Archive for September 14th, 2009
(PORTLAND, Ore.) – The most well known person in the world on the subject of marijuana, author Jack Herer, had a heart attack Saturday, after a fiery speech at the Portland Hempstalk Event at Kelly Point Park.
Jack Herer: Jack Herer, famous Cannabis Hemp activistIronically, Jack told our Doctor Phil Leveque, an old friend of his in the fight to legitimize and legalize marijuana, that he was feeling better Saturday than he had, “In the ten years.”
Event staff came together quickly and called in the paramedic crew that treated Jack in the area backstage where he fell ill. Madeline Martinez, Executive Director of Oregon NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, says Jack didn’t look like he felt well after the well received speech, and she told him he should get some water.
Shortly after that he apparently collapsed where he was sitting, and the emergency crews were called in. Bands kept playing and the medical personnel spent a considerable amount of time stabilizing Jack, before loading him in an ambulance and transporting him to the Emanuel Trauma Center in Portland.
Source report that Jack was in critical condition when he was admitted to the hospital with his son at his side. Soon after that, they were told that he was the victim of a heart attack, a result of arterial blockage.
Jack was was undergoing angioplasty surgery late Saturday.
Jack suffered a stroke several years ago that left him somewhat challenged in terms of speaking, but today more than one person watching him noted that his speech was much clearer than even the year before.
Jack Herer is beyond legendary with popular culture and his book, “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” is the largest and first account of the real story of marijuana and the techniques used by big money corporations to demonize and criminalize it.
This video clip from Saturday, recorded about two hours before Jack suffered a heart attack, shows him explaining to Dr. Phillip Leveque of Salem-News.com how how he has been feeling better recently:
Washington, DC: Police arrested 847,864 persons for marijuana violations in 2008, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. The total marks a three percentdecrease in marijuana arrests from 2007, when law enforcement arrested a record 872,721 Americans for cannabis-related violations.
Marijuana arrests now comprised one-half (49.8 percent) of all drug arrests reported in the United States.
Of those charged with marijuana violations, approximately 89 percent, 754,224 Americans were charged with possession only. The remaining 93,640 individuals were charged with “sale/manufacture,” a category that includes all cultivation offenses, even those where the marijuana was being grown for personal or medical use.
Marijuana arrests were highest in the Midwest and southern regions of the United States, and lowest in the west.
The 2008 marijuana arrest total is the second highest annual total ever reported.
Commenting on the 2008 figures, NORML Director Allen St. Pierre said: “Federal statistics released just last week indicate that larger percentages of Americans are using cannabis at the same time that police are arresting a near-record number of Americans for pot-related offenses. Present enforcement policies are costing American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, ruining the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans, and having no impact on marijuana availability or marijuana use in this country. It is time to end this failed policy and replace prohibition with a policy of marijuana regulation, taxation, and education.”
NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano added, “According to a just-released Rasmussen poll, a majority of American adults believe, correctly, that marijuana is less harmful than booze. The public has it right; the law has it wrong.”
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