In 2010, Rich Paul founded the yearly mass civil disobedience event on April 20th in front of the state house steps in Concord where cannabis users come to toke up in full public view. After taking a year off from activism in New Hampshire, he has returned to retake his role as the emcee of the well-attended rally where thus far, no one has ever been arrested. Here are some highlights from his speeches at last week’s 420 celebration:
On Monday’s episode of Free Talk Live we went into detail about Rich Paul’s recent arrest in Salem, NH for possession of cannabis. We spent most of the last hour of the show discussing it. In short, a few weeks ago, Rich and a friend were heading back from dropping an activist at Boston airport and stopped off at a rest area once back in New Hampshire. While there, they smoked a joint before heading back out on the road. They were immediately pulled over before even leaving the rest area, as it turns out they had smoked up in the middle of an undercover police operation that was monitoring the rest area that day for heroin deals.
According to Rich, the police seemed disappointed they didn’t bust any heroin and would have been willing to issue them summonses and release them on the scene, but Rich’s passenger did not have ID on him, so they were taken back to the police station for booking. Ultimately they were released on PR bail and issued court dates. Both have been charged with Class A misdemeanors for possession, which means they could take this to a jury trial, unless the state reduces the charges to Class B.
If it does go in front of a jury, it will be the first time an NH liberty activist has gone to jury trial for simple possession. Rich is looking forward to his chance at a jury trial, especially since he is a minister of the Church of the Invisible Hand and considers cannabis to be a sacrament.
One big, and as-yet-unanswered question is whether the state will motion the court to impose Rich’s suspended sentence from his previous conviction for selling cannabis. Stay tuned here for the latest.
This is my analysis of Cantwell’s self defense incident. In my capacity as Mad Monk of the Church of the Invisible Hand, I will present it based on the principles of the Church, which are Peace, Love, Balance and Harmony.
First, let us examine principle of Peace. The Church believes that the best rule of behavior to achieve Peace is the Non-Aggression Principle. We believe that the only legitimate use of violence is in defense of yourself, another human or the property of a person. It is the only principle we will impose on others … we will forcibly prevent others from doing us harm. Cantwell’s behavior was completely in line with the principle of Peace. He does have a natural right to videotape a public street — public being defined as unowned or owned by an illegitimate entity like Government. Not only did he not initiate force, but when a credible threat of force was brought to bear against him, and he legally and morally could have fired in self-defense, he still forbore from firing, and brought the incident to a conclusion where nobody was harmed. That is the best possible outcome of a self-defense situation.
Secondly, let us examine the principle of Love. The Church believes as our Estimated Prophet Robert A Heinlein wrote.that “Love is that state where the well-being of another becomes essential of our own”, An (more…)
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Keenevention‘s closing keynote speech in 2014 was delivered by heroic cannabis activist Rich Paul, who faced down 100 years in prison by refusing the plea deal and taking his cannabis dealing charges to a jury. Sadly, he was convicted and spent about a year of his life in jail for standing for his principles. He’s out now and has been instrumental in forming a board of directors for the new NHJury.com. Here’s the video of his speech:
