PROFITABLE DRUG WAR

To The Editor;

The U.S. Government with it's multibillion-dollar anti-drug money has
created a trigger happy atmosphere in foreign countries. It's not about
stopping drugs. The drug war industry has become very profitable.

American missionary Veronica Bowers and her infant daughter, Charity, shot
down by Peruvian military were the latest victims of the failed drug war.
According to government sources we have sent $4.2 billion in drug war aid
to Peru since 1994. 30 planes shot down. Do the math, the taxpayers paid
$140 million to kill Veronica Bowers and her infant daughter. No drugs or
weapons on the plane!

A little insult to injury? Former President Alberto Fujimori fled to exile
in Japan in November to avoid corruption charges. On April 5, retired Gen.
Nicolas Hermoza, Fujimori's armed-forces commander from 1992 to 2000, was
arrested and charged with "protecting drug traffickers". Captured drug
baron Demetrio Chavez testified that he had paid $50,000 each to Montesinos
and Hermoza to allow safe passage for planes carrying cocaine. Conclusion:
Veronica Bowers plane was shot down because the Peruvian jet was being
watched by a C I A private contractor. At stake...$700 million U.S. aid
per year.....

The media coverage of the shooting down of the missionaries' plane over
Peru utterly fails to question the morality of shooting down any unarmed
plane, whether or not it happens to carry drugs. Whether or not passengers
on the plane are "innocent," shooting down an unarmed plane is
state-sanctioned murder, plain and simple.

Who is responsible for the death of the mother and child in Peru? The
people behind the failing U.S. government drug policy.

Larry Seguin Lisbon, New York

HEMP USE

To the editor;

Research by various hemp business associations indicate there are around
50,000 commercial uses of hemp that are economically viable and market
competitive. ( HEMP USES, Editorial Ogdensburg Journal, Monday 21 May 2001).

80 percent of all textiles and fabrics used for clothing, tents, bed sheets
and linens, rugs, drapes, quilts, towels, diapers, etc. Can be made from
fibers of cannabis.

Because one acre of hemp produces as much cellulose fiber pulp as 4.1 acres
of trees, hemp is the perfect material to replace trees for pressed board,
particle board. ( Source: Dewey & Merrill, Bulletin #404, United States
Dept. of Agriculture, 1916.)

Practical, inexpensive fire-resistant construction material, with excellent
thermal and sound-insulating qualities. William B. Conde of Conde's Redwood
Lumber, Inc. near Eugene, Oregon, in conjunction with Washington State
University (1991-1993), has demonstrated the superior strength,
flexibility, and economy of hemp composite building materials compared to
wood fiber, even as beams.

Hemp is Earth's number one biomass resource; it is capable of producing 10
tons per acre in four months. Hemp is easy on the soil, sheds its lush
foliage throughout the season, adding mulch to the soil and helping retain
moisture. ( Source: Adam Beatty, vice president of the Kentucky
Agricultural Society, reported instances of good crops of hemp on the same
ground for 14 years in a row without a decline in yield. Southern
Agriculture, C.M. Saxton & Co., NY 1843, pg. 113. USDA Yearbook, 1913.)

Sixty years of government suppression of information has resulted in
virtually no public knowledge of the incredible potential of the hemp fiber
or its uses.

The "catch" is obvious The energy companies! They own most of the
petrochemical, pharmaceutical, liquor, and tobacco companies, and are
intertwined with insurance companies and banks. According to the press,
many politicians now in power are bought and paid for by the energy
companies. ( Lobbying--Ogdensburg Journal Fri. 31 March 2000, "The Company"
- - Robert Ludlum ). The world struggle for money is actually a struggle for
energy, as it is through energy that we may produce food, shelter,
transportation and entertainment. It is this struggle which often erupts
into open war. If we remove the cause, these conflicts may never occur.
(Source: Carl Sagan; and U.S. EPA prediction, 1983, of worldwide disaster
in the making within 30 to 50 years.)

Contact Congressman John McHugh about this issue. 202.225.4611.

Larry Seguin Lisbon, New York