Nexus - 1706 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Hemp: OUR LIFELINE TO THE FUTURE OUR HEMP: LIFELINE FUTURE THE The widespread legalisation of cannabis production for commercial and medical uses would have profound benefits for our economies and our health as well as our environment. The Consequences of Hemp Prohibition t is often said that in war the first casualty is truth. Nowhere is this more accurately seen than in the so-called War on Drugs. Beginning with an hysterical "reefer madness" media campaign by the Hearst press in the early 1930s, the image of cannabis (Cannabis sativa), or hemp, was transformed from a valuable fibre crop and important source of oil and medicine to "a heathen devil weed with its roots in hell". Whether by design or circumstance, the suppression of cannabis paved the way for a dramatic transformation of the world's economy. Prior to the late 19th century, the world operated on a carbohydrate-based system, where all the fibre, fuel and medicine required to meet human needs was produced by photosynthesis, with the Sun's energy utilised to combine carbon dioxide and water into cellulose, the basic building material of the natural world. During the 20th century, much of this carbohydrate was replaced by hydrocarbons generated by the extractive coal and oil industries. n place of natural hemp fabrics came the petrochemical fabrics. Nylon, polyester and other synthetics were manufactured on a massive scale and promoted by aggressive advertising. In place of the paper bags and boxes came the ubiquitous plastic bags. Billions of these toxic, non-degradable items have been manufactured only o be used once and then discarded, to find their way into streams and waterways and eventually to coalesce into massive submerged islands o garbage in the Pacific and other oceans, releasing a toxic time bomb o ormone-disrupting chemicals into the marine and human ecosystems. nstead of paper being made from annual fibre crops, vast tracts of ancien orest have been felled and chipped, then cooked with chlorine and other azardous chemicals to produce an inferior product when compared to wha it replaced. The destruction and contamination of the natural world is not the only adverse effect of the suppression of cannabis. Again, whether by design or circumstance, the legislation put in place to enforce the prohibition has served as a template towards the establishment of a repressive police state with an incremental curtailment of individual liberty. Under the guise of preventing damage from the "scourge of drugs”, the population has been subjected to phone-tapping and other methods of surveillance, intrusive and often violent police raids and a range of chemical surveillance including enforced testing of hair, urine and saliva. The majority of the current prison population comprises non-violent drug offenders, especially in the United States where the privatisation of the prison industry has created a repressive but highly profitable industry for the Wackenhut Corporation and other prison industry players. The damaging consequences of the prohibition are not restricted to individuals but are felt across the geopolitical sphere. by Andrew Katelaris, MD © 2010 Post Office Box 3261 North Turramurra NSW 2074 Australia Email: sativaseed@gmail.com by Andrew Katelaris, MD © 2010 Post Office Box 3261 North Turramurra NSW 2074 Australia Email: sativaseed@gmail.com NEXUS ° 17 OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2010 www.nexusmagazine.com