Pubdate: Thu, 20 Jun 2002
Source: Haleakala Times (HI)
Copyright: 2002 Haleakala Times
Contact:  http://www.mauisfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2283
Author: Michele Bajan

POT BAN A FAILURE

Dear Editor,

After over 60 years of Cannabis Prohibition - what is the result?

- -Almost no public knowledge about Industrial Cannabis as a renewable resource.

- -Deforestation instead of using Cannabis for paper products and building 
materials is causing millions of acres of trees, including the Amazon 
Rainforest, to disappear, critically altering world ecosystems.

- -Discontinuing production and development of once popular and commonly used 
hemp biomass fuels has forced our dependence on fuel to be supplied only by 
oil and coal monopolies. Burning their fossil fuel products is the main 
cause of global warming.

- -Plastic, paint, explosive, fertilizer, and other industries lost the right 
to make their products with hemp cellulose. There is no other as suitable a 
plant source for cellulose, so synthetic fossil fuel products are being 
used instead. Manufacturing products from a toxic, non-biodegradable fossil 
fuel source is poisoning our air, contaminating soil and many lakes and 
rivers, and filling our landfills with tons of waste that will not decompose.

- -Millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens have been arrested for 
marijuana possession, making criminals and felons out of people who are not.

- -U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, four times higher 
than anywhere else.

- -Prison construction and employment have been among the largest growth 
industries in the U.S., while spending for schools has dwindled to less 
than one-fifth that of prison building expenditures.

- -Fossil fuel monopolies have bought and manipulated control in our 
government to protect their profits from any competition from Cannabis. For 
this, our country is becoming an armed camp, filling jails with casual 
Cannabis users and empowering an army of prohibition enforcers to invade 
the liberties of citizens on slight evidence, or suspicion.

The catastrophic environmental results of Cannabis Prohibition are becoming 
more threatening every day.

The results on our society are evident as we prioritize jails over schools 
so we can imprison millions of non-violent citizens for victimless crimes.

Sincerely,

Michele Bajan
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