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How to break the stereotypes and finally be taken seriously as a movement?

jd4083

jd4083

Active member
Veteran
Title says it all. What are your thoughts on what growers and smokers (both recreational and medical), as individuals or as a community, can do in order for us to actually be taken seriously by "the world at large"?

Clearly the "stoner" stereotype isn't going anywhere because, for whatever reason, some people cling to it as their entire identity. I've accepted that, but is this a situation where the contributing members of society who also love to grow and consume herb must voluntarily come out of the shadows in order to effect change? Can we band together and try our best to orient the legalization movement in a more positive and realistic direction simply by leading by example? Anyone have any thoughts on this?


I'm not "trolling," nor do I wish this thread to turn into a bunch of petulant mudslinging, so please approach the thread with this in mind. There is no need for flaming or disrespect in this thread, so let's try to keep the discussion civil if at all possible. :thank you:
 
J

juicepuddle

Good question I guess just survive until the people raised to hate it for no good reason are dead.

The way I see it we need to try to change peoples perspective as a hole to not infringe on someones human rights, not just try to let them allow cannabis.

Sorry this isnt better written I suck.

:dance013:
 
SpasticGramps

SpasticGramps

Don't Drone Me, Bro!
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Putting together some serious Washington lobbyists will make us a serious national movement. This will take some time as we are just becoming legitimate in a few states.

Suits, ties, and money to grease the scumbag politicians.

Push the medicinal aspect of weed more too.
 
teemu shalanie

teemu shalanie

WeeDGamE StannisBaratheoN
Veteran
unite , If this industry is worth so much $. we should be able to pay our way , grease some big wheels, basically buy the legislation we want....like everyone else
peace TS
 
Sam the Caveman

Sam the Caveman

Good'n Greasy
Veteran
I was just thinking about how far things have come in the last 10 years. I never would have thought 10 years ago that this many states would have mmj programs and that so many states would be voting on legalization measures.

I think it is in mass. , its basically legal if your caught with less than an ounce. The cops said that the law doesn't require you to show your id to them if they catch you, since it is a civil matter, so unless you voluntarily show them your ID, you won't get fined.

Things are progressing fairly quickly in the cannabis normalization when considering the last 50 years of drug war policy.

I think the only thing you can do is to send emails and talk to your representatives about the issues. They don't have the time to read a multi-page documentary you send them, but a few brief comments about your position and a reputable source to back up your claims. Send these on a regular basis.
 
El Toker

El Toker

Member
the problem is that there are a lot of head cases in the "cannabis community" and although they are a tiny minority they are extremely vocal compared with the sane majority. You can't find a cannabis forum anywhere that doesn't have multiple threads on New World Order, The Illuminati etc. Then you have the ones who seem to genuinely believe that cannabis has given them a hugely enhanced ability to understand things, and they talk about how the "sheeple" just don't get it. Nine times out of ten they'll probably quote from Jack Herrer, even though "The emperors new clothes" was completely discredited years ago.

Please, if you're mad or narcissistic enough to believe that you have a cannabis enhanced intellect, just STFU or at least don't mention cannabis because you're making us all look like complete bat shit crazy basket cases.
 
OjoRojo420

OjoRojo420

Feeling good is good enough.
Veteran
^^^

El Toker:

I would add that some folks are plainly Schizophrenic; so the paranoia and delusions just come along the illness.

Weed is not for all humans, some need anti psychotic medication to become rational and coherent.

Best,

Ojo
 
A

ambition

Member
Andrew Sullivan, oft-cited intellectual of The Atlantic, published a book recently called "the cannabis closet," which features a variety of first-person stories by educated, reasonable people whom smoke, grow, and sometimes distribute cannabis. We get more mainstream coverage than ever before, much of it intellectually honest and serious. I think we've won the battle of getting the reasonable, moderate non-smokers to see the ridiculousness of mj prohibition. That battle has, in my view, been won as best it can in the lay public.

Yet still over half the country opposes full-on legalization, you say. True, but I think that's a different, multifaceted battle. First, a lot of people make a lot of money on prohibition outside the realm of politics, big business, and the prison industry complex. That is to say, we growers. Take a look at the exit poll results in Mendo and Humboldt; it's disgusting, but it's a reality; a lot of career criminals taking advantage of the situation are scared of mj legitimacy. Granted, I believe this is a minority problem, but it still exists. Larger, I think, is just rank and file disinformation for the obvious reasons alluded to above: big pharma, et al.

I have faith, though, that this is largely generational; the propaganda campaign is not unchallenged like it was for most of the baby-boomer generations' lives. Now the truth is out there via the internet if people want to learn. This generation of youth will "grow up," not "dumb down in a frightened fetal position," once they have children, I suspect.

And, I agree with el toker: psuedo intellectualism is a huge problem in the cannabis community. It doesn't "open your eyes, to like, inner dimensions, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaann." It's just kinda fun and basically harmless, and can help sick people. Tards making a religion out of weed are not helping.
 
Stress_test

Stress_test

I'm always here when I'm not someplace else
Veteran
I agree almost entirely with much of what has been already asserted above.

However I am seeing another trend developing that has the potential of sending the MJ movement back 20 or more years.

The propaganda that the government has shoveled for years is that people who use/grow/buy/sell marijuana are "druggies". They are criminals and the scourge of the earth, who have wasted their lives and fried their brains smoking weed and will rape your wife and children and steal you blind if they even move to your neighborhood. They are evil black, asian and hispanic leaches on society and should be executed on site to prevent further degradation of the "honest world".
After years of effort to rise above the propaganda, we have successfully changed laws and have began to remove the government stigma and stereotype. However I know several people who have jumped through the loops to get legal and still insist in being illegal by growing over their limit or selling to people who are NOT legal. Which shoves them, "the MMJ" user right back into the "illegal pothead" category.

I mean to me I really don't give a crap who grows what or how much of it. But it looks pretty bad for us all when we pick up the paper or watch the news and there are regular stories about Medical MJ patients getting busted with illegal grows or for selling and have pounds over their limit.
It's like some of these people are going to find a way to be outlaws and criminals if they completely remove prohibition.

Something my granddad said once was: "When you go into a court of law and insist justice; you need to have clean hands yourself". To me that means if I want the other citizens to step up and help defend my rights as well as theirs, then I have to be legal and completely legitimate. Otherwise I am nothing but another pot smoking criminal like the government has said for years.
 
jd4083

jd4083

Active member
Veteran
SpasticGramps said:
Putting together some serious Washington lobbyists will make us a serious national movement. This will take some time as we are just becoming legitimate in a few states.

Suits, ties, and money to grease the scumbag politicians.

Push the medicinal aspect of weed more too.
Click to expand...

teemu shalanie said:
unite , If this industry is worth so much $. we should be able to pay our way , grease some big wheels, basically buy the legislation we want....like everyone else
peace TS
Click to expand...

El Toker said:
the problem is that there are a lot of head cases in the "cannabis community" and although they are a tiny minority they are extremely vocal compared with the sane majority. You can't find a cannabis forum anywhere that doesn't have multiple threads on New World Order, The Illuminati etc. Then you have the ones who seem to genuinely believe that cannabis has given them a hugely enhanced ability to understand things, and they talk about how the "sheeple" just don't get it. Nine times out of ten they'll probably quote from Jack Herrer, even though "The emperors new clothes" was completely discredited years ago.

Please, if you're mad or narcissistic enough to believe that you have a cannabis enhanced intellect, just STFU or at least don't mention cannabis because you're making us all look like complete bat shit crazy basket cases.
Click to expand...

OjoRojo420 said:
^^^

El Toker:

I would add that some folks are plainly Schizophrenic; so the paranoia and delusions just come along the illness.

Weed is not for all humans, some need anti psychotic medication to become rational and coherent.

Best,

Ojo
Click to expand...

ambition said:
Andrew Sullivan, oft-cited intellectual of The Atlantic, published a book recently called "the cannabis closet," which features a variety of first-person stories by educated, reasonable people whom smoke, grow, and sometimes distribute cannabis. We get more mainstream coverage than ever before, much of it intellectually honest and serious. I think we've won the battle of getting the reasonable, moderate non-smokers to see the ridiculousness of mj prohibition. That battle has, in my view, been won as best it can in the lay public.

Yet still over half the country opposes full-on legalization, you say. True, but I think that's a different, multifaceted battle. First, a lot of people make a lot of money on prohibition outside the realm of politics, big business, and the prison industry complex. That is to say, we growers. Take a look at the exit poll results in Mendo and Humboldt; it's disgusting, but it's a reality; a lot of career criminals taking advantage of the situation are scared of mj legitimacy. Granted, I believe this is a minority problem, but it still exists. Larger, I think, is just rank and file disinformation for the obvious reasons alluded to above: big pharma, et al.

I have faith, though, that this is largely generational; the propaganda campaign is not unchallenged like it was for most of the baby-boomer generations' lives. Now the truth is out there via the internet if people want to learn. This generation of youth will "grow up," not "dumb down in a frightened fetal position," once they have children, I suspect.

And, I agree with el toker: psuedo intellectualism is a huge problem in the cannabis community. It doesn't "open your eyes, to like, inner dimensions, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaann." It's just kinda fun and basically harmless, and can help sick people. Tards making a religion out of weed are not helping.
Click to expand...

Really glad this thread got some people talking...excellent points made by everyone who has posted thus far. The above quoted were especially poignant for me.
 
SuperSizeMe

SuperSizeMe

A foot without a sock...
Veteran
Those of us who have been successful in life, playing 'by the rules' would shock the shit out of the folks who would actually believe that crap.

We're doctors,attorneys...professionals in every field.United and in the open we could undeniably change the stereotype.

To take a stand on an individual level would be a form of suicide for everything we've worked for(outside of MJ) in our personal lives.

The bottom line is we need to be every bit as organized as those that would mislead the mis/uniformed with their disinformation.

It's a catch 22 until that happens.
 
jd4083

jd4083

Active member
Veteran
SpasticGramps said:
Putting together some serious Washington lobbyists will make us a serious national movement. This will take some time as we are just becoming legitimate in a few states.

Suits, ties, and money to grease the scumbag politicians.

Push the medicinal aspect of weed more too.
Click to expand...

This in particular brings up a good point -- how seriously can the powers that be, mainstream America, or even our own community take the MMJ industry as it currently stands? Many folks on this site alone have issues with the way greed seems to be so ubiquitous in all aspects of medical marijuana as it stands, as well as the way that some people take to using herb as a "miracle drug" rather than as a supplement to their primary treatment plan.

Are we really better off playing the medical card? No pun intended, of course. Should we focus more on decriminalization and let Darwin worry about the rest? :tiphat:
 
OjoRojo420

OjoRojo420

Feeling good is good enough.
Veteran
whodair said:
ive got enough organizations in my life, i like my marijuana life unorganized ...
Click to expand...

I feel you Whodair... but sometimes I wish I could make a living doing what I love without passing my days in fear and mistrust.

I sometimes doubt I'll ever see the day... But hope is what Cannabis brought back to my life (MMJ) so I'll keep hoping.
 
R

Red Fang

Active member
Veteran
El Toker said:
the problem is that there are a lot of head cases in the "cannabis community" and although they are a tiny minority they are extremely vocal compared with the sane majority. You can't find a cannabis forum anywhere that doesn't have multiple threads on New World Order, The Illuminati etc.
Click to expand...
Excuse me? Although I agree some may take that whole angle too far, who are you to determine who are "head cases"? I don't think I have to answer or apologize to you or anyone because I see the reality that powerful elite interests control too much and it is time for the people to take back their freedom from them instead of voting Republican and acting like yes, "sheeple".


El Toker said:
Then you have the ones who seem to genuinely believe that cannabis has given them a hugely enhanced ability to understand things, and they talk about how the "sheeple" just don't get it.
Click to expand...
Who are you to say some DON'T get enhanced ability to understand things from cannabis? It has been a mind-opening experience for me, and I assure you I am not alone!

El Toker said:
Nine times out of ten they'll probably quote from Jack Herrer, even though "The emperors new clothes" was completely discredited years ago.
Click to expand...
there's only 1 "r" dumbass! :D
And it's the emperor wears no clothes. And where is your evidence that it was discredited? I have only seen everyone say the opposite.

El Toker said:
Please, if you're mad or narcissistic enough to believe that you have a cannabis enhanced intellect, just STFU or at least don't mention cannabis because you're making us all look like complete bat shit crazy basket cases.
Click to expand...
Again who the fuck are you to say all this? STFU? I'd like to see you make me! Who are you to say someone is mad or narcissistic for believing cannabis helps open new doors and windows in the mind? And to tell people with a view other than yours to STFU? I think you need to take your own advice on that one! I have to ask have you ever inhaled? And why has no one disagreed with this guy up until now, some even acting like he is some kind of hero for having these kind of misguided sentiments that have kept us all oppressed for so long?
 
jd4083

jd4083

Active member
Veteran
Red Fang said:
Excuse me? Although I agree some may take that whole angle too far, who are you to determine who are "head cases"? I don't think I have to answer or apologize to you or anyone because I see the reality that powerful elite interests control too much and it is time for the people to take back their freedom from them instead of voting Republican and acting like yes, "sheeple".



Who are you to say some DON'T get enhanced ability to understand things from cannabis? It has been a mind-opening experience for me, and I assure you I am not alone!


there's only 1 "r" dumbass! :D
And it's the emperor wears no clothes. And where is your evidence that it was discredited? I have only seen everyone say the opposite.


Again who the fuck are you to say all this? STFU? I'd like to see you make me! Who are you to say someone is mad or narcissistic for believing cannabis helps open new doors and windows in the mind? And to tell people with a view other than yours to STFU? I think you need to take your own advice on that one! I have to ask have you ever inhaled? And why has no one disagreed with this guy up until now, some even acting like he is some kind of hero for having these kind of misguided sentiments that have kept us all oppressed for so long?
Click to expand...

In case you missed it in the very first post, plain stated-

I'm not "trolling," nor do I wish this thread to turn into a bunch of petulant mudslinging, so please approach the thread with this in mind. There is no need for flaming or disrespect in this thread, so let's try to keep the discussion civil if at all possible.
thank%20you.gif
Click to expand...


Kindly keep it civil or do us all a favor and avoid the thread entirely. Thanks.
 
R

Red Fang

Active member
Veteran
to the starter of the thread, where have you been lately? 15 states have decriminalized/legalized for medical use, California wasn't that far off from all-out legalization, I'd say we are being taken seriously and I'd call that progress. We have a long way to go and a lot of ignorant people to enlighten, including some in our own movement as I pointed out in my last post, but we are getting there. The advancements are undeniable, and victory is inevitable it's just a matter of when, not how, and it won't be long now.
 
R

Red Fang

Active member
Veteran
Did that poster act in the way you suggested we should act here? And if not why did no one call him on it until I just did? So then why are you singling me out?
 
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