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Lessons Learned From My Time as a Political Activist

On June 28th, 2001, Jeff and I published a full-page ad in Portland, Oregon’s alternative news-weekly, Willamette Week, brandishing the outrageous headline: We're Jeff and Tracy. We're Your Good Neighbors. We Smoke Pot.

On June 28th, 2001, Jeff and I published a full-page ad in Portland, Oregon’s alternative news-weekly, Willamette Week, brandishing the outrageous headline: We're Jeff and Tracy. We're Your Good Neighbors. We Smoke Pot. You can read the text and view our original ad below -

We subsequently published the same ad in Seattle’s The Stranger and San Francisco’s Bay Guardian. Our marijuana drug war activism resulted in invitations to appear as guests on television, rock, and AM talk radio stations all across the country, as well as articles being written about us in notable magazines and newspapers. We have video footage, audio interviews, and magazine and newspaper articles. Let me know if you’re interested, and I can write a separate post featuring some of those things.

But here’s our Original Radio Spot -

JT GreenMoney

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Pretty scary and threatening, right? LOL! We’re so tame.

But it was a different time…almost 25 years ago now. Before recreational marijuana was even a thing. Most states didn’t even have a medical plan yet. We are different people today.

But the REASON we took such a loud, visible stand back then is still relevant today.

WHY DID WE BECOME MARIJUANA DRUG LAW REFORM ACTIVISTS?

That's a really good question.

Why in the world would a couple of law-abiding, ex-Mormon, small business owners, who had lived otherwise quiet and peaceful lives, paint such a big target on our backs?

In a word: Justice.

Well, two words, actually. Truth and Justice.

Let me just clear something up, though. I'm not really a pot smoker. Yes, I tried it...many times. A l-o-n-g time ago. But it just didn't take for me.

I tried cigarettes, too. Ya, no. Not so much. I'm just not into drugs of any kind.

Well, ok, alcohol. Mostly wine. And coffee. (Can caffeine really be called a drug? LOL!) But that's about it for me. And even that, I consume in moderation. I'm too much of a control freak about my own body. I prefer to be in complete control of my mental and physical faculties. And drugs make me feel out of touch with reality, which I don't like.

BUT...I'd consumed cannabis enough times to know that it wasn't the horrific, evil drug the propagandists and Drug War overlords were making it out to be.

Normally, I wouldn't feel the need to take such a stand on a public policy issue. But this one threatened my loved ones, and that scared me.

We were living in Bend, Oregon, at the time, and we were hearing lots of (tax-payer-funded) ads on the radio by the ONDCP (Office of National Drug Control Policy) portraying pot smokers as not only stupid but also a threat to teens, and the cause of the erosion of civil society. And we knew all of that was a lie. We decided there needed to be an opposing voice.

SO, WE WROTE OUR FIRST PSA

Our initial idea was to create a little 60-second radio spot and pay to put it on the radio in the Portland Metro market. We figured we'd go to the same station that aired the Howard Stern show, trusting that if they were willing to play that content, surely they wouldn't be offended by our friendly little Public Service Announcement.

Boy, were we wrong!

And that's where the story began. We never intended to publish a full-page ad in the newspaper, but our experience trying to find someone to take our money and play our ad on the air led to that eventual outcome. The newspaper ad tells the full story if you want to read it.

THE BACK STORY

But, like I said, I was never a big marijuana consumer.

It wasn’t until Jeff exposed me to the truth of what the Drug War was doing to young kids who were being arrested and thrown in prison for nothing more than possessing and/or consuming a harmless plant that my eyes were opened. I began reading stories about how otherwise peaceful, law-abiding, contributing members of society were having their lives torn apart by this evil legislation. And the fact that far more harm was being done by enforcing these arcane laws than by the drug the "offenders" were consuming.

SO, HOW IS THIS RELEVANT TODAY?

I’ll tell you. I’m seeing a lot of people parrot what they hear in the legacy media, stating these positions as if they were facts.

And it frightens me.

Jeff and I learned firsthand who controls the public messaging in the media and what the ‘powers that be’ want the general populace to believe.

And it’s a bunch of malarkey.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

It's no surprise to find out that there is BIG MONEY in drug-law reform. Not only in the form of fines and impounded belongings such as houses, cars, cash, and more. But there is a HUGE financial incentive in mandatory rehabilitation, legal representation, and substance abuse pharmaceuticals, just to name a few. When you follow the rabbit hole a little further, you discover there is also a LOT of money to be made in the drug-testing for employment industry. Just think about all the lab facilities, employees, equipment, and materials required to make that whole testing machine run. (Huh…is there a similarity that can be drawn to the OTHER pharmaceutical imperative going on currently?) I didn't know until we were knee-deep in this world that the federal government offers tax incentives to business owners who implement a drug-testing for employment program at their workplace.

TRANSLATE THAT INTO ELECTION MANIPULATION AND FRAUD

I’ll mention in passing here that I’m writing a book about politics, the media, and consumer control with a working title called Bed Fellows. I started writing it in 2020 during all of that mess…and frankly, it exhausts me. But I’ve accumulated A LOT of information that I still need to compile and turn into an interesting narrative. LET ME KNOW if you think this is a book I should pursue. I’m not really sure I want to immerse myself in all that sewage. This is literally the first time I’ve ever mentioned the project publicly…but I guess I’m curious to know if there is interest.

Anyhow, suffice it to say that we learned a very immediate and personal lesson about who and how the media is controlled. Because of that lesson, I’m very suspicious of the narrative being sold to the American public and the world at large about what is actually going on regarding the upcoming election, the players involved, and who is really pulling the strings.