I love my country, and I'm very grateful for the freedoms we all take for granted far too often. This is why it concurrently fills and breaks my heart to witness events, such as Oregon's recent brush with President Bush. While I care deeply about many of the issues we're all talking about around the water coolers, my own personal cause is medical marijuana. As a patient and a mom, this is the issue that has most deeply touched my life and the lives of my children, and it's the issue to which I can most effectively speak. Here is some background, for those of you who don't know me. Afterexhausting every legal option, even experimental surgery, Crohn's Disease left me frequently disabled. Marijuana gave me back my life and gave my kids back their mom. My government believes our tax dollars should be spent conducting dangerous raids on family homes and imprisoning people like me for trying to feel better. This puts my kids in a dangerous situation -- either their mom is disabled and unable to properly care for them, or we risk people with loaded weapons breaking into our home and taking me away. I keep wondering -- what are the odds of no one making a "sudden move", in a house with small kids running around? This is why, in spite of some challenges, I organized a demonstration to ask President Bush to stop arresting medical marijuana patients. My first hurdle was simply a lack of experience. I'm a small town wife and mom -- not a professional political organizer. My skills lie more in areas of creativity and common sense than in practical experience, which makes running a non-profit organization like Parents Ending Prohibition, and all that entails, a trial-by-fire endeavor. Fortunately, I have a few folks like Hilary McQuie, formerly with American's for Safe Access (www.safeaccessnow.org), who offer their time and advice along the way. When I called Hilary and explained what I wanted to do, she immediately sent me a big box of signs and literature to pass out, and helped me make plans. She's been my own personal human angel through the whole event, and I'm very grateful to her! The next problem was finding out where President Bush would be speaking. We sent out an action alert, but had to leave the location "to be announced", until the night before. I found it very odd that the leader of our nation has grown so afraid of being challenged, that he hides from the people he's asking to elect him. The only way to be allowed into this "Ask Bush" event, as he billed it, was to spend time calling people and asking them to vote for him in his campaign offices! I found this obscene and offensive, considering he's supposed to represent and serve all of us, whether we agree with him or not. On August 12th, we finally ended this maddening game of "where's 'W'aldo", and learned that President Bush would be speaking at both Terminal 6 in Portland in the morning, and Southridge High School in Beaverton at 12:45pm the next day. Bill, my husband and Associate Director of PEP, attended a meeting and training that evening by Indymedia (portland.indymedia.org), for all of the protests against the Bush administrations' policies that were being planned. It was an excellent opportunity to meet with other activists, and he learned a lot about the political environment and legal issues surrounding these kinds of demonstrations in Oregon. As the training was finishing up, people were still undecided about where and exactly when to hold the protests. Bill stepped up and announced that PEP would be in Beaverton at noon, which ended up determining the location for the majority of the demonstrators. When we arrived in Beaverton the next day, we were a little nervous about what could happen. We'd heard about last year, when police actually sprayed little babies in their faces with pepper spray, putting health care workers in a quandry over how to treat pepper-sprayed infants -- something with which they were previously inexperienced. We didn't expect to have to risk facing any sort of violence, but we kept away from the mot contentious areas, just in case. Unfortunately, this also left us without much representation in key areas -- namely, where the news cameras were consistently aimed, which was also where the small number of Bush supporters were gathered. We were delighted to find that all of the feedback we received from the crowd demonstrating against Bush was very positive. A few people aired concerns over our children holding medical marijuana signs, but seemed to be alright with it, once we explained that our kids know this plant as the medicine that let's their mom bake them cookies -- not as a drug anyone should abuse. Their problem seemed to be a knee-jerk, DARE-generation objection to mixing children and a message that has to do with marijuana. Our perspective comes from wanting to educate our kids from an early age about the importance of assessing risks and benefits, rather than simply teaching them 20 ways to "just say no". The minute we got there, and people saw that we had extra signs, they started asking for them. While a few people said they had come because of our announcement, many seemed to simply want to make any statement opposing Bush, and wanted to make it with a sign in hand. I'm pretty sure if we'd had "Yes on 33!" or statements about industrial hemp, they'd have taken those signs as well. This was a golden opportunity to get a strong message out about medical marijuana, but Bill and I could only do so much. We were restricted by our small kids, and our need to keep them safe, as well as limitations from simple inexperience. We really could have used a few seasoned reform activists in on this! Still, all in all, we accomplished some excellent groundwork, got our feet wet by organizing an event, and met some wonderful people. There were two beautiful young women I feel very privileged to have met. One told me about how marijuana had worked so well for her, that she no longer needed it. She felt very fortunate to have been able to take such a safe and effective medicine, and then be able to simply stop taking it when it was no longer needed. For her, a medicine that didn't cause symptoms of withdrawl when stopped was a godsend. The other lovely lady almost had me in tears! She came up to us all smiles, and tentatively asked if she could have a sign. I gladly gave her one, along with a copy of "Patients in the Crossfire", and she started telling me that her dad is a patient, and that she's a strong supporter of our cause. But the best part was when she called her dad on her cell phone, and exclaimed, "Dad! You'll never believe where I am and the sign I got to hold!" She ended up taking the sign home, so her dad could hang it on his wall, next to his Oregon Medical Marijuana card. My entire investment of time and energy was worth it because of her, alone! Overall, I felt this was a success. I ended up being interviewed by a KATU reporter, who seemed disappointed that I was able to speak intelligently to our issue. He approached me by quipping that another person with a sign "must have been stoned", because they weren't able to speak with a camera shoved in their face, then became rather patronizing once he saw that I was representing a serious cause with human casualties and human lives billed by Bush as nothing more than collateral damage. I also caught the attention of a reporter from the Oregonian, who was much more real about his questions, but who also was clear that he doubted they could find room to add in my statements for the next day's paper. The one spot of violence that tarnished the whole event was ironically perpetrated by one of those that were gathered and/or paid to shout out Bush support. Although I didn't witness it, word started spreading quickly through the crowd, that one of the Bush supporters had assaulted one of the people on our side. Bill and I had purposely positioned ourselves well within the crowd, so we wouldn't be vulnerable to this increasingly angry smaller group, but even there we didn't feel safe anymore. Another mom who lived nearby took her kids home and came back, but we felt we'd delivered our message, and since we live an hour away, decided to leave after we heard about the attack. Watching the KATU news that night, however, was like watching an entirely different demonstration. In their early broadcast, they showed more of our crowd, including a glimpse of my kids and one of our signs, and pictures of the violent Bush supporter being escorted away for her "calming". But by their later broadcasts, all of this was edited, and not one of our signs even made it into the pictures, the pictures of the alleged attacker had been removed, and the whole piece had been sanitized (for our protection?). What they showed on the late news looked like a large group of Bush supporters, and a small group of demonstrators for our causes, when the reality of the situation was exactly the opposite. I left before everything wrapped up, so I saw the scenes they were video taping from the streets, as well as seeing it up close earlier. There were two very small crowds, I'd say at most 15 people at each one, at the ends of the "Free Speech Zone", and positioned closest to the possible entrances of the motorcade. In between, and filling the fenced off sidewalk, with barbed wire on top of the fence, were at least 200 people demonstrating against Bush. We were pushed behind this barricade, while the only people exhibiting violent outbursts were given preferential treatment at the front of the line. I was happy with my first attempt to organize an event in our new home state, without having any of my dear allies back in our old home, Maryland, along to advise me. But I need some help from all of the rest of you Oregon reformers, in order to have a bigger impact when Bush comes back, which I believe we can expect him to do, considering we hold 7 electoral votes in this swing state. If you live in, or can get to Oregon on short notice, please sign up today for PEP's discussion list, where we'll announce upcoming actions. We had 50 signs being held, and still the cameras managed to exclude us. Please help us make sure that the next time, we'll be right up front and in their faces, demanding the simple human dignity of relief from suffering, without facing raids and arrests! My heart aches, everytime I think about what we've given up in this country. Even Orwell wasn't creative enough to envision "Free Speech Zones", and I keep wondering -- isn't America supposed to BE a free speech zone? Still, I believe there's time to turn this all around. What gives me hope is the human element. Everywhere I go, the one constant I find, is that no one is willing to tell me that they believe their tax dollars would be well spent, by raiding my home and arresting me for using medical marijuana. If we all agree on this, then we must change the laws that demand my arrest, before another precious cent is spent in persecuting me or people like me. Together, we're making a difference. Next time President Bush comes calling in Oregon, let's make sure we show him that we've become a united front and a force to be reckoned with, who will demand a concerned leader, instead of a moralistic and ignorant despot. America belongs to all of us -- not just those who give money to President Bush or are blackmailed into working for his campaign, in order to have their voices heard. But then -- we already knew this. Let's make sure when he comes back, that George W. Bush knows it, too! Warmly, and with much appreciation to everyone who showed up, Erin |
">
">
">
">
">
">
">
">
Parents Ending Prohibition . . . because there are better ways to protect kids ! |
">
">
">
">
">
">
">
">
PEP Tells Bush: STOP ARRESTING PATIENTS! |
I love my country, and I'm very grateful for the freedoms we all take for granted far too often. This is why it concurrently fills and breaks my heart to witness events, such as Oregon's recent brush with President Bush. While I care deeply about many of the issues we're all talking about around the water coolers, my own personal cause is medical marijuana. As a patient and a mom, this is the issue that has most deeply touched my life and the lives of my children, and it's the issue to which I can most effectively speak. Here is some background, for those of you who don't know me. Afterexhausting every legal option, even experimental surgery, Crohn's Disease left me frequently disabled. Marijuana gave me back my life and gave my kids back their mom. My government believes our tax dollars should be spent conducting dangerous raids on family homes and imprisoning people like me for trying to feel better. This puts my kids in a dangerous situation -- either their mom is disabled and unable to properly care for them, or we risk people with loaded weapons breaking into our home and taking me away. I keep wondering -- what are the odds of no one making a "sudden move", in a house with small kids running around? This is why, in spite of some challenges, I organized a demonstration to ask President Bush to stop arresting medical marijuana patients. My first hurdle was simply a lack of experience. I'm a small town wife and mom -- not a professional political organizer. My skills lie more in areas of creativity and common sense than in practical experience, which makes running a non-profit organization like Parents Ending Prohibition, and all that entails, a trial-by-fire endeavor. Fortunately, I have a few folks like Hilary McQuie, formerly with American's for Safe Access (www.safeaccessnow.org), who offer their time and advice along the way. When I called Hilary and explained what I wanted to do, she immediately sent me a big box of signs and literature to pass out, and helped me make plans. She's been my own personal human angel through the whole event, and I'm very grateful to her! The next problem was finding out where President Bush would be speaking. We sent out an action alert, but had to leave the location "to be announced", until the night before. I found it very odd that the leader of our nation has grown so afraid of being challenged, that he hides from the people he's asking to elect him. The only way to be allowed into this "Ask Bush" event, as he billed it, was to spend time calling people and asking them to vote for him in his campaign offices! I found this obscene and offensive, considering he's supposed to represent and serve all of us, whether we agree with him or not. On August 12th, we finally ended this maddening game of "where's 'W'aldo", and learned that President Bush would be speaking at both Terminal 6 in Portland in the morning, and Southridge High School in Beaverton at 12:45pm the next day. Bill, my husband and Associate Director of PEP, attended a meeting and training that evening by Indymedia (portland.indymedia.org), for all of the protests against the Bush administrations' policies that were being planned. It was an excellent opportunity to meet with other activists, and he learned a lot about the political environment and legal issues surrounding these kinds of demonstrations in Oregon. As the training was finishing up, people were still undecided about where and exactly when to hold the protests. Bill stepped up and announced that PEP would be in Beaverton at noon, which ended up determining the location for the majority of the demonstrators. When we arrived in Beaverton the next day, we were a little nervous about what could happen. We'd heard about last year, when police actually sprayed little babies in their faces with pepper spray, putting health care workers in a quandry over how to treat pepper-sprayed infants -- something with which they were previously inexperienced. We didn't expect to have to risk facing any sort of violence, but we kept away from the mot contentious areas, just in case. Unfortunately, this also left us without much representation in key areas -- namely, where the news cameras were consistently aimed, which was also where the small number of Bush supporters were gathered. We were delighted to find that all of the feedback we received from the crowd demonstrating against Bush was very positive. A few people aired concerns over our children holding medical marijuana signs, but seemed to be alright with it, once we explained that our kids know this plant as the medicine that let's their mom bake them cookies -- not as a drug anyone should abuse. Their problem seemed to be a knee-jerk, DARE-generation objection to mixing children and a message that has to do with marijuana. Our perspective comes from wanting to educate our kids from an early age about the importance of assessing risks and benefits, rather than simply teaching them 20 ways to "just say no". The minute we got there, and people saw that we had extra signs, they started asking for them. While a few people said they had come because of our announcement, many seemed to simply want to make any statement opposing Bush, and wanted to make it with a sign in hand. I'm pretty sure if we'd had "Yes on 33!" or statements about industrial hemp, they'd have taken those signs as well. This was a golden opportunity to get a strong message out about medical marijuana, but Bill and I could only do so much. We were restricted by our small kids, and our need to keep them safe, as well as limitations from simple inexperience. We really could have used a few seasoned reform activists in on this! Still, all in all, we accomplished some excellent groundwork, got our feet wet by organizing an event, and met some wonderful people. There were two beautiful young women I feel very privileged to have met. One told me about how marijuana had worked so well for her, that she no longer needed it. She felt very fortunate to have been able to take such a safe and effective medicine, and then be able to simply stop taking it when it was no longer needed. For her, a medicine that didn't cause symptoms of withdrawl when stopped was a godsend. The other lovely lady almost had me in tears! She came up to us all smiles, and tentatively asked if she could have a sign. I gladly gave her one, along with a copy of "Patients in the Crossfire", and she started telling me that her dad is a patient, and that she's a strong supporter of our cause. But the best part was when she called her dad on her cell phone, and exclaimed, "Dad! You'll never believe where I am and the sign I got to hold!" She ended up taking the sign home, so her dad could hang it on his wall, next to his Oregon Medical Marijuana card. My entire investment of time and energy was worth it because of her, alone! Overall, I felt this was a success. I ended up being interviewed by a KATU reporter, who seemed disappointed that I was able to speak intelligently to our issue. He approached me by quipping that another person with a sign "must have been stoned", because they weren't able to speak with a camera shoved in their face, then became rather patronizing once he saw that I was representing a serious cause with human casualties and human lives billed by Bush as nothing more than collateral damage. I also caught the attention of a reporter from the Oregonian, who was much more real about his questions, but who also was clear that he doubted they could find room to add in my statements for the next day's paper. The one spot of violence that tarnished the whole event was ironically perpetrated by one of those that were gathered and/or paid to shout out Bush support. Although I didn't witness it, word started spreading quickly through the crowd, that one of the Bush supporters had assaulted one of the people on our side. Bill and I had purposely positioned ourselves well within the crowd, so we wouldn't be vulnerable to this increasingly angry smaller group, but even there we didn't feel safe anymore. Another mom who lived nearby took her kids home and came back, but we felt we'd delivered our message, and since we live an hour away, decided to leave after we heard about the attack. Watching the KATU news that night, however, was like watching an entirely different demonstration. In their early broadcast, they showed more of our crowd, including a glimpse of my kids and one of our signs, and pictures of the violent Bush supporter being escorted away for her "calming". But by their later broadcasts, all of this was edited, and not one of our signs even made it into the pictures, the pictures of the alleged attacker had been removed, and the whole piece had been sanitized (for our protection?). What they showed on the late news looked like a large group of Bush supporters, and a small group of demonstrators for our causes, when the reality of the situation was exactly the opposite. I left before everything wrapped up, so I saw the scenes they were video taping from the streets, as well as seeing it up close earlier. There were two very small crowds, I'd say at most 15 people at each one, at the ends of the "Free Speech Zone", and positioned closest to the possible entrances of the motorcade. In between, and filling the fenced off sidewalk, with barbed wire on top of the fence, were at least 200 people demonstrating against Bush. We were pushed behind this barricade, while the only people exhibiting violent outbursts were given preferential treatment at the front of the line. I was happy with my first attempt to organize an event in our new home state, without having any of my dear allies back in our old home, Maryland, along to advise me. But I need some help from all of the rest of you Oregon reformers, in order to have a bigger impact when Bush comes back, which I believe we can expect him to do, considering we hold 7 electoral votes in this swing state. If you live in, or can get to Oregon on short notice, please sign up today for PEP's discussion list, where we'll announce upcoming actions. We had 50 signs being held, and still the cameras managed to exclude us. Please help us make sure that the next time, we'll be right up front and in their faces, demanding the simple human dignity of relief from suffering, without facing raids and arrests! My heart aches, everytime I think about what we've given up in this country. Even Orwell wasn't creative enough to envision "Free Speech Zones", and I keep wondering -- isn't America supposed to BE a free speech zone? Still, I believe there's time to turn this all around. What gives me hope is the human element. Everywhere I go, the one constant I find, is that no one is willing to tell me that they believe their tax dollars would be well spent, by raiding my home and arresting me for using medical marijuana. If we all agree on this, then we must change the laws that demand my arrest, before another precious cent is spent in persecuting me or people like me. Together, we're making a difference. Next time President Bush comes calling in Oregon, let's make sure we show him that we've become a united front and a force to be reckoned with, who will demand a concerned leader, instead of a moralistic and ignorant despot. America belongs to all of us -- not just those who give money to President Bush or are blackmailed into working for his campaign, in order to have their voices heard. But then -- we already knew this. Let's make sure when he comes back, that George W. Bush knows it, too! Warmly, and with much appreciation to everyone who showed up, Erin |
