Thomas Jefferson may have been the wisest man who ever lived but the pursuit of happiness is not enough. There is no guarantee we will find it but we have the right to happiness itself, proclaimed in more than half our states’ Constitutions: “All persons are by nature free and independent and have certain natural and unalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and of pursuing and OBTAINING [emphasis added] safety and happiness.”  Who could ask for anything more?
It is natural to “change our minds,” to change our consciousness (Weil, Andrew, M.D. The Natural Mind and Siegel, Ronald K., Ph.D. Intoxication.) Every species studied does. Monkeys and elephants seek fermented fruit; cats get high on catnip; small children spin around until they get dizzy. Surely we have a right cats have.
The government’s War on Human Nature continues here in the former Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, where we’ve gone from the Spirit of ’76 to 1984 and beyond. We veterans of the sixties thought that after (almost) everyone had enjoyed the flowers of Cannabis the War on Human Nature would end. We’d be “Free at last! …” But Slick Willie, America’s Judas, didn’t inhale. The two-legged sheeple laughed. The economy was good. The economy was good also in Germany in 1936, if you believe the film Triumph of the Will. Every year, over half a million Americans’ lives are ruined by our Gestapo.
“The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the words people use, you can control the people who must use the words.” Philip K. Dick. We the People cannot win this, or any, war using the enemy’s rhetoric. I have been trying to teach our people that fact for more than a decade. You don’t realize how brain-polluted the sheeple are or you wouldn’t use the “m” word. Even the sight of the leaf causes reefer madness. They react as if they are looking at Dracula. Some are incurable. What to do? Don’t use the “m” word, something Surgeon-General Joycelyn Elders didn’t understand. If she’d referred to flowers of Cannabis, and instead of the other “m” word, said “enjoying yourself,” I’m sure they couldn’t have fired her. 
Note that we then got along without a Surgeon-General for years. If we could get along without the highest (pun intended) medical officer in the country, how many other government employees can we get along without?
Ethan, you wrote “. . .depending on how one asks the question.” YES! regulate? control? NO! It is sufficient for us to regulate and control ourselves. Laissez faire! The government should leave Cannabis alone! Be grateful for the Most Useful Plant on the Planet. We have enough disorderly persons statutes and truth in packaging laws and laws protecting children. How would Americans who more than 200 years ago fought and killed and died for freedom and liberty and fewer and less taxes feel about sheeple bleating that they want to be taxed? America has been going downhill ever since the Whiskey Tax Rebellion was suppressed. The rebels fought a tax; calling it the Whisky Rebellion makes patriots sound like drunks. We must relegalize, Relegalize, RElegalize; make Cannabis legal again. RE - two letters that remind us of one reason the good old days were good.
Ethan, you requested “suggestions for how to make the most of this opportunity to stir up a national debate.” We don’t need a so-called debate in which we offer facts and the enemy lies. Most Americans know the facts. We need to get people involved. Bikers have an expression: an attitude. It means an aggressive attitude. Everyone should have an attitude; the alternative is apathy. The ultimate was Howard Beale in the movie Network whowas “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.” He was angry, not mad, and I’ve always wondered how angry is hell? 
What if everyone who is pistoff about something started wearing a Post-it®? (That spelling is to avoid AOL’s Puritanical censorship.) Attach it with a paper clip or straight pin or safety pin. People will ask what it means. It will start a conversation. Start communication. I’ve learned to structure conversations like a flow chart. First they ask why you are wearing it. Reply: “I’m pistoff about something.” If they shrug, you shrug. They are not sufficiently interested. Not this time, anyway. If they ask:”What are you pistoff about?” give them an answer which encourages them to ask another question. An answer like “The War on Human Nature.” They haven’t heard that before. They’ll ask ‘What’s that?” so explain our need and right to change our minds, described in The Natural Mind and Intoxication. Sneak up on them. Get them involved. Offer them a Post-it®
Several different color Post-its® are available. Yellow will be for we who demand: End the War on Human Nature! That’s what it is!  “War on drugs” is BS. It is impossible to war on inanimate objects. “War on drugs”is part of the enemy’s rhetoric. Adding quotation marks is not enough. We need new sound bites; unarguable ones. We need to create a coalition of America’s minorities – pot smokers, gun owners, bikers, gays... Gays will use lavender or pink. For we who are pistoff about the possibility of losing all of our rights, rainbow Post-its®. Unlike Reverend Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition, this rainbow will include green. A candidate claimed he could win an election with such a coalition but it didn’t happen in his campaign.  
Everyone knows that the Nazis required Jews to wear yellow stars and some gentiles wore them in sympathy.  Wearing the Post-it® doesn’t mean that one IS something, only that s(he) recognizes their Right. I got positive feedback on this at an Open Mic night. We need to develop this fully before we spring it on “the public.” Next morning I saw a woman using a cell phone, requesting improvements from a government employee. ( I could have written complaining to a bureaucrat. Notice the different image?) Her approach was excellent. I listened and smiled my approval. After the conversation ended, I told her she’d done a great job, and next to videotape the problems and describe the needed solutions and take them to a local cable TV station. I also recommended reading Gerry Spence (see below).
I’m straight; I’m a member of enough minorities without adding another. What is the cause of homosexuality? I’m convinced it is population pressure. Almost everyone knows about the experiment in which test animals are allowed total freedom and security, the only limit being the space they have. Eventually they do all the anti-social acts humans in a densely populated environment do. The only difference between homosexuals and heterosexuals is that they don’t breed.  They call heterosexuals “breeders.” Homosexuality may be nature’s way [pause] of telling us we are too crowded. If that is shortened to Homosexuality may be nature’s way, that’s ok by me.
I agree that John Ashcroft is America’s Public Enemy #1. Terrorism would be less of a problem if we gave away what we waste. Do you know what Ashcroft’s favorite TV show is? Think about it. Pause now for as long as you like to think about that. What is John Ashcroft’s favorite TV show?
When we talked, I mentioned Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. Recall his power tactics. My favorite is: “Ridicule is [our] most potent weapon.” In a war of words and ideas, that is. Laughing at a “nine,” an M-16, a Stinger missile, or a nuke is not very effective. Not at all effective.
What is John Ashcroft’s favorite TV show?  . . . The Simpsons! The most ridiculing TV show is his favorite!  I’m sure everyone who has anything to do with the show (except maybe the censor) is, how shall I put it, drug-friendly. The producers have to produce more programs ridiculing the War on Human Nature and Ashcroft and the other Drug Bizarres.
.          If they’re censored, censorship is the best publicity. Imagine: The Forbidden Episodes. Enough people are skilled in computer graphics so we can do hours of material ridiculing the war and Ashcroft and the other Drug Bizarres. I’d like us to start with my It’s no fun for the dentist:  The Simpsons go to a dentist and learn about the anesthetic property of the leaves of the Divine Plant of the Incas, which never killed anyone, and Cannabis’ anti-sialogogue (saliva-reducing) property and other effects. I’m also proud of my Snotty Joe Camel. Imagine that nose with a blob of snot hanging from it.
A fellow activist urged  ridiculing the Partnership’s dishonest so-called Public Service Announcements. I told him it’s a great idea, and if I had  equipment I would help. I don’t even have a VCR. I asked him how the project is coming. No reply. I suspect he got no response. Drug Policy Alliance and other orgs must have money available. $orry I can’t help. I’m getting by on less than you’d believe. Your Mission: contact the people at The Simpsons. Get copies of all the PSAs. 
Recall Alinsky’s comments about the Declaration of Independence. It did not mention the good things the king had done for the colonists, only the bad things he had done to them.  Put the enemy on the defensive. Don’t lie, but if you omit some facts, hey, nobody’s perfect. Remember “I can’t recall.” I highly recommend Gerry Spence’s How to argue and win every time and his other books.
I wish I could have offered my input before your article was published and hope you’ll use my suggestions in future ones.  If you had seen the reaction of the brain-polluted to the “m” word, you won’t use it ever again. Replace it with words which describe its beneficial effects. Everyone understands what Cannabis and Hemp are, so that’s not a reason to use the “m” word. Cannabis is a genus and should be capitalized. Upper case letters are more impressive, so they should be used whenever it’s appropriate, and when it’s a tossup.  Instead of telling readers that “m” is not associated with violent behavior, don’t mention violent behavior. Tell the reader it is a relaxant.
Cannabis vs. alcohol: Children drink alcohol almost four times more often than they smoke pot. Alcohol is involved in 60-70% of violent crime and many automobile crashes.Unlike users of alcohol who don’t realize or won’t admit that their driving is impaired by alcohol, pot smokers know when they’ve had too much and will refuse to drive. They also know they drive better after they’ve had two puffs. That was confirmed by a test described in the June 1980 Car & Driver. The editors were all skilled at high performance driving. One had qualified and entered the Indianapolis 500 mile race. They all performed slightly better than normal when they were influenced by two puffs of Cannabis. Larger amounts reduced performance below normal. Anyone who disagrees with the results will find something to argue with. Not enough test subjects perhaps? Let’s do more tests. They don’t cost much, practically nothing compared to the cost of keeping people in jail.
One’s performance should be what matters, rather than what may be in one’s system. In Against Excess Harvard Professor Mark A. R. Kleiman made an admission and confession: “Doubtless, many people drive more safely drunk [or high] than I do stone-cold sober, and it is in some degree unjust to punish their drunkenness [or high] and leave my clumsiness and chronic inattention unpunished.”  A blood-alcohol or THC or whatever level over ? whatever ? is NOT proof that the operator is a hazard to society or himself or herself. Operating a vehicle in an unsafe manner IS.
Despite the claim that Cannabis smoke contains carcinogenic compounds and heavy smokers may develop pre-cancerous lesions, no one has ever gotten cancer from smoking Cannabis. My authority for that is Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School. If it’s stronger, we use less. Less smoke = less tars.
Why are people afraid of a plant which never killed anyone? The best description of Cannabis’ effect is “a magnifying glass on the senses.” As such it offers the hazards and benefits of a looking glass: tunnel vision and focusing one’s vision. The quote is from John Wilcock’s Interview with a pot smoker,The Realist #52 (back in 1963?)
“Gateway drug?” The only gateway pot opens is the mind. That’s a t-shirt idea by a friend of mine. I’ll send you more. Gatewood Galbraith pointed out: “The gateway drugs children start on are white sugar and caffeine in cola drinks.” Read Doctor Weil’s comments about white sugar.  
You mentioned “cigarette addicts” YES!! They are addicts! Instead of Philip Morris’ PSAs to children about peer pressure, they should be describing addiction. Webster’s Third defines addiction as habituation. Wrong! It is not. Stedman’s Medical Dictionary defines addiction as “psychological and physiological dependence on a substance or process that is beyond voluntary control.” Addiction means you can’t stop. Addiction means it will hurt if you try to stop. Which word didn’t you understand? A billboard in an inner city warned Yo, slave! Addiction is slavery. 
I suspect that subsidiary of The Lancet speculated that, not whether, Cannabis might soon emerge as the aspirin of the 21st Century. Cannabis is better than aspirin. Aspirin kills people. Cannabis never has.
A final request to those who insist on using the “m” word and statements like “We smoke pot ‘cause we like it a lot” which accomplishes nothing except irritate the misinformed: You are part of the problem. Be part of the solution. Stop aiding the persecution and prosecution of almost two thousand Americans every day. Don’t be what Lenin called “useful idiots,” (useful to the enemy.) Stop using the “m” word even if it is in the name of your organization. American corporations change their names to improve their image. You should. Admit you were wrong. It’s easy. I’ve done it.
I began this with Jefferson and will close with his recommendation: The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. in which he interviewed himself in Paul Krassner’s

Tom Paine II  aka The Friendly Stranger.com                                                                 
theusuallyfriendlystranger@yahoo.com
somewhere out there

If you agree with this, post it!

Hello,WFB Jr:

Many years ago I sent you a copy of The Emperor Wears No Clothes (now in its 12th edition) with the suggestion that I review it.  You politely declined. You told me I write like P. J. O’Rourke. Others have told me I write like Tom Paine or a cross between Paine and Henry David Thoreau. I’d appreciate it if you let me use a pseudonym. I hope you’ll invite someone to review A Drug War Carol.
I’ve been polishing the Letter and expect it’s as good as it’ll get. I thought I’d have heard from you by now, one way or the other. Every day the war continues, another two thousand lives are ruined.  What’s the problem? Is it too well-presented to debate? Too Constitutionally correct for “conservatives?” You wrote “Conservatives pride themselves on resisting change, which is as it should be.” But change is inevitable, slow and slight though it sometimes is. We should accept it and adapt to it. Recall Patrick Henry’s A Call to Arms:  “We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth…”
Thefriendlystranger.com needs work but I expect you’ll enjoy a visit or at least find it thought-provoking. Maybe some day a paper copy of COMMON $EN$E about our Right to Change our Minds (minus the broken link) will be as valuable as an original COMMON SENSE.

Comments on The Future of an Illusion, National Review Sept. 27, 2004

           Ethan Nadelmann is too polite to use the “l” word. John P. Walters is a liar.  What to do with a lying enemy who refuses to surrender? “Montaigne felt that lying should be a capital offense because once the tongue grows used to telling lies there is no end to it: Worse, there can be no sensible discourse between people as their society collapses into incomprehension.” Imperial America by Gore Vidal
Jefferson wrote in a letter to Peter Carr “He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all good dispositions.”
Moderates should be satisfied if John Walters resigns after dismantling his Evil Empire.

                             T.F.S.