Touring Oregon with MAMA

October 1 to October 19, 2007
America and Drugs - Still Crazy After All These Years

David offered to drive the RV. His sharp physicist mind and love of a challenge kept us up and running with a minimum of hassle. Jack was quick to jump in and help when needed and his good sense of humor was appreciated. Alice was a quick study, good sport and provider of delicious treats. Our first day started in Hood River, where we had an interview with the editor of the Hood River News at 8:30 am. At first he seemed slightly disinterested, but by the time we left him, he thanked us for teaching him so much about drugs in general. It was interesting for Alice and Jack to see how quickly education can change a person’s attitude.  

We left Hood River for The Dalles for the “Coffee Break Show” on KODL, a conservative radio station. The talk show host told of his recent experience with painkillers and he listened carefully to Alice’s story regarding her decision to use medical marijuana.  

Our next appointment was with the editor of The Dalles Chronicle. It was amazing to watch his attitude change in the 45 minutes we were with him. The story he wrote, as well as other media stories, can be found on our media page..

We left the newspaper and rushed to the Columbia Gorge Community College for our noon public meeting. After our presentation to the friendly home crowd, we visited briefly, then bid them farewell and drove East to Hermiston. Our interview at the Hermiston Herald was with a friendly reporter and the published story is also on our website. It was getting late in the afternoon, so we had time for a nice dinner, before resuming our journey east for our last presentation of the day at the Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton. After finding our room, we found a reporter for Pendleton’s “East Oregonian” waiting for us. After our presentation, she continued to ask questions and used the answers to write a great article.

Later that night, after we settled into the nice RV park at the casino, we marveled at our day’s experience. On our first day we had traveled about 150 miles, given two public presentations, and had 5 media interviews. Not bad for a day’s work and it was only the first day of twenty.

On Tuesday, Oct 2nd we traveled to Ontario, on the Idaho border, stopping in communities along the way to make presentations, meet with the media and visit interested people. In Ontario we ‘slept with the trucks’, as there were no RV parks open and the Pilot truck stop was our home for the night. A very interesting experience!

Early Wednesday, we went to the newspaper, then headed for appointments in Burns, Lakeview and Klamath Falls, including an evening presentation at 7 PM. Of course the RV broke down in the location furthest from help. This is when David diagnosed the problem, clogged fuel lines, and he and Jack were able to clear them enough to get us into Burns, where we could get new filters.

In the desert between Ontario and Burns

The delay forced us to cancel our dates in Lakeview and Klamath Falls, much to our regret and that of the folks in K. Falls, who expected to meet us for our presentation. We went on into Bend and settled in. In addition to our one-on-one appointments, I was interviewing by phone with many radio stations as we traveled. In Bend we met with a long time friend and fellow reformer, Tristan Reisfar.

Tristan, Sandee, Alice, and Jack

We had a well-attended public meeting in Bend, where we met old friends and made new ones. After interviewing with the media in Bend, Sisters, Redmond and Madras we returned to Mosier late Friday night, with a day off before beginning the next week on the Coast. Starting with an appointment in Clatskanie, we made our way to Astoria and on down HWY 101 to Coos Bay, giving presentations and meeting with the media all along the way . On Thursday we went inland, giving a presentation in Roseburg, Friday in Eugene and Saturday in Grants Pass and meeting with the media. After a Sunday off, we started in Ashland on Monday and worked our way up the I-5 Corridor for the rest of the week. I wish I could tell you about every stop and every conversation we had. You can see our tour schedule here, a map here, some of the media coverage we generated here, and one of the posters that we used to advertise our visits here.

We were happy to be joined on Friday, Oct 19th by Howard Wooldridge of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), who interviewed at 7:30 AM on KBOO in Portland and other stations later in the day.

In 20 days we traveled the state, gave 18 public presentations, spoke with a majority of the state’s media and had many private meetings. We saw that public opinion has changed toward cannabis, not just about medicinal use, but also regarding the access to the many industrial uses of hemp and concern about the cost of adult prohibition and the inherent crime. The impact of almost 18,000 patients has exposed the truth to the lies the government has espoused all these years. People don’t trust the government regarding the safety of all drugs. Because of personal experience and documentaries like “Sicko”, people are starting to question the status quo and prohibitionist are fighting back. Now more than ever it is important to speak up to protect the OMMP. Tell your personal experience to friends, neighbors, legislators and public officials. Your help is needed so that Truth and Reason can prevail.

Sandee