SMOKE SCREEN AGAINST CANNABIS INDUSTRY

It is ironic that Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton justifies the
prohibition of cannabis based upon his concern about a situation that has
arisen as a result of decades of prohibition. But the bigger irony is that
our Minister for Economic Development has already decided that the job
machine, the industrial use of cannabis, should remain illicit. If cannabis
use were legalised, there would be no stoned forestry workers because there
would be no forestry industry. Instead, cannabis could be used to produce
larger quantities of better quality papers and woods. Instead of
complaining about petrol prices, Mr Anderton could be helping to free this
country of the shackles of the oil industry by establishing the technology
to make better quality fuels from cannabis.

Cannabis use was prohibited for the competition it posed to oil,
petrochemical, pharmaceutical, cotton and logging concerns with its use as
an intoxicant being a convenient smoke screen. After years of political
impotence, Mr Anderton could now make a difference, but instead his
prejudice makes him betray the people and ideals he says he represents and
support the things he says he opposes. He should forget about possum skins.
Get serious and consider the huge potential of an industry in this country
utilising cannabis, the people's plant.

Jason Baker-Sherman

Dalmore