#legalize
by Chad Venture
Congratulations and hemp hemp hooray to California for finally re-legalizing hemp.. It’s about time !! It was almost exactly a year ago today that I laughed at myself loudly as I walked out of San Francisco airport terminal after my flight from London, having just almost had my life turned upside down on the conveyor belt by the customs oomph loompas. I could not tell a lie, I had declared that I had inadvertently packed some apples and pairs in my luggage that went into the cargo hold, having meant for it to be in my hand luggage so at to survive without the constipatory inflight fodder. What I failed to mention were the raw, living, sproutable, still in their shell, and contentiously illegal hemp seeds also in my luggage. Unbeknownst to customs, it was customary for me upon returning from Europe (where sprout able hemp seed is perfectly legal) to USA to bring a bag of hemp seeds. I would usually sprout them in cold water overnight, and throw them into the blender to make ‘living’ hemp milk in the morning. Sometimes I would throw some pomegranate seeds or a banana in to add a little extra something, and occasionally I would 'accidentally’ throw a few sprouted hemp seed into some nearby park or other patch of earth that I happened to be walking by, for a laugh.
On this particular occasion, as the customs oompah loompahs opened my luggage, hundreds of hemp seeds came cascaded out loose from a ruptured plastic bag they were in and noisily scattered and danced across the conveyor belt, where the customs had just re-X-rayed my luggage, and onto the airport floor.
Miraculously (or maybe it was the inner recital of Ganesha mantra) the customs oomph loompahs waved me on through the exit door, seemingly completely oblivious to the mess I had made with the seeds scattered everywhere, and what was more they did not notice the hemp seeds stuck all over the very mashed up pears as I handed them over.
Perhaps they were also oblivious to the fact that the law against raw, living sproutable hemp seed in the USA is a laugh-out-loudable absurdity, when the Constitution of the USA is written on hemp, when early Americans were required to each grow at least one acre of hemp, when Henry Ford built a car out of hemp, when growing hemp can help mitigate the effects of damaging radioactive fallout, when it can be used to construct buildings in the form of pressed bricks, when it can be planted in soil that is depleted as it doesn’t ask for much in return, when it can help feed, cloth, and give shelter to a people. Highly ironic that hemp has been made Iegal in these last few days, as our government shuts down and, it seems, the USA might be officially running out of money later this month.
Oh yes, some even say that the Buddha got through rough, austere times and attained enlightenment under the bodhi tree while surviving on one hemp seed a day.
Hemptiness is fullness, and fullness is hemptiness.
Much love to everyone who came out to the @cannabisparade at #unionsquare to show some #budlove back to #maryjane !! it was great meeting you all! #legalize #mmj #cannabisparade #nyc #hightimesmagazine #hightimes #globalmarijuanamarch #marijuanamarch (at NYC Cannabis Parade)
Shout out to everyone hitting the streets today for the #globalmarijuanamarch so great to see so many chronnoisseurs out here!! Come find us for some #Ibudyou #budlove at the @cannabisparade in #NYC !! #cannabisparade #nyc #hightimes #hightimesmAgazine #legalize #mmj #unionsquare (at NYC Cannabis Parade)
Shout out to everyone hitting the streets today for the #globalmarijuanamarch so great to see so many chronnoisseurs out here!! Come find us for some #Ibudyou #budlove at the @cannabisparade in #NYC !! #cannabisparade #nyc #hightimes #hightimesmAgazine #legalize #mmj #unionsquare (at NYC Cannabis Parade)
International Safe Abortion Day!
Abortion must be SAFE!
Legal abortion saves the lives of millions of women,
Abortion must be legalized EVERYWHERE!
28 September marks International Safe Abortion Day. For this year’s international day of action, stakeholders around the world are coming together behind the call “Make Unsafe Abortion History”.
Access to safe abortion is time-sensitive essential health care. It is included in numerous international, regional and national legally binding treaties – providing access to safe abortion is imperative for women and girls to achieve their human and reproductive rights.
Unsafe abortion remains a preventable public health tragedy and a violation of women and girls’ human rights. It accounts for 13% of global maternal mortalities, with hundreds of thousands of survivors living with long-term complications, including infertility and chronic pain.
With121 million unintended pregnancies each year – and few countries with legal to safe abortion – too many women and girls who do not want to become parents are forced to remain pregnant. This not only represents a denial of their autonomy, but it may also have serious consequences for their mental health and access to opportunities to achieve their life goals.
For many women, this is so unacceptable that they are forced to place themselves in extreme danger by undergoing unsafe abortions. We know it is women and girls who are often already marginalised – such as those living in poverty and rural areas – who pay the greatest toll and are at the highest risk of unsafe abortion, as well as maternal mortality and morbidity.
Originally “Campaña 28 Septiembre” (or “Campaign of September 28”), the day of action was declared official in 2011 by the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights, and renamed in 2015. The new name, “International Safe Abortion Day”, took aim at unifying the different participating organizations and their respective political aims.
The history of this day is rooted in slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean, specifically in the concept of the “free womb”. “Free womb” laws were enacted for slave women who had been killing their children after birth to spare them from a life of slavery. The law ensured that children born to slave women would be considered free from birth; before the law was put into place, children born to slave mothers were automatically considered the property of the slave owner. The day of action was adopted by many groups to promote universal access to safe abortions and education about reproductive health.
Text Courtesy of figo.org / americanwomensservices.com/
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The ONLY blue line I will support…
(And this right as pot becomes legal in NJ and AZ… I mean I’m mad about the spicy potatoes and the Mexican Pizza being gone too — but DON’T take it out on those serving us the Baja blue!)
