Sunday, December 23, 2007

"Climate Change Increases Food Security Concerns" -- CGIAR

The following is my latest contribution to the FAO/FSN forum. We'll see if this one makes it past the moderators who didn't post my last statement, recommending UNFAO agricultural demonstration projects to study hemp in regions where it is allowed.

PvH

=======

"The developing world’s struggle for food security will increase unless new crop varieties are deployed to help poor farmers adapt to climate change, agricultural experts and climate scientists warned Monday.

"Speaking at the annual meeting of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, CGIAR, in Washington, DC, the panel said hotter, drier weather will result in shorter growing seasons and smaller crop yields across much of the developing world, challenging the livelihoods of billions of people.

"A new CGIAR research report finds projected temperature increases and shifts in rainfall patterns are likely to decrease growing periods in sub-Saharan Africa by more than 20 percent, with some of the world’s poorest nations in East and Central Africa at greatest risk."

--from "Climate Change Increases Food Security Concerns"
WASHINGTON, DC, December 5, 2006
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2006/2006-12-05-01.asp


In addition to the effects of increased temperature ("global warming"), increasing UV-B radiation ("global broiling") must be considered when choosing which crops to plant. Cannabis agriculture is becoming more critical every year that we ignore the potential benefits of hemp. Because of the inhibiting effects of Cannabis prohibition on hemp production and education, it is absolutely essential that issues of drug policy and climate change be discussed, concurrent with discussions of nutrition and food security.

Cannabis is an ancient, primary agricultural resource that is being largely over-looked, and knowledge of its true value suppressed, because of a counter-productive, highly profitable, "drug war" being waged against 'marijuana.' Prohibition induces scarcity of essential food resources and creates a complexity of imbalance.

I invite people with knowledge and experience in growing hemp for food, fuel and other essential needs to participate in educating others as to the benefits of this crop. The anti-oxidant properties of hemp seed are, for example, relevant to

"Action research studies on introduction of vegetables in MDM as a major tool for improving vegetable intake among poor in India"
contributed by Dr Prema Ramachandran
http://km.fao.org/fsn/resources/fsn_viewresdet.html?no_cache=1&r=318&nocache=1

yet, incredibly, there is no discussion of Cannabis nutrition in this regard.

The fertilizer subsidies referred to by Anna Snider, would be of less concern if hemp were used in rotational planting to condition and re-mineralize depleted soils.

People are welcome to contact me directly at projectpeace[at]yahoo.com or consider Cannabis information at my blog

www.californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com

if you care to consider every remedy to problems being discussed.

Best wishes to all for a safe and meaningful holiday,

Paul

Friday, November 30, 2007

"Freedom to Farm 2008"

In order to exercise "essential civilian demand" for hemp, before the Spring 2008, I am filing a
formal challenge of rightful jurisdiction over Cannabis with California State Attorney General
Jerry Brown.

Cannabis hemp seeds are the only common seed with three essential fatty acids, all of the
essential amino acids, and the best balance of organic vegetable protein on Earth. Identified as a
"strategic food resource" available by "essential civilian demand" in Executive Order 12919, hemp
is a critical tool for regenerating the soil, expanding the arable base and mitigating climate
change.

Hemp sequesters carbon at the rate of one ton per acre per year, and produces atmospheric aerosols
called "monoterpenes," in abundance. Monoterpenes reflect harmful UVB radiation back into space
and seed cloud formation, protecting the Earth from "global broiling." Increasing UV-B radiation
has been shown to weaken immune systems, cause genetic mutation, and stunt growth in amphibians,
generally considered an "indicator species."

Conditions of environment, economics, and social evolution are rapidly degeberating to the point
of syergistic collapse.Hemp is a globally adaptable, sustainably grown organic crop which can be
planted in rotation to benefit other crops, while producing food, fuel, fiber, herbal
therapeutics, biodegradable plastics and biogenic pesticides.

Cannabis scarcity has crippled the free-market economy for more than seven decades. Article One of
the Bill of Rights could provide immediate federal protection for individual "freedom of
religion," if we claim it as a coalition of self-empowered individuals.

Time is the limiting factor in the equation of survival. Every spring planting season that passes
is gone forever. Drugs don't make seeds. Herbs do. Our "natural, self-evident, god-given"
Constitutional right to grow "every herb bearing seed" and "every green herb" demands that we
plant hemp as far and wide as possible this Spring 2008.

In June 2007, at the Conference of Mayors in Los Angeles, a resolution was passed identifying the
"drug war" as a counter-productive failure. The time has come to take responsibility and demand
accountability for the true value of Cannabis.

If you share a sense of urgency for effecting the shift in values necessary to transform the
extinctionistic "black market" into efficient "green market" then get in touch and get on board.


Please contact

Paul J. von Hartmann
California Cannabis Ministry
http://californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com
projectpeace@yahoo.com

(831) 588-5095



Paul J. von Hartmann
California Cannabis Ministry
http://www.californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com

Project P.E.A.C.E.
Planet Ecology Advancing Conscious Economics
http://www.webspawner.com/users/projectpeace

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Posted today, to the Food Security and Nutrition Forum facilitated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

I feel that there must be one "best place to start" in unraveling the tangled mess of problems being discussed. Of primary need is consensus that the urgency of developing effective courses of action demands that ALL possible solutions be considered.

Most immediate, I feel, is the investigation of causal relationships between prohibition, poverty, malnutrition and food insecurity. Even cursory consideration of Cannabis prohibition reveals an institutionalized essential resource scarcity that continues to impose multiple, obvious and disastrous effects.

The fact is that the UNFAO does not acknowledge the exceptional nutritional profile of the world's best available source of organic vegetable protein, which is also the only common seed with three essential fatty acids. This is an omission that is a criminally unacceptable breech of public trust on a scale that defies quantification.

That there has been an under-reaction to the nutritional information I have posted, evidences resistance to open discussion of this subject. This is usually due to the social prejudice and fear confusing objectivity by mere mention of the word Cannabis. This reluctance to consider an historically respected, critical food resource must be overcome.

In the interest of helping people nourish themselves, while rebalancing mankind's relationship within the Natural Order, I implore you all to actively participate in an open discussion of the true value of Cannabis hemp. I trust that such a discussion will result in the establishment of agricultural demonstration projects in different parts of the world by this Spring.

If there is anyone participating in this discussion who has witnessed Cannabis agriculture as part of a regional agricultural dynamic, I encourage you to share your insights for the benefit of everyone.

If anyone feels there is another, more fundamental subject to begin with, I ask that you identify why it is more relevant than solutions presented by Cannabis agriculture.

#

"The FSN Forum is a global community of FSN practitioners with members in many countries across the world’s five continents. Already involving 300 practitioners from various fields, the Forum helps bridge the knowledge divide among the different communities involved in FSN policies and strategies, such as academics, researchers, development practitioners and policy-makers/implementers." See http://km.fao.org/fsn/fsn_home.html?no_cache=1

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

About the UNFAO Forum

Please join with me in calling for the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization to recognize and celebrate the nutritional value of Cannabis hemp seed through a comprehensive, global research program.

Currently there is an on-line Food Security and Nutrition Forum being hosted by the UNFAO at :

http://km.fao.org/fsn/

"The FSN Forum is an on-line community whose members share experiences, identify resources, provide peer coaching and support and find collective solutions to food security and nutrition (FSN) issues, focusing on FSN policies."

Please help me to convince the FAO to overcome the suppressive influence of prohibitionism, by taking responsibility for this critical food security and nutrition information.

Thank you.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Mining Carbon from the Atmosphere with Cannabis

To honor those people who protested in the streets, calling for the impeachment of beorge gush, chick deney and the rest of the gang, before we end this war in Iraq, I offer my spirited support in, I trust, a useful thought.

No honor without impeachment
No justice without prosecution
No future without Cannabis.

Hemp is the primary, potentially abundant, globally distributed, environmentally beneficial, alternative to petroleum for the majority of the world's people. Learn about it, then let's all agree that it's time to end prohibition of the world's most nutritious, beneficial and useful agricultural resource.

Once the perception of essential value shifts, the political values will change. Problems are profitable for BushCo. We have to implement the solution this spring planting season. Time is the limiting factor in the equation of survival, and hemp agriculture is the most peaceful solution to many violent problems. It's good news! Learn why!!


If we all protested as vigorously,
against the fundamental cause of war,
the anti-natural politiconomic disparity
resulting from imposed organic agricultural scarcity,
supplanted with a dope-ridden, bureaucratically obese domestic "drugs & wars" economy of unevenly distributed toxic chemicals,
then we could obviate the wealth of the present
outlaw petroligarchy
just by appreciating the
true value of Cannabis.

The war is one of values. Man's present valuation of hemp is the opposite of what it ought to be, if we wish to survive. It's just that simple. Do the math. World's most useful, nutritious and potentially abundant crop. Long history of beneficial relationship with this plant. No need to ask for permission to plant.

This Spring 2008 will be the season to end the war at home against our Constitutionally protected freedom to farm, as an expression of sincere, respect and appreciation for "every herb bearing seed" and "every green herb" given to us by The Creator of this planet.

One acre of hemp will :

- Sequester one ton of carbon from the atmosphere in a year
- Produce 1000 gallons of fuel
- Feed ten people all the protein and essential fatty acids they need for a year.
- Reflect solar radiation back into space, seed cloud formation,
- Heal infections, prevent disease
- Detoxify, remineralize and break up compaction in the soil,
- Fuel the tractor
- Protect other crops from pest infestation
- Protect stored crops from pest infestation
- Provide essential feed and cover for wildlife
- Grow a seasonal wind-break
- Produce therapeutic essential oils that produce no THC.

According to the DEA's own definition of what is and what isn't a "legal" hemp product, Cannabis essential oils logically qualify as legal because they do not "cause THC to enter the human body." Yet, because of their enormous competitive value, they remain prohibited.

The incomparable urgency of widespread carbon sequestration monoterpene production for climate mitigation is knwon, for both global warming and global broiling, biogenic pesticides and safe, natural insect repellent, Cannabinoid compounds (CBD, CBN) and other valuable resins and compounds in Cannabis are being withheld and knowledge suppressed.

Let's all stand up at the same time and say yes to agricultural abundance and global healing through cooperation with and respect for Nature. The cure for endless war is agricultural abundance and the freedom to farm.

Note: This post is dedicated to the immediate release of Andre Furst in Switzerland.
Please see http://www.chanvre-info.ch/info/en/

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Minutes to Midnight

Cannabis agriculturists being imprisoned for carrying out their essential work reveals a perversion of the justice system so extreme as to portend synergistic collapse of structures upon which we all depend. Andre Furst must immediately be released, as the Cannabis plant is being globally (though much too slowly) recognized for its true value. I suggest that we all see clearly that, because of the importance of Cannabis for "atmospheric forcing," our survival may depend upon how much Cannabis we can grow, how fast.

At this time of the year in many countries of the world, the "Million 'Marijuana' March" translates to a global harvest celebration. I suggest that people who profit from sale of the herb would do well to consider how directly their own freedom to farm is connected to Andre's. Will the Cannabis culture rally support for Andre's release, before the court mistakenly renders its misanthropic decision?

My vision of what may be needed is an on-line digital video film blitz, with all the films of Chanvre Info that have been made, broadcast everywhere possible, along with the call from the Global Cannabis Culture for his release. I believe it is important for people to see what Andre has achieved, and why it is worth praise not prison.

I will let you all know when I manage to coordinate this in some form on-line, and encourage you all to gather the digital videos that you have made or know of. In the meantime, anyone who would care to help is invited to contact me off-list.

The international drug policy reform, harm reduction, medical marijuana, hemp agriculture community had better stand up for Andre Furst, to make certain he is immediately released. Shame on anyone who turns their backs on the best hope for our species. Cannabis agriculture has the potential to be a primary mitigating measure, producing atmospheric aerosols and sequestering carbon to heal global UV-B broiling and warming.

Andre Furst is an exceptionally courageous ambassador for the world's most ancient global culture. For him to remain in prison is an international outrage of global and historic dimensions. To outlaw such an eloquent expression of how the world could and must eventually be is a crime of immense gravity.

I extend my heartfelt condolences to Andre Jr. and family Chanvre Info. Next spring, it is my individual intention to replicate the model of sustainability exactly as Andre Furst has accomplished with Cannabis at Chanvre Info.

Failure of the Swiss courts to free Andre Furst, and primitive violence being threatened at the farm, are symbolic of each other. If the inhumanity of the irrational is inflicted then we will all be set back by it.

Andre must not be allowed to be culled from the progressive herd by a chemically corrupted court. His expertiece in biodynamic Cannabis agriculture and sustainable manufacturing of fuels, essential oils, and building materials is invaluable. It is the trail that we all must take, as soon as possible, if our children are to inherit a liveable planet.

Cannabis agriculture is not optional. It is morally obligatory, out of proportionate spiritual respect for the rights of past, present and future generations to use "every herb bearing seed."

Monday, September 24, 2007

Synergistic Collapse -- What Happens Without A Plan

Imagine a tripod that's got one wooden leg, one iron leg and one stone leg. On top of the tripod rests our chances for survival. The wooden leg is rotting, the iron leg is about rusted through, and the stone leg has been mostly worn away by wind & waves.

Which one will crumble first? It's hard to say, and it doesn't really matter, since each leg depends on the other two. When one goes, they all go. That's how I think of "synergistic collapse."

The three legs upon which our survival depends are the Earth's environment, human economics and the integrated social structures human, plant and animal, that share this planet. Currently, all three legs are degenerating to the point of imminent, synergistic collapse.

Global warming and global broiling threaten collapse of the Natural Order, mankind's economy is in the final stages of imbalance, as evidenced by the degree to which the black markets have infected the global markets and compromised the integrity of political leadership and other social structures.(1)

Albert Einstein once predicted that if bees were to become extinct mankind could only survive for four years. Others have estimated it would take seven years. How long will our social structures last if the environment collapses? How long will our economy stay solvent once the toxicity of petrochemicals is recognized as not worth it? It may not matter if the bees die first.

What will happen once 'marijuana' prohibition is finally superseded by widespread realization of the true value of the Cannabis plant? My vision of the first thing that ought to happen, is identification of the people who have been promoting this idea the longest, to be celebrated as forward thinkers, capable of leadership. The politicians who continue to support prohibition will be seen as "drug war dinosaurs" who did not have the political courage or vision to see the truth about Cannabis, nor the destructive nature of prohibition itself.

It is critical to have a conversation about the promise of Cannabis and the urgency of ending the prohibition of all drugs. It is time to do what needs to be done in spite of the lack of political will.



1. "Organised crime: the $2 trillion threat to the world's security"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2167133,00.html

2. "Welsh urged to become beekeepers"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/6612513.stm

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Organised crime: the $2 trillion threat to the world's security

Organised crime: the $2 trillion threat to the world's security
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2167133,00.html

"There is nothing stopping it," Mr Glenn said.
"There is no global strategy."

Yes, there actually is a global strategy. It's called drug policy reform, and one of the best reasons to implement it is the disempowerment of the black market.

André Fürst and the Cannabis industry under attack in the Swiss Confederation

Dear friends of freedom,

Please do what you can to raise active awareness of André Fürst's conviction and imprisonment in Switzerland. André Fürst is the founder of Chanvre Info, a Cannabis agriculture and manufacturing demonstration project in Morat Murten, Switzerland. A sincere gentleman and father, André and his son André, Jr. are dear friend's who have been generous supporters of my film in Europe and Mexico. André Fürst deserves international praise for his courage, vision and contributions to the common good -- not prison. A short film of Chanvre Info can be seen here, on You Tube:

"Return to Reason" short
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gImQUSvfGxI

André Fürst has done in Switzerland, what we could be doing in California by next spring.
As the California industrial hemp bill, AB 684 ripens in the governor's hands, the benefits of hemp agriculture and the therapeutic benefits of 'marijuana' are being repeatedly proven. The urgency of growing Cannabis is only becoming more acute as environment, economy, and social structures continue to fail. AB 684 - http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7363

It is simply a shameless violation of human rights, in the name of corporate protectionism, for government to interfere with the cultivation of any "herb bearing seed." (Genesis 1:29) The jurisdiction of the court has been extended far beyond moral accountability, inducing essential resource scarcity, while enriching the black market and increasing hard drug use, in a counter-productive effort to crimp the free agricultural and industrial markets.

The following letter was written by the Steering Committee of ENCOD (www.encod.org), of which André Fürst is the director, and is passed on to you all with the invitation to engage the effort to secure brother Fürst's immediate release.

Further, I trust that the Swiss authorities will protect the health and safety of people at the Chanvre Info demonstration project. The following is a recent account of attacks on the farm by an armed gang.

http://www.chanvre-info.ch/info/en/Attack-on-field-at-Chanvre-Info.html

Please see
http://www.chanvre-info.ch/info/en/sommaire.html

for additional information about André Fürst and the incredible strides in Cannabis agriculture and industry he has achieved, with the highest levels of product excellence, always demonstrating global cooperation and international statesmanship with a unique personal flair.

Please join with me in calling for André Fürst's immediate release, by sending word to the Canton of Fribourg, that the world is observing the suppression the Cannabis industry. In the US, we can begin coordinating ahead of the curve for a change, to plant hemp this Spring. It's the right thing to do, and regardless of what laws are passed at the state level, we have federal, Bill of Rights, Article One, individual freedom of religion, also afforded by international human rights treaties, if each of us claims it for ourselves, and each other.

With international Aloha, and a prayer for peace,

Paul
California Cannabis Ministry

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Cannabis Agriculture vs. Global Broiling

Humankind faces a simple choice. Either we end prohibition of the world's most valuable plant, or the Earth will broil to extinction under increasing intensities of Ultra-Violet solar radiation.

Global broiling under UV is an immediate threat, yet compared with global warming, it is largely over-looked because the effects of increasing UV are more subtle than a shrinking glacier. Increasing levels of UV-B radiation, caused by erosion of the planet's ozone layer, are causing mutations, impairing immune systems and slowing growth rates in amphibians.(5) A generally accepted "indicator" species, what is obvious in amphibians is likely happening to people and other creatures, including plants.

Fortunately, there are mitigating measures that could be effective to heal the atmosphere, if they're implemented in time. A study published in Science Magazine last year, detailed the effects of atmospheric aerosols called "monoterpenes" on Earth's atmosphere.(1) The report concluded that

"This has important implications for...our future climate."

In essence, monoterpenes, (produced by some plants) mitigate global warming by reflecting solar radiation back into space and "seeding" cloud formation. Both solar reflection and cloud cover protect the Earth and its inhabitants from the increasing intensity of the Sun's rays.

It remains to be studied, what would happen if monoterpene-rich crops were grown in abundance, specifically to create a constant flow of monoterpenes into the atmosphere. I propose that this may be the most proximate and effective strategy for healing global warming and global broiling. Certainly, at the very least, the research needs to be initiated into the possible benefits of Cannabis agriculture, independent from the arbitrary limitations imposed by the drug war.

The Cannabis plant offers mankind a better opportunity for mitigating climate change than any other agricultural resource. Cannabis (hemp,'marijuana') produces 58 monoterpenes. It is also one of the most potentially abundant, useful and adaptable agricultural resources in the world.

In addition to effecting climate change by producing monoterpenes, Cannabis is one of the most efficient crops for sequestering carbon from the atmosphere.(4) Biodegradable construction materials made from Cannabis are the perfect carbon sink in which to store CO2 that's removed from the atmosphere by Cannabis farming.

Cannabis is also the world's most available source of organic vegetable protein and essential fatty acids (EFAs) making it a critical "strategic food resource." Mankind cannot afford to turn its back on the world's most nutritious seed, when we're facing a global food crisis, with the lowest stores of food in the last hundred years.(2)

Fields of hemp, grown to produce biofuels, food, and fiber, would also regenerate compacted, depleted and contaminated soils. Cannabis is a primary rotational crop, needed for expanding the world's arable base. Because hemp can be made into biogenic pesticides, it is a critical product for sustainable, organic agriculture.

For these reasons and more, a massive global planting of hemp is needed. Because time is the limiting factor in the equation for healing the planet, the Spring 2008 is the most critical planting season in human history. Will mankind overcome the "politiconomic" inertia that has blindly led us to the brink of extinction? Or will people abandon the viciously counter-productive "drug war" and make the most of the world's most healing agricultural resource? (6)

Now that people know Cannabis agriculture is the most effective solution to many problems, including environmental, economic and social imbalances, nothing can stop the eventual implementation of the solutions. It's merely a question of when. How do bad things have to get before all solutions are considered?

Paul J. von Hartmann
Mount Shasta, California
(831) 588-5095

California Cannabis Ministry
http://www.californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com/

Project P.E.A.C.E
http://webspawner.com/users/projectpeace/

ENCOD Member
www.encod.org

=========================================

References:

1. "High Natural Aerosol Loading over Boreal Forests"
Science 14 April 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5771, pp. 261 - 263
DOI: 10.1126/science.1123052
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/312/5771/261

2. "Lowest Food Supplies in 50 or 100 Years: Global Food Crisis Emerging"
Press Release - National Farmers' Union, May 11, 2007.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_5660.cfm

3. *Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Fourth Assessment Report
Working Group III
Climate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate Change
Summary for Policymakers
http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM040507.pdf

4. "Carbon storage potential in natural fiber composites."
Author: Muhammad Pervaiz, Sain, M. M.
Author Affiliation: Faculty of Forestry, Advanced Wood Composite Group, Earth Science Center, University of Toronto, 33 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ont. M5S 3B3, Canada.
Document Title: Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2003 (Vol. 39) (No. 4) 325-340
http://www.cababstractsplus.org/google/abstract.asp?AcNo=20043048573

5. "Gloomy Prognosis For Amphibians"
Andrew Blaustein, Oregon State University. May 2007.
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2007/May07/amphibians.html

6. "U.S. Mayors Declare Drug War a Failure"
July 18, 2007
http://www.jointogether.org/news/features/2007/us-mayors-declare-drug-war.html


==========================

from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Recommended Mitigation Strategies in Agriculture, Forestry and Waste

Table SPM 3, Page 14.

Agriculture [8.4]
Improved crop and grazing land management to increase soil carbon
storage; restoration of cultivated peaty soils and degraded lands;
improved rice cultivation techniques and livestock and manure
management to reduce CH4 emissions; improved nitrogen fertilizer
application techniques to reduce N2O emissions; dedicated energy
crops to replace fossil fuel use; improved energy efficiency
Improvements of crops yields

Forestry/forests
[9.4]
Afforestation; reforestation; forest management; reduced deforestation;
harvested wood product management; use of forestry products for
bioenergy to replace fossil fuel use

Tree species improvement to increase biomass productivity and
carbon sequestration. Improved remote sensing technologies for
analysis of vegetation/ soil carbon sequestration potential and
mapping land use change

Waste [10.4]
Landfill methane recovery; waste incineration with energy recovery;
composting of organic waste; controlled waste water treatment;
recycling and waste minimization.

Biocovers and biofilters to optimize CH4 oxidation.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Invoking the Church Arson Prevention Act

I believe that the "Church Arson Prevention Act" could be invoked to prevent future dispensary
raids, if the "medical" dispensaries are associated with a spiritual and nutritional, holistic
wellness center. Eliminating artificial distinctions that have been created to define people's use
of Cannabis broadens the legal defense for our many over-lapping rights to grow and use it.

The British Columbia Compassion Club Society in Vancouver is the perfect example of what a
wellness center could be. One of the reasons that dispensaries in the U.S. don't work for people
as well as they could is because the healing properties of the plant that are offered at most of
the clubs are limited to just the buds. The whole plant has healing properties, as does the act of
growing it outside, and sharing it with others creates a healing community of like-minded, mellow
folk.

I attempt to reflect what I see, and reason a way beyond it, in order not to be blinded or
paralyzed by it. From my perspective, ending prohibition is a conscious healing, not a war.
Our economy is based on toxins and scarcity. Of course we're a sick society. If it were a war to
be fought, rather than an illness to be healed, then we would be in real trouble. Wars are what
the drug warriors are geared up for. To fight against insanity leads nowhere. Re-balancing our
conscious appreciation of Cannabis is much quicker, and leads to sustainability within a
functional Natural Order.

But 'time' is the limiting factor. The sense of urgency for ending prohibition is as important as
the integrity of the rationale. That's why this Spring, 2008, is the season for everyone to plant
openly and publicly, after a coordinated series of educational programs and meetings.

Fortunately, the global brain is waking up, electronically. It is now possible for people to
communicate, instantaneously, for the first time in our species' history. We the People are the
government, if we choose to learn control of our politicians, as a baby learns to control its
fingers.

Most voters support medical marijuana. The government doesn't because the people in office aren't
working for us. Problems are profitable. Prohibition is the weight around the neck of the finest
horse in the stable, and still she is the largest cash crop in the state. That says much about the
value of it.

Here's how I see prohibition ending by next Spring.

1. Drugs don't make seeds. Herbs do.
2. Genesis 1:29 and :31, "every herb bearing seed""every green herb"
3. Article One, the "free expression" of religion.
4. Individual Cannabis Ministries, millions of us claim our ancient, global cultural legacy.
5. Teach what we know to our communities, using digital video and computer technology for the
common good.
6. Cite the Conference of Mayor's Resolution of June 2007 declaring the drug war a costly
"failure," and demand accountability of our elected officials rather than continuing a
counter-productive policy.
7. Formally challenge the government's rightful jurisdiction over an unique and essential natural
resource, invoking "essential civilian demand" as provided for in E.O. 12919.
8. Designate Cannabis as a "critically determinate crop" because of its nutritional value, and
extremely valuable monoterpene production.
9. Plant publicly after conducting regional "Town Hall Meetings"/First Freedom Seminars inviting
cooperation with the Department of Justice.
10. Designate Community Trust-held lands for Cannabis Cultural Centers, including agricultural
demonstration project, hemp seed cafe, a wellness center (i.e. holistic healers, herbalists,
nutritional counseling), where Cannabis is grown biodynamically for seed, fiber and pure outdoor
herbal therapeutics.

Prohibition is a necessary obstacle to assure the competitiveness of the chemical industries.
Behaviorally akin to paranoia, there is created a perceived villain, who is out to get you or your
kids. In truth, 'marijuana' is not the villain, petrochemicals and economic disparity are the
corrupt forces fundamentally warping human values.

If our generation continues to allow prohibition to continue, rather than recognizing our
obligation to reclaim our civil liberties, then our children will suffer for our impotent defense
of the self-evident, god-given, natural freedom to farm.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Announcing: CCM's "Cannabis Freedom" Series

The California Cannabis Ministry invites you to celebrate our "First Freedom" by participating in the "Cannabis Freedom" series.

Inspired by the U.S. Department of Justice's "First Freedom Project," the interviews and discussions celebrate Article One in the Bill of Rights as " a fundamental freedom on which so many of our other freedoms rest."
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/religdisc/firstfreedom.html

Because Cannabis is the world's most ancient global culture, with a long tradition of peaceful cooexistence, "hemp" and "marijuana" have enormously significant throughout the evolution of human society. The spiritual dimensions of the Cannabis culture encompass economics, agriculture, art, philosophy, and many other facets that will be investigated from a "religious" perspective.

In the spirit of sincere appreciation for immeasurable sacrifices made by those who have gone before us in the fight for freedom, the California Cannabis Ministry is presenting an on-going series of public access television programs, to initiate environmental, economic and social healing. By exercising "essential civilian demand" for Cannabis hemp seed, recognized in Executive Order 12919 (Clinton, 1994) as a "strategic food resource," we may yet be able to secure our "freedom to farm" in preparation for planting Cannabis, globally, for food, fuel and fiber in the Spring 2008.

Time is the limiting factor in the equation of survival. Every planting season that passes is gone forever. We the People have an obligation to present and future generations to secure the quality of life on Earth. Cannabis is the only common seed with three essential fatty acids. Hemp seed is also, potentially, the best available source of organic vegetable protein on Earth. Because of its true value, Cannabis has never been.

Thanksgiving to the Creator for the harvest is a tradition that bridges issues of food security and spirituality. The California Cannabis Ministry seeks to resolve the gross negligence of institutions that ought to be teaching people about the incomparable nutritional value of Cannabis hemp seed, rather than prohibiting the cultivation of it.

In truth, our "first freedom" was articulated, twice in succession, by the Creator, as quoted on the first page of the Bible (and equivalently, in all other religious texts), in Genesis 1:29/30:

"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed,
which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed;
to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so."

Drugs don't make seeds. Herbs do.

Please join us for an open and honest, science-based discussion, investigating the true value of Cannabis agriculture, manufacturing, and the efficiency of regional, organic economics.

Anyone interested in the research and communications being carried out by the California Cannabis Ministry is welcome to visit the Ministry blog or contact me directly. Practical support for this work is naturally encouraged.

for peace,

Paul J. von Hartmann
California Cannabis Ministry
http://www.californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com

Project P.E.A.C.E.
Planet Ecology Advancing Conscious Economics
http://www.webspawner.com/users/projectpeace

(831) 588-5095 cell phone
============

"Cannabis Freedom"
with Paul von Hartmann
Tuesday, September 12th at 3 pm

The mission of MCTV15 is to encourage and support the use of media for sharing thoughts opinions and events by, and for the people of Siskiyou County.

http://www.mctv15.org/Public/HomePage

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

The case of Hemp-Info: Swiss Courts Corrupted by Chemicals

Last week the District Court of Morat, Switzerland, sentenced Cannabis agriculturist, André Fürst, the owner of Hemp-Info, to 29 months in prison and a fine of 150.000 Swiss francs (approx. 98.000 euros). Mr. Fürst’s "crime" was years of open and public development of agro-industrial ecological methods of hemp utilization, demonstrating realistic solutions to major environmental, economic, and social problems.

Unfortunately, a free market in Cannabis is an economic threat to the black market in drugs, and the corrupted political establishment, economically vested in chemical- and prison-based industries. After years of global activism and harrassment by Swiss authorities, André has finally become a casualty in the global "war on herbs" being orchestrated by the United States. The U.S. has been exerting its economic influence on Swiss drug policy for years, interfering with progressive development in a nation which has traditionally been politically independent.

The authorities in many Swiss states (cantons) were, until recently, applying a pragmatic and humanistic approach to drug policies. Now the Swiss authorities have begun a "witch hunt" of their own, caving into temptations of money and power the fruits of the bad example set by the U.S. "War on [Some] Drugs [and Herbs]."

For decades, the U.S. prohibition has proven to be invariably disastrous environmentally, economically and in its tragic consequences eroding fundamental human rights. Only by dismissing the fact that Cannabis is an "herb bearing seed" and categorizing the world’s most useful plant as a "drug" have the economically corrupted courts been able to usurp control over this unique and essential, strategic natural resource. The anti-natural precedent set by Cannabis prohibition is incalculably dangerous, because it unlawfully extends the legal jurisdiction of governments over people’s Natural rights, that are the original basis for those governments.

In the future, perhaps after the Natural Order has collapsed, beyond recovery, maybe the Swiss people will wake up to reclaim the role of social progressive, properly adjusting to local attitudes of tolerance. In the meantime, free market activists, supporting the god-given right to farm "every herb bearing seed," are under pressures from the corrupted judiciary, which is absolutely unworthy of any society claiming to be "democratic."

If the Swiss National Council had agreed to revise drug legislation as federal authorities had proposed, the case of Hemp-Info would have been dismissed. André Fürst offered Switzerland a future without farmer’s subsidies, that included a workable plan to protect Swiss youth from drug criminality, that disempowered the black market, and cut off a lucrative source of financing for international terrorism.

Fribourg justice, short-sighted and dogmatic, rejected all of André’s reasonable arguments, which are based on irrefutable scientific, political, sociological and economic evidence. The Fribourg judges have failed to uphold laws that protect the Swiss people’s collective interests. The judges in Fribourg have choosen instead to favor the wealthy corporate conglomerates, the parallel, chemically-based economy and the pervasive, hypocritical, pseudo-morality that is poisoning human society with "legal" drugs, while starving most of the world’s children.

In judging André Fürst a criminal, the judiciary is pushing all farmers in the direction of corporate control. People who are ill, that rely on the proven therapeutic properties of ’marijuana’ and other forbidden plants, will now be forced to seek their chosen herbal remedies amid the dangers of the black market, as before. Cannabis users are being forced by the courts to support organized crime, while risking their health in purchasing products of unknown purity and quality.

Besides the incalculable personal tragedies inflicted on the Swiss Cannabis culture, this policy will cause considerable harm to the whole of Swiss society, and the rest of the world. The inevitable, disasterous impacts of prohibition effect everyone.

All this is happening because a phytotherpeutic ("plant healing") herb, which is safer and more useful than either "legal" tobacco and alcohol, presents a threat to the pharmaceutical, petroleum, and other chemically-based multi-national industries in Switzerland and the U.S.. Hemp-Info demonstrated that Cannabis can be used to produce everything that is currently being made from petroleum and timber, using chemically intensive methods and anti-natural resources.

When criminal groups (like the Hell’s Angels and the Yakuza) take over the Swiss Cannabis market (as has already happened in Canada, Sweden, Hawaii, and other places), everybody will bitterly regret André Fürst’s conviction. The organic products and realistic, healthful control measures which he was prosecuted for pioneering will be looked back upon as visionary.

The judiciary authorities in Fribourg must be held accountable for their limited thinking leading to an illogical decision. By favoring policies which are proven to be counter-productive to society their decision is a direct threat to the integrity of the Swiss justice system.

As a result of inducing scarcity of herbal Cannabis, predictable increases in the use of dangerous chemical drugs (including alcohol, methamphetamines, crack, heroin, cocaine, and benzodiazepines) will certainly begin to plague Switzerland, just as they have infected the U.S. and other prohibitionist countries. Organized crime, increasing spread of HIV/AIDS, deteriorating economics, and a "drug war"-impoverished infrastructure will soon degrade the quality of life for all Swiss people.

In spite of Hemp-Info’s obvious determination to base their activities on Cannabis laws proposed and supported by Swiss federal and parliamentary committees, the Fribourg Court has advanced the repressive poliices advanced by the prosecution. In particular, the Fribourg Court failed to render a clear legal decision regarding the different methods of Cannabis analysis. The results of these tests can be so erratic that they can show THC levels, varying from 0.3% to 3.0% in the same sample of hemp. The Fribourg Court also refused to assess the legal juridiction of the THC standard established by French law.

This arbitrary measure is missing any proven scientific or agronomic basis and has no authority in regard to Swiss legislation. The Court inexplicably ignored the fact that hemp is an herb, not a "drug" and certainly not a "narcotic." This decision insults the Rule of Law and the spirit of authors of the drug legislation, by disregarding or changing established legal and historically relevant definitions.

As far as Hemp-Info has not received any response to these fundamental questions and because there are other critically compelling reasons to reject this sentence, André Fürst will continue his struggle for freedom to farm Cannabis and will register an appeal of this decision with the Cantonal Court of Fribourg.

If the people of the world recognise why this case is of pivotal importance to all of our freedoms and the quality of life on this planet, then perhaps there is still hope for reversing the symptoms of imbalance that have resulted from imposed essential resource scarcity. The years of agricultural development that André Fürst has shared with the world at the demonstration project called Hemp-Info, is too valuable to be lost in such a sad and meaningless miscarriage of justice.

Paul von Hartmann , a friend of Hemp-Info

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

The following is a comment made on an AlterNet article questioning the benefits of ethanol fuel.


Cannabis could stop, and perhaps reverse, global warming.
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/56047/?comments=view&cID=691967&pID=691655#c691967

Absent prohibition of the world's most useful, nutritious, environmentally beneficial agricultural resource -- Cannabis, a.k.a. hemp, kaneh bos, marijuana, ganja, Santa Maria... -- the global economy would benefit from standardization of fuel production, for maximum efficiency and even distribution of wealth, by assessing the value of Cannabis, differently. What if Cannabis was suddenly not viewed, narrowly, as a "drug," but as the most sacred herb? I believe that cultivation of Cannabis is so essential that mankind will not achieve sustainable existence without it. Everything I understand about ecology tells me that widespread cultivation of Cannabis is critical to the proper functioning of the the Natural Order.

Cannabis agriculture is not optional, if our species is ever to achieve sustainability within a Natural Order recovering from induced scarcity, causing radical imbalance, and eventual synergistic collapse. Economic inertia, carrying the dominant political regimes, is favoring punishment, globalization and the control industries, because it is animal nature for the vicious to prey upon the peaceful. Predatory techniques have been refined to make people feel good an dbe complacent about the major problem we all face. If we don't solve global broiling, then it won't matter what other problems we do solve.

Fortunately, truth is more powerful than any number of guns and time is more precious than anything else. For the common good we have "natural, god-given, self-evident rights" afforded by Constitution. The world's most vigorous rotational, organic crop, capable of growing 10 centimeters per day, also provides unique and essential food and cover for wildlife. Legislating scarcity of such a critical resource is far beyond the rightful authority of our species. Cannabis is a lynch-pin species, connected to the entire global ecosystem by its inherent value. Prohibiting Cannabis agriculture has crippled organic food production, obviated a free market economy, created a black market economy, engendered endless wars and bred a costly, runaway bureaucracy, while blocking environmentally sane development of the organic pesticide and biodegradable plastics industries.

As for the problems with ethanol, there is no mention in the article regarding what it would take to filter the NOX and particulate. This seems an obvious and technologically achievable solution. Transport of feedstock from the field, to the regional energy production facility would benefit from localized efficiency and effect a drastic reduction of bureaucracy. Armed aggression must be replaced with farmed affection. Thirty million years of evolution has yielded dolphin economics, "You help me help you help everyone." Unless we prioritize strategies for peace that agree and cooperate with the laws of the Natural Order, then there is no chance for future generations.

"...nothing to fear but the atmosphere itself."

If we don't stop global broiling, it won't matter what other problems we solve. Every solution must be considered. Working with Nature, by using Cannabis to produce an atmospheric, monoterpene screen, sequester carbon, produce hydrogen, ethanol, methanol, diesel seed oil, and pyrolitic charcoal fuels, is the best strategy for stabilizing global temperatures.

Monoterpenes are atmosperic aerosols that reflect solar radiation back into space, and seed cloud formation. The clouds are brighter and last longer than non-monoterpene clouds.

Cannabis produces 58 monoterpenes and 38 sequterpenes. Cannabis sequesters carbon from the atmosphere with extreme efficiency, while regenerating de-mineralized and contaminated soils. Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon in biomass or the soil for long periods of time. Storing carbon reduces or slows the atmospheric build-up of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Increasing carbon sequestration can temporarily offset greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to global warming.

As a source of essential nutrition, Cannabis is the only common seed with three essential fatty acids (EFAs), and is the best available source of organic vegetable protein on Earth. Hemp seed is an excellent source of three essential fatty acids (EFAs), Omega-3, Omega-6, and Omega 9 which are known to prevent, and in some cases, reverse a wide range of illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Hemp nutrition also helps to bolster the immune system. These EFAs cannot be produced by the body and so must be present within the diet. Hemp seed is also a nutritious source of vitamins and minerals including beta carotene, vitamins A, C and E, and it does not contain any cholesterol.

Everything that's being made from petroleum (hydrocarbon) can be made better, cheaper and with less pollution using Cannabis (carbohydrate).

One hectare (2.5 acres) of seed hemp produces about 1,000-1,500 litres of hemp oil plus several thousand kilograms of cellulose-rich fibre. One hectare of fibre hemp produces about 8,000-11,000 kg of dry biomass.

Reclaiming desertified lands and expanding the arable base is the most urgent challenge facing our species. Respecting Nature means adding Cannabis back into the equation of survival.

Time is the limiting factor in that equation. Every spring planting season that passes without intensive cultivation of Cannabis is an opportunity that is gone, forever.

This year at Cannabis Ministries everywhere, we are celebrating the only truly global culture, and the most ancient. We are claiming our "natural, self-evident, god-given" Article One, Bill of Rights, by recognizing the true, unique and essential value of the Cannabis plant, never within the rightful jurisdiction of any court.

Any one who might care to, is invited to consider information published at the California Cannabis Ministry blog:
http://www.californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com

and

Project P.E.A.C.E.
Planet Ecology Advancing Conscious Economics
http://www.webspawner.com/users/projectpeace

Mindful of those who cannot speak for themselves, yet...

Brother Paul J. von Hartmann
California Cannabis Minister

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Cannabis Ministry Research

The ancient, global Cannabis culture is composed of many facets. These include unique dimensions of art, science, nutrition, agriculture, economics, therapeutics, law, spirituality. It is the responsibility of the California Cannabis Ministry to overcome the imposed ignorance of the true value of Cannabis, through research and education, to revitalise what has been lost or suppressed, because a tragic mistake made seventy years ago.

Because Cannabis was valued as a "bad plant" instead of as the "best plant," imbalances were initiated by eliminating a "critically determinate" agricultural resource. The mistake has persisted through economic inertia, and the fact that problems are profitable for people willing to sell solutions that don't work.

The most efficient way to correct the mistake is to reognise Cannabis for what it is truly worth. To my mind, a plant that does everything the Cannabis plant does, is nothing less than miraculous. Ofcourse Cannabis is a spiritual sacrament. There is no plant more crucial to our existence, whether people choose to acknowledge it or not, the truth is widely known.

What is not yet widely appreciated about the Cannabis plant are the copious quntities of atmospheric aerosols called "monoterpenes" that Cannabis produces. Why is this important?

"Atmospheric aerosol particles influence the Earth's radiation balance both directly by scattering and absorbing solar radiation, and indirectly by acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Increased aerosol and CCN concentrations lead not only to increased scattering of light back to space, but also to higher cloud albedos. Enhanced CCN concentrations can also lead to increased cloud lifetimes."

FORMATION AND GROWTH OF CLOUD DROPLETS
http://www.physics.helsinki.fi/common/vuosikertomus/vuosikertomus98/aero98.html

What this means is that the drops of liquid evaporating off of Cannabis plants, go up into the atmosphere and protect the Earth by reflecting the sun back into space, and making clouds. The clouds formed as the result of monoterpenes are brighter and last longer. Clouds cool the surface of the Earth and produce the rain needed to grow food.

Because Cannabis produces more monoterpines than any other agricultural resource, it may be mankind's best bet for slowing global warming. The study of this and investigations into the other properties of Cannabis is beyond legislation, out of necessity.

When simplicity is entirety...

"What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man.
That is the law, all the rest is commentary."
— Rabbi Hillel

Thanks to David Koff,
Editor of Message to America
http://messagetoamerica.blogspot.com/
for passing along this solid chunk of wisdom.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Honoring Dr. Tod Mikuriya

It is with the greatest fondness, respect and appreciation that these thoughts are shared, to
honor Dr. Tod Mikuriya. Dr. Tod was a treasure, much loved by those of us who benefited from his
enormous works and enjoyed his delightful company. For those who aren't aware of how Dr. Tod
contributed to their lives, it may interest people to know that a true pioneer in healing passed
away last Sunday.

Dr. Mikuriya's initial curiosity about Cannabis as a student in the late 50s led to extensive
travels as a researcher of 'ganja.' His boundless energetic fascination with Cannabis fueled his
eloquent, defiant opposition to our corrupted government's interference in Cannabis research. The
backlash from his credible effectiveness, in standing up for the world's most healing plant,
elicited the usual bureaucratic response, blatantly unreasonable persecution from the chemical
pharmaceutically biased medical establishment -- the "legal" drug dealers.

We all owe a lot to Dr. Tod, including a loving prayer for his gentle passage. Condolences are
extended to his family, with a river of gratitude flowing to Dr. Tod, wherever you are.

Stop Fighting.

What No One Wants to Hear -- Stop Fighting.

All of the freedom "fighters" who are so valiantly fighting for medical 'marijuana' -- fighting, fighting "to the bitter end" -- are co-creating both, a costly never-ending fight and a bitter end. Being an ex-"fighter" turned spiritual healer is not without its adjustments in thinking, but it eventually serves to transform what we are attempting to do, into the social healing process that it needs to be.

Fighting is an ego-driven, jerk-off for those of contentious nature. Ultimately fighting is a huge, unproductive waste of energy, as is Ed's trial. Fighting leads to more fighting, which is profitable for those who have choreographed the conflict to make us all angry, frustrated, worn-down fighters. Well, enough is enough. Time is the limiting factor in the equation of survival. If we really want Cannabis prohibition to end, then we must simply end it.

What if it were true, and everyone finally learned, that Cannabis has never been within the rightful jurisdiction of any court? Would that not stop the fighting? If people were to claim their "self-evident, god-given, natural rights" which our government was specifically constructed to protect, then our freedom to farm "every herb bearing seed" ought to be the most obvious way of expressing our free exercise of worship. With sincere gratitude to "The Great YouNameIt" (that which created the Natural Order as a sort of demonstration project for mankind to grow into harmony with), I hold in highest esteem the Cannabis plant. Out of deepest regard and highest reverence, I consider sacramental the "green herb" Cannabis, a being of unique and essential value, that may produce enough environmental benefit as to heal the Earth's atmosphere.

Since Article One of the Bill of Rights protects our "first freedom" to worship as we choose, then the prohibition statutes are themselves illegal, in their anti-Constitutional effect. We don't need to pass more laws to "legalize" Cannabis. We do need to discard counter-productive prohibition laws as extinctionistic. Why is anyone still fighting against laws so transparently perverse that they no longer command respect? Is it out of some sort of socio-eoconomic inertia?

The answer seems to be that, even though every person who uses Cannabis will admit to enjoying spiritually significant benefits of 'marijuana,' particularly in inextricable synergy with the therapeuic benefits, relatively few Cannabis consumers recognize existing legal protections associated with our sincere "religious" use of Cannabis, for food, fuel, therapeutics, and much more.

Perhaps it is a reluctance to share that personal, spiritual dimension of ourselves with others who are in lock-step with a violent system, out of fear of being written off as insincere. No one likes rejection, especially on such a penetrating level of our being. Maybe the implied semantic divide between the words "religion" and "spirituality" makes the legal protections, afforded by the Constitution for "freedom of religion," seem legally disparate for people who have always quietly practiced their individual "freedom of spirituality."

If each of us individually claim our obvious, natural, spiritual right to mankind's most ancient, valued, sacred, healing, useful, nutritious, potentially abundant, globally distributed agricultural resource, then Cannabis prohibition statutes will look as criminally foolish and blatantly destructive as they certainly are. Anyone who still enforces prohibition laws is either economically conscripted in the punishment industry, or uninformed to the point of criminal negligence.

A lawsuit chaging gross negligence for the government's role in suppressing Cannabis' nutritional and agricultural value, at the international level, is a better use of legal fees, if you can find an attorney who is willing to argue for our spiritually motivated freedom to farm.

Why is Ed Rosenthal in court? Because, as far as I can see from the website, Ed's attorneys have failed to invoke Ed's freedom of religion. The Law of the Land is the Constitution. On the first page of the Bible, God said, "I have given you every herb bearing seed." Drugs don't make seeds. Herbs do. The distinction is legally and practically significant enough to end the argument, and the fighting, forever.

for peace,

Paul J. von Hartmann
California Cannabis Ministry
http://www.californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com
(831) 588-5095

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Letter to the Editor - Mount Shasta Herald

My sincere thanks goes out to the townspeople of Mount Shasta for attending, The Stage Door Cabaret for hosting, the Mount Shasta Herald for publishing, and journalist Paul Boerger for comprehensive reporting on Cannabis information I presented earlier this month.

I trust it serves everyone to clarify that the California Cannabis Ministry has always emphasized the need for on-going, open discussion of all types and uses of Cannabis, both high- and low-THC strains. To talk only of low-THC hemp would overlook the suppressive impact that 'marijuana' policy has had on reseach and avilablity of all strains of Cannabis.

Next to this there is the glaring factual impossibility of any government having rightful, Constitutional jurisdiction over 'marijuana' cultivation. God's first commandment was so important He said it on the first page twice, 'every herb bearing seed" and "every green herb." Drugs don't make seeds. Herbs do.

Cannabis prohibition creates a black market, increases teen use of hard drugs, and induces an increasing scarcity of essential food and fuel agricultural resources, and exacerbates "global broiling." Now that monoterpines in pine trees and Cannabis have been shown to slow global warming, there is one more excellent reason to grow as much Cannabis as we can, everywhere we can, as fast as we can.

As many good reasons as there are to grow Cannabis outdoors, there are however several reasons NOT to grow it indoors, at least until electricity is made from biofuels.If our children are to have a snowball's chance in Hell of surviving, then we all must progress beyond prohibitionist misinformation and immediately realize that time is the limiting factor in the equation of survival.

2007's Spring planting season for hemp has almost passed for Mount Shasta. I trust that anyone truly concerned about the future of this community and our planet will contact me sooner than later. I intend that the entire Mount Shasta spiritual community convene a review of this subject at a "First Freedom Seminar" in coordination with he U.S. Department of Justice's "First Freedom Campaign."See http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/religdisc/ff_regionalseminars.html

for more information.

for peace,

Paul J. von Hartmann
California Cannabis Ministry
projectpeace@gmail.com

Thursday, May 3, 2007

"The only way to attain salvation is to have complete loyalty to God. This dream of life will be taken away from you one day; the only thing that is real is the love of God. Nothing else; all are false dreams. Get away from them. Every minute I seee how necessary that is....and so I tell Him: "I shall work for you alone." Then I feel within His supreme joy.--Paramahansa Yogananda

I work for the Natural Order. Inconceivably complex, Nature was created by what some call "God." The lesson for me is that giving a name to something so huge and entirely subjective is limiting.

I have come to calling God, "The GreatYouNameIt," with humble respect for the inconceivability of what God is. I think in human dimensions, though somewhat broader perhaps than others' due to several exceptional experiences enjoyed at an early age.

Extraordinary experience in youth eventually mature into penetrating grown-up insights. Having visited "otherworldly" realms as a very young boy, I believe that such inexplicable experiences have deepened the breadth of my vision of what is possible.

Monday, April 30, 2007

Prohibition is over when We The People say it is.

Lobbyists for industries which comprise the "economics of punishment" are probably the largest, most influential group of unelected, policy-making "bureauc-rats." Infesting our legislatures they shmooze our "erected officials," inflating obscene budgets for the profitized prison industry, feeding the corrupt political elite.

Entrenched "drug war" posturing maintains the counter-productive prohibition, even though it's been proven over seventy years to only make drug abuse and violent crime worse. The so-called "confused message" being sent to our young people is that "Drugs are so bad, we're going to create an entire black market economy that will insure their inflated street value and their attractiveness to you rebellious young people." Especially poor, young, People of color, surviving in conditions so bad that anyone would deal drugs, if that was the only way to pay the bills.

Most people realize we're being mis-led by a broken "politiconomic" system, addicted to war, pollution and radioactivity, increasing everywhere. Are We still intimidated by an evermore thuggish government? Or are Americans stunned to inaction by some residual TV-socialised desire to be good boys & girls, longing for "things to be the way they used to be"?

How else would you explain our Austrian-born governor vetoing hemp cultivation in the California Republic, when in his native country, Cannabis farming is subsidised by the European Union? Well, We ain't buyin that anymore.

Our forefathers didn't die for the freedom to complain. Prohibition is over when the people say it is, not when the politicians sober up to what's real.

The shortest distance between where we are and where we need to go is our existing religious freedom. The Bill of Rights, Article 1 begins,"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

Whether we embrace Cannabis spirituality as a part of our experience with The Herb is up to each of us individually, naturally. Existing legal protection for the Cannabis culture will be instituted as soon as significant numbers of people actively claim our common, spiritual freedom to farm "every herb bearing seed."

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Constitutional Obligation

"Our safety, our liberty,depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States, as our fathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both congress and the courts, not to overthrow the constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."
--Abraham Lincoln

Friday, April 27, 2007

"...but the atmosphere itself."

Dear Mendocino Green Party friends,

Thank you for your great works in Mendocino. When I planted Cannabis publicly on the steps on the State Capitol, with Richard Davis and others on Earthday in '93, the Sacramento Green party was a huge help. The event was a great success, establishing individual responsibility for the truth about Cannabis, challenging Dan Lungren to debate, invoking "essential civilian demand" for an unique and essential natural resource. It is time for another planting of sacrament in Sacramento -- this time with Executive Order 12919 and a lot of credible science in our hands.

I'll try to be at your event in June, but June is a planting month on the farm. We already have federal protections for freedom of religion. What remains to be done is to outlaw prohibition, by Constitutional Amendment.

Anyone aware of the true value of Cannabis, knows that a massive planting of Cannabis is our best bet for healing environment, economics, and mankind's current slide into social degeneration. Cannabis produces 58 monoterpenes, which are "atmospheric areosols" that slow global warming by reflecting solar radiation into space and seeding cloud formation. A steady stream of monterpenes is needed because they dissipate quickly.

If someone has a better idea for healing this planet, then I'd sure like to hear it, but I've been asking the question for fifteen years, and by my reasoning, it is in the best interest of future generations for us to assume that this is our last year of relative normalcy. Synergistic collapse of global environment, economics and social evolution could come more violently and suddenly than most people can imagine. The good news is, that it's entirely avoidable, through the conscious shift of values, to embrace regional, biodynamic agricultural biofuels energy production, as the foundation for evenly, an equitably distributed global economy. Esentially, "Eat Your Work."

A new tax system based on excise taxes and "environmental externality" penalties, rather than income taxes, would eliminate an entire bureaucracy that is presently so inefficient that billions of tax dollars remain unaccounted for. Who in their right mind would give their hard-earned money to a government that's just going to lose it?

Since there is not one Spring planting season to waste -- because time is the limiting factor in the equation of our species' survival -- and because We The People have recently acquired the ability to peacefully influence fundamental change in spite of bureaucratic interference (using an unobjective court system like a weapon), through ingenious, affordable and efficient communications technology; it's like the largest organ in the global brain (us), is beginning to wake up, synapses firing and connecting as everyone thinks the same thing at the same time.

"Prohibition is over in our common consciousness, which man's "laws" inevitably follow." --from "Return to Reason", a film by Paul von Hartmann

I trust that folks who are able, will make it up to Mt. Shasta, next Thursday, May 3rd 7-9:30pm, at the Stage Door, to support the California Cannabis Ministry's evening of digital video and hemp foods information and tasting. If you can't make it, watch for the video of the meeting on UTube.

Happy day,

Brother Paul

http://www.californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com

==========================================================


"Deaths and injuries from climate change are set to rise by more than double in the next 25 years, according to estimates to be published soon. The Financial Times (UK) writes that the World Health Organization (WHO) is finalizing data forecasting that deaths linked to even a very narrow number of causes most closely connected to shifting weather patterns will reach more than 300,000 a year by 2030. The number of disease- adjusted life years (Dalys) lost - a measure of injury and earlier death - linked to warming will rise in the period to more than 11 million. The data, set to be submitted to an academic journal for publication over the summer, focus on the impact of temperature change on diarrhea-related disease, malaria and malnutrition. "

--from "U.N. Round-Up"
http://mail.google.com/mail/?auth=DQAAAHMAAADVnG8inguzXev9JFzsdl_cX2HVympl1Vud3oagi8MZPWxd0OIfszKR5NpKI9KszonY79pSfZh6Xcrr2gw2_0vLZCroQQQNf_7VjaAQOmp-7Xm4xE1crxwA-BvxeoRc3SMhiP8apMQlmT_1wxIcQKF3Vz9B-ELTDiCo893KrKEMEw

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Earth Day Recipe for Cannabis Seed Milk

Cannabis seed is as delicious as it is healthful. I believe that the best way to eat hemp seed is to make "seed milk" from it. Here's how I make it...

Using 170 grams of washed hemp seed (about one cup)
One quart of the purest mountain spring water

In a blender, blend whole hemp seed in water and strain through a seed milk bag (available at most health food stores)

You may wish to add natural sweeteners such as maple syrup, agave syrup, honey or fruits (i.e. banana, apple, strawberries). A bit of vanilla extract, cinnamon, hemp leaves, and other flavorings can be tried to find the flavor that appeals to your taste the most. Coffee is another great flavoring that can be added for "grown-ups."

The health benefits of Cannabis seed for nursing mothers is particularly important for the essential fatty acids, essential amino acids, Vitamin E, and other vital ingredients. It is a crime that people in the U.S. are not allowed to grow this critically important food.

A digestive enzyme in fresh, fertile hemp seeds is destroyed, and the life energy killed, when hemp seeds are sterilised by the DEA. This is done routinely to seeds purchased from Canada for import into the U.S.

We the People have the "natural, self-evident, god-given right" to grow the world's most nutritious food, to feed our families. I trust that people will support all our right to grow Cannabis in our gardens, at home, for the health and well-being of our families and our planet.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Eat Your Work

"The best fertilizer is a farmer's footprint."

There is nothing more sacred than a sincere, working partnership with Nature. Having good work at which to excel allows for finding the art in a spiritual journey of boundless creativity. It's a worthy goal to reach for. Fifteen years ago, the process of selecting a worthwhile life path led me to appreciate the healing serenity and security that there is to be found in a garden.

If you can grow your own food, then you are free. The practical efficiency of not being dependent upon anyone for anything is profound. The products of an abundant garden go far beyond merely growing healthful food. For me, the result has been a healing existence and healthful life values.

Finding the art in agriculture includes digging into scholarly works to find the secrets of the ages. Cannabis has been a prominent resource, throughout mankind's existence on this planet. For the past three generations, the history of hemp's true value was largely hidden throught he influence of hemp's economic competitors. Thanks to Jack Herer, Chris Conrad, and other Cannabis scholars, the true value of Cannabis has been effectively re-introduced.

Protein determines carrying capacity. On Earth mankind has been neglect in recognizing the nutritional value of Cannabis, which means that everyone on Earth suffers from the imposed scarcity of this ancient and abundant essential resource.

If there is one good reason (that's true) not to grow Cannabis, then I have not heard or read of it, in fifteen years of scholarship and more than twenty years of direct personal experience. There are, however, many good reasons to include Cannabis into a balanced regional economy based in organic gardening and rotational farming.

Impacted, politically corrupt, economic forces have favored chemical agriculture and spawned the economics of punishment. Government permission to conduct research on Cannabis has been banned in the U.S since 1976. With the accelerating impact of global broiling becoming more apparent and destructive every year, the era of asking for government permission to farm the world's most useful agricultural resource is past. Our forefathers didn't die for the freedom to complain.

By the power of "essential civilian demand," as articulated in Executive Order 12919 (Clinton, 1994) I claim my individual right to feed my family fresh, fertile, biodynamically grown Cannabis seed. I also claim the power of truth in challenging anyone on Earth to offer a better, more scientifically sound plan for healing the planet than using monoterpenes to slow global broiling, and reclaim desertified lands.

The Green Market's time has come, the Black Market is being disempowered by initiating a truly free market, based in abundance. Unique and essential Cannabis has never been within the rightful jurisdiction of the court. Subsidised by the EU, and reintroduced all over the world, unique and essential "Mary" is rapidly being recognised as the gracious, capable and willing currency of the 21st Century. The redistribution of wealth, and efficient regionalization of economics, where fuel, food, herbal therapeutics, biodegradable plastics and fiber, biocides and repellents, paper, building materials.

If all of that's not worthy of "sacramental" status, then what is?

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

"Constitutional Cannabis" Film Night, Mount Shasta

"Constitutional Cannabis"
May 3, 7:00 – 9:30 PM @ The Stage Door, Mount Shasta CA
Admission: free

The first in a series of public presentations by the California Cannabis Ministry will feature three short films, discussion of the true value of Cannabis, restoration of the Natural Order and nutritious, delicious hemp foods.


"Constitutional Cannabis"
Sponsor: California Cannabis Ministry
Date/Time: May 3rd, 2007 , 7-9:30 pm
Location: The Stage Door Coffeehouse & Cabaret
414 Mount Shasta Blvd , Mount Shasta , California
Admission: free

The first in a series of public presentations is scheduled to take place on May 3rd, at the Stage Door Coffeehouse in Mount Shasta , California .

Three short films will be shown, followed by discussion of the true value of Cannabis (aka hemp, marijuana). Topics of discussion include the harms Cannabis prohibition imposes on society, potential economic, environmental and social benefits of Cannabis, and consideration of existing Constitutional protections to end suppression of this valuable agricultural resource.

Films to be shown are:
· Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (L.E.A.P.) video (12 minutes)

"Anyone concerned about the failure of our $69 billion-a-year War on Drugs should watch this 12-minute program. You will meet front line, ranking police officers who give us a devastating report on why it cannot work. It is a must-see for any journalist or public official dealing with this issue." -- Walter Cronkite

· "Hemp and the Rule of Law" (50 minutes) a Tin Roof Video film by Kevin Balling


· The trailer for "Return to Reason" a digital video documentary film by Paul J. von Hartmann that is currently in production. (10 minutes)

This event will fill the room, so people are encouraged to show up early, and enjoy a meal to support the Stage Door, taste hemp seed foods and look over available info. Admission is free to the public, though practical support for the work of the California Cannabis Ministry is most welcome.

For more information, please contact:

Paul J. von Hartmann, founder
California Cannabis Ministry
Project P.E.A.C.E.
Planet Ecology Advancing Conscious Economics
projectpeace@yahoo.com
http://www.californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com
http://webspawner.com/users/projectpeace
http://leap.cc/
http://www.tinroofvideo.com

###

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Regarding the death penalty for Cannabis

Malaysian authorities sentenced Mr. Basil Omar to death after he was arrested with approximately 1 kilo of cannabis.

Religious arguement for herbal rights

Recognizing several significant differences between "drugs" and "herbs" is essential for advancing an accurate, inarguable religious appeal to Malaysian and other punitive authorities. Those who consider Cannabis a drug rather than recognizing it as an herb are legally, factually and practically inaccurate.

To allow that inaccuracy pass for truth, as many people do, concedes a critical point of Natural Law that is at the basis of all democratic governments, all human rights treaties and every religion. Ancient tradition has always conveyed the inalienable right to use "every herb bearing seed" as instructed by every god that people anywhere have ever worshiped. A spiritual defense against prosecution invokes "self-evident" protections afforded by a Power greater than government's insubstantial and transient statute laws.

Drugs don't make seeds. Herbs do. Man makes drugs, "God" makes herbs. Our freedom to farm "every green herb" is a "god-given" right that can never be lawfully taken away.

In light of extinctionistic realities most obviously evinced by global broiling and the death of bees all over the world, the global Cannabis culture is being called upon to reclaim our Natural right by honoring our moral obligation to value Cannabis for what it truly is -- the world's most useful agricultural resource.

In the U.S., public awareness is achieving critical mass, as accelerating environmental collapse looms ever-larger. Legislation effecting changes in statute law, allowing for cultivation of medical marijuana and industrial hemp are publicly supported and passing, state by state. Federal protections afforded by sincere religious regard for Cannabis are being widely respected and cases are being dismissed, often at the point of arrest.

Once prohibition of Cannabis ends in the U.S., hemp agriculture, manufacture and trade will have the opportunity to compete in a free market. Hemp will succeed because of its potential for abundant, global distribution, its sustainable energy production profile, exceptional nutritional values and numerous environmental benefits.

In explaining the difference between drugs and herbs, it may be helpful to point out that drugs tend to be made with a single-ingredient (i.e. delta9THC, in the case of Marinol). In contrast Natural, herbal Cannabis contains hundreds of compounds, which convey synergistic effect.

Because herbs make seeds, herbs grow out of the ground so easily that it is impossible to control them in anything remotely resembling a free society. Anyone with water, sun and soil can grow an herb.

I trust there may be some advantage in offering an holistic, culturally rounded view of this issue, in contrast to the narrowly channeled thinking into which most of us were born.

Monday, April 9, 2007

All our relations,

Taxing people who are unprotected from arrest for the activity in which they are employed, makes
no sense at all. Don't you wonder if the feds will break down your door after you register with
the taxman as a proud, tax-paying California 'marijuana' farmer?

The only function of the proposed tax is to confuse and distract our attention from the fact that
"the green herb" Cannabis has never been truly illegal. Nor has "involuntary servitude" ever been
Constitutional. Income taxation is a tax on your labor. Read the thirteenth amendment, "slavery
and involuntary servitude prohibited."

In a country that outlawed slavery by Constitutional amendment, any state or federal income tax is
patently unlawful. That means that excise taxes are the only legal way for the government to
collect money for our infrastucture. What you spend determines what you pay. Minimum bureaucracy,
and no involuntary accounting.

Why would anyone pay money to an outlaw administration anyway, except that they're scared of
getting audited and fined? Is freedom from involuntary seritude being sold so cheaply to such
predators as the Shrub & Schwartz administrations have proven themselves to be? We are being
forbidden from growing hemp -- at the point of a gun -- and kept ignorant about the true value of
Cannabis for fuel, food, therapeutics, plastics, building materials, and much more. Yet in the
midst of egregious economic disparity and shameless, "problems are profitable" politics, we're
supposed to give money to these outlaws? Give me a break.

We were given "every herb bearing seed" by whatever Creator made this planet. We all make an
individual choice about whether we claim the freedom to farm, or roll over to serve an unholy
consortium of international murderers.

I choose to claim the right to live in health and freedom. I've planted Cannais publicly twice, in
'92 and '93. The last time was on the steps of the capital in Sacramento. I'm a Cannabis scholar
and Minister. If people support the rising of the global Cannabis culture, and insist on a massive
planting all over the world, we may yet be able to heal the atmosphere of our planet.

We all know by now that we have nothing to fear but the atmosphere itself, so why are we
continuing to support the system that's killing us by prohibiting the world's most environmentally
essential crop?

There is no truly legal force on Earth which can rightfully demand the product of our partnership
with The Divine. If anyone can give me one good reason to give money to a government that is
contaminating the environment with depleted uranium, violating the Geneva Convention, insulting
our ancestors in every way, then I'll stop talking about coordinated tax revolt, but this tax
seems a great place to start.

Support the California Cannabis Ministry if you want to stop all this non-sense and exercise
essential civilian demand for the most useful, unique and essential agricultural resource on Earth
for industrial planting this June. Time is the limiting factor in the equation of survival. There
is no money on a dead planet, so now is the time to shift our values into respect for Nature, and
cultivating a sincere reverence for the only plant that can save us all from extinction.

for peace,

Paul J. von Hartmann
California Cannabis Ministry
www.californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com

Project P.E.A.C.E.
http://webspawner.com/users/projectpeace

ENCOD member
www.encod.org

Note: May 3rd, 7pm at the Stagedoor in Mount Shasta, California ("where Heaven and Earth meet")
The California Cannabis Ministry will e showing the L.E.A.P. video, Hemp and the Rule of Law, and
the production trailer for "Return to Reason," a digital video documentary tool for ending
prohibition, by Paul J. von Hartmann. Admission free to all who show up early to have a bite to
eat. Hemp seed foods will be available for tasting.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Constitutional Cannabis

The first sentence of the Declaration of Independence empowers people "to assume among the powers of the earth, the seperate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitles [us]." The government of the United States was founded in order to protect our Natural Rights, not erode them.

Article One in the Bill of Rights states that, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." On the first page of the Bible, God's first "commandment" is so important He says it twice -- "...I have given you every herb bearing seed" and "every green herb." (Genesis 1:29) Drugs don't make seeds. Herbs do.

To a degree, it is our own failure to fully embrace the spiritual dimensions of Cannabis healing (including the nutritional prevention and treatment of illness), that has invalidated our "natural, self-evident, god-given" right to therapeutic, and other uses of 'marijuana,' or any other herb bearing seed.

Consider the legal argument in eliminating arbitrary and disingenuous boundaries defining "medical" use, to include the obvious nutritional, ecological and entheogenic dimensions of the Cannabis plant. By recognising these properties, and embracing them with proportionate, sincere, spiritual gratitude and respect, conveys Constitutionally protected rights to those who find value in Cannabis.

The green herb Cannabis has unique and essential nutritional properties. It is the only common seed with three essential fatty acids, and is the best source of protein on earth. Cannabis has therefore never been within the rightful jurisdiction of any court. Inducing scarcity of any natural resource that is unique and essential is clearly beyond the moral accountability of government.

Anyone who has used 'marijuana' can attest to the spiritual properties of Cannabis, when used with sincere respect and appreciation. The healing dimensions of spirituality are also quite real for anyone who is ill. The California Cannabis Ministry is being founded to recognise the true value of the Cannabis plant, awaken the global Cannabis culture, by reclaiming our natural, self-evident, god-given right to use evry herb bearing seed, in whatever way we choose. People interested in learning more about the legal dimensions of Cannabis spirituality are encouraged to visit www.californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com and www.thc-ministry.org for further insight into transcending anti-Constituional prohibition statutes, through "essential civilian demand" for Cannabis. (Executive Order 12919)


Paul J. von Hartmann, founder
California Cannabis Ministry
Project P.E.A.C.E.
http://webspawner.com/users/projectpeace

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Monoterpenes Slow Global Broiling

"Fragrance from Pine Forests Helps to Slow Climate Change"
European Commission News Alert issue 25
08 June, 2006

"Climate change is one of the greatest environmental, social and economic threats facing the planet. It is believed that boreal forests play a very important role in both climate regulation and the global carbon cycle.

Monoterpenes are plant volatiles that give pine and spruce forests their characteristic aroma...There is growing evidence that naturally emitted monoterpenes contribute notably to the formation of atmospheric aerosols (tiny particles of solid or liquid suspended in a gas), which in turn affect climate directly by bouncing sunlight back into space or by seeding clouds."

Source: Tunved P. et al. 2006 "High natural aerosol loading over boreal forests", Science 312: 261-263

********************

The Cannabis plant produces an abundance of monoterpenes and other atmospheric aerosols. Cannabis grows in more soil and climate conditions, at a much faster rate, than pine trees. Widespread, intensive Cannabis agriculture could potentially have a much greater effect on slowing global broiling than any other agricultural crop. Cannabis is the premier choice of an agricultural resource that can be cultivated in rotation, as a beneficial companion crop, grown organically to produce a globally distributed, sustainable supply of clean biofuels, while sequestering carbon and other pollutants from the atmosphere. Any agricultural resource that produces atmospheric monoterpenes, is a crop that mankind cannot afford to ignore any longer.

Time is the limiting factor in the equation of survival. Each spring planting season that passes is gone forever. Mankind's rudimentary understanding of how the ecosystem works is not sufficient for an accurate prediction of how much time we have left to repair the damage that's being done to the environment, our economic system, and our social evolution. Synergistic collapse of these elements is the greatest threat to all life on this planet. Because of time lags that preclude our awareness of where we are in the extinctionistic paradigm we have created, it is impossible to predict when synergistic collapse will become irreversible.

It is the individual responsibility of every person who understands the significance of Cannabis agriculture to teach others about the benfits of Cannabis, so that we may all move forward, beyond the counter-productive prohibition of the world's best hope for recovering a sustainable future for the Earth.