War Breaks Out Within the Marijuana Legalization Movement (Part 1)

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By Bruce Cain (about the author) Page 1 of 5 page(s)

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For OpEdNews: Bruce Cain - Writer
A war is breaking out between the Cannabusiness Community, that hopes to profit from draconian regulation of Marijuana, and the pillars of the drug reform movement that insist that the self cultivation of Marijuana become an untaxed, unregulated sacred right. The first shots were fired by a speech by Jack Herer and the firing of Dennis Peron from Oaksterdam University. Could this be our "Concord" moment?

Over the past few weeks two things have occurred that should be of paramount interest to both the majority of American Citizens favoring the Re-Legalization of Marijuana and even those that don't yet support Marijuana Re-Legalization.

First on Saturday September 12th, 2009, Jack Herer made a short but historic speech at Oregon's HempStalk Festival. And despite suffering a stroke and heart attack, back in 2000, it is abundantly clear that he put every ounce of energy and anger into this speech. It is clear that this anger is directed at the Cannabusiness community as you will understand by the end of this article. Here were the most important words from that fiery speech:


"I don't want to f**king give the United States government one f**king dollar of taxes. I think that they should go to f**king jail for getting you and me and 20 million people getting arrested for pot. It is the safest thing you can do in the universe. And that is what we are going to do in California. Okay? Come over to my booth, over there, and I will see you next time."

In this video Jack Herer vehemently denounced the attempts by the Cannabusiness community to push for the government taxation and regulation of our Marijuana during his speech at the HempStalk Festival in Oregon (09/12/2009). Unfortunately he suffered a heart attack shortly after delivering what could become his most important speech.

Next on Tuesday September 15th, 2009, Dennis Peron was fired from Oaksterdam University. According to journalist Craig Canada, his firing was the result of Peron's opposition to his employer's state wide initiative to "tax and regulate" Marijuana.

Dennis Peron announced on Tuesday (09/15/2009) that he returned from Burning Man to discover he had been fired from Oaksterdam University because of his opposition to taxing and regulating medical marijuana. Oaksterdam University has announced it intends to spend a million dollars to promote an initiative that would tax, regulate and control marijuana by city and county, as well as at the state level.

What both Herer and Peron are reacting to is the great "bait and switch" on Marijuana policy by the Cannabusiness community and our very own government. In a nutshell what is going on is a reaction to the fact that a majority of American Citizens -- 52% according to a 2009 Zogby poll -- now support the complete Legalization of Marijuana for all citizens: not just the sick and dying.

What should also be made clear is that both Jack Herer and Dennis Peron are two of the most important and respected members of the Marijuana Re-Legalization movement. And despite this they have been demonized by groups that purport to support Marijuana Re-Legalization for many years: NORML, DPA and MPP.

Jack Herer is the author of the "Emperor Wears No Clothes" which was first published in 1985. This book clearly documented the censored history of Hemp (e.g., Marijuana or Cannabis) and essentially became the "bible" for the Marijuana reform movement. You can read (or preferably purchase) the entire book through the following link:


http://www.jackherer.com/chapters.html


Dennis Peron has also made incredible contributions to the movement towards Marijuana Re-Legalization as documented by journalist Craig Canada:

Peron has been hailed as the father of the medical marijuana movement and was the guiding force and co-author of California's Proposition 215.

He became a marijuana dealer after returning from Viet Nam to San Francisco in 1969 and through the 70s he ran the Big Top marijuana supermarket from his home.

In 1978 he organized Proposition W which directed the district attorney to stop arresting people for possessing, transferring, or growing marijuana. Though it was passed by 56% of the electorate, it was never implemented by the Feinstein Administration.


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