| 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him notice that the recently granted permission to travel to Chicago to address the American Bar Association has been rescinded on orders of his superiors, Reginald Michael and Frank Smith.
“I am ordered by my superiors to inform you that your permission to travel to Chicago is rescinded and you cannot travel to promote the legalization of marijuana without the permission of the U.S. Parole Commission in Washington D.C.,” Kirsche told Platshorn on the phone Wednesday afternoon. “You must request their permission directly.
Parole regulations state that a parole officer can grant travel permission on his own; only foreign travel requires permission from D.C., Platshorn told Toke of the Town on Wednesday.
So what we’re looking at here, folks, is a big crush of Robert Platshorn’s First Amendment rights to freely speak in favor of the legalization of medical marijuana.
| Platshorn’s original permission to travel to Chicago |