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