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BOB NEWLAND KEEPS HAMMERING ON THE EVIL OF MARIJUANA LAWS. I DON'T SUPPORT USE
OF ALCOHOL OR MARIJAUNA, BUT TAKE A LOOK AT HIS PERSPECTIVE ANYWAY

This editorial ran in the Rapid City (SD) Journal today (Sat., May 4, 2002).
Marijuana prohibition insane public policy

By Bob Newland
Founder and president of SoDakNORML, an affiliate of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

(To reply editorially, send a message to mailto:randy.rasmussen@rapidcityjournal.com)



Marijuana. Can you think of a more polarizing word? Say it to someone,
with no further context. The listener will recoil in disgust or fear, or
(s)he'll grin. Speak more definitively about the cannabis plant, and
most listeners will reveal only the most rudimentary knowledge of the
world's most polarizing herb.

Public school teachers are permitted only to speak of the evils of
cannabis, forbidden to teach its 5,000-plus years of history of service
to man. Politicians spout absurdity after slander when they speak of it
at all. Misinformed people are moved to anger, threaten violence, or wax
childish ("Oh, wow!") when the subject confronts them.

Within this melee of babble, a large and growing number of credible
people are expressing doubt about the efficacy of marijuana prohibition.
The politicians and their sycophants accuse us of advocating "giving
drugs to babies." They say we're "supporting terrorism."
They even make absurd statements like State Rep. Stan Adelstein made at
a speech to the United Campus Ministries luncheon at South Dakota School
of Mines & Technology on Nov. 22, 2001:

"I know the marijuana laws work, because only one of my three sons
smoked marijuana. The other two didn't smoke it, because it's illegal.
They told me so."

Adelstein refused to answer when asked if he thought his son who smoked
marijuana should have gone to prison for it, as millions of others have.

Fact is, Adelstein's family is squarely in the mainstream. The National
Institute on Drug Abuse's annual national household survey continually
says that about one-third of adults in the U.S. have smoked marijuana.
Yet, we continue:

• Arresting people at the rate of one every 45 seconds for possession or
sale of marijuana.

• Confiscating folks' cars, houses, cash and children for mere suspicion
of trafficking in marijuana. If they're convicted, we throw them in
prison, also.

• Paying snitches to create marijuana crimes so that law enforcement can
confiscate even more property and children.

• Allowing law enforcement agencies to keep most of the plunder they
steal, thus perpetuating the vicious and counterproductive cycle.

• Preventing legal access to marijuana for sick, disabled and dying
people who currently benefit from it, albeit illegally.

Caught up in this insanity is industrial hemp, which has a potential
worldwide market of $500 billion or more, but which is banned from
production in the United States (but allowed in Canada and 30 other
nations). Even more insanely and cruelly, the politicians maintain that
there is no medical use for cannabis, in spite of disagreement from
thousands of doctors and tens of thousands of patients.

How arrogant and stupid to make the statement that an herb has "no
medical use." A fifth-grader wouldn't even make such a blanket statement
about tomatoes or horseradish.

Here is the simple truth. Cannabis was first taxed out of the market,
then made illegal in the United States in order to benefit the
stockholders in a large consortium of industries which now do not have
to face competition from industrial hemp. For that purpose, the
politicians are willing to imprison millions and cruelly deny medical
relief to tens of thousands of sick people.

When one understands that industrial hemp can be used for any purpose
served by trees, cotton or flax, and petroleum, and that hemp seed is
the most nutritious single food item in the world, one begins to
understand the scope of the industries served by keeping it illegal. One
begins to grasp whose ox will be gored by re-establishment of industrial
hemp at the forefront of American farm products.

These are some of the reasons I've staked my life, my possessions, and
my honor on exposing the truth about cannabis, knowing that, like
countless others, I could be stopped, "found" in possession of something
illegal, and imprisoned at the whim of the politicians.

It's just one more of the cruel truths of the so-called "war on drugs":
that innocent people are sometimes silenced by police who frame them by
"finding" drugs on them. Cops have unlimited access to drugs to use for
such purposes. It's also sad that we must paint all policemen and women
with the same brush, because the bad cops' and the good cops' uniforms
look the same.

And it is for these reasons that SoDakNORML organized the Rapid City
segment of the Million Marijuana March, an educational event being held
in over 160 cities worldwide today. We're appealing to governments
everywhere to stop all cannabis arrests, to stop lying about cannabis,
to release cannabis as medicine to sick people, and to stop imprisoning
people for simply trying to feel better.

There's more good information about cannabis on the Internet than just
about any other subject. Simply inquire "hemp," "cannabis," or
"marijuana" on any search engine. For a tragic laugh, see what the major
disseminators of misinformation, the Office of National Drug Control
Policy (ONDCP) and the Parents for a Drug-Free America (whose largest
funder is Anheuser-Busch) have to say on the subject.

It's time for all good people to help end this horrible cycle. Civilian
and soldier, cop and just-folks alike, we must hold our local
politicians and our federal delegations accountable for the carnage and
economic damage created by marijuana prohibition.

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Comment of Bob Newland Article ))))))
posted by Douglas at 12:26 PM