Thursday, October 28 · 7:00pm – 8:30pm

Ramkota Hotel, Sioux Falls – Jefferson Room

Retired Lieutenant Police Officer Tony Ryan and Chiropractor Allen Unruh will debate whether or not voters should pass Measure 13!

Each side will present a speech and then open a Q&A with the crowd.

I think our local TV stations have done a decent job in covering M13, but will the Gargoyle Leader cover it? They have already declined to do a Q & A / Forum with supporters and opponents of M13. What gives? No surprise though, it’s the normal pussy-footing around with them. They are more concerned that Steffy is handing out bowls of chili.

“We can’t make marijuana legal, we would be out of jobs”

Seems the coppers are getting worried, because they won’t have much to do after IM13 passes. So they keep making up shit to discourage people from voting for it;

The news release said Toby Hudson of Oregon and Paul Eddy of California were carrying 100 pounds of marijuana when they were arrested during a traffic stop just outside Rapid City in August. The Highway Patrol said the marijuana came from licensed medical growers from other states.

Marijuana is Marijuana. Doesn’t matter where it comes from or it’s use. Throwing the word ‘medical’ in front of it was definately a political game. Oh but it gets better. Milstead seems to think skateboarders will use pain from a previous accident to use the drug (nevermind mentioning people dying from Cancer or people with MS;

“I don’t think South Dakota is ready to let people smoke marijuana because they have an old skateboard injury,” he said.

No Mike. You PERSONALLY are not ready to allow people to smoke. Let South Dakotans make that decision. Seek out real crimes, like violent offenders, and leave the terminally ill alone.

Photo; Derek Cecil

“There are a number of things I want you to be aware of in my presentation. I want you to be aware that I do not smoke, and I do not have the desire to smoke. I do not drink alcoholic beverages, and I do not desire to drink alcoholic beverages. I’ve never smoked marijuana, and I have no desire to smoke marijuana. I’ve never taken illegal drugs, and I have no desire to take illegal drugs. The reason I am at this rally for Initiative 13 is for very personal reasons. I’m not here for abstract reasons. I’m not here for theoretical reasons. I’m here for very personal reasons, and that very personal reason is I have somebody who is very close to me who suffers from constant pain. This has been going on for six years. Each day, this person is in pain. Each hour, this person is in pain. Each minute, this person is in pain. And, of course, each second of every day, this person is in pain. Now, for those of you who have other people here you’re aware of that’s in pain, you probably realize that pain can really wear a person down. Really wear a person down. In fact, this person is probably (sic) disabled. Now, I should also mention too that this person takes prescription drugs and that one of the drugs is a narcotic. A prescribed, legal drug. And also many other drugs to try and recover from the pain. So, the question has to arise; If this person is already taking heavy duty, heavy duty, heavy duty prescription drugs, what is wrong with this person being allowed to try marijuana to see if it can provide some relief? Now, as a matter of fact today I was talking to an opponent of Initiative 13 and I told this individual this very personal story of mine and this individual responded kind of interestingly. This person said “Well, if I was in the shoes of that person and suffering all this pain, you know what I would do? I’d just go ahead and smoke marijuana illegally anyway.” Well, this person I know that is suffering in pain is not about to break the law. No way. But this person hopes the law can be changed with Initiative 13. And so, in conclusion, I would like to thank all of you for being here today to possibly make this happen. Thank you, again.” – Dr. Kermit Staggers

I’m no expert on Medicinal Marijuana, but I would think a couple of doctors would know better then to spread blatant lies about the plant. But hey, if I had to pick my opponents, these two clowns would top my list;

The rally also came on the same day that Allen Unruh, an organizer for a local tea party group, denounced the measure as a back-door effort to legalize pot, which he complained would lead to widespread laziness among users.

So what?! The legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes would be one of the best things for this country. We could grow it, tax it and stop the billions of dollars we waste on incarceration and law enforcement. We could also stop funneling money to Mexico in which people die everyday supplying us the product now. There are also other benefits. We could use hemp for clothing and burn it for energy instead of coal.

As for the laziness comment. LMAO! Some of these people can’t work anyway do to their chronic pain, it might actually help them to be more productive instead of less.

Unruh’s tea party group was host to a luncheon featuring Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead and state Rep. Blake Curd, a Sioux Falls surgeon, who spoke against medical marijuana. Experience in other states, Milstead said, shows that the number of so-called “patients” quickly mushrooms while the number of physicians prescribing marijuana stays the same.

Well, Mike, guess why that is? Because pot is affordable unlike chemically based prescription drugs that have extreme side effects. And guess what else. IT WORKS!

Curd noted that marijuana is not a regulated drug, unlike other drugs that doctors prescribe.

And that is what scares the shit out of big pharma. They can’t patent it, so they can’t make money from it.

Potency varies widely, and users don’t know how the drug was grown – whether a grower used pesticides or fertilizers. “I think you’re looking at something that doesn’t have a useful place right now,” he said.

Curd displays his obvious ignorance on this one. Cannabis has no natural enemies, in other words you don’t have to use pesticides and fertilizers to grow it. Unlike the food we eat. Where is his concern over all the widespread cancer that is probably due to processed foods and bioengineering of food plants? Maybe he should be fighting Monsanto instead of Marijuana?