Freedom Flyer 22

the official newsletter of the
Freedom Party of Ontario

December 1992

Drug Laws...

PROHIBITION A FAILURE

TORONTO (July 19, 1992) - In a speech to those who attended N.O.R.M.L. Canada's (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) "Marijuana Mardigras" on the grounds of city hall's Nathan Phillips Square, Fp leader Robert Metz discussed the failure of hemp (cannabis, marijuana) prohibition, and questioned whether it was ever worth the cost.

"The only winners with hemp prohibition are the type of people such laws are supposed to protect us from," warned Metz. "On the one hand, criminal activity is encouraged by laws that create artificial illegal underground markets in the trade of a relatively benign and highly in-demand substance. On the other hand, prohibition laws compel our law enforcement agencies and police officers to expend a great deal of futile and counterproductive effort - at taxpayer expense and at the expense of public safety - in what amounts to little more than maintaining a tax-free monopoly for those who unduly profit by its legal enforcement."

Metz's comments came at a time when a surprisingly unprecedented number of education and lobby groups favouring either decriminalization, legalization, or commercialization of hemp have resurfaced or come into being. In the wake of dramatic new information that has only recently become available to the general public in the United States (thanks to freedom of information legislation) and in Canada (thanks to the nonenforcement of government censorship), the movement to have hemp stricken from the government's list of prohibited substances is gaining the support of legal professionals, environmental groups, and entrepreneurs who see hemp as a tremendous economic, social, and environmental benefit.

A NEW LOOK

Ironically, as a renewed look at the history of hemp prohibition now reveals, it is precisely because of its commercial value - not its use as a recreational drug - that hemp, a plant that was commercially grown and harvested the world over for at least two thousand years, was ever prohibited in the first place. Thanks to the research provided by American author and lecturer Jack Herer in his book The Emperor Wears No Clothes, the public now has an opportunity to review the actual goings-on behind the legendary 'reefer madness' period that led to 'marijuana' prohibition (1938) in both the United States and Canada.

Herer has issued a "$10,000 Challenge to the World to Prove Us Wrong" to all the readers of his book, and after sales of over a quarter million, has yet to find a challenger. After completing the documentation and research for his book (which is all reproduced in its index), Herer has concluded that "There is only one known renewable natural resource able to provide the overall majority of our paper, textiles and food, meet all the world's transportation, home and industrial energy needs, reduce pollution, rebuild the soil and clean the atmosphere - all at the same time - our old standby that did it all before:Cannabis Hemp!"

WHY PROHIBITION?

It is because of these qualities, contends Herer, that hemp is illegal today. Among those who lobbied for its initial prohibition in the 1930s was Hearst's newspaper empire which had just acquired lumber rights in the western U.S. The mid-1930s mechanical automation of hemp harvesting posed a direct threat to those lumber rights since hemp can produce up to 4.5 times as much paper per acre. Another lobbyist was the Dupont corporation, which had just patented nylon in 1937 and produced other products which were similarly threatened by the prospect of hemp competition.

Together, groups like these conspired to eliminate their competition by fabricating the whole 'reefer madness' mythology which in many subtle ways is still widely believed and supported by many today - particularly our governments.

INFORMATION CAMPAIGN

Meanwhile, otherwise law-abiding citizens who choose to use a substance whose health risks and social consequences are dwarfed by those of many legal substances, are finding themselves caught in the web of drug prohibition laws. Countless others are discouraged or prevented from exploiting the hemp plant for textiles, fabrics, fiber, pulp paper, rope, twine, cordage, art canvas, paints, varnishes, lighting oil, biomass energy, medicine, food oils, protein, building materials, and housing. And of course, taxpayers and the public continue to pay a price for hemp prohibition through higher taxes, an artificial increase in criminal activity, and through a general decline in respect for objective laws.

In an effort to bring an end to the glaring injustices created by hemp prohibition, Freedom Party has joined the efforts of many education and lobby groups to provide the information the public needs to make an informed judgement on the issue. The party has already produced a pamphlet entitled "Prohibition Is A Crime" and a follow-up publication, "Just Say 'Know' to Cannabis Prohibition."

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