My Sermon at the NORML meeting

My buddy Tristan Tucker asked me to speak at the recent DFW/NORML meeting. 
NORML is the National Organization For The Reform Of Marijuana Laws. 

I decided to take on a Southern Baptist Preacher persona and give the smokers and tokers a sermon.  It was well-received. 

BTW, only a Libertarian would selectively edit the Old Testament to improve the flow.  Yes, we really do believe we can improve on stuff supposedly written by God. 

Enjoy. 

My name is the Reverend Doctor Allen Patterson, and I bring you greetings from the First Church Of The Tarrant County Libertarian Party!!  Our text for today is from the Book of 1^st Samuel, Chapter 8.

Look it up on your phone so you won’t think I’m making this stuff up.  Way back in the day, Israel was governed by a small group of judges, and their only job was to intervene in disputes, enforce the laws of the land, and protect the borders. 

Does that sound nice?  Yeah, that sounds nice.  1 Samuel, Chapter 8. 

⁴ One day the people of Israel came to Samuel The Prophet ⁵ and said, “You are an old man.  Now we want a king to be our leader,  just like all the other nations. We want a king!  Choose one for us!”

⁶ Samuel was upset to hear the leaders say they wanted a king, so he prayed about it. ⁷ The Lord answered:

“They aren’t rejecting you and your judges, Samuel.  They’re rejecting me. ⁹ Do everything they ask, but warn them and tell them how a king will treat them.

¹⁰ Samuel told the people who were asking for a king what the Lord had said:

¹¹ If you have a king, this is how he will treat you. He will force your sons to join his army. Some of them will drive his chariots, and some will be in his cavalry.  Your other children will have to farm the king’s land and harvest his crops, or make the king’s weapons and parts for his chariots. <sup>13 

And the people STILL said “Give us a king!”</sup> 

And Samuel said “Your daughters will have to make his perfume or do his cooking and baking.” And the people Still said “Give us a king!”

¹⁴ The king will take your best fields, as well as your vineyards, and olive orchards and give them to his own officials. ¹⁵ He will also take a tenth of your grain and grapes and give it to his officers and his officials.  (Can you imagine the government taking only a tenth??)

And the people Still said “Give us a king!”

¹⁶ And Samuel said “this king will take your best young men and your donkeys and make them do his work. ¹⁷ He will also take a tenth of your sheep and goats. You will become the king’s slaves, ¹⁸ and you will finally cry out for the Lord to save you from the king you wanted.

^19-20 The people would not listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want to be like other nations. We want a king to rule us and lead us in battle.”

²¹ Samuel listened to them and then told the Lord exactly what the people had said.

And the Lord answered. “So…..Give them a king.”

Thus ends the reading of today’s word from the Lord. 

DFW/NORML, for 3,000 years we’ve known how kings and governments behave.  And yet some of us still say “Give Us A King!”  There's a little girl named Emma sitting at this front table.  She's totally innocent.  Never spent a dime in her life.  Our kings and their government and their reckless spending have put Emma $50,000.00 in debt.  If  Emma’s foolish enough to grow up to be a taxpayer, her share of the national debt is $110,000.00

Emma's share of the unfunded retirements, Social Security payments and other liabilities?  ONE MILLION DOLLARS. 

And some of us still say “Give Us A King”. 

The Richard Nixon through Barack Obama Drug War has killed 40,000 civilians in Mexico.  We have as many as 800,000 people in prison for non-violent drug offenses.  It costs 40 to 50,000 each, per year, to keep these people in a steel cage. 

And we still say “Give Us A King.”

George Bush, Bill Clinton, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Barack Obama, Al Gore, Arnold Schwarzenegger and RICK FREAKIN’ SANTORUM all affirm that they have smoked marijuana, all of them would’ve had their careers ended if they’d been busted as kids, and ALL OF THEM STILL SUPPORT THE WAR ON MARIJUANA.  And their parties still say “Give Us A King”. 

Because of the war on marijuana, Barack Obama has more black men living in cages than Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy did at the start of the Civil War.

And the people still say “Give Us A King”. 

Church family, my brothers and sisters at DFW/NORML, we are all sinners.  There is none who is righteous, no, not one.  We have all, in our sinful pasts, voted for Republicans and Democrats, the people who got us into the mess predicted in the Book of First Samuel 3,000 years ago.  We’ve all done it. 

But there is a way out.  And it’s called The Tarrant County Libertarian Party.   Are you ready to end the war on marijuana?  Are you ready to get the government out of your life?  ARE YOU READY? 

Brother Ken Stanford is waiting at the table in the back, along with the rest of our trained counseling staff.  Though your sins be as scarlet, we can make them white as snow.  Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.  There is no other way, there is no other path.  If the other parties could get you out of this hole you’re in, they would’ve done it by now instead of digging it deeper. 

ARE YOU READY TO MAKE A DECISION FOR CHRIST???

So….

May the Lord Bless you and keep you, May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you.

May God give you the grace never to sell yourself short;

Grace to risk something big for something good

Grace to remember that the world is now too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love and tolerance for all….

So may God take your minds and think through them,

May God take your lips and speak through them,  And may God take your hearts, and set them on fire. 

Amen. 

Traitorous Ex-Smoker Drug Warrior Bastards

My friend Tristan Tucker and I have had several conversations about the staggering numbers of politicians who smoke marijuana, then claim to quit, and then start locking up their fellow weed consumers by the tens of thousands.  

Tristan and I were both invited to speak at the recent DFW/NORML Regional Conference.  I bet Tristan that I could use the phrase "Traitorous Ex-Smoker Drug Warrior Bastards" in my speech more than he could in his speech.   

Tristan took me up on the wager. 

I lost.  I lost badly. 

Here's Tristan's speech, along with a few pics of the Traitorous Ex-Smoker Drug Warrior Bastards. 

Wow, what an honor it is to be speaking in front of people that I have looked up to for years. Keith (Stroup).. You founded NORML. Without you, none of us would be here right now.

 Judge Jim Gray… You and Gary Johnson had my vote. My generation appreciates men with principles and decency, you are one of my intellectual heroes.

Joy Strickland… when I first met you, your story motivated me to not give this fight up. The work you do with Mothers Against Teen Violence is incredible and has not fallen on deaf ears or blind eyes. Together, we are making the world a much safer, better place…and, the only government intervention we need is literally one fell swoop of a pen.

Thank you all, everyone, for being here, for being a part of a revolution and for taking the lead role in your freedom. I am Tristan Tucker, the executive director of the University of North Texas Chapter of NORML. I served in the US Navy for six years and I can honestly say that since I got out of the navy I have done more for my country, in terms of actually fighting for freedom, than I ever did while I was on active duty. I believe that my oath of enlistment and re-enlistment last for life. The words that I faithfully said, “I will support and defend the constitution of the United States against ALL enemies foreign and domestic..” are the words that ring out the loudest. I can see objectively who the enemy is now and the enemy isn’t in some far away land, they are here… in our own backyard. Our enemy is any law that allows for someone to be forcibly put in a cage for possessing a harmless plant and especially the people that support and defend such laws. I will not digress, I will not rest, I will not be silenced until we win this drug war. And we will win.

Ghandi is quoted as saying “If all the mice in the world held a conference together and resolved that they would no more fear the cat but instead, all run into her mouth, all the mice would live.” Well, mice, this is our conference and I want to be the first to scoff at the cat and tell her that “I am free. I was born to know no fear. I want you all to be fearless against the traitorous ex-smoker drug warrior bastards, the faceless persecutor that is always looking around our corners. I want you all to take these words from this conference and be empowered and develop a newfound passion for your activism because what we are doing doesn’t only effect DFW, or Texas – we are impacting the entire world. Every day when you talk about NORML, the drug war or even just about cannabis, I want you to remember just who exactly you are helping. We are helping our youth be relatively drug free. We are helping our troops, who came home like I did with newfound mental disorders or with chronic pain or missing limbs. We are fighting for the patients, like Cash Hyde, who, without us – many wouldn’t have a voice. We are fighting for liberty, for freedom and these United States of America.

As the director of UNTNORML I have come to realize and appreciate the necessity to have college-based organizations like Students For Sensible Drug Policy, Students for Liberty and NORML. Through my tenure at UNT I have definitely seen massive amounts of ignorance related to the topics of drug prohibition and the effects of cannabis. It is my profound belief that due to programs like DARE, the traitorous ex-smoker drug warrior bastards are still ruining our youth’s ability to use critical thinking skills to question this treacherous type of authority.

I have several goals for UNTNORML and want to brag a little about the efficacy we have had on campus. First, we were the first university in Texas to change dorm policies in regard to possession and paraphernalia. Before NORML’s campus-wide campaign, the school would evict students from the dorm, report to the police and place the student on probation while requiring them to pay a $1000 fine and attend a drug awareness class. Now, the school just forces the student to change dorms.

My main goal with UNTNORML is to get a college chapter at every university in the state of Texas. I believe that by placing intelligent, tactful leaders at universities across the state, we will combat the ill-effects of prohibition based propaganda like DARE. Additionally, I plan to make cannabis a topic that university administration will willingly talk about. I have gotten professors to discuss the topic but currently, the administration refuses to actually debate the topic or the university’s policies publicly. All of my requests have so far fallen on deaf ears. With that in mind, we have received overwhelming support from a plethora of students and student organizations. We are always well received on the campus’ “Free Speech Corner”… man I despise that name.

When I was on active duty, I was one of the ex-smoker drug warrior bastards. I was a neo-conservative military member that wouldn’t even associate with people that used or talked about cannabis. I participated in anti-drug operations off the eastern seaboard of South and Central America, as a 25mm gunner on the aft mount of an amphibious assault ship. For me, it took a mental health diagnosis and subsequent research into treatments and therapies to really discover the truth about marijuana. I am proud to publicly tell you all that the day I received my separation paperwork, I drove off base joint in mouth. I have sed cannabis medicinally now for three years and have weaned myself off of fourteen different medicines thanks to this wonderful plant. My quality of life is the best its been in years and, in my opinion, that is all that matters.

My first position I held with DFWNORML was the veteran outreach coordinator. Unfortunately, it had to fall to the wayside when I took over at UNTNORML, but I still reach out to every veteran I meet and know to spread the good word of unity, family, cannabis and love. With those tenets of inclusivity I believe we have really touched many veterans One of the most difficult parts of my transition out of the military was not having the close bond of brotherhood and I really try to bring that to both UNT and DFWNORML. I believe that veterans find that trait important and inviting and thus, flock to our organization.

Our veterans are battle trained leaders and continuing to reach out to them is imperative. Our veterans are already used to the type of pressure it takes to effectively communicate with our representatives. Our veteran members also provide a very unique viewpoint, particularly when discussing medicinal marijuana. Medical grade marijuana has proven to have incredible results when treating post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, chronic pain and a whole host of other ailments our warriors are coming home with. We owe it to our veterans to continue to fight for them, since I know for a fact they would keep fighting for us.

As a team all of the Texas NORML chapters are planning comprehensive lobbying strategies for our next legislative session. Cheyanne Weldon has began coordinating our efforts via facebook already, less than a month after the end of our legislative session. Let me assure you that our representatives know who we are and what we seek to do in this state. Every time I have talked to my representatives or their staff about an action alert item, they explain ludicrous amounts of feedback and positive response from our supporters. We need to work on getting that type of commitment from members on a monthly or weekly basis.

Forming programs such as signed from letters, targeted mailing lists, positive recruitment strategies and continued public presence will win this drug war.

There is an old war movie, The Americanization of Emily from 1964, James Garner, who played commander Charles Madison said the following:

“War isn't hell at all. It's man at his best, the highest morality he's capable of. It's not war that's insane, you see. It's the morality of it. It's not greed or ambition that makes war: it's goodness. Wars are always fought for the best of reasons - for liberation or manifest destiny. Always against tyranny and always in the interest of humanity. So far this war, we've managed to butcher some ten million humans in the interest of humanity. Next war it seems we'll have to destroy all of man in order to preserve his damn dignity. It's not war that's unnatural to us, it's virtue. As long as valor remains a virtue, we shall have soldiers. So, I preach cowardice. Through cowardice, we shall all be saved.”

When we think about the drug war, we see ourselves, rightfully, as the victim, but the important thing to note is that we have turned it around on our aggressors. When the drug war was officially initiated by President Dick Nixon and his regime of traitorous ex-smoke drug warrior bastards, we were made to look like the modern Taliban. We were the scourge of the country, us dopers. Through the decades, as science and morality has progressed, we have come to take the upper hand in this drug war. We are showing Americans that compassionate care via a plant is possible from stories like Cash Hyde’s and by way of documentaries like American Drug War, Square Grouper and The Union: The Business Behind Getting High. Americans are starting to realize that too much government intervention into our lives is a bad thing and that we would like to be able to close our metaphorical blinds for a change.

What we do damages nobody and heals everybody. This plant has brought communities together, brought addicts back from the brink of death, stopped pain, treated cancer, helped calm irrational minds and has the capacity to heal our nation – the nation that I was promised as a child. Cannabis can heal our economic hole, can help mend our moral degradation, will help improve our air quality and has potential to slow global warming.

In closing, I want to thank you all tremendously for the work you do for NORML, for coming to this conference and supporting our freedoms and for everything that you do out of the kindness of your hearts and with the dollars in your wallets.

Won’t you help us end our nation’s drug problem? Let’s legalize cannabis.

For a near-definitive list of politicians who have smoked weed, go here.  Not all of them (see: Gary Johnson) are traitorous bastards. 

Why I hope you'll become a member of the National Organization For The Reform Of Marijuana Laws

My fellow libertarian and fellow NORML member Tristan Tucker gave this speech at a liberty-oriented event about a month ago.  Tristan is a U.S. Navy veteran, BTW.   
It's the best speech I've heard for marijuana legalization. 
It won't work if we just de-criminalize it. 
It won't work if the government artifically limits who can and can't grow and sell it. 
We can only end the monopolies of the Afghan and Mexican Drug Lords if we legalize marijuana. 
Now. 
Here's Tristan:

My name is Tristan Tucker. I’d like to start with this by a brief quote to segue into why I am here. Rand Paul recently filibustered the US Senate to address our crucial liberties. He started his historic filibuster by saying “ I will speak until I can no longer speak. I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, and that your rights are precious…” I am here today to represent the students. I am here to represent the veterans of our latest immoral and illegal wars. I am here to represent the people and our right to choose what we do with our bodies.

I see marijuana criminality as a human rights issue. I do not believe that our continued support for incarcerating disproportionate numbers of our minority youth in a vain attempt to arrest our way out of our drug problem is an adequate solution. I do not believe that continuing to fund Mexican drug cartels via drug prohibition is a humanitarian approach to one of the West’s most deadly international incidents. Myself, NORML, and most of you would agree that a legal, taxed and regulated marijuana industry is the sole solution to ending epidemic in our nation. We must make strides toward addressing our drug prohibition problem as human rights infractions and health issues in order to actually progress in this nation. I am here to talk not only about the necessity for drug policy reform as it pertains to cannabis use but also drug prohibition as a whole.

Drug prohibition is by-and-large a modern set of Jim Crow laws. According to LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, 70% of the drugs used in the United States are consumed by whites whereas 70% of the people incarcerated for drug use and possession are African Americans. The areas most ravaged by the drug war have been low-poverty areas – specifically where larger concentrations of African Americans tend to live. According to the FBI, one in eleven blacks are currently serving prison sentences for drug related crimes. That is 9.2% of the total population of African Americans in our country.

Marijuana was originally made illegal in the 1930s and the racism involved with the legality of the plant has never ceased. The plant was made illegal, in part from Harry Anslinger and the government’s affiliation with the movie production, Reefer Madness, which blatantly said that smoking “the devil’s lettuce” caused “negroes” to fornicate and rape white women. What are the results of being incarcerated with a felony? You lose your political voice and your right to vote and effect legislation is taken away, effectively silencing a large group of Americans. There are no lobby organizations for convicted felons to interact with the congress, the courts or the president, so essentially, once the right to vote is taken, your real right to speech has been stripped. As time progressed and civil liberties were afforded to African Americans in the late 1960s, the drug war was officially launched.

The most commonly used argument by bureaucrats, in favor of the war on drugs is that using drugs will destroy your lives. I ask you, which does more harm? Smoking marijuana or the legal repercussions for smoking marijuana? The side effects of cannabis are far and inclusive, including, but not limited to repairing brain cells damaged by alcohol consumption and helping to heal the alveoli in your lungs after years of abuse from cigarettes. The side effects to being prosecuted for drug crimes includes never being eligible for financial aid to attend college, losing your children to the court system, never being able to find gainful employment and even, in most cases, being barred from joining the military. I must ask you…which is more dangerous? The drug? Or the drug law?

Since 1972, our incarceration rates for drug possession have gone through the roof. Our incarceration rates were fairly low through the remainder of the 1970s but really caught fire under Ronald Reagan, partially in response to his and Nancy’s nationwide DARE program coupled with the president’s incessant public service announcements, in regard, particularly, to cannabis. Programs like DARE and various other government subsidized rehabilitation programs were actually proven years later, in the early 2000’s, to provide the “real” gateway to hard drug use and provided “patients of the rehabilitation centers and programs with a host of mental disorders including anxiety, PTSD and, in the worst cases, suicide.

After George H. W. Bush’s short tenure in the white house, Bill Clinton vowed to drastically scale back the federal government’s involvement and efforts at curtailing drug use and the international drug trade. Contrary to Clinton’s campaign promises, he racked up the largest number of drug-related incarcerations EVER .

Until President Barack Obama, at least.

President George W. Bush continued the failed practices that Clinton used. Although Bush Jr. frequently catches a lot of flak for his involvement in drug-related incarcerations, the country saw fewer dispensary raids and less incarcerations for marijuana possession than the previous four presidents.

In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama campaigned on promises of leaving medical marijuana patients alone and legislating via facts based on science vice myth and propaganda. Since he took office in 2009, we have seen constant increases in our incarceration rates, 855,000 people in 2011 and just shy of 900,000 people in 2012 for marijuana related crimes. His administration is directly responsible for the most rapidly growing incarceration rates of LEGAL, REGULATED medical marijuana patients in states that have medical marijuana programs.

I am the elected executive director of the University of North Texas chapter of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. I got started with NORML by volunteering and being appointed the Veteran Outreach Coordinator with DFWNORML. Since I have been involved with NORML, we have made great strides in Texas. Some of our accomplishments include hosting the Global Marijuana March on the front lawn of Dallas City Hall and changing dorm policies at UNT regarding paraphernalia in the dorms. Lately we have been working on lobbying our state legislature regarding two bills, HB184 and HB594, both of which directly relate to marijuana possession in the state of Texas.

HB184 is a bill related to the decriminalization of marijuana in the state up to one ounce. Essentially, marijuana possession would become a ticketable offense rather than a jailable offense. The other bill, HB594 relates to an affirmative defense. Essentially, HB594 helps strengthen Texas’ existed medical necessity defense law. 594 would also provide limited protections to doctors that recommend marijuana to their patients.

Recent news regarding marijuana, both recreationally and medicinally, has been overwhelming. On March 14, cable media networks released statements from the federal government that marijuana is proving successful in treating AIDS and cancer. Two states, Colorado and Washington, have both legalized marijuana, thanks to huge grassroots efforts in their respective states. Thanks to legalization in those states, new research can be conducted into the healing properties of this wonderful plant. Hemp will soon be planted again legally on American soil. Cannabis is helping this country heal – not only from it’s prescription medication addiction, but also it’s addiction to ignorance, propaganda and poor economic decisions. As our country continues to progress forward on important issues like cannabis legalization we will also progress forward on other human rights issues.

The times are changing. NORML has been successfully changing the climate and culture related to cannabis in Texas. We are no longer seen as stoners doing something immoral that actually damages society. Marijuana and marijuana advocates are becoming dinner table conversation, not just in Texas, but all across the country. The advent of mass communication via the internet has greatly furthered our agenda. The new wave of Ron Paul Republicans and young libertarians are also furthering our agenda.

So as I close out this speech, I’d like to ask all of you to do something – not for me, not for your neighbors, not for the troops, the veterans, students, teachers or anyone other than yourself. I want you all to be loud. I want you to be vocal. Live up to the responsibility bestowed upon you by 237 years of American excellence and tradition. Call your representatives. Send them letters and emails. Set and make appointments with them. None of the atrocities in our country will ever change if we do not make our voices heard. The status quo can only remain if we allow it to remain. The louder we are about the agendas that WE want to push, the more this great nation will progress into the twenty first century.

I’d like to leave you all with a quote from one of my favorite authors, Ayn Rand, whom even during the height of government propaganda, was able to see past the moral issue and realize that it’s your life and you should live it as you see fit.

"I do not approve of any government controls over consumption, so all restrictions on drugs should be removed (except, of course, on the sale to minors). The government has no right to tell an adult what to do with his own health and life. That places a much greater moral responsibility on the individual; but adults should be free to kill themselves in any way they want. I would fight for your legal right to use marijuana; I would fight you to the death that you morally should not do it, because it destroys the mind. What the government should do is protect citizens from the criminal consequences of those who take drugs. But drugs would be much cheaper if it weren't for government."

 Well said, Tristan.  Well said.