Speaker 1: To God, to God, to God, to God, to God,
Speaker 1: to God, to God to God to send him free?
Speaker 2: Was he jail forwarding or representing everyone free?
Speaker 3: John?
Speaker 2: Now lift the little, return him to his wife and kids,
Speaker 2: Let him free, Let.
Speaker 3: Him be breathing ill. Lucky you and me. The game
Speaker 3: even ten for two.
Speaker 2: That's all the motherfuckers do.
Speaker 4: The God, to God, to God, to God, to God,
Speaker 4: to God, to God, to God, to.
Speaker 5: God, to God, to.
Speaker 4: God, to God, to God to God to send him free.
Speaker 6: Brother John Sinclair, may you rest in peace, and may
Speaker 6: you truly be free of pain, and may the read
Speaker 6: truly be free where you are and not over regulated
Speaker 6: and text and having a bunch of people come up
Speaker 6: and tell you how proud they are they freed one
Speaker 6: drug and still believe prohibition works for every other drug.
Speaker 6: You're gonna hear people talk today that are still people
Speaker 6: putting people in cages for what they put in their bodies,
Speaker 6: and the those same people that fight for bodily autonomy
Speaker 6: and other things, but not what you can put in
Speaker 6: your body.
Speaker 3: That makes no sense to me. And uh, the war
Speaker 3: is not over.
Speaker 6: A small battle has been won, but we've lost a
Speaker 6: lot of people that have devoted a lot of their
Speaker 6: lives to trying to fight this thing we call the
Speaker 6: War on drugs. That even Richard Nixon's chief of staff,
Speaker 6: John Erlickman, on his deathbed, said the War on drugs
Speaker 6: was never about controlling drugs. It was about controlling people.
Speaker 6: We couldn't arrest the protesters, so we use weed to
Speaker 6: get the protesters, and we couldn't arrest black people for
Speaker 6: being black, so they flooded New York with dope to
Speaker 6: make people's slaves. And these are the people that still
Speaker 6: are running our drug policy after years and years of
Speaker 6: failure after failure and life after life ruined. So please,
Speaker 6: please don't think this is a celebration. This is still
Speaker 6: a protest. Peace and love, y'all.
Speaker 7: All right, Leith will be at the Winewood Organic tomorrow
Speaker 7: doing an appearance about three o'clock and kind of continuing
Speaker 7: this tribute for John there.
Speaker 8: So check them out there and let's hear it again for.
Speaker 9: Laith Alsadi, all right, coming up to kick off the
Speaker 9: speakers here, the guy that ran this show for a
Speaker 9: couple of decades, who took on a lot of challenges,
Speaker 9: who actually brought John Sinclair back into the fold.
Speaker 8: Years ago. He's more than earned his nickname.
Speaker 7: So let's hear it for mister Hashbash Adam Brook.
Speaker 3: Hey, hash fans, how you doing.
Speaker 10: Listen, You're gonna hear a lot of stuff from a
Speaker 10: lot of people today, so I'm not gonna waste my
Speaker 10: time with that. Here's what I want to know. How
Speaker 10: many of you got dope on you right now? Here's
Speaker 10: a more important question. How many of you actually still
Speaker 10: have a medical marijuana card. Understand that that's the only
Speaker 10: paid vote that we're allowed. You go get that medical card,
Speaker 10: and those legislators see that there's more of us.
Speaker 3: We can't hand them any money.
Speaker 10: That's against the law, but we can all go get
Speaker 10: medical cards and they can't stop us. And the more
Speaker 10: of us that they see that need it, the more
Speaker 10: they're willing to work with us. So it's easy easier
Speaker 10: for us to get Man. I'm sorry. That was the
Speaker 10: first time I ever cried during that song. We brought
Speaker 10: John out here years ago because at the time he
Speaker 10: was an award winning DJ down in New Orleans, and
Speaker 10: we knew that this event was based on his hard
Speaker 10: work and the time he spent in prison, so it
Speaker 10: meant a lot to us.
Speaker 3: To get him back involved in the weed game.
Speaker 10: I had no idea that John Sinclair was a blues
Speaker 10: poet and he used to do some.
Speaker 3: You're gonna keep in the shorts away medic.
Speaker 10: I need a medic somewhere right out here where these
Speaker 10: people are waving their hand. I need a medic. So
Speaker 10: if you're a medic, they need you. I need a
Speaker 10: medic too. But that's another story. There he goes. So
Speaker 10: here's the deal, folks. They referred to Laith al Sadi
Speaker 10: as the ann Arbor's prodigal son. Someone once named me
Speaker 10: mister Ashbash. I didn't care for that. I was Adam L. Brook,
Speaker 10: and I helped put on that Hashbash. I've learned to
Speaker 10: accept that I'm misster Hashbash. But I put this event
Speaker 10: on long enough that I'm also going to claim to
Speaker 10: be its prodigal son. I don't care who likes it.
Speaker 10: But what's important about this event is that you take
Speaker 10: the knowledge you pick up here back home to your
Speaker 10: friends and family, and you educate them, and you smoke
Speaker 10: a lot of weed. That's important. If you all get
Speaker 10: the chance, i'd suggest you pick a copy up somewhere.
Speaker 10: It's called It's All Good it's a John Sinclair reader,
Speaker 10: and in John's memory, I'm gonna deliver this poem that
Speaker 10: he wrote. I did it a couple of years ago
Speaker 10: when he was ill in the High Hospital, and it's
Speaker 10: something that he used to do a lot. Johnson Claire
Speaker 10: got thrown out of the Detroit Boat Club yacht club,
Speaker 10: I don't know. We were doing a gig there and
Speaker 10: he started doing this poem and the lady walked up
Speaker 10: to him and took the microphone away from him. So
Speaker 10: I figured you'd all appreciate it.
Speaker 3: It's called Ain't Nobody's Business.
Speaker 10: John wrote it for his buddy Henry Normiel, Bradley Jones
Speaker 10: and Bob Righteous Red Nook. We have a right to
Speaker 10: our bad habit. If we want to blow our minds
Speaker 10: or fuck up our lives, shoot dope or smoke cocaine.
Speaker 10: If we want to eat too much meat, sit around
Speaker 10: all day and watch TV, stay up all night listening
Speaker 10: to music by Charlie Parker and screaming Jay Hawkins. If
Speaker 10: we want, if we want to walk around naked, fuck
Speaker 10: our eyes out, eat some pussy, or suck a cock,
Speaker 10: take it up the ass, get our nuts off seven
Speaker 10: hundred times a day, lay around and drink whiskey, bet
Speaker 10: on games, shoot dice, sell some pussy on the street.
Speaker 10: If we want to gamble in casinos or spread money,
Speaker 10: spend our money in a whorehouse, give the president a
Speaker 10: blowjob in his big chair in the White House. Walk
Speaker 10: around the streets with all our belongings in little bags.
Speaker 3: That was a John move. I always liked it. Sleep
Speaker 3: in doorways, pissing the gutter.
Speaker 10: If we want to sleep away the day, never answer
Speaker 10: the telephone, take every meal in restaurants and bars, and
Speaker 10: never exercise. And if it comes to the end of
Speaker 10: the line for us, we have every right to blow
Speaker 10: our mother fucking brains out, or jump off a bridge,
Speaker 10: or take ourselves away from here any way we might
Speaker 10: want to. Then, baby, please, we got a right to
Speaker 10: our bad habit, and it ain't nobody's.
Speaker 3: Business if we do.
Speaker 10: I appreciate that because John and I worked together for years,
Speaker 10: and when I lost my father, he became a father
Speaker 10: to me. So I suggest y'all learn a little bit
Speaker 10: about him, because what you think you know is a
Speaker 10: very small part of his life, and the coolest part
Speaker 10: is what he actually did and who he did it
Speaker 10: with and what it created. And how it created and
Speaker 10: most of that happened in ann Arbor. They chased him
Speaker 10: out of Detroit, so he came to ann Arbor. And
Speaker 10: I have the honor to introduce our next speaker. And
Speaker 10: John couldn't have done it by himself.
Speaker 11: Back then.
Speaker 10: There was a minister of this and a minister of that.
Speaker 10: But I know who really kept it all together. So
Speaker 10: it's my great honor to introduce one of the best
Speaker 10: photographers I've ever seen. I suggest she get her book,
Speaker 10: but she photographed the history that created John Sinclair.
Speaker 3: So with great pleasure, I'd like to introduce Lenny's Sinclaire.
Speaker 12: It should have been John here right now, but the
Speaker 12: Great Spirit had other plans for him and called him home.
Speaker 3: But he's here and spired. Every one of you here
Speaker 3: is part of it. Okay, uhh uh.
Speaker 12: In January I read in the newspaper uh to nominate
Speaker 12: people for Michigan of the Year, and I said, why
Speaker 12: not nominate Jansenclair?
Speaker 13: And and and I wrote this.
Speaker 12: My name is Lenny Sinclair, and I would like to
Speaker 12: nominate my ex, my ex husband, Jan Sinclair, as Michiganian
Speaker 12: of the Year. I myself escaped from communists East Germany
Speaker 12: in nineteen fifty nine and ended up in Detroit. When
Speaker 12: I met John Sinclair in nineteen sixty four, he was
Speaker 12: already fighting against the most Tryconian law ever imposed on
Speaker 12: law abiding Americans, totally based on junk science. That spirit
Speaker 12: of fighting against injustice attracted me to him in the
Speaker 12: first place. Now, after I met John Sinclair and we
Speaker 12: got together, he invited me to move in with him
Speaker 12: in the Castle in Detroit.
Speaker 13: And so.
Speaker 12: We lived together, and John was on probation for his
Speaker 12: first offense. And one night his probation officer came to us,
Speaker 12: came to us and said the John, the police is
Speaker 12: trying to bust you again. And John was flabbergast and said,
Speaker 12: what for. I didn't do anything wrong? And he said
Speaker 12: illegal cohabitation.
Speaker 13: That was against the law.
Speaker 12: And for anybody who followed that law, it was illegal
Speaker 12: for people of opposite sex to live together without being married.
Speaker 12: So what did we do? We got married so and
Speaker 12: and we produced two beautiful children, Sunny Millions and Claire
Speaker 12: who might be and Celia Sinclair. And we got a
Speaker 12: lot of problems in Detroit, and one night our house
Speaker 12: got fire bombed and set on fire, and we had
Speaker 12: to practically move away overnight. And so uh we rented
Speaker 12: a house on Hill Street in an arbor. And and
Speaker 12: the first night after we moved to an arbor, the
Speaker 12: the conservatives of an Arbor had a night vigil march,
Speaker 12: a candlelight vigil, and they were carrying.
Speaker 13: Signs saying sin.
Speaker 12: Like in Sinclair, we were sins, sinners to them because
Speaker 12: we smoked weed. And now all you sinos turned into saints.
Speaker 13: But but.
Speaker 12: I'm thinking of why Johns and Claire were supposed I
Speaker 12: nominated him as Michigan Canyon.
Speaker 13: Of the Year is because of them.
Speaker 12: What he started has an immense economic impact on the
Speaker 12: economy of Michigan.
Speaker 13: And and.
Speaker 12: Should there be any students of statistics here, somebody can
Speaker 12: figure out just how much money John saved the state
Speaker 12: of Michigan by overturning the law in nineteen seven, nineteen
Speaker 12: seventy two. Before the law was overturned, it was ten
Speaker 12: years for possession and twenty to life for giving a
Speaker 12: joint away.
Speaker 13: And John was charged with giving a joint two joints to.
Speaker 12: An undercover agent, and it resulted in ten years. And
Speaker 12: if you can figure out if the law had not
Speaker 12: been changed, the state of Michigan would have been housing
Speaker 12: prisoners for twenty years to life, and we all would
Speaker 12: have to pay taxes to keep the people in jail.
Speaker 12: That's like millions of dollars the state didn't have to
Speaker 12: pay for incarcelating these people because it was only one year,
Speaker 12: not ten. See, and then that law stayed on the
Speaker 12: books until two thousand and nine. I think it's when
Speaker 12: it became Medica finally.
Speaker 13: And so a.
Speaker 12: Whole, a whole legal industry is now happening in Michigan where.
Speaker 13: Thousands of people get jobs that are.
Speaker 12: Legal and they can do and and and anyway. It's
Speaker 12: just enormous what John Sinclaire started, and we got to,
Speaker 12: you know, appreciate that. But but but I'm also thinking
Speaker 12: of what.
Speaker 13: America did to people like us to.
Speaker 12: By lying to us for the last seventy years or
Speaker 12: eighty years that marijuana with a dope and and suppressed.
Speaker 13: And think in the last.
Speaker 12: Seventy years, how that law has been used to suppress people,
Speaker 12: to destroy families, to costs thousands of Woken meurges, and
Speaker 12: cost woking homes.
Speaker 14: For it's we have that.
Speaker 12: Has to stop now under the stopping now, And uh.
Speaker 13: I'm talking too much. I'm not a taker.
Speaker 12: But when we were the White Panther Party, John named
Speaker 12: all the ministers, ministers, this ministers Pope again he named
Speaker 12: me as the Minister of Education. Now the party done left,
Speaker 12: but I'm still educating people.
Speaker 13: That's why I'm trying to do right now.
Speaker 12: So I just I just want to tell people.
Speaker 13: I want to tell people to thank the.
Speaker 12: People who worked with us. We had a commune on
Speaker 12: Hill Street. Up to twenty eight people lived there and
Speaker 12: they all worked for two and a half years in
Speaker 12: sacrificing their own lives and worked for no money to
Speaker 12: get John out of jail. I want a tribute to
Speaker 12: everybody who and contributed to John's freedom.
Speaker 13: And I wonder, just that's it. What else I don't know,
Speaker 13: or what else I said?
Speaker 12: Is what else I said is In nineteen seventy two,
Speaker 12: John Sinclair won the case in the United States Supreme
Speaker 12: Court against illegal wire tapping to educate people who don't
Speaker 12: know about it. This case is in Wikipedia under the
Speaker 12: Keith case. Keith was the trial judge who was accused
Speaker 12: by the government of obeying the law, and they tied
Speaker 12: him to not obey the law, you know, and the
Speaker 12: case went all the way to the Supreme Court, and
Speaker 12: after john got out of jail in January.
Speaker 13: The case was heard in the Supreme Court in.
Speaker 12: January, and we went there and to watch arguments in
Speaker 12: the Supreme Court was one of the highlights of my
Speaker 12: whole life as American.
Speaker 13: It was incredible.
Speaker 12: And the judges voted unanimously against Nixon, which led to
Speaker 12: Nixon's resignation.
Speaker 13: And that's what Johnson cleared it okay, And.
Speaker 12: If that wasn't enough, Johnson Claire deserves to be honest
Speaker 12: for his incredible life as a poet and writer and
Speaker 12: editor and publisher and musician and DJ and manager of
Speaker 12: two of Michigan's best known and the Empty Five and
Speaker 12: the Students, and contributed to the vibrant artistic community of Michigan.
Speaker 13: Thank you, Thank you, every one of you.
Speaker 3: Things I.
Speaker 13: Just I just wanted to mention one of the things.
Speaker 13: You know, John.
Speaker 12: Janet, I got divorced. Uh, because the struggle it was
Speaker 12: like war. Until the log had changed, it was like war.
Speaker 12: Everybody was being terrorized. If the police turned on their
Speaker 12: lights behind their car, you know, there was domestic terrorists
Speaker 12: and innocent people and so uh and and and so
Speaker 12: we divorced. The struggle was too hot for to last
Speaker 12: and John vioge uh uh lady named Patricia Bound. She's
Speaker 12: still his wife and they have stepchildren. And I just
Speaker 12: wanted to mention that John had the long extended family
Speaker 12: and that I'm just one of the survivals.
Speaker 13: Thank you very much.
Speaker 7: Thank you for being your thank you. You know, John
Speaker 7: Sinclaire himself said that Lenny did everything he did except
Speaker 7: for half to go to jail. So she hasn't been
Speaker 7: given the recognition that she really just has been deserving
Speaker 7: over the years. Let's please let her know how we
Speaker 7: feel about Lenny Sinclair's.
Speaker 8: Ready, Mandy, that's such an honor. Okay, So now now.
Speaker 7: Our next week really embodies a lot of the reasons
Speaker 7: that John did a lot of the work that he did.
Speaker 7: We have somebody who served twenty five years of a forty.
Speaker 8: Year sentence for minor cannabis activity.
Speaker 7: I was there when he was released, ironically about four
Speaker 7: to twenty in the morning from Jackson, and there was
Speaker 7: media there, there was a film crew there, and with
Speaker 7: moments of stepping out, he started letting everybody know that
Speaker 7: he's going to work and try to help to get
Speaker 7: others out who shouldn't be in there with him, and
Speaker 7: he's since then done that. There's a movie about him.
Speaker 7: He speaks at many places, he educates people, He does
Speaker 7: a lot of very important work now he and his team,
Speaker 7: and it's honored to have him here today. Please everybody
Speaker 7: give a warm welcome to mister Michael Thompson.
Speaker 15: He wants, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 16: Thank you.
Speaker 3: What's up?
Speaker 11: What's up?
Speaker 3: Talk to me. I'm here.
Speaker 17: I come from Flint, Michigan to talk to you. Now,
Speaker 17: come here, Come here, guys, come here. I want to
Speaker 17: introduce you to some people that because of you, all
Speaker 17: because of you, these guys is free NIBBs doing life
Speaker 17: just like I was doing life.
Speaker 11: What's your name, bro Hey, my name Leon Benson.
Speaker 1: I'm an exigner, reed after twenty five years of wrongfully incarceration.
Speaker 11: But I'm back here today for the people. You hear me,
Speaker 11: Michael Thompson, You hear me right, that's right, I'm saymble
Speaker 11: singing Gore.
Speaker 5: I was a juvenile lifer and because of the works
Speaker 5: of the people and one of your very own an
Speaker 5: arbor double lebel, I am no longer incarcerated.
Speaker 3: I'm a freeman.
Speaker 11: My name is Larry Darnell Smith Junior.
Speaker 18: I spent twenty six years, ten months, in seven days
Speaker 18: in prison for a crime outn't commit. I advocate on
Speaker 18: behalf of the innocent, the medically frail in the over sentence,
Speaker 18: and boy, oh boy, God made a great win to day.
Speaker 15: Thank you everybody.
Speaker 17: Yeah yeah, now, let me talk to you. The politicians.
Speaker 17: I'm sure you tired of them clever speeches. I'm sure
Speaker 17: you tired of them clevin speeches. When are you gonna
Speaker 17: get the young people of movement going? They need you,
Speaker 17: young people, They need you, and I need you. The
Speaker 17: Michael Thompson, Clemency need you, the Last Prison Project need you.
Speaker 17: A whole lot of people need you, young people. That's
Speaker 17: the reason why I'm here now. I come a long
Speaker 17: ways from washing my clothes and the toilet, dude.
Speaker 3: I come a long ways.
Speaker 17: I remember a few y'all know about that story about
Speaker 17: me washing my clothes and the toilet dude. But yes,
Speaker 17: I did that. But I got me a new washman,
Speaker 17: see and dryer now. But but you know them politicians,
Speaker 17: right now is a very important time for you and me.
Speaker 3: We need you.
Speaker 17: That started the young people movement, that started that and
Speaker 17: see can they stop that. They can't stop no young
Speaker 17: people moving. And that's what I.
Speaker 3: Need you do to wake up, wake up up people.
Speaker 17: And you know, I think back where I come from,
Speaker 17: where I come from during twenty five years for three
Speaker 17: pounds of marijuana, twenty five.
Speaker 3: Years for three pounds of marijuana.
Speaker 17: Why did I stay in prison for twenty five years
Speaker 17: for marijuana? And marijue ain't never killed nobody, nobody. And
Speaker 17: my thing is to tell you you need to sallow up,
Speaker 17: sto up. You know what I'm saying against the politicians.
Speaker 17: Don't give a damn about you or me. Set up
Speaker 17: and the young people. It's a young people time now.
Speaker 17: You just tell young people's march, March on, March on.
Speaker 17: Young people gonna get get the right people in office
Speaker 17: to be because the wrong ones is in office.
Speaker 3: Get the right ones in Listen.
Speaker 17: I want to close with this to tell you this.
Speaker 17: I come back here because I love.
Speaker 3: The hash Badge.
Speaker 17: I love the hash Badge, and the Halsh Badge loved
Speaker 17: me so so when I think back, when I think
Speaker 17: back at some of the people that's back in prison
Speaker 17: right now, when I think back at him.
Speaker 11: Wow, it's a sad. It's a sad.
Speaker 17: It's a sad, sad look because when they snunck me
Speaker 17: out of prison. They snuck me out of prison at
Speaker 17: four o'clock in the morning. They don't let nobody out
Speaker 17: at no four o'clock in the morning, but I supposta
Speaker 17: have been been let out at eight o'clock. And then
Speaker 17: they changed at four o'clock because they thought the media.
Speaker 17: They thought they were gonna beat the media down because
Speaker 17: it's real cold outside. But not only the media was
Speaker 17: waiting on their ass, so was the prisoners.
Speaker 19: The prisoners.
Speaker 17: The prisoners, they were still awoke. And they told me.
Speaker 17: They called me Miko in prison. They said, Michelo, go
Speaker 17: out there and tell the truth. And that's what I've
Speaker 17: been doing. I've been telling the motherfucket too.
Speaker 3: Let your head bet.
Speaker 8: Right on.
Speaker 7: Alright, let's hear it again from Michael Thompson, and then
Speaker 7: we're gonna have you got it, dude, dude, we'll have
Speaker 7: We'll have some Richard untangle himself and then introduce our nextcess.
Speaker 7: Let's hear it again from Michael Thompson. Please alight you doctor.
Speaker 20: Okay, oh fuck okay, they're playing later.
Speaker 8: Thirty.
Speaker 20: Hello, have you has been.
Speaker 15: Well?
Speaker 18: Before I get started here fix these little technical difficulties.
Speaker 18: My job is to uh introduce this.
Speaker 15: Guy right here.
Speaker 18: Hold older, Oh okay, goddamn it, Okay, live video, go line, Okay,
Speaker 18: green eas. My name is Richard C. Clement, and uh
Speaker 18: some people know me as free the Weed. Yes, indeed,
Speaker 18: for the jobs we need, because the people agreed that
Speaker 18: though we shall be free. Okay, and a lot of
Speaker 18: us stay starting to call us old gee's right now okay,
Speaker 18: and we've been at this little bit a long time.
Speaker 18: We want to pass it on to the young people
Speaker 18: because Johnson Claire taught us all civics.
Speaker 20: Okay, he showed you how to law words.
Speaker 18: Tell you how the young people participate in your government,
Speaker 18: because introduce them.
Speaker 15: Okay.
Speaker 18: Anyway, I want to introduce doctor Witty, otherwise known as
Speaker 18: doctor Detroit. He's one of the old gs that I mean,
Speaker 18: He's laid out a lot of wisdom, and uh I
Speaker 18: want to pass on some of his knowledge to you.
Speaker 18: So without further ado, doctor Whitty.
Speaker 21: Let's give Richard a chant, free the weed, Free the weed,
Speaker 21: Free the weed, and let's thank Jesse and his team
Speaker 21: Jamie and his team for a wonderful hashbash A sunny
Speaker 21: day dry Day. Thank you Jamie, thanks for your team. Yes,
Speaker 21: and let's free the prisoners that are still in prison.
Speaker 21: And let's remember if we don't get the young folks
Speaker 21: to turn out, you folks under forty are going to
Speaker 21: make the difference whether we carry Michigan for freedom and
Speaker 21: liberty or we're going to have the rest of our
Speaker 21: lives on this struggle to destigmatize cannabis. We need to
Speaker 21: open our hearts, to think with our hearts and become
Speaker 21: lovers of the future and optimists.
Speaker 11: And we need a.
Speaker 21: Big turnout of everybody to get the kids and the
Speaker 21: grandkids voting absentee, getting absentee ballot, getting their friends engaged.
Speaker 21: Why do we have to stick on defense the rest
Speaker 21: of our lives. Were trying to build our life legacy
Speaker 21: and have something to be proud of. And we have
Speaker 21: our wonderful hash Bashion, Monroe Street Fair and Adams Hotel.
Speaker 21: You should definitely check out the session the music there
Speaker 21: and the great fighters have passed before us. John Sinclair,
Speaker 21: I met with Iggy and the Stooges and the MC
Speaker 21: five in the seventies and Rick Thompson who died far
Speaker 21: too young.
Speaker 11: It was the great CRUs for us.
Speaker 21: In Michigan, normal and Rory gold Right here in ann
Speaker 21: Arbor and Gersh Peanut Butter and all the elections. The
Speaker 21: elections are at the heart of it. Help this cause,
Speaker 21: stay engaged, registered, vote, absentee, join a campaign, volunteer. It's
Speaker 21: our life legacy to free the weed. It's our life's work.
Speaker 21: It's not going to be over in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 21: but it's a big crisis. And we do need the
Speaker 21: young and the non voter. We need the skeptics to
Speaker 21: be hopeful and optimistic, not pessimistic. Hope and optimism will
Speaker 21: keep you healthy, mental and physical. You'll live a happier
Speaker 21: life by being an optimist. So that's why I call
Speaker 21: myself Doctor Detroit. Just to be cheering on Detroit, cheering
Speaker 21: on our lives. It's staying in the fight. It's a
Speaker 21: life's work.
Speaker 8: It's absolutely it's a life's work.
Speaker 15: And I'm grateful to be here.
Speaker 21: And by all means, get involved in this election.
Speaker 15: Do some phone.
Speaker 21: Banking from home, or some texting, or even write a
Speaker 21: small check, or go get involved in a campaign, or
Speaker 21: get involved in a cause. The far right has thirty
Speaker 21: causes they've attacked, including cannabis. They're making it immoral to
Speaker 21: smoke cannabis, right, and so we've got to remember, Ohio,
Speaker 21: they passed abortion in cannabis. We've got to struggle together
Speaker 21: and link up with freedom and liberty causes and have
Speaker 21: a live and let live world where we can think
Speaker 21: from the heart, love our life, trust ourselves, accept ourselves,
Speaker 21: forgive ourselves, and be compassionate and take care of yourself and.
Speaker 20: Free the weed, but free the weed.
Speaker 7: Hey have an announcement over in this general area. Somebody
Speaker 7: lost a wedding band, so please be aware of that,
Speaker 7: and if so.
Speaker 8: Turn into us up here right on.
Speaker 15: All right, So next up.
Speaker 7: The guy whose history he goes decades back in ann Arbor,
Speaker 7: part of the UH original five Dollars Fine later on
Speaker 7: Local Medical. He's been involved in this world for so long.
Speaker 7: He's the inspiration I had to get started in activism.
Speaker 22: There.
Speaker 8: His name consists of two verbs.
Speaker 7: Let's please welcome Chuck Reem.
Speaker 23: All right, who's gonna carry the Hold this, hold this
Speaker 23: next to me, hold one of them?
Speaker 24: Can you hold one of these?
Speaker 23: Can you hold one of these?
Speaker 25: It's so great to see everybody today, absolutely outstanding, just
Speaker 25: beautiful and free. We We're here today to celebrate the
Speaker 25: brave life of John Sinclair, in the life of our
Speaker 25: comrade Rick Thompson, and all the others who have died.
Speaker 24: What incredible change we have made in Michigan.
Speaker 23: We used to be outlaws, always in danger, always afraid.
Speaker 23: Now we can walk into a lovely cannabis store, or
Speaker 23: we can buy, or we can legally grow as much
Speaker 23: as we want. Michigan has the best cannabis law in
Speaker 23: the United States of America. That's in part because we
Speaker 23: have the greatest some of the greatest activists in the
Speaker 23: United States of America, led by Jamie Lowell, who put
Speaker 23: this thing together. We still have not won. We have
Speaker 23: to deschedulize cannabis. If Biden could at least reschedulize cannabis,
Speaker 23: he might win.
Speaker 26: He needs to get control of the de e A,
Speaker 26: which is a rogue agency made up of thugs and crooks,
Speaker 26: and they are deciding this question.
Speaker 23: We need to spread the goodness of cannabis everywhere and
Speaker 23: normalize its use. We need commercial social use, everything from
Speaker 23: coffee shops to fine dining, and we need non commercial
Speaker 23: social use.
Speaker 24: We should be.
Speaker 10: Able to smoke medic medic medic medic.
Speaker 23: Medic All right, there, I think they're all set. All right,
Speaker 23: then we need to we need commercial social use and
Speaker 23: non commercial. We need to be able to smoke in
Speaker 23: parks at scheduled events. We need to be able to
Speaker 23: vaporize at community centers and senior centers everywhere. Cannabis helps
Speaker 23: us feel better physically and emotionally. Please, let me tell
Speaker 23: you a fact about mental health that I'd like you
Speaker 23: to remember.
Speaker 8: Quote.
Speaker 24: States that have fully legalized.
Speaker 23: Cannabis have found a thirty seven percent decrease in mental
Speaker 23: health treatment admissions.
Speaker 3: Thirty seven percent.
Speaker 23: People less people have to put theirselves put away from
Speaker 23: mental illness.
Speaker 24: We are criticized for.
Speaker 23: Seeking the very best high, like we were Devians. Actually
Speaker 23: it's the Puritans who are the devians. The entire ancient world,
Speaker 23: all of the religions and Western civilization itself, we're focused
Speaker 23: on seeking the very best high.
Speaker 24: That's what they were doing.
Speaker 23: Quote the roots of Western civilization were soaked in psychoactive drugs.
Speaker 23: But the fun part of my speech is all done
Speaker 23: by fellow cannabis lovers. We are going to have serious
Speaker 23: political violence in the USA in November, December or January.
Speaker 24: I don't say things like this.
Speaker 23: I don't I'm not the person who says things like this,
Speaker 23: but it's gonna happen. I'm a serious student of politics,
Speaker 23: and when Donald talked about a bloodbath, he very specifically
Speaker 23: clarified that the auto industry will be the least of it.
Speaker 23: Think about it. Donald runs for office for exactly the
Speaker 23: same reason.
Speaker 3: As Hitler took.
Speaker 23: Get power and punish everyone who has made fun of
Speaker 23: him for so long. That's what he's doing it for.
Speaker 23: And this is it kids. When everyone in a group
Speaker 23: must swear allegiance to an obvious lie in order to
Speaker 23: serve a supreme leader, then bloodshed is not far away,
Speaker 23: is it. I hate to have to say things like this,
Speaker 23: but cannabis users have been stripped, stripped of our right
Speaker 23: to self defense. There is no equal right to self
Speaker 23: defense because our herb has been shamefully and you absurdly
Speaker 23: classified as a Schedule one drug. For us, it is
Speaker 23: a ten year federal felony to own a firearm or
Speaker 23: even to lie on their form.
Speaker 24: That's unacceptable.
Speaker 23: We may need to defend our families, our lives, and
Speaker 23: our property. I am gonna fight this really hard, and
Speaker 23: I have a great attorney, Tom Levine of Cannabis Council.
Speaker 23: That's gonna represent us, and we're gonna fight this till
Speaker 23: we win. We also we also need some activists. We
Speaker 23: also need some activists who are willing to carry a
Speaker 23: sign and demonstrate for cannabis and gun rights. This will
Speaker 23: be the first time ever in the world, but we're
Speaker 23: gonna do it, and we're gonna get gun rights because
Speaker 23: we're not just gonna furnish the.
Speaker 24: Blood for the blood bath.
Speaker 23: Who would participate in demonstrations for cannabis and gun rights,
Speaker 23: who would carry a sign?
Speaker 24: Please help us.
Speaker 23: If we get a dozen people protesting, we can change history.
Speaker 23: This would be the first protest ever about cannabis and
Speaker 23: gun rights. So I need to find two kinds of people. First,
Speaker 23: if there's somebody who is very, very interested in cannabis,
Speaker 23: they can sign up for the email list serve of
Speaker 23: the Safer Michigan Coalition. Me and Tim started that in
Speaker 23: two thousand and nine and we've won a lot since then.
Speaker 24: This list allows the hard core.
Speaker 23: Of the Michigan cannabis community to communicate with each other
Speaker 23: and you can be part of it. We almost have
Speaker 23: four hundred and twenty members. You could be number four
Speaker 23: hundred and twenty. Second, I need some tough people who
Speaker 23: are willing to carry signs like this and demonstrate and
Speaker 23: walk up and down on the street.
Speaker 3: We would get a lot of press and.
Speaker 24: We would win in the end.
Speaker 23: These, the people who will carry these signs and demonstrates,
Speaker 23: are today's heroes. And we may need a plaintiff out here.
Speaker 23: We may need one more plaintiff who has a cannabis
Speaker 23: medical card and a gun. I'll be sitting straight at
Speaker 23: the back of the diag for a couple of hours.
Speaker 23: Just ruey in the back, and if there's anybody who
Speaker 23: wants to sign up for the list for communication or
Speaker 23: sign up to fight for gun rights, come back please
Speaker 23: and sign my sheets.
Speaker 6: I say, free the weed, and thank you all for
Speaker 6: being here today.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 23: We when we smoke cannabis and you psychedelics, we are
Speaker 23: uniting with the spirit of the earth and the spirit
Speaker 23: for me of the Mother God. All right, right up,
Speaker 23: And this is the great, great Attorney Tom Levine of
Speaker 23: Cannabis Council in Detroit.
Speaker 3: Right, all right, it is true.
Speaker 23: And there's somebody who did so much more than me.
Speaker 23: I organized about a third of the local victories in Michigan.
Speaker 23: My friend Tim beckere organized about two thirds of them.
Speaker 23: He made my life dream come true by winning. Let
Speaker 23: me let you talk to Tim Beck now. Tim is
Speaker 23: the man if you sign up for our list, Tim
Speaker 23: is the man who will send you the news each morning.
Speaker 27: Thank you, Thank you, Chuck, bless you man. I'm so happy.
Speaker 27: We've had this friendship for so long. You know, I
Speaker 27: met this guy for the first time in two thousand
Speaker 27: and four. Didn't he know who he was? Okay? And
Speaker 27: I was doing a ball at Initia even Detroit to
Speaker 27: legalize medical use of marijuana. And then I found out
Speaker 27: that Chuck was doing one in an harbor. So we've
Speaker 27: been buddies ever since. But anyway, Hey, isn't it a
Speaker 27: beautiful day to day? You know, the sun shining, there's weed,
Speaker 27: you know, being passed around. They're earning any narks, lurking
Speaker 27: in the crowd of bust people. I remember those days,
Speaker 27: some of you do. It was pretty sick. And that
Speaker 27: stuff is over.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 27: I want to say something about thank you. I want
Speaker 27: to say something about John Sinclair. You know, I was
Speaker 27: in eighth grade, you know, in a Catholic school in
Speaker 27: Monroe County and I didn't know. I never met John,
Speaker 27: said Clare, but I sure heard about him. People hated
Speaker 27: his ass out there. Oh that son of a bitch.
Speaker 27: Oh it's so terrible, blah blah blah. Well, you know what,
Speaker 27: I got him in Roe County and I went to
Speaker 27: the University of Detroit in nineteen seventy and because of
Speaker 27: John Sidclair, I wanted to get my hands on some
Speaker 27: weed as fast as possible. Yeah, and I did. And
Speaker 27: I smoke weed for fifty years, for over fifty years, folks,
Speaker 27: And I'll tell you, man, it's been a blessing. And
Speaker 27: it's even better now that you know it's there for everybody.
Speaker 27: You don't really have to take a risk now, you know. Again,
Speaker 27: I met John Sainclair. I was a reporter for the
Speaker 27: student newspaper when he was at his height as Glory,
Speaker 27: and I, you know, I interviewed him and stuff, and
Speaker 27: it was an awesome figure. And you know, and after that,
Speaker 27: in two thousand and two, I had the ability to
Speaker 27: do to do something politically. So we got this medical
Speaker 27: marijuana initiative going, and Chuck got one going in ann Arbor.
Speaker 27: And you know, now, I tried to be nice to
Speaker 27: these people. John was in their face. It was fuck you,
Speaker 27: fuck the man. I tried to be nice, and they
Speaker 27: hated me too. I mean Governor Granholm, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick,
Speaker 27: Attorney General Mike Cox, the DEA Beaumont Hospital, I mean
Speaker 27: the Detroit Health Department. They even spent city money to
Speaker 27: try to defeat us.
Speaker 3: But we won.
Speaker 27: We won in Detroit and ann Arbor, and that got
Speaker 27: the ball rolling, It really did. And I got to
Speaker 27: know John personally later on in life when he was
Speaker 27: gotten on in years. And there's a side of him.
Speaker 27: Everybody thinks he's him as a tough guy, which he was.
Speaker 27: He was loud, he was in your face, he made
Speaker 27: people uncomfortable. But there was another side of him. He
Speaker 27: was a philosopher, he was an aesthetic. He was a
Speaker 27: good kind man. And that's the John said Claire that
Speaker 27: I got to know, you know. And in the end,
Speaker 27: the last time I saw him, I was hoping to
Speaker 27: see him this Saturday, but you know, he had He
Speaker 27: was at a party at the fifth anniversary of legalization
Speaker 27: of marijuana, you know, in Michigan, at matt Abel and
Speaker 27: Tom Levine's office, and John was not in very good health, folks,
Speaker 27: And you know, He asked me to help him to
Speaker 27: the bathroom in the you know, in his wheelchair, and
Speaker 27: I did, and he had a bathroom accident. Okay, I'll
Speaker 27: use your imagination, but it was kind of icky to
Speaker 27: some people.
Speaker 3: But I helped. I helped clean the thing up.
Speaker 27: And I know there's a part of me I thank God,
Speaker 27: you know that God gave me the opportunity to help
Speaker 27: this man who did so much for everybody else. It
Speaker 27: was a beautiful thing. And he didn't die a rich man. Okay,
Speaker 27: he didn't have a four to oh one k. He
Speaker 27: lived very humbly. His health was not good and he
Speaker 27: passed on way too early. And that's all I have
Speaker 27: to say. I just thank everybody. It's a wonderful day
Speaker 27: today and I love you all. Thank you, take care.
Speaker 11: Thank you.
Speaker 28: I'm John and my roots are in Flint, Michigan, where
Speaker 28: I was born, and that's where John Sinclair was born,
Speaker 28: in Client, Michigan. And I just want to say that
Speaker 28: I was with John about ten weeks ago. He was
Speaker 28: in Detroit Receiving hospital. I got to talk to him.
Speaker 28: I knew him as being the artist. I'm a double
Speaker 28: de great artist and visual arts and we all need
Speaker 28: to say a prayer for John. John was instrumental in
Speaker 28: helping people out and he had a great heart.
Speaker 7: Thank you very much, all right, sorry that that Mike
Speaker 7: needs to be working up there for Josie. I was
Speaker 7: trying to circumvent this. Somebody get that for thanking all
Speaker 7: you guys helped me introduce Josie. The engine to so
Speaker 7: much great charitable work, the authentic passion for this work,
Speaker 7: to help people get their records expunge, just to help
Speaker 7: families out in many different ways. Okay, we need the
Speaker 7: mic for Josie to work. If possible, Tom, we go, testing, testing, testing.
Speaker 3: Josie Scoggin.
Speaker 8: Everybody let her know how you feel about her.
Speaker 29: Shit, I wrote a speech. I want to cry instead.
Speaker 29: My name is Josie. I am the HBI C at
Speaker 29: the Great Lakes Expungement Network. We are Michigan's favorite FIE
Speaker 29: free full service expungement program. Expungements are intersectional work.
Speaker 14: If you care about housing.
Speaker 29: Insecurity, if you care about food and security, if you
Speaker 29: care about recovery, you have to understand the burden that
Speaker 29: comes with a criminal record. Twenty five percent of Michigan
Speaker 29: unders are burdened by a criminal record. Right now, an
Speaker 29: automatic expungement was brought in to save it, but unfortunately
Speaker 29: we're seeing automatic expungement being reinstated without notice to the client,
Speaker 29: without notice to the courts.
Speaker 14: People need assistance.
Speaker 29: With expungement now more than ever, and it seems the
Speaker 29: state is making it harder. But we're gonna expunge a
Speaker 29: shit ton of records this year.
Speaker 30: And I don't give.
Speaker 29: A fuck what the Michigan State Place has to say
Speaker 29: about it, because I Fucke's Hut of the bad guys
Speaker 29: always winning, and I will just keep doing it and
Speaker 29: if they.
Speaker 14: Reverse it, we'll go back to court.
Speaker 29: Because people don't deserve to be in jail for cannabis.
Speaker 29: And if they go to jail for cannabis, they don't
Speaker 29: deserve to rot there.
Speaker 30: Oh here goes.
Speaker 29: My dad spent seventeen years in bedrol prison. It's hard
Speaker 29: for me to grapple and understand, and I carried a
Speaker 29: lot of shame with it and coming to the cannabis community.
Speaker 29: I was Michigan's first medical marijuana patient. So it's really
Speaker 29: popular in.
Speaker 14: High school.
Speaker 29: Coming into the community that looked like me, that loved me,
Speaker 29: that could smoke.
Speaker 30: Weed like me, and they all have the same story.
Speaker 29: Because guess what their daddy said, time in prison too.
Speaker 29: In fact, one in six Michiganders parents did time in
Speaker 29: jail this year. It's not just me, and if you're here,
Speaker 29: it's not just you. I'm really proud, eager, and excited
Speaker 29: to introduce our next guest, Kristin Flo. I met Kristin
Speaker 29: Floor ten years ago. Her dad was going to prison.
Speaker 29: I thought, wow, this feels familiar. He was growing weeds,
Speaker 29: so he's.
Speaker 8: The real criminal.
Speaker 29: Kristen started a campaign where she started putting money on
Speaker 29: the books for federal cannabis prisoners and other cannabis prisoners
Speaker 29: and people like her dad.
Speaker 20: And while he was in there, they.
Speaker 30: Started doing newsletters.
Speaker 29: They started doing birthday wishes because guess what, when you're
Speaker 29: sentenced to life in prison, people forget when it's your
Speaker 29: fucking birth Kay, But my girl said, uh uh, not
Speaker 29: in my house.
Speaker 30: I am proud, honored, look at me.
Speaker 29: I'm crying and eager to introduce Christin for with Freedom Grow.
Speaker 22: Already, Hi you guys, I'm coming before you today with
Speaker 22: the United Front. I've got Randy Lanier here, he's our
Speaker 22: CEO of Freedom Grow. I'm the executive director.
Speaker 14: Thank you.
Speaker 22: Josie for the beautiful words. We've got some people coming out.
Speaker 22: If you have a prison outreach sign, please come and
Speaker 22: stand on these steps for us guys. My UH partner
Speaker 22: here Randy. He served twenty seven years of a life sentence,
Speaker 22: and as Josie was telling you, my father died shackled
Speaker 22: to a hospital bed. I took him off life support
Speaker 22: while his ankle was still shackled to the bed. He
Speaker 22: died with broken bones on Diego's colon cancer liver failure.
Speaker 22: All while my mom was in prison too for money
Speaker 22: laundering because they co own five dispensaries in Montana in
Speaker 22: twenty twelve. Now I'm a volunteer for Freedom Grow, an
Speaker 22: organization that's helps cannabis prisoners and their families. We put
Speaker 22: commissary on their books, We get them books magazines, regrant
Speaker 22: their wishes. We do a lot of the similar things
Speaker 22: that Redemption Foundation does. So I just want to thank
Speaker 22: you everybody who donates to the Redemption Foundation, because you
Speaker 22: are helping people. A lot of people who are incarcerated,
Speaker 22: such as Pedro Moreno, who's working on his twenty seventh
Speaker 22: year in prison of a life sentence. Edwin Rubin who's
Speaker 22: serving a forty year de facto life sentence, meaning that
Speaker 22: his sentence could possibly be longer than his lifespan. But
Speaker 22: I want to say congratulations because here in the state
Speaker 22: of Michigan, you guys had a medical plant prisoner, Betty Jenkins.
Speaker 22: She was just recently released. She's currently in the deportation
Speaker 22: process and us up in Canada, so it's super site
Speaker 22: excited for you guys. I also want to give congratulations
Speaker 22: to two people who are very very special to our organization,
Speaker 22: Glenn and Peggy Kneeling. I know you're out there somewhere.
Speaker 22: I couldn't see you, but they fought their case and
Speaker 22: they just recently got off of probation.
Speaker 14: So thank you.
Speaker 22: Congratulations to you guys. I want to I want to
Speaker 22: say say thank you to Redemption Foundation, Greater Lakes Expungement
Speaker 22: and Sons and Daughters United for bringing Randy and I
Speaker 22: out here and let me see here. I just want
Speaker 22: to introduce you guys for our CEO, Randy Lanier. Randy
Speaker 22: has a Netflix movie or a Netflix documentary out you
Speaker 22: guys should check out, called.
Speaker 31: Need for Weed.
Speaker 22: Randy is a race car driver and our CEO who
Speaker 22: served twenty seven years of will Life sentence.
Speaker 11: Hello greetings.
Speaker 32: First of all, thank you all of you for coming
Speaker 32: out here and sharing your time with us. And I
Speaker 32: want to thank Josie Scusin's from the Great Lakes Expungement Network.
Speaker 32: Thank you, Josie. Josie brought us up here. Freedom Go Team.
Speaker 32: We've got nationwide prisoners and their families we support. We
Speaker 32: support it from people like you that help us support
Speaker 32: them by paying for their phone calls.
Speaker 20: We have a wish program.
Speaker 32: We grant wishes to the prisoners of weed, so please
Speaker 32: free to Weed prisoners. I want to also think all
Speaker 32: of the people up here holding these signs, a lot
Speaker 32: of them have been incarcerated. They've been through the torture
Speaker 32: of the federal government or the states that lock us
Speaker 32: up for weed.
Speaker 20: And look at us now.
Speaker 32: John Sinclair, I send you my greatest regards.
Speaker 3: But guess what your voice is still being heard.
Speaker 32: Share your dreams, because when you share your dreams, you
Speaker 32: create just masterpieces of wonderful stuff and the right thing
Speaker 32: that's going on.
Speaker 20: Free the Weed.
Speaker 32: Thank you all for coming here, and Christian, thank you,
Speaker 32: thank you, Josie, thank you all for being a part
Speaker 32: of this day today. This is my first hash Bash
Speaker 32: and I am blown away.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 22: Yeah, guys, Randy came from Florida and I came from
Speaker 22: Washington State, and we're so grateful to be in your state.
Speaker 22: You guys are amazing. Before we go, I just want
Speaker 22: to say, oh yeah, I want to also let you
Speaker 22: guys say thanks special thanks for our founder, Stephanie Landa,
Speaker 22: who couldn't be here today, but I just want to
Speaker 22: thank her for founding Freedom Grow because we have helped
Speaker 22: quite a bit of people incarcerated. Right now, we have
Speaker 22: about two hundred and sixty people out on our outreach list,
Speaker 22: about one hundred and sixty of their children. We also
Speaker 22: do all drives for their children. It's very important because
Speaker 22: people going incarcerated for cannabis, they have families out there
Speaker 22: that are missing their loved ones. Before I go, I
Speaker 22: want to have everybody pay attention because this year at
Speaker 22: four twenty, there's a United Front coming together at the
Speaker 22: White House demanding that they deschedule cannabis for multiple reasons.
Speaker 22: Our reason, you guys, free the plant prisoners. That's why
Speaker 22: we want to descheduled prisons. We don't want cannabis. I
Speaker 22: thought I was falling here. We do not want cannabis
Speaker 22: on the scheduled drug risk whatsoever, so we want it descheduled.
Speaker 22: So this year for twenty please demand for descheduling. If
Speaker 22: you could join us in DC, we would love to
Speaker 22: have you. Before I go, I want to say rest
Speaker 22: and please to John Saint Clair. I want to say
Speaker 22: rest in peace to Gary Shepherd. Gary Shepherd lived in Kentucky.
Speaker 22: In fact, his ney Stacey Tye drives a big cannabis
Speaker 22: out here in Michigan for a couple of years. And
Speaker 22: uncle Gary was shot over twenty times by the federal
Speaker 22: government for protecting a couple of cannabis plants as a
Speaker 22: medical patient. Yes, this happened about twenty years ago. I
Speaker 22: also want to say rest in peace to Eugene Fisher,
Speaker 22: who helped get a couple people free, who served twenty
Speaker 22: five years of a life sentence, Randy Lanier's co defendant,
Speaker 22: Eugene Fisher. He got out and he passed away due
Speaker 22: to medical conditions that he got in prison. And of
Speaker 22: course rest in peace to my father Richard Floor.
Speaker 14: Guys, and let's.
Speaker 22: Come by booth fifty nine over here and sign one
Speaker 22: of our letters. We got letters asking the president to
Speaker 22: free all the cannabis prisoners with all their names on it.
Speaker 22: We love you guys, and thank you for listening.
Speaker 3: Thank you all.
Speaker 32: And by the way, I used to ship weed and
Speaker 32: tractor and trailers and my biggest place I was shipping
Speaker 32: at too was ann Album Michigan.
Speaker 3: It's crazy. I'm here, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 7: All right, thank you, thank you. Randy and Christen really
Speaker 7: appreciate it. Check out Freedom Grow help them out. Great work,
Speaker 7: all right, Thanks Josie for helping to bring these people here.
Speaker 8: That was pretty touching.
Speaker 7: Okay, so next up, we have a guy who's been
Speaker 7: around the block in this event. He's helped out around
Speaker 7: the state with many events and educational opportunities for people
Speaker 7: to help move the needle forward with cannabis reform. He's
Speaker 7: been doing a lot of work lately with Michigan weedsters.
Speaker 7: Let's hear it for Ryan bring Old.
Speaker 31: Thank you everybody, Thank you, Jamie Lowell, Thank you to
Speaker 31: everybody that showed.
Speaker 3: Up in Ashpash Happy Hashbash. That's my family out there.
Speaker 3: You guys are my people.
Speaker 31: I've been coming here for thirty three years straight because
Speaker 31: I love you, I love cannabis, and I love my
Speaker 31: cannabis family. That's surrounding me. We are here to celebrate. Yes,
Speaker 31: this is a celebration. It's a celebration of life, freedom, liberty,
Speaker 31: and the right to use and grow cannabis. We worked
Speaker 31: very hard for many years and it wasn't me. It
Speaker 31: was my forefathers like Chuck Reem, like Adam Brook, like
Speaker 31: John Sinclair, like many many others who I don't have
Speaker 31: time to talk about. Those are the guys that got
Speaker 31: us where we are today. We need to remember them
Speaker 31: because they put in hours, years, time after time to
Speaker 31: get us where we are. Let's not forget the freedoms
Speaker 31: that they fought for. And by not forgetting it means
Speaker 31: get your medical card.
Speaker 11: Adam Brook explained what he.
Speaker 3: Spoke, that's the true power.
Speaker 31: Of course, you don't need a medical card, but we
Speaker 31: want you to get one because when we go to
Speaker 31: Lansing to fight for our rights, your rights, everybody's rights,
Speaker 31: those cards may better. That's what the lawmakers see is
Speaker 31: how powerful we are as medical card holders. Also, those
Speaker 31: cards give you rights that recreational does not. Learn what
Speaker 31: those are. Read Section eight. Know that you have extra
Speaker 31: freedoms by carrying that med card. If you're eighteen years old,
Speaker 31: go get your MED card. Don't wait till you're twenty
Speaker 31: one to use use with a MED card. Also, join
Speaker 31: the Michigan Weedsters. It's an organization. It's all about Michigan business,
Speaker 31: Michigan families, Michigan people, controlling the market. It's our market.
Speaker 31: We created it. We need to be the ones in
Speaker 31: control of it. Med cards. Join the Michigan Weedsters. Those
Speaker 31: are very important things, very simple things, and it shows
Speaker 31: that you're all involved and accountable.
Speaker 8: We have rights.
Speaker 31: Let's save those rights, use them, exercise them. Let's honor
Speaker 31: the people that came before me you by doing those
Speaker 31: simple things. I want to introduce Amy Carter. Amy Carter's
Speaker 31: worked many years in the cannabis industry. She came in
Speaker 31: with mental health concerns for autism and people that could
Speaker 31: use cannabis for mental health. She is a freedom fighter
Speaker 31: like no other, a powerful mother, friend, community member. She
Speaker 31: is the president and founder of the Michigan Weeds. There's everybody,
Speaker 31: put your hands together right now for Amy Carter.
Speaker 33: Thank you everyone, thank you. I am honored to be
Speaker 33: speaking here today. I want to start by asking who
Speaker 33: here is from the great state of Michigan.
Speaker 14: Who's here from out of state?
Speaker 13: Okay.
Speaker 14: As some of you know, Michigan has unique cannabis laws.
Speaker 33: Michigan, in my opinion, has the best of the some
Speaker 33: of the best cannabis laws in the country. From John
Speaker 33: Sinclair to Rick Thompson and many more, they have fought
Speaker 33: to shape the laws that we enjoy today. Since nineteen
Speaker 33: sixty three, we've only had eight voter initiative laws pass
Speaker 33: in our state.
Speaker 34: We need to protect those laws, just like we need
Speaker 34: to support Michigan businesses.
Speaker 33: Corporations are trying to get rid of mom and pop
Speaker 33: Michigan cannabis business Are we gonna let that happen? Are
Speaker 33: we gonna let them supply us with the Walmart weed?
Speaker 33: Are we gonna let them take our rights to grow
Speaker 33: at home away? We're Michiganders, we have grit, we have resilience,
Speaker 33: and we are not gonna let our rights go away.
Speaker 33: Please join the Michigan Weedsers to protect Michigan businesses, to
Speaker 33: protect our rights to grow at home, and protect our
Speaker 33: patient and caregiver system. If you would please repeat after me,
Speaker 33: we don't need corporate greed.
Speaker 34: Let's say it again.
Speaker 30: We don't need no corporate greed.
Speaker 13: All right?
Speaker 3: My name is Jacon Carter and I'm from Flint, Michigan.
Speaker 35: I'm up here talking today because I was on Doctor
Speaker 35: Phil in twenty fourteen and my mom.
Speaker 3: Almost lost me.
Speaker 11: I lost myself.
Speaker 35: I've been in and out of placements and my whole
Speaker 35: life has been an absolute miserable life. It's been a
Speaker 35: struggle every single day. And you know, anxiety is a thing.
Speaker 35: You know, depression is the thing, and that needs to
Speaker 35: be shined on. And the way I see this is
Speaker 35: I wouldn't be here and I wouldn't be alive if
Speaker 35: I didn't have my cannabis, my medication. And Jaden's Laws
Speaker 35: is a law that makes it so kids can have
Speaker 35: their medication at school. And I feel like we need
Speaker 35: to have that law in place because people like me
Speaker 35: need my medication in school. It's not okay to discriminate
Speaker 35: against me or anybody else. Everybody else has the same right,
Speaker 35: and that's my right to have my medication in school.
Speaker 35: If somebody has a siezere like I know people that
Speaker 35: have siezures.
Speaker 3: If they have a.
Speaker 35: Siezer at school and they need their medication, what you're
Speaker 35: gonna do?
Speaker 3: Let them die.
Speaker 35: People's lives matter, My life's matter, everybody's lives matter, right.
Speaker 3: I love all y'all.
Speaker 35: I just want to say right now, happy hashbad y'all.
Speaker 3: Good job.
Speaker 33: And next I want to introduce you to one one
Speaker 33: of my best friends, Leatricia Manson. She put a lot
Speaker 33: of hard work into today. So she's also a Michigan weedster.
Speaker 36: Thank you, happy hashbash wooo all right?
Speaker 14: Who has one of these?
Speaker 13: Put it up?
Speaker 14: Who's got one? Have already got one? Who you see this?
Speaker 36: This right here is what happens to make the protest happen.
Speaker 36: This right here is where the contributors for this event,
Speaker 36: when people come together to make sure we can get
Speaker 36: permits and people cleaning up all that good stuff. This
Speaker 36: is a grassroots event that means it's made by the
Speaker 36: people for the people. So I am the producer of
Speaker 36: this publication this year. You can see that it is
Speaker 36: based on time. The reason why we made it that
Speaker 36: way is because we are running out of time with
Speaker 36: the ogs that used to teach us what we need
Speaker 36: to do to move forward. It's time for us to
Speaker 36: pass the baton. It's time to see that there's a
Speaker 36: revolution in the youth right now, and it's important for
Speaker 36: us to pay attention to the past. So we can
Speaker 36: know what we're doing in the future from there. There
Speaker 36: is also a QR code on the front of this book.
Speaker 36: We want to bring some art back into the community.
Speaker 36: We want to bring the culture back. Let's start talking
Speaker 36: about things we can do when we're on hot, when
Speaker 36: we're on weed. Let's start talk about things we like
Speaker 36: to do when we're high, right, all right, So this
Speaker 36: QR code is going to allow you to vote for
Speaker 36: somebody that put one of the ads in this book,
Speaker 36: and then we're gonna give them a special prize. So
Speaker 36: let's make sure we keep that up also too. I
Speaker 36: am one of the co founders from the Michigan Weedsters.
Speaker 36: I am very proud to say that we have been
Speaker 36: able to help supply hundreds and hundreds of patients with
Speaker 36: RSO cancer patients and that came from Vehicle City, Geneson County,
Speaker 36: Capassion Club, Gems and Genetics, Big Cloud and so many
Speaker 36: other different dispensaries and caregivers in the state that's been
Speaker 36: able to help us make people more comfortable they're in
Speaker 36: their transitions. So all I wanted to say is thank
Speaker 36: you for coming out. I want to say thank you
Speaker 36: to hold on a second doop there's a few of.
Speaker 14: Them, Nature's Remedy.
Speaker 36: If you got a bag, you're gonna see there might
Speaker 36: also be a golden ticket in there from Tree Street Packaging.
Speaker 36: So I don't know if anybody got the golden ticket,
Speaker 36: come up here and see us. We'd like to give
Speaker 36: you a hugger, maybe take a picture with you. Bloom City,
Speaker 36: Misty Mountain, Lisif Tree Street, Triple Phoenix, Hot Cat. If
Speaker 36: you guys got out of those hot cats, got free
Speaker 36: French fries, like twenty five hundred coupons of French fries
Speaker 36: came out to you guys.
Speaker 14: But also we got.
Speaker 36: Old school hash Met's Cafe, time Wise Cannabis Life, Wildness,
Speaker 36: Harm Reduction Michigan Windwood Organics, Cannabis Consuls, Son and Daughters, Apothecare,
Speaker 36: Rue Law Expungement, excuse me, Glenn Asa green Sam, Thank
Speaker 36: you Green Sam too for your third year at the
Speaker 36: opat Michigan Psychedelic Society World three Judges, Mike Bros. Michigan Weedzeters.
Speaker 36: I am see here, Freedom Grow, Michigan Liberation more than
Speaker 36: hope to leander a flash flipping. So thank you very
Speaker 36: much to all of you who got involved. We would
Speaker 36: love to have you guys, get involved the art contest
Speaker 36: next year. We want this to be full of your art.
Speaker 36: We want to be able to display this to everybody
Speaker 36: in the world. So this is where our history is
Speaker 36: going to be too. You're gonna see all the different
Speaker 36: people that have helped us in the past, and we
Speaker 36: want you to learn this. This is the real history,
Speaker 36: This is what we wrote. Thank you very much, Haty
Speaker 36: Pash Pash, thank you very much. Just Cannon hold on
Speaker 36: a second. It's a little nervous, okay. I would like
Speaker 36: to introduce you to Katie Langrean. She is the co
Speaker 36: founder for Grahamstime green Stem has been a huge, huge
Speaker 36: contributor to Hashpash.
Speaker 14: Thank you so much, Jady, Hi everybody.
Speaker 34: My name is Katie Lynch Lndgren.
Speaker 37: I am from Niles, Michigan, over near the other side
Speaker 37: of the state. I am the daughter of George Lynch,
Speaker 37: who is an avid consumer and someone that I absolutely
Speaker 37: adore and look up to. He is a co founder.
Speaker 37: We are family business. We are a family business in Niles.
Speaker 37: Like I said, we have Greenstein the provisioning center, we screen,
Speaker 37: We do everything that we can in order to be
Speaker 37: able to give back. We have been a constant supporter
Speaker 37: of the Redemption Foundation, which I proudly now sit on
Speaker 37: the board of we AM, and the supporter of Glenn
Speaker 37: the Great Lakes Expungement Network, and a big supporter of
Speaker 37: Josie Skagan and all of her efforts with the Sons
Speaker 37: and Daughters United. I just have a few things that
Speaker 37: I would like to share with you, But aside from
Speaker 37: the buzzwords that are always big and always about family business,
Speaker 37: we gather here today amongst the hayes of this celebration
Speaker 37: and camaraderie, and let's take a minute to remember why
Speaker 37: we're here. The history of hashbash and the fight for
Speaker 37: legalizeation in Michigan isn't just a footnote in the history books,
Speaker 37: but it's a foundation upon which our freedoms are built.
Speaker 37: We owe a debt of gratitude to the trailblazers who
Speaker 37: dared to challenge the status quo, who risked everything to
Speaker 37: push for change. Too many have suffered, and too many
Speaker 37: have paid the ultimate price, lost to cancers, illnesses, or
Speaker 37: languishing behind bars for crimes that history has deemed unjust.
Speaker 37: But their sacrifices were not in vain. They paved the
Speaker 37: way for us and they let the path towards the
Speaker 37: future where cannabis isn't decriminal or isn't demonized, but celebrated,
Speaker 37: and it's us up to us to honor their legacy
Speaker 37: by ensuring that the industry that they fought for remains
Speaker 37: true to its roots. My comrades in the clouds, let's
Speaker 37: not forget that this fight wasn't about corporate interests or
Speaker 37: profit margins. It was about empowerment, about reclaiming our rights,
Speaker 37: and about ensuring that everyone has access to the healing
Speaker 37: powers of this plant. That's why, as we move forward,
Speaker 37: we must remain vigilant in protecting the spirit of this
Speaker 37: movement from being co opted by big business and monopolies.
Speaker 14: So, my fellow cannabis and.
Speaker 37: In cannabis enthusiasts, as we continue to march forward, let's
Speaker 37: carry with us the spirit of those that came before us.
Speaker 37: Let's be mindful of the sacrifices that were made, and
Speaker 37: let's ensure that the industry that we fought so hard
Speaker 37: to build remains true to its roots. I'm proud to
Speaker 37: stand here today to use my voice and to influence
Speaker 37: and be a steward of our industry, and I invite
Speaker 37: each and every one of you to join me in
Speaker 37: this journey together. Let's celebrate our victories, Let's honor our past.
Speaker 37: Let's blaze a trail forward in a future where cannabis
Speaker 37: is not just.
Speaker 34: Legal, but truly liberated.
Speaker 38: Let's continue this conversation find me on Instagram. Let's keep
Speaker 38: fighting for a future where cannabis is celebrated and not criminalized.
Speaker 38: Thank you, and let's keep the spirit of hash burning bright.
Speaker 36: Hello, happy hashbash. I am excited to get to introduce
Speaker 36: one of my dear friends. You may know him as
Speaker 36: Comrade Counselman on Twitter. Counselman Goodman has come down from
Speaker 36: Pontiac with us today. Mikail is notorious for speaking his
Speaker 36: mind and holding people's feet to the fire. So he
Speaker 36: is an ally of friend and I'm thankful. Please give
Speaker 36: your hands up for Mikhaile Goodman, Comrade Counselman.
Speaker 11: Hello everyone, Hey, we can do a little bit better
Speaker 11: than that.
Speaker 5: Hello everyone, So before I say anything, I take it
Speaker 5: it is just fair and respectful that we take a
Speaker 5: moment of silence for everyone in this movement who has
Speaker 5: come before. For me, especially is my best friend. Some
Speaker 5: of you may know her. Her name was Aa Abbas.
Speaker 5: She was very involved in the space. She is the
Speaker 5: entire reason why I am in politics the way that
Speaker 5: I am to this day.
Speaker 11: So if we can't just take a quick moment.
Speaker 5: Of silence for one of my closest friends. So this
Speaker 5: is my second year speaking at Hashbash. I do it
Speaker 5: in honor of my friend every well now for the
Speaker 5: second year, hopefully I'll be invited to more. And it
Speaker 5: is because activism is so extremely important to this space
Speaker 5: and everything that we do. We have not a arrived
Speaker 5: at the point to be able to have a college
Speaker 5: campus diag full of fucking stoners just by sitting on
Speaker 5: our hands. We got here by working hard, by doing
Speaker 5: the acts, and by fighting tooth and nail for people
Speaker 5: like us, but also for the people who are near
Speaker 5: and dear to us. So, you know, I think it's
Speaker 5: a little important to go over why they called me
Speaker 5: the comrade councilman. As my friend said, I am on
Speaker 5: city councilor in Pontiac. I am an active stoner. I've
Speaker 5: been smoking probably since before it was legal for me
Speaker 5: to do so, but I've been definitely smoking since it's
Speaker 5: been legal for me to do so. And my friends,
Speaker 5: how have fought very hard for all of us to
Speaker 5: be able to do that. Now it's really hard to
Speaker 5: talk about weed because it irritates me that I have
Speaker 5: to drive fifteen minutes every single time that I need
Speaker 5: to buy some more weed because the corporate greed is
Speaker 5: keeping the weed out of my city. We have the
Speaker 5: big industries who we all know, who have one thousand
Speaker 5: and one dispensaries and are pushing out every single black
Speaker 5: and brown and poor person the city of Pontiac who
Speaker 5: is a victim of the war on drugs. The city
Speaker 5: of Pontiac, like the city of Flint, like the city
Speaker 5: of Inkster, Detroit, is a.
Speaker 13: War ground for the war on.
Speaker 11: Drugs that has hurt so many of our community.
Speaker 5: And unfortunately, we have the people who have found a
Speaker 5: way to privatize and profit off of what is medicine
Speaker 5: for so many people. But there is a light at
Speaker 5: the end of the tunnel because despite all the fighting
Speaker 5: back and all the bullshit that comes from the corporate
Speaker 5: benefactors who want to pocket all of the money for
Speaker 5: themselves to hide what is a miracle plant for so
Speaker 5: many people. Behind this paywall, we have so many things
Speaker 5: that are happening. We have people like Jaden. We have
Speaker 5: Jaden's a lot that's happening. We have communities that are
Speaker 5: actually standing up to make sure that when weed comes
Speaker 5: to our cities, that our communities actually benefit from it happening.
Speaker 5: Not just the white people unfortunately who have money, who
Speaker 5: have their connections to out of state people who have
Speaker 5: access to millions upon millions of dollars, and politicians in
Speaker 5: their back pocket. On this side, we have politicians like
Speaker 5: me and a couple may who may come after me
Speaker 5: in the Speaker's list, who is fighting hard to make
Speaker 5: sure that when shit happens, it's happening for us. It
Speaker 5: is happening for the people in this crowd, not for
Speaker 5: the people who sit in back rooms and have their
Speaker 5: fucking check books and their playbooks for how they can
Speaker 5: screw us over. This crowd is so amazing because we
Speaker 5: have people who look like the average everyday person. Because
Speaker 5: let me just ask a question. If you are in
Speaker 5: this crowd and you smoke weed, raise your hand. These
Speaker 5: are people who you see every single day. These are
Speaker 5: people who you see at the grocery store as your
Speaker 5: doctors off is taking your blood. The people who are
Speaker 5: teaching your kids, the people who are doing the real
Speaker 5: hard work at building up society because I'm gonna be
Speaker 5: honest with you, some of y'all would not make it
Speaker 5: to the day if someone else did not smoke weed.
Speaker 11: I know that I wouldn't make it through some city.
Speaker 5: Council meetings sometimes if I did not smoke weed before.
Speaker 11: So I stand up here to.
Speaker 5: Say one, free the weed, keep fighting hard to make
Speaker 5: sure that shit happens not for the people with money,
Speaker 5: but for us, not them us. So with that, I
Speaker 5: have no clue who is coming up next, but I
Speaker 5: do want to say thank you so much for all
Speaker 5: of you coming out here to hash Bash, showing the
Speaker 5: support for the people and the movement that has been
Speaker 5: able to make this happen and will continue to make
Speaker 5: shit happen because we cannot stop. And I know, good
Speaker 5: and damn well, ain't none of us back here or
Speaker 5: in this crowd gonna stop. So with that, I want
Speaker 5: to say thank you, Happy hash Bash and free the weed.
Speaker 8: Thanks cool, all right, councilman, goodman, thank you very much.
Speaker 15: Okay.
Speaker 7: Coming up next to is an educator of ntheogens, a therapist,
Speaker 7: one of the founders of Anthiofests, which typically takes place
Speaker 7: right here in September and the head of the Michigan
Speaker 7: Psychedelic Society.
Speaker 8: Please welcome Julie Barron. Thank you so much.
Speaker 39: Hi everybody. It is such an honor to be with
Speaker 39: you all here today. My first Hashbash was nineteen eighty seven.
Speaker 39: I was fifteen years old. I went to school here.
Speaker 39: This has always been a really important day and a
Speaker 39: really important movement.
Speaker 40: In my life.
Speaker 39: In twenty twenty, we were the third city in the
Speaker 39: nation to decriminalize psilosicide I been and other entheogenic plants
Speaker 39: here in ann Arbor. It was a big move and
Speaker 39: we keep this the plant Power to the People movement
Speaker 39: moving right. So cannabis was our our first movement in
Speaker 39: that way, and this movement is not over. The cannabis
Speaker 39: movement clearly is not over, as you can hear from
Speaker 39: all the speakers today. But we have to keep the
Speaker 39: work going, and we've started to include other plant allies.
Speaker 39: And I want to really, you know, talk about this
Speaker 39: is This is not a necessarily a war on the substances.
Speaker 8: That's not what this is.
Speaker 39: This is a war on liberation. And I don't want
Speaker 39: us to get caught up. Actually that's not true. Enjoy
Speaker 39: all the substances. Enjoy the heck out of them, use them,
Speaker 39: use them for you know, personal work, use them for
Speaker 39: spiritual work, use them for fun. But don't get caught
Speaker 39: up in that. This is a movement about liberation, right,
Speaker 39: This is a movement about a liberation, So don't get distracted.
Speaker 3: Keep focus.
Speaker 39: Enjoy the medicine, use the medicine, but then put that
Speaker 39: energy towards empowerment of all of the people here and
Speaker 39: all of the people who are not here, and all
Speaker 39: the people who've worked before us to get here to
Speaker 39: this point now, and those that will continue to work
Speaker 39: into the future. This psychedelic movement is about building community.
Speaker 39: It's about getting people together. It is a community movement,
Speaker 39: so it literally requires each one of us to do
Speaker 39: our part. Please contact Michigan Psychedelic Society if you'd like
Speaker 39: to move this work forward and work towards our collective liberation.
Speaker 39: I hope to hear from all of you, Michigan Psychedelic Society.
Speaker 8: Thank you so much.
Speaker 14: Hey Julie, Oh, where'd you find him?
Speaker 13: Roughly?
Speaker 36: I got car keys in my hand, found roughly that way.
Speaker 36: I'm gonna put them in Jamie's capable hands. They are
Speaker 36: up here with a gold kind key lanyard. Uh with that,
Speaker 36: I'm looky. Yes, I get to introduce another good friend
Speaker 36: of mine, our state Senator, Senator jeff Erwin.
Speaker 14: He is no.
Speaker 36: Stranger to this community, been fighting for us a long
Speaker 36: time in Lansing. Very happy to always have him in
Speaker 36: our corner, our State Senator jeff Erwin.
Speaker 41: Okay, all right, thank you, Leah, thank you. Hashbash twenty
Speaker 41: twenty four. Is this a beautiful day.
Speaker 3: At ann Arbor or what?
Speaker 41: Absolutely, it's a beautiful day to celebrate what we've done
Speaker 41: here in Michigan, where we have the best cannabis reform
Speaker 41: law on the entire country. Michigan is doing it right
Speaker 41: and we need you to stay engaged so we can
Speaker 41: keep doing it better and better. It's a beautiful day,
Speaker 41: a beautiful cannabis legalization law here in Michigan. And I
Speaker 41: am always honored to be with you here on hashbash
Speaker 41: to do a couple of things.
Speaker 3: One to welcome you to this beautiful city.
Speaker 41: Ann Arbor here on the University of Michigan campus has
Speaker 41: been the epicenter of cannabis activism here in America for
Speaker 41: over forty years. All right, yes, and thank you for
Speaker 41: being here again to celebrate our path to progress, to
Speaker 41: celebrate the great law. We have to celebrate the idea
Speaker 41: that nobody should be put in jail for using a
Speaker 41: plant like cannabis.
Speaker 3: All right, So thank you for being with us here today.
Speaker 41: Thank you for celebrating the great weather, thank you for
Speaker 41: celebrating the cannabis plant. And the second thing I'm here
Speaker 41: to do is to remind you of your responsibilities to
Speaker 41: each other, to this movement and to cannabis. What I
Speaker 41: want to ask you to do is I want to
Speaker 41: ask you to get active politically.
Speaker 3: I want you to vote right.
Speaker 41: I want you to vote this fall and this fall
Speaker 41: when Michigan becomes the epicenter of a national political campaign,
Speaker 41: I want you to raise your voices and ask every
Speaker 41: one of those politicians, what do you think about cannabis?
Speaker 3: Do you think people should be put in jail for
Speaker 3: you un in the cannabis.
Speaker 41: No, there's one right answer, and these politicians are only
Speaker 41: gonna get to the right.
Speaker 3: Answer if you ask them.
Speaker 41: When these federal candidates come through, I want you to
Speaker 41: ask them, what are we gonna do about descheduling cannabis
Speaker 41: at the federal level. Let's make sure that Michigan leads
Speaker 41: the way so that nobody has to go to jail
Speaker 41: for using cannabis. So these when these national politicians and
Speaker 41: when these local and state politicians come and ask you
Speaker 41: for your vote, are you gonna ask them what they
Speaker 41: think about cannabis laws?
Speaker 3: All right? And I want you to. I want you
Speaker 3: to take it a step further.
Speaker 41: I'm here today as a state senator here in the
Speaker 41: fifteenth district, dressed up like a state senator because I
Speaker 41: want you to know that there are people like you
Speaker 41: walking around in your town every day that you need
Speaker 41: to build a relationship with. You need to know your
Speaker 41: city council people. You need to know your sheriff and
Speaker 41: your prosecutor. You need to know who your mayor is.
Speaker 41: You need to ask them questions when they're running for office,
Speaker 41: like do you think that we should be allowed to
Speaker 41: have cannabis stores in our city just like we have
Speaker 41: liquor stores, just like we have coffee shops, just like
Speaker 41: we have grocery stores. If you're not asking them those questions,
Speaker 41: then they're not going to get to the right answer.
Speaker 41: So I want to ask you to build that relationship.
Speaker 41: It starts with voting, but you need to raise your
Speaker 41: voice and get to know these politicians. We work for you,
Speaker 41: We work for you. Your elected officials are answerable to you.
Speaker 41: And this year, in November and in August, in the primaries,
Speaker 41: you have a unique opportunity to take what you care about,
Speaker 41: to take what brought you out here today, to celebrate
Speaker 41: cannabis and cannabis legalization, and to take that to these
Speaker 41: elected officials and to make sure that they answer the
Speaker 41: question do you support cannabis legalization? Do you think that
Speaker 41: we should allow cannabis trade in our community? Do you
Speaker 41: think anyone should go to jail for using a plant?
Speaker 41: So I want to thank you for doing that work.
Speaker 41: I want to thank you for being here in this
Speaker 41: beautiful city to join in this long running protest that
Speaker 41: now has turned into a celebration of the great laws
Speaker 41: that we have here today. And I also want to
Speaker 41: ask you to take the next step and help some
Speaker 41: of us who are trying to end this war on
Speaker 41: drugs completely. The war on drugs is a war against
Speaker 41: our people. People need support, people need community. They don't
Speaker 41: need more badges and guns and handcuffs.
Speaker 3: So let's work together.
Speaker 41: Let's make sure we continue to celebrate and protect this law,
Speaker 41: protect home grow, protect against some of the attacks and
Speaker 41: lancing to raise your taxes. Make sure that we stand
Speaker 41: up for local access. And then together, let's take the
Speaker 41: next step. Let's make sure we legalize ntheogens. Let's make
Speaker 41: sure we criminalize drugs and make sure that this horrible war,
Speaker 41: this war on drugs against our people is ended. Thank
Speaker 41: you so much for being here. Thank you all for
Speaker 41: all the activism that you've done. Thanks for being here
Speaker 41: in this beautiful town. Make sure you tip your button
Speaker 41: tender and your waiter and enjoy this great town.
Speaker 3: We're happy to have you. Thank you.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I appreciate it, all right, Senator Irwin.
Speaker 7: Everybody remember at John's eightieth birthday party in Flint, Senator
Speaker 7: Irwin showed up with a commemoration signed by other lawmakers,
Speaker 7: the governor, a lot of people to pay tribute to
Speaker 7: Johnson clear for his contribution to civil rights and culture.
Speaker 7: And that was really cool. And of course he's been
Speaker 7: in Ali for many years. Let's hear it again for
Speaker 7: Senator Jeff Irwin, please.
Speaker 8: And some announcements. There are some keys here GMC keys.
Speaker 7: With the fob please let me know. And for sure,
Speaker 7: Brandon Martinez, please come see me. I have your wallet,
Speaker 7: so and if anybody finds that ring, let me know.
Speaker 7: These things happen at these events. So coming up, we
Speaker 7: have a speaker who's a passionate medical cannabis advocate who's
Speaker 7: done some good organizing this year to help try to
Speaker 7: affect some policy change and make it easier for people
Speaker 7: to have access. And one of the things we'd like
Speaker 7: to do with hashbash is recognize people who are doing
Speaker 7: some work in the air and offer up this.
Speaker 8: Forum to let people know what's going on.
Speaker 7: And so it's a pleasure to introduce to you for
Speaker 7: the first time in Hashbash Summer Sky.
Speaker 8: Do you want to hold on?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 42: Thanks?
Speaker 43: All right, thank you so much for having me, Jamie Lowell,
Speaker 43: thank you for inviting me here. And before I speak,
Speaker 43: I just want to say rest in peace to Johnson Claire,
Speaker 43: Rest and peace direct, Rest in peace to every single
Speaker 43: person who has been negatively impacted by the War on drugs,
Speaker 43: People that suffered from various different medical conditions that could
Speaker 43: have been treated by cannabis, people that unfortunately had to
Speaker 43: spend their entire lives incarcerated. It's an incredibly sad situation
Speaker 43: and it just simply should not be happening.
Speaker 34: And so my name is Summer Sky.
Speaker 43: And I have been incredibly passionate about medical cannabis since
Speaker 43: I was sixteen years old.
Speaker 34: A little bit of background about me.
Speaker 43: I immediately went into the cannabis industry after I graduated
Speaker 43: from Central at.
Speaker 34: The age of twenty one.
Speaker 43: There's truly no need for me to really discuss anything
Speaker 43: else that I've done professionally. Today is the fifty third
Speaker 43: hashbas celebration, and you know, it's about the journey and
Speaker 43: the fight for being able to use cannabis medicinally and recreationally.
Speaker 43: In fact, just being able to work in cannabis and
Speaker 43: being able to stand here today is absolutely a privilege
Speaker 43: and a privilege that some people will never be able
Speaker 43: to experience because they're incarcerated or they passed away before
Speaker 43: they ever had the opportunity. And so cannabis, you know,
Speaker 43: it was legalized medically in Michigan and even recreationally. But
Speaker 43: you know, I recognized that that privilege in myself and
Speaker 43: I'll you know, I'll never take that for granted. So
Speaker 43: I would like to share a little bit of a
Speaker 43: sad story, so just be prepared. But when I was
Speaker 43: sixteen years old, my four year old cousin passed away
Speaker 43: from a rare, undiagnosable form of epilepsy. The medication that
Speaker 43: he was on it left him unable to walk or talk.
Speaker 43: His entire life was he essentially remained an infant that
Speaker 43: continued to grow in height. I was actually able to
Speaker 43: go on and make a wish trip with him to
Speaker 43: Disney with my family and my grandma the year before
Speaker 43: he passed away, and I am so thankful for the
Speaker 43: time that I was able to spend with him while
Speaker 43: he was still on Earth. After his passing on Valentine's
Speaker 43: Day of twenty sixteen, I was incredibly shocked and confused
Speaker 43: about my cousin's death. I started researching epilepsy cure as
Speaker 43: epilepsy treatment, and I just wanted to find answers, any clues,
Speaker 43: and I eventually found all these different stories of parents
Speaker 43: that would bring their children to Colorado so that they
Speaker 43: could get safe, legal access to medicine that would treat
Speaker 43: and even stop their.
Speaker 34: Seizures for their children.
Speaker 43: And ever since then, I have been incredibly passionate about
Speaker 43: the medical side of cannabis and an advocate for it,
Speaker 43: and just to clarify, I'm not a doctor, but in
Speaker 43: my opinion, if cannabis was an option for my cousin,
Speaker 43: there is no doubt in my soul that he would
Speaker 43: not only be alive, but he would have been able
Speaker 43: to talk and walk because the inabilities were side effects
Speaker 43: of the medications to subdue as seizures. And ever since then,
Speaker 43: I have been an advocate. And so during my undergrad
Speaker 43: when I studied event management, a friend of mine gave me.
Speaker 34: A magazine where they interviewed the VP.
Speaker 43: Of MJ Biscon and it made me realize that I
Speaker 43: could work in the cannabis industry and help people and
Speaker 43: advocate for medical and decriminalized cannabis. And after that, I
Speaker 43: knew that I was going to work in cannabis and
Speaker 43: that there would be nothing to stop me. About a
Speaker 43: year and a half into my career, I received the
Speaker 43: worst phone call I could ever hear.
Speaker 34: My grandma died. She was essentially like my second mother.
Speaker 43: Throughout the last two decades of her life, she suffered
Speaker 43: with rheumatoid arthritis.
Speaker 34: The last ten years of her life, she could barely
Speaker 34: open her hands.
Speaker 43: She could really only make use of her pointer finger
Speaker 43: and her thumb, but it was still incredibly difficult for
Speaker 43: her to pick up things and just live her daily life.
Speaker 43: And so with that, you know, having that constant chronic pain,
Speaker 43: it's debilitating for anyone. And I always, you know, ever
Speaker 43: since I became an advocate, I started advocating for her
Speaker 43: to at least take TVD gummies topicals, but she was
Speaker 43: always very reluctant. She eventually talked to her doctor about it,
Speaker 43: and they actually threatened to take away her medicine that
Speaker 43: she was physically addicted to in order to survive if
Speaker 43: they ever found cannabis in her system. Given topicals would't
Speaker 43: show up on a drug test, she was more open
Speaker 43: to them, but they would It would only subdue the pain,
Speaker 43: It didn't really treat it as much as it could
Speaker 43: have with other options. And just because of the generation
Speaker 43: that she grew up in, she was incredibly reluctant to
Speaker 43: try it and gen and if my grandma uh doctors
Speaker 43: were supportive of medical cannabis to treat her rheumatoid arthritis,
Speaker 43: I believe that that not only would have extended her life,
Speaker 43: but it also would have made her quality of life
Speaker 43: so much more better and just her exists and so
Speaker 43: much more bearable and I couldn't save her. And even
Speaker 43: though I tried, that generation is just scared because they
Speaker 43: were fed propaganda their entire lives. And when I saw
Speaker 43: my grandma in her living room on the day I
Speaker 43: got the call, there were about twelve different pill bottles
Speaker 43: on her coffee table.
Speaker 34: And it's so sad.
Speaker 43: Because instead of using all these different laboratory made medicines,
Speaker 43: we could just be using plant medicine.
Speaker 34: The system is broken. The fact that it's okay, so yeah,
Speaker 34: I'm sorry.
Speaker 7: It seems like we have another possible medical scenario over
Speaker 7: here and we have to kind of like hold up
Speaker 7: until we can get some resolution with it. So we're
Speaker 7: gonna freeze for a minute, see if we can get
Speaker 7: some attention over there that's needed.
Speaker 8: Sorry, everybody, and thank you very much.
Speaker 13: So far.
Speaker 8: We'll get we'll get we'll get right back to her.
Speaker 34: And unfortunately the story does continue.
Speaker 43: Last Thanksgiving, my dad was having some health issues to
Speaker 43: the point where he couldn't participate in the holiday and
Speaker 43: he actually had to have my mom drive into the
Speaker 43: hospital and it was discovered that he actually had lung cancer,
Speaker 43: and that was the most one of the scariest moments
Speaker 43: I've ever experienced in my whole life, and I immediately
Speaker 43: contacted my resources and my support systems to get RASO
Speaker 43: to treat my dad with an extremely short notice. I
Speaker 43: would like to give a huge shout out to Travis,
Speaker 43: the founder of North Coast, because he was able to
Speaker 43: supply my dad with a seemingly endless supply of RSO
Speaker 43: to treat his cancer. So Travis started a nonprofit called
Speaker 43: The Forgotten where he helps supply people with RSO to
Speaker 43: treat various different conditions. So if you know someone that
Speaker 43: needs RSO, please contact Travis with North Coast and he
Speaker 43: would be more than happy to help you. And then,
Speaker 43: in conjunction with chemotherapy and eating apricot seeds, which was
Speaker 43: a tip from my friend Tori, I got the news
Speaker 43: back in February that the doctors UH found that the
Speaker 43: cancer has stopped writing and actually has shrunk, and in fact,
Speaker 43: the doctor said that they have never seen anyone in
Speaker 43: their entire lives seemingly beat cancer as fast as my
Speaker 43: dad did. Unfortunately, we're still not out of the woods yet.
Speaker 43: As wonderful as that is, he still has to have
Speaker 43: some tests, but RSO and apricot seeds absolutely helped my
Speaker 43: dad with diminishing his cancer. I don't know what I
Speaker 43: have done, what I would have done without the donation
Speaker 43: of rs O the Apricot seeds, and I am just
Speaker 43: so absolutely thankful for everyone that came together to help
Speaker 43: my dad. I couldn't say my cousin, I couldn't say
Speaker 43: my grandma, but I had to say my dad. And unfortunately,
Speaker 43: not everyone is as lucky as my dad. I would
Speaker 43: like to pay another tribute to Rick Thompson who did
Speaker 43: pass away from cancer.
Speaker 34: Unfortunately, there are a lot of people.
Speaker 43: That there are a lot of people who unfortunately never
Speaker 43: had access to it, to cannabis to treat their cancer,
Speaker 43: their their epilepsy, their their rheumatoid arth right, various different
Speaker 43: conditions and it is just absolutely devastating. And if if
Speaker 43: more doctors were open to cannabis as a treatment, there
Speaker 43: would be far less deaths from permeable, preventable illnesses and cancer. Again,
Speaker 43: I'm not a doctor, but that's just my opinion. And
Speaker 43: at the forefront of it all, there absolutely would be
Speaker 43: no Hashbash without John Sinclair and so rest in peace again.
Speaker 13: John.
Speaker 43: It is as a as a community is it is
Speaker 43: our responsibility to continue to fight for what is right
Speaker 43: and how this plant should be handled medically and legally.
Speaker 43: As scary as it can be to use your voice,
Speaker 43: it really is all that we have as people and individuals.
Speaker 43: It is our It is our most powerful tool and
Speaker 43: asset for talking about and fighting for what is right
Speaker 43: instead of just letting the system dictate how the industry
Speaker 43: should be and how the plan should be treated. And
Speaker 43: we are only going to continue to lose our rights
Speaker 43: by turning a blind eye. It is imperative that all
Speaker 43: of us rally together and talk about what is right
Speaker 43: and how the industry should be and how the caregiver
Speaker 43: program should be. Thank you again for having me and
Speaker 43: for listening to me today. I never would have anticipated
Speaker 43: that I would happen to have an opportunity to speak
Speaker 43: at hash Bash, and it is absolutely an honor to
Speaker 43: be a part of this community.
Speaker 34: My closing is that.
Speaker 43: You know, I empower all of you to fight for
Speaker 43: medical care for your loved ones and family members before
Speaker 43: it's too late.
Speaker 34: Thank you.
Speaker 7: All right, Summer Sky, Thank you very much again. We
Speaker 7: have keys and a wallet up here, so hopefully somebody
Speaker 7: decides that they could use it and they claim it
Speaker 7: anybody can use a wall, all right. So very happy
Speaker 7: to introduce our next speaker. Last few years, he's been
Speaker 7: stepping up to represent a lot of veterans issues in
Speaker 7: this cannabis community. He's done a lot of work in
Speaker 7: Michigan and nationally and this is not his first time,
Speaker 7: but it's always great to have him here and let
Speaker 7: us know what's going on. Ladies and gentlemen, Please welcome
Speaker 7: Anton Harp Junior.
Speaker 15: Thanks well, I appreciate it.
Speaker 44: Hash Bashed twenty twenty four. How's everybody doing today? My
Speaker 44: name is Anton Harp Junior, and I always like to
Speaker 44: start off with a couple of different things about who
Speaker 44: I am and what I represent. First and foremost, I'll
Speaker 44: start off and say that I'm a very proud first
Speaker 44: generation Palestinian American and my family came to this wonderful
Speaker 44: country back in the sixties after fleeing the occupied territory
Speaker 44: of Palestine, and in one generation I was created. And
Speaker 44: I'm a proud American combat veteran who served in Operation
Speaker 44: Iraqi Freedom. For many of us, the real war doesn't
Speaker 44: start until we get back home. Fighting in combat was
Speaker 44: the easy thing. Coming back home and having to go
Speaker 44: to the veterans administration and being pumped full of pharmaceutical
Speaker 44: poisons for years. This is what our men and women
Speaker 44: who have served our country honorably face every day. And
Speaker 44: as I stand here, I look at that flag behind
Speaker 44: us waving on.
Speaker 3: This wonderful day that we've been blessed with.
Speaker 44: You know, I took an oath to defend that flag
Speaker 44: with my life, and I honor that oath. But the
Speaker 44: reality is our country has not stepped up and provided
Speaker 44: the proper resources.
Speaker 24: To our men and women who have put it all.
Speaker 3: On the line.
Speaker 19: They haven't.
Speaker 44: But what we do have, we have a wonderful plant,
Speaker 44: the cannabis plant that we're all here today to honor.
Speaker 44: This plant can save lives, It has saved lives. Is
Speaker 44: a cancer survivor of the burn pits in Iraq. This
Speaker 44: plant provided me with the quality of life that I
Speaker 44: wouldn't have had otherwise. Not many people realize that when
Speaker 44: we legalized cannabis back in twenty eighteen, we the people
Speaker 44: set aside forty million dollars to research the effects of
Speaker 44: cannabis in PTSD in our veteran community.
Speaker 11: Not many people realize.
Speaker 44: That that was supposed to be a five year study
Speaker 44: we are three years into this study and no research
Speaker 44: has been taking place. The state of Michigan needs to
Speaker 44: be held accountable. Transparency is key.
Speaker 8: Where is our money being spent?
Speaker 24: They won't tell you.
Speaker 44: The University of Michigan has received millions of dollars. When
Speaker 44: I ask where that money is being spent, I'm blown off.
Speaker 44: Wayne State University got twenty million dollars of our tax
Speaker 44: dollars and will not tell us where.
Speaker 11: It's being spent.
Speaker 24: Where is the accountability?
Speaker 44: And each day that goes by that they're lining their
Speaker 44: pockets with our tax dollars. Twenty two veterans are killing
Speaker 44: themselves because they have no resources. Hopelessness is what leads
Speaker 44: to suicide in my community. So with that being said,
Speaker 44: I appreciate you, I appreciate our country, and I appreciate
Speaker 44: everybody coming out here.
Speaker 20: To support us and listen to us.
Speaker 40: This is community and this is what we're about.
Speaker 17: Thank you, God bless.
Speaker 44: And with that said, next up a great friend of mine,
Speaker 44: a pillar of the cannabis community, Miss Brandy Zinc, the
Speaker 44: director of Americans for Safe Access in Michigan. We wouldn't
Speaker 44: be where we are today without her.
Speaker 45: So Brandy, well, thank you Anton.
Speaker 14: Thank you for your service, Thank you for your support.
Speaker 45: We really actually wouldn't be here without Johnson Clair. We
Speaker 45: wouldn't be here without Lenny Sinclair.
Speaker 14: We wouldn't be.
Speaker 45: Here without so many of our brothers and sisters who
Speaker 45: have walked on.
Speaker 30: With great love in my heart, I ask you to
Speaker 30: please light.
Speaker 45: One up for Rick Thompson, for Rory Gold, for Brat Lampkey,
Speaker 45: for Steve Lovinger, and for all.
Speaker 14: Of our fallen warriors that we've lost through the years.
Speaker 45: If you want to light one up and say the
Speaker 45: name of your loved one now that you're missing, that
Speaker 45: you wish were here here in our hearts and in
Speaker 45: our spirit. And they want us to keep the fire going.
Speaker 45: They want us to remember why we have the amazing
Speaker 45: law that we have in Michigan. How many people are
Speaker 45: here who are not from Michigan. Raise your hands. I
Speaker 45: see you, Ohio, I see you, Indiana, I see you,
Speaker 45: Kentucky and Illinois and Washington State, in Florida and everywhere
Speaker 45: else that you.
Speaker 14: Come from far and wide.
Speaker 30: I see you. I love you.
Speaker 45: I thank you for being here in this beautiful day,
Speaker 45: in this hallowed ground. This is an election year. You
Speaker 45: must make sure that you and everyone you know is
Speaker 45: registered to vote. That is why we have the amazing
Speaker 45: rights that.
Speaker 14: We have and enjoy and love in Michigan.
Speaker 45: It's because we were registered to vote, and we use
Speaker 45: that power.
Speaker 30: It is time for the federal government to.
Speaker 14: Listen to the states.
Speaker 30: Our federal government has done great.
Speaker 14: Harm through the prohibition of cannabis.
Speaker 45: It is time that we deschedule cannabis and remove it.
Speaker 45: So I want you to get out your phones, and
Speaker 45: I'm gonna give you a very important number.
Speaker 30: I want you to call this number and find out.
Speaker 45: Who your representatives are and for the numbers for your
Speaker 45: senators where you live.
Speaker 30: Get out your phone.
Speaker 14: It's too oh two two two four three one two one.
Speaker 45: That's too oh two two two four three one three two.
Speaker 45: That is the capital switchboard, And that's who you need
Speaker 45: to call, so that you can make sure that your
Speaker 45: congress people know it is time to de schedule cannabis.
Speaker 45: I also want you to make sure that you're paying
Speaker 45: attention to what's going on in your state. There are
Speaker 45: discussions in Michigan's legislature to merge the cannabis laws for
Speaker 45: medical and for adult use. I say these discussions are
Speaker 45: going on. They need to have a patient in the room.
Speaker 45: So you need to be sure that you are paying
Speaker 45: attention to what is going on in our state legislature.
Speaker 45: We cannot have them change our law without giving our input.
Speaker 30: Our state legislators and our congress.
Speaker 45: People need you to call them, to write them, to
Speaker 45: show up at their town halls or their coffee hours.
Speaker 30: They do listen, but only if you speak up.
Speaker 45: Your voice is your power, and we are mighty, mighty powerful,
Speaker 45: as you know. But we cannot take it for granted
Speaker 45: that just because legalization has passed, that everything is just
Speaker 45: hunky dory.
Speaker 30: Patients still have many many risks.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 45: We have a laws that we have now because medical
Speaker 45: patients were taken off the battlefield first. So we need
Speaker 45: to protect the integrity of our medical marijuana law. We
Speaker 45: need to make sure that you get your card. If
Speaker 45: you have a qualifying condition and you let your card go,
Speaker 45: you need to renew your card. If you know someone
Speaker 45: who has a qualifying condition, you need to get a
Speaker 45: card and make sure they get their card.
Speaker 30: The numbers that we have in our medical program are going.
Speaker 45: Down, and that is because I think that many people
Speaker 45: take it for granted with adult use that medical patients
Speaker 45: are protected. Medical patients need equity in the state, and
Speaker 45: we need to be make sure that medical patients are
Speaker 45: free from discrimination, that we are free from.
Speaker 40: Taxes.
Speaker 30: We need to make sure that medical patients are.
Speaker 45: Protected for their child custody issues, for their job and
Speaker 45: their employment, for their professional licenses, if you're on probation,
Speaker 45: for driving privileges, and for housing, and let us not
Speaker 45: forget our veterans. All of those people are at risk,
Speaker 45: and we need to make sure that our state legislators
Speaker 45: who are they're going to try to merge the two programs,
Speaker 45: make sure that they.
Speaker 14: Do not forget the patients.
Speaker 45: I'd like to thank everyone who has joined Americans for
Speaker 45: Safe Access and signed ups that you can be empowered
Speaker 45: and you can have the knowledge, and you can pay
Speaker 45: attention to what's going on with our legislatures and both
Speaker 45: federal and local and state issues. So I want to
Speaker 45: thank the people who have been contributing to our Michigan.
Speaker 30: Chapter, my vice chair Jamie Lowell.
Speaker 45: We have here Anton represents our veterans. We have Miriam Halprin,
Speaker 45: we have doctor Gustrosnya, we have doctor Michael Whitty, and
Speaker 45: then Gail Witty, And I want to thank everyone who's
Speaker 45: ever been involved.
Speaker 14: This is a beautiful movement.
Speaker 30: That we have and we need you to join us too.
Speaker 45: So safeaccessnow dot org is Americans for Safe Access. We
Speaker 45: are the largest and oldest patient organization. We're in all
Speaker 45: fifty states. So keep the fire going, keep that fire
Speaker 45: burning for those who have walked on, and we walk
Speaker 45: on and love and freedom.
Speaker 30: And I'd like to thank this young man.
Speaker 45: He's a courageous young man, Jaden, who's gonna talk to
Speaker 45: you about.
Speaker 30: What he's doing with.
Speaker 45: Jaden's Law is one of the laws that we need
Speaker 45: to remind our legislators that we need to pass.
Speaker 35: All right, I'd like to give a big shout out
Speaker 35: to my big friend Rick at this aka mister fun guy.
Speaker 3: Hello hashbash.
Speaker 42: My name's rick Anstis, and I am tired of our
Speaker 42: government in how the fuck they're running our lives and
Speaker 42: our law.
Speaker 3: I'm so sick of it that I'm.
Speaker 42: Running for Barrion County Commissioner this year because that's how
Speaker 42: that's how you make the changes.
Speaker 40: You get involved.
Speaker 42: Like everybody else has said here, you call your state representatives,
Speaker 42: you make communications with them, you have dialect, you go
Speaker 42: back and forth and with that, you build relationships, and
Speaker 42: with those relationships, you build structure for moving things forward
Speaker 42: because a lot of these legislators don't understand the medicinal
Speaker 42: value of this plant. We came out of, we came
Speaker 42: out of medical talking about recreational and adult use, and
Speaker 42: I feel like we need to get those verbiages out
Speaker 42: of our mouth because they diminish the value of the
Speaker 42: medicinal plant. So, first off, it's a plant that helps,
Speaker 42: it heals. It's done it for ten thousand years, It's
Speaker 42: going to do it for ten thousand more. Beyond that,
Speaker 42: there's other uses for it. But if we don't start
Speaker 42: with it being a life saving essence to millions of
Speaker 42: people and validate and stand on that, we're doing it
Speaker 42: a great disjustice. And I want to become the next
Speaker 42: Burying County Commissioner because we need leaders in there that
Speaker 42: can influence our health departments. We currently have a campaign
Speaker 42: and Burying County that's called the Dirt on Weed and
Speaker 42: it is the worst campaign I've ever seen, filled with
Speaker 42: propaganda and mongering.
Speaker 40: We don't need that.
Speaker 42: We need an opportunity to understand that there's a medical
Speaker 42: program in this state that allows you to have a
Speaker 42: personal caregiver where they personally attend to your medical needs
Speaker 42: with this plant. People should know that if it's an option,
Speaker 42: then it needs to be an option all the way
Speaker 42: across the board. The Health Department needs to recognize it,
Speaker 42: not diminish it. And I feel that many township leaders, commissioners,
Speaker 42: sheriffs have all fallen victim or fallen suit with this
Speaker 42: agenda in this narrative be just because whether they believed
Speaker 42: it or not. We need to change that narrative over
Speaker 42: and validate the truth in the plant.
Speaker 3: We need more testimonies.
Speaker 42: We need the testimonies we had in twenty sixteen, two
Speaker 42: thousand and eight.
Speaker 40: We need the people that are being healed and pulled back.
Speaker 42: I heard a couple stories tonight that were great or
Speaker 42: today that people using this plant to save their lives.
Speaker 40: We need to continue that message.
Speaker 42: And again, yes there's fun times for the use of this,
Speaker 42: but we can't allow it to be so de minimized
Speaker 42: that it's like alcohol or cigarettes, because it certainly isn't.
Speaker 42: So with that, I appreciate everybody here and let's just
Speaker 42: keep fighting. Call your local representatives tell them that you
Speaker 42: want late to see Jaden's law. Get passed and push
Speaker 42: through to the House floor and into law.
Speaker 40: These kids need this. Thank you, Hi, I'm back again.
Speaker 36: This time I get to introduce the h is ranking elected.
Speaker 36: Here are congresswomen. Congresswoman Debbie Dingle, one of the voices
Speaker 36: that has been fighting in DC for the federal reform
Speaker 36: of our beloved plant and is fearless in all she
Speaker 36: does and says very thankful for her friendship to our community.
Speaker 36: And let's give her a warm welcome, the wonderful Congresswoman
Speaker 36: Debbie Dingle.
Speaker 14: Are we all having fun? Are we just high on life?
Speaker 13: Good?
Speaker 14: So it's great to be here with all of you again.
Speaker 46: I still always think I'm one of the least likely
Speaker 46: people to be here, but I feel very strongly about
Speaker 46: a few things. And I want to thank Jamie Lowell
Speaker 46: for organizing another great hashbash. It's the fifty third one. Now,
Speaker 46: I do think that you were at the fifty fourth
Speaker 46: for a fifty fourth Oh he was at the fourth one.
Speaker 46: I wasn't, but I wish i'd been there for John Lennon. Now,
Speaker 46: I wish we could get, you know, Paul McCartney to
Speaker 46: come for tradition.
Speaker 14: Maybe we try for that next.
Speaker 46: But I do think that we just want to take
Speaker 46: a moment and remember and honor the life of our
Speaker 46: friend John Sinclair.
Speaker 14: His and it's sad that he died just a few.
Speaker 46: Days before today, but he is one of the reasons
Speaker 46: we're all here together, and that we have been coming
Speaker 46: together for decades.
Speaker 14: So we're going to.
Speaker 46: Keep up this fight in his memory and with his
Speaker 46: strength and his conviction.
Speaker 14: And I want to you.
Speaker 46: Know, I'm still standing up here and have never smoked marijuana,
Speaker 46: swallowed marijuana, or done anything. But I think everybody's got
Speaker 46: I know, you guys are going to try to get me.
Speaker 46: I mean, I tell the truth, but I still think,
Speaker 46: you know, if you want to, you should be able to.
Speaker 14: And people have made their voices heard.
Speaker 46: More Americans now live in a state that has legalized marijuana,
Speaker 46: and a new Pere research analysis has shown that most
Speaker 46: also have at least one dispensary in their county. But
Speaker 46: I might not like tell you what in memory of
Speaker 46: John Sinclair or I'm not quite sure what the word is.
Speaker 46: You know, ten years ago he said, not as many
Speaker 46: people come. I think we've got a great crowd, don't
Speaker 46: we have a great crowd. But there wasn't as much
Speaker 46: to fight for anymore, and I would beg to differ.
Speaker 14: The fact of the matter is we got to change our.
Speaker 46: Laws to keep up with what's happening across America.
Speaker 14: A patchwork of laws doesn't work.
Speaker 46: There are a lot of pieces to this, but that
Speaker 46: one's the most important to me. This one is we
Speaker 46: have to decriminalize marijuana and get people out of jail.
Speaker 3: Time.
Speaker 46: Last Congress, we passed the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expunge
Speaker 46: in Act to decriminalize marijuana, expunge criminal records, and implement
Speaker 46: economic policies to support those hurt.
Speaker 14: Most by the War on drugs.
Speaker 46: And people who think this doesn't matter, I want to
Speaker 46: tell you something.
Speaker 14: Even with twin t.
Speaker 46: Four states and DC allowing legal adult use of kids
Speaker 46: and two thirds of the country allowing legal medical more
Speaker 46: than a quarter of a million people were arrested for
Speaker 46: marijuana related violations, according to a no and ninety two
Speaker 46: percent of them were just for marijuana possession. So it's
Speaker 46: time time, So we got to make sure we make
Speaker 46: your voices heard. We also have to recognize that medical
Speaker 46: marijuana helps people who are hurting period.
Speaker 14: We know that people who are addicted or not don't
Speaker 14: get addicted.
Speaker 46: People who are suffering from pain become addicted to pain pills.
Speaker 14: They need to have an alternate.
Speaker 46: I kept trying to get John Diggle to try marijuana
Speaker 46: and he wasn't.
Speaker 14: So I took opioids and was afraid of that. But
Speaker 14: it helps.
Speaker 46: It gives people release, and that's why last Congress I
Speaker 46: introduced the Bipartisan Medical Marijuana Research Act, which passed the
Speaker 46: House to remove bureaucatic barriers and federal roadblocks to medical
Speaker 46: marijuana use and research. So here's a reality. This industry's
Speaker 46: not going away. And I think it should be legal,
Speaker 46: and I think it should be safe.
Speaker 14: And we've got one more problem we can't get done.
Speaker 46: That's why I'm the original co sponsor of the Safe
Speaker 46: Banking Act to address the inequities for marijuana businesses and
Speaker 46: protect the safety and security of small businesses and their
Speaker 46: employees by increasing access to the banking system.
Speaker 14: You shouldn't have to carry a bunch of cash around.
Speaker 46: It's beyond time to change our federal marijuana laws period
Speaker 46: legalize it. We're wasting law enforcement's time and resources and prosecutors,
Speaker 46: but we have a prosecutor that does well. We don't
Speaker 46: have the problem here by prosecuting low level marijuana possession.
Speaker 14: And we all know that this.
Speaker 46: Disproportionately impacts community of color, and one simple conviction of
Speaker 46: possession can derail lives, can make it harder for jobs, housing,
Speaker 46: guaranteeing harsher sentences in the future.
Speaker 14: It's wrong. So okay, I want you to do whatever
Speaker 14: you want to do today.
Speaker 46: I'm going to get high in life. You can smoke,
Speaker 46: you can drink, you can do whatever. But and memory
Speaker 46: of John Sinclair, our work isn't over. We gotta get
Speaker 46: marijuana decriminalized, we gotta get safe banking, we gotta get
Speaker 46: research done, and our job isn't done until we get
Speaker 46: that done. So you don't need to talk to I'm
Speaker 46: not political today, but you don't need to talk to
Speaker 46: any Democrats.
Speaker 14: Go talk to the Republican. So won't get this done.
Speaker 14: Thank you have fun. I'm back again.
Speaker 36: So most of our community probably hesitates when you hear
Speaker 36: law enforcement sheriff that type of stuff. Well, I get
Speaker 36: the unique privilege of introducing you to a pro cannabis
Speaker 36: sheriff candidate who's running to be the next shaff right
Speaker 36: here in Washingall County. My dear friend Alicia Dyer, we
Speaker 36: are in need of dire change.
Speaker 16: Thank you Leah for that fabulous introduction. Happy hashbashaw whoo.
Speaker 16: So my name is Alisha Dyer and I'm running for
Speaker 16: sheriff and I believe that.
Speaker 30: We need to end the war on drugs.
Speaker 16: When I was a deputy working here, I grew up
Speaker 16: in Ipsilanti and ann Arbor was at the forefront of
Speaker 16: real change in cannabis and they were able to decriminalize
Speaker 16: it well before it was legalized in Michigan. But unfortunately
Speaker 16: in Ipsey Township, people were still getting their cars towed
Speaker 16: and people were still being harassed by the police and
Speaker 16: our sheriff's office. When I was working there before it
Speaker 16: was legalized, was doing raids after finding blunts and people's
Speaker 16: trash cans.
Speaker 13: And we know that's not okay.
Speaker 16: And so thankfully, due to the collective action of so
Speaker 16: many organizers and dedicated people in this cannabis space, we
Speaker 16: now have a state where we are not criminalizing cannabis
Speaker 16: and we are actually making sure that people are being supported.
Speaker 16: But we have to do more, and we have to
Speaker 16: make sure we can get this going across the country.
Speaker 16: And as your next sheriff in Washingta County. I'm unapologetically
Speaker 16: pro cannabis, pro ending the war on drugs, and we'll
Speaker 16: do everything in my power to make sure we do better.
Speaker 13: Here.
Speaker 14: Go to dire twenty twenty four dot.
Speaker 16: Com to get involved. This is a movement d y
Speaker 16: e R twenty twenty four on your phones. Donate if
Speaker 16: you're inspired, join our team.
Speaker 13: We got this. Thank you.
Speaker 7: Oh hey, all right, let's here for Alicia and we
Speaker 7: need a sheriff like that.
Speaker 8: Hey, do them.
Speaker 19: The way your police is the way your life's gonna.
Speaker 7: Be right now, Okay, hey, the way the way you
Speaker 7: police is the way your life is gonna be.
Speaker 31: Go ahead, listen everybody that just listened to miss Dyer,
Speaker 31: who wants to be the new sheriff. It's very important
Speaker 31: if you are here in Washington County, think about it.
Speaker 31: The sheriff is gonna dictate the rules in that county.
Speaker 31: If the Sheriff's not interested in prosecuting you for any
Speaker 31: drug crime, you know what it's called freedom.
Speaker 8: Thanks a lot, man, Okay, how you doing all right?
Speaker 3: Right on?
Speaker 7: Hey, So, our next speaker has been passionately involved in
Speaker 7: this community for many years. He ran the home of
Speaker 7: Medicine on Main Street for about a decade. He's been
Speaker 7: involved in educating on cannabis and entheogens. He was one
Speaker 7: of the founders of the Anthiofest and monitored to have
Speaker 7: him come work with me at Metz Cafe here coming
Speaker 7: up when our location opens up in ann Arbor in
Speaker 7: just a few days hopefully, so help me introduce to you,
Speaker 7: mister Jim Slam.
Speaker 15: Thank you so much, Shamie, Thank you, Jamie.
Speaker 3: Give it up.
Speaker 47: Happy Hashbash everybody. I'm so so honored to be here
Speaker 47: right now. You know, I've been coming here since I
Speaker 47: was probably fifteen years old, living in Saline to south
Speaker 47: of here. It's a it's a tribute to to freedom,
Speaker 47: and I thank Johnson Clair for that. I thank Johnson
Speaker 47: Clair for the activism in Michigan.
Speaker 15: Uh for what he's brought, I think.
Speaker 48: Uh.
Speaker 47: I thank him for for Hashbash, because without Hashbash, there
Speaker 47: wouldn't be an Entheo Fest, which does the exact same thing,
Speaker 47: but it celebrates plant medicines like ayahuasca and eyeball gain
Speaker 47: and things like mushrooms as well. And I'm really honored
Speaker 47: to be speaking up here with all these distinguished speakers
Speaker 47: that they are so part of the activist community that
Speaker 47: we all should be a part of. And that's a
Speaker 47: call out to the youth. I've heard couple calls out
Speaker 47: for youth involvement.
Speaker 15: And we need more of that.
Speaker 47: I want to start here by going into uh something
Speaker 47: that I really like.
Speaker 15: They're my favorite strains and it's a poem.
Speaker 47: Granddaddy, Purple White Widow, Blue Dream, Gooberry, Sugar, Black Rose,
Speaker 47: Jilly Bean, Headband, Hashplant, Tangerine, Hayes.
Speaker 15: These are a few of my favorite strains.
Speaker 47: West Coast Celler Diesel Lemonadron, Pineapple Express and Durban Poison
Speaker 47: Island Sweet Skunk, Skywalker o G. These are a few
Speaker 47: of the best strains for me. When the match strikes
Speaker 47: win the joint lights, Edibles, hash or dabs, I simply
Speaker 47: remember my favorite strains and then I don't feel so bad.
Speaker 47: So thank you everybody for having me. And right now
Speaker 47: I want to talk about the next speaker. His name's Korn.
Speaker 47: He's leading the activists movement for decriminalizing plat medicines and
Speaker 47: fun Guy in the state of Michigan, Ellie Savage and
Speaker 47: Senator Jeff Ferron here are also doing the same things
Speaker 47: for us out there, Please give him a warm welcome.
Speaker 47: He was part of he's right now the part of
Speaker 47: decrim Nature Michigan. The liberatory harm reductionists, policy advocate for
Speaker 47: the Michigan Drug User Health Alliance and member of care
Speaker 47: based Safety Crisis Response Team.
Speaker 15: Please give it up for Corn.
Speaker 22: J j.
Speaker 49: Yeah, buddy, all right, things that lie Jim, And to
Speaker 49: all the speakers so far with sub hashbash, a lot
Speaker 49: has already been said, and I'm gonna keep it. I'm
Speaker 49: gonna keep it really brief. Like so many folks up
Speaker 49: here have talked about. If you're here today, you are powerful.
Speaker 49: Your voice is powerful, Your voice is meaningful, and we
Speaker 49: owe it to each other to use those voices to
Speaker 49: advocate for what we know is right. Michigan deserves better,
Speaker 49: and that's real life. Since twenty eighteen, we've lost fifteen
Speaker 49: thousand of our friends and family members to overdose while
Speaker 49: legislators sit in their offices behind closed doors and continue
Speaker 49: to pass laws to lock people up for drug use,
Speaker 49: rather than passing laws to promote harm reduction that we
Speaker 49: know works to save lives. You guys need to use
Speaker 49: your voices to let them know that we will not
Speaker 49: stand for this anymore. We want overdose prevention centers in Michigan.
Speaker 49: We want drug checking programs in Michigan. We want a
Speaker 49: safe supply. We want decriminalization for personal use of all
Speaker 49: drugs in Michigan. These folks sit behind closed doors in
Speaker 49: their offices every day and they make decisions about your lives.
Speaker 49: Look up who your city council members are, Look up
Speaker 49: when they meet, Show up and tell them we're fed up.
Speaker 49: We need change. We need change in our cities. We
Speaker 49: need change in our counties. We need change in our
Speaker 49: state and in our country. We got folks that are
Speaker 49: up here on these steps today that are a part
Speaker 49: of making these laws. Don't let them walk out of
Speaker 49: here without coming up and talking to them and tell them, hey,
Speaker 49: we need change.
Speaker 3: We demand more.
Speaker 11: We deserve it.
Speaker 49: End the war on drugs, defund the police, and defund
Speaker 49: the prison industrial complex.
Speaker 3: Much love, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 50: Korn All right, everybody, my name's Josh Kover. I'm the
Speaker 50: CEO of METS Cafe. I was an attorney for a
Speaker 50: long time and fought the drug war all across the
Speaker 50: state of Michigan.
Speaker 11: I fought the drug war because I grew up in.
Speaker 50: A home where my parents Douw's cannabis and now my
Speaker 50: parents weren't criminals, and I'm glad to say today in
Speaker 50: Michigan they're not.
Speaker 11: I'm really honored to be here in Hashbash today.
Speaker 50: One of the things I think is the greatest about
Speaker 50: Hashbash is kind of in the name hash Bash, right,
Speaker 50: and the bash part is that, like, we're all celebrating
Speaker 50: something today, but it's also a protest and it's very
Speaker 50: It's not real common that you get people together and
Speaker 50: we all celebrate something at the same time we're protesting something.
Speaker 50: And I think that's what's really beautiful about this place
Speaker 50: and everything that's here. And I'm really honored to be
Speaker 50: here because of the history of Hashbash fifty three years
Speaker 50: that's amazing, and all the people that came before us,
Speaker 50: people like John Sinclair that the way recently, Rick Thompson,
Speaker 50: hass gersh Brad. I can go on and on, but anyway,
Speaker 50: that's the history and it's really great to be here
Speaker 50: and to honor that. That's part of the celebration. Also,
Speaker 50: like I said, celebrating the plant. That's really important and
Speaker 50: that's what we're all here doing today. I also think
Speaker 50: the protest parts obviously important, there's still things to protest. Federally,
Speaker 50: it's still illegal. That's fucked up. It shouldn't be illegal
Speaker 50: federally on the federal controlled Substance List.
Speaker 11: Lots of changes still need to be made.
Speaker 50: At the state level, it's also on the controlled substance List.
Speaker 11: Still, that's fucked up. We need less regulation.
Speaker 50: It's choking the industry, it's preventing access to medicine to people.
Speaker 50: We also need change at the local level. We need
Speaker 50: more municipalities to allow for marijuana establishments. And that's important
Speaker 50: because everyone here that's from Michigan, each one of you
Speaker 50: can run for city council, you can be on a
Speaker 50: planning commission, you can get involved, and that's really important.
Speaker 50: So let's continue and honor both, you know, the protest
Speaker 50: part of this and the celebration, because there's a lot
Speaker 50: of both today and when we're talking about the municipal
Speaker 50: involvement and you know, running for city council.
Speaker 11: There's nobody better I could introduce next. He's a dear.
Speaker 50: Friend of mine. His name is al Witt, mister gaylord himself.
Speaker 50: All right, hold on, I just want to say one thing.
Speaker 50: I just wanted to little little miscommunication. I just wanted
Speaker 50: Josh to introduce l and not necessarily go yet, so.
Speaker 8: I'll just keep it quick. But I want some people
Speaker 8: to know that.
Speaker 7: Josh became an attorney specifically to fight the drug war.
Speaker 7: He's now running a company and he's put together a
Speaker 7: team of people who understand the history of cannabis, who
Speaker 7: understand the culture, understand the nature of the product, who
Speaker 7: take it seriously.
Speaker 8: We have a passion for it, and so that's that's.
Speaker 7: Very respectworthy in this day and age, and he should
Speaker 7: really be acknowledged for that in a lot of the
Speaker 7: great work and landmark cases that he's been involved into.
Speaker 7: Remember the stupid transportation law. Josh was the one that
Speaker 7: helped to get rid of that thing. So please give
Speaker 7: it up again one more time for Josh. And yes,
Speaker 7: Galer City Councilman mister.
Speaker 3: Al Witt has best. How's it going out there?
Speaker 51: So nine years ago I was walking around to that card.
Speaker 51: Nobody kne who the fuck I was. Two months later,
Speaker 51: got raided by the state police and they put me
Speaker 51: in jail. It's some bullshit, right for some fucking we
Speaker 51: manh Thirty five people got raided. I was the only
Speaker 51: one to stand up and fight. Two people were killed, families.
Speaker 3: Got some part.
Speaker 51: They took everything from us. It's a bunch of bullshit,
Speaker 51: you know what I mean. But you know, I got
Speaker 51: out of jail with fucking nothing. They took everything, and
Speaker 51: I was like, that's bullshit. There's people out here dying
Speaker 51: that need this plan. So I stood up and I
Speaker 51: chose right there that we're gonna fight this and that.
Speaker 51: Ever since that day, I never looked back. And it
Speaker 51: changed my life and it got us here. I ended
Speaker 51: up going to jail for a while. Josh Kobt was
Speaker 51: my attorney. We took it all the way. State Supreme
Speaker 51: Court changed laws, and we all here making changes. I
Speaker 51: ran a petition drive. We changed the law in the town,
Speaker 51: but before they could prosecute me. Then on top of that,
Speaker 51: once I got out of jail, they said I couldn't
Speaker 51: smoke weed, So I said fuck you, and I ran
Speaker 51: for city counts on pelony probation. I beat a cop
Speaker 51: that was twenty two years of state police. I beat
Speaker 51: the head of Ems's wife, and we beat them by
Speaker 51: a landslide, like astronomical numbers, like they didn't even show
Speaker 51: up type shit. But that's all through weed, and you
Speaker 51: can do anything. And I'm a felon and I became
Speaker 51: city council and that's how you changed the shit. It
Speaker 51: starts from within and it's little people like uh got
Speaker 51: standing up and make the change. Because when we you
Speaker 51: not together, that's just powerful, and they're afraid of that.
Speaker 11: That's why we gotta stand up for this shit.
Speaker 51: And guys like Johnson Claire, he's gonna started all this,
Speaker 51: and we owe all the respect to those guys.
Speaker 11: Lots of us have died.
Speaker 51: And far we're gonna continue to carry this tarch, this
Speaker 51: worrying over this. Still people enjoy it, jail for it.
Speaker 51: Prison families are still affected. People are still fucking dying.
Speaker 51: But corporate moneys are making bank off it and they
Speaker 51: ain't doing shit.
Speaker 11: That's why we with Met's Cafe.
Speaker 51: We work with the caregivers, We work the local people,
Speaker 51: and were team enough to take on these corporate hassholes
Speaker 51: and give you people what's right.
Speaker 3: And that's good.
Speaker 51: We good medicine for a good fucking price. But we
Speaker 51: out here fighting and this shit ain't over and we
Speaker 51: need to get everybody out this jail, all right. In
Speaker 51: the word of Johnson Clair, he said, a good friend
Speaker 51: of mine. He said, fuck the motherfucking authority. I'm out
Speaker 51: and I gotta bring in the next big hitter. This
Speaker 51: is our Cathay Kirk, twelve time high time chance edible activists,
Speaker 51: the man, motherfucking legend. Here you go, brother Kathin Kirk
Speaker 51: gets an on it. Thank you all, God bless you folks.
Speaker 51: I'm not a politician. I'm not gonna blow smoke up
Speaker 51: your ass. I'm not gonna incite a bloodbath. But I'm
Speaker 51: gonna answer a question here, So please pay attention to
Speaker 51: this because this is important. I've been asked many times,
Speaker 51: Hey captain, it's legal, Now, why do we attend hashbash?
Speaker 3: Well, I'm gonna answer.
Speaker 15: That for you.
Speaker 1: I will remember John Sinclair, a man that gave up
Speaker 1: his life and went to jail for giving two joints
Speaker 1: to an undercover agent. I will remember the hard work
Speaker 1: of Adam Brooke. I will remember the hard work of
Speaker 1: the activists that stood out in the sun, the snow,
Speaker 1: the hot heat, everything that we went through to collect
Speaker 1: six natures to make legalization, only to be pushed out
Speaker 1: of something we helped build. I remember the medical benefit
Speaker 1: of this plant. I will remember the fifty three narcotics.
Speaker 1: I got off of all by myself with the medical
Speaker 1: plant called cannabis. I will remember what it felt like
Speaker 1: to go home at night and wonder when my door
Speaker 1: was gonna get kicked in and go back to the
Speaker 1: boot in the face in the sixteen Many of.
Speaker 3: You don't have to go through that, and God bless
Speaker 3: you for that.
Speaker 1: I will remember many people that are in jail and
Speaker 1: have been jailed and had their families disrupted over a
Speaker 1: cannabis plant. I will remember the consequences when caught with
Speaker 1: cannabis back in the day. Many of you don't have
Speaker 1: to go through that. I want you all to remember
Speaker 1: quite a few things. We all stand here in solidarity.
Speaker 3: There's many warriors that have passed this year.
Speaker 1: John Sinclair a few days ago, I want to remember
Speaker 1: and some people said it today.
Speaker 3: Kershavery also known as.
Speaker 1: Peanut Butter, Doug Orton, Rick Thompson has Prelude, Steve Levenger,
Speaker 1: Brad Limke. Many of these people stood out there and
Speaker 1: fought for the rights that you all have now. I
Speaker 1: will remember for the rest of my life what it's
Speaker 1: like now to stand in public and smoke a joint
Speaker 1: without that gun and boot in my face, and you
Speaker 1: should remember that too. Before I go, I want to
Speaker 1: say one more word. I want you all to remember
Speaker 1: this moment. Look to the people to your left, look
Speaker 1: to the people to your right. Remember this moment, remember
Speaker 1: this day. This is not about me, This is not
Speaker 1: about anything else but us as a community fighting for
Speaker 1: a plant that brought us medical stuff. I am off
Speaker 1: all kinds of pills, I'm off alcohol. The only thing
Speaker 1: that I'm scared of about everything that went on is
Speaker 1: we've lost that medical benefit. We here in Michigan, we've
Speaker 1: proved the medical benefit of it.
Speaker 3: That's what brought legalization.
Speaker 1: I also remember building the very first, along with many others,
Speaker 1: the very first dispensary east of Colorado. We did that
Speaker 1: in Yipsilanti, Michigan. Give yourself a random applause that happened here,
Speaker 1: and these people up on these steps made that so
Speaker 1: again when you hear that voice, go.
Speaker 3: Why do I gotta go to hashbash?
Speaker 1: It's legal point the things out I said to you,
Speaker 1: Remember those traditions, Remember those people, all the hard work
Speaker 1: that they did.
Speaker 3: God bless you all and thank you.
Speaker 14: Back again this time tender.
Speaker 36: Do someone else in the judicial world, our prosecutor here
Speaker 36: in Washington County has been an ally and a friend
Speaker 36: to us for many many years. Now most counties aren't
Speaker 36: as lucky. So please welcome to the stage our prosecutor,
Speaker 36: my friend Ellie Savat.
Speaker 52: What's up, hashbash? I want to make one thing, very
Speaker 52: very clear. Standing here as the Washtot County prosecutor, I
Speaker 52: can assure all of you not a single person is
Speaker 52: being prosecuted today for the use or possession of cannabis.
Speaker 52: And by the way, that's not just true today because
Speaker 52: we don't prosecute that in Washingtot County. Yes, marijuana's legal.
Speaker 52: Cannabis is legal, but if you have like a little
Speaker 52: bit too much marijuana, a little bit too much cannabis,
Speaker 52: that is not a good use of prosecutorial resources. We
Speaker 52: would never prosecute somebody for having too many bottles of wine.
Speaker 24: We call that person a collector, a connoisseur.
Speaker 52: Why would we prosecute somebody for being a connoisseur of cannabis.
Speaker 52: But I want to say that despite the fact that
Speaker 52: it is legal here, despite the fact that this movement
Speaker 52: has largely succeeded in Michigan, the work isn't done. There
Speaker 52: are still far too many people who remain who can
Speaker 52: continue to have criminal convictions for possession or use of
Speaker 52: a substance that.
Speaker 24: Is now legal. Think about that. Why on earth should
Speaker 24: ay criminal conviction.
Speaker 52: Remain on your record for something that is no longer
Speaker 52: a crime. So, not only do we need to legalize
Speaker 52: cannabis across the country, we need to expunge all of
Speaker 52: those old criminal cannabis convictions. We need to do that
Speaker 52: in all fifty states. We need to do that on
Speaker 52: the federal level. And this movement that started here on
Speaker 52: the steps of the Michigan Diag in ann Arbor and
Speaker 52: got cannabis legalized here is the movement that will ultimately
Speaker 52: ensure that that is the case across all fifty states
Speaker 52: and at the federal level. And the work is not
Speaker 52: done until every single cannabis conviction is off people's records
Speaker 52: and it is legal nationwide.
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 13: Right.
Speaker 36: I think this is the last intro I have And
Speaker 36: this man is currently one of my team Wilson favorites
Speaker 36: are stay representative out of ippsil aany As a freshman REP.
Speaker 36: Came up and took up a bunch of bills that
Speaker 36: former friends had left due to term limits, and he
Speaker 36: has fought to educate and talk to his caucus about
Speaker 36: why there is so much more work to do. I'm
Speaker 36: super excited to introduce you guys to Stay Reped Jimmy Wilson.
Speaker 53: What's up, past Bash, I'm Jimmy Wilson Stay Representative out
Speaker 53: of Ipsilanti and up in Lanson.
Speaker 11: We've been working hard.
Speaker 53: I got my legislator director there, Leah Dotson, and we
Speaker 53: hit the ground running.
Speaker 11: We got in there. It's a lot of things we
Speaker 11: need to change.
Speaker 53: And let me tell you one thing in specific right now,
Speaker 53: in our K twelve system, our students they can have
Speaker 53: their medicine stored in nurses offices and secretary's offices.
Speaker 11: But our pediatric medical.
Speaker 53: Marijuana patients that are K twelve, they actually can't store
Speaker 53: their stuff their medicine in the office is the same way.
Speaker 53: And so my legislation that I've introduced, it's a reintroduction.
Speaker 53: This is called Jaden's Law. And I don't know where's
Speaker 53: Jaden at where's Jaden? Oh, they're probably up there. Okay,
Speaker 53: we got Jaden young man. Now, he has been pushing
Speaker 53: for this for a long time. He suffers from seizures
Speaker 53: and epilepsy. Look, we need to allow him to have
Speaker 53: his medicine in the schools, just like anybody else has
Speaker 53: their medicine in the schools. The specific key key to
Speaker 53: this is this is non smokable cannabis that we're actually
Speaker 53: pushing to be allowed in the school system, and we
Speaker 53: actually have bipartisan support. This isn't a Democrat or Republican issue.
Speaker 53: This is actually just a fairness issue where we're trying
Speaker 53: to allow our pediatric medical marijuana patients to have their
Speaker 53: medicine stored in the school the same way I have
Speaker 53: a son, he has ADHD. He has a control substance
Speaker 53: that gets to get.
Speaker 11: Stored in the school.
Speaker 53: Why can't this other control substance also be stored in
Speaker 53: the school so that way these kids can have their
Speaker 53: medicine the same way. I need you all to make
Speaker 53: sure you're supporting Jaden's law and make sure you reach
Speaker 53: out to your state reps and your state senators to.
Speaker 11: Support in Jaden's law.
Speaker 53: We got to get this over the finish line and
Speaker 53: bring fairness in the school system. Now, one more thing,
Speaker 53: and let me bring Lee up here. So we've been
Speaker 53: talking a lot about descheduling at the federal level, but
Speaker 53: we also need to get that done here at the
Speaker 53: state level. We need to deschedule cannabis here at the
Speaker 53: state level. And next week we're gonna be introducing the
Speaker 53: John Sinclair Act to deschedule cannabis here in Michigan. It's pastime.
Speaker 53: This is twenty twenty four. All of our constituents, all
Speaker 53: of you here, I know you support this. We gotta
Speaker 53: get this done and in the books and get it
Speaker 53: to the governor's desk so she can sign it. So
Speaker 53: we need all your support to support the John Sinclair
Speaker 53: Descheduling Act that will be reintroducing next week.
Speaker 11: I hope I can get you a support on that.
Speaker 11: Once again. I'm Jimmy Wilson.
Speaker 8: Thank you all, all right, Representative Wilson.
Speaker 7: He's really kind of picked up the georch and become
Speaker 7: our friend in the State House of Representatives. And obviously
Speaker 7: he is introducing some sensible legislation to help out with
Speaker 7: cannabis reform. So I've getten some help here from uh
Speaker 7: from Leah who he just brought up in order to
Speaker 7: introduce many people today. But shear Surf, she herself deserves
Speaker 7: to be recognized little bit more. She's the chair of
Speaker 7: the Cannabis Caucus here in Michigan. She's on staff with
Speaker 7: Representative Wilson. She's helped at many of these great representatives
Speaker 7: who were here today. So let's give her a few
Speaker 7: minutes on her own. Help me to introduce Leah Schuyler.
Speaker 14: Happy Hashbash.
Speaker 36: So I want to start by taking a moment to
Speaker 36: remember Zahuddah Boss and Rick Thompson, the two mentors I
Speaker 36: had who kept me in this world and kept me
Speaker 36: coming back. Sahuda was an epilepsy patient. She was a
Speaker 36: devout Muslim woman who broke all the norms to say
Speaker 36: that this medicine works for me. And instead of staying quiet,
Speaker 36: she got as loud as possible.
Speaker 14: And so me and my friends have promised we will.
Speaker 36: Stay as loud as possible. There is so much to do,
Speaker 36: There is so much to keep talking about and celebrating.
Speaker 36: This is a community like none other. This plan has
Speaker 36: brought people from all walks of life together, and I
Speaker 36: am so thankful for that. You've heard that I mess
Speaker 36: around in politics, government, cannabis, campaign work policy. I am
Speaker 36: one voice, and I desperately want you to come storm
Speaker 36: lancing with me in those offices. Come tell your stories.
Speaker 36: Come explain why it's your medicine. Come share who's still
Speaker 36: sitting in the prison that you.
Speaker 30: Want to come home.
Speaker 36: There are so many people who think we got our
Speaker 36: two acts and we're done.
Speaker 30: We are not done.
Speaker 14: We will not be quiet.
Speaker 36: You will not keep us out of those rooms, and
Speaker 36: you will never touch our medicine. So thank you for
Speaker 36: this community, for the friendships. And again thank you to
Speaker 36: the people Zahada to Rick Thompson to John Sinclair for
Speaker 36: the lessons and the things that they taught, and for
Speaker 36: taking someone like me who never thought I'd be in
Speaker 36: this world and saying, come, this is where you belong,
Speaker 36: this is home.
Speaker 14: So happy hashbash, keep pushing.
Speaker 7: Keep smoking, right, all right, thank you Leah, very much appreciated.
Speaker 8: Thanks for helping me out today, of course too. All right,
Speaker 8: we're almost at the end.
Speaker 7: We have a couple more great speakers, a couple of
Speaker 7: great attorneys have been involved with us for many years.
Speaker 7: Our next attorney is one of the partners in the
Speaker 7: Great Cannabis Council Law firm. His other main partner, mister
Speaker 7: Matt Abels right out there, joined us surprisingly today. I'm
Speaker 7: very happy to have him around Cannabis Council has done
Speaker 7: nothing but cannabis work since mainly since even before the
Speaker 7: change of laws. They've really paid attention. Tom has done
Speaker 7: a great work for a lot of people over the
Speaker 7: years in many ways, and he's been an activist along
Speaker 7: with the rest of us too, and really happy to
Speaker 7: have him here and help us round this out.
Speaker 8: Let's here for Tom Levine.
Speaker 20: All right, Ashmash. So here we are. We've come a
Speaker 20: long way.
Speaker 48: We could grow twelve plants at home and keep the
Speaker 48: entire harvests under lock and key.
Speaker 20: Now, how cool is that? So here we are. However,
Speaker 20: we do have a lot.
Speaker 15: Of work to do.
Speaker 48: We still don't have fair employer treatment. That's a huge
Speaker 48: issue that we need to deal with. And the descheduling
Speaker 48: of cannabis, both federally and on the state level.
Speaker 20: Would have a ripple through effect.
Speaker 48: It affects housing, it affects banking, it affects all of
Speaker 48: these different issues. If you just do that one thing
Speaker 48: of descheduling cannabis, so that would be the big.
Speaker 20: Step forward that we need. The current plan to.
Speaker 48: Reschedule it is really insufficient and it's inconsistent with the
Speaker 48: way that we do business at the state level. So
Speaker 48: it doesn't really make sense. So I encourage you to
Speaker 48: get out there and vote. And I see a bunch
Speaker 48: of young people cutting through here. We need to run
Speaker 48: for office. We need people who are smokers who are
Speaker 48: running for office. We need people to get out and
Speaker 48: vote to make sure these policies keep moving in the
Speaker 48: right direction. Patients are still discriminated against. I still get
Speaker 48: calls from mothers who have babies where THHC is found
Speaker 48: in their system and the CPS is getting involved.
Speaker 20: You know this needs to stop.
Speaker 48: I still get employment issues where people really have trouble
Speaker 48: and here they are using it as a medicine and
Speaker 48: they haven't used it in days, and they're still not
Speaker 48: able to get the job.
Speaker 20: It's just injustice.
Speaker 48: The social justice that this movement represents really came through
Speaker 48: strong when we saw the photographs of the people still
Speaker 48: serving in prison for marijuana.
Speaker 20: So here we go, man.
Speaker 48: Let's sell break because we have made a long, long way.
Speaker 48: Let's get involved and let's smoke some weed people, all.
Speaker 3: Right, for the weed? All right?
Speaker 8: Thanks Tom.
Speaker 7: Tom Levine, Cannabis Council and deputy director of the Revived
Speaker 7: Michigan Normal Chapter. I might add, yeah, so let's hear
Speaker 7: it for Michigan normal, Hey, so so, rounding things out
Speaker 7: and then we're gonna get to some music. Another great
Speaker 7: attorney been involved in this in this world for many
Speaker 7: years since the change of the uh, the Medical Act
Speaker 7: and two thousand and eight or so, he's does a
Speaker 7: lot of work with us with the Great Lace Expongement Network. Thankfully,
Speaker 7: and uh uh we'll be back to wrap this up
Speaker 7: and get to the band. But let's hear it for
Speaker 7: Paul to Linda, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 54: It's up hash bash h. Take a look around and
Speaker 54: thank your neighbor, thank yourself. Look at how far we've come.
Speaker 54: The voices and the faces and the stories that you've seen,
Speaker 54: you've heard today started because they were sick of something,
Speaker 54: They were sick of someone's shit. They wanted to change,
Speaker 54: they wanted to be free. And in their search for freedom,
Speaker 54: they brought along everybody else. And we stand on the
Speaker 54: shoulders of giants, and we stand behind their accomplishments, and
Speaker 54: we walk the path that they have created for us.
Speaker 3: And those paths are not done.
Speaker 54: The work is not done, the accomplishments are not complete.
Speaker 54: So finish, be sick of it, pursue that freedom for
Speaker 54: yourself and bring the rest of us along with you.
Speaker 54: Become the government. Don't fuck the government, don't fight the government.
Speaker 54: Become the government. The reason that you see these friendly
Speaker 54: faces up here who can speak out and their ability
Speaker 54: to change with the positions that they have, is because
Speaker 54: they were sick of it and the change.
Speaker 3: That they wanted to see they became. They did it.
Speaker 54: Take that job, run for that office. Sick of shit,
Speaker 54: Go be that shit, make it happen. It's up to you.
Speaker 54: That's how we got here, That's how we got this far.
Speaker 7: Thank you, all right, all right, thanks man, Thanks all right,
Speaker 7: Paul to Linda. That's it for the speakers. Really appreciate
Speaker 7: everybody listening to everybody's great presentation today. I appreciate everybody's participation.
Speaker 7: Please help us clean up a little bit. There's extra
Speaker 7: garbage cans and stuff this year, so if you could
Speaker 7: be mindful of that, that'd be less work for us
Speaker 7: when this is all over. But now we have time
Speaker 7: left to listen to some great music. As soon as
Speaker 7: they're ready, we're going to turn this over to Tom
Speaker 7: Wall and Cosmic Not. They're gonna bring some other people
Speaker 7: into play with them. Tom invariably we'll be jamming with
Speaker 7: this plant right here. Howpay in it up to some electrodes.
Speaker 7: That's a cosmic spluge strain, very musical and stick around
Speaker 7: and Tom Wall and cosmic knot. Thanks everybody. I think
Speaker 7: it was a great Hashbash. Should we hear it one
Speaker 7: last time for Hashbash? Everybody who's not here, John Sinclair,
Speaker 7: my best friend, Rick Thompson. I appreciate all the all
Speaker 7: the reflection and tribute everybody's given today and let's keep
Speaker 7: up the great work. Thanks again, everybody, Happy Hashbash