When a friend forwarded me the link about Eddy Lepp’s sentencing. Somehow, like Shirley Temple, I had remained hopeful that Eddy would receive leniency for clearly not fitting the profile of criminal intent, and the mad mad whirl of celebrating my birthday in the South of France ground to a halt as the enormity of what I was reading from across the world sunk in, with the presiding Judge herself calling it “an excessive sentence”.
I called the Farm immediately, only to find that Eddy was out at Costco shopping – no doubt the house would be filled with guests in the coming days. “Can you give him a message for me? Please tell him that I’m coming back to America as soon as I can finish things up here and I’ll help him cause a media ruckus. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll visit him with cupcakes with a nail file in them and break him out of there!” Okay, but you really shouldn’t make jokes like that over the phone, I was admonished gently.
Eddy was kept pretty busy with his appeal and getting his affairs in order, but with just days until he was to surrender himself to a 10 year sentence at Lompoc Prison, Eddy Lepp came to Hollywood- literally! With his wife Linda, they caravanned down with Jack Herer & Chuck Jacobs to begin Principal Photography on Jack Herer’s The Emperor Wears No Clothes. It was a special day, where celebrity friends and activists with a common goal to tell the truth about Hemp gathered with very little notice in my mother, Rochelle Balin’s private yoga studio, in order to read excerpts from Jack Herer’s Best-selling Hemp book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes. In between takes, Rochelle Balin treated Jack to a personalized Breathe Break, which he posted on his YouTube channel, so everyone could benefit:
In addition to reading excerpts from the book, Eddy spoke candidly about his sentencing, why he wasn’t trying to run, and his life’s mission to Respect All, Hurt None And Love One Another. Eddy & Jack also recorded promos together for their 2010 Hemp Initiative and Brand New Vote For Change Video Postcards- which will be online soon!
Eddy Lepp is not just an infamous Freedom Fighter and Executive Producer of one of the most important Hemp documentaries of our time, he is also my dear friend, and is the person responsible many years ago, for introducing me to his lifelong friend and living legend, Jack Herer. Just days before his heart attack, Jack Herer, told me “when we get back, we have to focus on getting Eddy out of prison. We have to do everything we can.” We’re coming with those cupcakes, Eddy!!! And How About A Pardon For The Garden, Obama??? Find out what you can do at http://www.FreeEddyLepp.Com
Melissa Balin
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