WISE WOMBAT OF WEED

[Thylacinus Bud]

Weekly rave from the

Wombat of Weed

 

Stoking the fire to the burning question, from high on the mountain. Pre-empting the prevalence of positive possibilities to precisely put an end to the purgatory of Prohibition and PUT the good plant back into to its rightful place as the one of the most useful resources we have for a wide range of uses, for the benefit of all humans and indeed the planet itself, which gave us the plant and seems have zero interest in the current fiasco continuing any longer than it has....to the beginning of the end..my friends.....

 

http://www.johnreeves.com.au/medican/smokin-wombat.jpg

 

http://www.johnreeve...womabtrave1.pdf

 

Early November 2011

 

To Petition or not to Petition or How to petition ?

 

What why and who to Petition ,to petition for petition's sake or all for the sake of the petition?

 

A Cannabis law reform group member recently raised the valuable issue of petitions and what the pro law reform movements needs to make a strong impact and in their terms, not “Fuck it upâ€. Which seems both a simple need but a complex question given long and convoluted recent 70 year history of our societies struggle with reality when it comes to the good weed and the general reticence of Governments to face the challenge of dealing with the issue in real terms.

 

There's little doubt we need petitions and there are and have been several in existence, do we need 1 BIG overall petition from everyone of the largest possible numbers asking for the one big thing we all want, full legalisation of Cannabis ?

 

It's from here on in the petition issue gets a little murky, or a lot murky in terms of the time, effort, planning and co-ordination needed to successfully engage the Australian population and get the signatures on paper and have that translate into 'suitable' levels of pressure on the powers that be. Many questions arise..

 

Exactly what to petition for?

 

Who is the petition targeting, potheads or the general population who may not use Cannabis, the government?

 

Who compiles and sends in the petition, to who ?

 

What's the best wording?

 

What information is used to back up the petition ?

 

How does the petition represent the 3 different legal levels..Industrial,Medical and Recreational Cannabis use ?

 

Do we need more than a petition? Do we need letters of support , testimonials, legal precedents, PowerPoint presentations, documentaries public lectures, Academic conferences, press releases,bribery ,terrorism and sausage sizzles to support the petitions..?

 

Should we have multiple petitions?, that are compiled together to form a consensus based democratic orgasm of petition magic that will bring the whole sordid relationship between prohibition and legalisation to an ugly but eventful climax of personal freedom ?

 

Should we bugger the petition and have a multi question survey?Scientific studies ? Maybe just a simple media Poll on 7's Sunrise...?

 

We obviously need the larger Westminster based options of a Plebiscite and Referendum at both state and federal level. Which if successful would solve the issue once and for all.

 

I don't know the answers to these questions, but they probably worth discussing in some depth if we want to take advantage of the growing worldwide support for legal options for Industrial, Medical and Recreational cannabis use.

 

What's the Multi petition strategy ?

 

Any individual or organisations with a fulfilled petition relating to Cannabis Law Reform submit it in full via digital or paper means on a specific date date, to support a plebiscite at the next state or federal election. Its vital that ALL and any petitions support “something†in real terms and that what is supported moves the issue forward in political terms. A Plebiscite if successful would support cause for a full Referendum...

 

This probably means that any group interested in C law reform can run their own petition and have it compiled into the collective collection of Cannabis Law Reform petitions from across Australia. Otherwise known as the CLRPT (Cannabis Law Reform Petition Project) and Co-ordinated from a central point or group.

 

If we sign for full legalisation can we expect any government to deliver it ?

 

Probably not , they have no policy, no strategy, little political will, great fear of, and no current plans to legalise cannabis in any way,according to them or any casual analysis of the situation in political terms.

 

Decriminalisation and lighter personal use civil penalties have a masked the greater need for a formal end to prohibition entirely. The Feds are hedging their bets on this one. Under most state laws, a lot of people recently caught with 'trafficable ' amounts of cannabis that can 'prove' medical use and have no evidence of sale have gained lighter sentences such as fines. good behaviour orders or suspended sentences etc. keeping them out of jail. However, some people recently convicted with a lot of plants for trafficking and selling seem to have been getting stiffer sentences, more jail time, repayment orders for amounts illegally earned, seizure of property and generally heavier sentences. This seems to be a a conscious consistent strategy from the Federal level but not overtly publicised.

 

And then we have the sticky issue of the UN treaty of 61 and the various levels of international accord and old policy that has driven the issue for years. These are only binding in terms of overall commitments, how much any given state regulates or decriminalises is up to the government ultimately voters.

 

In California,in 96, the game changer for the Legal Medical Cannabis lobby was get some serious $ from supportive donors to employ a professional petition company to get the 400.000 signatures they needed to move the prop forward. Apparently they were languishing around.250.000 with only grass root support and the professional help got the deal up , so its vital we using the gathering of public support via petition in the best possible way.

 

So the question is how best we compose and co-ordinate the petition/s into the strongest possible show of support for a formal end to Cannabis prohibition and the adoption of a supply and regulatory system that covers the range from personal use and growing, small to mid sized businesses and larger scale industrial Hemp production, for the manufacturing, medical and recreational supply industries.

 

A level of personal freedom and responsibility of choice for the individual needs to be at the basic of a legal cannabis world. The need of the medical industry and a other industries mean different levels of Legislation.

 

Are our Governments up to the task?, No, not at present in any conceivable or reliable way and unless full unenforced legalisation is on their agenda in a serious way no progress will be made. So using ALL the health, legal, economic and human rights reasons we can muster and march on down to their door and say, “enough, this must end NOW, free the prisoners !,rescind convictions! reimburse penalties!, issue a formal apology for years of jailing,persecution and paranoia. “Let people grow their plants and have their weed and turn the whole sorry 70 years of negative policy into a positive one of legitimate business and free the weed, grow up society and manage the resource for the best outcomes for the people, its a democracy after all its will be the peoples call..

 

To end the relentless Hypocrisy and propaganda campaigns designed to vilify the good and promote the bad in terms of drug choices. We are behind you Gov, go for it.!

 

Which is something along the lines of what a petition scheme needs to do to be successful. To take the battle to their door and win. To wedge that door open a little and put our collective boot of basic human rights firmly in the foot hold to gain enough momentum to kick that door wide open and walk right on through it.

 

The petition's are a weapon and we must wield it well my friends.

 

The Wombat...

 

References

 

http://en.wikipedia....ms_in_Australia

http://en.wikipedia...._215_%281996%29

womabtrave1.pdf

[vertexx]

Wonderful words, cleverly put.

But it's been done hundreds of times before.

Petitions and charts. Reason and logic.

 

 

The argument these days is about the smoking aspect.

No one wants a drug legalised that involves tacit approval to smoking.

(Except all of us, that is)!

Maybe we'll all sign up.. Yawns heavily.

 

We must try a new approach and it's bloody difficult.

More difficult than banging your head with another petition.

[Thylacinus Bud]

All good wordsmy friend. maybe it needs to be done better, bigger and more effectivley...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plebiscite

 

A referendum (also known as a plebiscite or a ballot question) is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of direct democracy.

 

For allto vote

 

regards

Wombat