Hi Louis,

Great letter!  I am in the process of updating the Hempfest "Get Active
Page" so the letters to the editors address I-229.  Can I use parts of
your letter for the "template"?

You've picked the right time to get involved.  Stop by the Hemp.Net
booth (at the southwest corner of Stone Village) at Hempfest if you get
the chance and we can talk about ways to make the WCTA become law!

Robert

________________________________________
Robert Lunday --- Hemp.Net SysOp/Founder
robert@hemp.net ---- http://www.hemp.net
phone:206.781.8307 ---- fax:206.784.2650
Internet Services for the Hemp Community

On Fri, 20 Aug 1999, Seattle HempFest wrote:

> Forwarding...willalso reply to come on down to Fest on Sunday and to stop
> by Hemp.net booth...Glo
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Thu, 19 Aug 1999 22:40:27 -0700
> From: mugsy9 <mugsy9@uswest.net>
> To: "'hempfest@hemp.net'" <hempfest@hemp.net>
> Subject: RE: A Letter of Encouragement, Please pass along!
> 
> Note:  I tried to send this letter from your site, but its all bogged down.
> 
> If you need or want any assitace with computers or web content, I will be 
> happy to help.  I have worked at both Boeing and Microsoft, and strongly 
> want to help support your efforts.  I am currently a one-on-one activist 
> who has worked primarily through educating people, writing, and individual 
> dialog.   I feel very stongly about this issue, and with the upcoming 
> Washington Cannabis Tax Act on the table, I am getting involved now.
> 
> I think what you have done for this cause is nothing short of awe 
> inspiring, and you have inspired me to get invovled with it!  I am an 
> amateur artist, web designer, musician, writer, and computer support 
> professional.  I don't know what you need, but I'm be willing to help out 
> with whatever you need for next year's event.
> 
> Here is a letter you can feel free to pass on if you wish.  I am 
> circulating this to every single person I know, as well as through your 
> website to the local news media.  The facts come from a variety of sources, 
> and I am preacticing my writing skills for political speech writing.  We 
> need to hit hard in the political arena, as well as in the educational 
> arena if we are going to undermine the government crap that's being shoved 
> down our throats.   Let me know what you think.
> 
> Best wishes to all of you, may you succeed be yond your dreams, and I'll 
> see you at Hempfest 99!
> 
> Louis C
> 
> -------------------------
> 
> Dear Editor,
> 
> It's about time!  For the past 20 years, the Federal Government has fought
> what they like to call "The War on Drugs", and people are finally beginning 
> to
> see the truth about this war, and we are now taking full scale legal 
> action.
> 
> The fact is that this "war" is the biggest assault on our
> civil liberties that America has ever had to endure.  Just ask the American 
> Civil Liberties Union.  http://www.aclu.org/library/pbp19.html.
> 
> Law enforcement officers are also quick to point out that they simply do 
> not
> have the manpower or funds to stop Marijuana growing or use, and yet we
> proceed to carry out enforcing laws that that clearly infringe on an 
> adults'
> constitutional rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".
> What people do for relaxation in the privacy of their own homes is none of
> the government's business.  Period.  Our constitution
> is supposed to guarantee this.
> 
> With teenage drug use up almost 200% in the last 7 years it is obvious
> that we are doing is not working, and in 1997 alone 675,000 Americans
> discovered that this country is not the land of the free when they were
> busted and sent to jail for smoking or growing pot.  Many of these people
> were tax-paying citizens, usually responsible and law abiding in every
> other respect.  Even worse than this, is the fact that these people are 
> being
> subjugated to harsher laws and prison sentences than many violent criminals
> such as rapists or murderers.  While a rapist can be free in under 4 years, 
> a
> pot grower may spend 10 years to life in prison without parole.  This is 
> clearly
> wrong, and it shows how mis-educated the public has become about the
> facts surrounding this "war".
> 
> This is not a war on drugs, but rather a war on our constitutional rights 
> as
> Americans.  The most frightening aspect is that the number of regular pot
> smokers is estimated at 10 million people.  That's one in 25 people in this
> country!  All of them are targets of the federal government.  If this isn't 
> the very
> heart of fascism, I don't know what is.
> 
> In sharp contrast to our misconstrued drug policy, we have succeeded with
> flying colors in reducing cigarette smoking by millions of people.  We have 
> done this
> without putting a single person in prison, through public education and
> anti-smoking campaigns.  However we ignore these facts when it comes to 
> marijuana.
> Our "NIMBY" (not in my backyard!) attitude and complete disregard for the
> rights of other people have allowed savvy politicians to gradually strip 
> all of our
> rights so that prisons profit while otherwise innocent people's
> lives are utterly destroyed by law enforcement agencies, as the FED's seize
> and sell off American's properties and lives.
> 
> Sadly, we are also now having to re-learn the same harsh lessons that our
> great-grandparents learned in the 1920's during prohibition when the 
> bootleg
> alcohol business put gangsters like Al Capone in positions of power and
> influence.  These same gangster type people now run the drug business.
> I ask you again:  Are we really winning this war?
> 
> Having said that, I should remind you who is paying for all of this.  Its 
> not the drug
> dealers!  Its you and me.  We are paying for this ridiculous war at a rate 
> of
> $23,000 per inmate per year, and at a tax loss of an estimated $7.5 billion
> dollars per year.  This revenue alone could pay for drug education, 
> rehabilitation,
> and violent crime law enforcement for hundreds of police departments
> across the country.  It has worked in Amsterdam where drug related crimes
> and arrests dropped by 17% and 20% during just the first year after
> of decriminalization!
> 
> The bottom line is that if we legalize Marijuana, we will make the people
> who use the drug pay for the law enforcement and rehabilitation, put an end
> to this assault on our rights as "free" adults, stop the needless
> destruction of people's lives and pave the road for real change.
> 
> There is an answer to this dilemma, and its called drug law reform.
> 
> Please be part of the solution.  Support the Washington Cannabis Tax Act.	
> It's simply the right thing to do.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Louis C
> Seattle, WA
>