Governor of South Dakota, Mike Rounds = Uneducated

[PeaceFrog]

I recently wrote a letter to the governor of South Dakota to ask him why I didn't see any ads endorsed by him supporting the recently proposed Medical Marijuana bill that was defeated 48% Yes 52% NO. He replied to me saying that he could not condone "Illegal" drug use... that in South Dakota they have places for people who use Illegal drugs to go to get treatment and to cut down recidivism rates and that allowing people to use marijuana would mess that all up apparently. If you're an intelligent person... like I know you all undoubtely are, you can already see the massive holes in every sentence of the letter I recieved from Mr. Rounds. The first thing... the entire point of having a medicinal marijuana bill is to make it LEGAL for people who can be relieved of pain by smoking marijuana to do it and possess and grow it. The second thing, he says that he cannot condone illegal drug use.. but I don't see him complaining about the fact that Pharmacies give people with prescriptions amphetamine (called adderall to fool you), synthetic cocaine (called Ritalin, and Novocaine more or less), and a derivative of opium (called Morphine). Cocaine, amphetamine, opium... those sound like illegal drugs to me.. and fairly addictive and harmful when used "incorrectly." Can't say the same for marijuana can you? About his recidivism bullshit... I think they found a cure for that whole recidivism rate thing, cut it from 75% to 25% roughly? I can't quite remember what they used... could it really have been a now illegal drug called psilocybin?...

[nanouk]

....."Money makes the World Go Around, The World Go Around, Money makes The World Go Around, The World Go Around,.....Money, money, money, money!...."

;)

~N~

[PeaceFrog]

Good point.

[daniel]

since the politicians have to act as their constituencies expect to act, if you want to change his opinion, change the local opinions. There is a group called LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition - you could get them to speak at your local Chamber of Commerce or in some other conservative public forum. Apparently, this group of ex-sheriffs, prosecutors, judges, etc, is very effective at changing minds.

[craazyman]

What amazes me is that you actually got a reply to your letter. That shows your opinion matters.

[Isaiah Mpski]

BS.
That's just part of an effective political machine.
I got a letter from the CIA on 9-10 letting me know they had put me in a special file.
Synchronicity in action.


Al Gore for President.

[craazyman]

depends on if it's a form letter.

there aren't that many people in South Dakota so who knows, maybe it was a slow day at the Gov'nrs office.

was it hand-written in ink?

[PeaceFrog]

Not handwritten... but I'm pretty sure he typed it, it had his long-winded "I'm full of shit" signature all over it, he at least signed it.

[craazyman]

Good deal.

As we salesmen say, you have suceeded in "establishing a relationship with the prospect." That's at least 80% of the battle.

Now you can turn him into a pen pal and eventually "fatigue him into compliance with your measures" to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson from the Declaration of Independence speaking of British tax and foreign policy toward the colonies in the 1770s. HA!

But don't be a goonball about it. Stay sane and on message and maybe you'll break through in some measurable way.

[Paracelsus]

since the politicians have to act as their constituencies expect to act, if you want to change his opinion, change the local opinions. There is a group called LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition - you could get them to speak at your local Chamber of Commerce or in some other conservative public forum. Apparently, this group of ex-sheriffs, prosecutors, judges, etc, is very effective at changing minds.

i've checked out leap before, their video on their site was pretty interesting.
but i don't think that Rounds will listen to anything that we (the youth) have to say. When PeaceFrog got a reply back i'd have to say i was pretty surprised to see that someone actually took the initiative to reply back to a high school student especially on a topic involving drugs, but i'd put my money down on that Rounds never actually saw the letter and it was just one of his spokesperson's reply for him.

[suebee]

before i ever took drugs i used to ponder what it would take to get the planet on track - ghandi, krishnamurti, jesus, et al. - and never saw any path which would work on a massive scale. and a massive scale was needed as i could see where we were headed (birth control issues, pollution, violence). after drugs, i thought yeah, lsd in the drinking water would work but of course that isn't the answer. my mother would not appreciate a surprise acid trip. i unfortuantely believe that pot, and all psychedelics, aren't legal because they make people passive and more tolerant and less likely to need organized religions and less likely to keep buying buying buying more disposable crap and less likely to go somewhere and kill people for reasons that don't appear to them; and the powers that be (who are these people and how much f. money do they think they need and do they think they are not going to die?) would lose all control of this mass of sheep of a nation we have... jeeze we are still so fear based. look at the numbers of people who vote red. i do not have the answer to the war on drugs except to legalize them and that would take much money for ads on tv with many 'normal' people speaking out or someting like that. the usa's force fed knee jerk consumerism is someting to exploit: like with starbucks. how do we get people to stop buying triple bypassmochalattes unless they're made with fair trade coffee? you cannot buy a coffee in starbucks made with fair trade beans. what a huge difference that would make, overnight. educate our children with tv ads. money money money money.

[nyk]

marijuana = noncomformity = loosening the boundaries...dripping out of
the mold. that is not exactly conducive to herd consciousness. its all
about control.