BAYOU CITY COMPASSION

Has a nice ring to it, right? The effort, formerly known as Project
Housterdam is making progress with our city council. I thrice berated the
council, told the mayor he was responsible for sending thousands of our
young people to jail for basically no reason. I informed them that they
were part of a conspiracy of silence, culpable, responsible. guilty of sins
of omission as well as of commission.

Silence. wide-eyed and complete. silence.

We brought Emily Reilley, the former mayor of Santa Cruz and now a
councilwoman to speak to the Houston city council. Before her speech, she
talked to the mayors' aide, she schmoozed with the Houston council members
and she helped open the door to progress about medical marijuana and the
whole damned drug war.

That same day, I went before the council and gave a three-minute speech,
like always and yet following my speech, Ada Edwards broke silence. She
asked what do we want?

Currently, documents are being prepared for our council to present to the
state legislature, seeking an immediate review of all the studies already
in place regarding medical marijuana and to expedite the day when the sick
and dying people of our town and indeed our state can have safe, economical
access to medical grade marijuana.

Besides Emily's insiders approach that day, I like to think my little
speech, that pointed fingers only at the lead culprits of this drug war,
the insane, ranting, lying scoundrel drug czars helped make a difference as
well.

Excerpt: "In the early 1920's and culminating in 1937 with the Federal
Marijuana Tax Act, a propaganda war was waged, primarily by one man, one
Harry J. Anslinger, our nations first drug czar. Now up till that point in
time, cannabis was legal, available over the counter and economically
priced. You could buy hash candy bars, highly potent cannabis and refined
tinctures of cannabis.

There were no drug gangs, no drug gang violence; very few overdose deaths
and very few children using drugs. Hemp was grown in the back forty and
humans and livestock used cannabis medicines. Mr. Anslinger told congress
and the American people that there was a new threat that would lead our
children to insanity, criminality and death. Saying it came from south of
the border, he named this new threat "marijuana".

Through a comprehensive media attack through the Hearst newspapers and
movies like "Reefer Madness" and "The Terrible Truth", the people were
convinced that marijuana must be banned, never realizing that Anslinger was
talking about the hemp and cannabis they had grown and used for generations.

The current reigning drug czar, John Walters came to Houston to give a
speech. He told us that marijuana is now twice the danger of heroin.. He
says marijuana has become so powerful and potent that we can no longer call
it marijuana. Hemp, cannabis, marijuana and now the drug formerly known as
marijuana. I'm asking you to please investigate the truth of this
matter. Sometimes snake oil salesmen wear thousand dollar suits and live
in Washington D.C.

Every day, doctors over at MD Anderson Hospital take patients into the
hallway and whisper: "If you want to live, find some marijuana." I get the
phone calls of those patients from New Jersey or elsewhere who choose to
live. I think this is something that should be of great concern to this
city council; it's something that should be made available cheaply and
easily to those who so desperately need it and yet are forbidden to do so
by threat of prison."

On Sept. 9, the Fed's issued another report and crowed that fewer
youngsters were doing marijuana. They did a special tap dance to avoid
talking about the fact that binge drinking by 12 to 17 years olds was up
and that the use of prescription pills by pre-teens is on the rise. An
intelligent person would make note of the fact that alcohol and pills kill
thousands of our children each year and would also make note of the fact
that in its millennia of use by mankind, marijuana has never killed anyone,
not even a preteen. Let's hope that the city council does not get
snookered again by these charlatans in white coats, these bullies in blue,
these weasel-assed drug czars in their thousand dollar suits.

Please do your part to end this madness. Contact TexansForMedicalMarijuana.com

Listen to the "Unvarnished Truth" about the drug war on KPFT Radio 90.1 FM
in Houston and on the net at kpft.org Visit DrugTruth.Net