how to legalise pot?

[Luke Skywalker]

Please... let that happen.... A shame about that, maybe canada getting off its arse will inspire us...

 

What we need is to get the Judiciary on our side, and a couple of laywers too... couldn't hurt us, eh?

[pipeman]

hey rob, I'm rooting for the cause but don't really hold much hope to be honest. In fact I think I had more hope of MJ being legalised before I came to this site and started to read about the US driven pressure and treaties which effectively makes it impossible for our government become progressive in this regard. Not that the governments we have now would be progressive, but even if the population were to build up the pressure, its not likely to get anywhere due to international considerations.

 

anyway, that aside, its my opinion that you can't be going for drug law reform and promoting cultivation and use of cannabis at the same time, which essentially is what you're saying.

 

On the one hand you have the leftist politions like the greens who want drug law reform and possibly legalisation. I'm not sure I'm not up on their policies. However they do not condone or accept the use of MJ as a good thing. Their philosophy is to treat it as a health care issue rather than a criminal issue. However they still do not accept that the drug is harmless nor do they want to accept its use. So, obviously they are not going to be affiliated with any organisation such as Oz Stoners, which is about the cultivation and use of MJ.

 

Then you've got the growers/users who just like to get high, probably most of the people on this site. Now at the moment we are a small little community and do our own thing. But what if this site or activities from this site did appear on the political or media radar and we started to get attention? I'm not sure thats something a lot of people would want. I know I'd get a bit nervous, so if this started to happen I predict you'd see a drop off of the growers that hang around here as they'd run for cover so to speak.

 

So in summary, what I'm saying is I think the growing/use of MJ does not go hand in hand with becoming politically active, because they are not the same issue at all and will inhibit each other IMO.

[Guest Wilderbud]

I think mass trials of prescriptions [medicinal] and cannabis cafes [recreational] would be one way and thered be instant taxes to collect so itd be popular with the polies.

[Guest niall]

The way I look at it is a problem of communication. We know the truth, it's just a problem of educating the public and getting them on side. The politicians will be the last to turn, fearful that their career would be in tatters if they took a stance. It's obvious that the wealth of research supports us, we have to drive it home and back them into a corner.

 

Nothing changes without political support, so this has to be a political fight. Look at how quickly One Nation came to the fore, they hit a nerve and ran with it - and did impressively well. We only need to light the spark when there's enough fuel, we have to consistently raise public awareness and keep hacking away at this issue until sanity prevails.

 

This requires everyone being an ambassador - everyone here should just be open about their use and educate everyone they know, friends and family. Come out of the closet. Not to suggest we start imposing on people or ranting and raving uninvited, you just need to speak up and voice your opinion when the topic is raised. It's getting raised more often, but we need to also help drive this ourselves - it needs to be in the media regularly.

 

We need political representation in every State and Territory, we need people to stand up and run for a seat - regardless of whether we're successful or not. In fact, we don't even need to get elected to hold massive influence over the forming of Governments. It's all a power struggle lately, most areas seem to be swaying back and forth with no clear majority - you only need to tip them one way or the other to have an effect. The main push should be to bring the issue to the fore and force the other parties to adopt similar policies, we don't necessarily need or want to be in office, we just want the law changed. If they won't do it, worse case is we may have to do it ourselves.

 

We need someone to fill every seat in every State and Territory - we just need people to put their name down, it doesn't really matter who at first - we could indulge in merit based selection when and if we had a surplus of people willing to do it. Imagine coming to the next State election as a new party, with a candidate running for every single seat, a couple of locals at every polling station and a handful in each State focusing on publicity, interviews and any exposure we can get: street press, paid advertising etc.

 

We need yearly marches, even if they're only half a dozen people walking through the CBD with signs. Every capital city needs one, with a regular route ending at Parliament House or whatever. They need to be peaceful and smoke-free, at least early on when it's small. Everyone needs to be on their best behaviour and walk with pride, put faces on the issue. The exposure from this alone, especially if they grew exponentially and from humble beginnings, would help to keep this issue alive.

 

We need public faces - eloquent people who know enough to hold their own in a verbal debate in person, radio or TV. We need likable and believable representatives and good media relations as RobbieGanjaSeed said. We need to engage our opponents and embarass and shame them, we need to win the hearts and minds of the public.

 

We need people on the ground - running leaflets to stores, hanging out in forums, organising events and co-ordinating the marches etc. Probably a general pool of people who can donate at least a couple of hours a month - and from this pool people can step up to do more, take over established roles or create new ones and new fronts.

 

We need people writing Letters To the Editor in every major newspaper. We need people Newshawking every relevent letter and article and archiving them at MAPinc.org to help improve letter writing efforts and to keep everyone (here and abroad) up to date with what's happening locally.

 

We need good financial management and we need donations. Everyone taking part would likely happily give a few dollars a month or say $10 from each pay or whatever you could afford. It all needs to be managed and used as sparingly and as usefully as possible - mostly saved for the big guns like paid advertising and election campaigns.

 

We need to stick together and act as a cohesive whole for the greater good - there can be no bickering and petty squabbles, no splitting up of groups let alone splintering into slightly different factions. It needs to be a group effort, focused on this single aim above all else, all differences aside.

 

There's an infinite number of jobs we could come up with, we just need to list them and people need to pick one and do it. Coming out of the closet with your family and friends is a good first step, if you no longer care what people think about your cannabis use you're free to do so much more. It's all about standing up for something that you believe in, you either believe in it or you don't - the truth and justice are on our side. If one person is punished for stepping out of line and taking a stand for our side, we need everyone else to support them and make a spectable out of it, embarass the fuck out of the Police/MP/opponent involved and make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

We need to just try things and see what works, emulate it in other areas or document it for others to improve upon it or abandon it if unsuccessful. Each state should mirror the activities of others on the ground, we need unity and cohesion above all.

 

But most of all, we need our.... ;-) FREEDOM! ::

[Guest Wilderbud]

Marches and smoke-ins are cool - I go to them all the time to catch a buzz but there hasnt been many lately.

[boulder]

@ australian activist

http://www.peacebus.com/freemarijuana/