HaCKeRz Kr0nlcKLeZ 1

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ HaCKeRz Kr0nlcKLeZ 1 / HaCKeRz Kr0nlcKLeZ.iso / drugs / free.dope < prev next >

Wrap

Internet Message Format | 1996-05-06 | 18.1 KB

From: eye@io.org (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: soc.culture.canada,can.general,alt.hemp.politics,alt.drugs,io.eye Subject: Coverstory: FREE DOPE -- Decriminalize Weed Date: 18 Aug 1994 21:29:38 -0400 Approved: eye@io.org Message-ID: <3311u2$gnl@ionews.io.org> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY August 18 1994 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COVER STORY COVER STORY FREE DOPE! The case for decriminalization of marijuana by K.K. CAMPBELL Problem: The federal government wrestles with a popular "drug" it has driven underground. Will it increase penalties/cops or lift the restrictions which drove it underground to begin with? Solution: Prime Minister Jean Chretien calls for decreased government intervention instead of draconian police action. Result: Destruction of the black market. We aren't talking about pot, we are talking about tobacco. Ottawa lowered taxes and eliminated the billion-dollar black market tobacco trade. Why won't it do the same with marijuana? Chretien Liberals are treading the draconian path. Bill C-7 (which has passed second reading) will increase punishment to pot smokers. The Liberals are content to attract "organized crime" to marijuana distribution. "Tough" on drugs. It's estimated that 46 Canadians are penalized daily for pot-related offences -- 17,000 a year, over 500,000 Canadians in the last 20 years. Canada employs 2,000 narcs, has the world's highest per capita rate of drug convictions and spends $1 billion annually on drug enforcement. Over-crowded prisons hold thousands for pot offences at $200 a day. Half a million young people have been saddled with criminal records for doing what Prime Ministers Pierre Trudeau and Kim Campbell admitted to doing. Ottawa police chief Brian Ford penned his opinion for the Ottawa Citizen, April 10, saying, "soft drugs," like marijuana, should be decriminalized. "In my view," the thinking cop wrote, "soft drugs do not belong in the sphere of criminal enforcement." He contends the federal government is taking the wrong approach. "Do they and others in law enforcement really believe that stiffer penalties will reduce the problem? I do not believe it will. It is my belief that, before any action to increase penalties is taken, we need to dialogue and consider alternatives, including decriminalization." Ford says the judicial system grants discharges for pot possession -- while traffic violations get routine fines. "The courts are sending a message they are not prepared to give the same status to the use of soft drugs as the government apparently does." So why are politicians trying to enforce laws that don't have the respect of the court system? It's a tremendous waste of resources at a time of budget cuts. Surely the police have better things to do than hassle someone smoking a joint. For such heresy, Ford took a lot of heat. But Canadian Police Association chief executive officer Jim Kingston defended Ford in the summer issue of CPA Express: "...we must consider decriminalizing simple possession and treat it as illegal possession of alcohol. It makes absolutely no sense to charge thousands for possession and watch the judiciary grant absolute or conditional discharges." Kingston says "zero tolerance is a failure" and the feds should not be hoping to increase harm to Canadians since "drug use is a consensual act that is increasing despite the billions of dollars we have spent trying to prevent that from happening." Even the head of Interpol told BBC Radio on June 8 that he's "in favor of decriminalization but not in favor of legalization." These top cops point to the disastrous U.S. anti-drug campaign -- which has resulted in the highest per capita prison population in the world (70 per cent of which is supposedly attributable to drug- related offences) and $45 billion spent since Sept. 1989 with no decrease in "drug" use. This call to stop persecuting pot smokers has also been issued by the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Bar Association, U.S. Surgeon General, and Canada's famous-yet-neglected Le Dain Commission Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs of 1973. In his 1980 Throne Speech, Trudeau announced it was time "to move cannabis offences to the Food and Drug Act and remove the possibility of imprisonment for simple possession." In 1993, former PM Joe Clark said: "Simple possession of marijuana should be decriminalized ... Direct government sale of marijuana should be considered." On May 28, 1981, then justice minister Jean Chretien stood before the House and said: "We do think that once in a while we have to modernize laws which have been on the books for so long and do not cope with realities as they exist." So why are Chretien Liberals aiming to escalate the war against the millions of Canadians who smoke a little pot? In the '60s, pot became political, a symbol of counter-culture revolution, and anti-drug propaganda stepped into high gear. In the '70s, Liberals talked about decriminalization, but it never happened. In the '80s, Canada entered the Dark Ages of Brian Mulroney, who aped whatever U.S. presidents did -- as John Turner noted, once Ronald Reagan launched his War On (Some) Drugs, Mulroney suddenly announced Canada, too, had a "drug epidemic." In the '90s, Chretien takes up Mulroney's mantle. Trudeau Liberals are gone for good. Chretien Liberals are Conservatives with a different PR firm and nice red signs. CANADA & HEMP Around 1804, agricultural planners claimed hemp would be synonymous with prosperity in Canada. "It began with this fellow named Napoleon giving the British monarchy a run for its money," says Dr. Alexander Sumach, author of Grow Your Own Stone and Treasury Of Hashish. Napoleon faced the age-old problem: How to defeat England's superior navy? "Rather than defeating the fleet directly, how about defeating it indirectly? It was a matter of time before British ships needed maintenance on rotted rigging and sails -- both made of hemp." So Ontario was turned into a hemp wonderland. When the maritime uses of hemp disappeared, the crop remained extremely useful. A Feb. 1938 Popular Mechanics article called "New Billion-Dollar Crop" discussed the "25,000 products" from hemp, from "dynamite to cellophane." Marijuana persecution in Canada seems to have begun in 1923 with Emily Murphy, a police magistrate and Juvenile Court judge in Edmonton, Alberta. She wrote a series of sensationalistic disinformation articles for Macleans, which she included in her book The Black Candle. In the book, she quotes some L.A. police chief: "Persons using this narcotic smoke the dry leaves of the plant, which has the effect of driving them completely insane. The addict loses all sense of moral responsibility. Addicts to this drug, while under its influence, are immune to pain ... While in this condition, they become raving maniacs and are liable to kill or indulge in any form of violence to other persons, using the most savage methods of cruelty ." This hysteria led to marijuana's inclusion in the Schedule of the 1923 Opium And Narcotic Drug Act. As the Le Dain Commission noted, this decision was made without parliamentary debate and without any scientific evidence or "real sense of social urgency." Cannabis has been legally a narcotic like heroin ever since. Ironically, while government began its propaganda campaign against marijuana, it was singing high praises of hemp and encouraging Ontario farmers to grow it. Hansard entries from 1923 demonstrate politicians didn't even realize marijuana and hemp were the same plant. There is no finer example of the ignorance under which most politicians operate. "Over the years, they began to realize what they doing, that this crazy drug came from the flowers of a plant they were paying farmers to grow," laughs Chris Clay, a director with HEMP Canada and proprietor of The Great Canadian Hemporium in London, Ont. "Finally, in 1938, hemp production in Canada was stopped -- though briefly revived during the war -- because teenagers would get hold of it and go crazy." KILLER WEED Hemp has been used by humans since before recorded history. In all that time, there's never been a single reported overdose death. Dr. Andrew Weil testified before U.S. Congress that "a smoker would have to theoretically consume 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about 15 minutes to induce a lethal response" -- whereas, he noted, eating 10 raw potatoes could deliver a "toxic response" and aspirin causes possibly thousands of deaths annually. Booze kills maybe 18,000 Canadians a year; tobacco another 38,000. An Addiction Research Foundation (ARF) study found that of all Ontario deaths related to drug use in 1985, 66 per cent were due to smoking, 33 per cent to alcohol. Yet these substances have government sanction. In 1970, Dr. Robert Harris, chief of behavioral pharmacology at the Texas Research Institute of Mental Sciences said: "If we were to run marijuana through the course of procedures that the Food and Drug Administration requires of a standard drug, we'd probably find it was one of the safest drugs on the market." The U.S.-based Public Citizen Health Research Group noted cannabis could replace more than half of Valium, Librium and Thorazine prescriptions through its ability to lower blood pressure, reduce body temperature by .5 degrees, thus relieving stress. (Which suggests one reason marijuana remains illegal: it's a monumental threat to the pharmaceutical giants that bestride the Earth.) In a Globe and Mail article earlier this year, Elizabeth Renzetti wrote: "On the subject of alcohol, I've seen people slide from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde in the space of three tumblers, leaving a trail of hostility and havoc in their wake. I have never seen anyone high on pot do anything more offensive than laugh at Married ... With Children or eat all the potato chips." Robert Solomon, a University of Western Ontario law professor and drug policy expert, thinks C-7 is a terrible piece of legislation. It simply will punish the poor who can't afford to pay the increased fines. "Law enforcement creates a market for the most dangerous drugs," he says. The War On Some Drugs encourages traffickers to import hard drugs. If importing cocaine and marijuana carries the same risk, it is natural the businessperson would rather bring cocaine into the country because of the higher profit margin and smaller bulk. ARF has stated its belief criminalization simply increases profit margins and attract organized crime. "It's just prohibition all over again," says Mike Borque, a director of HEMP Canada. "People understand that alcohol prohibition was a failure and only created Al Capone. Marijuana prohibition creates drug cartels." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SIDEBAR SIDEBAR OLD TIME REVIVAL MEET by K.K. CAMPBELL Starting at 11 a.m. at Nathan Phillips Square, the Canadian Hemp Association (CHA) and The Friendly Stranger (see Rolling eye) are staging Cannabis Revival Rally 1994 this Saturday (Aug. 20), come rain or shine. At 1 p.m., the crowd will march up University Ave. to Queen's Park, where there'll be live music and guest speakers. Expect to wrap around 6. For details, contact CHA at 416-977-4159 or email at CHA at Internex Online -- cha@io.org . Check out the Cannabis Hotline: 416- 977-0461. Remember: this ain't a smoke-in. No dope. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SIDEBAR 2 SIDEBAR 2 SZABO SPEAKS Liberals must save Canadians from themselves by K.K. CAMPBELL Ottawa police chief Brian Ford is misguided. Pierre Trudeau is ancient history. The Canadian Medical Association is naive. HEMP Canada is "a bunch of drug users." Meet Paul Szabo -- Liberal MP for Mississauga South. Most pro- advocacy types dismiss Szabo as an anti-drug dinosaur. They don't understand why the Liberals picked him to head the house committee examining Bill C-7, legislation which increases the harm Liberals can do to Canadians who possess a plant -- and which he would even toughen by reducing the threshold for marijuana trafficking to one kilo instead of three. Szabo has two primary slogans he repeats to the press: 1) "Marijuana is five times more harmful than cigarettes." A reference to the fact that if you smoke 20 joints a day instead of 20 cigarettes a day, you'll get more tar. It's true. But most people don't smoke 20 joints a day. Further, HEMP spokesperson Marc Emery notes: "If the government didn't try to ban water pipes, we could eliminate most of the danger because the particulates -- the harmful part of smoking marijuana -- are removed from smoke through water. THC is oil-soluble, so it passes right through the water." 2) "Now is not the time to appear soft on drugs." eye called Szabo and asked if he agreed with activists that there was a grassroots groundswell of support for decriminalization. He dismissed this, saying at best "2 per cent of Canadians are regular drug users." (NOTE: Simon Fraser University criminologist Neil Boyd's book High Society estimates Canadians spend maybe $10 billion a year on illicit substances.) We asked if this didn't contradict Szabo's "drug epidemic" theory which supposedly necessitates the government not appear "soft on drugs." He paused a very long time before answering: "That's because we are just holding the line. If we relaxed now, we would open the flood gates." He says marijuana must remain in the same category as heroin because Canadians are "too uneducated" to understand and would interpret decriminalization of marijuana as an invitation to try everything. He says marijuana is a "gateway drug" -- meaning it leads to "harder" drugs. The nation would soon be awash in helpless addicts. Police chief Ford specifically called the gateway theory a myth. Mike Borque, a director of HEMP Canada, asks why, if pot is a gateway drug, there are millions of Canadians who smoke yet "only 15,000 who use heroin?" When eye tried to point out many Canadians want marijuana decriminalized, Szabo snorted and said: "Who does? A bunch of drug users." eye responded that many decriminalization advocates don't smoke. "Oh, yeah, right!" We insisted this was true. "I'm sure that's what they tell you." Szabo apparently believes Canadians can't fight for democratic rights on this issue without being a "drug user." "It is astonishing that the Liberals chose this guy to investigate C- 7," Borque says. "A person with such obvious biases, so poorly informed, a product of Reagan/Bush/Mulroney anti-drug propaganda." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SIDEBAR 3 3 SIDEBAR NET CONNECTION by K.K. CAMPBELL The complexities of this issue are vast, beyond the scope of this piece. In step with the changing nature of journalism, eye makes available to readers more information at our Internet site at Internex Online. Journalism should encourage exploration of an issue. Our hope is that Canadians, as well as other news organisms, use and contribute to the site, thereby encouraging educated debate and deflating propaganda. You can access the info through ftp at ftp.io.org:/pub/eye.WEEKLY/misc/hemp or World Wide Web at http://www.io.org/eye/Misc/Hemp/Hemp.html This issue isn't simply "good copy." eye sincerely endorses decriminalization. Canadians should be able to grow and consume any herb without fear of a police-state/reverend-mother kicking in your door and dragging you away. Vive le hemp libre! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SIDEBAR 4 4 SIDEBAR LET THERE BE WEED by K.K. CAMPBELL "And God said, Let the Earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, upon the Earth; and it was so. And the Earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed ... and God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:10- 11) In fact, it was great. Hemp clothes, feeds, houses and, after a hard day doing all that, lets you smoke its flowers. -- Hemp seed has the highest oil-content in the world (34 per cent), of a very high quality. When oil is extracted, the remaining "seed- cake" is second only to soya bean in protein content. Excellent source of nutrition. -- It grows anywhere -- as far north as the 60th parallel, i.e., the Northwest Territories border. -- It replenishes soil. One Kentucky report claims hemp was grown on the same land 14 years straight without diminished crop or soil depletion. -- It needs virtually no pesticides. -- It produces four times more paper pulp than trees from one acre of land over a 20-year period. No dead trees. -- ADDENDUM: Of course, cranky old Jehovah booted Eve and hubby out for toking and becoming God-like ("as one of us"). Thus did the Lord put vicious narcs with flaming swords at the gates of Eden to make sure his suddenly enlightened children didn't come back and tell him he was a real asshole. (Genesis 3:24) -- K.K.C. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright Full issue of eye available in archive ==> gopher.io.org or ftp.io.org Mailing list available http://www.io.org/eye eye@io.org "Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421