My Visit To The White House
by Doug McVay- for DrugWar.com
All photos here by Sanho Tree of the Institute for
Policy Studies' Drug Policy Project-
http://www.ips-dc.org
Left to right- unidentified, Adam
Eidinger, Chris
Mulligan,
Charles
Thomas, Doug
McVay, Caren Woodson, Eric
Sterling,
members of the Press
September 26, 2002
Things would have turned out differently
if we'd gone to Sacramento instead. After all, that's where the
big rally was being held. Monday, Sept. 23rd, nearly a thousand
protesters gathered at the state capitol to call for an end to
federal harassment of California cannabis clinics.
These children don't want War in their names
That day, in solidarity with our brothers
and sisters on the west coast, an associate of mine, Charles Thomas,
and I handcuffed ourselves to the White House fence to protest
the federal attacks on medical cannabis caregivers and the patients
they serve. A video of the event is available at
http://flow.mediavac.com/ramgen/sinkers/2002/whitehouseSep2302.rm
We targeted the White House for this protest
rather than the INJustice Department, even though the INJustice
Department is the active agent in the federal jihad against medical
cannabis. In 1999, then-candidate GW Bush promised that he would
respect the right of states to make their own decisions about
medicalizing cannabis. As president, GW Bush has allowed the INJustice
Department to continue the federal crusade against medical cannabis.
It was almost like ignoring the organ grinder and talking to the
monkey instead, but in this case the monkey is the one who's officially
in charge.
The press moves in
Also, the federal crackdown against medical
cannabis may be more than simply Attorney General John Ashcroft
pushing GW Bush to pursue bad policy. The Bush family has a history
of being unfriendly to the cause of medical cannabis. Back in
1992, Bush the First ordered a halt to the federal program through
which people could apply for and receive medical cannabis. Only
8 persons had been approved at the time, of which 5 or 6 survive
and continue to receive the cannabis. (Sadly, the cannabis these
legal federal patients receive is terrible stuff, extremely low
grade, which smells like hay.)
The action certainly felt like it was a success.
We gathered with about 30 supporters in front of the White House
and held a small rally. Although it's legal to have a moving picket
line in that space, it's illegal to hold a stationary demonstration.
Rather than move in immediately, the Park Police, who have jurisdiction
over the White House sidewalk, gave us ample time to speak out
before starting to move onlookers back and cordoning off the area.
After they gave us a third and final warning, the rest of our
supporters moved away, and Charles and I were left to be arrested.
In all, the action went on for nearly a solid hour.
Full disclosure: I gave them the key to unlock
our cuffs, rather than making them cut the cuffs off, I had no
interest in risking accidental injury from their bolt cutters.
After being freed, then handcuffed again, Charles had them carry
him to the waiting police car. I opted to walk, since my chiropractor's
office didn't reopen until the following Wednesday. We spent a
remarkably short time in custody, only two hours, and they even
apologized to us for taking so long. The Park Police behaved in
a thoroughly professional manner the entire time, and treated
us with respect. I was pleasantly surprised. The specific charge
was "Stationary Demonstration Within the Resricted Zone of
the White House," for which we were each fined $50.
The police also eventually move in
Charles was motivated in his decision to
be arrested by the drug policy Statement of Conscience passed
by the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association
this June. The Statement urges the government to "end the
practice of punishing an individual for obtaining, possessing,
or using an otherwise illegal substance to treat a medical condition."
UUDPR, of which Charles is executive director, is a denomination
affiliate which gives public witness to the Statement of Conscience,
which calls for treating drugs as a health issue instead of a
crime. See http://www.uudpr.org
for more details.
Charles comments: "In giving witness
to the Unitarian Universalist Association's drug policy Statement
of Conscience, we are standing up for medical marijuana patients
and providers. The courage of the dozens of patients who are doing
non-violent civil disobedience in Sacramento inspired me to get
arrested today at the White House. I am also personally inspired
by the example of Jesus, who broke the laws of his time by healing
the sick on the Sabbath. (Matthew 12:9-13) What would Jesus do
about medical marijuana? Exactly what the providers in California
are doing. And John Ashcroft, a self-proclaimed Christian, is
persecuting them for it."
Amen, brother Charles.
I can only echo those comments, and amplify
on one aspect: The providers. These are people for whom I have
tremendous respect, and whose courage and determination I greatly
admire. Providers and caregivers are risking long federal prison
sentences just for supplying medicine to the sick and dying. Some
of these folks are the closest friends I have in the world. Getting
myself arrested for simply standing on the sidewalk outside the
White House fence while holding a sign was nothing in comparison
to their efforts and the travails that result.
People keep telling us we did something brave,
but I don't see it that way. The only real gamble for us was whether
there would be any coverage in the media. What we were was fortunate:
a couple of great volunteers made calls to the media for several
days in advance, we had an excellent support system of activists
locally, and the event caught a sweet spot in the news cycle.
The coverage in USA Today wasn't front page and the cutline was
short, but the picture on p. 10A -- http://www.csdp.org/temp/usatodayp10a.jpg
-- is worth a thousand words.
At about the same time we were being released,
nearly a thousand people were rallying in Sacramento. State and
local officials are nearly unanimous in their support of the cannabis
clinics, so the rally was a demonstration of support and solidarity.
A state senator, California Senator John Vasconcellos, was even
a co-sponsor of the event. Later in the afternoon, a group of
activists left the rally in Sacramento and went to the Federal
Building there to engage in a nonviolent civil disobedience action,
with 29 getting arrested.
The Sacramento event got a good deal of coverage,
particularly locally. For example, the Oroville Mercury-Register's
story "Federal Stance on State's Medical Marijuana Law Protested,"
at
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1801/a07.html
and the Sacramento Bee's "Medical Marijuana Activists Are
Arrested," at
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1799/a05.html
Events like these are important because they're
empowering. People need to know that a person can stand up authority,
can speak truth to power, at relatively little cost. The public
needs to know that there are people, their fellow citizens, who
are not willing to shut up and stay quiet while others suffer.
Stop the War, and stop arresting sick people
But most importantly, we want the people
who are putting themselves at serious risk in order to help others
to know that they're not alone.
---------------
Photographer Jeremy Bigwood has a set of
122 photos from the White House medical marijuana demonstration
posted at-
http://bigwood.biz/MedMJ/index.htm
See photos of the Sacramento action at-
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/newswire_detail.php?id=115
Lots more photos of actions around the country
can be found at Americans for Safe Access' website here-
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/newswire_detail.php?all=2
---------------
Doug McVay is the editor of Drug War Facts. He
is also Research Director and Projects Coordinator for Common
Sense for Drug Policy in Washington DC.
1327 Harvard Street NW (lower level), Washington, DC 20009 202-332-9101
-- fax 202-518-4028
http://www.csdp.org/
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/
dmcvay@csdp.org
"A society's or political community's reason
for being is not the security of the state but the human person....
Humans are not for the state; the state is for them." -- Archbishop
of San Salvador Oscar A. Romero, Jan. 15, 1978. Archbishop Romero
was an outspoken critic of the US-backed government of El Salvador
and its rightwing death squads which terrorized the populace.
For speaking truth to power, he was assassinated while celebrating
Mass on March 24, 1980.
