|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: The Budding Story of New British Cannabis Activism Anthony Herrold ireadculture Tuesday 29 Jul 2014 UK guerrilla group passes out thousands of hemp seeds to be dispersed and planted throughout the nation Cannabis walks a fine line between permissiveness and illegality in the UK. For residents, this grey area causes confusion on where exactly the law stands in a country that currently has 60 cannabis social clubs and almost 100 grow-shops in London alone. For the unfamiliar, grow shops are where one can legally buy, not only the equipment, but also the seeds to start a grow plot of their own. Essentially, this gives customers the accessibility to grow, distribute and be in possession of cannabis—which is still wholly illegal. In the UK, the plant is still considered a Class B drug. While certainly not as high on the list as cocaine, heroin or meth, its status is stunting the possibility of utilization and growth of this medicine as a potentially vital business component and yes, even recreational drug alternative. One could argue that up till now, the people, the push and the tactics for achieving cannabis freedom have been rather two-dimensional. Striving for the attention and permission of politicians who— because of other interests—play an entirely different game where the forward push of a legitimate cannabis cause is seen as a detriment to the current players. So far, every cannabis bill attempting to legitimize England’s progressive steps, such as ‘Cannabis Social Clubs,’ comes up short of procuring any real formal legislation, leaving things in limbo. However, now, across the UK, the public has been motivated to take the issue of cannabis legality in their own hands by joining a quite ingenious initiative titled ‘Feed the Birds.’ The group isn’t trying to push a cannabis reform bill through parliament, nor gather a group of protestors to hold banners in front of a government building pleading for their rights, they’re simply handing out hundreds and thousands of high-grade cannabis seeds to anyone willing to go around the busiest parts of their respective UK cities and communities, using this guerilla tactic of planting them anywhere and everywhere as a way of taking the challenge of reform to the streets and to the people. The odd title of the group and its stated action—“We will utilize every able bodied human to spread hemp seeds to feed British and migratory birds,”—works as a disclaimer for people tossing cannabis seeds around town. It is, of course, a great way of diverting the legality of what they are doing and bringing the attention to what they really want to do, and that is to inform the public with, “. . . a campaign which supports the ethos that cannabis prohibition has a negative impact on our society and gives hemp a bad reputation. We believe that if we reform these old fashioned laws it will have a positive effect on British people and the economy.” The group has even established a network to get a wide variety of high-quality seeds into the hands of the people supporting the cause. With as many as seven percent of English adults consuming cannabis on a regular basis, the group has seen many volunteers ranging from actual gardeners to bankers, all wanting to somehow contribute to the cause. By asking each supporter to do little more than dimple the ground with the end of a finger and drop a seed into it in any public place where the seed might take root, the volunteer will have helped to sprout an idea for all passer-byes to bear witness to just how miserably the war on drugs has been lost. The efforts press the notion that such a plant with so many uses—from industry, to medicine, to recreation—has been so wrongfully demonized. This should especially resonate with the British, whose country has had such a long and positive history with the plant as far as industry and medicine are concerned. So far, neither the police nor the media have made any particular announcements regarding the sudden appearance of cannabis plants throughout city streets, however, the group has noticed that many of the plants have been removed in various places. It’s obvious that not everyone in England is in agreement with the plant, or with the message that Feed the Birds is trying to convey, but the group hopes this campaign will once again, familiarize the public with the plant, making it a thing of common place and relieving it of its demonized and taboo status. http://ireadculture.com/article-4151-the-budding-story-of-new-british-cannabis-activism.html
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!