City Hall-Sheriff Deputies Disrespect SF Cannabis Patients' Union Member-Candidate for Mayor

Well, well, well.   Public Servants of San Francisco, in uniform, in public -- once again, caught being mean spirited and disrespectful of another medical cannabis patient. 

    A well known and respected Elder and Candidate for Mayor at that who is a licensed Attorney and Barrister (United Kingdom)

    This afternoon, the honorable potential Mayoral Candidate Attorney-Barrister Karla Gottschalk (aka nickname Belle Star) went down to The Elections Office at City Hall to file Election 2015 related documents and turn in signatures collected. 

   On the way into city hall, other residents cheered her on outside and she was happy and a bit anxious to be in the running. 

    As a medical cannabis patient, she uses cannabis for anxiety and stress, so she paused outside to medicate and relax before going into City Hall. 

     In fact, we recall when hundreds of cannabis patients of all ages would be cruising in and out of city hall to attend our former Medical Cannabis Task Force Meetings.

 Historical Note:  The SF MCTF went down in flames due to bad influences of big money interests trying to tax, fine, fee, burden, exploit and destroy our individual and collective rights to access cannabis freely, at cost no matter what others do. 

  Scores of patients and advocates went to City Hallon a regular basis to represent the hundreds of thousands of cannabis patients here and all over northern california that come and go here, for generations.

     So, check this out.  She goes in and one deputy (at security checkpoint) makes a 'big deal' because she smelled like cannabis and started some ridiculous 'law and order' crap and then other deputies joined in - making exaggerated, rude, demeaning remarks drawing lots of attention to her which causes harm.  It makes her feel more anxiety and stress for being singled out for harassment by the deputies. 

   By contrast, my peers and I have gone through the checkpoints recently and in larger groups way back when we attended regular Task Force meetings. 

   We recall those Deputies (a few years ago) being a lot more adult, human, discreet and kind whenever we passed through their security checkpoint.  They were 'mature' about cannabis or smells of cannabis. No big deal.   We never felt 'weird' or experienced being treated 'different;y' or negatively by deputies in the past.  They  treated us with full dignity and respect.

  So, what's up with these adolescent, out of touch with 2015, make a big deal out of nothing, disrespectful types of deputies who think they are Superior to a 'pot smoker' or user of cannabis and 'get highly offended' like a New York Dandy about the smell of cannabis ?  

   We don't know but we don't Deputies on payroll who are any but 100% Mature, Discreet & Professional when dealing with any resident, elder, disabled person or cannabis patient AND give be MORE professional and polite to folks running for office because the last thing they need is some 'acting out' and judgemental bias in public by pubic servants whose salaries are paid for by our taxes.

   We want mature, professional adults in uniform with guns, not rude, out of control, condescending egotists which is what was witnessed here at City Hall today.

  If those Deputies wish to Explain themselves publicly, they are free to post their comments below, if they have the backbone and stomach to be 'honest' about why they mistreat folks using cannabis 'differently' and 'negatively' as their conduct and speech bears out in this incident.

  If Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi or a Chief of Deputies wishes to explain 'policy of deputy conduct' to do with the general public or specifically 'cannabis patients' who come to City Hall is, that would be even better.

  Bottom Line is that Cannabis Is Medicine and We Are Patients using cannabis instead of Big Pharma, Narcotics and Alcohol. 

    If Deputies and Society & Media keep treating us wrongly and making such a big deal out of a plant from nature that causes no harm and heals, then perhaps there's a bigger message they're sending us.   Statistics say Seven out of Ten Americans abuse or use narcotics and big pharma drugs, which include folks who are public servants as well as all our other residents.

   So, in essence, folks who abuse power, liquor, pharma and narcotics want us to Join Them.

  Maybe they demonize Cannabis because consciously or subconsciously they want us to Stop Using Cannabis and go spend $500 a month on Big Pharma, Narcotics and Liquor which we know causes violence, increased costs and loss of life for us all.  

    No thanks. We'll stick to reducing stress, living longer and thinking more by continuing our 10,000+ year old tradition and natural right to keep using cannabis freely and at cost and reject efforts to keep us down another 80+ years by intimidation, public ridicule and incentives to exploit cannabis for mega profits or get trapped into man made drugs, liquor and big pharma crap that harms us all.

  Cheers!

 s/J.Leonard, Co-Founder SF Cannabis Patients' Union

P.S. KUDOS to SFPD Mission Station Officer Petuya who stopped by on his Walking Beat to exchange apologies of sorts between himself, Karla Gottschalk (the mayoral candidate/cannabis patient in this story) and myself about Sit-Lie and Cannabis Issues.

   Open, honest conflict often leads to better understanding amongst our perceived adversaries and less division between 'groups' being pitted against each in other in intolerant or negative ways (i.g. the story above).

    

4 20 Day In San Francisco Reality Check - We Stopped Cleaning Because Police Rushed In Prematurely

Glorious 4/20 Day in San Francisco.   Because of the work done over the past 80+ years of folks who put freedom, lives and natural human rights ABOVE man made poisons, bad laws and toxic industries that kill.     For 10,000+ Years humans (and some animals) and nature have enjoyed many benfefits of cannabis and hemp without causing any great harm or death to any one.

     In fact, the only ones harmed by the frauds of Prohibition and Drug Wars has been about 50 Million Americans who lost their homes, families and freedoms over cannabis.

   But, that was only 'because of the unjust laws' (not their own harmless conduct) that were  passed to favor the Corporate King Families of Big Oil, Liquor, Pharma, Privatization, Prison Building and Huge Law Enforcement Agencies and Departments -- all working together to destroy the lives of anyone who doesn't give up cannabis and hemp for Prozac, Jack Daniels, Heroin, Nylon and premature death by mass media induced suicide.    One of the longest running and most expensive (in terms of money and lives and time lost) in the history of our nation.  

   If I could choose between a cop holding a gun on me at a rally who smoked a joint versus one who just polished off his last hit of crack or gin bottle for the day....  I'll take the pot head cop over the totally out of control, nervous system fried Alcohol or Narcotic Cop any day.

   This is about reality.    Our legal team finally made it down to 4/20 at Golden Gate late in the day and what we saw looked fine.    Tons of people leaving.... who had been there all weekend and it was easier to find other peers as the afternoon went onward to the eve.

   There were a few quick outbreaking fights between mostly young folks (drinking alcohol) and that caused folks to have to pick up and run fast to avoid being mobbed by the fight or the onlookers.   Then after those minor disturbances went by, many of us were still saying hello to folks we had not seen in months or years and lots of individuals, couples and families were cruising around picking up trash and piling it up as best they could.

   If the city, knowing almost exact volumes of average trash left by previous years' 4/20 had put out enough trash bins,   the cost of cleanup would have been dropped significantly and reduced the negative 'trash' bias local mass media pawns are regurgitating with the usual whiners....  but, folks were doing as best they could given their relaxed states of mind.

  Then, from our perspective right at Hippie Hill, we saw several ATV Riders with uniforms (all uniformed officers look threatening to the masses while they are in social settings, relaxing and see them come up all of a sudden) coming into the area from the east and we could see 'waves' of people in the dense masses 'reacting' to their sudden presence. It was like they came to push, control or exert some force or authority long before everyone was finished meeting, greeting, partying, packing out and cleaning up their affairs of the day.

  Then, someone, likely suffering PTSD from past encounter with uniformed officers (as in being beaten for no just cause by bad, violent ones in SFPD, for example) and likely having been drinking threw the bottle that hit one of the uniformed people that triggered a 2nd wave of uniformed ATV Riders (SFPD suited up this time) to storm in... and saw police movements all around the perimeters which caused most folks to feel bad, stop their partying, socializing and cleaning and take off before being potentially harassed or harmed by the premature, overwhelmingly expensive police.

   We all noted that had we all been left alone for the eve, most of the trash would have been taken out or stacked around the few trash bins that were put out and droves of recyclers, ground scorers (if you don't know what tens of thousands of folks in cities do every day, we can't help you...), volunteers and partiers would have had all night and the early morning to make most of it disappear, right before everyone's stoned eyes... because when we are given sufficient resources (i.g. trash cans, bins, portable bathrooms) we use them and use them well because we have pride and love our city.

    But, what a double edged sword. When the city fails to provide us with resources or tries to control or end our free willed partying, celebrating and socializing according to their will and agendas (prematurely),  then the mass media and whiners get busy to make it all seem like the fault of The People.   Which its not.

   Short-sided control freaks who are out of control and jump the gun and make mountains out of mole hills (for personal and group gains...) are THE PROBLEM.   Like the folks trying to KILL OUR GOLDEN GATE AND THE HAIGHT by stealing the MUNI 21 Bus Line.

Look at the Big Picture Folks. Sit-Lie, Gentrification, Privatized Upscale Buses all go to DESTROYING OUR CITY so banksters and east coasters can remodel it into their choke and die business models of New York and other commercialized to death metro areas.

They want their petro-chemical, hand held devices, machines, corporate cultures and material objects to take the place of our human cultures and natural rights and constitutional rights to live freely not as subjects of tyrants and mad men.

HAPPY 4/20 EVERYONE!

From The Moderators of the San Francisco Cannabis Patients' Union

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