CANNABIS IS NOT PART OF THE WAR AGAINST DRUGS
Source: Evening News, Norwich
Pub date: Thursday, February 17, 2005
Pub LTE: Cannabis is not part of the war against drugs
Author: Jeremy Crisp
Ref: Charles Clarke http://www.ccguide.org.uk/en250105.php
Web;
http://www.evenungnews24.co.uk
CANNABIS IS NOT PART OF THE WAR AGAINST DRUGS
During the Middle Ages, Norwich was one of the wealthiest provincial
cities in England.
The money which flowed into the city at that time was primarily
generated from farming in Norfolk.
Around the time our fine Mediaeval Churches were under construction,
both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I had passed laws making it compulsory for all
landowners farming a given acreage to devote a minimum percentage of their land
to the growing of hemp.
"Hemp? But surely that’s Cannabis?", I hear you say. Well not exactly; all cannabis is hemp, but
not all hemp is cannabis - in that it’s only certain strains of the many
varieties of Hemp which contain the psychoactive elements that have been
demonised these past 80 years or more. During mediaeval times, the Royal Navy
in particular had a pressing need for materials, for which hemp was the
accepted source.
Welcome to the 21st Century. Global Warming. Horrific conflicts waged
over the ownership of crude oil reserves. Widespread poverty in Africa, South
America. Crime and disorder in the streets of Britain fuelled largely by the
routine over-indulgence in alcohol, and an epidemic of addiction to ‘hard’
drugs. The “war against Drugs”. Such ‘wars’ are very easy to declare; they
polarise every discussion into black and white, right and wrong.
So, when is a drug not a drug? Answer - when it’s a herb!
Herb: defined as “A seed plant that does not develop permanent woody
tissue, and dies down at the end of a growing season. A plant (part) valued for
its medicinal, savoury or aromatic qualities”
The nearest Cannabis Sativa comes to genuinely being a “drug” is its potential
to be habit-forming. It is now scientifically accepted that cannabis is not
physically addictive in the true sense of the word, and I feel it should
finally be taken out of the loop in terms of the war against drugs.
Consider these two facts. That almost everything we currently produce by
extracting and refining crude oil could instead be gained through the
reintroduction of hemp to farming in the large parts of the world where it
would thrive. And secondly that, of the whole plant kingdom, hemp is apparently
the most effective in absorbing carbon dioxide and giving out oxygen. We really
could, in a few years' time, be driving our cars around Norwich using fuel
grown and produced in the fields of Norfolk!
I congratulate Charles Clarke in his succession to Mr Blunkett as the
new Home Secretary, but these days, as much as ever, there are none so blind as
those that don't want to see.
Jeremy Crisp
St Benedicts Street
Norwich