Blurring the lines: The recreational and medicinal communities get together - somewhat

[marmar]

from the Detroit Metro Times:




Blurring the lines
The recreational and medicinal communities get together - somewhat

By Larry Gabriel
Published: April 20, 2011


Since I started writing this column last October, I've been amazed at the number of organizations and events, and the complexity of marijuana activism. The most recent event to appear on my personal horizon is the May 7 Cures Not Wars Cannabis Liberation Day. The fact that it is taking place is no surprise. What surprises me is that it has been going on since 1994 in New York, and in Detroit since 2001. I never heard of it before and apparently it has not been big in the media.

"It's about legalizing pot worldwide for adults," says Bob Rysztak, a Michigan NORML member who lives in Belleville and helps organize the event. "The first event I went to was 1999 in Cleveland. There were about 20 cities participating that were listed on the poster. They've been trying to spread this worldwide — from Amsterdam to Rome and Tokyo — and now it's up to some 300 cities."

Well, there are about 200 cities worldwide listed on the Cures Not Wars website, which describes the organization as "a coalition of drug-reform activists, users, health-care and drug-treatment providers and social-justice activists committed to advocacy and nonviolent direct action to stop the drug war, whether in small, local protests or in regional or national actions."

Detroit's event (others are planned for Ann Arbor, Traverse City and Lansing) in Grand Circus Park is pretty much a rally with speakers and bands. It has not been a major affair; last year's had only two tables representing organizations, and organizers estimate there was a crowd of about 200. The count is unclear partly because it was difficult to tell who was there for the cannabis event and who happened to be wandering by en route to the Detroit Tigers' game that day. Next to the Hash Bash, which drew a reported 6,000 people in what wasn't the most hospitable April weather, Cannabis Liberation Day is small potatoes. In some places it's called the Global Marijuana March, but in Detroit the marching has involved crossing Woodward with the traffic lights while carrying signs. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://metrotimes.com/mmj/blurring-the-lines-1.1134822

[cyberpj]

1. Checkmate:

Big Pharma set to take over medical marijuana market

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=930619&mesg_id=930619

[wtbymark]

2. checkmate pffft!

it will be a major Fail product, the only thing it will do is give the feds more power to bust dispenseries. Remember, they came out with a THC pill about a decade ago - died on the shelf

on edit: even if pharma came out with big juicy purple buds - no one would buy it