CALIFORNIAN TAKES HOME POT'S TOP PRIZE, BLASTS DUTCH GOVERNMENT

It's not exactly the Nobel Peace Prize. But then again, when it comes
to weed activism, maybe it is.

Veteran California marijuana author and advocate Dale Gieringer was
honored in Amsterdam on Nov. 25 as the High Times magazine "Freedom
Fighter of the Year."

Gieringer has been the California director of the National
Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws since 1987. He is a
co-author of the Marijuana Medical Handbook, billed as a "practical
guide to the therapeutic uses of marijuana," and a leading supporter
of Proposition 19, which was voted down Nov. 2.

Weeks later, Gieringer took a bow before a cannabis altar in
Amsterdam, accepting his award at the High Times' international
Cannabis Cup.

While Proposition 19 supporters hailed economic prospects for
California pot tourism, Gieringer scolded the Dutch in his acceptance
speech for a proposal to ban foreigners from its cannabis coffee
houses. Government officials have complained of congestion and crime
from international weed seekers. Banning pot tourists, he said, "is
sheer lunacy from an economic, moral, or public health sense."