my name is richard kearns. i am a 56-year-old gay angelino alive with AIDS for more than 20 years. i am a medical cannabis patient & advocate. i am a new media citizen journalist & poet
i stand before you today
risking my life
to save my life
pushing my health luck
way past safe limits
to speak to you this morning
drug czar john walters’ claim
that i am a “violent criminal terrorist”
because i am a cannabis patient & grower
is so foolish and plainly self-serving it
seduces us into not taking it seriously
it can be understood, though:
principle defines walters’ behavior
even without informing it
the good is the enemy of the better
we are stewards of the better. our mission
is to create wiser government, using reason
science, ratonal judgment & public discourse
to change the rules. our aim is to transform
social blight into life
this issue of self-government flies
right past drug czar walters:
dea officers are like busdrivers who
despise their riders
medical cannabis is part of my
AIDS treatment regimen. it keeps me
alive and able to contribute to my community
were there truly safe access in los angeles
tomorrow morning, i estimate between
25 and 30,000 HIVers could walk into clinics and
improve their chances of survival 3.3 times.
250-300,000 members of other medically-defined
communities would experience similar benefits
here are three ways you can help us today:
1) implement the “hardship” language of the ico & ensure our clinics can relocate & stay in service
2) help us bring pressure to bear on congress this week to pass the hinchey-rohrbacher amendmendment, which would cut off dea funding for medical cannabis investigations
3) continue our partnership to make medical cannabis access safe for all
namasté
—richard kearns
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