This is my father as a medical marijuana patient. The marijuana alleviated his nausea and allowed him to eat. It eased his pain to a tolerable level and allowed him to function, instead of being in a zombie like state from being doped up on the pharmaceutical pain killers he was prescribed. The marijuana helped him sleep so his body could rest and fight his ailments. This was taken a year and a half before he died. BEFORE he was forced to give up his natural herbal medicine in the hope of receiving a necessary transplant. I was 17 years old when this picture was taken.

This picture was taken when I was 18 years old. After he was forced to give up medical marijuana. I was a teenage girl and watched my father suffer. His nausea was so bad that he was unable to eat and we watched him waste away from day to day. His pain was unbearable and made him unable to sleep soundly. Because he was unable to eat and unable to sleep his blood sugar went out of control and he slipped into diabetic comas almost weekly. As an 18 year old child I drove my father to the emergency room. I cried by his hospital bed hoping for him to wake up. I encouraged him to NOT find comfort in a natural medicine that worked for him, because I was selfish and wanted him to live. I allowed my father to suffer needlessly throughout his last year on this earth because I believed that if he could just tough it out he might live. I encouraged him to suffer while knowing there was medicine that could comfort him. No child should be forced to choose between giving up hope for their parent’s survival or their parents comfort. You want to know what a medical marijuana law would do for the children? It would renew their faith in the law. The current situation harbors a deep disrespect for the law and makes things more difficult for all those involved – not just the children, not just the patients, but for law enforcement as well. Forcing people to needlessly suffer is bad policy.

This is the last time I ever saw my father alive. The next time I saw him was in a casket at the funeral home when I was 19 years old. This is the reason why I advocate for medical marijuana. As a child I watched my father suffer needlessly. I encouraged it. I am tormented by that fact and not only does that hurt still impact my daily life, it affects all those around me. My children watch me cry and are helpless to do anything about it. There is no reason why anyone should be forced to suffer when there is a solution available. You have the ability to stop the suffering, by supporting SB 409. My father is dead and gone. SB 409 will not help him, but there are living patients right now who are suffering – that you CAN help. I hope you find it in your heart to side with compassion and do what is right. Stop forcing people to suffer.

NH’s SB 409 passed the senate 13-11 at 9:00pm Wednesday March 28, 2012. The schedule for the public hearing, the executive hearing, and the senate vote were all changed repeatedly at last minutes notice and stretched out in an attempt to make it impossible for patients and advocates to attend. The bill moves to the house, where it has a lot of support, but Governor John Lynch has “promised” to veto the bill. Gov. Lynch has been told by the State Police association and the Attorney General’s office that passing medical marijuana will make a police officer’s job more difficult. I believe that making a cops job easier should not take precedence over making a patient’s LIFE easier. I am asking if you could please keep this email going, get it to reach as many eyes as possible. We need people to call Gov. Lynch at 603-271-2121 and urge him to side with compassion and reason. Please do NOT veto SB 409, instead sign it into law.

Thank you for your time,

Sarah Levesque

Just download our new trifold and send it off to your favorite printer! Thanks to Meg McLain for the always-spiffy design work.

Get it here:
Inside
Outside

See more downloadable and printable outreach tools here.

Whether or not you can make it Wednesday, do consider calling local reps and encourage them to vote yes for HB 591 on Wednesday.

DATE: This Friday, March 23rd

TIME: 8AM-5PM Eastern Time

WHAT: Call (603) 352-0056 From Your Phone Line, Anywhere

Here’s the Facebook event.

Call John Webb from the Cheshire County (Keene, NH) Attorney’s Office and demand that Cheshire County does the right thing and drops the criminal charges against Ian Freeman, Derrick J. Freeman, and Kelly Voluntaryist for their peaceful actions taken at the Cheshire County Superior Court on Monday, February 27.

CALL JOHN WEBB, (603) 352-0056!!!

Ian was charged with one count of criminal trespass and released on PR bond.

Kelly was charged with one count of criminal trespass plus breach of bail and released on $500 bond.

Derrick J. was charged with one count of criminal trespass, one charge of resisting arrest, plus something similar to breach of bail (perhaps he can clarify this point) and released on $1000 bond.

All three are scheduled for trial by judge on April 17th. They are each facing up to a year in the cage for the criminal trespass charge alone.

CALL JOHN WEBB, (603) 352-0056 AND TELL HIM TO DROP THESE RIDICULOUS CHARGES AGAINST IAN FREEMAN, DERRICK J. FREEMAN, AND KELLY VOLUNTARYIST!!!

Video from the incident:

Thank you so very much for your help!

CACR 26 – Providing that the article authorizing the chief justice of the supreme court to make rules governing the administration of all the courts of the state shall be repealed.

CACR 22 – Providing that the chief justice shall adopt court rules with the concurrence of the general court.

CACR 11 – Providing that all state judges be commissioned for renewable 7-year terms.

Here’s a facebook event for it.

Polls are open from 7:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. Wards 1, 2 & 3 vote at the Keene Recreation Center, 312 Washington Street, and Wards 4 & 5 vote at the First Baptist Church, 105 Maple Avenue. Same day voter registration is available.

Not sure what ward you’re in? Check here.

Here’s my campaign site and a facebook event for tomorrow’s vote.

You can expect the local authoritarians to be in attendance. Will the ideas of liberty be present and well-communicated? Will roots be struck and paradigms challenged? Be there and advocate peaceful, consensual solutions to social problems.

Hopefully, Juggalos will be there to show that they are not a group and are individuals who differ, just like liberty activists.

Here’s a facebook event for the meeting.

You are invited to come out and enjoy live tunes from longtime FK Fest mainstay, Josh Noone and The Federal Crime as well as Luthor Kingsley. Meet new people, connect with the community, and don’t forget to bring a non-perishable food item for Heika’s food drive!