“drug wars” have not worked -- ?

Greetings, TJ and friends ENCODian,

TJ G wrote:

"...it’s a waste of time arguing with drug warriors who will probably never ever admit that “drug wars” have not worked whatever the evidence."

It seems to me that the so-called "drug wars" HAVE "worked," to :

-- prolong the global economic addiction to fo$$il fuel$ and other expensive, unevenly distributed, expensive and otherwise unavailable forms of energy.
-- impose food insecurity and malnutrition, substituting a genetically modified source of protein (GM soy) for a more healthful, potentially abundant and globally distributed, sustainable, organic agricultural resource (Hemp, chanvre, hanf, hennep, konopya, ...)
-- create economic disparity that affords control over many by a few.
-- cripples organic agriculture by eliminating autonomy, made possible by regional agricultural biofuels production AND protein production, from the same harvest!
From the same harvest!!

This is enormous. That Cannabis produces fuel and food for humans, to the benefit of the soil, water, atmosphere, and wildlife is a critical plank in constructing the bridge out from under the misguided prohibitionist dominance we were born into. The argument really ends when simple logic establishes rightful jurisdiction. Such is the case with fp's direct and simple triumph over the unaccountable Costa. The UN's limitations of accountability establish the "border" of prohibition.

In the context of economically unobjective courts, it is less likely that the subject will be introduced in other than the court of public opinion, so if we really want prohibition to end, we must first admit that we have understated our case and not done everything we can.

I would postulate this to the world, for whom ever may care to consider that mankind's role in a properly balanced Natural Order is to grow crops that produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs), in abundance, in order to supply the atmosphere with enough "monoterpenes" to shield the planet from "global broiling" -- increasing UV-B radiation.

The combined significance of Cannabis essential nutritional productivity, fuel production capacity, environmental benefits, and global distribution convey the power of true value, which becomes more precious as conditions continue to deteriorate. In the end, there will be a paucity of time, unless people stand up now, and declare Cannabis a legitimate spiritual right protected under the "freedom of religion" in every human rights document that's ever been written.

Only absolute freedom to grow as much Cannabis of every kind for every purpose will be sufficient. Let the "drug war dinosaurs" who cannot bear to answer simple questions argue for a return to prohibition if they choose to, but out of necessity we must actively reverse the global consensus globally declaring an accurate assessment of Cannabis for all of its uses and benefits.

Recent stunning developments in the field of Cannabis medicine and history have established that the United States government is lying in order to impose Schedule I status for 'marijuana.' In addition, if the legal distinction is made between herbs and drugs, then gratitude for the harvest is sufficient to convey an end to prohibition by reason of legitimate religious protections already in force under existing laws.

The cost effectiveness of a more direct argument will pay for itself in the short term. Already, in countries where the Cannabis industry has taken root and flourished, there is an economic benefit to the community that supports the consciously lucrative, green Cannabis industry.

There is no more available, proportionate solution to the majority of the world's imbalances, than the reintroduction of the world's most useful and nutritious agricultural resource.

The "drug war" has also been successful in

-- imbedding institutionalized punishment-for-profit industries into our society to the extent that the prison&sherriff's lobby was able to defeat Proposition 5 in Califiornia last month:

See the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_5_(2008)

defeated by the $1.8 million spent by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, a lobbying group vested in the prison industrial complex.

-- stigmatize free-thinking, marginalize and disrupt the family structure of liberal-minded and agricultural communities.

-- sell more expensive products that would otherwise not be able to compete in a truly "free market"

All of these undesirable, truly illegal effects are profitable for a relative few people, who have invested part of their wealth to buy political influence, that control the courts and influences the vote.

-- imposed intentional ignorance and scarcity on people's fundamental right to survive through the freedom to farm, creating a regional abundance of balanced nutrition and sustainable energy.

How else to explain the blatant and prolonged criminal negligence of the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (UNFAO), that refuses to facilitate agricultural production of the world's most complete, potentially abundant and globally available food, in a world where 923 million people are starving?

State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0291e/i0291e00.pdf

For what it's worth, I suspect that the prohibition of 'marijuana' will end in the rest of the world, soon after prohibition industrial hemp ends in the United States. Such a huge lie cannot stand up to the public scrutiny any longer. Prohibition has to end or we're all going to die, and people all over the world are learn why that's true.

A 180 degree shift in public values is what's needed before we can hope to sway the courts or our chemically-vested politicians. The U.S. puts so much economic pressure on other countries to wage a profit-driven, hypocritical and selective global drug war, that prohibition has to end here, if it is to end any- and everywhere.

Just because countries other than the U.S. may be able to farm industrial hemp to some degree, under the strict and watchful eye of expensive government bureaucracies, doesn't mean that Cannabis prohibition in the US isn't impacting your hemp industry.

Prohibition of Cannabis in the US is the cornerstone of the global drug war, for two reasons. First, because marijuana availability is inversely proportionate to hard drug use, i.e. the more marijuana there is, the less people are inclined toward use of hard drugs (legal or illegal). Secondly, because the volume of marijuana being produced and sold on the black market dwarfs the quantities of hard drugs being sold.

If there are people in the European drug policy reform community who see the sense in this, and can afford to direct practical support and encouragement to activists in the US, then you are cordially invited to do so at a time when there appears to be an opportunity for change.

"After receiving nearly 100,000 total votes on more than 10,000 public policy issues, the most widely voted on question for Obama is:

"Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion-dollar industry right here in the U.S.?"

from "Pot Supporters Bang on Obama's Doors for Drug Reform"
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/DrugReporter/#112401

Best wishes to all for a meaningful Holiday,

PvH


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