Day Eight: Smoking Out Gore, the Journey Concludes
September 29, 2000
The final day of the Journey began at 10:00 AM with a two-mile
procession from the Mexican American Cultural Center down Congress
Street to the State Capitol Building. The procession included
approximately 300 people. It was a diverse crowd dominated by the
Journeyers from Tulia who wore green shirts saying "Friends of Justice."
No doubt participating in the Journey accomplished the goal of the Tulia
leaders: to empower the people of Tulia whose community had been
decimated by the arrest of nearly one-third of the young African
American men in Tulia after an 18-month undercover drug investigation.
The demonstrators chanted a variety of slogans, among them:
Educate: Don't Incarcerate
Two Million is Too Many in the Land of the Free
No More Drug War
There is a Better Way: Love Not Hate
The police were cooperative and led us through the city streets without
any problems. We were required by the police to start the procession a
half hour earlier than we wanted but that was due to a miscommunication
and not their fault. In an effort to arrive at the press conference at
the intended time we moved slowly. The only complaint from the police
was that our slow pace was overheating their motorcycles.
We arrived at the Capitol Building a little earlier than planned which
enabled a delegation to visit with a representative of Governor Bush's
Administration while the demonstrators rallied outside the building. The
delegation to Governor Bush included Tiffany Landreth, a patient who
lives in Texas, Kay Lee, the founder of the Journey and Tiffany's
mother, Michael Krawitz, a medical patient from Virginia, Jodi James,
the Journey organizer and me. The discussion with Linda Edwards,
Communications Director for the Governor, initially focused on medical
marijuana. Tiffany explained her medical condition and how marijuana was
an essential medicine. We asked three things: (1) we thanked Governor
Bush for supporting states rights on the issue of medical marijuana and
asked that he continue to hold that view; (2) we asked that he speak in
favor of judges and juries being able to consider the medical necessity
defense in cases where appropriate; and (3) we asked that he work with
the legislature to activate a medical marijuana research program as
allowed by Texas law. Further, if he were to become president we urged
he change federal law and regulations to allow safe access to marijuana
for the seriously ill. After discussing medical marijuana we focused on
the over incarceration of non-violent drug offenders in the United
States in general and Texas in particular. After providing the facts on
this issue we urged Governor Bush to develop policies to ameliorate this
problem.
The noon press conference was attended by a handful of cameras and
reporters including representatives of The New York Times and Associated
Press. Al Robison of Drug Policy Forum of Texas gave an overview of the
negative effects of current drug policy. Reverend Kiker of Tulia
described the drug war as "the American form of ethnic
cleansing."
The
ACLU announced its intention to file a lawsuit against the Tulia County
Sheriff, District Attorney and undercover agent. Various Journeyers
spoke describing the Journey and our meeting with the Governor’s aide. I
spoke describing some of the injustices we had seen along the Journey
for Justice and urged that while this is the end of the Journey it is
really only the beginning of our nation’s journey for justice.
After the press event the Journeyers and some of our allies went to the
Headquarters of the Democratic Party in the State of Texas. The purpose
of our visit was to protest Vice President Gore’s recent inaccurate
statement on MTV. In response to a question about medical marijuana the
Vice President stated that there was no evidence that marijuana was an
effective medicine. This false statement upset many of the Journeyers
who suffer from serious illnesses and for whom marijuana is an essential
medicine. They wanted to take aggressive action against the Vice
President for this misstatement of fact.
Eddie Smith, a cancer and AIDS patient, was particularly upset. He was
part of a delegation that went to visit James Gaston the Executive
Director of the State Democratic Party. Also in the delegation were John
Precup a wheelchair bound multiple sclerosis patient from Ohio, Cathy
Jordan, a wheelchair bound Lou Gehrig’s disease patient, Kay Lee, Jodi
James and me. Initially Mr. Gaston did not want to speak with us
claiming the Democratic Party had nothing to do with Vice President
Gore. While we acknowledged that there was a legal separation between
the Party and the Gore Campaign, we also noted the Gore 2000 posters and
stickers on their walls and in their windows.
Cathy Jordan, the longest surviving Lou Gehrig's Disease patient in the
United States, told Mr. Gaston that she had been trying to reach Al Gore
or someone at the Gore campaign for over a year. She said she would meet
the Vice President anywhere and anytime convenient for him to tell him
the truth about medical marijuana. John Precup described how medical
marijuana controlled the muscle spasms of his MS.
Eddie Smith, after describing his essential medical need for marijuana
to control the nausea and vomiting caused by his AIDS medicine, said he
wanted to show Mr. Gaston the use of medical marijuana and began to
consume his medicine. Mr. Gaston said: "Don't do that here." Eddy
replied: "If I can’t do it here, where can I do it?" As he smoked Mr.
Gaston became very upset. He called me to his office to express his
displeasure. I explained this was a First Amendment activity targeted at
the Vice President for his inaccurate statements. It was up to Mr.
Gaston to decide whether to arrest an AIDS/cancer patient for his use of
a medicine or to allow him to use marijuana. He said he was concerned
about being part of a marijuana conspiracy or aiding and abetting a
criminal act. I explained that he now had a sense of what medical
marijuana patients have to feel every day when they fear arrest for
using a medicine.
We went back to the group and Mr. Gaston asked Eddie to stop his
marijuana use. Eddie explained he would not stop until he was finished.
Mr. Gaston said to me "Can't you do anything about this?" I said, it is
not my decision; it is up to Eddie. Security arrived and Mr. Gaston
looked unsure what to do and then decided to send security away. Eddie
finished his medical use and as we left we explained to Mr. Gaston that
the Gore campaign should be warned that other actions like this are
likely because seriously ill people were very upset with his comments.
Further, it was very likely that Mr. Gore will lose a lot of votes to
Ralph Nader unless he corrects this misstatement.
We realize that this type of civil disobedience is controversial, but
when a candidate for president makes a misstatement of fact that is
damaging to seriously ill people extraordinary actions are sometimes
warranted. This is particularly true in this case where Mr. Gore has
personal experience with marijuana and personal experience with family
members who could have benefited from its medical use. His hypocrisy
makes his statements deserving of a loud and aggressive public rebuke.
We ended the day with a demonstration in front of Governor Bush’s
mansion. Approximately 100 demonstrators stood in front of the
governor’s mansion holding signs and chanting slogans. A group of 50
bicycle riders rode by several times to show their support and dozens of
motorists honked their horns in support of our cause.
Jodi James ended the Journey for Jubilee Justice in Texas urging people
to continue to fight for justice. She urged people in Texas to build on
the work the Journey had done and urged people in other states to
support vigils and journeys in their state.
Many people along the way joined the Journey for Justice. Their support
was greatly appreciated. Each person who participated in the Journey
played an important role. Below is a list of the people who participated
in the complete Journey from Houston to Austin.
Scott Bledsoe, Florida
Tommy Bandenstein, Arizona
Ronald Goldberg, Virginia
Jodi James, Florida
Michael Krawitz, Virginia
Tiffany Landreth, Texas
Kay Lee, Florida
Mary Mackenzie, Arizona
Michael Marko, Florida
Ann McCormick, Rhode Island
Brian McCullough, Kentucky
Cher McCullough, Kentucky
Joe Ptak, Texas
Eddie Smith, Kentucky
Arlo Stefanoff, Texas
Zeal Stefanoff, Texas
Dennis "Murli" Watkins, Florida
Kevin Zeese, Virginia
Kevin
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