Why does activist risk his marriage, livelihood, liberty?
Why does activist risk his marriage, livelihood, liberty?
By Susan Clairmont
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jul 20, 2006)
You'd think a pot activist would be able to take a long, deep breath.
But oh no.
Once Chris Goodwin gets on his high horse, it's hard to bring him down.
You see, pot is his life. His reason for being on this earth. It is his passion. His calling. His religion. His career.
He talks about it endlessly. Breathlessly. Obsessively. Sometimes even articulately.
Chris is the 26-year-old owner of downtown's Up in Smoke cafe. I have called him to confirm that he is on trial today. This time he is facing one count of possession of cannabis resin. He is, of course, fighting it.
Chris has been in the media a lot since he opened Hamilton's first pot cafe in August 2004. There have been countless stories about what goes on at his establishment, about police going in and out of there, of his involvement in pro-pot rallies and decriminalization protests. I once wrote about the Children's Aid Society investigating Chris and his wife after a cop reported the couple smoked up every day while raising their infant son. The CAS concluded the child was being well cared for and no action was taken against the Goodwins.
So while readers may know who Chris is and what he stands for, there is nothing quite like the experience of actually talking to him.
To reach him yesterday, I started by phoning the cafe. That's where I've always found him before. But these days, he's under a court order not to go to his place of business on King Street East. It's a condition attached to one of the numerous outstanding marijuana-related charges he is facing. Today's trial is the first of many.
The old home phone number I have for Chris won't work either. He doesn't live there anymore. He and his weed-smoking wife have split up. She couldn't take it any more -- the activism, the arrests, the stress.
So I get him on his cellphone. As always, Chris is more than happy to chat. To debate. He is unfailingly polite and accommodating. Completely jazzed. The court case? You want to know about the court case?
And thus, the rant begins.
"It was roaches in the ashtray," he says at his usual lightning pace. From there, he backs up to give me a long, detailed play-by-play of the events leading to his arrest. Who said what. Who did what. Deep background on each and every person in the cafe at the time of the arrest. The names, ranks and career history of each cop involved.
Yes, it was his ashtray. His and the Hamilton Compassion Society, an organization he began to supply medical marijuana users with the necessary supplies. But it wasn't his marijuana remains in the ashtray. Therefore, the charge is completely bogus. He will prove in court that he knows the law better than his arresting officers.
He directs me to specific sections of the Criminal Code. To case law. He rhymes off web addresses for pro-pot sites (including his own Hamilton Hash Mob Forum) and tells me which ones have webcam images of his arrest. He recites statistics that range from the number of medicinal marijuana users in Canada to the number of oppressed cannabis farmers in small, downtrodden countries.
Chris launches into a monologue on what he does and doesn't do at the cafe. He does sell bongs and pipes and detox kits for people who need to clean up before giving their parole officer/doctor/CAS worker a urine sample. He doesn't sell marijuana. Though he can tell you who does and where to find them.
We're a long way into this rambling when I finally get a question in.
Why?
Why is pot so important to Chris that he is willing to risk his marriage, his livelihood, his freedom for the right to get high?
Because cannabis is "a noble plant." Because he wants freedom and justice for the medical marijuana users. Because of the impact pot laws have on the lives of all those who are arrested for smoking or selling or growing weed. Because he's a "freedom activist" who cares about global issues such as the economic impact on pot growers the world over. Because he can't, in good conscience, tolerate the "prohibitionist type atmosphere" and "cultural genocide" that has made the war on drugs the most expensive war in the history of the world. Because he doesn't believe in the gateway theory that says pot use will lead tokers to harder drugs.
"Being a cannabis activist is the most worthwhile thing anyone can do. It's the most worthwhile cause I could put all my soul and heart and energy into it."
An hour passes and he is still talking in circles that hang oddly in the air before fading away like the smoke he fights for.
Susan Clairmont's commentary appears regularly in The Spectator. [email protected] or 905-526-3539.
Contact: [email protected]
Hamilton Spectator
Why does activist risk his marriage, livelihood, liberty?
In defence of marijuana activist
By Keith Fagin, Calgary
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jul 22, 2006)
Re: 'Why does activist risk his marriage, livelihood, liberty?' (column, July 20)
Thankfully, there are people out there who will make these sacrifices for what is a morally correct and simply the right thing to do.
The truth is out there, based on years of experience and science. How can a society in 2006 still allow this unjust persecution of peaceful, law-abiding people fighting to end prohibition of an amazingly useful plant?
It saves lives, has medical properties, improves the quality of life for humans and the quality of the world we all share in many ways. The longer the prohibition continues, the more people will stand up and make sacrifices to put an end to the suffering of millions of people worldwide.
Contact: [email protected]
The Hamilton Spectator
Why does activist risk his marriage, livelihood, liberty?
Quote:
Originally Posted by KanMan
In defence of marijuana activist
By Keith Fagin, Calgary
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jul 22, 2006)
Re: 'Why does activist risk his marriage, livelihood, liberty?' (column, July 20)
Thankfully, there are people out there who will make these sacrifices for what is a morally correct and simply the right thing to do.
The truth is out there, based on years of experience and science. How can a society in 2006 still allow this unjust persecution of peaceful, law-abiding people fighting to end prohibition of an amazingly useful plant?
It saves lives, has medical properties, improves the quality of life for humans and the quality of the world we all share in many ways. The longer the prohibition continues, the more people will stand up and make sacrifices to put an end to the suffering of millions of people worldwide.
Contact:
[email protected]
The Hamilton Spectator
ditto:thumbsup:
dai*ma:stoned: sfca94110
