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Hippyland Cannabis Position

While we don't advocate the illegal use of any drug, or the breaking of any laws, we at Hippyland do advocate the complete legalization of cultivation of cannabis for industrial and personal use.  It is after all just a plant.  The absudity of making a common plant illegal is tantamount to making a person, race or culture illegal (like the nazis did).  The fact that the history of cannabis over thousands of years in dozens of cultures is devoid of evidence of toxic effects.  An abundance of evidence points to beneficial medicinal, industrial, recreational and spiritual uses of this multipurpose plant.

The criminalization of cannabis has resulted in far more damage to individuals, families, and society far out of proportion to the purported (imagined) dangers of this drug.  The billions of dollars that have been wasted fighting the "War on Drugs" have done nothing to stop or even curtail the flow of dangerous drugs into the U.S.  Instead thousands of cannabis users are in dangerous jails unable to support their families, costing the U.S. taxpayers millions each year to keep them incarcerated.

It is estimated that 75% of high school seniors have tried marijuana and a large portion of them smoke it regularly.  Should we put them all in jail?  That's where they belong according to our laws.  Let's get real!  Keeping it illegal just makes it more enticing.  The tobacco lobby is using this logic to prevent tobacco from becoming illegal.

The criminalization of cannabis (and other drugs) has created huge criminal enterprises that do billions of dollars in business each year.  As soon as one cartel or gang is broken, another takes up the slack.  It's big business, and nobody can stop it.  It's so big that they can bribe most anyone, anytime and lobby to keep drugs ILLEGAL!

Our government supports these cartels at the same time it spends billions to supposedly fight them.  Remember Manuel Noriega, the Panamanian leader who also was a big time drug dealer?  He was once on the CIA payroll.  How many other countries have had their governments undermined by illegal drug trafficing?  How deeply is the U.S. government involved in this, and will we ever find out?

If you are interested in helping decriminalize cannabis, you can get involved in many ways.
1. Support candidates that support decriminalization.
2. Contribute to organizations like Norml that fight for decriminalization.
3. Check out what is happening locally.  If there is no organized effort - start one!
4. Write your congressman, express your views!
5. Be informed! Speak your mind!  Tell others how absurd it is.
6. Visit a place where you can smoke without fear.  Amsterdam, San Francisco, and Vancouver are a few of the places where the police don't jail for cannabis use.  Once you've let go of the irrational paranoia about this wonderful plant, you won't be able to tolerate the legal intolerance!
 

The thousands of uses of hemp can be classified into four categories:

Industrial: Hemp fiber and seed have thousands of uses from attractive and durable clothing to oil and food products.  Hemp fashions have reached Paris as some elegant French designs displayed at the Cannabis Cup will attest.  Seed Companies continue to find new uses for hemp seed, including an array of tasty food products which we were able to sample (yes, they are tasting better these days!).  Hemp seed oil may be the best ecological alternative for many polluting industries.  As a farm crop, hemp requires little or no chemicals to grow commercially.  It adds more nutrients to soil than it removes.  Yields are extremely high and most of the plant is usable.  So hemp has the potential to be one of the most profitable and useful crops known to man, as indeed it once was before it became illegal.

Medicinal: As the debate rages on, around the world scientists and physicians are rediscovering the healing properties of the magic herb, whether it be helping the appetite of AIDS patients or preventing the blindness from glaucoma.  Other medical uses of cannabis are in the treatment of epilepsy asthma and hypertension.  What other wonderful uses would be discovered, if only the U.S. government would allow such research!!!

Recreational: As a drug, cannabis is a muscle relaxant and as a recreation drug it is much safer than alcohol.  Marijuana toxicity has yet to be established (because there is no fatal dose!), whereas alcohol's toxicity is well known.  After a hard day at work, where our concentration is focused for hours on end at sometimes pointless work, it is a great relief to rest our objectivity and allow our subjective, creative side to surface.  The aphrodesiac properties of cannabis are well known.

Spiritual:  Last, but not least, marijuana's ability to connect us to each other and the higher order cannot be quantified, but nonetheless can be subjectively experienced by smoking with an attitude of reverence.  The kind of reverence that has been lost in our race to achieve material success.  In a world where apparently nothing is sacred, we need to remember our ancient heritage when we respected and worshipped nature and all its creations.  Once we felt a part of everything.  The objective world was seen as a small part of greater reality.  A reality where the human spirit could expand to its full potential.  Aiding this expansion were a number of organic plants and fungi that revealed the world beyond the physical.  Today marijuana can act as that bridge, reminding us of who we are and what we are capable of achieving.