If you are a visitor to this site, and many of you are, it is vitally important that we all communicate, and vitally important that ALL voices are heard.

I know there is much fear about being remotely connected with our efforts, and after 70 years living in this great country, understand well that fear. It kept me muzzled for many years. Few had the courage to speak up after the 70's crackdown by Nixon. If you were white and not being vocal about cannabis, you were left alone, mostly. The fear of exposure was constant but manageable.

It is time to stop. They are more of us than them. PLEASE JOIN OUR effort by joining nccpn.org. It is a new day, and by joining together, we can help right a terrible wrong. Meanwhile, the trip to the cabins for planning has been interrupted by "business". In other words, the generous offer of a trip to Bryson City is on hold until we can get a couple of days when things are slack and we don't take away needed revenue from people who have been so generous to our cause.

For everyone else, thank you for all the many things you are doing. Liz Porter has created (a huge undertaking) a fantastic web site that would have costs us thousands of dollars. She is a GIS qualified person who has dedicated her time to making a complete, up to date with the last election in NC, of all people we need to interact with. We will have a front page link or banner to the site soon. For us dummies, GIS is graphic interface or something like that. The way it works, I think, is this...if you interact with a legislator, WE will know it, if you follow the instructions on the site. It is important that we provide the information so it is another place you need to sign in and become active. It will be a great source of information when we begin the real push!

In other words, the site now has all legislators and their KNOWN facts as it relates to our issue.  If you, or someone you know, has a personal contact with one of them, YOU will interact with the site by noting that. You will also know the current state of YOUR legislator. If it is favorable, inundate him/her with praise. If it is not favorable, FIND OUT WHY? Educate them and inform them of our lobbying day..which will include presentations by some of the best experts in the field in the legislative auditorium on FEBRUARY 12, 2013

Please, if you do nothing else to help, mark this date on your calendar and ask now for the day off so you can come to Raleigh. We will have directions and instructions for what, where and how posted on this site later. If you have a sister (or brother) organization with similar goals, either contact me or instruct everyone to monitor for information on the date. Ben and others have worked on flyer's and other types of notification. This is one where I am depending on all of you. I find my self worrying that we cannot turn out the numbers to adequately represent the cause, and that could be a major disruption. I cannot stress how important this is and when i see the number confirmed in the double digits, we need to work.

Meanwhile, I need to get off the can and get a few things going. I am trying to convince some legimitate polling organization to donate a poll. Elon college, PPP (Public Policy Polling), and Gallup are all possible.

I need to contact someone in the State Employees Association to see about help. The state itself would enjoy revenues in the  millions, if we are successful. That would  employ several state jobs.

Finally, we need money. Anyone with grant writhing experience want to volunteer.

I plan to make the updates more frequent as we get closer.

AT LAST, AT LAST, AT LAST:

It would be impossible to describe our (bewell and me) days of frustration at connecting all the dots for making nccpn a premium website. It has costs at least $300 to update software and licensing information. We had $114. in the account so the costs has been borne by us. If you can, without great sacrifice, make a donation, it would be appreciated. Still working on a grant and will keep everyone posted. The new software and related upgrades will take about 3-5 days to fully implement. We are paid up and licensed for at least the next 14 months.

As Logan stated on the forum, the time is right for action. In order to take advantage of the timing, we have made nccpn a website capable of connecting us all. One problem in this fight is that we have numerous organizations sometimes duplicating efforts. While all organizations have a right to run things their way, it is imperative that we ALL COOPERATE. Please consider either merging into one voice or at least, if your plans are different, keep us informed.

To help in planning this battle ahead, nccpn will hold a planning session tentatively scheduled for Nov 24/25. Please notify me if you are able to attend. It will be held in Bryson City at Hidden Creek Cabins. We have about 4 or 5 cabins in an idealistic setting.

We have a new link developed by an engineer with all the infor at your finger tips regarding cannabis and politicans who may help us. Please go to the linked site (ncmedicalcannabis.org) and sign up to gather information on your local legislator. We will be able to track who is helping and who needs more persuading.

I am forwarding our info for grant application today and will keep everyone posted. The goal right now is to turn out at least 1,000 members and friends at the legislature on Feb 12, 2013. The success of this effort will have great impact if we can manage it. Right now, many politicians are afraid to speak about the subject. This can make our issue a "public" issue, not a fringe issue. The problem is that many of the people who will gain the most are unaware of these benefits and the impact on their health.

Our job is clear, educate, educate, educate. Educate your legislator and encourage him/her to attend the educational sessions we will present at the Medical Cannabis Act legislative day. We will have a gifted group of speakers and plan to buy lunch for those attending.

Please, please, please..click on the add comment. If all you do is click and initial, it would be helpful. It gives me a way of knowing I am not wasting my time typing these updates and that people are reading some. BTW, our website was described as "extremely active". Their words for number of visits by visitors and members.