Pubdate: Fri, 04 Jan 2002 Source: Otago Daily Times (New Zealand) Copyright: Allied Press Limited, 2002 Contact: http://www2.odt.co.nz Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/925 Author: Jason Baker-Sherman Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) CANNABIS Mark Long (ODT, 11.12.01) mistakenly thinks that cannabis law reformers are using the medical marijuana issue to justify the recreational use of cannabis. Instead the medical marijuana "controversy" is but one thread in the tapestry of lies that has been spun in order to prohibit all cannabis use. For instance, when the US Federal Government introduced the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act under the pretext of arresting an epidemic of recreational marijuana use that was said to threaten the nation, legitimate cannabis industries were reassured that they would not be hindered. Once this became law, however, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics wielded its new 'tax' power initially against hemp businesses, especially those experimenting with cellulose technologies or "chemurgy", followed in 1939 by the doctors that were still prescribing it as a medicine. Then, ironically, after decades of prohibition the recreational use of cannabis became widespread and its medicinal properties were rediscovered by the public. Medical marijuana users, often using cannabis as a last resort, were treated by the law with the same contempt and brutality that it used against recreational use. Attempts to legitimise medicinal cannabis use were thwarted by impossible bureaucratic requirements. The situation in New Zealand today is little different. Mr Long concludes, paradoxically, that no government should make cannabis more accessible to the public than it is already, which means that the black market determines "accessibility". I say that no government claiming to represent infinite justice and enduring freedom should misinform and arrest its citizens in order to deprive anyone of the benefits of a "medical miracle" (ODT, 7.11.01). Jason Baker-Sherman, Dalmore - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl