NO GOOD DEED UNPUNISHED

How come nobody's writing about this? I wanted to thank you for
writing about an issue that never gets any press here in South Florida
("Norm, Norm, and NORML," Tailpipe, August 30). I was associate
director of the Coalition Advocating Medical Marijuana (CAMM). We
started a medical marijuana referendum in Florida in 1997, and I was
on a board of eight people, including Norm Kent and two federal
medical marijuana recipients.

I had been an activist for many years and am a founding member of the
University of Miami's Hemp Awareness Council. With CAMM, I began a
Florida referendum. It was an involved process, forming a PAC and
making the referendum legally binding, which meant a haircut and lots
of trips to Tallahassee.

Anyway, I was up to the task. One of the federal marijuana recipients
(a longtime Hollywood resident who, by the way, receives 300 joints a
month from the federal government -- no misprint!) and I embarked on a
67-county tour. Five days a week, we were on every local news show, in
every newspaper, etc. We would have a news conference in the county
seat to announce our referendum. My fellow organizer would smoke a
joint (a legal, federally supplied one) on the courthouse steps, and
all hell would break loose. Keep in mind, we started in Pensacola and
snaked our way through the Panhandle. We had a lot more supporters
than not. The Miami Herald did a poll saying 67 percent of Florida
voters would vote for a medical marijuana referendum.

This, of course, was in the pre-9/11 climate. Anyway, we made our way
to Broward County, where CAMM's office was located. I ended up being
beaten by five cops, who kicked me and smashed my head into the
pavement, charging me with assault!? That was 2000, the year of the
hanging chads. We saw firsthand the dastardly deeds at the polls.
Anyway, I was on house arrest for a year.

Why will no paper mention medical marijuana or anything to do with the
dying fucking patients I had to deal with?

Truth will out. Twelve states have since passed MM legislation. I am
still on probation and working at a medical school.

Glenn Allen

Via the Internet