 | John English Portland Drug Policy Examiner | ||||||
Find out more about John: John English, a retired professional locksmith of 27 years and a member of Drug Watch International, has worked against illicit drug use for a quarter century, and with the help of committed friends, has contributed to positive changes in his community and surrounding cities. He has instituted a new approach of bringing his former out-of-control drug community to be family-friendly. josiahrivers@gmail.com |
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Jack lived and died in denial. Live by the sword, die by the sword, I guess ...
I'd warned him. He'd taken a toke or two just before collapsing at the 2000 Hempfest run by Bill Conde in Harrisburg, Oregon and had a stroke. I was just down the road and watched the ambulance take him away although I wasn't aware who was inside at first. Though we talked, he refused to believe that pot raised one's blood pressure then; he got angry at me for saying it; he refused to believe it until the day he died.
The day they took him away from Conde's, Bill had accused me of starting a fire in the dry field across the road from where I was protesting. I saw the teenagers who'd thrown the fireworks into the field and called it in to the fire department immediately with a description of the car and the license plate number. Bill knew the accusation wasn't true, but he and Jack were two of a kind. Bill wasn't much for the truth either.
I actually found out I liked Bill but never had any use for Jack, nor Jerry, nor Ken Kesey, all of whom promoted pot use to America's youth!
Evidently, Jack died after getting worked up again? He was a passionate and excitable guy. Just like the during the 2000 hempfest, where he had a stroke in front of the crowd, he collapsed at Portland's hempfest, but backstage this time, on Saturday, September 15 after once again speaking about the miracles of pot.
Take a look at Jack's last comments in another Examiner's column ... Jack was deceived until the end.
They'll hate me even more for this article ... nothing new ... that's how it goes with druggies ... that's how it is with addicts.
Thank you from management goes a long way.