Dear Mr. President,
I trust Aloha Spirit to imbue my request with brotherly love for a friend in which it is written. Mahalo nui loa, Mr. President, for your compassionate, essential consideration of a pre-trial post-Christmas pardon for THC Ministry founder, Reverend Roger Christie.
Reverend Roger has been extrajudicially imprisoned-without-trial in Honolulu since July 8th. Blatantly 'false witness' against an honorable man's character is all it has taken to dismiss our "First Freedom" without due process.
Previously honored by his community with the Ho' omaluhia “Peacemaker” Award, Roger has been denied bail five times, is not allowed visitors, and his trial was postponed until April 2011. Punishment-without-trial is the very thing the Constitution was written to prevent.
In reality, Roger is being imprisoned for his success in defeating Cannabis prohibition through his on-going Cannabis scholarship, community service and "ganjanomics" pioneering. A peaceful resident of the Big Island for a quarter Century, Roger has been effective in bringing legal actions that have made marijuana enforcement the lowest priority, grounded marijuana eradication helicopters, and effectively mitigated the hard drug epidemic knowingly caused by government-induced scarcity of pakalolo (NIDA1991).
In essence, common sense and due process are being dismissed in deference to a counter-productive "drug war" waged against a known "strategic resource" (Executive Orders 9280, 10161, 10480, 10998, 11490, 12919), identified by Thomas Jefferson as being "of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country."
I am asking that you grant Reverend Christie release so that the integrity of our Constitution may be restored, and Cannabis inclusive solutions to problems, from drugs to climate change, may begin to be freely considered.
Blessings to you and your family for safe and meaningful Holidays,
#
Paul J. von Hartmann
Cannabis scholar
Former Hawaiian Islands resident
Oahu 1957-60
Maui 1988-1993
Big Island 1999
================
Paul J. von Hartmann
California Cannabis Ministry
"Our freedom to farm "every herb bearing seed" is the first test of religious freedom."
http://www.californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com
Between the Dreams Productions : projectpeace channel on You Tube
"Video documentation is the most time efficient and cost effective way of communicating a complex message."
http://www.youtube.com/user/projectpeace
Cannabis vs. climate change
"We have nothing to fear but the atmosphere itself."
July 4th, 2009 BlogTalkRadio Broadcast
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/projectpeace
"What Now" KOWS FM radio interview
Extended interviews with accomplished thinkers, writers, artists, farmers and scientists addressing the global crisis, 11-15-10 Paul von Hartmann // On Cannibis the plant
http://www.pantedmonkey.org/
"Shastashares"
a regional currency option for Northern California based in "Gaiatherapeutic" abundance
http://www.shastashares.com
http://www.shastashares.com/ShastasharesBrochure.pdf
"The Fundamental Challenge of Our Time"
Translated into Dutch and adopted as the manifesto for the Cannabis College Amsterdam in 1998
http://fundamentalcoot.blogspot.com/
Origins of the ministry: Project P.E.A.C.E. (Planet Ecology Advancing Conscious Economics)
"There is no money on a burned-out planet."
http://www.webspawner.com/users/projectpeace
Executive Orders Referenced:
December 5, 1942 Franklin D. Roosevelt Executive Order 9280 -
Delegating Authority Over the Food Program.
September 9, 1950 Harry S. Truman Executive Order 10161 -
Delegating Certain Functions of the President Under the Defense Production Act of 1950
August 14, 1953 Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Order 10480--
Further providing for the administration of the defense mobilization program
February 16, 1962 John F. Kennedy Executive Order 10998
ASSIGNING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FUNCTIONS TO THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE
October 28, 1969 Richard Nixon Executive Order 11490 - Assigning Emergency Preparedness Functions to Federal Departments and Agencies
June 3, 1994 William J. Clinton Executive Order 12919 -
National Defense Industrial Resources Preparedness
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
"Ice and Other Methamphetamine Use: An Exploratory Study, Final Report" -- National Institute on Drug Abuse
"Results from the study in Honolulu indicate that ice is finding uncomfortable but considerable position among other illicit drugs. The use of ice in Honolulu had led to particularly serious physical and psychological problems and significant social disruption in poor working communities where it replaced marijuana which had become scarce and expensive due to eradication policies. Ice continues to result in very serious individual problems contributing to the devastating impact on these communities.
"There are thought to be several influences on the tremendous growth of ice in Honolulu after 1987. Residents were both pushed away from pakalolo, their staple drug of choice, and pulled toward ice by a well organized marketing campaign by Asian distributors. Also, the overwhelming smokable drug of choice, marijuana or pakalolo, which has been grown and used throughout the islands for many years, became the target of a government eradication campaign. This drove up prices, drastically reduced availability and left locals without their their customary, and many would say relatively benign, smoke. Also very importantly,, many locals derived either part or all of their livelihood from marijuana production, robbed of this needed income many experienced considerable economic hardship. Thus when a new, easy to use, smokable product entered the drug market, one which at first felt non-threatening to youthful novitiates -- ice it was readily accepted as a product to be used and sold. Initial users were often likely to think of it as a substitute of sorts for pakalolo (Dayton, 1994)."
http://christie-et-al.s3.amazonaws.com/necessity/Ice-Methamphetamine-Exploratory-Study.pdf
christie-et-al.s3.amazonaws.com
"There are thought to be several influences on the tremendous growth of ice in Honolulu after 1987. Residents were both pushed away from pakalolo, their staple drug of choice, and pulled toward ice by a well organized marketing campaign by Asian distributors. Also, the overwhelming smokable drug of choice, marijuana or pakalolo, which has been grown and used throughout the islands for many years, became the target of a government eradication campaign. This drove up prices, drastically reduced availability and left locals without their their customary, and many would say relatively benign, smoke. Also very importantly,, many locals derived either part or all of their livelihood from marijuana production, robbed of this needed income many experienced considerable economic hardship. Thus when a new, easy to use, smokable product entered the drug market, one which at first felt non-threatening to youthful novitiates -- ice it was readily accepted as a product to be used and sold. Initial users were often likely to think of it as a substitute of sorts for pakalolo (Dayton, 1994)."
http://christie-et-al.s3.amazonaws.com/necessity/Ice-Methamphetamine-Exploratory-Study.pdf
christie-et-al.s3.amazonaws.com
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Comment on AlterNet article by to Tony Newman
Thanks to Tony Newman and AlterNet for pointing out several noteworthy, incremental shifts that happened in drug policy during 2010. There is one MAJOR victory that bears special mention because it is happening right NOW. The wrongful imprisonment-without-trial of Reverend Roger Christie, in Hawaii, is less than obvious and fundamentally relevant to much more than just the drug reform movement. Currently in process, the outcome of this crucially decisive contest depends on people's awareness of what's really happening, clearly visible in the truths that have already been revealed by it.
'Mahalo' to Sister Lauren for reminding people of the sacrifice being made by Reverend Christie, a True American Hero of 2010 who is spending this Christmas in federal prison. Imprisoned since July 8th, Roger Christie has been denied bail five times, is not allowed visitors and has had his trial postponed until April 2011 ! Does this not register as outrageous on every patriotic American's Constitutional Richter Scale?
Formally recognized for his work as a "peacemaker" by the Hawaiian community he has served for the past quarter of a Century, Roger is nevertheless being maliciously characterized as a "danger to his community" by the court, using mere slander to suspend the Constitution, cancel religious freedom, and over-ride due process of law. Several elected officials, community leaders, and many people on the Big Island and elsewhere have written letters of support for Roger, calling for his immediate release from prison.
That Roger is being extrajudicially punished proves how effective he has been in establishing a potent First Amendment religious transcendence of Cannabis prohibition statutes. In fact, most religions acknowledge the spiritual legitimacy of "every herb bearing seed" rendering prohibition of any herb beyond the rightful jurisdiction of any court. Considered objectively, it is obvious that the Cannabis plant is an herb, not a "drug." The legal and practical distinctions are significant.
Drugs don't make seeds. Herbs make seeds. Cannabis agriculture happens to be both unique and essential for three very specific reasons (nutritionally, ecologically, industrially). Cannabis is therefore logically and morally essential, valuable beyond the moral accountability of any court.
For the past ten years, Roger has applied for and received government licenses and permits in a sincere attempt to legally codify the THC Ministry, while openly making sacramental Cannabis available to church members on Main Street in Hilo. Roger has been effective as any single individual activist alive, in educating the public about the nutritional values of Cannabis seed; blocking the federal funds for helicopter eradication in Hawaii; making marijuana enforcement the lowest priority for Big Island police, and actively mitigating the hard drugs epidemic, exacerbated by the scarcity of marijuana in Hawaii (NIDA report,1991).
That the federal court system has suspended due process to keep Roger from being able to defend himself shows that his righteous, direct defense of our basic human rights is a threat to the incumbent outlaw political regime that has usurped control of the United States government. Not only are both the State and Federal Constitutions being shredded in Hawaii, everyone's fundamental human right of free religion is being shamelessly attacked in the name of a failed, counter-productive so-called "drug war" [sic]. In truth the war on Cannabis and spirituality is a war on free market organic agriculture and our freedom of choice.
Unfortunately, the enormous significance of what Roger has achieved seems to have been lost on the funded elements of the drug policy reform groups, who have yet to contribute meaningfully to Roger's defense. Unlike the charlatans and "drug dealers" he has been wrongfully compared to by some, Roger has no financial spoils with which to defend himself or his co-defendants.
The federal court system in the U.S. has been revealed as an unobjective lackey, fronting for the corporate corruption it protects. If you really want to make a difference in ending prohibition, then please help support Roger.
If you can, please send Roger a letter to let him know that he has your appreciation and support.
Send you letter to:
Roger Christie
Federal Bureau of Prisons
99279.022
Unit 5B
PO BOX 30080
Honolulu, HI 96820
The Cannabis Charity Education and Defense Fund is a non profit organization established to help people like Roger Christie and the Green 14. Please donate to them by using the form at
http://the-last-marijuana-trial.com/
You can also write a letter of appeal to the newly elected governor of Hawaii, Mr. Neil Abercrombie. He is the point-person in Hawaii whose responsibility it is to uphold the Constitution. A "pre-trial pardon" is certainly in order, and a fair consideration of what's happened here is required.
It remains for the drug policy reform community to maintain whatever momentum still remains from the widespread agreement on "legalization" congealed by Prop 19. I am calling on DPA, MPP, NORML, DPFA and others who can afford to, to act on this now. There is strength in truth, but it requires unity. As in any "tug-of-war" the side that pulls together at the same time, is undeafeatable.
for meaningful holidays, in peace,
PvH
This is my comment on "Top 8 Drug Stories of 2010: Momentum Is Building to End the Failed Drug War"
http://www.alternet.org/story/149296/top_8_drug_stories_of_2010%3A_momentum_is_building_to_end_the_failed_drug_war
'Mahalo' to Sister Lauren for reminding people of the sacrifice being made by Reverend Christie, a True American Hero of 2010 who is spending this Christmas in federal prison. Imprisoned since July 8th, Roger Christie has been denied bail five times, is not allowed visitors and has had his trial postponed until April 2011 ! Does this not register as outrageous on every patriotic American's Constitutional Richter Scale?
Formally recognized for his work as a "peacemaker" by the Hawaiian community he has served for the past quarter of a Century, Roger is nevertheless being maliciously characterized as a "danger to his community" by the court, using mere slander to suspend the Constitution, cancel religious freedom, and over-ride due process of law. Several elected officials, community leaders, and many people on the Big Island and elsewhere have written letters of support for Roger, calling for his immediate release from prison.
That Roger is being extrajudicially punished proves how effective he has been in establishing a potent First Amendment religious transcendence of Cannabis prohibition statutes. In fact, most religions acknowledge the spiritual legitimacy of "every herb bearing seed" rendering prohibition of any herb beyond the rightful jurisdiction of any court. Considered objectively, it is obvious that the Cannabis plant is an herb, not a "drug." The legal and practical distinctions are significant.
Drugs don't make seeds. Herbs make seeds. Cannabis agriculture happens to be both unique and essential for three very specific reasons (nutritionally, ecologically, industrially). Cannabis is therefore logically and morally essential, valuable beyond the moral accountability of any court.
For the past ten years, Roger has applied for and received government licenses and permits in a sincere attempt to legally codify the THC Ministry, while openly making sacramental Cannabis available to church members on Main Street in Hilo. Roger has been effective as any single individual activist alive, in educating the public about the nutritional values of Cannabis seed; blocking the federal funds for helicopter eradication in Hawaii; making marijuana enforcement the lowest priority for Big Island police, and actively mitigating the hard drugs epidemic, exacerbated by the scarcity of marijuana in Hawaii (NIDA report,1991).
That the federal court system has suspended due process to keep Roger from being able to defend himself shows that his righteous, direct defense of our basic human rights is a threat to the incumbent outlaw political regime that has usurped control of the United States government. Not only are both the State and Federal Constitutions being shredded in Hawaii, everyone's fundamental human right of free religion is being shamelessly attacked in the name of a failed, counter-productive so-called "drug war" [sic]. In truth the war on Cannabis and spirituality is a war on free market organic agriculture and our freedom of choice.
Unfortunately, the enormous significance of what Roger has achieved seems to have been lost on the funded elements of the drug policy reform groups, who have yet to contribute meaningfully to Roger's defense. Unlike the charlatans and "drug dealers" he has been wrongfully compared to by some, Roger has no financial spoils with which to defend himself or his co-defendants.
The federal court system in the U.S. has been revealed as an unobjective lackey, fronting for the corporate corruption it protects. If you really want to make a difference in ending prohibition, then please help support Roger.
If you can, please send Roger a letter to let him know that he has your appreciation and support.
Send you letter to:
Roger Christie
Federal Bureau of Prisons
99279.022
Unit 5B
PO BOX 30080
Honolulu, HI 96820
The Cannabis Charity Education and Defense Fund is a non profit organization established to help people like Roger Christie and the Green 14. Please donate to them by using the form at
http://the-last-marijuana-trial.com/
You can also write a letter of appeal to the newly elected governor of Hawaii, Mr. Neil Abercrombie. He is the point-person in Hawaii whose responsibility it is to uphold the Constitution. A "pre-trial pardon" is certainly in order, and a fair consideration of what's happened here is required.
It remains for the drug policy reform community to maintain whatever momentum still remains from the widespread agreement on "legalization" congealed by Prop 19. I am calling on DPA, MPP, NORML, DPFA and others who can afford to, to act on this now. There is strength in truth, but it requires unity. As in any "tug-of-war" the side that pulls together at the same time, is undeafeatable.
for meaningful holidays, in peace,
PvH
This is my comment on "Top 8 Drug Stories of 2010: Momentum Is Building to End the Failed Drug War"
http://www.alternet.org/story/149296/top_8_drug_stories_of_2010%3A_momentum_is_building_to_end_the_failed_drug_war
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Release Reverend Roger Christie Immediately : A Formal, Public, International Exercise of "Civilian Demand" for the Rule of Law to be Respected
This document is intended to serve the public interest through the formal, public, international exercise of "civilian demand" that the First Amendment of our Constitutions, both State and Federal, be obeyed, due process followed, and our "freedom of religion" respected in Hawaii. As the newly elected Governor of Hawaii, Mr. Abercrombie now has the responsibility of defending and enforcing the First Amendment of Constitutions, both State and Federal, which secure Roger Christie's "freedom of religion" as they secure all of our "god-given, inalienable, natural rights."
Reverend Roger Christie's imprisonment is, in essence, an attack on our national security by unobjective, chemically-addicted courts. A counter-productive "drug war" has been waged against Cannabis agriculture because hemp farming competes with the chemical industrial addiction imposed on our society for the past seventy-three years. The world's most useful agricultural resource has been outlawed because dominant economic interests cannot compete with Cannabis in a free market.
The contemporary crucifixion of Roger Christie in Hawaii is as blatant and obvious a proof of corporate corruption as the crimes of pollution being committed against the Natural Order. From Gulf war atrocities to "drug war" atrocities; from the Exxon Valdez to BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster; from hydraulic "fracking" to the production of radioactive waste, America's addictions to "Gaiacidal" chemicals and processes is precipitating evermore blatant extremes of self-destructive behavior.
Reverend Christie has been disingenuously accused as a "danger to his community" when it is common knowledge that he has been a loved and widely respected peacemaker in his Big Island community for more than a quarter of a Century. It is criminal that he is being denied bail simply because he has been maliciously characterized by an employee of an unobjective court.
Until Reverend Christie is released, a part of every American remains in prison. The magnitude of injustice in Roger Christie's being denied due process of law, is measured in the incalculable sacrifice of American patriots who fought to secure the legacy of freedom being violated and disrespected. In truth, there is no true freedom anywhere as long as a man of peace is wrongly imprisoned.
Please show consideration in the form of compassion, leniency, mercy, clemency and active, proportionate appreciation for the good work done by Roger Christie in mitigating the hard drug epidemic in Hawaii. It is well-known that a shortage of 'pakalolo' in Hawaii translates into increased hard drug and alcohol abuse, gang violence, crime...
I trust that Mr. Abercrombie's will recognize the opportunity for true leadership, presented by the polar shifts in medical science, public perceptions and political realities surrounding Cannabis ecology, agriculture, manufacture and trade. As Governor of a State that is being "broiled" by UV-B radiation, I would think that you of all people would recognize the critical "strategic" significance of Cannabis, recognized by seven American Presidents as being "of first necessity."
A timely response to this "Civilian Demand" is requested, as every day that Roger Christie is robbed of in prison is precious time that is gone forever.
Mahalo! for your vision of a "New Day" for Hawaii. I trust it is one where the bright sunshine of truth and clear rivers of freedom will begin to flow under your leadership and courage.
Paul von Hartmann
California Cannabis Ministry
former Hawaii resident,
Oahu 1958-1960
Maui, 1988-1992
Big Island 1998-1999
Reverend Roger Christie's imprisonment is, in essence, an attack on our national security by unobjective, chemically-addicted courts. A counter-productive "drug war" has been waged against Cannabis agriculture because hemp farming competes with the chemical industrial addiction imposed on our society for the past seventy-three years. The world's most useful agricultural resource has been outlawed because dominant economic interests cannot compete with Cannabis in a free market.
The contemporary crucifixion of Roger Christie in Hawaii is as blatant and obvious a proof of corporate corruption as the crimes of pollution being committed against the Natural Order. From Gulf war atrocities to "drug war" atrocities; from the Exxon Valdez to BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster; from hydraulic "fracking" to the production of radioactive waste, America's addictions to "Gaiacidal" chemicals and processes is precipitating evermore blatant extremes of self-destructive behavior.
Reverend Christie has been disingenuously accused as a "danger to his community" when it is common knowledge that he has been a loved and widely respected peacemaker in his Big Island community for more than a quarter of a Century. It is criminal that he is being denied bail simply because he has been maliciously characterized by an employee of an unobjective court.
Until Reverend Christie is released, a part of every American remains in prison. The magnitude of injustice in Roger Christie's being denied due process of law, is measured in the incalculable sacrifice of American patriots who fought to secure the legacy of freedom being violated and disrespected. In truth, there is no true freedom anywhere as long as a man of peace is wrongly imprisoned.
Please show consideration in the form of compassion, leniency, mercy, clemency and active, proportionate appreciation for the good work done by Roger Christie in mitigating the hard drug epidemic in Hawaii. It is well-known that a shortage of 'pakalolo' in Hawaii translates into increased hard drug and alcohol abuse, gang violence, crime...
I trust that Mr. Abercrombie's will recognize the opportunity for true leadership, presented by the polar shifts in medical science, public perceptions and political realities surrounding Cannabis ecology, agriculture, manufacture and trade. As Governor of a State that is being "broiled" by UV-B radiation, I would think that you of all people would recognize the critical "strategic" significance of Cannabis, recognized by seven American Presidents as being "of first necessity."
A timely response to this "Civilian Demand" is requested, as every day that Roger Christie is robbed of in prison is precious time that is gone forever.
Mahalo! for your vision of a "New Day" for Hawaii. I trust it is one where the bright sunshine of truth and clear rivers of freedom will begin to flow under your leadership and courage.
Paul von Hartmann
California Cannabis Ministry
former Hawaii resident,
Oahu 1958-1960
Maui, 1988-1992
Big Island 1998-1999
Sunday, November 28, 2010
The question remains,
"Does NORML recognize Cannabis as BOTH unique and essential to achieving sustainable human existence on Earth?"
That's the REAL 'yes' or 'no' question that people everywhere on this planet need to understand the right answer to in record time.
So far I haven't heard any of the foremost experts or expensive lawyers at NORML point this out. $990,000 !! and you can't communicate the fact that Cannabis (with a capital 'C' -- don't you have a CBE Style Manual in the NORML library?) is both unique and essential?
Since Cannabis IS, in fact, both unique and essential, then, factoring in the power of truth and the urgency of the crises we face, then your better choice is to hope I'm right and that 5 grand a day for a week (in Sacramento -- NOT New York) IS enough to successfully exercise "essential civilian demand" for a federally recognized "strategic resource."
The amount of money it takes to end prohibition is beside the point anyway. 35 grand or 35 million won't matter soon. There is no money on a burned-out planet. We can always print more money, but we can't make more time.
Strategically located in the middle of an agricultural cornucopia, Sacramento is where the national and international momentum generated by Prop 19 was and may still be waiting for a proactive continuum. Since Jerry Brown is California's homegrown governor, again, and a smart politician, all Californians have to do is to show him that we know what he would be politically savvy to acknowledge (i.e. the true value of Cannabis) -- or face charges for "misprision of treason" for failing to act in the interest of national security.
Instead, as soon as Prop-up Prohibition #19 failed to pass, all the groups packed-up, & ran to Colorado, hypnotizing the public into waiting for 2012 while they busily write the next 'magic 'Prop.
The shift in values from "illegal" to "essential" is the point. Prohibition can't last if Cannabis is recognized for what it is truly worth. NORML (and you personally) have failed to recognize the simple truth, ultimately powerful truth that Cannabis is both essential and unique. An objective, comprehensive science-based review of Cannabis, is what Jack Herer strived for all of his life.
It's not endless amounts of time, misdirected human effort and piles of money that will end prohibition. It's the increasingly urgent necessity of avoiding synergistic collapse, combined with the power of the truth and the ability to communicate the strongest arguments, objectively and comprehensively in the court of national and international public opinion.
NORMLDPAMPPASA continues to fail in this by ignoring the legitimacy of the First Amendment, under-estimating the power of State and Federal Constitutions, casting dispersions on the legitimacy of the THC Ministry and minimizing Roger Christie's decades of public service, spiritual study and Cannabis scholarship.
$5,000 a day is enough of a catalyst to secure a week of venues in Sacramento before Spring. Fund-raising strategies would be initiated to extend the effects to a national campaign of grassroots activists and social leaders who support ending the "drug war" completely, nationalizing the effect of essential civilian demand in Sacramento.
I'm working for your kids too, Russ. Your self-indulgent sarcasm and contentious response to science-based information is counter-productive & comes off as adolescent. Did you know about "monoterpenes" and UV-B radiation before I told you about it? Do you GET it?
There y'go, two more questions.
Cannabis is "the savior" -- I'm simply a determined messenger.
35 Gs, one week. Don't say I didn't tell you so...
That's the REAL 'yes' or 'no' question that people everywhere on this planet need to understand the right answer to in record time.
So far I haven't heard any of the foremost experts or expensive lawyers at NORML point this out. $990,000 !! and you can't communicate the fact that Cannabis (with a capital 'C' -- don't you have a CBE Style Manual in the NORML library?) is both unique and essential?
Since Cannabis IS, in fact, both unique and essential, then, factoring in the power of truth and the urgency of the crises we face, then your better choice is to hope I'm right and that 5 grand a day for a week (in Sacramento -- NOT New York) IS enough to successfully exercise "essential civilian demand" for a federally recognized "strategic resource."
The amount of money it takes to end prohibition is beside the point anyway. 35 grand or 35 million won't matter soon. There is no money on a burned-out planet. We can always print more money, but we can't make more time.
Strategically located in the middle of an agricultural cornucopia, Sacramento is where the national and international momentum generated by Prop 19 was and may still be waiting for a proactive continuum. Since Jerry Brown is California's homegrown governor, again, and a smart politician, all Californians have to do is to show him that we know what he would be politically savvy to acknowledge (i.e. the true value of Cannabis) -- or face charges for "misprision of treason" for failing to act in the interest of national security.
Instead, as soon as Prop-up Prohibition #19 failed to pass, all the groups packed-up, & ran to Colorado, hypnotizing the public into waiting for 2012 while they busily write the next 'magic 'Prop.
The shift in values from "illegal" to "essential" is the point. Prohibition can't last if Cannabis is recognized for what it is truly worth. NORML (and you personally) have failed to recognize the simple truth, ultimately powerful truth that Cannabis is both essential and unique. An objective, comprehensive science-based review of Cannabis, is what Jack Herer strived for all of his life.
It's not endless amounts of time, misdirected human effort and piles of money that will end prohibition. It's the increasingly urgent necessity of avoiding synergistic collapse, combined with the power of the truth and the ability to communicate the strongest arguments, objectively and comprehensively in the court of national and international public opinion.
NORMLDPAMPPASA continues to fail in this by ignoring the legitimacy of the First Amendment, under-estimating the power of State and Federal Constitutions, casting dispersions on the legitimacy of the THC Ministry and minimizing Roger Christie's decades of public service, spiritual study and Cannabis scholarship.
$5,000 a day is enough of a catalyst to secure a week of venues in Sacramento before Spring. Fund-raising strategies would be initiated to extend the effects to a national campaign of grassroots activists and social leaders who support ending the "drug war" completely, nationalizing the effect of essential civilian demand in Sacramento.
I'm working for your kids too, Russ. Your self-indulgent sarcasm and contentious response to science-based information is counter-productive & comes off as adolescent. Did you know about "monoterpenes" and UV-B radiation before I told you about it? Do you GET it?
There y'go, two more questions.
Cannabis is "the savior" -- I'm simply a determined messenger.
35 Gs, one week. Don't say I didn't tell you so...
Saturday, November 27, 2010
What good are State medical marijuana laws when patients are still getting busted?
Half-assed, bureaucracy-style "semi-legalization" creates a paper trail for law enforcement, who then bust "honest" ganja people, who have naively placed their trust in an outlaw government by registering to toke. Be glad P19 didn't pass or it would have been a feeding frenzy.
Reclaiming our freedom to farm "every herb bearing seed" is the only way to end prohibition. Half-measures are a trap If the Cannabis culture in this country would get its ass off the couch between political elections (more accurately, "political erections" -- you can't screw a whole country without one..) and exercise "essential civilian demand" for the "strategic resource" that's been identified as critical to national security by SEVEN AMERICAN PRESIDENTS (in one simple statement and six Executive Orders) we'd have been done with 'marijuana' prohibition a long time ago.
Obviously! it's the perverse economics of toxic chemical addiction to fossil fuels and unevenly distributed natural resources that keeps "Propping-up" prohibition -- OBVIOUSLY!! The economics of industrial hemp and all industries related to hemp agriculture DWARFS the marijuana trade. Protein production, herbal medicines, biofuels production, paper, cloth, paints & varnishes, lubricants, plastics, building materials, bio-pesticides, etc. are worth trillions compared to the mere hundreds-of-billions that marijuana is going for on the black market.
Ending hemp prohibition is more supported by a greater percentage of Americans anyway, compared to outright marijuana "legalization" which is supported by about half the people already.
Hemp education is the most proximate route for ending marijuana prohibition, yet none of the monied drug policy "reform" groups (DPA, NORML, MPP, ASA...) advocate the end of hemp prohibition much. None have responded to this Cannabis filmmaker/photographer/writer/spokesperson's applications for funding -- not even a tiny little bit.
The drug reform groups also play a key role in perpetuating the "drug war" by neutering the grassroots effort in two ways. First by manufacturing legitimacy-through-consent for the illegal, anti-Constitutional prohibition statutes that also siphon-off public support for more effective individuals, like Roger Christie. Roger and i used to sit around wondering why we weren't being financially supported by the porky groups, and I think that's one possible reason why.
It may have been part of the reason Roger finally started a group ministry, after struggling out in Hawaii for more than twenty years of individual Cannabis scholarship, entrepreneurial ventures and selfless, penniless activism. Roger needed and deserves public support. He certainly wasn't getting much help as just a regular guy. By formalizing his beliefs, he created a service designed in such a way to support himself at a bare subsistence level, and demonstrated for others the value of teaching people about the true value of Cannabis.
Reclaiming our freedom to farm "every herb bearing seed" is the only way to end prohibition. Half-measures are a trap If the Cannabis culture in this country would get its ass off the couch between political elections (more accurately, "political erections" -- you can't screw a whole country without one..) and exercise "essential civilian demand" for the "strategic resource" that's been identified as critical to national security by SEVEN AMERICAN PRESIDENTS (in one simple statement and six Executive Orders) we'd have been done with 'marijuana' prohibition a long time ago.
Obviously! it's the perverse economics of toxic chemical addiction to fossil fuels and unevenly distributed natural resources that keeps "Propping-up" prohibition -- OBVIOUSLY!! The economics of industrial hemp and all industries related to hemp agriculture DWARFS the marijuana trade. Protein production, herbal medicines, biofuels production, paper, cloth, paints & varnishes, lubricants, plastics, building materials, bio-pesticides, etc. are worth trillions compared to the mere hundreds-of-billions that marijuana is going for on the black market.
Ending hemp prohibition is more supported by a greater percentage of Americans anyway, compared to outright marijuana "legalization" which is supported by about half the people already.
Hemp education is the most proximate route for ending marijuana prohibition, yet none of the monied drug policy "reform" groups (DPA, NORML, MPP, ASA...) advocate the end of hemp prohibition much. None have responded to this Cannabis filmmaker/photographer/writer/spokesperson's applications for funding -- not even a tiny little bit.
The drug reform groups also play a key role in perpetuating the "drug war" by neutering the grassroots effort in two ways. First by manufacturing legitimacy-through-consent for the illegal, anti-Constitutional prohibition statutes that also siphon-off public support for more effective individuals, like Roger Christie. Roger and i used to sit around wondering why we weren't being financially supported by the porky groups, and I think that's one possible reason why.
It may have been part of the reason Roger finally started a group ministry, after struggling out in Hawaii for more than twenty years of individual Cannabis scholarship, entrepreneurial ventures and selfless, penniless activism. Roger needed and deserves public support. He certainly wasn't getting much help as just a regular guy. By formalizing his beliefs, he created a service designed in such a way to support himself at a bare subsistence level, and demonstrated for others the value of teaching people about the true value of Cannabis.
Cannabis seed: "Gateway" to Health
Nutritional properties of high- and low-THC strains (a.k.a. 'marijuana' and "industrial hemp"[sic] respectively) are the same in possessing three essential fatty acids, protein, essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and a digestive enzyme to aid with assimilation of hemp seed nutrition. Because of hemp seed's preventative and therapeutic effect on health, Cannabis can truly be considered a "gateway" herb (i.e. Drugs don't make seeds, herbs do).
To be continued...
To be continued...
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Re: “Roger Christie absurdly considered “danger to the community”, held without bail” By “Radical” Russ Belville on November 23, 2010
Thanksgiving that Russ has finally figured this much out. Really, the very least you could say, understating the obvious to regain some credibility as a capable spokesperson for the pot culture. I agree with appreciate how you state a lot of the rationale for ending prohibition, but Russ, you’ve still got a hellllluva long ways to go before you’re anywhere near “radical.” Listen up young man…
Roger has already admitted mistakes, that are minor issues anyway. What is important is the good the Reverend Roger Christie has achieved (which he also, typically, fails to mention, but I won’t) is so much greater than you apparently comprehend, the courage demonstrated so much more to be respected, that I am actually concerned for you. When you come to understand how miniscule and effectively treasonous your issues with the Ministry are; when understand how important it is to forgive Roger’s over-enthusiasm and optimism (which has propelled his incredible successes for almost thirty years!) in appreciation for the great, then I trust you will be proportionately ashamed of not flying to Honolulu on the fat budget NORML has, to demand of Governor Lingle and Governor Elect Abercrombie that they immediately effect the release of Roger Christie!
The point is that for ten years, Roger has risked his life and the safety of his loved ones by mitigating the hard drug epidemic and abuses of power in Hawaii so successfully, that the feral DEA is now suspending due process and shred the Constitution in order to persecute a good & honest man. One whom you continue to help disrespect by harping on the minor, understating the obvious and ignoring the enormous. Impinging on the motivations and legitimacy of the THC Ministry from within the Cannabis culture helps the DEA characterize Roger as a black market charlatan in the court of public opinion. This is the only court where he can and will be saved, for all the right reasons.
Obviously, the federal courts are not objective. We are an occupied country.
Do you really want marijuana prohibition to end Russ? Then sign on to federal “essential civilian demand” for “hemp” a “strategic food resource” as stated in Executive Order 12919 and FIVE other Executive Orders signed by five other Presidents.
Ending hemp prohibition will do more to end marijuana prohibition than any other tiny step we could take, yet NORML, MPP, DPA, ASA and other publicly funded non-profits fail to present the strongest arguments for ending all Cannabis prohibitions — without taxes to the insolvent, anti-Constitutional regime that occupies our government.
Do you understand how critical Cannabis agriculture manufacture and trade are to our survival? Do you under-estimate the power of the truth?
I’ve asked you before to openly recognize Cannabis as both unique and essential, for three very good reasons, and you disappeared from the conversation. Then I read your post-mortem on “Prop-Up Prohibition#19″ (a.k.a. “Whoring the Diva” — A short story of political tar baby seduction, cashing-in bigtime on people’s sincere desire for “legalization” and an end to the world’s most violent, cruel and destructive social element). Essential civilian demand recognizes the legal suspension of Cannabis prohibition (and the outlaw operations of the DEA) through objective, comprehensive, international, science-based assessment.
Dammit, NORML must be a sham. I could end Cannabis prohibition with fifty grand in one week. THAT’s the power of the truth. That’s the true value of Cannabis. It will be enough to end prohibition as soon as people in positions of responsibility within the Cannabis culture begin to present the strongest arguments.
Checkout my blogs, videos and radio shows for this pilot’s manual for flying Spaceship Earth. Radical begins in extreme attitude combined with extreme acceleration.
Roger has already admitted mistakes, that are minor issues anyway. What is important is the good the Reverend Roger Christie has achieved (which he also, typically, fails to mention, but I won’t) is so much greater than you apparently comprehend, the courage demonstrated so much more to be respected, that I am actually concerned for you. When you come to understand how miniscule and effectively treasonous your issues with the Ministry are; when understand how important it is to forgive Roger’s over-enthusiasm and optimism (which has propelled his incredible successes for almost thirty years!) in appreciation for the great, then I trust you will be proportionately ashamed of not flying to Honolulu on the fat budget NORML has, to demand of Governor Lingle and Governor Elect Abercrombie that they immediately effect the release of Roger Christie!
The point is that for ten years, Roger has risked his life and the safety of his loved ones by mitigating the hard drug epidemic and abuses of power in Hawaii so successfully, that the feral DEA is now suspending due process and shred the Constitution in order to persecute a good & honest man. One whom you continue to help disrespect by harping on the minor, understating the obvious and ignoring the enormous. Impinging on the motivations and legitimacy of the THC Ministry from within the Cannabis culture helps the DEA characterize Roger as a black market charlatan in the court of public opinion. This is the only court where he can and will be saved, for all the right reasons.
Obviously, the federal courts are not objective. We are an occupied country.
Do you really want marijuana prohibition to end Russ? Then sign on to federal “essential civilian demand” for “hemp” a “strategic food resource” as stated in Executive Order 12919 and FIVE other Executive Orders signed by five other Presidents.
Ending hemp prohibition will do more to end marijuana prohibition than any other tiny step we could take, yet NORML, MPP, DPA, ASA and other publicly funded non-profits fail to present the strongest arguments for ending all Cannabis prohibitions — without taxes to the insolvent, anti-Constitutional regime that occupies our government.
Do you understand how critical Cannabis agriculture manufacture and trade are to our survival? Do you under-estimate the power of the truth?
I’ve asked you before to openly recognize Cannabis as both unique and essential, for three very good reasons, and you disappeared from the conversation. Then I read your post-mortem on “Prop-Up Prohibition#19″ (a.k.a. “Whoring the Diva” — A short story of political tar baby seduction, cashing-in bigtime on people’s sincere desire for “legalization” and an end to the world’s most violent, cruel and destructive social element). Essential civilian demand recognizes the legal suspension of Cannabis prohibition (and the outlaw operations of the DEA) through objective, comprehensive, international, science-based assessment.
Dammit, NORML must be a sham. I could end Cannabis prohibition with fifty grand in one week. THAT’s the power of the truth. That’s the true value of Cannabis. It will be enough to end prohibition as soon as people in positions of responsibility within the Cannabis culture begin to present the strongest arguments.
Checkout my blogs, videos and radio shows for this pilot’s manual for flying Spaceship Earth. Radical begins in extreme attitude combined with extreme acceleration.
Monday, November 22, 2010
What is potentially the most available and complete source of essential nutrition?
Answer: Cannabis seed.
Current food security concepts fail to recognize the unique and essential properties of hemp seed. For this reason, they are doomed to continue failing until the shift in values in achieved. Until Cannabis seed is considered objectively and comprehensively, this discussion is incomplete.
On a broader more ominous scale,"global broiling" by increasing UV-B radiation is increasing, impacting the immune response of all life on Earth. Among other effects of UV-B are the contributing influence of global broiling on the collapse of pollinator populations and insectivores, both of which impact crop production. Exacerbating the problem are the boreal forests being cut and the pine trees dying from global-warming related epidemic pest infestation.
Among other consequences of losing the boreal forests is the reduction in the amount of atmospheric aerosols called "monoterpenes." That's what you smell in a pine forest. Monoterpenes reflect solar radiation away from the planet and seed cloud formation. Aside from being nutritionally complete, unique and essential, Cannabis also happens to produce more monoterpenes than any other food resource, in a shorter span of time in more soil and climate conditions than any other agricultural resource.
To solve the food security equation, all organic, rotational solutions need to be implemented immediately, inclusive of Cannabis agriculture, manufacture and trade. Presently, the only thing that inhibits the free agricultural market is the very thin misconception that it is difficult to tell industrial hemp from psychoactive strains of marijuana. In fact it is quite easily to distinguish between the varieties, each having distinct physical structure, plant spacing and the presence of pollen-producing males growing among the female hemp flowers.
Please consider information in the following interview
What Now, 11-15-10
Extended interviews with accomplished thinkers, writers, artists, farmers and scientists addressing the global crisis
Paul von Hartmann // On Cannibis the plant
http://www.pantedmonkey.org/
Time is the limiting factor in the equation we are behind the curve in solving. If we don't figure out global broiling, then it won't matter what other problems we do manage to solve.
Note: This was posted to
Do current Food Security concepts serve the fight against hunger?
http://km.fao.org/fsn/fsn-home/en/?no_cache=1
Current food security concepts fail to recognize the unique and essential properties of hemp seed. For this reason, they are doomed to continue failing until the shift in values in achieved. Until Cannabis seed is considered objectively and comprehensively, this discussion is incomplete.
On a broader more ominous scale,"global broiling" by increasing UV-B radiation is increasing, impacting the immune response of all life on Earth. Among other effects of UV-B are the contributing influence of global broiling on the collapse of pollinator populations and insectivores, both of which impact crop production. Exacerbating the problem are the boreal forests being cut and the pine trees dying from global-warming related epidemic pest infestation.
Among other consequences of losing the boreal forests is the reduction in the amount of atmospheric aerosols called "monoterpenes." That's what you smell in a pine forest. Monoterpenes reflect solar radiation away from the planet and seed cloud formation. Aside from being nutritionally complete, unique and essential, Cannabis also happens to produce more monoterpenes than any other food resource, in a shorter span of time in more soil and climate conditions than any other agricultural resource.
To solve the food security equation, all organic, rotational solutions need to be implemented immediately, inclusive of Cannabis agriculture, manufacture and trade. Presently, the only thing that inhibits the free agricultural market is the very thin misconception that it is difficult to tell industrial hemp from psychoactive strains of marijuana. In fact it is quite easily to distinguish between the varieties, each having distinct physical structure, plant spacing and the presence of pollen-producing males growing among the female hemp flowers.
Please consider information in the following interview
What Now, 11-15-10
Extended interviews with accomplished thinkers, writers, artists, farmers and scientists addressing the global crisis
Paul von Hartmann // On Cannibis the plant
http://www.pantedmonkey.org/
Time is the limiting factor in the equation we are behind the curve in solving. If we don't figure out global broiling, then it won't matter what other problems we do manage to solve.
Note: This was posted to
Do current Food Security concepts serve the fight against hunger?
http://km.fao.org/fsn/fsn-home/en/?no_cache=1
Sunday, November 21, 2010
An Open Letter to Hawaii's Governor-Elect Neil Abercrombie
Dear Governor-Elect Abercrombie,
I am writing to formally invite you to issue the first "pre-trial pardon" in American history, to effect the immediate release of Reverend Roger Christie, before Thanksgiving Day. He has been held in federal prison in Honolulu since July 8th, been denied bail four times, and had his trial postponed until next April. For Roger Christie to remain in prison on Thanksgiving would be an egregious insult to the inconceivable sacrifices made by previous generations to secure the American freedoms that are our primary obligation to defend.
As the responsible person in Hawaii for defending both State and Federal Constitutions, and their First Amendments in particular, I am asking you to convey this request to Governor Lingle before Thanksgiving, in order to achieve unity on behalf of the Law of the Land, in a bi-partisan call for Roger's release.
You must be aware that due process has been suspended in your State. In denying Reverend Christie a fair trial before imprisoning him the foundations of freedom have been suspended by a failed drug war.
Roger is a dear personal friend and an internationally respected Cannabis cultural ambassador. Reverend Christie has been a productive, progressive community rights activist on the Big Island for more than a quarter of a Century. I trust you will see the importance of prioritizing his release in defense of all our Constitutional rights at this critical time in our social evolution.
With every good wish,
Paul J. von Hartmann
Cannabis scholar
California Cannabis Ministry
I am writing to formally invite you to issue the first "pre-trial pardon" in American history, to effect the immediate release of Reverend Roger Christie, before Thanksgiving Day. He has been held in federal prison in Honolulu since July 8th, been denied bail four times, and had his trial postponed until next April. For Roger Christie to remain in prison on Thanksgiving would be an egregious insult to the inconceivable sacrifices made by previous generations to secure the American freedoms that are our primary obligation to defend.
As the responsible person in Hawaii for defending both State and Federal Constitutions, and their First Amendments in particular, I am asking you to convey this request to Governor Lingle before Thanksgiving, in order to achieve unity on behalf of the Law of the Land, in a bi-partisan call for Roger's release.
You must be aware that due process has been suspended in your State. In denying Reverend Christie a fair trial before imprisoning him the foundations of freedom have been suspended by a failed drug war.
Roger is a dear personal friend and an internationally respected Cannabis cultural ambassador. Reverend Christie has been a productive, progressive community rights activist on the Big Island for more than a quarter of a Century. I trust you will see the importance of prioritizing his release in defense of all our Constitutional rights at this critical time in our social evolution.
With every good wish,
Paul J. von Hartmann
Cannabis scholar
California Cannabis Ministry
Saturday, November 20, 2010
The legal purchase of documentation
The legal purchase of documentation
WHAT a waste of time...It is SUCH a shameful, counter-productive mistake to disparage the THC Ministry.
If it wasn't WORKING, then the 'feral government' wouldn't be violating due process to find Roger guilty-without-trial! SHUT THE FU, Russ&Peeair, Roger's accomplishments DWARF any suck-face criticism of his methods. The sheer validity and functional integrity of Roger Christie's work of the past twenty-five years makes Pierre's self-stroking essay stupidly self-indulgent and unconscionably obscene. What a twat...
Roger has KICKED ASS for TEN YEARS! with the truth. THAT's why he's being spanked by the dick-less, lying, anti-Constitutional feds.
By jumping on board the bitchwagon, and casting Roger's considerable achievements in a disrespectful light (while he's sequestered in prison, DISALLOWED visitors AND illegally denied bail four times!)) Belville and Pierre have banished themselves to the 'purgatory' of mediocrity.
TOO bad Russ, you were ALMOST "radical." As it is, by FAILing to act in the interest of national security, by FAILing to honor the First Amendment, and by dismissing a potent FEDERAL legal strategy, that's been painstakingly constructed over the past three decades by Roger Christie, and sacrificed for by previous generations; for ALL the good you may have done in the past; you've suddenly rendered yourself intellectually inconsequential in the larger scope of ultimately compelling rational argument. WHATEVER WORKS IS FAIR in ending Cannabis prohibition!!!! Don't you get that? Who the hell are you to judge the validity of religious freedom? however Roger chooses to define it?
Roger Christie is a modern day hero, for his forthright and righteous representation, demonstrated regard for the spiritual legitimacy of the world's OLDEST global culture. Roger's success is about WHO HE IS and how he represents one perspective on an infinite CANNABIS SPIRITUALITY, on behalf of ALL of people who feel a spiritual connection to the Cannabis plant, "RELIGIOUS" OR 'spiritual' or 'recreational' or 'nutritional' or 'industrial 'or NOT!
How can you not get that? Love is the limit of law, NOT the other way around. Roger represents the love of the Cannabis plant translated into legal, Constitutionally potent religious terms. The government said "this," & Roger did "that" in order to comply, codify, legitimize, cooperate... and you don't support it. Shame on you for all the sorrow perpetuated by divisiveness.
Others have attempted to invoke a religious defense and failed because they didn't have the legitimate spiritual foundation, the demonstrated spiritual regard, the holistic comprehension, the dedication and purity of motivation that Roger has -- even in prison, ROGER STILL BELIEVES in the power of the truth -- the true value of Cannabis -- the spiritual legitimacy of Cannabis -- the REAL meaning of "every herb bearing seed" the first test of religious freedom. .. Roger's Ministry opened the doors, and faced-down prohibition in downtown Hilo, everyday! and won for ten years!
Roger's effort has been characterized by his enormous courage, unimpeachable sincerity, capable diplomacy and multiple, considerable, successes in giving a legitimate defense to prosecution. NO! It didn't work in every case as it should have--it just worked in a LOT of cases, where people's rights were respected by law enforcement!!!!!! How dare anyone minimize the importance of that. Even ONE instance of a person's rights being honored is reason to respect Roger's work !
Roger has given a (quite handsome) human face, high moral integrity, enormous grace, inarguable intellect, functional rationale, and public dignity to the spurious, fraudulent arguments against Cannabis freedom for twenty-five years! Roge has been brave enough to recognize the spiritual dimensions of the world's oldest global culture while others jaw-boned about piss-ant, self-interested propositions (#19) and superficial statutes. Roger's work means more than all the bullshit I've listened to for the past twenty years, including wading through all the bickering to get to this comment.
Oh, and by the way -- just to set the record straight -- NORML SCKS. HOW much money has NORML gotten from people to end prohibition? And how miserably have they failed? And how limited have NORML, MPP, DPA, ASA and all the other well-funded reform groups been, in presenting neutered arguments to end prohibition?
I am quite frankly DISGUSTED with the mealy-mouth divisiveness of the drug reform movement. Shame on Ethan and Keith and HT and all the rest of the stoner crowd for failing to raise the full force of reason to end this stupid, extinctionistic "debate."
How's this for a clear and proportionately realistic argument of the drug policy situation:
If we don't end Cannabis prohibition,
by this spring (!), then
we're ALL going to fucking die!
Google "global broiling" if you doubt this.
GET IT -- Extinction OR survival? Our choice! You don't have to be "religious" to understand that. By the way, Russ religious freedom includes the freedom to be an atheist, so you better hope Roger isn't convicted if you enjoy your unreligious freedom.
Why haven't I read a comprehensive argument on NORML's impotent website? Or DPA's? Or eMPeePee's, or ASA's? Does anyone who knows more than just a little about marijuana doubt that this is true?
If you still have doubts, then PLEASE! for the sake of your children and mine, GO to http://www.pantedmonkey.org/ and listen to sixty minutes of undiluted truth (See Ken's broadcast of 11/15/2010). If that isn't enough to wake you are up then you're far deader much sooner than you know.
Oh, and Don't look to me for amiability and diplomacy while my best friend is in prison. That's Roger's forte, not mine.
WHAT a waste of time...It is SUCH a shameful, counter-productive mistake to disparage the THC Ministry.
If it wasn't WORKING, then the 'feral government' wouldn't be violating due process to find Roger guilty-without-trial! SHUT THE FU, Russ&Peeair, Roger's accomplishments DWARF any suck-face criticism of his methods. The sheer validity and functional integrity of Roger Christie's work of the past twenty-five years makes Pierre's self-stroking essay stupidly self-indulgent and unconscionably obscene. What a twat...
Roger has KICKED ASS for TEN YEARS! with the truth. THAT's why he's being spanked by the dick-less, lying, anti-Constitutional feds.
By jumping on board the bitchwagon, and casting Roger's considerable achievements in a disrespectful light (while he's sequestered in prison, DISALLOWED visitors AND illegally denied bail four times!)) Belville and Pierre have banished themselves to the 'purgatory' of mediocrity.
TOO bad Russ, you were ALMOST "radical." As it is, by FAILing to act in the interest of national security, by FAILing to honor the First Amendment, and by dismissing a potent FEDERAL legal strategy, that's been painstakingly constructed over the past three decades by Roger Christie, and sacrificed for by previous generations; for ALL the good you may have done in the past; you've suddenly rendered yourself intellectually inconsequential in the larger scope of ultimately compelling rational argument. WHATEVER WORKS IS FAIR in ending Cannabis prohibition!!!! Don't you get that? Who the hell are you to judge the validity of religious freedom? however Roger chooses to define it?
Roger Christie is a modern day hero, for his forthright and righteous representation, demonstrated regard for the spiritual legitimacy of the world's OLDEST global culture. Roger's success is about WHO HE IS and how he represents one perspective on an infinite CANNABIS SPIRITUALITY, on behalf of ALL of people who feel a spiritual connection to the Cannabis plant, "RELIGIOUS" OR 'spiritual' or 'recreational' or 'nutritional' or 'industrial 'or NOT!
How can you not get that? Love is the limit of law, NOT the other way around. Roger represents the love of the Cannabis plant translated into legal, Constitutionally potent religious terms. The government said "this," & Roger did "that" in order to comply, codify, legitimize, cooperate... and you don't support it. Shame on you for all the sorrow perpetuated by divisiveness.
Others have attempted to invoke a religious defense and failed because they didn't have the legitimate spiritual foundation, the demonstrated spiritual regard, the holistic comprehension, the dedication and purity of motivation that Roger has -- even in prison, ROGER STILL BELIEVES in the power of the truth -- the true value of Cannabis -- the spiritual legitimacy of Cannabis -- the REAL meaning of "every herb bearing seed" the first test of religious freedom. .. Roger's Ministry opened the doors, and faced-down prohibition in downtown Hilo, everyday! and won for ten years!
Roger's effort has been characterized by his enormous courage, unimpeachable sincerity, capable diplomacy and multiple, considerable, successes in giving a legitimate defense to prosecution. NO! It didn't work in every case as it should have--it just worked in a LOT of cases, where people's rights were respected by law enforcement!!!!!! How dare anyone minimize the importance of that. Even ONE instance of a person's rights being honored is reason to respect Roger's work !
Roger has given a (quite handsome) human face, high moral integrity, enormous grace, inarguable intellect, functional rationale, and public dignity to the spurious, fraudulent arguments against Cannabis freedom for twenty-five years! Roge has been brave enough to recognize the spiritual dimensions of the world's oldest global culture while others jaw-boned about piss-ant, self-interested propositions (#19) and superficial statutes. Roger's work means more than all the bullshit I've listened to for the past twenty years, including wading through all the bickering to get to this comment.
Oh, and by the way -- just to set the record straight -- NORML SCKS. HOW much money has NORML gotten from people to end prohibition? And how miserably have they failed? And how limited have NORML, MPP, DPA, ASA and all the other well-funded reform groups been, in presenting neutered arguments to end prohibition?
I am quite frankly DISGUSTED with the mealy-mouth divisiveness of the drug reform movement. Shame on Ethan and Keith and HT and all the rest of the stoner crowd for failing to raise the full force of reason to end this stupid, extinctionistic "debate."
How's this for a clear and proportionately realistic argument of the drug policy situation:
If we don't end Cannabis prohibition,
by this spring (!), then
we're ALL going to fucking die!
Google "global broiling" if you doubt this.
GET IT -- Extinction OR survival? Our choice! You don't have to be "religious" to understand that. By the way, Russ religious freedom includes the freedom to be an atheist, so you better hope Roger isn't convicted if you enjoy your unreligious freedom.
Why haven't I read a comprehensive argument on NORML's impotent website? Or DPA's? Or eMPeePee's, or ASA's? Does anyone who knows more than just a little about marijuana doubt that this is true?
If you still have doubts, then PLEASE! for the sake of your children and mine, GO to http://www.pantedmonkey.org/ and listen to sixty minutes of undiluted truth (See Ken's broadcast of 11/15/2010). If that isn't enough to wake you are up then you're far deader much sooner than you know.
Oh, and Don't look to me for amiability and diplomacy while my best friend is in prison. That's Roger's forte, not mine.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Civilian demand for Reverend Roger Christie's immediate release
Roger Christie's imprisonment-without-trial is a blatant threat to national security of the United States. Everything this country stands for is being disrespected as long as Roger remains behind bars.
The newly elected Democratic governor of Hawaii, Mr. Neil Abercrombie, has stated that
"This election was about a call for change. And I know that desire for change was in the minds of those who voted for me and those who voted for my opponents. Everyone knows that Hawaii needs to and can do better. Everyone wants to have renewed confidence that our best days are ahead of us.
"Our campaign was based on a fundamental belief that government belongs to all of us. Government doesn’t exist to serve politicians or powerful interests or the loudest voices. Government exists to serve all the people, and if things are to improve, we must all take responsibility to make it so...
"This campaign was about people, reaching out to one another, and drawing on their talents and initiative. This is how we campaigned and how we will govern."
http://www.neilabercrombie.com/
So, how many people would be willing to sign on to a formal "civilian demand" for Roger Christie's release, to be formally registered with Mr. Abercrombie, the newly elected Governor of Hawaii? Roger's imprisonment-without-trial is a threat to national security in the extreme.
As screwed up as it is that Roger is in prison, the situation presents a great opportunity for the Governor to do the right thing, politically. By making Roger's release the first act of his administration, Mr. Abercrombie could establish his progressive realistic leadership in the direction of healing Hawaii's hard drug epidemic while respecting the legal potency of a fundamental human rights argument.
The Governor is point-person for defense of the Constitutions (both State and Federal) that Mr. Abercrombie is about to swear to uphold and defend. If we call on Hawaii's Governor to issue a "pre-trial pardon" it could transform the dangerous absurdity of Roger's imprisonment into a pivotal shift in political consciousness around the true values of marijuana, the counter-productivity of Cannabis prohibition and the functional legal integrity of the First Amendment.
The newly elected Democratic governor of Hawaii, Mr. Neil Abercrombie, has stated that
"This election was about a call for change. And I know that desire for change was in the minds of those who voted for me and those who voted for my opponents. Everyone knows that Hawaii needs to and can do better. Everyone wants to have renewed confidence that our best days are ahead of us.
"Our campaign was based on a fundamental belief that government belongs to all of us. Government doesn’t exist to serve politicians or powerful interests or the loudest voices. Government exists to serve all the people, and if things are to improve, we must all take responsibility to make it so...
"This campaign was about people, reaching out to one another, and drawing on their talents and initiative. This is how we campaigned and how we will govern."
http://www.neilabercrombie.com/
So, how many people would be willing to sign on to a formal "civilian demand" for Roger Christie's release, to be formally registered with Mr. Abercrombie, the newly elected Governor of Hawaii? Roger's imprisonment-without-trial is a threat to national security in the extreme.
As screwed up as it is that Roger is in prison, the situation presents a great opportunity for the Governor to do the right thing, politically. By making Roger's release the first act of his administration, Mr. Abercrombie could establish his progressive realistic leadership in the direction of healing Hawaii's hard drug epidemic while respecting the legal potency of a fundamental human rights argument.
The Governor is point-person for defense of the Constitutions (both State and Federal) that Mr. Abercrombie is about to swear to uphold and defend. If we call on Hawaii's Governor to issue a "pre-trial pardon" it could transform the dangerous absurdity of Roger's imprisonment into a pivotal shift in political consciousness around the true values of marijuana, the counter-productivity of Cannabis prohibition and the functional legal integrity of the First Amendment.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Safe Access?
There is no "safe access" on a burned-out planet. The relatively minor issues concerning 'marijuana' will finally balance only after the larger issue of industrial/feral hemp is thoroughly discussed. Aside from everything else Prop 19 would have done wrong, it would have given the state-by-state-marijuana-industry-stumblefolk-approach to Cannabis freedom (a.k.a."legalization") priority over the much more critical urgency of growing industrial hemp across this entire country beginning in the spring of 2011.
I trust that people in the midwest are about through harvesting the so-called "ditchweed" seeds that are this nation's most precious repository of "strategic" genetic material. The genetics contained in the ditchweed seeds have developed adaptive ability that recent strains don't have. The ability to respond to soil and climate variations is a key attribute that must be regarded in the selection of which seeds to plant. The planet's atmosphere is changing, weather patterns shifting. Cannabis is an adaptive species that we can't survive without. That realization within the Cannabis movement will do more to provide safe access to marijuana than any other shift in consciousness we could make.
You might think that marijuana activists and the monied reform groups would push for assessment through presentation of the most potent comprehensive argument.
Ever notice how DPA,MPP,NORML, ASA all avoid the industrial hemp debate, as though having the world's most nutritious plant on your side is a handicap. Whose "side" do you think THEY'RE on?
"Every herb bearing seed" is pretty simple, clear, broad. Conceding rightful legal jurisdiction over Cannabis, by voting to get back our natural right to farm any plant gives away far too much. It concedes the natural right to farm any plant and dismisses the spirituality of agriculture, our most direct link between the economics of our society and The Divine, whatever you choose to call it. Whatever puts life into seeds says that every seed is a legitimate sacrament.
What happens in the extraordinary, illegal-imprisonment-without-trial, anti-First Amendment case of Roger Christie is the measure of safe access for me. Is there enough cohesion left in American culture to recognize such a blatant threat to the Constitution, and insist that -- by virtue of the fact that we're headed for global extinction, the governments are insolvent, and the social order is breaking down --that we have the right to grow Cannabis, the world's most nutritious, useful, ecologically beneficial crop?
Can Roger Christie be set free immediately? to assert the potency of the Constitution, demonstrate the power of the First Amendment, and serve as a directional first step in the direction of survival using the momentum gained from the Prop 19 debate?
I trust that people in the midwest are about through harvesting the so-called "ditchweed" seeds that are this nation's most precious repository of "strategic" genetic material. The genetics contained in the ditchweed seeds have developed adaptive ability that recent strains don't have. The ability to respond to soil and climate variations is a key attribute that must be regarded in the selection of which seeds to plant. The planet's atmosphere is changing, weather patterns shifting. Cannabis is an adaptive species that we can't survive without. That realization within the Cannabis movement will do more to provide safe access to marijuana than any other shift in consciousness we could make.
You might think that marijuana activists and the monied reform groups would push for assessment through presentation of the most potent comprehensive argument.
Ever notice how DPA,MPP,NORML, ASA all avoid the industrial hemp debate, as though having the world's most nutritious plant on your side is a handicap. Whose "side" do you think THEY'RE on?
"Every herb bearing seed" is pretty simple, clear, broad. Conceding rightful legal jurisdiction over Cannabis, by voting to get back our natural right to farm any plant gives away far too much. It concedes the natural right to farm any plant and dismisses the spirituality of agriculture, our most direct link between the economics of our society and The Divine, whatever you choose to call it. Whatever puts life into seeds says that every seed is a legitimate sacrament.
What happens in the extraordinary, illegal-imprisonment-without-trial, anti-First Amendment case of Roger Christie is the measure of safe access for me. Is there enough cohesion left in American culture to recognize such a blatant threat to the Constitution, and insist that -- by virtue of the fact that we're headed for global extinction, the governments are insolvent, and the social order is breaking down --that we have the right to grow Cannabis, the world's most nutritious, useful, ecologically beneficial crop?
Can Roger Christie be set free immediately? to assert the potency of the Constitution, demonstrate the power of the First Amendment, and serve as a directional first step in the direction of survival using the momentum gained from the Prop 19 debate?
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The Perverse Effect of Roger Christie's imprisonment
"As US economist and Nobel laureate
Milton Friedman observed in a 1991 interview
on the public television program America’s
Drug Forum: “If you look at the drug war from
a purely economic point of view, the role of the
government is to protect the drug cartel.” From
a global perspective, prohibitions on all presently
illegal drugs have resulted in a massive illegal
market that the United Nations has estimated
is worth $320 billion. These profits remain
entirely outside the control of governments.
They fuel crime, violence and corruption in
countless communities and have destabilized
entire countries such as Colombia, Mexico and
Afghanistan.
"Regarding the link between drug law enforcement and
violence, a recent systematic review of English
language research papers that evaluated the
association between drug law enforcement
and violence demonstrated that, rather than
improving community health and safety,
drug prohibition contributes to violence in
communities by empowering organized crime
groups that use violence to gain or maintain
market share of the lucrative drug market.
This review described a literature indicating that
successful law enforcement interventions appear
to have the perverse effect of making it more
profitable for new suppliers to get involved in the
market by removing key players."
International Centre for Science in Drug Policy (ICSDP)
"Tools For Debate"
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF CANNABIS PROHIBITION, Page 15
http://www.icsdp.org/Libraries/doc1/Tools_for_Debate_-_US_Federal_Government_Data_on_Cannabis_Prohibition.sflb.ashx
It is criminal that Roger Christie remains in prison, when the government that keeps him there has admitted that doing so has "the perverse effect of making it more profitable for new suppliers to get involved in the market."
Milton Friedman observed in a 1991 interview
on the public television program America’s
Drug Forum: “If you look at the drug war from
a purely economic point of view, the role of the
government is to protect the drug cartel.” From
a global perspective, prohibitions on all presently
illegal drugs have resulted in a massive illegal
market that the United Nations has estimated
is worth $320 billion. These profits remain
entirely outside the control of governments.
They fuel crime, violence and corruption in
countless communities and have destabilized
entire countries such as Colombia, Mexico and
Afghanistan.
"Regarding the link between drug law enforcement and
violence, a recent systematic review of English
language research papers that evaluated the
association between drug law enforcement
and violence demonstrated that, rather than
improving community health and safety,
drug prohibition contributes to violence in
communities by empowering organized crime
groups that use violence to gain or maintain
market share of the lucrative drug market.
This review described a literature indicating that
successful law enforcement interventions appear
to have the perverse effect of making it more
profitable for new suppliers to get involved in the
market by removing key players."
International Centre for Science in Drug Policy (ICSDP)
"Tools For Debate"
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF CANNABIS PROHIBITION, Page 15
http://www.icsdp.org/Libraries/doc1/Tools_for_Debate_-_US_Federal_Government_Data_on_Cannabis_Prohibition.sflb.ashx
It is criminal that Roger Christie remains in prison, when the government that keeps him there has admitted that doing so has "the perverse effect of making it more profitable for new suppliers to get involved in the market."
Friday, November 5, 2010
An Expanded Letter to Congresswoman Woolsey from West Sonoma
Dear Congresswoman Woolsey,
I am an international Cannabis scholar, a concerned father, and a sorrowful friend. As the responsible father of a bright three-year-old son, I am concerned for his future. Precious time is being wasted in small-scale bickering about 'marijuana' where essential civilian demand for industrial hemp is much more urgently needed, at the federal level. Please understand that there is ample evidence to support the conclusion that Cannabis farming in the United States is critical to resolving crises of global climate change, ending the drug trade and many other undesirable results of prolonged, induced, essential resource scarcity, for several important reasons.
Please consider my request for a meeting to discuss the following, in total quite critical to national security. If it is not critical to national security, then I would like to have it explained to me where I am mistaken.
I've also been asking the same question for almost twenty years: Is there a protocol for exercise of "essential civilian demand" referred to in Executive Order 12919? Would it not be timely to exercise civilian demand in the apparent absence of functional leadership in the failure to recognize the true value of Cannabis agriculture, ecology, manufacture and trade to issues of food security, nutrition, climate change mitigation, and disparity of wealth?
I wrote the "Fundamental Challenge of Our Time,"* a formal challenge of rightful jurisdiction over any "herb bearing seed." It was and is my responsibility to point out that our freedom to farm every herb bearing seed is the first test of religious freedom. It has been reported in the King James Bible that God's first order was so important that He referred to "herbs" and "seeds" three times on the first page . Doesn't it follow then that our right to "every herb bearing seed" is a primary, fundamental human right, inarguably protected by the First Amendment? I feel that any presumption of jurisdiction over Cannabis agriculture is unwarranted. Due to the unique and essential properties of Cannabis it is a critical crop for the wealth and security of our nation. Failure to act in the interest of national security is called a "misprision of treason." Prohibition of the world's most nutritious and useful agricultural resource is precisely that, a direct attack on ancient traditions of agriculture, inexorably melding spirituality and farming, that are protected by State and Federal Constitutions.
I feel that research and broad ecological perspectives I've developed are critical to recognizing the true value of a crop that's been identified in six Executive Orders as critical national security. In spite of my efforts to deliver what I consider to be very good news, it is not being acknowledged or acted upon by the State Attorney General's office.
I would not want to file a legal action against our new governor for "misprision of treason" but in fact, AG Brown has failed to act in the interest of national security. I sent a registered letter to his office in February, and got a form letter back.
The critical stature of the "strategic food resource" hemp has increased with recent reports completed in the field of atmospheric science involving "radiative forcing."
Our most useful "strategic resource" continues to be misclassified as a "Schedule One drug" (i.e. possessing no benefit to humankind). You and I know that is false, as is the definition of hemp on the DEA's website. It is a blatant threat to national security and highly illegal for the DEA to characterize a strategic resource as having no value.
"The marijuana portions of the cannabis plant include the flowering tops (buds), the leaves, and the resin of the cannabis plant. The remainder of the plant — stalks and sterilized seeds — is what some people refer to as “hemp.” However, “hemp” is not a term that is found in federal law.
"DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson stated that “many Americans do not know that hemp and marijuana are both parts of the same plant and that hemp cannot be produced without producing marijuana.”
http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr100901.html
Please meet with me to implement "essential civilian demand" or send a protocol to me so I can proceed to prepare for the reintroduction of Cannabis agriculture, manufacture and trade in California. I believe that the freedom to farm "every herb bearing seed" is the first test of religious freedom. Traditions of agriculture connecting farming and spirituality predate written history and continue to this day.
The First Amendment is being shredded in Hawaii, with the illegal imprisonment of Reverend Roger Christie, a personal friend and cultural hero. Roger's been denied bail four times, and had his trial postponed until April. I'd appreciate your help in effecting Roger's release in whatever way you can. Everyone's right of due process is being violated in deference to unconsidered slanderous accusations.
If you knew Roger Christie like I do, you would be outraged at the characterization of his activities that enforces additional imbalance into a situation created by law enforcement itself. How far will the drug war deteriorate before We the People stand up for our freedom to farm "every herb bearing seed"? It's pretty simple. Either we farm hemp or the increasing UV-B radiation will fry everything on Earth.
With the destruction of the boreal forests comes an atmospheric imbalance in the form of monoterpene depletion. That wonderful pine fragrance is also sunscreen for the planet. As temperatures increase and logging continues, the "radiative forcing" effect of the boreal forest is decreasing.
Cannabis agriculture is the most time-efficient, available, affordable and effective strategy for resolving the depletion of atmospheric monoterpenes and other atmospheric aerosols that protect the planet from increasing UV-B rdaiation. Time is an important element, the limiting factor, in our chances for success in avoiding global catastrophe in the form of synergistic collapse of environment, economics, and social structures that determine the quality of life on Earth.
Thank you for your time in consideration, and for your many good works. I look forward to meeting with you at your convenience.
Sincerely,
Paul J. von Hartmann
California Cannabis Ministry
"Our freedom to farm "every herb bearing seed" is the first test of religious freedom."
http://www.californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com
Between the Dreams Productions : projectpeace channel on You Tube
"Video documentation is the most efficient way of communicating a complex message."
http://www.youtube.com/user/projectpeace
Cannabis vs. climate change
"We have nothing to fear but the atmosphere itself."
July 4th, 2009 BlogTalkRadio Broadcast
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/projectpeace
"Shastashares" a "Gaiatherapeutic" currency option
http://www.shastashares.com
Project P.E.A.C.E.
Planet Ecology Advancing Conscious Economics
"There is no money on a burned-out planet."
http://www.webspawner.com/users/projectpeace
* "The Fundamental Challenge of Our Time"
Adopted as the manifesto for the Cannabis College Amsterdam in 1998
http://fundamentalcoot.blogspot.com/
I am an international Cannabis scholar, a concerned father, and a sorrowful friend. As the responsible father of a bright three-year-old son, I am concerned for his future. Precious time is being wasted in small-scale bickering about 'marijuana' where essential civilian demand for industrial hemp is much more urgently needed, at the federal level. Please understand that there is ample evidence to support the conclusion that Cannabis farming in the United States is critical to resolving crises of global climate change, ending the drug trade and many other undesirable results of prolonged, induced, essential resource scarcity, for several important reasons.
Please consider my request for a meeting to discuss the following, in total quite critical to national security. If it is not critical to national security, then I would like to have it explained to me where I am mistaken.
I've also been asking the same question for almost twenty years: Is there a protocol for exercise of "essential civilian demand" referred to in Executive Order 12919? Would it not be timely to exercise civilian demand in the apparent absence of functional leadership in the failure to recognize the true value of Cannabis agriculture, ecology, manufacture and trade to issues of food security, nutrition, climate change mitigation, and disparity of wealth?
I wrote the "Fundamental Challenge of Our Time,"* a formal challenge of rightful jurisdiction over any "herb bearing seed." It was and is my responsibility to point out that our freedom to farm every herb bearing seed is the first test of religious freedom. It has been reported in the King James Bible that God's first order was so important that He referred to "herbs" and "seeds" three times on the first page . Doesn't it follow then that our right to "every herb bearing seed" is a primary, fundamental human right, inarguably protected by the First Amendment? I feel that any presumption of jurisdiction over Cannabis agriculture is unwarranted. Due to the unique and essential properties of Cannabis it is a critical crop for the wealth and security of our nation. Failure to act in the interest of national security is called a "misprision of treason." Prohibition of the world's most nutritious and useful agricultural resource is precisely that, a direct attack on ancient traditions of agriculture, inexorably melding spirituality and farming, that are protected by State and Federal Constitutions.
I feel that research and broad ecological perspectives I've developed are critical to recognizing the true value of a crop that's been identified in six Executive Orders as critical national security. In spite of my efforts to deliver what I consider to be very good news, it is not being acknowledged or acted upon by the State Attorney General's office.
I would not want to file a legal action against our new governor for "misprision of treason" but in fact, AG Brown has failed to act in the interest of national security. I sent a registered letter to his office in February, and got a form letter back.
The critical stature of the "strategic food resource" hemp has increased with recent reports completed in the field of atmospheric science involving "radiative forcing."
Our most useful "strategic resource" continues to be misclassified as a "Schedule One drug" (i.e. possessing no benefit to humankind). You and I know that is false, as is the definition of hemp on the DEA's website. It is a blatant threat to national security and highly illegal for the DEA to characterize a strategic resource as having no value.
"The marijuana portions of the cannabis plant include the flowering tops (buds), the leaves, and the resin of the cannabis plant. The remainder of the plant — stalks and sterilized seeds — is what some people refer to as “hemp.” However, “hemp” is not a term that is found in federal law.
"DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson stated that “many Americans do not know that hemp and marijuana are both parts of the same plant and that hemp cannot be produced without producing marijuana.”
http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr100901.html
Please meet with me to implement "essential civilian demand" or send a protocol to me so I can proceed to prepare for the reintroduction of Cannabis agriculture, manufacture and trade in California. I believe that the freedom to farm "every herb bearing seed" is the first test of religious freedom. Traditions of agriculture connecting farming and spirituality predate written history and continue to this day.
The First Amendment is being shredded in Hawaii, with the illegal imprisonment of Reverend Roger Christie, a personal friend and cultural hero. Roger's been denied bail four times, and had his trial postponed until April. I'd appreciate your help in effecting Roger's release in whatever way you can. Everyone's right of due process is being violated in deference to unconsidered slanderous accusations.
If you knew Roger Christie like I do, you would be outraged at the characterization of his activities that enforces additional imbalance into a situation created by law enforcement itself. How far will the drug war deteriorate before We the People stand up for our freedom to farm "every herb bearing seed"? It's pretty simple. Either we farm hemp or the increasing UV-B radiation will fry everything on Earth.
With the destruction of the boreal forests comes an atmospheric imbalance in the form of monoterpene depletion. That wonderful pine fragrance is also sunscreen for the planet. As temperatures increase and logging continues, the "radiative forcing" effect of the boreal forest is decreasing.
Cannabis agriculture is the most time-efficient, available, affordable and effective strategy for resolving the depletion of atmospheric monoterpenes and other atmospheric aerosols that protect the planet from increasing UV-B rdaiation. Time is an important element, the limiting factor, in our chances for success in avoiding global catastrophe in the form of synergistic collapse of environment, economics, and social structures that determine the quality of life on Earth.
Thank you for your time in consideration, and for your many good works. I look forward to meeting with you at your convenience.
Sincerely,
Paul J. von Hartmann
California Cannabis Ministry
"Our freedom to farm "every herb bearing seed" is the first test of religious freedom."
http://www.californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com
Between the Dreams Productions : projectpeace channel on You Tube
"Video documentation is the most efficient way of communicating a complex message."
http://www.youtube.com/user/projectpeace
Cannabis vs. climate change
"We have nothing to fear but the atmosphere itself."
July 4th, 2009 BlogTalkRadio Broadcast
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/projectpeace
"Shastashares" a "Gaiatherapeutic" currency option
http://www.shastashares.com
Project P.E.A.C.E.
Planet Ecology Advancing Conscious Economics
"There is no money on a burned-out planet."
http://www.webspawner.com/users/projectpeace
* "The Fundamental Challenge of Our Time"
Adopted as the manifesto for the Cannabis College Amsterdam in 1998
http://fundamentalcoot.blogspot.com/
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Prop 19 gave us the momentum to exercise federal "essential civilian demand". Will we use it or lose it?
Support "essential civilian demand" for the "strategic resource" Cannabis "hemp" RIGHT NOW, for planting this Spring 2011.
We'll find out who the REAL Cannabis advocates are when we see who shows up for a federal action to reclaim our First Amendment freedom to farm "every herb bearing seed." NO PERMISSION ASKED, BECAUSE NONE IS NEEDED. NO LIMITS ON CULTIVATION. NO TAXES ON POT.
The true value of Cannabis is what will end the prohibition of it. Any "Prop" that fails to identify Cannabis as both unique and essential just Props up the lie that Cannabis is "dangerous" enough to require "control" by the government. Cannabis isn't dangerous, it's therapeutic, nutritious, and ultimately useful, abundant and critical to our survival.
Passage of Prop 19 would have perpetuated and further impacted the lies of "Reefer Madness" by adopting the false values of "drug war dinosaurs" who refuse to acknowledge Cannabis as "the safest therapeutically active substance known to man."
Marijuana prohibition will end as soon as everyone in the world who wants Cannabis to be "legalized" realizes the true value of the herb as both unique and essential.
It's easy to see who Prop 19 favored by counting up how much marijuana can be grown in a 5'x5' indoor garden, as opposed to how much can be grown in the same amount of space outdoors. Prop 19 would have made it tough for the outdoor growers to compete with the indoor market.
Finally, the "carbon-footprint" of the indoor market is obscene. Growing indoors is irresponsible & selfish. Grow outdoors, share generously, be thankful for the harvest. If those were the only "rules" around Cannabis, THERE WOULD BE NO PROBLEMS associated with the plant and considerable benefit to all creatures.
We'll find out who the REAL Cannabis advocates are when we see who shows up for a federal action to reclaim our First Amendment freedom to farm "every herb bearing seed." NO PERMISSION ASKED, BECAUSE NONE IS NEEDED. NO LIMITS ON CULTIVATION. NO TAXES ON POT.
The true value of Cannabis is what will end the prohibition of it. Any "Prop" that fails to identify Cannabis as both unique and essential just Props up the lie that Cannabis is "dangerous" enough to require "control" by the government. Cannabis isn't dangerous, it's therapeutic, nutritious, and ultimately useful, abundant and critical to our survival.
Passage of Prop 19 would have perpetuated and further impacted the lies of "Reefer Madness" by adopting the false values of "drug war dinosaurs" who refuse to acknowledge Cannabis as "the safest therapeutically active substance known to man."
Marijuana prohibition will end as soon as everyone in the world who wants Cannabis to be "legalized" realizes the true value of the herb as both unique and essential.
It's easy to see who Prop 19 favored by counting up how much marijuana can be grown in a 5'x5' indoor garden, as opposed to how much can be grown in the same amount of space outdoors. Prop 19 would have made it tough for the outdoor growers to compete with the indoor market.
Finally, the "carbon-footprint" of the indoor market is obscene. Growing indoors is irresponsible & selfish. Grow outdoors, share generously, be thankful for the harvest. If those were the only "rules" around Cannabis, THERE WOULD BE NO PROBLEMS associated with the plant and considerable benefit to all creatures.
The plop thickens....Peron busted, again...
Having been a target of America's outlaw regime's slanderous mudslinging, I can assure people that egregious lies are the currency of an outlaw government.
Reading what is said about people who oppose Cannabis prohibition, a surreal gravitational pull, carring reality far away, to the self-serving tunes of the extreme 'right.'
Dennis Peron is being spanked (by the cops who work for the courts who work for the corporations), for standing up and speaking his widely respected truth, in natural competition with the "oilgarchy." Dennis is a courageous friend who's paid a heavy price for his integrity. Let him be. San Francisco better rise up to defend him or shame on you, after all he's done for our generation and The City.
It's easy for minions of the unobjective court to characterize people like Dennis Peron, Reverend Roger Christie (founder of Hawaii's THC Ministry) and other peaceful Green Prisoners as "dangerous to society" as long as the myth of Cannabis being dangerous is kept alive by "drug war dinosaurs" working for Monsanto, et al.
If people ever want freedom from chemical servitude, then we have to take back our "freedom to farm" from corrupted, unobjective, economically vested courts. The most insidious harm of prohibition may be that it undermines the objectivity and integrity of our legal system and our moral values as a society, at a fundamental level. Even experts/true grassroots heroes like Chris Conrad are willing to promote a flawed initiative, calling it "legalization" when "Prop-Up Prohibition#19" wasn't legalization at all.
The fact is that ending Cannabis prohibition doesn't require a vote. Laws are in force to protect traditions and spiritual practices associated with organic agriculture that pass the test of the Golden Rule. Ending Cannabis prohibition merely requires an objective, comprehensive global valuation of Cannabis as both unique and essential, beyond the rightful jurisdiction of any court. That could happen in a week, electronically, globally, rationally.
Reading what is said about people who oppose Cannabis prohibition, a surreal gravitational pull, carring reality far away, to the self-serving tunes of the extreme 'right.'
Dennis Peron is being spanked (by the cops who work for the courts who work for the corporations), for standing up and speaking his widely respected truth, in natural competition with the "oilgarchy." Dennis is a courageous friend who's paid a heavy price for his integrity. Let him be. San Francisco better rise up to defend him or shame on you, after all he's done for our generation and The City.
It's easy for minions of the unobjective court to characterize people like Dennis Peron, Reverend Roger Christie (founder of Hawaii's THC Ministry) and other peaceful Green Prisoners as "dangerous to society" as long as the myth of Cannabis being dangerous is kept alive by "drug war dinosaurs" working for Monsanto, et al.
If people ever want freedom from chemical servitude, then we have to take back our "freedom to farm" from corrupted, unobjective, economically vested courts. The most insidious harm of prohibition may be that it undermines the objectivity and integrity of our legal system and our moral values as a society, at a fundamental level. Even experts/true grassroots heroes like Chris Conrad are willing to promote a flawed initiative, calling it "legalization" when "Prop-Up Prohibition#19" wasn't legalization at all.
The fact is that ending Cannabis prohibition doesn't require a vote. Laws are in force to protect traditions and spiritual practices associated with organic agriculture that pass the test of the Golden Rule. Ending Cannabis prohibition merely requires an objective, comprehensive global valuation of Cannabis as both unique and essential, beyond the rightful jurisdiction of any court. That could happen in a week, electronically, globally, rationally.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
National Institute On Drugs Report 1991-1994
"Plenty guys I know use ice because they can't get pot."
This is a key perspective, albeit an obvious one, that's been edited from public scrutiny by the "drug war dinosaurs" who seek to control our lives.
In the absence of marijuana, hard drug use is more prevalent.
Thanks to Roger Christie, who is sitting in federal prison right now, for this one.
http://www.thc-ministry.org/NIDA_Report.jpg
This is a key perspective, albeit an obvious one, that's been edited from public scrutiny by the "drug war dinosaurs" who seek to control our lives.
In the absence of marijuana, hard drug use is more prevalent.
Thanks to Roger Christie, who is sitting in federal prison right now, for this one.
http://www.thc-ministry.org/NIDA_Report.jpg
Albert Einstein Quotes on Spirituality
"The scientists' religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection."
"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after knowledge."
"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."
"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after knowledge."
"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."
Sighs matter...
... but they won't end Cannabis prohibition.
"Essential civilian demand" for a federally recognized "strategic resource" will.
Don't let up, Prop 19's 'failure to thrive' be mistaken for a wasted effort. It wasn't. It brought people together, got people talking, got people thinking and got us all rolling in the same direction. Thanks to Richard Lee and everyone else who achieved a major victory for human consciousness. Whatever happens is another step toward our full-on freedom to farm.Prop 19 HAD to fail, in order get us to where we need to be.
Prop 19's NOT passing makes room for a bigger law, Freedom of Religion, to kick-in.
Prop 19 served as an important step in the right direction. Don't give back an inch of that progress.
Let's make more, before spring...
"Essential civilian demand" for a federally recognized "strategic resource" will.
Don't let up, Prop 19's 'failure to thrive' be mistaken for a wasted effort. It wasn't. It brought people together, got people talking, got people thinking and got us all rolling in the same direction. Thanks to Richard Lee and everyone else who achieved a major victory for human consciousness. Whatever happens is another step toward our full-on freedom to farm.Prop 19 HAD to fail, in order get us to where we need to be.
Prop 19's NOT passing makes room for a bigger law, Freedom of Religion, to kick-in.
Prop 19 served as an important step in the right direction. Don't give back an inch of that progress.
Let's make more, before spring...
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
a different horse
I know some people are disappointed that Prop 19 didn't pass. You have my sincere and deepest sympathies. Now that that's over with, total Cannabis freedom will have the room to ride in on a different horse than expected.
The San Francisco Giants won the World Series yesterday! With about the same odds, we can end Cannabis prohibition before this year is out!
We can best use the energetic momentum and media storm surrounding Prop 19 to fling this thing into the Federal ring, by exercising "essential civilian demand for the "strategic food resource" referred to as "hemp" in six Executive Orders, signed by six American Presidents -- Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, & Clinton; Singled out by Thomas Jefferson as being "of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country. "
Jefferson also stated, "The greatest service
which can be rendered any country
is to add a useful plant
to its culture."
Consequently, the greatest harm that can be inflicted against any country is to remove its most useful plant from its agricultural rotations. Cannabis hemp prohibition is clearly a prolonged and insidious threat to national security.
A lawsuit for 'misprision of treason" must be leveled against the US "drug czars" who have misled the American people by promulgating a simple lie that crippled the hemp industry in the U.S. for seventy three years -- that it's hard to tell the difference between rope and dope. In fact it's easy to distinguish between high- and low-THC strains without even getting out of your helicopter. See my blog to see the differences.
The rationale for reintroduction of Cannabis hemp is plenty potent enough. This magical moment of publicly focussed attention on Cannabis will fade quickly if we fail to act. We can reintroduce Cannabis hemp to California by next Spring 2011, if we start RIGHT NOW! Ask me how.
Industrial hemp in California is sure to fly if Prop 19 loses. It's a classic opportunity to show the world that the people of California won't take "Just Say No" for an answer. With industrial Cannabis legalization, marijuana prohibition will fall away quickly as the two major Cannabis varieties balance each other out through cross-pollination. It has to happen to avoid global extinction.
I trust you won't mind if I repost this report I wrote six years ago. I can't find it anywhere on line anymore. It was apparently deleted from all original release sites. As far as I can tell (by Google-searching key words from the title) there is no transparent reporting of research activity in this direction at the moment.
Enjoy the absence of federal retaliation for Prop 19. It's our move to bring up the subject of industrial hemp, immediately.
Cannabis isn't illegal, it's essential. The following report takes on an ominous feeling in retrospect. Perhaps the prospect of such a grave mistake coming so close to having been made, that people will see the urgency of reclaiming our individual right to Cannabis, as the single voice of many hearts.
Love is the limit of law.
: ) }-***********
PvH
The San Francisco Giants won the World Series yesterday! With about the same odds, we can end Cannabis prohibition before this year is out!
We can best use the energetic momentum and media storm surrounding Prop 19 to fling this thing into the Federal ring, by exercising "essential civilian demand for the "strategic food resource" referred to as "hemp" in six Executive Orders, signed by six American Presidents -- Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, & Clinton; Singled out by Thomas Jefferson as being "of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country. "
Jefferson also stated, "The greatest service
which can be rendered any country
is to add a useful plant
to its culture."
Consequently, the greatest harm that can be inflicted against any country is to remove its most useful plant from its agricultural rotations. Cannabis hemp prohibition is clearly a prolonged and insidious threat to national security.
A lawsuit for 'misprision of treason" must be leveled against the US "drug czars" who have misled the American people by promulgating a simple lie that crippled the hemp industry in the U.S. for seventy three years -- that it's hard to tell the difference between rope and dope. In fact it's easy to distinguish between high- and low-THC strains without even getting out of your helicopter. See my blog to see the differences.
The rationale for reintroduction of Cannabis hemp is plenty potent enough. This magical moment of publicly focussed attention on Cannabis will fade quickly if we fail to act. We can reintroduce Cannabis hemp to California by next Spring 2011, if we start RIGHT NOW! Ask me how.
Industrial hemp in California is sure to fly if Prop 19 loses. It's a classic opportunity to show the world that the people of California won't take "Just Say No" for an answer. With industrial Cannabis legalization, marijuana prohibition will fall away quickly as the two major Cannabis varieties balance each other out through cross-pollination. It has to happen to avoid global extinction.
I trust you won't mind if I repost this report I wrote six years ago. I can't find it anywhere on line anymore. It was apparently deleted from all original release sites. As far as I can tell (by Google-searching key words from the title) there is no transparent reporting of research activity in this direction at the moment.
Enjoy the absence of federal retaliation for Prop 19. It's our move to bring up the subject of industrial hemp, immediately.
Cannabis isn't illegal, it's essential. The following report takes on an ominous feeling in retrospect. Perhaps the prospect of such a grave mistake coming so close to having been made, that people will see the urgency of reclaiming our individual right to Cannabis, as the single voice of many hearts.
Love is the limit of law.
: ) }-***********
PvH
U.S. Congress Heads Up ARS Project
Reposted here since it was deleted from it's original release site. As far as I can tell, there is no research activity being openly funded by tax dollars at the moment.
FOR RELEASE: June 10, 2004
U.S. Congress Heads Up ARS Project:
"World's Most Useful Plant" targeted for Biological Attack
Even as medical 'marijuana' patients and the hemp foods industry are racking up Supreme Court victories against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); even as Canadian and European farmers are cranking up Cannabis production to keep pace with public demand for industrial hemp oils, resins, fiber and cellulose; even as Cannabis is being recognized as being "the world's most useful plant," researchers at U.C. Davis are indulging in "Reefer Madness," preparing to infest North America with insect pest species from Eurasia.
Since 1999 the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Research Service (ARS) has been preparing to attack the 'marijuana' plant, targeted for "classic biological control" in 2005. "Secure facilities" have already been built in California, where scientists will grow 'marijuana' in order to study the eating habits of various Eurasian agricultural pests.
According to the ARS annual report for 2003, "The problem is quite serious as marijuana is a controlled substance in the United States and is often grown and sold illegally. It is relevant to local and national law enforcement agencies and was initiated through Congressional mandate." The Department of Agriculture's report continues, "Research was initiated on this project at the request of Congress and the State Department to identify new biologically based methods of controlling marijuana. Cooperating foreign institutions in Italy, Russia, China and Kazakhstan conducted both field and literature surveys for natural enemies of Cannabis sativa and selected two primary candidates, Psylliodes attenuata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) and Cardipennis rubripes (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) to begin further host-specificity and biology research on."
According to the ARS report, "walk-in plant growth chambers" were constructed at Davis last year, that "allow 'marijuana' to be grown under secure conditions and used in quarantine." DEA certification was expected to occur in the fall of 2004. "These plants will be used in the final stages of testing for the effectiveness and environmental safety of selected biological control agents. This should lead to the availability of new biological control agents for this narcotic plant." [sic]*
Faced with such monumental conflict of reason, and accelerating deterioration of our environment, at some point people must ask themselves several questions. First, it seems imperative to question the underlying motivations of a drug policy that, after almost seventy years, has had only tragic, counter-productive results for the Earth's environment, human economics and social evolution.
Creation of a black market economy is the most obvious and predictable result of any prohibition. "Forbidden fruit" is always more expensive, leading inevitably to violence and corruption of police and politicians. When a critical agricultural resource is prohibited for three generations, the destructive illusion of a "free market economy" is even more dangerous, insidious and persistent. Industries that would otherwise succumb to the laws of fair economic competition, have become institutionalized, dominating the evolution of human values. Our generation is approaching the end of that dead end road, fighting for limited energy resources when we could have been farming biofuels all along.
By devaluating the most useful and potentially abundant organic agricultural resource on the planet, and inducing a prolonged condition of essential resource scarcity, mankind has been diverted from a course of sustainable energy development. After three generations of Cannabis prohibition, degenerative, anti-natural imbalances in economics have steered a toxic course for our social and political structures as well. Teetering precariously on the edge of synergistic collapse, the very real possibility of extinction looms in our foreseeable, predictably tragic future.
The absence of balancing influence, inherent to a free market, has institutionalized anti-natural values to desperate extremes. Such mad science as is happening at Davis, being directed against humankind's best hope for sustainability, is clearly agricultural espionage carried out by a chemically vested government, subverting the best interests of its own people. Unsustainable values, combined with the unpredictable instability of atmospheric carbon imbalance, are no longer theory, capable of being characterized as "gloom and doom" scenarios. Scientists agree that global warming is a real and present danger, even if political frontmen for toxic industries would have us believe otherwise, in the interest of protecting the short-term bottomline.
Corporate influence of political leadership, the economics of punishment at home and abroad, and the market dynamics of chemical industrial food and fuel production, has engendered corruption blurring the lines between industry and government. At U.C. Davis, government science is being employed by hemp's economic competitors to strengthen the advantage that chemical industry already enjoys, over agricultural solutions and common sense.
As conditions of imbalance increase it is critical to assess the impact that corporate/politcal hybridization is having in perpetuating a self-serving prohibition. After decades of conclusive studies and clinical reports in many countries, identifying Cannabis as "the safest therapeutically active substance known to man," which holds considerable benefits for mankind,
it is inevitable to conclude that government health concerns used to justify prohibition are not to be taken seriously. In fact, considering all available credible science, it is obvious that prohibition only serves to increase profits for multi-national corporations protecting chemical-industrial interests against competition from agriculturally-based industries.
It is common knowledge that there are many substances approved by the U.S. government, that are much more dangerous to people's health than 'marijuana.' Alcohol and tobacco are America's primary recreational drugs, far more lethal and addictive to both users and non-users than 'marijuana.' Chemical pharmaceuticals and even some foods that are commonly consumed with deadly result are readily available to people who choose to assume the risks associated with them. Even peanuts can kill. Obviously, realistic concerns for public health and safety have nothing whatever to do with 'marijuana' prohibition.
Cannabis prohibition is clearly motivated by industries concerned with the plant's potential to compete in a truly "free market" economy. More than ever it is essential to understanding which industries and corporations currently control the present "un-free market," exercising disproportionate economic influence, usurping control of the American government, leads to more questions.
The petroleum industry and the pharmaceutical industry are two of the most obvious competitors. Americans pay the highest drug prices in the world. Annual spending for pharmaceuticals, is up to $250 billion, doubling every five years. More than 120,000 people die every year in the U.S., from "legal drugs" taken in accordance with their doctor's prescription.
Virtually everything that is being made from petroleum hydrocarbons, can be made better, cheaper, and with less pollution using Cannabis, a carbohydrate. Less obvious, but equally powerful are the soybean industry with interests tied to biotech and chemicals for agricultural. Monsanto controls more than 80% of the biotech industry, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pfizer pharmaceutical. These are the economic forces driving prohibition, through political influence and lobbying groups such as Partnership for a Drug Free America.
It's no secret that America's second generation oil president is the petroleum & pharmaceutical industry's favorite son. The CEO of Pfizer donated $200,000 to Bush's campaign this year. Other blatant examples, of government officials serving billions of dollars worth of prohibitionist interests on behalf of chemically-dependent industries, abound. In America's present administration there are no fewer than six top ranking officials, directly associated with Monsanto, including the Supreme Court Judge who put GW Bush in office (Clarence Thomas), the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (Anne Veneman), the Secretary of Defense (Donald Rumsfeld), the U.S. Secretary of Health (Tommy Thompson), Chairman of the House Agricultural Committee (Larry Combest) and Attorney General John Ashcroft.
"The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), a coalition of militant peasant groups, has called for a boycott of Monsanto products. KMP is attempting to block the use of the genetically modified YieldGard Bt-corn and is protesting Monsanto's interests in the United States-led war on Iraq. Rafael Mariano, KMP chair, said the program boycott on Monsanto products is part of a civil disobedience campaign to protest against US industry's attacks on the Iraqi people.
"The US military campaign to topple the Iraqi leadership was for the benefit of US war industries like the US-based Monsanto, the proponent of the genetically engineered Bt-corn in the country and manufacturer of Agent Orange...Monsanto is no less than a war industry," Mariano said.
Mariano further stated that it was a "clear mockery" that US President Bush launched the strike on Iraq under the pretext of disarming it of its weapons of mass destructio, because the US itself is the primary producer of weapons of mass destruction.
The forest products industry is another cash cow tied to chemical production. Recent estimates put the potential market for hemp paper at between $15 to $30 billion a year worldwide. About 20 paper mills around the world use hemp fiber, with an estimated annual world production volume of 120,000 tons. This represents about .05 percent of all paper. India and China dominate this potentially vast market. In the U.S., the "green" paper industry (including recycled and natural fibers) accounts for about $20 million in a $230 billion industry. Expanded use of agricultural crops and other tree-free materials for paper would not only spare trees but would also produce paper with minimal environmental impact from the chemicals used to manufacture paper.
In the U.S., hemp food products are a small but fast-growing sector of the natural foods industry, with annual sales of about $5 million. Canadian farmers seeded 3,800 acres of hemp in 2002 and harvested about two million pounds of the crop. In 1994, President Clinton signed Executive Order 12919, specifically identifying hemp as a "strategic food resource" subject to "essential civilian demand."
Consider that the nutritional value of Cannabis seed makes hemp the most nutritious and healing food on Earth. This is an inarguable fact, since Cannabis is the only common seed with three essential fatty acids (EFAs) in proper proportion for long-term consumption. Cannabis seed is also the best available source of organic protein on the planet.
Consider that neither the U.S. government, nor the United Nations, has any research projects, anywhere in the world, where Cannabis is being considered as a source of vegetable protein. Even in countries where it is perfectly legal to grow Cannabis, (even subsidized by the European Union in some places), there are no U.N. Food & Agriculture investigations being carried out. Not one.
Instead of growing organic Cannabis, humankind is growing soybeans for protein. This is a relatively poor choice, since there are several good reasons not to eat soybean, unless it is properly fermented. Also, from an agricultural perspective, soybean is much more difficult to grow than Cannabis, requiring substantial chemical application to suppress competition from weeds.
Cannabis naturally defends itself against most insect pests, and crowds out competition from most weeds. This and many other beneficial agricultural characteristics make Cannabis an excellent rotational crop, useful as a companion plant to help with cultivation of other crops, re-mineralization of nutrient-depleted soils, for preventing soil erosion, as a seasonal windbreak, and to break up compacted soils.
Cannabis is such a valuable plant, capable of producing so many products, that it may not
be possible for mankind to achieve sustainable existence on this planet without it. Certainly, without hemp the United States of America as we know it would not exist. As most people know by now, all of the founding fathers of this country were hemp farmers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton.
"Make the most of the hemp seed and sow it everywhere."
--George Washington (1794)
"We shall....want a world of hemp more for our own personal
consumption." --John Adams (1783)
"Hemp is of first necessity....to the wealth and protection of the
country." --Thomas Jefferson (1791)**
"Hemp is an article of importance enough to warrant the employment of
extraordinary means in its favor."--Alexander Hamilton (1791)
Cannabis is capable of producing more food, fuel, medicines, fiber, cellulose,
and resins organically, sustainably than any other plant on Earth. Not
only is it imperative to stop the waste of money and obviate the destructive impact of the research being done at U.C. Davis, it is as important to ask why this research has been allowed to continue for five years, in light of what is common knowledge about this critically important agricultural resource.
Such obvious abominations as the importation of invasive insect species from one continent to another, serve to make the absurdity and economic motivations of prohibition that much more blatant. As nothing else could, this plan to self-inflict a bio-terrorist attack on the world's best hope for sustainable agriculturally-based industry, should finally wake up America to the sinister character of corrupt economic forces that are running our government.
Unless people recognize (before the election) the insidious predation of impacted economic forces, perverting the human economic structure, treasonous influences imbedded within our political fabric will continue to impose essential resource scarcity, capitalize on, and exaggerate the imbalances which result from it.
Walt Kelly is as right as he everlovin' was, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
* Note: While Cannabis can be "psychoactive" it is non-narcotic.
** Thomas Jefferson even smuggled hemp seeds into the U.S. from China.
#
Paul von Hartmann is an international freelance photjournalist, Cannabis scholar, and Natural rights activist.
This essay may also be found posted at the P.E.A.C.E. blog entitled
"Cannabis and Iraq: Why Prohibition Leads to War"
http://cannabiswars.blogspot.com/
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Paul J. von Hartmann
12931 85th Avenue NE
Kirkland, WA 98034 USA
(425)814-4980
Project P.E.A.C.E.
Planet Ecology Advancing Conscious Economics
http://www.webspawner.com/users/projectpeace/
Contact:
e-mail: projectpeace@yahoo.com
or projectpeace@gmail.com (for files larger than 1Mb)
(c) PvH 2004
1. Research Project: Classical Biological Control of Narcotic Plants
http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/projects/projects.htm?ACCN_NO=402468&showpars=true&fy=2003
2.Medpot stars give for patients
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2569.html
3.Study Shows Therapeutic Benefits, No Adverse Effects in Long-Term Marijuana Users
http://www.infoimagination.org/ps/drug_war/articles/mj_study.html
4. War foes urge boycott of US products
http://www.geocities.com/kmp_ph/strug/032403.html
5. Asia Farm & Consumer Groups Denounce UN FAO Support for GMOs
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/asia052404.cfm
6. Big Biotech Silencing Critics of Pesticides & GE Crops
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/bigbiotech060304.cfm
7. Organic Consumers Association
Campaigning for Food Safety, Organic Agriculture, Fair Trade & Sustainability
Millions Against Monsanto
If you're talking about PCBs, Agent Orange, Bovine Growth Hormone, water privatization, biopiracy, untested/unlabeled genetically engineered organisms, or persecuting small family farmers, you're talking about the Monsanto Corporation.
Monsanto's Government Ties
http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.html
8. Scientists Demand Action on Invasive Species: National Environmental Coalition on Invasive Species (NECIS) issued a "Call To Action on Invasive Species."
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/invasive_species/page.cfm?pageID=1275
9. Executive Order 13112 of February 3, 1999 -- Invasive Species
http://www.invasivespecies.gov/laws/execorder.shtml
10. Top selling prescription drug (retail sales 2001): Lipitor (Pfizer) a cholesterol reducer $4.52 billion (increase of 22.3% from 2000). Source: National Institute for Healthcare Management Foundation
FOR RELEASE: June 10, 2004
U.S. Congress Heads Up ARS Project:
"World's Most Useful Plant" targeted for Biological Attack
Even as medical 'marijuana' patients and the hemp foods industry are racking up Supreme Court victories against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); even as Canadian and European farmers are cranking up Cannabis production to keep pace with public demand for industrial hemp oils, resins, fiber and cellulose; even as Cannabis is being recognized as being "the world's most useful plant," researchers at U.C. Davis are indulging in "Reefer Madness," preparing to infest North America with insect pest species from Eurasia.
Since 1999 the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Research Service (ARS) has been preparing to attack the 'marijuana' plant, targeted for "classic biological control" in 2005. "Secure facilities" have already been built in California, where scientists will grow 'marijuana' in order to study the eating habits of various Eurasian agricultural pests.
According to the ARS annual report for 2003, "The problem is quite serious as marijuana is a controlled substance in the United States and is often grown and sold illegally. It is relevant to local and national law enforcement agencies and was initiated through Congressional mandate." The Department of Agriculture's report continues, "Research was initiated on this project at the request of Congress and the State Department to identify new biologically based methods of controlling marijuana. Cooperating foreign institutions in Italy, Russia, China and Kazakhstan conducted both field and literature surveys for natural enemies of Cannabis sativa and selected two primary candidates, Psylliodes attenuata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) and Cardipennis rubripes (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) to begin further host-specificity and biology research on."
According to the ARS report, "walk-in plant growth chambers" were constructed at Davis last year, that "allow 'marijuana' to be grown under secure conditions and used in quarantine." DEA certification was expected to occur in the fall of 2004. "These plants will be used in the final stages of testing for the effectiveness and environmental safety of selected biological control agents. This should lead to the availability of new biological control agents for this narcotic plant." [sic]*
Faced with such monumental conflict of reason, and accelerating deterioration of our environment, at some point people must ask themselves several questions. First, it seems imperative to question the underlying motivations of a drug policy that, after almost seventy years, has had only tragic, counter-productive results for the Earth's environment, human economics and social evolution.
Creation of a black market economy is the most obvious and predictable result of any prohibition. "Forbidden fruit" is always more expensive, leading inevitably to violence and corruption of police and politicians. When a critical agricultural resource is prohibited for three generations, the destructive illusion of a "free market economy" is even more dangerous, insidious and persistent. Industries that would otherwise succumb to the laws of fair economic competition, have become institutionalized, dominating the evolution of human values. Our generation is approaching the end of that dead end road, fighting for limited energy resources when we could have been farming biofuels all along.
By devaluating the most useful and potentially abundant organic agricultural resource on the planet, and inducing a prolonged condition of essential resource scarcity, mankind has been diverted from a course of sustainable energy development. After three generations of Cannabis prohibition, degenerative, anti-natural imbalances in economics have steered a toxic course for our social and political structures as well. Teetering precariously on the edge of synergistic collapse, the very real possibility of extinction looms in our foreseeable, predictably tragic future.
The absence of balancing influence, inherent to a free market, has institutionalized anti-natural values to desperate extremes. Such mad science as is happening at Davis, being directed against humankind's best hope for sustainability, is clearly agricultural espionage carried out by a chemically vested government, subverting the best interests of its own people. Unsustainable values, combined with the unpredictable instability of atmospheric carbon imbalance, are no longer theory, capable of being characterized as "gloom and doom" scenarios. Scientists agree that global warming is a real and present danger, even if political frontmen for toxic industries would have us believe otherwise, in the interest of protecting the short-term bottomline.
Corporate influence of political leadership, the economics of punishment at home and abroad, and the market dynamics of chemical industrial food and fuel production, has engendered corruption blurring the lines between industry and government. At U.C. Davis, government science is being employed by hemp's economic competitors to strengthen the advantage that chemical industry already enjoys, over agricultural solutions and common sense.
As conditions of imbalance increase it is critical to assess the impact that corporate/politcal hybridization is having in perpetuating a self-serving prohibition. After decades of conclusive studies and clinical reports in many countries, identifying Cannabis as "the safest therapeutically active substance known to man," which holds considerable benefits for mankind,
it is inevitable to conclude that government health concerns used to justify prohibition are not to be taken seriously. In fact, considering all available credible science, it is obvious that prohibition only serves to increase profits for multi-national corporations protecting chemical-industrial interests against competition from agriculturally-based industries.
It is common knowledge that there are many substances approved by the U.S. government, that are much more dangerous to people's health than 'marijuana.' Alcohol and tobacco are America's primary recreational drugs, far more lethal and addictive to both users and non-users than 'marijuana.' Chemical pharmaceuticals and even some foods that are commonly consumed with deadly result are readily available to people who choose to assume the risks associated with them. Even peanuts can kill. Obviously, realistic concerns for public health and safety have nothing whatever to do with 'marijuana' prohibition.
Cannabis prohibition is clearly motivated by industries concerned with the plant's potential to compete in a truly "free market" economy. More than ever it is essential to understanding which industries and corporations currently control the present "un-free market," exercising disproportionate economic influence, usurping control of the American government, leads to more questions.
The petroleum industry and the pharmaceutical industry are two of the most obvious competitors. Americans pay the highest drug prices in the world. Annual spending for pharmaceuticals, is up to $250 billion, doubling every five years. More than 120,000 people die every year in the U.S., from "legal drugs" taken in accordance with their doctor's prescription.
Virtually everything that is being made from petroleum hydrocarbons, can be made better, cheaper, and with less pollution using Cannabis, a carbohydrate. Less obvious, but equally powerful are the soybean industry with interests tied to biotech and chemicals for agricultural. Monsanto controls more than 80% of the biotech industry, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pfizer pharmaceutical. These are the economic forces driving prohibition, through political influence and lobbying groups such as Partnership for a Drug Free America.
It's no secret that America's second generation oil president is the petroleum & pharmaceutical industry's favorite son. The CEO of Pfizer donated $200,000 to Bush's campaign this year. Other blatant examples, of government officials serving billions of dollars worth of prohibitionist interests on behalf of chemically-dependent industries, abound. In America's present administration there are no fewer than six top ranking officials, directly associated with Monsanto, including the Supreme Court Judge who put GW Bush in office (Clarence Thomas), the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (Anne Veneman), the Secretary of Defense (Donald Rumsfeld), the U.S. Secretary of Health (Tommy Thompson), Chairman of the House Agricultural Committee (Larry Combest) and Attorney General John Ashcroft.
"The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), a coalition of militant peasant groups, has called for a boycott of Monsanto products. KMP is attempting to block the use of the genetically modified YieldGard Bt-corn and is protesting Monsanto's interests in the United States-led war on Iraq. Rafael Mariano, KMP chair, said the program boycott on Monsanto products is part of a civil disobedience campaign to protest against US industry's attacks on the Iraqi people.
"The US military campaign to topple the Iraqi leadership was for the benefit of US war industries like the US-based Monsanto, the proponent of the genetically engineered Bt-corn in the country and manufacturer of Agent Orange...Monsanto is no less than a war industry," Mariano said.
Mariano further stated that it was a "clear mockery" that US President Bush launched the strike on Iraq under the pretext of disarming it of its weapons of mass destructio, because the US itself is the primary producer of weapons of mass destruction.
The forest products industry is another cash cow tied to chemical production. Recent estimates put the potential market for hemp paper at between $15 to $30 billion a year worldwide. About 20 paper mills around the world use hemp fiber, with an estimated annual world production volume of 120,000 tons. This represents about .05 percent of all paper. India and China dominate this potentially vast market. In the U.S., the "green" paper industry (including recycled and natural fibers) accounts for about $20 million in a $230 billion industry. Expanded use of agricultural crops and other tree-free materials for paper would not only spare trees but would also produce paper with minimal environmental impact from the chemicals used to manufacture paper.
In the U.S., hemp food products are a small but fast-growing sector of the natural foods industry, with annual sales of about $5 million. Canadian farmers seeded 3,800 acres of hemp in 2002 and harvested about two million pounds of the crop. In 1994, President Clinton signed Executive Order 12919, specifically identifying hemp as a "strategic food resource" subject to "essential civilian demand."
Consider that the nutritional value of Cannabis seed makes hemp the most nutritious and healing food on Earth. This is an inarguable fact, since Cannabis is the only common seed with three essential fatty acids (EFAs) in proper proportion for long-term consumption. Cannabis seed is also the best available source of organic protein on the planet.
Consider that neither the U.S. government, nor the United Nations, has any research projects, anywhere in the world, where Cannabis is being considered as a source of vegetable protein. Even in countries where it is perfectly legal to grow Cannabis, (even subsidized by the European Union in some places), there are no U.N. Food & Agriculture investigations being carried out. Not one.
Instead of growing organic Cannabis, humankind is growing soybeans for protein. This is a relatively poor choice, since there are several good reasons not to eat soybean, unless it is properly fermented. Also, from an agricultural perspective, soybean is much more difficult to grow than Cannabis, requiring substantial chemical application to suppress competition from weeds.
Cannabis naturally defends itself against most insect pests, and crowds out competition from most weeds. This and many other beneficial agricultural characteristics make Cannabis an excellent rotational crop, useful as a companion plant to help with cultivation of other crops, re-mineralization of nutrient-depleted soils, for preventing soil erosion, as a seasonal windbreak, and to break up compacted soils.
Cannabis is such a valuable plant, capable of producing so many products, that it may not
be possible for mankind to achieve sustainable existence on this planet without it. Certainly, without hemp the United States of America as we know it would not exist. As most people know by now, all of the founding fathers of this country were hemp farmers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton.
"Make the most of the hemp seed and sow it everywhere."
--George Washington (1794)
"We shall....want a world of hemp more for our own personal
consumption." --John Adams (1783)
"Hemp is of first necessity....to the wealth and protection of the
country." --Thomas Jefferson (1791)**
"Hemp is an article of importance enough to warrant the employment of
extraordinary means in its favor."--Alexander Hamilton (1791)
Cannabis is capable of producing more food, fuel, medicines, fiber, cellulose,
and resins organically, sustainably than any other plant on Earth. Not
only is it imperative to stop the waste of money and obviate the destructive impact of the research being done at U.C. Davis, it is as important to ask why this research has been allowed to continue for five years, in light of what is common knowledge about this critically important agricultural resource.
Such obvious abominations as the importation of invasive insect species from one continent to another, serve to make the absurdity and economic motivations of prohibition that much more blatant. As nothing else could, this plan to self-inflict a bio-terrorist attack on the world's best hope for sustainable agriculturally-based industry, should finally wake up America to the sinister character of corrupt economic forces that are running our government.
Unless people recognize (before the election) the insidious predation of impacted economic forces, perverting the human economic structure, treasonous influences imbedded within our political fabric will continue to impose essential resource scarcity, capitalize on, and exaggerate the imbalances which result from it.
Walt Kelly is as right as he everlovin' was, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
* Note: While Cannabis can be "psychoactive" it is non-narcotic.
** Thomas Jefferson even smuggled hemp seeds into the U.S. from China.
#
Paul von Hartmann is an international freelance photjournalist, Cannabis scholar, and Natural rights activist.
This essay may also be found posted at the P.E.A.C.E. blog entitled
"Cannabis and Iraq: Why Prohibition Leads to War"
http://cannabiswars.blogspot.com/
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Paul J. von Hartmann
12931 85th Avenue NE
Kirkland, WA 98034 USA
(425)814-4980
Project P.E.A.C.E.
Planet Ecology Advancing Conscious Economics
http://www.webspawner.com/users/projectpeace/
Contact:
e-mail: projectpeace@yahoo.com
or projectpeace@gmail.com (for files larger than 1Mb)
(c) PvH 2004
1. Research Project: Classical Biological Control of Narcotic Plants
http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/projects/projects.htm?ACCN_NO=402468&showpars=true&fy=2003
2.Medpot stars give for patients
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2569.html
3.Study Shows Therapeutic Benefits, No Adverse Effects in Long-Term Marijuana Users
http://www.infoimagination.org/ps/drug_war/articles/mj_study.html
4. War foes urge boycott of US products
http://www.geocities.com/kmp_ph/strug/032403.html
5. Asia Farm & Consumer Groups Denounce UN FAO Support for GMOs
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/asia052404.cfm
6. Big Biotech Silencing Critics of Pesticides & GE Crops
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/bigbiotech060304.cfm
7. Organic Consumers Association
Campaigning for Food Safety, Organic Agriculture, Fair Trade & Sustainability
Millions Against Monsanto
If you're talking about PCBs, Agent Orange, Bovine Growth Hormone, water privatization, biopiracy, untested/unlabeled genetically engineered organisms, or persecuting small family farmers, you're talking about the Monsanto Corporation.
Monsanto's Government Ties
http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.html
8. Scientists Demand Action on Invasive Species: National Environmental Coalition on Invasive Species (NECIS) issued a "Call To Action on Invasive Species."
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/invasive_species/page.cfm?pageID=1275
9. Executive Order 13112 of February 3, 1999 -- Invasive Species
http://www.invasivespecies.gov/laws/execorder.shtml
10. Top selling prescription drug (retail sales 2001): Lipitor (Pfizer) a cholesterol reducer $4.52 billion (increase of 22.3% from 2000). Source: National Institute for Healthcare Management Foundation
Monday, November 1, 2010
Crumbs of freedom
HolyShoot!! -- Michael K! hapbpby to have you onboard the discussion. Welcome to the clothing-optional brainpool...
: ) ]-********briefly,
It's still a federal offense to cultivate in California & every other state, even if you do have a medical exemption, which I don't. I'm a Cannabis minster and a patient, but the way I see it, legal protections afforded by the former cover the latter.
The decrim bill in California was mostly a matter of Arnold being too broke to bust people for dime bags any more. That's an economic dynamic that you attribute to PeeWee 19 even before it passes? I don't think so. It's nice but it's not enough to recover AS's integrity after vetoing two industrial hemp bills.
Prop 19 is a crumb of freedom in the trap of prohibitionist illusion, keeping everyone happy&stoned enough to accept that the government has legitimate authority to disqualify our ancient spiritual relationship with the agriculture of any herbs bearing seeds.
Prop 19 appeals to people who are content with what they think is all they can get. I hear the argument for incremental change, but it's like riding a skateboard on a tsunami -- it's generally the right shape, but ultimately it's a poor choice of equipment. The big picture will continue to get lost in the distraction of repercussions against Peepee 19.
CB, yes BP (unfortunate initials - no relation) is "holding [his] nose and voting "yes" (really "yeah, welllll, okay") for the "message effect" and I'm not saying that it wouldn't be good for P19 to lose by a slim margin, for the same reason, but think of all the endless crap we won't have to deal with adjusting to what follows the passage of prohibition-lite.
Better to know we're still fully at war with lying dinosaurs, than to cow into complacent acceptance of the illusion of freedom and get entangled in a maze of endless legal confusion and directional diversions.
: ) ]-********briefly,
It's still a federal offense to cultivate in California & every other state, even if you do have a medical exemption, which I don't. I'm a Cannabis minster and a patient, but the way I see it, legal protections afforded by the former cover the latter.
The decrim bill in California was mostly a matter of Arnold being too broke to bust people for dime bags any more. That's an economic dynamic that you attribute to PeeWee 19 even before it passes? I don't think so. It's nice but it's not enough to recover AS's integrity after vetoing two industrial hemp bills.
Prop 19 is a crumb of freedom in the trap of prohibitionist illusion, keeping everyone happy&stoned enough to accept that the government has legitimate authority to disqualify our ancient spiritual relationship with the agriculture of any herbs bearing seeds.
Prop 19 appeals to people who are content with what they think is all they can get. I hear the argument for incremental change, but it's like riding a skateboard on a tsunami -- it's generally the right shape, but ultimately it's a poor choice of equipment. The big picture will continue to get lost in the distraction of repercussions against Peepee 19.
CB, yes BP (unfortunate initials - no relation) is "holding [his] nose and voting "yes" (really "yeah, welllll, okay") for the "message effect" and I'm not saying that it wouldn't be good for P19 to lose by a slim margin, for the same reason, but think of all the endless crap we won't have to deal with adjusting to what follows the passage of prohibition-lite.
Better to know we're still fully at war with lying dinosaurs, than to cow into complacent acceptance of the illusion of freedom and get entangled in a maze of endless legal confusion and directional diversions.
Comment on Viv's statement
Lots to comment, not so much time...
You may be surprised to know I don't support Prop 19, mainly because it will confuse the path to complete legalization. If it doesn't pass, we will have a clear shot at a national strategy for ending Cannabis prohibition. If it does pass, people will go back to their little 5x5 gardens and be placated with that.
Sorry to say that Prop 19 only allows a 5'x5' (a 25 sq ft) garden, not even big enough for a single outdoor plant. Prop 19 pushes people toward indoor cultivation for max yield in a 5x5 space.
The best I can say about "Plop 19" is that it has generated the energy & public attention that has to be followed through with a national exercise of "essential civilian demand" for the "strategic resource" hemp, that's known to be critical to national security -- by this Spring 2011. To miss another hemp growing season in the US would be sheer madness.
I could care less whether the fossil-fuel-burning indoor pot grows are legitimized and taxed, because that dynamic does more harm than good in the long-run.
Grow outdoors! Support sunshine energy, not petrol pot! The increasing price of energy will keep the price/profits up on indoor Frankenweed. Taxes and regulation will further prostitute and distort the cost of Mary Jane. Instead of treating her like the scared Diva that she is, Prop 19 continues to make a whore of the world's most useful and nutritious agricultural resource.
You may be surprised to know I don't support Prop 19, mainly because it will confuse the path to complete legalization. If it doesn't pass, we will have a clear shot at a national strategy for ending Cannabis prohibition. If it does pass, people will go back to their little 5x5 gardens and be placated with that.
Sorry to say that Prop 19 only allows a 5'x5' (a 25 sq ft) garden, not even big enough for a single outdoor plant. Prop 19 pushes people toward indoor cultivation for max yield in a 5x5 space.
The best I can say about "Plop 19" is that it has generated the energy & public attention that has to be followed through with a national exercise of "essential civilian demand" for the "strategic resource" hemp, that's known to be critical to national security -- by this Spring 2011. To miss another hemp growing season in the US would be sheer madness.
I could care less whether the fossil-fuel-burning indoor pot grows are legitimized and taxed, because that dynamic does more harm than good in the long-run.
Grow outdoors! Support sunshine energy, not petrol pot! The increasing price of energy will keep the price/profits up on indoor Frankenweed. Taxes and regulation will further prostitute and distort the cost of Mary Jane. Instead of treating her like the scared Diva that she is, Prop 19 continues to make a whore of the world's most useful and nutritious agricultural resource.
Reply to Chris Conrad
Come on Chris, I'm disappointed you don't understand the complexities of sociopoliticoeconomic dynamics better than that. A vote bought buy annonymous corporations don't mean squaT, for starters. We're an occupied country Chris. The people need to take back the truth about Cannabis -- Right now. Before the confusion and expense of disingenuous debate plunges us into endless legal bickering and a flood of meaningless news.
"First of all Prop 19 is not "legalization" (Bill Panzer). How imprecise for you to use that word. At best, Prop 19 is a mixed adolescent message: "we're gonna grow & smoke pot, no matter what you say, Dad, but we'll share some with you since you can't pay the mortgage on the state.
It concedes rightful jurisdiction and misdirects away from efficient progress at the Federal level. If we perpetuate the lie that Cannabis is other than the most useful, nutritious, ecologically significant...then shame on us for watering down the message and the legacy of what we've been entrusted to deliver intact and complete.
"First of all Prop 19 is not "legalization" (Bill Panzer). How imprecise for you to use that word. At best, Prop 19 is a mixed adolescent message: "we're gonna grow & smoke pot, no matter what you say, Dad, but we'll share some with you since you can't pay the mortgage on the state.
It concedes rightful jurisdiction and misdirects away from efficient progress at the Federal level. If we perpetuate the lie that Cannabis is other than the most useful, nutritious, ecologically significant...then shame on us for watering down the message and the legacy of what we've been entrusted to deliver intact and complete.
Dear Chris & Mikki,
Beautiful video & music. Very seductive.
Honestly, I wish I could jump on the bandwagon with you & all the other beautiful people who yearn for Cannabis freedom and an end to the "drug war" so badly that they are branding Prop 19 as "legalization."
It's not -- Prop 19 embraces & perpetuates the lie about Cannabis being "dangerous" to young people, and continues to waste law enforcement resources to terrorize the world's oldest global culture. Imposing taxes on herbal therapeutics is unfair to people who are not well.
The "message effect" that W.Panzer referred to isn't worth the federal/municipal legal confusion, the de-energizing effect of passing weak permission, and the willing public concession of rightful jurisdiction over a god-given natural resource that is both unique and essential.
Roger Christie is in federal prison right now, standing up for EVERYONE's First Amendment right of free religion. Prop 19 would do nothing for him if it passes. Prop 19 would have made no difference to him even if it had passed before he was arrested.
Passage of "Prop-Up Prohibition#19" will legally entangle, confuse, placate and fragment the national activism that needs to happen to end Cannabis prohibition by this spring.
A 5'x5' limit on gardens (not even enough space for one decent outdoor plant) means that, for maximum "legal" yield, people will be pushed toward growing indoors.
If Prop 19 doesn't pass, can we use the momentum generated by what looks to be a close vote to initiate federal "essential civilian demand" for the "strategic food resource."
Come on Chris & Mikki, you are leaders in this movement. Lead toward strength, not confusion. The credible science exists to revaluate Cannabis as essential to national and global security.
It is a "misprision of treason" to fail to recognize the true value of Cannabis.
Conditions of ecological necessity make the opportunity for Cannabis freedom much bigger than Prop 19 and more urgent than people apparently realize.
The bees are dying! The Bats are dying! The coral reefs are dying! UV-B radiation is increasing as the boreal forests are cut or die from global temperature increase. Check out my ministry blog to understand more about why Cannabis monoterpene production is essential to our survival-- not illegal!
Feel free to publish anything I write in the West Coast Leaf. Isn't this "newsy" enough ? You've been doing great work much longer than I have. It was chris who got me into the hemp movement that's steered my life for the past eighteen years, and I thank you for that sincerely. But I think you're wrong on backing a move that concedes what you know to be true in the interest of what you think we can get if we go along with the stale, intransigent dogma and lies, the vestiges of "Reefer Madness."
No corporate government tax on pot. No corporate government domination over organic agriculture. If even a fraction of the money that's been poured into Prop 19 is directed toward national essential civilian demand, prohibition could be over in ONE MONTH. The truth about Cannabis is THAT strong in the context of multiple, accelerating crises we face.
[The preceding statement was written and posted in response to a lovely pro-Prop 19 video shared on Facebook by Chris Conrad and Mikki Norris.]
Honestly, I wish I could jump on the bandwagon with you & all the other beautiful people who yearn for Cannabis freedom and an end to the "drug war" so badly that they are branding Prop 19 as "legalization."
It's not -- Prop 19 embraces & perpetuates the lie about Cannabis being "dangerous" to young people, and continues to waste law enforcement resources to terrorize the world's oldest global culture. Imposing taxes on herbal therapeutics is unfair to people who are not well.
The "message effect" that W.Panzer referred to isn't worth the federal/municipal legal confusion, the de-energizing effect of passing weak permission, and the willing public concession of rightful jurisdiction over a god-given natural resource that is both unique and essential.
Roger Christie is in federal prison right now, standing up for EVERYONE's First Amendment right of free religion. Prop 19 would do nothing for him if it passes. Prop 19 would have made no difference to him even if it had passed before he was arrested.
Passage of "Prop-Up Prohibition#19" will legally entangle, confuse, placate and fragment the national activism that needs to happen to end Cannabis prohibition by this spring.
A 5'x5' limit on gardens (not even enough space for one decent outdoor plant) means that, for maximum "legal" yield, people will be pushed toward growing indoors.
If Prop 19 doesn't pass, can we use the momentum generated by what looks to be a close vote to initiate federal "essential civilian demand" for the "strategic food resource."
Come on Chris & Mikki, you are leaders in this movement. Lead toward strength, not confusion. The credible science exists to revaluate Cannabis as essential to national and global security.
It is a "misprision of treason" to fail to recognize the true value of Cannabis.
Conditions of ecological necessity make the opportunity for Cannabis freedom much bigger than Prop 19 and more urgent than people apparently realize.
The bees are dying! The Bats are dying! The coral reefs are dying! UV-B radiation is increasing as the boreal forests are cut or die from global temperature increase. Check out my ministry blog to understand more about why Cannabis monoterpene production is essential to our survival-- not illegal!
Feel free to publish anything I write in the West Coast Leaf. Isn't this "newsy" enough ? You've been doing great work much longer than I have. It was chris who got me into the hemp movement that's steered my life for the past eighteen years, and I thank you for that sincerely. But I think you're wrong on backing a move that concedes what you know to be true in the interest of what you think we can get if we go along with the stale, intransigent dogma and lies, the vestiges of "Reefer Madness."
No corporate government tax on pot. No corporate government domination over organic agriculture. If even a fraction of the money that's been poured into Prop 19 is directed toward national essential civilian demand, prohibition could be over in ONE MONTH. The truth about Cannabis is THAT strong in the context of multiple, accelerating crises we face.
[The preceding statement was written and posted in response to a lovely pro-Prop 19 video shared on Facebook by Chris Conrad and Mikki Norris.]
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Prop 19: Maintenance and addition of criminal and civil penalties
" if it passes that we will be on an accelerated path"
Perhaps, but I'm not convinced of that. Too much potential for legal confusion, federal retaliation and misdirection by the feds and anti-marijuana zealots in positions of responsibility in municipal govts, who will certainly obstruct the implementation of Prop 19 by invoking the "save the children" rap that Prop 19 sings along with to a degree, by perpetuating the myth of "danger" associated with Cannabis use. How many Cannabis-smoking/growing parents will be exposed to losing their kids if Prop 19 passes?
Prop 19: Maintenance and addition of criminal and civil penalties
"Maintains existing laws against selling drugs to a minor and driving under the influence.
Maintains an employer's right to address consumption of marijuana that affects an employee's job performance.
Maintains existing laws against interstate or international transportation of marijuana.
Every person 18 years of age or older who hires, employs, or uses a minor in transporting, carrying, selling, giving away marijuana, or knowingly sells or gives away marijuana to someone under the age of 14, shall be imprisoned in state prison for a period of three, five, or seven years.
Every person 18 years of age or older who knowingly sells or gives away marijuana to someone older than the age of 14 but younger than 18, shall be imprisoned in the state prison for a period of three, four, or five years.
Every person 21 years of age or older who knowingly sells or gives away marijuana to someone older than the age of 18 but younger than 21, shall be imprisoned in county jail for up to six months and fined up to $1,000 per offense.
Any person who is licensed, permitted, or authorized to sell marijuana, who knowingly sells or gives away marijuana to someone under the age of 21 results in them being banned from owning, operating, or being employed by a licensed marijuana establishment for one year. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_19_(2010)#Maintenance_and_addition_of_criminal_and_civil_penalties
That's not "legalization." It's a sucker-punch.
Perhaps, but I'm not convinced of that. Too much potential for legal confusion, federal retaliation and misdirection by the feds and anti-marijuana zealots in positions of responsibility in municipal govts, who will certainly obstruct the implementation of Prop 19 by invoking the "save the children" rap that Prop 19 sings along with to a degree, by perpetuating the myth of "danger" associated with Cannabis use. How many Cannabis-smoking/growing parents will be exposed to losing their kids if Prop 19 passes?
Prop 19: Maintenance and addition of criminal and civil penalties
"Maintains existing laws against selling drugs to a minor and driving under the influence.
Maintains an employer's right to address consumption of marijuana that affects an employee's job performance.
Maintains existing laws against interstate or international transportation of marijuana.
Every person 18 years of age or older who hires, employs, or uses a minor in transporting, carrying, selling, giving away marijuana, or knowingly sells or gives away marijuana to someone under the age of 14, shall be imprisoned in state prison for a period of three, five, or seven years.
Every person 18 years of age or older who knowingly sells or gives away marijuana to someone older than the age of 14 but younger than 18, shall be imprisoned in the state prison for a period of three, four, or five years.
Every person 21 years of age or older who knowingly sells or gives away marijuana to someone older than the age of 18 but younger than 21, shall be imprisoned in county jail for up to six months and fined up to $1,000 per offense.
Any person who is licensed, permitted, or authorized to sell marijuana, who knowingly sells or gives away marijuana to someone under the age of 21 results in them being banned from owning, operating, or being employed by a licensed marijuana establishment for one year. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_19_(2010)#Maintenance_and_addition_of_criminal_and_civil_penalties
That's not "legalization." It's a sucker-punch.
Prop 19 is a recipe for expensive confusion, costing precious time and money.
Prop 19 is a recipe for expensive confusion, costing precious time and money.
What's needed instead is a formal re-assessment of Cannabis, based in credible science. The studies have been done. The reports written. Cannabis is the safest most effective herbal preventative and therapeutic agent that there is. Cannabis in many forms (seeds, buds, essential oils, etc.) is effective in preventing, treating and in some cases, curing a wide range of ailments, including physical, emotional, and substance abuse (i.e. alcohol & hard drugs) problems.
Prohibition in any form for anything creates a vicious, violent, black market with real damage inflicted on individuals, the environment and society. Ending prohibition of the world's most nutritious, useful, environmentally beneficial agricultural resource, by recognizing its true value, will do more good than any other move we could make. It's been done in other countries and the results are tangible, verifiable and profound.
Unfortunately, Prop 19 perpetuates the baseless, erroneous, prohibitionist myth of people needing government 'protection' from marijuana. Misinformation and a "Reefer Madness" imposed valuation of Cannabis conveys corporate control over our freedom to farm.
Violation of our Constitutional rights is a greater threat to national security than marijuana could ever be, even if the lies being told about it were true. Individual responsibility for life choices is the key to normalizing our relationship with Ca
What's needed instead is a formal re-assessment of Cannabis, based in credible science. The studies have been done. The reports written. Cannabis is the safest most effective herbal preventative and therapeutic agent that there is. Cannabis in many forms (seeds, buds, essential oils, etc.) is effective in preventing, treating and in some cases, curing a wide range of ailments, including physical, emotional, and substance abuse (i.e. alcohol & hard drugs) problems.
Prohibition in any form for anything creates a vicious, violent, black market with real damage inflicted on individuals, the environment and society. Ending prohibition of the world's most nutritious, useful, environmentally beneficial agricultural resource, by recognizing its true value, will do more good than any other move we could make. It's been done in other countries and the results are tangible, verifiable and profound.
Unfortunately, Prop 19 perpetuates the baseless, erroneous, prohibitionist myth of people needing government 'protection' from marijuana. Misinformation and a "Reefer Madness" imposed valuation of Cannabis conveys corporate control over our freedom to farm.
Violation of our Constitutional rights is a greater threat to national security than marijuana could ever be, even if the lies being told about it were true. Individual responsibility for life choices is the key to normalizing our relationship with Ca
Saturday, October 30, 2010
William Panzer dissects Prop 19
"It's about 1:40 a.m. and I just watched Cannabis Planet's Prop 19 show in which I was misquoted by Dragonfly. I've been hanging out on the sidelines in the ongoing debate within the movement. Now that we're getting close to election time, I thought I'd share some thoughts.
"First, Prop 19 is not "legalization" and I don't believe those in the movement who are against Prop 19 are against legalization. To the contrary, I believe most movement opponents are against 19 because they are FOR legalization.
"Every anti-cannabis law on the books today will remain unchanged if Prop 19 passes with a single exception: a new offense is added, Health & Safety Code §11361(c) which provides that a person 21 or older who gives less than an ounce of cannabis to a person 18-21 (as, for example, a 21 year old boy handing a joint to his 20 year old girlfriend) is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to 6 months in jail and a $1000 fine. Under current law, the offense would call for a $100 maximum fine and no jail.
"The fact that 19 fails to repeal or even amend any other section of the Health & Safety Code is both it's greatest flaw and, ironically as I'll explain below, perhaps its saving grace.
"The most common fear is that 19 could potentially impinge on medical cannabis rights. Proponents have pointed to the purpose language as evidence that it would not effect 215/420. In reality, the court's do not look at the purpose language, only resorting to it if an ambiguity is found in the body of the statute. As for the body of Prop 19, I am less than thrilled with the drafting. There are inconsistencies and the language is loose enough to support several different interpretations. If an appellate court were inclined to find that Prop 19 preserved all 215/420 rights, there is language in 19 to support that. If, on the other hand, an appellate court was inclined to find that 19 allowed local municipalities to impinge on 215/420, there is language that could support that position too. The bottom line is that the body of the statute could have clearly stated that local municipalities are not authorized to pass any ordinance or regulation that infringes on 215/420 in any manner, but it doesn't.
"As scary as the above may seem, I have now come to the conclusion that it is likely moot. I now believe that it is likely that §11301 "Commercial Regulations and Controls", the section of Prop. 19 that authorizes local government to legalize and regulate cultivation, sales, taxes, etc., will likely be ruled invalid as an unconstitutional delegation of powers in violation of the following sections of the California Constitution:
"ARTICLE 4 LEGISLATIVE
SEC. 16. (a) All laws of a general nature have uniform operation.
(b) A local or special statute is invalid in any case if a general
statute can be made applicable."; and
"ARTICLE 11 LOCAL GOVERNMENT
SEC. 5. (a) It shall be competent in any city charter to provide
that the city governed thereunder may make and enforce all ordinances
and regulations in respect to municipal affairs, subject only to
restrictions and limitations provided in their several charters and
in respect to other matters they shall be subject to general laws.
City charters adopted pursuant to this Constitution shall supersede
any existing charter, and with respect to municipal affairs shall
supersede all laws inconsistent therewith."
"Because Prop. 19 fails to either repeal or amend current cannabis criminal law, we would have a situation where, for example, state law dictates that sale of cannabis is a felony, yet Prop. 19 gives cities and counties authority to override this state law. This is an authority that is specifically denied to local municipalities in the state constitution. Thus Prop. 19's goal of authorizing local government to override state law would require a constitutional amendment. The saving grace is that if the power to override state law prohibiting cannabis cannot be legally delegated to the locals, than the power to impinge on 215/420 similarly cannot be delegated to local authorities.
"The most amazing factor of this whole debate to me is how Prop. 19 is being almost universally portrayed as "legalization" in the media and by many in our movement who, quire frankly, I suspect have never actually read the text of the initiative! What makes little sense to me is that this initiative, which doesn't legalize cannabis, is being sold as legalization. It seem to me, it would make more sense to draft an initiative that does legalize cannabis and sell it as regulation.
"Nevertheless, because it is being touted as legalization, if it passed it would be perceived around the world as legalization. It would also give some modest protections to cannabis users. It essentially protects you from getting an infraction ticket in your own home so long as there are no children under the same roof. The greatest benefit would be to persons who wanted to cultivate a modest indoor grow, or about one healthy outdoor plant.
"I guess my conclusion is that though Prop. 19 was poorly thought out and poorly drafted and, in my opinion, tragically represents a lost opportunity, I don't fear that it will be used to curtail medical rights, nor will it result in commercial cannabis stores and high taxes on everything cannabis. So I plan to hold my nose, close my eyes, and vote "yes" for the message effect. Then I'll keep my fingers crossed that if it is declared unconstitutional as I anticipate, there will be a groundswell to come back with a better and true legalization initiative in two years."
Bill Panzer
"First, Prop 19 is not "legalization" and I don't believe those in the movement who are against Prop 19 are against legalization. To the contrary, I believe most movement opponents are against 19 because they are FOR legalization.
"Every anti-cannabis law on the books today will remain unchanged if Prop 19 passes with a single exception: a new offense is added, Health & Safety Code §11361(c) which provides that a person 21 or older who gives less than an ounce of cannabis to a person 18-21 (as, for example, a 21 year old boy handing a joint to his 20 year old girlfriend) is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to 6 months in jail and a $1000 fine. Under current law, the offense would call for a $100 maximum fine and no jail.
"The fact that 19 fails to repeal or even amend any other section of the Health & Safety Code is both it's greatest flaw and, ironically as I'll explain below, perhaps its saving grace.
"The most common fear is that 19 could potentially impinge on medical cannabis rights. Proponents have pointed to the purpose language as evidence that it would not effect 215/420. In reality, the court's do not look at the purpose language, only resorting to it if an ambiguity is found in the body of the statute. As for the body of Prop 19, I am less than thrilled with the drafting. There are inconsistencies and the language is loose enough to support several different interpretations. If an appellate court were inclined to find that Prop 19 preserved all 215/420 rights, there is language in 19 to support that. If, on the other hand, an appellate court was inclined to find that 19 allowed local municipalities to impinge on 215/420, there is language that could support that position too. The bottom line is that the body of the statute could have clearly stated that local municipalities are not authorized to pass any ordinance or regulation that infringes on 215/420 in any manner, but it doesn't.
"As scary as the above may seem, I have now come to the conclusion that it is likely moot. I now believe that it is likely that §11301 "Commercial Regulations and Controls", the section of Prop. 19 that authorizes local government to legalize and regulate cultivation, sales, taxes, etc., will likely be ruled invalid as an unconstitutional delegation of powers in violation of the following sections of the California Constitution:
"ARTICLE 4 LEGISLATIVE
SEC. 16. (a) All laws of a general nature have uniform operation.
(b) A local or special statute is invalid in any case if a general
statute can be made applicable."; and
"ARTICLE 11 LOCAL GOVERNMENT
SEC. 5. (a) It shall be competent in any city charter to provide
that the city governed thereunder may make and enforce all ordinances
and regulations in respect to municipal affairs, subject only to
restrictions and limitations provided in their several charters and
in respect to other matters they shall be subject to general laws.
City charters adopted pursuant to this Constitution shall supersede
any existing charter, and with respect to municipal affairs shall
supersede all laws inconsistent therewith."
"Because Prop. 19 fails to either repeal or amend current cannabis criminal law, we would have a situation where, for example, state law dictates that sale of cannabis is a felony, yet Prop. 19 gives cities and counties authority to override this state law. This is an authority that is specifically denied to local municipalities in the state constitution. Thus Prop. 19's goal of authorizing local government to override state law would require a constitutional amendment. The saving grace is that if the power to override state law prohibiting cannabis cannot be legally delegated to the locals, than the power to impinge on 215/420 similarly cannot be delegated to local authorities.
"The most amazing factor of this whole debate to me is how Prop. 19 is being almost universally portrayed as "legalization" in the media and by many in our movement who, quire frankly, I suspect have never actually read the text of the initiative! What makes little sense to me is that this initiative, which doesn't legalize cannabis, is being sold as legalization. It seem to me, it would make more sense to draft an initiative that does legalize cannabis and sell it as regulation.
"Nevertheless, because it is being touted as legalization, if it passed it would be perceived around the world as legalization. It would also give some modest protections to cannabis users. It essentially protects you from getting an infraction ticket in your own home so long as there are no children under the same roof. The greatest benefit would be to persons who wanted to cultivate a modest indoor grow, or about one healthy outdoor plant.
"I guess my conclusion is that though Prop. 19 was poorly thought out and poorly drafted and, in my opinion, tragically represents a lost opportunity, I don't fear that it will be used to curtail medical rights, nor will it result in commercial cannabis stores and high taxes on everything cannabis. So I plan to hold my nose, close my eyes, and vote "yes" for the message effect. Then I'll keep my fingers crossed that if it is declared unconstitutional as I anticipate, there will be a groundswell to come back with a better and true legalization initiative in two years."
Bill Panzer
Reply to "Any corporation that gets big enough to dominate the marijuana market will be taken down by the feds."
The corporately corrupted Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are people and can pour unlimited funds into our elections. Obama appointed a Monsanto shill to head up the Dept. of Agriculture. The corporations own the Feds!
Control is control and right now, by & large, the chemical companies have it by virtue of warped values and corrupt politics, antagonistic toward the planetary systems critical to survival.
I know of at least one mad genetic plan that I heard at a science congress in Frankfurt in 2002. Genetic markers were being developed for Cannabis by Italian researchers. Almost all of the distinguished agricultural scientists and industry professionals there got up and left the room. In the California, I'd like to think that my efforts to expose mad agricultural research at UC Davis, regarding development of soil born viruses to attack Cannabis, had something to do with that project being discontinued, if in fact it truly has been.
The only way to devalue the extinctionistic, unevenly distributed chemically-based economy is to develop regional currencies based in "Gaiatherapeutic" industries, with a free agricultural market inclusive of Cannabis agriculture, manufacture and trade.
www.shastashares.com
I'd like nothing better than to adopt the widespread illusion that Prop 19 would legalize Cannabis. I anticipate lawsuits and legal hassles galore if this passes, and endless arguments about impacted myths that have been debunked by hard science.
If I could in good conscience vote for less than a completely realistic, comprehensive view of Cannabis I might, but my interpretation of Prop 19 is that it concedes rightful jurisdiction introduces confusion and wastes our most precious limited resource -- time. Certainly, a part of me wants to vote yes on 19 and I acknowledge the progress afforded by Prop 215. But how long are we going to go along with a globally contrary illusionary valuation of Cannabis?
Here's the DEA's "clarified" definition of hemp, another legal battle waiting to happen...
""Hemp” and marijuana are actually separate parts of the species of plant known as cannabis. Under federal law, Congress defined marijuana to focus on those parts of the cannabis plant that are the source of tetrahydrocannabinols (THC). THC is the hallucinogenic substance in marijuana that causes the psychoactive effect or “high.” The marijuana portions of the cannabis plant include the flowering tops (buds), the leaves, and the resin of the cannabis plant. The remainder of the plant — stalks and sterilized seeds — is what some people refer to as “hemp.” However, “hemp” is not a term that is found in federal law."
http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr100901.html
Too much is at stake to put up with this insultingly incompetent resource mismanagement. Opposition by prohibitionist America is no longer credible. 'Time' is the limiting factor in the equation of survival. We have nothing to fear but the atmosphere itself.
Control is control and right now, by & large, the chemical companies have it by virtue of warped values and corrupt politics, antagonistic toward the planetary systems critical to survival.
I know of at least one mad genetic plan that I heard at a science congress in Frankfurt in 2002. Genetic markers were being developed for Cannabis by Italian researchers. Almost all of the distinguished agricultural scientists and industry professionals there got up and left the room. In the California, I'd like to think that my efforts to expose mad agricultural research at UC Davis, regarding development of soil born viruses to attack Cannabis, had something to do with that project being discontinued, if in fact it truly has been.
The only way to devalue the extinctionistic, unevenly distributed chemically-based economy is to develop regional currencies based in "Gaiatherapeutic" industries, with a free agricultural market inclusive of Cannabis agriculture, manufacture and trade.
www.shastashares.com
I'd like nothing better than to adopt the widespread illusion that Prop 19 would legalize Cannabis. I anticipate lawsuits and legal hassles galore if this passes, and endless arguments about impacted myths that have been debunked by hard science.
If I could in good conscience vote for less than a completely realistic, comprehensive view of Cannabis I might, but my interpretation of Prop 19 is that it concedes rightful jurisdiction introduces confusion and wastes our most precious limited resource -- time. Certainly, a part of me wants to vote yes on 19 and I acknowledge the progress afforded by Prop 215. But how long are we going to go along with a globally contrary illusionary valuation of Cannabis?
Here's the DEA's "clarified" definition of hemp, another legal battle waiting to happen...
""Hemp” and marijuana are actually separate parts of the species of plant known as cannabis. Under federal law, Congress defined marijuana to focus on those parts of the cannabis plant that are the source of tetrahydrocannabinols (THC). THC is the hallucinogenic substance in marijuana that causes the psychoactive effect or “high.” The marijuana portions of the cannabis plant include the flowering tops (buds), the leaves, and the resin of the cannabis plant. The remainder of the plant — stalks and sterilized seeds — is what some people refer to as “hemp.” However, “hemp” is not a term that is found in federal law."
http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr100901.html
Too much is at stake to put up with this insultingly incompetent resource mismanagement. Opposition by prohibitionist America is no longer credible. 'Time' is the limiting factor in the equation of survival. We have nothing to fear but the atmosphere itself.
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