[raptor22]

When:
Thursday, November 12, 2009 @ 1:45 PM-4:00 PM

Where:
Carmel Valley Community Center
3777 Townsgate Drive, San Diego 92130

This Thursday, HARM is holding a medical marijuana eradication seminar. We are going to be there to let them know that we won't stand by while they discuss how to strip our rights from us.

HARM is a local organization, funded by our county tax dollars, dedicated to preventing the "normalization" of marijuana. They intend to reach this goal by spreading lies and propaganda about marijuana in general, and the eradication of all legitimate uses of this plant is instrumental in their campaign.

HARM claims that over 200 municipalities have successfully banned medical cannabis. They are bringing Martin J Mayer, general counsel to the California Police Chiefs and Sheriff's associations, in to advise the public and policymakers on doing the same in their community.

It is vital that everyone be out there this Thursday. Our local officials have moved beyond attacking what they claim to be "bad apples" to explicitly working against the public interest. This isn't just a medical marijuana issue, its an issue with our county wasting OUR money to go against the the will of the people. Tell your friends, tell your relatives, tell your coworkers, bring them out to protect THEIR rights as well as our own....and bring signs.

As always, this will be a peaceful protest. Please keep all streets and driveways clear, and keep any medicating away from the protest body.

Thanks,
Alex Lewis

[raptor22]

I just got home, and wanted everyone to know that it went well. We had a good turnout (I counted 28 people), and news coverage, although I think that we need to work on increasing both of those. I'd like to see a lot more members from outside of the MMJ community (as well as more patients) getting mad and getting involved.

More importantly, we succeeded in making ourselves heard with the policymakers inside. We made ourselves extremely visible, and were effective enough for them to drastically change their meeting structure in an attempt to block out our efforts. It wasn't very long before their attitude changed from amusement at the silly little protesters to anger at our effectiveness in obstructing this illegal and unethical use of taxpayer dollars.

They called the police, and I counted three cop cars within a few minutes of my arrival. Believe it or not, those 6 armed officers felt the need to call for backup because we were too "roudy"...bringing 3 more cars full of police to the protest. However, as always, it was legal and peaceful, and they didn't have any cause to do more than sit around and look scary.

I find it amazing that we have plenty of public works projects in limbo for lack of funds, but they can afford for 6 carloads of officers to sit around and do nothing but watch peaceful and unarmed protesters. That doesn't even begin to speak of the money it costs to bring a big-name lawyer down, rent out a large presentation hall, and pay public officials to fill it.

I don't know how many thousands of dollars today cost the taxpayers, but it was too many, and the costs will only get higher until we can stop this.

-Alex