What started out in Keene, New Hampshire as just a couple people openly smoking marijuana in Central Square quickly grew into large 420 celebrations taking place everyday. If you were to drive through downtown Keene it wasn't uncommon to view over 100 people openly smoking pot and displaying signs celebrating their right to consume substances deemed illegal by the people who do business as "the government".
I thought this was something that should start taking place across the state, if not all over the country and decided to promote one here in Manchester.
The 420 Celebrations in Manchester never grew to the same size as the ones that take place in Keene but we typically had good turnouts of about 30 people, split between Free State activists and locals coming out to support the gatherings.
This year I had some other projects I wanted to focus on and hoped a couple Manchester activists would handle promoting the 420 celebrations but as of yet they haven't resumed on a daily basis.
But there was this nice day in January where the Manchester police decided they would no longer ignore what was happening...
Showing posts with label free state project. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free state project. Show all posts
Monday, May 10, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
FIJA Outreach
A few weeks after walking around Manchester with a pot bud in hand I was able to get a group of activists together for some Juror's Rights outreach at the Hillsborough County Superior Court.
The right of a juror to judge a particular law for his/herself and vote to acquit a defendant is a great way to end the persecution of people who are charged with victimless offenses. I can only hope this type of outreach spreads.
You'll notice in the first few minutes of this video I comment on being able to have a juror vote to acquit me if I ever need it, joking as I didn't think I would have the need. Little did I know that months later I'd need it in two different cases.
If you're interested in doing this type of activism you can go to the FIJA website to find pamphlets to print out. Then you simply need to contact your local court where jury trials take place to find out when they do jury selection. I'd advise planning to show up about an hour before jurors are supposed to show up and it might help to let the jury clerk know you'll be there so you don't run into problems with any court security. However, it is protected speech and you have the right to be there to distribute the pamphlets so don't let any bureaucrat tell you you're not allowed.
The right of a juror to judge a particular law for his/herself and vote to acquit a defendant is a great way to end the persecution of people who are charged with victimless offenses. I can only hope this type of outreach spreads.
You'll notice in the first few minutes of this video I comment on being able to have a juror vote to acquit me if I ever need it, joking as I didn't think I would have the need. Little did I know that months later I'd need it in two different cases.
If you're interested in doing this type of activism you can go to the FIJA website to find pamphlets to print out. Then you simply need to contact your local court where jury trials take place to find out when they do jury selection. I'd advise planning to show up about an hour before jurors are supposed to show up and it might help to let the jury clerk know you'll be there so you don't run into problems with any court security. However, it is protected speech and you have the right to be there to distribute the pamphlets so don't let any bureaucrat tell you you're not allowed.
Civil Disobedience
On my second day here in New Hampshire I decided to partake in the same type of civil disobedience that motivated me to join the Free State Project.
Most people know that I believe the drug war has proven itself to be an utter failure in domestic policy. Since I know that police are not legally required to arrest people for anything I wanted to start a dialog with them that might encourage them to use their discretion rather than throwing people in cages for possessing a plant. Here's how the day went:
If video fails to load it can be seen here.
I ended up sending the Manchester police chief a letter trying to get an appointment to meet with him but apparently he was too busy to reply. Go figure. You'd think if people are forced to pay for police protection they'd at least be able to get good service, but with government it never seems to work out that way.
Now I'm not sure if this was something that would make me a target to the Manchester police months later. I'd like to believe they chose to ignore me and I was not on their radar. As you'll see over the next couple of posts, I now think that may not be the case.
Most people know that I believe the drug war has proven itself to be an utter failure in domestic policy. Since I know that police are not legally required to arrest people for anything I wanted to start a dialog with them that might encourage them to use their discretion rather than throwing people in cages for possessing a plant. Here's how the day went:
If video fails to load it can be seen here.
I ended up sending the Manchester police chief a letter trying to get an appointment to meet with him but apparently he was too busy to reply. Go figure. You'd think if people are forced to pay for police protection they'd at least be able to get good service, but with government it never seems to work out that way.
Now I'm not sure if this was something that would make me a target to the Manchester police months later. I'd like to believe they chose to ignore me and I was not on their radar. As you'll see over the next couple of posts, I now think that may not be the case.
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