Texas NORML

Source: pr.cannazine.co.uk

Its been announced by our friends at Salem-News.com, that Jack Herer, who is perhaps the most well-known and best loved cannabis and hemp activist in the world, has suffered a massive heart attack whilst attending the ‘Hempstalk’ event in Portland Oregon on Saturday September 12th.

Jack was transported to hospital and was forced to undergo emergency ‘Angioplasty’ surgery to clear arterial blockages. His condition was said to be ‘critical’.

After giving an empassioned and well received speech on the virtues of hemp and cannabis, Jack was sitting down taking a breather when the heart attack struck.

A paramedic emergency crew was called and medical staff who were onsite at Kelly Point Park made Jack as comfortable as they could until the paramedics arrived.

Whilst the bands played on and the boisterous crowd cheered the guest speakers, little did they know that only a few hundred feet from where they were enjoying the Hempstalk proceedings, the man many people had travelled thousands of miles to hear speak, was fighting for his life.

The paramedic team stabilized Jack as best they could then quickly transported him by ambulance, to the Emanuel Trauma Center in Portland.

Jack’s condition was said to be ‘critical’ as he arrived at the medical facility with his son at his side. The diagnoses of a heart attack was confirmed soon after and Jack was taken straight to the operating theatre for life-saving surgery.

Our thoughts are with Jacks wife Jeannie, and we pray for a full and speedy recovery for a man who is beyond legendary with a cannabis and hemp community which spans the globe.

Jack’s book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes is the first and the largest account of the real story of marijuana and the techniques used by big money corporations to demonize and criminalize it. SOURCE

For news as it happens regarding Jack’s condition check out Salem-News.Com , who are located in Oregon

You may also like to bookmark Jack’s own website which can be found at
http://www.jackherer.com/

Get well soon Jack.

By popular demand, we have created a Texas NORML supporter blog.  You’ve got ideas and opinions you’d like to share with the world about legalization.  Right?

Well now’s your chance!  Just register and blog away.  You may inspire someone to help make a change in Texas.  Keep it clean, and keep it factual.  Selected posts may be used periodically in our various publications.  We reserve the right to remove anything we deem as inappropriate or unfit.

Click Here to check out the Texas NORML Supporter Blog.

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Director Adam Scorgie will join us in Austin for a private screening of his film, The Union: The Business Behind Getting high. Check out the trailer below and share your thoughts in the poll to the right.

Raw Story reports the following.

A woman serving a short sentence in a Houston, Texas, jail for possession of marijuana died in custody over the weekend, and officers are not saying how or why.

The 29-year-old, identified as Theresa Anthony, had expected to spend just two and a half weeks behind bars in the Harris County lockup. On Saturday, Cynthia Prude, Theresa’s mother, received a phone call from the jail’s Chaplain informing her that her daughter was dead.

“I almost got in a wreck,” Prude told the local Fox affiliate. “I thought somebody was playing on the phone. I would like to know what happened to my daughter.”

Prude has not been allowed to see the body, nor has the Harris County Sheriff’s Department even spoken with her, according to area media.

“Today I still don’t know if that’s my daughter,” Prude told Houston news station KHOU. “I’m only going by a Social Security number that we got from Ben Taub Hospital.”

Houston’s Fox affiliate noted that an autopsy has not yet been conducted on Theresa’s body.

The Harris County Sheriff Department’s public information officer was not available to answer RAW STORY’s questions.

Not the first time

It is hardly the first time serious questions surrounded the death of a Harris County inmate.

On 4 June 2009, the Justice Department concluded a 15 months-long investigation into the Harris County facility and determined in the subsequent  27-page report that over 142 prisoners had died there since 2001. Most expired due to lack of medical care, the report claims.

The Associated Press noted that after the Justice Department declined to make its findings public, The Houston Chronicle was able to obtain a copy, which it released on the Internet.

The findings, addressed to Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, lauded the prison’s efforts to maintain security, booking and intake programs and take basic fire safety precautions. The Justice Department said that by these measures, the facility “complies with constitutional requirements in a number of significant respects.”

The Justice Department added that in spite of these marginal safety and procedural issues, “certain conditions at the jail violate the constitutional rights of detainees. Indeed, the number of inmate deaths related to inadequate medical care [...] is alarming.”

If you feel like you want answers to questions about this case, I suggest you make calls to your local media outlets or public officials.