Search Results: platshorn (38)

Robert Platshorn, legendary smuggler and marijuana legalization proponent.

Florida voters today will decide whether or not to legalize limited amounts of marijuana for medical use. While the measure initially polled well, it’s approval has fallen in recent weeks and supporters say they need every last vote they can muster — notably that of the state’s large senior population.
With such a possible historical swing in the offing, we decided to touch base with one of Florida’s biggest proponents of marijuana reform, a guy who’s truly given his life to the cause: Robert Platshorn. But even Bobby Tuna himself is iffy on the amendment’s chances.
“At this point, I think it’s 51 percent we will, and 49 percent we won’t pass amendment two,” Platshorn told New Times Monday afternoon. “I’m concerned because of the way the polls have yo-yoed up and down. And the fact that the no campaign was able to run what was virtually a Reefer Madness campaign.”


Robert Platshorn is getting high today. That is, he’s going on an airplane. High Times called him up yesterday to say that he’s being gifted free tickets to this weekend’s Cannabis Cup in Seattle. The reason? After 28 years in prison and six years on probation for smuggling weed, the West Palm Beach resident is finally a free man.
The 71-year-old was part of the Black Tuna Gang — a sophisticated drug ring that became the feds’ first big bust in the War on Drugs. In the ensuing years, he’s become a pot icon. Not only has he served the longest-ever sentence for a marijuana-related crime but he’s become an outspoken advocate on the benefits of medical cannabis for seniors.

Robert Platshorn in the 1970s.

Our favorite reformed pot smuggler and marijuana legalization activist, Bobby Platshorn, is at it again, with an ingenious scheme to bring the good word on maryjane to the attention of legislators and the general public. And once again he’s drawing on support from an unexpected quarter of the population — America’s senior citizens.
If all goes well –and it’s looking “better than fine,” Platshorn says — on Monday, June 17 two busloads of seniors from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, and carloads of sympathizers from as far off as Ohio and Colorado, will descend on the nation’s capital to educate U.S. representatives on the medical benefits of weed and the need for drug law reform.
Broward-Palm Beach New Times has the local angle.

Platshorn in his smuggling days.

Since late 2012, former drug smuggler turned activist Robert Platshorn has been buying up TV time on local stations for an infomercial. Provocatively titled “Should Grandma Smoke Pot?,” the spot aims to educate the elderly on the pros of medicinal legalization, an extension of Platshorn’s popular “Silver Tour.”
But now Platshorn says his ads are being pulled just as the Florida legislature is taking up medical marijuana legislation introduced last month. “Stations have refused to carry it due to subject matter, and unfortunately the law does allow you to do so,” he tells the New Times.
For the entire story from Kyle Swenson, head over to our friends at The Pulp.

The Silver Tour
Robert Platshorn spreads the truth about cannabis through The Silver Tour. Now the federal government has moved to silence him

Here’s What You Can Do To Fight Back Against The Feds Who Would Trample On Robert Platshorn’s Rights For Spreading The Truth About Marijuana
It’s time to push back and expose the bureaucrats that are now moving behind the scenes to silence cannabis activists like The Silver Tour‘s Robert Platshorn all over the country. They are acting as a secret army, in anticipation of the upcoming spate of pro cannabis ballot initiatives. There are serious First Amendment rights at stake, not to mention their intent to kill the tremendous public momentum for ending cannabis prohibition. 
“We must shine a light on these bureaucrats and expose their actions,” Platshorn told Toke of the Town Friday morning from his home in Florida. “There is nothing that frightens them more than jerking them out of the shadows that hides them from public scrutiny while they do their dirty work.”

rakontur
Robert Platshorn spreads the truth about cannabis through The Silver Tour. Now the federal government has moved to silence him

You’d think that Robert Platshorn, the former 1970s marijuana smuggler who became, after almost 30 years in the federal pen, the longest-serving cannabis prisoner in United States history, had already paid his debt to society.

Platshorn, author of Black Tuna Diaries and whose story is told in the documentary Square Grouper, now promotes the legalization of medical marijuana, aiming his message at senior citizens with The Silver Tour.

And there’s the rub. Platshorn’s new parole officer, Scott Kirsche, on Wednesday afternoon phoned the Black Tuna and gave him notice that the recently granted permission to travel to Chicago to address the American Bar Association has been rescinded on orders of his superiors, Reginald Michael and Frank Smith.

Sun Post Weekly
Robert Platshorn spreads the truth about cannabis through The Silver Tour. Now the federal government has moved to silence him

Federal Officer Threatens To Return The Black Tuna To Prison

Robert Platshorn became the longest serving marijuana prisoner in United States history, doing almost 30 years in federal prison for importing Colombian pot in the 1970s. When he got out four years ago, Platshorn — a weed warrior through and through — didn’t take the easy way out and opt for a quiet retirement. Instead, he took up the cause of medical marijuana, launching The Silver Tour to bring the good news about cannabis to senior citizens.

Platshorn did his time, and when he got out, he started trying to make the world a better place and to help sick people. Now, even though he’s been officially released from the jurisdiction of the U.S. Parole Commission, the federal government is trying to silence him, ordering travel restrictions — which would effectively end The Silver Tour — and forbidding him to associate with fellow Silver Tour director, federal medical marijuana patient Irvin Rosenfeld.
The Showtime movie Square Grouper featured Platshorn’s story; federal agents dubbed him the Black Tuna. But today, millions of senior citizens call him the Pied Piper of medical marijuana, and often refer to him as “the secret weapon for legalization.” Last year, after being released from parole, he joined with Rosenfeld to found The Silver Tour to teach seniors the benefits of medicinal cannabis.
After getting home from a book signing tour (he wrote an autobiography, Black Tuna Diaries) and an international medical cannabis conference hosted by Patients Out of Time and the University of Arizona, Platshorn got a surprise visit from a new parole officer. The stranger demanded a urine sample and made it clear to Robert and his wife that Platshorn could be returned to prison if he refused.

Robert Platshorn in the 1970s.

Ganja now has a friend in cable television as the new show Cannabis Planet TV debuts on several stations across the United States, including South Florida’s WHDT-TV.
The man who is partly responsible for getting it aired is Palm Beach, Florida pot activist and convicted smuggler Robert Platshorn, who is the program’s media director. Broward-Palm Beach New Times has the full story, and click over to Cannabis Planet TV for channels carrying the show.

wn.com

By Robert Platshorn
The Silver Tour
In 2011, with the help of Irv Rosenfeld and volunteers from NORML of Florida, I developed a free show that would entertain and educate seniors on the benefits of medical marijuana. It was something that no activist organization had ever done.
We “took it on the road.” Our first show was in front of an audience of six people, in an alleyway behind a Green Party storefront. The next show was in the back room in a Denny’s for 20 Libertarians.
When we were ready for the “Big Time,” Karen Goldstein, president of NORML of Florida, booked us into Ladies Auxiliary meeting at the Reform Synagogue of a South Florida Century Village. The show rocked! They lined up to sign letters and petitions demanding  “safe legal access” to nature’s most important medicine. The rest is history.
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