POSTED BY ALEX WOODWARD
An event note, per Legalize Louisiana: “Do not bring any illegal substance to this rally.”
Grassroots marijuana reform campaign Legalize Louisiana has organized a series of statewide rallies tomorrow, from New Orleans to Shreveport. The group’s statement is as follows:
The group demands policies creating safe and free access to cannabis medicine, for the promotion of human health in Louisiana; industrial hemp should be utilized to boost our state’s economy and the health of her ecosystems; that personal use should be decriminalized, and that commercial use should be taxed and regulated, which will create justice where there is now abuse, and, simultaneously, reduce Louisiana’s world-record incarceration rates. That religious use of cannabis is an inalienable right protected by our state and federal constitutions, by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and that our justice system professionals are oath-bound to realize the letter and the spirit of these most high an sacred laws.
The group, headed by Louisiana native Donnie Griffith, has been campaigning in the state since 2009. Griffith says he was inspired to start the campaign after living in Los Angeles under its relaxed marijuana laws. Following the rallies, Griffith says he plans to tour the state with Legalize Louisiana and register the campaign as a nonprofit organization. The rallies also serve as an opportunity to “encourage people to vote and get active” in promoting reform, he says. Legalize Louisiana’s Facebook page is nearing 6,000 “likes.”
Louisiana’s National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws chapters are defunct, however there’s an active student-run chapter at Tulane University. (Read more about Louisiana and New Orleans’ marijuana laws in Gambit.)
Read complete article here:
http://www.bestofneworleans.com/blogofneworleans/archives/2012/05/11/legalize-louisiana-rallies-for-marijuana-reform-tomorrow