Investigating Reefer Madness In Modern-Day Cyber-Space

sammj,

Thanks for your comments from my essay Manipulating Marijuana...

Sure. I was hopin' to catch comments from, you know...bigger fish. Some eloquent words of reply, from any 1 of Kentucky's easily-identifiable, recognizable-by-name, prominently-elected, political office-holders, making some noble attempt at mustering an eighth-grade literate response, artfully rendered and dutifly tendered, per powerfully polite request, to [at least one of Your] sworn Election Officials, as it should be.

But that ain't happenin'.

I may have mentioned this before...take it from a sworn officer, and clearly, the most powerful voice in Kentucky Government...Representative Democracy is currently in a state of dismal failure, here in Kentucky. In its place, and after months of waiting for a formal, official response, I finally get...back-talk...not from any member of My Kentucky Government, but from a heretofore unknown intellectual entity, goin' only by the timid monniker...of "sammj".

But that's good enough for me!

Us homeless starvin' artists gotta' take whatever we can get in the way of readership, [Hey, Check out my numbers!] and thanks again "sammj" for opening with another question...questions requiring further elaboration from your faithful servant.

Now, where was I?

Oh, yeah!

Public Servants is what we used to call 'em, sammj. But ain't you noticed? Most of the Representatives with real integrity, True advocates for the greater good of "We The People", why they all died off like dinosaurs, in just the past century.

Chalk it all up to Global Warming, but there ain't no mo' Washingtons, Franklins, Jeffersons, nor Lincolns.

'Cept on Money.

Always...follow the money.

Don't believe me? Go ask Richie Farmer! Kentucky's long-established corrupted government is heavily over-populated with bona-fide, over-paid, crony-fied crooks...and their girlfriends/concubines...advocating, not for you and me, not for right or wrong, and not even "For We The People"...but, rather always, "For The Money".

As our former Agricultural Commissioner is about to formally attest, probably by virtue of a follow-up auditor's court-ordered request [subpoena], this ain't just one election officer's humble opinion. It's a routinely verifiable [court-documented] fact.

But that's old news and just the way it is, in Kentucky Government...now, back to you.

Your opening question, concerning my essay was..."What does this have to do with marijuana?" And I can understand. You probably noticed, you were reading an essay, slightly out of context, as it was originally intended as a response/reply message to some guy named "Stephen". I'll keep his last name anonymous. He'd read some of my stuff and was motivated enough to pick up his pen in order to shower me with some fully-appropriate accolades...all, of his very own.

Yes sammj...afraid it's True. Amongst your local creative writers...I AM THE GREATEST!

Muhammed Ali said it better.

But I said it...As a warning!

I AM The Best!

Don't mess with this Election Officer when he declares that the citizens of Kentucky should be voting on Marijuana Reform. It's not just my factual opinion [lucky me, lucky you] it's also my job obligation...to ensure and promote Direct Democracy, YOUR right to Vote, especially on matters of Crime and Corruption, for the sake of us ALL. And to [furthermore] insist upon it, whenever there's even the slightest hint of impropriety, emanating from that vast cess-pool we call Kentucky's Representative Democracy, as currently congregated by our own beloved local and State politicians, seated today.

Hey there, Kentucky Government. Who loves ya'...Baby?

sammj, I'm a man on a mission from God...and to my deteriorating Country, formerly known as 'The Land Of Liberty'. And for spillin' those beans the man that I was addressing in that essay..."Stephen"...he said it was some of the most honest political writing, he'd ever witnessed, as seen published here, in our local hometown newspaper...and far surpassing the usual best efforts of The Kentucky Standard's very own, bought-and-paid-for, award-winning staff of "put 'em to sleep", un-censored, yet un-imaginative, political writers.

And, of course [yawn] he was entirely correct.

But Stephen erroneously thought he could write down his comments of support and submit them to The Kentucky Standard, for private relay, onto me.

Poor fella' must've been horrified when he saw them in public print, instead.

Remember what a taboo subject it is that we're dealing with here, sammj.

To [quite logically, as an Election Officer] fully support and openly advocate a referendum vote, to determine what would most certainly [likely turn out to be] an absolutely complete and utter denunciation, of the current legal policies and practices that our Kentucky Government, and uh, not to mention, well-heeled, well-armed, Law Enforcement Agencies, have legislated, embraced, and bestowed upon themselves...sans Public Approval Per One Citizen One Vote...in their best "honest" efforts to make things better...for ALL of us, in an un-popular 75 year-old War on Pot...

...well frankly sammj, that democratic concept of puttin' it all up to an honest open vote, apparently, frightens the Hell out of these un-American Gnat-See Wrong-Doers!

Imagine that! Geez! Us! Can I get an Amen and a blessed moment of silence...for the late Gatewood?

But no?

Then back to "Stephen"...

Seeing his name beneath his words, caused him some worry. Publicly standing opposed to such powerful opponents, as-in, his own Government and its gun-totin' backup, well that ain't a job for the average civilian, for fear of un-warranted under-handed reprisals.

That sh!t happens.

That's why we have Election Officers. We're supposed to take the heat, and social pressure, of bein' your sworn 'Gatekeepers of Democracy', like it or not.

In Stephen's case, I think he realized, standing there, as just a bare-naked civilian with the gall to speak out, under the delusion of still being a Free Man, he realized his published words would probably only draw unwanted attention to himself, from some gestapo spook force, running amok with guns and narcotics badges, and, seemingly, beyond any remnant of social control.

He needed to bow out.

(Hail! They'll shoot you down for Pot...and doit' with pride over in the local Walmart parking lot for the whole country to watch...just as long as the local newspaper promises to run interference for 'em, by censoring all objections, especially those from election officers expressing any sort of public discontent! Them Drug Task Force guys may be hot-shots with guns, but they don't get off so much on answering too many of them uncomfortable, voting-issues type questions.)

So he had the newspaper retract his supportive words from public view...but, by that time, I'd already penned my response to him. And, because we poor backwards-ass Kentuckians still, actually, live and exist in that kind-of-Afganistan climate of fear, where the open discussion of the public's viewpoints, on the criminality of Pot, might lead to great personal harm...well shucks, as I said, it's my job as a 'Gatekeeper of Democracy' to face up to, and/or dispel, those types of fears, so I posted that personal essay, as a public document anyway, for all to see.

"Stephen". Thank you for your retracted support...but keep your head down. This is a job for Der Volks Uberman. The People's Champion. Rest assured. True Democracy will prevail. You have my word on it. The Leprechaun is on the case...let 'em come after me.

Here kitty, kitty, kitty!

As for the essay you read, sammj, I reckon it was fairly astute of you, to question an essay that is, indeed, largely, me gloating about myself. But, as for how any of it constitutes Manipulating Marijuana's Future In Kentucky? Well, something about that essay prompted you to pick up your pen. And, because you did, we've discussed the topic a bit further. And, because we did, who knows? Maybe one of our government representatives will grow a pair and join in.

I appreciated your honesty, if not your sentence structure, when you said...."I tried to read your whole post but you at some point I got lost."

Admitting you have a problem is the first step. Reaching out for help, in understanding, was the correct second step. I'm here for you. I am The Way. I am The Truth. I am The Light...that can open The Gateway, allowing you, into the voting booth. Once there, you can always vote "NO!"...because You could never agree with Marijuana's legalization. You said so, yourself.

But this is America. I gotta' ask. You DO support My Right to cancel your vote, don't you?

Don't you?

Hey sammj, I need to be wrapping this essay up. I'm eager to post it and read your reply. But since you were the one who brought it up, how's your brother?

At the risk of sounding like I'm cross-examining your measily paragraph, are you telling me that you can produce and provide a medically-licensed Doctor's Statement to support your assertion that your Kentucky kinfolk done suffered a bona-fide, dastardly, Marijuana overdose?

I hate to sound insensitive, sammie...but seein' is [gonna' have to be] believin' on that one. So bring on the Doctor.

You know, that blue hyperlink you supplied in your paragraph leads to a commercial website...counselors...for sale to rehabbers.

Sad, isn't it?

We've grown in to a society seeking saviours from all our woes, and blaming imaginary demons for all our short-comings, instead of relying upon personal integrity, strength of character, and a little back-bone, in order to make better of ourselves. Opens us all up to carpet-baggers with websites.

Making the best of it, can your kid brother get me Lindsey Lohan's autograph?

And tell me, what does somethin' like that cost...to have your medically-anomolous brother treated at such a prestigious facility, with about a dime-a-dozen, $15 bucks-a-month internet website presence? There's gotta' be some kinda' dollar figure you could enlighten us all with. What does it cost to beat a chronic case of Marijuana addiction?

Seriously. Learn me sumpin'.

Ya' got insurance to cover that?

Always follow the money sammj.

These website rehabilitation facilities would just love to scam some loose change, offa' anybody, but especially the gullible, the easily frightened and confused, by promoting the propagandist party line, the ridiculous idea, ala reefer-madness, of everyone's impending encounter with the wide-spread epidemic of Marijuana overdosing.

It must've been a real nightmare, for you and your family, to have to go through.

But let's keep it real.

In that moment of peril, did they have to give your baby brother Mouth-to-Mouth? Did they have to put the electro-shock paddles on him, to restart his heart? Please eloborate. Tell us all what kind of heroic measures had to be taken, in order to pull him back from the brink o' Death?

Or, maybe sammie, maybe, did he [somehow] just manage to sleep it all off, with a bag full of Twinkies and a cold Mountain Dew, at his bedside?

The website failed to mention how many souls we lose, as a Nation, each year, due to chronic Marijuana abuse, but it does say...

"Marijuana has a long history of medical and industrial use dating back as far as 6000 B.C."

...and, while unintentionally glossing over your kid brother's herbal overdose emergency, Attorney General Jack Conway says about a thousand Kentuckians died, just last year, from prescription pill drug abuse.

But let's not go bustin' down the the Pharmaceutical companies, nor the Doctors that deal their drugs. They're well-connected and politically-affiliated...with massive monetary budgets that allow for them to grease the wheels of Big Government, whilst lining the pockets of greedy law-makers, in all the backrooms, from Frankfort to Washington, D.C.

It's money, sammj?

Hail! They'll put you in jail for a single joint, but sammie, a thousand dead stiffs, due to highly-addictive, highly-profitable, legally-sanctioned and medically-approved, jelly-bean-colored pills...is just a thousand dead stiffs. No real skin offa' anybody's nose...certainly no need for any jail-time...for anybody.

'Cause the jails are already overcrowded...with potheads. Ain't you heard?

But still, it don't seem quite right.

If you check with Governor Breshear and his Noah's Park friends, they'll tell you. If'n you go all the way back to just a few hours before 6000 B.C., when The Lord was bestowing Dominion over the plants and animals to Adam and Eve, while the dinosaurs grunted and watched...and then, move forward in time to the present, tallying up all the souls who have overdosed and/or died from Mother Nature's Marijuana...the overdose count stands at One....and the bodycount stands at Zero

Your kid-brother.

He had himself a pretty close call.

I'm just happy he's still alive.

Joe O'Bryan
Election Officer Sheriff
Commonwealth Of Kentucky