Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
From: [m--w--l] at [deep-13.gizmo.com]
Subject: Richard Cowan: ACTIVE RESISTANCE!
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1993 17:44:27 GMT

Here is an exerpt from NORML Executive Director Richard Cowan's column in 
the March issue of _High Times_.  Since the zine has been on the newsstands for
almost a month, I don't expect that Steve Hager will mind too much. If he does,
he can get an account and flame me in t.p.d.

***
_High Times_ March 1993, p. 62

NORML-IZER by Richard Cowan, National Director.

ANNOUNCING THE ACTIVE RSISITANCE

We have a new President of the
United States, which presents
us with a unique opportunity.
During the election campaign there was
much talk about change, but the only
talk about marijuana consisted of jokes
about inhaling. This is the first change
that we must make. We must begin by 
making marijuana probition an issue
that is taken as seriously by the media,
by our friends, and by this new admin-
istration as it is by the enemies of our
freedom. 

During the last 12 years, what I
have called the Narcocracy has taken
on a life of its own, corrupting not only
law enforcement, but also education and
even the military. It has become its own
special interest, independent of-- and 
now threatening-- the political process
that created it. If some foreign power
had done this to us, there would long
since have been a genuine resistance
movement. Well, the party is over!

_The Active Resistance_ is the name
for a new NORML publication that is
replacing _The Leaflet_. It will be edited
by Jon Gettman, a former NORML
National Director, who-- I am happy to
say-- has rejoined the NORML
Washington staff on a full-time basis. 
"The Active Resistance" must also 
become the new name and conception
for the reform movement as a symbol 
of our won seriousess and commitment
to what has become a genuine life and 
death struggle between the friends of
freedom and the forces of tyranny. 

The average American may think
that this is a dramatic overstatement,
but the average American has no idea
what is really going on in our country. 
The sick and the dying are being denied
medicine to ease their sufrering. Lives
are being wrecked and Americans are
being murdered in their own homes by a 
law enforcement system corrupted by 
the spoils of war. We must see to it that 
the average American learns what is 
happening.

I believe that medical access to
marijuana is not peripheral to marijuana
prohibition, although logically it should
be. In fact it is central. Nothing more
conclusively demonstrates the fanatic
cruelty and dishonesty of the 
Narcocracy than this. The Narcocracy 
knows that it cannot afford to have hun-
dreds of thousands of Americans with
legal access to marijuana who, subse-
quently, cannot be terrorized into
silence the way millions of smokers
(perhaps including you?) are today.

Consequently, we have launcyed a 
new association, The Emergency
Coalition for Medical Cannabis. This will
alllow NORML activists to work with
those who are uncomfortable with-- or
disagree with-- non-medicinal use. 

***
That's the main body of the column. Below is a sidebar from the same page,
also written by Richard Cowan.
***

HOW TO TAKE THE OFFENSIVE
IN THE ACTIVE RESISTANCE

1. Join NORML, the
Emergency Coalition for Medical
Cannabis, and/or some other resis-
tance organization. There is
strength in numbers. They can't 
arrest us all. Moreover, as NORML
grows, the membership will reach
a critical mass in size that will
change the character of The Active
Resistance. Remember, politicians
don't care about cannabis. They just
want to get reelected. We must 
show our strength through numbers.
And to be direct, it takes money.
Everyone knows that. If you can't 
do anything else, call
1-900-97NORML every month and
get others to do so.            

2. Controlling the Agenda.
Some activists like to use the terms
hemp or cannabis. Another way to 
make the same point is to put quo-
tation marks around words
"marijuana" and "drugs." Write let-
ters to the editor and to your local
politicians. Object to the media's 
use of the term "drugs," without
quotation marks, because it means
absolutely nothing. Also object to 
the use of the term "War on Drugs."
It is a war on us. Insist that they
start covering the costs of "Drug
Prohibition." Accuse them of bad
journalism, because the truth hurts.

3. NORML is going to go on 
the offensive against the so-called
"Patrnership for a Drug-Free 
America" and "Dare" and other such
HATE GROUPS, by labeling them as
HATE GROUPS, because that is 
what they are. They lie about us to
incite state violence against us. 
Challenge them locally with NORML
literature.

4. Remember, sometimes all
it takes is for one person to object.
Shatter the pretense that there is 
a consensus for this war on us.
Refuse to live in fear! Please do not
let this moment in history pass with-
out being a part of it. Rights are not
given; they are taken. Freedom
must be won and re-won, again and
again.

JOIN THE ACTIVE RESISTANCE!
****

There you have it folks.
herbally.max
[mmonnin g h] at [igc.apc.org]
IMI phone dude.
(708)859-0499