly 1000 people sent e-mail messages to key members in the House and the Senate. Those voices moved two lawmakers who agree we should let the voters decide.
I feel pretty blessed to be here, seeing the lawmakers come to understand what it is we know about this plant. Being away from home is hard, even when the work is this important. I stayed in Tallahassee to make some strategic meetings making me more than a little homesick.
Each week we have identified select targets for educational efforts. This week we’ve adopted a pretty ambitious agenda. From our target list of Senators and House members, we’ve identified 600 supporters from their districts. If we can move our choir to share their story with their own personal representative and invite their neighbors to do the same, we will create the avalanche of support we need to pass a medical protection bill this year.
My job, as I go door-to-door meeting with these lawmakers is to listen for their hidden fears and find a way to move them. We already know the greatest misperception we have to overcome is the idea Floridians don’t support safe, legal access to cannabis medicine.
On the average, when we send out a “request for action”, a narrow percentage of people actually open the e-mail and take action. If only 1 in 20 of the people we asked to contact their lawmaker takes action, only 30 letters will be sent.
Do you believe the voice of 30 people is enough to move lawmaker in a state with nearly 18 million people? Surely, the walls of Jericho fell with just the blast of a trumpet and in this world of infinite possibilities nothing is impossible, but I believe we need more people to join the chorus.
Sometimes the choir sings, sometimes we all sing along.
Today, we need to all sing along. What are you waiting for? When will you talk to your neighbor about writing a letter, your barber, the stock boy and cashier? When will you call upon your congregation and office friends? If you wait for someone else to carry the message, we will be waiting another year for safe access for our patients.
Every day I wear a couple cannabis leaf lapel pins on my suit jacket. In the halls, in the elevators, in line at the cafeteria in the Capital, I am constantly asked about them. Last night, I went to a college bar with a former NORML board member. No one seemed to notice the embroidered pot leaf on my shirt. In the bars, in the streets, among the people this is not an issue, people already agree with you.
It takes a lot of courage to contact those lawmakers each day. It took a lot of strength for Cathy to come here with her caregiver to go door-to-door among scoffers. It is hard being here, away from a family I adore, dogs that always miss me and a home I love.
Yes, it is hard, it is a little scary to come out of the closet and show your true colors, but for now, we need you to join the choir and sing along! Don’t be afraid, it is the right thing to do.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Making Tracks
Day 6
Remaining Committees – 7
Remaining Days to be heard – 40
Remaining funding – 24 days
Florida Cannabis Action Network President of the Board, Cathy Jordan, spent three days here in Tallahassee last week. As a person surviving with Lou Gehrig’s Disease she is truly an inspiration. Although she is wheelchair bound and requires constant assistance from her caregiver Adam, she made meeting after meeting.
Non-smoking hotels means if smoking cannabis is your medicine, you have to make alternative arrangements to medicate. In the cold, without proper medication, two sick friends stuck in the hotel and Cathy still made meeting after meeting.
When you work with people like that, complaining seems a little juvenile. That aside, being here is hard work. Long days, high stakes, add lots of walking and more than a little stress. We know how important our success is to the future of Florida.
A last minute decision on the part of the House Judiciary committee pushed back the committee hearing from 8 am to 9. Who knew. That extra hour of sleep would have been welcome; but watching the committee work was worth the early morning.
This morning, Preventing Deaths from Drug- related Overdoses HB 125 sponsored by Representative Bernard was on the agenda. In New Mexico, a similar bill was passed in 2005. It was part of a strategy by drug policy reformers to educate the legislature. Although Representative Bernard is a democrat, the bill enjoys bipartisan support. This bill passed easily through committee this morning. It was the support by law enforcement agencies that peaked my curiosity. Representative Bernard agreed to meet next week to give us advice on how to build those bridges with unlikely allies.
The same bill was introduced by Representative Bernard last year. It passed through all of its committees but didn’t make it to the floor for a vote. Not encouraging but a reality here in Tallahassee.
The Florida Senate was in session both Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, so today was my first opportunity to see them in committee. The more I watch bills make tracks though the committee the more clear it is how much we need leadership support.
If Senator Haridopolis and Speaker Cannon or the Governor doesn’t push for medical cannabis, it is unlikely our bill will be heard in the first committee. We aren’t done yet, but success will only happen with a ground swell of support.
Remaining Committees – 7
Remaining Days to be heard – 40
Remaining funding – 24 days
Florida Cannabis Action Network President of the Board, Cathy Jordan, spent three days here in Tallahassee last week. As a person surviving with Lou Gehrig’s Disease she is truly an inspiration. Although she is wheelchair bound and requires constant assistance from her caregiver Adam, she made meeting after meeting.
Non-smoking hotels means if smoking cannabis is your medicine, you have to make alternative arrangements to medicate. In the cold, without proper medication, two sick friends stuck in the hotel and Cathy still made meeting after meeting.
When you work with people like that, complaining seems a little juvenile. That aside, being here is hard work. Long days, high stakes, add lots of walking and more than a little stress. We know how important our success is to the future of Florida.
A last minute decision on the part of the House Judiciary committee pushed back the committee hearing from 8 am to 9. Who knew. That extra hour of sleep would have been welcome; but watching the committee work was worth the early morning.
This morning, Preventing Deaths from Drug- related Overdoses HB 125 sponsored by Representative Bernard was on the agenda. In New Mexico, a similar bill was passed in 2005. It was part of a strategy by drug policy reformers to educate the legislature. Although Representative Bernard is a democrat, the bill enjoys bipartisan support. This bill passed easily through committee this morning. It was the support by law enforcement agencies that peaked my curiosity. Representative Bernard agreed to meet next week to give us advice on how to build those bridges with unlikely allies.
The same bill was introduced by Representative Bernard last year. It passed through all of its committees but didn’t make it to the floor for a vote. Not encouraging but a reality here in Tallahassee.
The Florida Senate was in session both Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, so today was my first opportunity to see them in committee. The more I watch bills make tracks though the committee the more clear it is how much we need leadership support.
If Senator Haridopolis and Speaker Cannon or the Governor doesn’t push for medical cannabis, it is unlikely our bill will be heard in the first committee. We aren’t done yet, but success will only happen with a ground swell of support.
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