Peachtree NORML ran a booth at the first ever Unity in the Community Festival in Dublin, Georgia on Saturday, November 12th, 2016. This allowed us to find enough interest to possibly start a chapter in the Dublin area! We would like to thank Tom and Barb McCain for volunteering at this outreach opportunity!

Below is an update from Tom:

“We had a lot of interest in the table. Some folks were just walking by and chuckling at the ‘FREE MARIJUANA information’ sign. We didn’t get any sneers and nobody Crossed themselves, though.

We had several folks stop by and just kinda look at the info we had available. Most of those folks walked away with a brochure or two, but the weren’t real talkative.

Even had an on-duty Fireman stop by, chat for about 10 minutes and take some information. He walked by later with the Mascot in a Dalmatian Costume and I tried to get a picture in front of the sign, but they graciously declined, laughing all the while.

AND we had 8 or 10 folks that stopped, talked, asked questions and spent some time with us. There was some good discussion and the upshot of it all was, we now have enough interest to form a Chapter here in Dublin, Ga!! We’re shooting for a first meeting in January.

I had an 82-year-old sweetheart walk over with a great big grin and ask ‘Can I get a bag of that free weed?’ We had a good little chat and she talked about her ‘Hippie’ days. She says she can’t smoke now, but said she was really interested in the medicine.

One guy really picked my brain, took a lot of info and said, ‘You know what, you’ve changed my mind about all this.’ WINNING!!

The most amazing thing happened, though. A young kid and his mother walked over. We found out he was 12. He told us he had ADHD. He then went into a speech that would have made Sharon Ravert proud. Damn near made me cry. He talked about how cannabis has been proven to help with PTSD and Epilepsy and other diseases. He said he wished it was legal here in Georgia so he didn’t have to take the medicine he currently uses. TWELVE! He was really quite impressive, but you could tell how hyper he was. His mom looks at me and says, ‘I didn’t teach him that. He got all that from the internet.’ So I asked her opinion, and she said, ‘I wish ADHD was on the list here in Georgia.’ I assured her we’d be helping get that list expanded next year.

All in all, it was a great day, and I am more convinced than ever that attitudes are changing in Georgia.”

**If you know of events in your area with opportunities for outreach, please contact us with at least a month’s notice.