Preparing a Media package for Sydney Rally ?

[MadamePandora]

If YOU were preparing a media package for the Sydney Rally, what points would you want it to cover.

 

I was thinking of working with the Hemp Embassy on a media package to email out to the media outlets in Sydney in advance of the Rally.

 

SO that means emailing it by Friday lunchtime at the latest, since the rally is gathering from 8 am Monday.

 

I thought of presenting some information like

 

• how the NCPIC provides no medical information
  
• including some studies re cannabis not being a gateway drug
  
• Medical studies
  
• How Canada has medical use Federal law and they are commonwealth country too
  
• crime has dropped in the US states with medical laws
  

 

What do you think... What do you want to include??

[Token]

Hmmm.. how about:

* The benefits of legislating(is that the right word?) use of cannabis - i.e. like with drink driving etc

* Also - and I think I read this in that article you put up earlier - how licenses could be issued for growers so they don' t have to act all black market like..

* studies on how much of the population uses already and how it would be a waste of government resources and the like to criminalize each and every user - was it 51%?

* opinions from spiritual leaders..?

 

Does that sound cool to you? Just throwing it out there - I am not particularly good with my words hahaha

[MadamePandora]

hmmm

 

know any spiritual leaders with positive views? I'm guessing not the Pope or that Pell bloke in Sydney and we can rule out Fred Nile for sure

 

Might be a good idea to include that Queensland Liberties pdf with a media release...

 

I am gonna go research info on press releases and their formats.

[dakratzman]

sweet mp can you let us know what they do when you find out? that sounds like a plan! Edited September 2, 2009 by dakratzman

[saltbox]

It might be a good idea to make the recent "no link to schizophrenia" study prominent since they love to use that scapegoat quite a bit.

 

Then again they use all the lies.. I guess "cannabis kills brain cells" is the biggest?

[MadamePandora]

I have sent a proposed release to the hemp embassy to see if it's ok with them

 

as they will be the organisation represented on the day and they have accepted the responsibility for organising the police paperwork I feel they need to have the right to approve anything that gets sent.

 

the links I want to make the media aware of are these...

 

References:

 

1 http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/study-say-m...drug-12116.html

 

2 http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/...il/article.html

 

3 http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/14227...er/?page=entire

 

4 http://ncpic.org.au/assets/downloads/ncpic...-guidelines.pdf (this piece of bullshit from the NCPIC says "All cannabis use has the potential to cause harm. Harm linked with cannabis use may include social (e.g. legal problems), which is a circular argument as legalising REDUCES harm by their own definition.....")

 

5 http://www.cancercouncil.com.au/editorial.asp?pageid=1778 (specifically this bit ....A Working Party established by the NSW Government to examine the use of cannabis for medical purposes concluded in its final report (August 2000) that medical conditions for which cannabis may be of medical benefit are :

 

* HIV-related wasting and cancer related wasting,

* Pain unrelieved by conventional treatments,

* Neurological disorders including (but not limited to) multiple sclerosis (MS), Tourette's syndrome and motor neurone disease,

* Nausea and vomiting in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy which does not respond to conventional treatments. which kinda screws the NCPIC theory that there is no medical use)

 

 

If the Hemp Embassy approve the media release I will post it in here so you can all see.

 

A Press release is meant to be only a very short document to get the attention of the media so I could not include all the issues I'd like to have covered.

 

If I am given the details of a contact person from the embassy who will be there on the day I will try to communicate with them about other issues they may want to mention if there is an opportunity for an interview or similar.

[MadamePandora]

ok ... official press release below

 

No problems with the Embassy.... Just added a few more things they wanted and got a contact number for the events.

 

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

HEMP Embassy

51 Cullen Street,

NIMBIN, NSW. 2480

Further info: Michael and Max at the Nimbin HEMP Embassy on 0266891842 or 66890326 or a/h 66897525

 

 

CONTACT POINT 4th to 8th September Max Stone  phone 0458133994

.

 

 

There is to be a Cannabis Legalisation Rally commencing at 8 am on the 7th and 8th of September at the Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris Street, Ultimo. The purpose of the Rally is twofold; to protest the current Cannabis laws in Australia and to draw attention to the bias implicit in the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC) whose First National Cannabis Conference is being held at the same venue and time.

 

The NCPIC is not providing unbiased information to the Australian public. In its role as an information service they should be providing information based on recent studies that indicate:

Cannabis is not a Gateway Drug1

Cannabis does not have a causal link with Schizophrenia2

Cannabis does not cause lung cancer3

 

They also confuse the problems caused by prohibition with their claimed harms of Cannabis use.4

 

They fail to provide any accurate or useful information to medical users of Cannabis via their telephone service.

 

There are no pro-cannabis speakers included in the agenda for the first National Cannabis Conference, so instead there will be information available outside the conference at the protest rally.

 

A Working Party established by the NSW Government to examine the use of cannabis for medical purposes concluded in its final report (August 2000) that medical conditions for which cannabis may be of medical benefit are :

HIV-related wasting and cancer related wasting,

Pain unrelieved by conventional treatments,

Neurological disorders including (but not limited to) multiple sclerosis (MS), Tourette's syndrome and motor neurone disease,

Nausea and vomiting in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy which does not respond to conventional treatments. 5

 

Canada has Federal Medical Marijuana laws, as do 14 US states, The Netherlands, and several other countries in the world have decriminalised Cannabis use and possession. The rally intends to highlight these facts and asks the question, why are we being left behind by our government through the agency of the NCPIC?

 

The Big Joint will be appearing at the Rally fresh from it's appearance at Lismore hospital, where protesters caught the attention of Kevin Rudd as they appealed for medicinal use of Cannabis to be allowed.

 

There will be some speakers and entertainment at the rally and a Hemp information stand will be offering advice to people interested in alternative foods, fibres, paper manufacturing and other associated Hemp uses. This rally has been recorded with the Traffic Division of the NSW Police Department as required.

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

 

1 http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/study-say-m...drug-12116.html

 

2 http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/...il/article.html

 

3 http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/14227...er/?page=entire

 

4 http://ncpic.org.au/assets/downloads/ncpic...-guidelines.pdf

 

5 http://www.cancercouncil.com.au/editorial.asp?pageid=1778

 

 

There is also further information on this site http://www.bigjoint.org/

 

And information and links on this site http://cannabisrally.yolasite.com/

[DarkSpark]

I think that is great MP i wish i could attend but sydneys a bit much of a drive and with work and all :S

 

we should try and put together a bit of an information pack on medicinal cannabis, some printouts of properly performed scientific studies and so on. As well as trying too cover/emphasize the points you outlines in the above quote. Being able too hand something too the people who are around outside would be a good idea. Especially if you can get too some people BEFORE they go in, get them asking questions.

[MadamePandora]

I have sent the press release to 43 Media outlets in and around Sydney

 

Hope it helps

[MongyMan]

Much respect for all your effort MP and to the Hemp Embassy for stepping up to handle the police paperwork and putting THEIR name to it.

 

Peace MongyMan