K-DOOB - another session

So, I read and then rethought what I had written, in hopes of producing a better draft for the first edition of the 'zine. Here it is, new content shall emerge over the future. Hahaha! Cheers!

This is hard to say.
Actually, this is hard to say well. The bare-bones point has been expressed by many people for years, and I think the fundamental truth of the matter manifests everyday in popular television, radio, and film.
We are a culture tolerant, exploitive, and encouraging of marijuana users, yet we accept the political maneuvers of our elected officials to demonize and criminalize marijuana (amongst other drug use) use(rs) as a method of demonstrating how ‘tough on crime’ they are. This official stance does not match social practice. It seems to me that every other corner store sells psychedelically colored glass pipes and accessories with the notorious potleaf upon it. Kitchener-Waterloo supports at least three dedicated ‘head shops’, and there are rumblings of other sites for pot-culture to emerge. In practice, as long as people don’t walk down our ‘main streets’ tokin’ a joint then, as some have said, the police won’t even care.
Yet, on the books, all this is criminal activity and needs to be persecuted by the apparatus of the law. People have fought for our ability to be free to discuss whatever we want, including marijuana literature. Marc Emery, a Canadian hero being sent to American prison at US request, fought for the right to read and distribute this information in the early 90’s and went on to actively fight for legalization and decriminalization world-wide. Thanks to people like him, we can organize and speak and write on the subject, but when it comes to being free to enjoy the growth and use of the marijuana plant, we are still impeded by the law.
We are still used by our authorities.
We are still threatened by them.
Families are broken up and people’s lives destroyed because we live in a society which employs a double-standard: We can toke and revel in it if you’re young, or a minority, or poor, or an ‘artist’, but as soon as you want to join the ‘professional’ world, you cannot toke or grow, ever, period. Despite the fact that everyone does it, or that making marijuana use as a ‘poor-thing’ or ‘black-thing’ or ‘criminal-thing’ is incredibly discriminatory, we are indoctrinated with this information all our lives! This message is reflected to us through music and media, and is accepted by everyone INCLUDING POTHEADS.
Now, I recognize one of the results of being super relaxed (or stoned, as some people call it) means becoming sedentary and lazy, but this is a dangerous state of affairs. By doing so we are leaving the possibility of our arrest and ruination, not to mention the exploitation of our persons by those with political agendas, as a perpetual reality. As a pothead, it’s only a matter of time before you have an interaction with the police.
So, we need to ask ourselves: Is apathy worth it, or should we get down to business and ensure that no one needs to suffer marijuana-related injustices again? Are we okay with allowing our marijuana use to be a segregating tool used by racists in all positions of society? Are we okay allowing ourselves to be used to push a jail-filling agenda, where those who are potsmokers are ‘not normal’, likely crazy or criminal? No!!!!
No, no, no, NO!!!
I will not stand to be exploited and stigmatized, and no one else should either.
Therefore, I have begun putting some resources together, and hope to become involved with others in our community interested in developing a decriminalization movement, and finding out where they have been before. I have a few projects in mind, but recognize that in my naiveté I may be wasting our time. Regardless, here they are:
· POTSECRETS!!! Like the PostSecret’s Project, where individuals sent an anonymous confession illustrated in image and script on the back of postcard, Pot Secrets also wants your anonymous confessions. That is your admission that you, whoever you are, smoke pot and LOVE IT!!! This isn’t to ‘out’ anyone, but to help our community realize how many of our citizens are avid users and still exemplary members of society.
Please, send your postcards to
Potsecrets! C/O Graham
115 Moore Ave.
Waterloo, Ontario
N2J 1X3
· ‘ENDPROHIBITIONWATERLOO!’ is a blog that I recently started to act as an electronic forum to accompany the print materials. It can be found at http://endprohibitionwaterloo.blogspot.com/
· ‘K_DOOB’ itself is a publication open to anyone who has an open, for and against, marijuana and its decriminalization. I’m hoping that this becomes a community conversation that everyone can participate in because, as it stands, the law affects everyone.
Thus, with that being said, I hope that we can connect and engage the problem dynamically. Let us work towards a common future, where we no longer need hide in the dark.