 New Age Citizen eLetter
October 30, 2003
Issue #008 | 
Welcome to the eighth New Age Citizen (NAC) eLetter. The main purpose of this eLetter and NAC is to help the activist community, around the globe, become more effective in changing drug, socio-economic and environmental policies. Please go to the following page for the web enhanced version of this eLetter which contains easier navigation and additional graphics. The easiest way to navigate is by clicking on the "Contents" hyperlinks and then using the "back" button, on your browser, to get back to the "Contents" section of the eLetter:
http://www.newagecitizen.com/eLetter031030.htm
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CONTENTS:
* Overview
* NAC endorses Dennis Kucinich for Democratic Presidential Candidate
* Michigan Events
Next Opportunity to Wear Your Green Armband
To make yourself a Green Armband
* Donate to New Age Citizen and receive the NAC Multimedia CD
* Adding fellow activists to the NAC eLetter:
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It has been about 4 weeks since the last eLetter -- which gets us closer to the weekly goal that I see as ideal. I am beginning to tidy up the site as promised. So far I have focused on the "navigation center" webpage:
http://www.newagecitizen.com/navigation_center.htm
Now when you click on the links for "New Age News", "eLetter" or "Homepage" a chronological listing will appear for each of these items. This should provide a quick and intuitive method to explore the evolution of this website.
I also want to encourage my readers to sample the free New Age News which contains hundreds of current articles on drug, socio-economic and environmental issues which have been submitted by my readers:
http://www.newagecitizen.com/New_Age_News.htm
These files are in Word format and are ussually between 10-15 pages in length. There is a wealth of ideas and opinions in each of these files. I should note that I don't necessarily agree with all of the expressed opinions. If I had to define the purpose of these files I would have to say they are intended to inoculate you against the right wing propaganda that increasingly dominates CNN, FOX etc. If you are wondering "where's the beef", at our website, this is it. These files contain very condenced content which can be read online or printed for reading away from your computer.
New Age Citizen (NAC) has decided to endorse Kucinich because, while he probably doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hades, his political platform is the most progressive of all the democratic candidates. He is the only democratic candidate that I know of who has gone on record against the Drug War and who at least supports medical access to Marijuana. In the future NAC will be using many of Kucinich's policy positions as a starting point for the "Virtual Presidency Project."
To see where he stands on the issues please check out the following links:
http://thespiritoffreedom.com/
http://thespiritoffreedom.com/issues.htm
http://www.kucinich.us/dp.htm
Having said that I do want to make something crystal clear. Bush must be removed from office. So whoever wins the democratic candidacy will most likely be "our" candidate. This is both pragmatic and necessary. The American people cannot weather another four years of this plutocrat. So if you want the opportunity to vote for Kuccinch, next November, now is the time to exert some effort.
Here is Kucinich's position on Drug Policy:
A safe, free and just America is undermined, not bolstered, by the costly and ineffective War on Drugs. While well-intentioned, this misguided policy -- which emphasizes criminalization over treatment -- has led to increased violent crime, misdirected resources of law enforcement and restricted Constitutional liberties.
Despite billions spent yearly on the drug war, addiction is up. Our country must rethink a policy that produces many casualties, but benefits only the prison-industrial complex. Non-violent drug offenders often receive Draconian sentences, tearing apart families.
Racial bias in the enforcement of drug laws is pervasive. According to a Human Rights Watch report based on FBI statistics, blacks were arrested on drug charges at nearly five times the rate of whites. Drug use is consistent across racial and socioeconomic lines -- yet in the state of New York, for example, 94 percent of incarcerated drug offenders are Latino or African-American, mostly from poor communities.
Countries in Europe and elsewhere are turning away from failed policies. They are treating addiction as a medical problem and are seeing significant reductions in crime and violence -- with fewer young people becoming involved with addictive drugs in the first place. In our country, due to misplaced priorities and resources, only one bed exists for every ten people who apply for drug treatment. Addiction is a medical and moral problem that should be treated by professionals, not dumped on the criminal justice system
Most Americans believe that medical marijuana should be available to help relieve the suffering of seriously ill patients, and eight states have passed laws to allow it. But the Bush administration has harassed medical marijuana patients in an effort to assert federal authority. This is another aspect of the drug war that should be ended.
First I want to thank all of those people that came out to hear my lecture on Connecting the Dots Between the “Jobless Recovery” and the Offshoring of American Jobs.
This is keeping with the original intent of this website to cover a broader spectrum of social and environmental issues. My lecture argued that the “jobless recovery” is a direct result of the offshoring of millions of white and blue collar jobs and the increasing efficiencies of what I called "Monolithic Technological Integration." I highly recommend that you read the following article to better understand these evolving trends as they will have a significant effect on all of our futures.
Click here to read "Surviving the Great Global Brain Drain"
http://www.newagecitizen.com/PDF/braindrain.pdf
Next I wanted to let my readers know that I did wear a Green Armband to the recent Drug Reform forum in Detroit. The purpose of the armband is to demand that all drug reform organizations begin to focus a significant amount of their efforts towards the ReLegalization of Marijuana through models such as the Marijuana ReLegalization Policy (MRC) Project.
As I had predicted (as early as1989) changing attitudes, from a increasingly "drug aware" culture, would eventually demand changes in our Drug Laws. Recent polls, (see current eLetter), suggest a majority of the US voting population will support Marijuana Legalization no later than 2012 - just 9 years away.
If you would rather see Re-Legalization occur in an environment where you can grow and consume Cannabis without taxation, regulation or government interference we encourage your donations and financial support. I suggest becoming a NAC member by sending a donation of $19.95 or more. I will send you our NAC Disk Web which contains the complete contents of "New Age Patriot Magazine" in a format that is viewable from your browser. You don't need to be online, to access the NAC Disk Web, so you can view it anytime, from your desktop or laptop computer.
If you sign up before 2004 I will include a free Green Armband!
Your donations will then help us help you realize a future where you can grow your own Marijuana at home without taxation, regulation or government interference. This is NOT what most other organizations are shooting for and we think this is most unfortunate.
We actually encourage activists to wear Green Armbands to forums, put on bY these other organizations, in order to quietly demand that:
(1)all future Drug Reform Events make Re-Legalization a primary focus and (2) all future Drug Reform Events begin discussing Re-Legalization as an attainable goal.
And no one is saying Re-Legalization should be the only topic of discussion at future Drug Reform events. But it should become A primary topic at ALL future Drug Reform events: at least until the goal of Re-Legalization is achieved. And I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that is what happens.
So we should thank the Heenan's, Stroup's and Nadleman's of the world for their efforts. But we should not let them divert us from the goal of Re-Legalization which has never been more achievable since the Marijuana Tax Act was passed nearly 65 years ago. We cannot allow them to divert or delay the achievement of this victory which will soon be well within our grasp.
So, Please. Go to these events. Thank them for their efforts. But if you agree with what I am saying please wear a green arm band to all future Drug Reform events. This will show that you too, want Re-Legalization to become a primary topic for every future Drug Reform event until victory is ours.
Let's get real,
Professor Hemp
Ethan Nadleman's Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is being held in New Jersey from November 5th - 8th, 2003. According to their agenda the closest they come to Marijuana ReLegalization is to make "marijuana legally available for medical purposes." By wearing a Green Armband you will be indicating that you are loosing patience with forums and Drug Reform organizations that do not make a primary and specific commitment to the goal of Marijuana ReLegalization.
A growing number of American activists are becoming concerned about the direction of Drug Reform in the United States. As the rest of the world moves toward Marijuana ReLegalization the American Drug Reform movement - now primarily funded through George Soros (e.g., DPA is primarily funded by Soros) - appears to be distancing itself from this increasingly achievable goal. This behavior is even more disturbing when you consider that ReLegalization would certainly speed up the achievement of many of their other stated goals (e.g., needle exchange, the release of non-violent drug prisoners etc.). While some activists are beginning to question the true motives of Soros, I think the vast majority just want the War on Cannabis (also known as Marijuana or Hemp) to end immediately. Hopefully, the wearing of Green Armbands will hasten this process.
Please send us an email if you are planning to go to the DPA forum wearing a Green Armband.
For more information on the conference:
http://conference.drugpolicy.org
Just go to your nearest fabric store and get about 1 foot of 1.5" (or wider) green ribbon. We are currently using 1.5" Offray Ribbon in a Emerald Green color.
As usual, we are also looking for your donations to help keep NAC moving forward with real meaningful drug policy reform. For just $19.95 you can become a NAC member and receive the NAC Multimedia CD (more information below). One of things we would like to purchase is Adobe Acrobat so the "NAC News", which we provide for free, can be distributed in the universal *.PDF format -- that alone is over $200.00.
The last thing I would like to bring up is another smaller project: to get a handle on who is financing the Drug Reform movement. My first attempt at this has been to request assistance from the Threshold Foundation (Soro's group) but so far they have ignored my requests -- something that won't surprise most activists. DPA and Soros have exhibited an incredible arrogance towards the activists community in the past. I'm hoping that there are existent articles or websites that have already collected this information. If any of you have found articles that shed light on the money sources of any reform organizations (NORML, DPA, MPP), please send me an email. The goal of this mini-project is to make activists aware of who are the major backers of Drug Reform both in the United States and around the world -- and bring some accountability to their progress or lack thereof.
We at NAC applaud everyone's efforts, however, we also want to see American Adults growing their own Marijuana no later than 2012. What we don't want to see is an institutionalization of the Drug Reform movement which ultimately turns the "Road to Re-Legalization of Cannabis" into the "Never Ending Story." If you project the recent Zogby Poll Data from 1986 and 2003, then we should reach a 50% majority no later than 2003.
I would like to expand our mailing list to at least 5,000 activists by years end. So if you would like to sign up a few of your friends ,to receive the Free NAC eLetter, just go to the following hyperlink and fill out the form:
http://www.newagecitizen.com/EmailListSignUp.htm
While we do encourage complete information you can signup by just filling in the email address field.
If you no longer want to receive these eLetters just send us a reply with "Unsubscribe" in the Subject and an optional reason in the body. If you are changing Internet Server Providers please let us know the eMail address that is to expire along with your new eMail address.
That's all for this eLetter.
Yours in Freedom
Professor Hemp
Webmaster and Editor of the "New Age Citizen" eLetter, eZine and Website"
www.newagecitizen.com
P.O. Box 419
Dearborn Hts, MI 48127
(313)563-3192
