Days in Tallahassee 19
Remaining committees 7
Remaining Days for bills to be heard 28
Remaining days of funding 11
Although the legislators were back in the district this weekend, I stayed in town to be part of the Southern Region Students for Sensible Drug Policy Conference hosted by the Florida State University SSDP/NORML chapter.
What a great group; over 30 student leaders from Atlanta to Miami made the long haul to Tallahassee. Saturday night Sabrina from FAU led an awareness building exercise and a few fun and informative icebreakers. Today’s program featured excellent workshops created and facilitated by students.
The well-thought out program gave chapter leaders real skills, a minute to vent and time to discuss moving the conversation of drug policy. It was a time for community building; with the Internet, Skype and social networking our community may be borderless, but those face-to-face meetings are priceless.
One of the repeating themes of the day was succession planning. In their case, it was about making sure the college chapter lasts through the next graduating class. For people like me, succession planning is investing in Student’s for Sensible Drug Policy and the NORML University groups. They are my succession plan. We need to protect their financial aid and make sure they can get through college without a felony conviction.
Investing in college students is also about raising the bar for drug policy reform. They are smarter than we were when we started. We can give them insight and guidance. They may stand on the shoulders of giants; they will be able to take us further.
Today, we were reminded the struggle for human rights isn’t over. The civil rights movement is certainly not finished or over; but a new generation must be engaged and prepared or we’ll stand to lose precious gains.
Drug policy made inroads this year in Tallahassee. We’ve watched a rejection of private prisons, seen the Good Samaritan 911 bill move through the House and Senate. Mandatory minimum sentences were challenged for the second year and found favor in several committees and sensible cannabis policy has a voice. The struggle isn’t over, but we are an unstoppable force.
Showing posts with label NORML. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NORML. Show all posts
Sunday, February 5, 2012
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)