NJ Weedman Going to Court Today to Fight Evesham Township

Ed Forchion, aka: NJ Weedman, has had a full plate regarding his involvement with the government over marijuana. Today, (6-27-13) he will appear in court to fight a search that was conducted under the pretense that the officer has, "never seen a person wearing a weed shirt that didn't have weed on them". He was pulled over in Evesham Township and he recorded video of the event that can be seen here:




Because of a small patch on his vest, NJ Weedman was searched, where upon the officer found a small amount of personally prescribed marijuana of Ed's. This led to an arrest and today is the day that Ed goes again before a Judge and begins a fight over the legitimacy of marijuana law.

After his arrest, Ed put out a Brief that questioned the legitimacy of criminal statutes when NJ law distinctly recognizes marijuana as a medicine. So far, several cases have been dismissed as a result of Ed's open-access Brief. This means that while these cases are not going to court to settle the question of whether the medical laws prevail, several young, innocent, non-violent smokers are free to continue about their days without worry of jail, court costs, fines and other nasty side effects of getting found guilty.

We'll be keeping up with Ed as things unfold. Since this was a very personal amount (grams), the likelihood of this being a precedent setting case is low. Nonetheless, if Ed gets this case dismissed or otherwise, he is pro full legalization of marijuana and he'll be continuing the good fight far into the future.

OPINION : Drug War is "Horrendous"

To what degree do we separate opinion and fact?

This is an opinion piece, though "Drug War is 'Horrendous'" sounds like a fact. I've seen stories of innocent people killed in bad raids. I've seen stories of children taken from their parents by the State over a bowl and a few grams of marijuana. This is not acceptable. This is not what justice and law was put here to do.

We've seen a time of police state establishment unlike any other: the Boston Bombing manhunt where iron-clad war vehicles rolled down suburban streets "cold-calling" houses and searching without warrant. Circumstance does not matter: we NEED to stop forfeiting our rights so easily!

Every time you file taxes, you are supporting the drug war. Every time you don't film a cop making an arrest, you are supporting the drug war. We need to wake up and put our collective foot down on the illegal branches of our government as well as the illegal use of surveillance that is so clearly occurring, (thanks Snowden).

NA Poe declared boldly in pre-trial that the fact that he wasn't being released that day was "horrendous" and right he was. Everything about the drug war is horrendous. We've made a horror show of our fringe communities like Kensington and North Philadelphia because we consistently refuse to address the drug problem in a real way.

Cops are content getting paid to be big boy security safety officers. Drug addicts are content getting drugs illegally. City services is content hauling away the corpses of the OD victims. Everything in the system seems so utterly unchangeable, even when talking about the lives of family... friends... loved ones...

Addiction is an illness, but like Mitch Hedberg said,

"Alcoholism is the only disease you can get in trouble for. Compare these two sentences; 'Dammit Mitch, you're an alcoholic.' and 'Dammit Mitch, you have lupus.' One does not sound like the other."

We can and must do better. Sign a petition. Join an event. Do SOMETHING. Just don't be another generation of quiet, closet-hidden hippies in fear of the law like we saw in the 60's. Plug a gun with something better than a flower. Let's get back to basics.

Smoke Down Prohibition Six

In standard tradition, June is scheduled for a Smoke Down Prohibition event. This new event, called a "drug war Horror tour of Philly" will feature stops at buildings and places responsible for upholding the insane policies of for-profit prison racketeering, unjust persecution against non-violent criminals and overall dickishness.

What sets this new event apart from our May 18th event, or the events prior, is that at the last Smoke Down, it seemed we had drawn some unpleasant attention from the park rangers. Adam and Poe were arrested before our eyes, leading to a very somber, (and very sober for Poe) time when people gathered outside of the Federal Detention Center.

Collectively, we knew that we couldn't abandon the cause and that Poe and Adam would want Smoke Down to continue even if they were in jail all through the month of June. Well, they're out, and now it's a full party for this next event.

Where the Panic Hour and Philly NORML are planning on taking us with this march, there has been no mention. This is probably to "shake" the heat or to have the opportunity to split if things get hairy.

Cold grey fences and dozens of officers may be in place again come the 30th. There could be worse than we've seen. Maybe the publicity of the first arrests was enough to ward off resistance against peaceful protest. We will see in short time.

Looking for Philanthropic Assistance in Sponsoring a Petition to the PA Law and Justice Dept. Senate Subcommittee

If you haven't, please sign this petition in support of Daylin Leach's bill, SB528, the "Regulate Marijuana Act" that would make PA the keystone state of legalization on the East Coast, please sign it!

Now that that is done, I'd like to make a sincere effort to push for those interested in cannabis legalization in PA to put up a few bucks and sponsor this petition through Change.org. If we could generate even a few hundred dollars a week, we would see growth from the current standing signature count of 1,580 to upwards of 5,000 - 10,000. It has been said that politicians consider another 100 votes for every action taken by petitions, votes or calls that they receive. This final funding push is all this really needs to be taken to the level of "not important" to "urgent".