CANNABIS

Mark Long (ODT, 11.12.01) mistakenly thinks that cannabis law reformers are
using the medical marijuana issue to justify the recreational use of
cannabis. Instead the medical marijuana "controversy" is but one thread in
the tapestry of lies that has been spun in order to prohibit all cannabis use.

For instance, when the US Federal Government introduced the 1937 Marijuana
Tax Act under the pretext of arresting an epidemic of recreational
marijuana use that was said to threaten the nation, legitimate cannabis
industries were reassured that they would not be hindered. Once this became
law, however, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics wielded its new 'tax' power
initially against hemp businesses, especially those experimenting with
cellulose technologies or "chemurgy", followed in 1939 by the doctors that
were still prescribing it as a medicine. Then, ironically, after decades of
prohibition the recreational use of cannabis became widespread and its
medicinal properties were rediscovered by the public. Medical marijuana
users, often using cannabis as a last resort, were treated by the law with
the same contempt and brutality that it used against recreational use.
Attempts to legitimise medicinal cannabis use were thwarted by impossible
bureaucratic requirements. The situation in New Zealand today is little
different.

Mr Long concludes, paradoxically, that no government should make cannabis
more accessible to the public than it is already, which means that the
black market determines "accessibility". I say that no government claiming
to represent infinite justice and enduring freedom should misinform and
arrest its citizens in order to deprive anyone of the benefits of a
"medical miracle" (ODT, 7.11.01).

Jason Baker-Sherman, Dalmore