WORTH A TINKER'S DAMN

Pete from DrugWarRant is an advisor to a student group, M.A.S.H. (Mobilizing Activists and Students for Hemp) who are holding a Hempfest on Thursday, December 4, at Illinois State University (Normal, IL). It sounds like a fun event, what with the music, speakers and other activities but alas too far away for me to attend. What raised my First Amendment hackles however, was the news that the flyers for the event are not allowed to be posted in the residence halls at the school. The administrator cites the rule - "Materials may not display profanity or alcohol/substance abuse products or advertisement" - and cites the hemp leaf illustration as her compelling reason because of it's similarity to a cannabis leaf.

An administrative appeal of the decision has resulted in the same answer, on the same constitutionally deficient, content-based grounds. Since hemp is not a drug but rather an industrial fiber with great ecological benefits, the decision fails even within the parameters of its own rules. There's a long standing US Supreme Court decision often cited in these situations that's dead on point.

Tinker v. Des Moines, 393 U.S. 503 (1969)

". . . In the absence of a specific showing of constitutionally valid reasons to regulate their speech, students are entitled to freedom of expression of their views."

Justice Fortas, speaking for the majority.

This administrator needs to be reminded that students do not shed their constitutional rights when they set foot on school grounds and no matter how well intentioned, she has no legal right to determine which political speech she thinks the students should be exposed to and which they will not.

(Ironically, I found the graphic for the following section on the U of Illinois website under a tour listed as Industrial Hemp: Its Properties and Potential as an Alternative Crop).

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Photo - University of Illinois
RENEWABLE RESOURCE

The vilification of hemp is one of the greatest tragedies of this drug war. The prohibitionists have succeeded in linking this boundlessly useful fiber plant to drug use. According to About Hemp.com,

Hemp is the number one plant for producing clothing, paper, building materials, food, beverages, cosmetics, methanol fuel and an impressive array of cleaning and paint products

There is virtually no THC value to hemp. It would like smoking cotton rope. The only reason it's illegal is because its success as an agricultural product would threaten the timber and synthetic fiber industries - both large political contributors.

And in contrast to the nonsense going on at Illinois U over this potential product, the Australian Legislative Assembly introduced a law opening the way for the development of a commercial hemp industry.

Agriculture minister Kim Chance said substantial market opportunities existed for industrial hemp and WA farmers wanted the chance to become involved.

It was estimated the United States market for natural, fibre and plastic composites would exceed $1.4 billion a year by 2005. Other uses included biodegradable plastics, fibreboards, non-woven geotextiles for use in soil stabilisation, reseeding and erosion control and woven textils which could be blended with other natural materials such as cotton and wool.

I find it somewhat ironic that the Aussies have indentified a US market for it but our own struggling farmers are not allowed a chance to compete for that market. Hemp is an extremely easy crop to grow and could help our family farmers hold out against the relentless jaws of the corporate mono-culture goons currently gobbling up middle America while concurrently gorging on free trade subsidies.

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STATE SECRETS

While I'm on the subject of the free trade fiction, I ran across this Greg Palast piece on the Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting recently held in Miami. This is the only report I've seen on Venezuela's refusal to sign up for economic ruin. Every other Latin American country signed on to what Palast calls, "Miami’s treaty of the living dead economies."

I find people either love or hate Palast. I in the former group. I think he makes a lot of sense.

FTAA is far more than a trade document. It’s not just about fruit and cars that we sell across borders. It’s an entire new multi-state government in the making, with courts and executives, unelected, with the power to bless or damn any one nation’s laws which impede foreign investment, foreign sales or even foreign pollution.

Let me remind you again friends that 51 of the top 100 of the world's economies are corporations, not countries. Think about it.

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Meanwhile, US officials denied a visa to Evo Morales, head of Boliva's second largest political party. It's interesting that the cocalero Morales, a long time critic of both free trade and US sponsored eradication programs in his country was denied entry, while Oscar Eid and Carlos Saavedra Bruno, both closely tied to the disgraced regime of the recently deposed US puppet, Sanchez de Lozada, were granted visas to attend the FTAA meetings.

This the news you don't get on CNN my friends. There's a growing movement, bubbling up from the people in Latin America and led by Chavez, who is no more communist than JFK was, to take back the reins of power from the morally corrupt oligarchy that currently runs their world, and ours I might add. The US media is not reporting, and your government is complicit in, the suppression of this information.

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PUBLIC DISCOURSE

Getting back on topic, if you find yourself with a little extra time this holiday weekend, thanks to Drug Sense Weekly, I have link to audio of the National Center on Addiction & Substance Abuse Debate that was aired on CSPAN yesterday. It's a worth a listen.

I also have a link to some priceless footage of Rep. Mark Souder debating Shawn Heller, President of SSDP, from their site. You have to scroll down past half way to find the clip. These kids at Students for Sensible Drug Policy are some of the most effective activists in the country. Check out the whole site while you're there.

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SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY

Leaving you on a somewhat lighter note, this newsbrief showed up in my local paper:

24 November 2003

Northampton Police
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Police intercepted a package at the post office in Florence containing marijuana around 10 a.m. Saturday.

Post office workers detected the drug in a parcel they received for a Florence resident, police said. When the resident picked it up, police were called in. The man told police he gets a package of marijuana mailed to him every year on his birthday. He was not charged.

Bittersweet ending in that he probably didn't get to keep his birthday present but at least he didn't get arrested.

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