Hemp Fest revelers stir the pot in Hub

Boston Herald ^ | September 17, 2006 | Shaun Tolson

[billorites]

Boston Police passed out fliers yesterday making it perfectly clear they would not grant amnesty for marijuana possesion during the Boston Hemp Fest, but that didn’t stop 19-year-old Will Germaine of Hastings, N.Y., from trying to conceal his stash in the BPD handout, police said.

Germaine and 52 others were arrested for marijuana possession during the pro-pot festival.

From $5 hemp leis and subscriptions to High Times magazine to T-shirts with slogans such as “marilize legajuana,” the all-day event was a cannabis buffet of reefer paraphernalia and freedom of expression.

“When people smoke weed at Hemp Fest in Seattle, they don’t get arrested,” an unidentified man shouted into a microphone from the WBCN stage. “People don’t get hurt. You, unfortunately, are in the city of Boston.”

“Trying to arrest our way out of pot use is a fool’s errand,” said Michael Cutler, a lawyer with norml.org, an organization working to reform marijuana laws.“These policemen who are surrounding the Common should be searching for terrorists. They should be at Logan Airport.”

“We’re here to support something that shouldn’t be illegal,” said Ben Foley of Hull, who was attending his third Boston Hemp Fest, officially titled the Fall Freedom Rally.

“It’s going to happen,” said Townsend resident Marie Roche of the desire to legalize marijuana. “It’s just a matter of time.”

Rachel Mauro, 18, of Cheshire, Conn., smokes a joint at the Hemp Fest on The Common Saturday. (Staff photo by David Goldman)

[winston2]

(snip)Feel free to smoke all the dope you want

-------------------------

What a giant leap!

We started off discussing the concept of persons at a "hempfest" partaking of the herb and now you have provided a link to the biography of a crack cocaine whore who started off her troubles as theft prone teen who moved on to alcohol and ultimately selling her body to get crack cocaine.

It was an interesting story and I'll quote a few lines of it that show just how irrelevant it is to marijuana use.:

---

(snip)"Problem child Maggie grew up in Freeport, Long Island, the youngest girl in a family of four sons and three daughters. Red-haired and petite, Maggie was "the happiest kid, always happy-go-lucky," her sister Dorothy remembers.

But Maggie's life of crime started early — around 10 — when she stole porcelain dolls from a neighbor's collection.

By the time Maggie hit her teens, nobody could control her.

Maggie's memories of her father are vivid and limited. He bought cases of beer in quart bottles. Ballantine and Piels. Her mother, Alice, raised seven kids and drank Canadian Club with beer chasers.

"I remember my dad carrying her to bed after she passed out," Maggie recalls.

She started drinking at 15 or 16 when she and her little brother, Kevin, tapped dad's beer supply.

Five of the seven Williams children became alcoholics, says Dorothy, a retired certified legal assistant who lives in South Carolina. "Only Barbara and I weren't."

(Kevin died of cirrhosis in 1989 at 33.)"(snip)
Quote from the link WorkingClassFilth provided -Maggie, The Poet Prostitute

-------------------------

Thanks for the link - but - I'll take my chances with good old marijuana and continue to be called one-beer Billy.

[mugs99]

Our Founding Fathers were the cream of the crop
They sure were...Freedom loving libertarians whom you have nothing in common with!
.

[mugs99]

I'll take my chances with good old marijuana and continue to be called one-beer Billy
Lol!
The hypocrisy of the drug warriors has become so thick it's contributing to global warming!
.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Sorry, but I don't smoke. I will have a beer from time to time but not enough to see things that aren't there. You, on the other hand, jump to conclusions that aren't there and assume what you don't know for fact. Oddly enough, you apparently do it stone cold sober. Read for comprehension, friend, not for a pretext to indulge your sanctimony.

[mugs99]

Here's another inspirational story from the "cream of the crop" crowd
Maggie, The Poet Prostitute? What does an alcoholic prostitute have to do with a hemp fest?
I take it you support alcohol prohibition too...Right?
.

[WorkingClassFilth]

So...alcohol is a bad drug and so is crack, but marijuana is...good?

[Freedom4US]

I imagine they would be appalled at the the waste and nihilism of the modern drug culture.

Absolutely, but that's a political issue - totally outside the purview, as it were. By any stretch they were all fiercly independent and hated middlemen and taxes, buearacr, er red-tape. Brewing beer, wine, growing tobacco, or distilling whiskey were all dear to their hearts. I think a case can be made, right or wrong, that they would appreciate some kick-ass skunkbud. .02c

[tacticalogic]

it is sure to be found wherever social disorder is rampant.

At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, the instances of rampant social disorder in recent memory seem to be fueled by malt liquor.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Her drug of choice is crack, not alcohol. I get the impression that you hemp fans don't read too well. Either that or facts don't seem to be able scramble up the ramp of your short term memory. Put down the pipe for a while and see if things don't improve.

[mugs99]

Her drug of choice is crack, not alcohol

I read her story. She's been a boozer all of her life. Crack or booze, it makes no difference. What has a crack/booze whore have to do with a hemp fest?

You use alcohol, the most dangerous drug in the country, yet you condemn those who use marijuana...the safest drug in the country.

Alcohol overdose killed 19,928 in 2005.
Alcoholic liver disease killed another 12,121
Marijuana killed 0
.

[WorkingClassFilth]

I read her story. She's been a boozer all of her life. Crack or booze, it makes no difference.

Sorry, but you're just plain wrong on top of being drug addled. The article says nothing of alcohol use once she started crack. I won't hold you to the story's facts or a deeper analysis of the story's meaning. Go back to your pipe and dream your dreams.

[mugs99]

Lol!
Yeah, and you keep swillin that booze while you condemn others...You drunks sure are entertaining!
.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Party on, Dude!

[KeepUSfree]

As I said before, despite your pathetic, hypocritical, lying diatribe, I don't smoke pot, nor drink, nor smoke cigarettes.

By your own admission you take 2 of the most powerful drugs out there.

In addition, the words "pot" or "marijuana" do not appear anywhere in the article.

So, it looks like your brain has been addled from years of alcohol and nicotine abuse, coupled with drinking the WOSD kool-aid, all washed down with total ignorance and self-righteousness. Or else your just too stupid to read and perform basic logic functions.

The woman started on alcohol - she's somebody you can hang with and have a beer and a cigarette. And, hey for $5, you can even get "some extras".

Hope you two have a good time, I'm sure she's your type.

[WorkingClassFilth]

My, my, my, you're quite an ill tempered little fellow.

Now, before you shoot your ignorant mouth off anymore, sit down, breath deep and take some stock of the known facts. I do not use (present tense) tobacco (as if that were the end of the world) and I will drink beer (last one...maybe three weeks ago). You and your drug addled pack seem unable to grasp the differences between present reality, past history and imaginary suspicions - sounds like mental illness to me. So you see, my puritan friend, on this simplest of matters it seems that it is your intellect and reasoning capacities that are faulty here - not mine.

Secondly, if you had cared enough to inform yourself as to where and how the conversation veered into the present territory, you'd find that it was your dope smoking allies that were compelled to bring up all that you're finding objectionable. Again, please refrain from scratching at your keyboard until you educate yourself a little better.

Third, in light of the above facts, your (cough) insights into my life and education tell us far more about you than any shrill and labored insults directed to me. Read them again and see if you find them as ironic and humorous as I do:

So, it looks like your brain has been addled from years of alcohol and nicotine abuse, coupled with drinking the WOSD kool-aid, all washed down with total ignorance and self-righteousness. Or else your just too stupid to read and perform basic logic functions.

I think most would agree that logic is a subject you should have the prudence to leave alone.

Finally, your closing remarks are great, just great. Now that I'm a drug addict (*gasp*TWO OF THE MOST POWERFUL DRUGS*shudder*), I might as well be a whore monger and shack up with Maggie since were alike. Brilliant.

As one of America's foremost patriots, don't you sometimes feel a wee bit silly acting like you do? I know that I feel embarassed that the rest of the world can read your remarks and will likely associate them with the balance of informed minds and genuine patriots here on FR.

[KeepUSfree]

Amazing that you refer to "my drug addled pack" - then call me "a puritan" all within the same paragraph.

Make up your mind - which is it?? You just can't seem to put your small mind around the fact that:

A) I don't do ANY drugs (except coffee)

B) I support other adults right to do so because I believe in freedom and the Bill of Rights

C) That you do more drugs than I - and much more dangerous ones - in fact the same ones you so exquisitely pointed to in your link about the alcoholic crack whore.

D) You are, obviously a hypocrite if you believe it is "OK" to drink a beer, yet would deny another adult "a joint" - which is, by far, a MUCH less dangerous drug.

And, no, I don't find my "shrill and labored" insults ironic or humorous. Unfortunately, hypocrisy like yours abounds here and everywhere. It just makes me sad for the entire conservative movement that you consider yourself one - when you don't have a clue as to what the Bill of Rights actually says, means, or was meant to accoplish.

[WorkingClassFilth]

1) I referred to you as a puritan (small case 'p') because you're the ideologue on behalf of drug use in this thread. Your "pack" is a reference to your allies on this thread; Cheech and Chong. You should also take note that after you claimed hallucinogenic purity, I have respected that claim and implied nothing to the contrary. You seem to be reading threads not addressed to you and making inferences where no supporting suggestion exists. Once again, it is you that seem unable to read or understand English.

2) The Bill of Rights can be twisted to support anything. Do you believe pederasty is sacred under the BOR? Sorry, pal, but there is an implicit expectation that the American people would govern themselves by the light of Christian enlightenment embodied in our institution, laws and ideals. Without self-restraint, our system of governance would soon devolve into chaos. You know, like where we're headed if Cannibisculture.com gets it's slate of RAT candidates elected.

3) The word 'hypocrite' isn't clearly understood by you and, as a consequence, it is badly misused. Drinking a beer is entirely legal. Smoking dope is not. See, that's what is called a legal issue and it has nothing to do with duplicity. Murder, child porn, bigamy are all pastimes of choice for some folks, but the rest of us consider those things to be morally bad and we have made such things illegal to protect society. Frankly, I don't really care what proponents of deviancy think about those laws. Don't worry too much about the dopers, though, they'll just go on blowing weed in the privacy of their own homes like they always have.

4) Given the shrill nature of your piety (that's that puritan deal), I doubt very much if you're as old as some of my pairs of underwear. Looking for approval from you, or Cheech and Chong, to validate my conservative credentials is about as pointless as asking for moral direction Fred Phelps. Simply going about claiming direct dispensation for dope smoking under the BOR is to ignore the lives of the men who forged the document and their overarching moral philosophies.

I see nothing in your reasoning, attitude or understanding of freedom and our constitutional inheritance that suggests to me that you are anything other than a yapping pup in love with your bark. Now go lay down.

[KeepUSfree]

Still trying to justify your drug use - while condemming everyone elses on the basis that "yours is legal". Well - I thought that is what we were actually arguing about. So that is call "circular reasoning. My drug use is ok because it is legal and it is legal because it says so in the law.
"The bible is the word of God - how does one know, because it says so in the Bible". Well, duh, you'll be right every time when you argue like that.

Then, of course, you constantly try to make yourself feel superior by using little pet names and belittling comments.
You may notice that you can't go a paragraph without trying to "demean" the messenger. IT's a tired old argumentative technique - usually employed by Democrats and fascists... "All THINKING people know", "hallucinogenic purity", "Sorry pal", Murder is bad - but the rest of us folks, "go on blowing weed" "shrill nature of your piety", "looking for approval from Cheech & Chong" - all of this is nothing but total, useless condescension - trying to make yourself feel superior to those "dope smokers" - all the while, STILL not accepting the mantle of "hypocrite" - "because your preferred drug is legal". (refer back to circular reasoning above). Under the latest decisions of our Supreme Court, goveernment can sieze your property to build a strip mall, Abortion is guaranteed. CIA wiretapping is illegal.

You probably rail against these...but hey, they are all legal - so they MUST be right and moral - according to the word of Filth.

And, as for the fact that, "I'm probably not as old as some of your underwear" - you should probably try changing them more often ....maybe more folks would like you then. And, just to let you know, I will be celebrating my 50'th birthday on 10/1. So, if your underwear is that old - it's time for a trip to Wal-mart.

I'm pretty much done arguing with you. You are so filled with hate and vitriol towards "dopers" that there is no changing your mind based on rational thought. Have a nice day, I'm going to get my laser surgery done.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Well, my young puritan friend, I wish you well on your laser surgery. If it's for your vision, you certainly have something to look forward to - reading clearly. Self-examination will be a product of maturity - hang in there.

Frankly, I'm disappointed in you. Far from hating dopers, I merely consider them drugged rabble and their claims of Constitutional freedom specious. Like lefties, education or enlightenment may help, but your lapses, however, are seemingly without excuse. Never admitting that your own charges, accusations and insights have been baseless time and again, you now fall back on the tired old hatred card. Come on, even Jesse Jackson changes his schtick now and again.

Let's just look at the timeline and the facts about hatred on this thread (got those reading glasses on?)…

Your first address to me - notice that I posted nothing to you:
# 13 "…you are clueless…"

Here's another of your 'jump-in' introductory gems to another poster:
#15 "…you are totally devoid of historical perspective, it was easy for you to swallow the government propaganda….Ignorant people are easier to control. Consider yourself controlled."

Back to me:
#31 "…exposes your fascism I'd say..."
#32 "…your total ignorance and hypocrisy are on display for all to see."

Now, you veer into total imagination with your fantastic and baseless ad homonym attacks:
#35 "Shows the hypocrisy of the crowd that sits around [sic] here, dinking [sic] at night, 3 cups of coffee in the morning, whose wives take a Valium every day to deal with life."

You, my friend, seem to be the one needing propping up. Here is your self-congratulatory refrain we will see over and over and over:
#40 "Unlike yourself, however, I do think for myself - without succumbing to government propaganda."

Now, you go back to your crystal ball and imagine some fresh charges:
#40 "I'll bet you both smoke and drink - 2 of the most powerful and dangerous drugs out there. Don't you just LOVE the smell of fascist hypocrisy on a Sunday afternoon???"

Apparently, missing the fact that I don't accuse you of using and because I deny smoking and don't confess to being a stumble drunk, you retort brilliantly with this tender thought:
#49 "…despite your pathetic, hypocritical, lying diatribe, I don't smoke pot, nor drink, nor smoke cigarettes."

Leaving the planet earth and the dictionary's definitions of legality, you return in a great circle to the circularity of your own thought processes:
#56 "…You just can't seem to put your small mind around the fact…"; "…You are, obviously a hypocrite if you believe it is "OK" to drink a beer, yet would deny another adult "a joint"

Now, this is the best part of your shambling discourse:
#58 "Then, of course, you constantly try to make yourself feel superior by using little pet names and belittling comments. You may notice that you can't go a paragraph without trying to "demean" the messenger. IT's a tired old argumentative technique - usually employed by Democrats and fascists…"

Seems to me that I've been reading the words of another (ahem) who is guilty as hell of this charge. Of course, you have to actually look in a mirror to know what I'm talking about.

Now, here's where you get up to go home because nobody wants to play your way:
"…as for the fact that, "I'm probably not as old as some of your underwear" - you should probably try changing them more often ....maybe more folks would like you then.

A final, clear minded observation:
"You are so filled with hate and vitriol…"

Good luck with your surgery (I really do mean that). I look forward to your return on other threads and I hope that improved vision opens a whole new world for you. You are certainly a priceless one - that's for sure.