The speedometers of American action were being "pegged" as the newly elected Congress started taking charge even before its members were officially sworn in; many Congressmen and women were busy helping their home states deal with whatever problems it encountered. Others were traveling around the nation trying to spearhead new programs that could help cities and towns get back on their feet after the disasterous events of the past nine months. The American economy was in shambles; the country's infrastructure - already in shambles - now lay in absolute ruins in many of the nation's largest municipalities. Repairing all of this was the top priority. Returning the luster that once was America was necessary for the mental and emotional well-being of the citizenry. Motivating people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and virtually start all over again was of paramount importance.
The O.U.T.R.A.G.E. lime green bus tour was on the road again. Patrick "Hammy" Hamilton wheeled his bus into Seattle, Washington on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 - Armistice Day. He had worked in earnest for months trying to "sell" America on the idea of legalizing 'recreational' drugs such as marijuana. But the efforts of the Patrick-Patrick team weren't focused on 'recreational' uses of drugs; the main focus was centered on the use of such 'illegal' drugs for medicinal purposes. It was obvious that the medical society condemned such actions only because it interfered with their mammoth profits. For the first time, "Hammy" and his co-director, Lynn Patrick, tried a new tactic. Accompanying them on this bus tour were seventeen individuals with terminal illnesses. All seventeen were violating state and federal laws by growing their own 'recreational' drugs and using those drugs to treat their collective diseases. Every one of these people had seen impressive results, and most were experiencing unprecedented healings from their illegal and radical treatment programs. Nine of the seventeen were veterans from Vietnam, Desert Storm and the current Iraqi was. "Hammy" would introduce each patient, explain to the crowds how the patient was administering his or her own self-treatment, and distribute pamphlets documenting the progress and success of each individual case. He always made a point of disregarding the laws by smoking on his own giant-sized "doobie". For "Hammy", gaunchy was as much a staple as beer and cigarettes. They were the three staples in his well-weathered life. His raspy voice pushed itself to the limits as he pounded his message home at each stop the bus made: "If alcohol and cigarettes are legal," he would flaunt, "then why should marijuana and cocaine also be legalized?" His argument was that all four substances could kill you with enough abuse; why, then, were two of those substances legal and the other two weren't? "Hammy" argued that cocaine and marijuana weren't legal because the drug companies, cigarette manufacturers and alcohol distillers couldn't figure out a way to make obscene profits with those substances. It would be a massive marketing effort to try and disjoin the negative reputations of these drugs. It would be difficult to divorce drug sales and distribution from the criminal element. It would be difficult to control the manufacture of drugs while maintaining a proper product consistency. But "Hammy" continued his gospel: "legalizing drugs takes the profit away from the drug dealers and puts control in the hands of small, local manufacturers who can monitor the quality of their products." He realized that such manufacturing, wholesaling, distribution and retailing could not be effective on the "big" scales of giant corporations such as Phillip-Morris or The Reynolds Tobacco Company. In step with the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. concept of "small" being better, he urged that the manufacture of such drugs be legalized and monitored on a local basis. Keep "big business" out of it.
It would also provide a platform for education that could encourage limited use of such drugs, just as local liquor boards or alcohol excise departments regulated the sale and distribution of booze through bars, retail outlets, and restaurants. Hamilton truly believed such control could benefit local communities by monitoring drug users and getting treatment for those who became addicted abusers.
Meanwhile, Jil Adams started her bus tour with a patriotic "welcome home" to the first group of soldiers who arrived home from Iraq in Columbus, Ohio. They were all part of a local reserve unit that had been called up more than a year ago; two of their members had been killed in action. It was a fitting Armistice Day tribute to the fallen soldiers, and an appreciated gesture on the part of all surviving members of the unit.