I'm interested in educating the public about the merits of marijuana. i liv in thailand n the majority of the people here view it as a rightfully illegal substance which produces exaggerated negative effects because of propaganda. Marijuana is always portrayed as a hard drug and smokers are frowned upon. its sad cuz a few decades ago it was one of our biggest industry. anyone hav any ideas on fighting for tokin rights without being penalized by da fuzz, please let me know.

smoke out as many people as you can and tell those people to do the same if they agree with you

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Truth of the matter is anyone that has ever had the smallest sip of alcohol and tells you, you should go to jail for hitting a joint is a hypocrite, and you should tell them as much...

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...flowering.

Thanx 4 the positive responses guys. I've been doin exactly wut u've said. i started so many potheads here its amazing. viva revolution!! does anyone hav experience throwin rallies n stuff? i hear bout the weed rallies in australia u.s, cananda, etc. how do those get initiated?

The successful ones (if any of them can be called successes outside of making our presence known) in the US are often sponsored by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). The New York branch of the Global Marijuana March (1st Sat in May) is helped by CuresNotWars which is run by former members of the 60s radical group the Youth International Party (Yippies). In more recent years, MPP and NORML along with High Times have been less than supportive of CuresNotWars, prefering gala fundraiser dinners to marching in the streets (This may be due in part to their feelings on Dana Beal and his other issue: legalizing ibogaine to treat opiate addicts). I will withhold judgement here since we're talking about organizations and individuals whom I respect but who might not respect eachother completely. Put short, infighting is hurting the movement here in the US, and we need both lobbyists in Congress and ordinary people in the streets. The medical marijuana and decriminalization acts in the individual states have been achieved through a combination of legislative action and ballot initiatives. It is hard to convince legislators that public policy is so radically wrong, so they are often slow to act (MPP does a good job of increasing support though). The other option we have, ballot initiatives, are difficult to set in action in anywhere except California, requiring a lot of signatures to even get on the ballot. (In California they make everything a ballot initiative, including a recent one to stop ballot initiatives). It is important to be aware of the legal rights you have in your country to protest and assemble (straightforward things probably in your constitution that will undoubtedly be obscured by municipal ordinances restricting free speech and protest permits). I would advise that unless you want to go to jail as a political statement, you be very careful with smoking at these things, as there are always undercover cops in the crowd and uniformed cops surrounding it. Bake goods instead!

Wow i love it! Thanx 4 the excellent info bro! Makes me hungry too. Gotta reread it again wen i'm not so stoned though but great shit! So how did they start NORML & MMP type organizations without being scrutunized by the public or even persecuted by the man?

NORML started in the 1970s, when a much more relaxed attitude about pot pervaded. MPP formed when some individuals split from NORML in 95. I think that in the beginning NORML received massive amounts of money from High Times founder and former Yippie Tom Forcade, both from magazine sales and proceeds from smuggling weed and hash into NY. Forcade, like many of the former Yippies, was under constant surveillance from the FBI, a pressure that some say led him to commit suicide. Unfortunately, if this is an issue you want to take a stand on, more often than not that stand means being arrested or persecuted. For me, it was getting arrested for weed that got me into activism on this issue to begin with. As far as public scrutiny goes, despite the decades of misinformation campaigns, at this point most Americans have firsthand experience with smoking weed or with people who smoke weed in all professions, geographical locations, and socioeconomic classes, and have a reasonable attitude towards pot. Meth is truly the biggest drug problem in this country. Where I grew up it was heroin and where I live now it's crack. A lot of people have a good perspective on weed, although the powers that be are doing all they can to erode that even as we are making great strides in the right direction.

Either fight 4 one's rights n get thrown in jail or not fighht n still might get thrown in jail for smokin.. sounds like a catch 22 wit no other options but to conform. Sad. Hopefully if the US takes the initiative the the rest of the world will hav to follow suit. A highly anticipated era indeed. Well, if anyone is organizin a rally here, let me know. btw thanx again for that excellent info. i'll do more readin bout it.