NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR THE REFORM OF
MARIJUANA LAWS
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SUITE 1010
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Internet http://www.norml.org/
... a weekly service for the media on news items related to Marijuana Prohibition.
January 11, 1996
Canadian Hemp Activist, Businessman Busted By Vancouver Police
January 4, Vancouver, Canada: Police
have raided the Hemp
BC store in Vancouver, British Columbia, and are charging the
store's owner, vocal hemp activist Marc Emery, and three employees
with selling marijuana seeds. Emery had been selling
marijuana seeds, along with hemp products and literature, from
his retail store for the last 19 months in open defiance of the
law.
Emery was recently featured in a front page article of the Wall
Street Journal where he boasted to have sold "130,000
seeds" this year alone.
The raid took place at approximately 1 p.m. and law enforcement
officials seized seeds and drug paraphernalia such as pipes,
bongs, and mushroom grow kits. A large Budget Rent-a-truck was
parked outside to help the police move Hemp BC's wide assortment
of products. Emery and three employees were taken away in
handcuffs and all four activists are being charged with trafficking
marijuana seeds and selling instruments and paraphernalia for
illicit drug use. If found guilty of both charges, all four
could face each life imprisonment and fines of $100,000.
Police Constable Anne Drennan states that the Hemp BC bust is
the first time in Vancouver history that trafficking charges have
been filed against individuals for selling marijuana seeds. Drennan
further added that she expects Emery -- a self-proclaimed
libertarian who has previously served time in jail for opening
his bookstore on Sunday in disobedience of Ontario's blue laws --
to conduct a very public court challenge.
Both Emery and the three Hemp BC employees
were released Friday on their own recognizance. A
preliminary hearing has been set for February 8, 1996.
Dana Larsen, editor of the magazine Cannabis Canada,
reports that the Hemp
BC retail storefront continues to remain open for business in
spite of last Thursday's raid. "We will be selling pipes,
bongs, and seeds as per usual, although we might be understocked
for a day or two," he says.
For more information on Hemp BC
or Marc Emery's arrest, please contact Hemp BC @ (800) 330-HEMP.
American Farm Bureau Supports Industrial Hemp Research
January 11, 1995, Reno, Nevada: The
American Farm Bureau Federation, the largest farming organization
in the United States, passed a resolution at its annual
convention calling for research that could lead to the
re-introduction of hemp into the American farm economy.
The resolution, adopted by a unanimous vote of the 51 state
presidents and all 300 voting delegates, reads: "We
recommend that [the] American Farm Bureau Federation encourage research
into the viability and economic potential of industrial hemp
production in the United States. We further recommend that
such research includes planting test plots in the United States using
modern agricultural techniques."
Often described as "marijuana's misunderstood cousin,"
industrial hemp is from the same plant species that produces
marijuana. Unlike marijuana, however, industrial hemp has
only minute amounts of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the
psychoactive ingredient that gives marijuana its euphoric
properties. Industrial hemp is currently grown legally
throughout much of Europe and Asia and is being cultivated in
test plots in Australia and Canada.
Andrew Graves, incoming president of the Fayette County chapter
of the Kentucky Farm Bureau and vice-president of the Kentucky
Hemp Growers Cooperative Association, introduced the resolution
at the convention. "What we are asking for is research
to determine whether industrial hemp can once again become a
profitable agricultural commodity for American farmers just as it
is for farmers around the world," Graves said in his
presentation. "Where would agriculture be without
research?"
In a separate resolution, the AFB also voted to affirm its policy
in support of government efforts to eradicate illegal drugs,
including marijuana.
For more information on the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative
Association, please contact Andrew Graves @ (606) 293-0579 or
write to P.O. Box 8395, Lexington, KY 40533. The American
Farm Bureau Federation may be contacted @ (202) 484-3600.
U.S. Representative Criticizes Hempilation Protest Rally
January 3, 1996, Washington, DC: In
response to a December 1 rally held outside the offices of Boston
radio station WBCN to the protest the airplay of the NORML
benefit CD Hempilation,
U.S. Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has issued a letter to
Attorney General Janet Reno both condemning the actions of rally
organizers, the Governor's Alliance Against Drugs, and requesting
an inquiry into whether federal law enforcement officials were
involved.
Like many others who have voiced their disapproval over the
actions of the G.A.A.D. (i.e., National Writers Union, Boston
Coalition for Freedom of Expression, Mass/Cann, etc.), Frank is highly
critical of the actions of a Drug Enforcement Administration
official who allegedly took an active role in the protest.
"It does not seem to me at all appropriate for a federal law
enforcement agent to accompany an individual [G.A.A.D. Executive
Director Georgette Watson] who is making a demand that a media
outlet cease broadcasting a particular album, no matter how ...
ill-advised you, I and the DEA might find it to be," Frank
writes. "This [sort of conduct] puts the federal government
in the position of lending official support to an interference
with freedom of expression. ..."
... [Therefore,] if in fact a DEA agent accompanied Ms. Watson
and lent support by his ... presence to her demand that the radio
station stop playing [the Hempilation] CD,
[then] that is a wholly inappropriate action for a federal law
enforcement official ... and I ask that you look into it and make
clear that this is not the sort of thing that should
happen."
For more information, please contact either Bill Downing of Mass/Cann NORML
@ (617) 944-2266 or Jeremy Much of Capricorn Records @ (615)
320-8470. For further information on the Hempilation
CD, please contact Allen St. Pierre of NORML
@ (202) 483-5500.
College Freshman Survey Shows Renewed Support For Marijuana Legalization
January 8, 1996: Results from an annual survey of college freshmen indicates that support for marijuana legalization currently stands at a 15-year high. Nearly 34 percent of the respondents favored the legalization of cannabis, The Associated Press reported. This figure was double the 17 percent who held that view in 1989.
Bipartisan Committee Set To Analyze Violent Crime In America; Issues First Report
January 5, 1996, Washington, DC: The
bipartisan committee, Council on Crime in America, held a press
conference to issue its debut report on the state of violent
crime in America. The task force is co-chaired by former
Drug Czar William Bennett and former U.S. Attorney General
Griffin Bell.
The committee's first report is "descriptive" rather
than "prescriptive" and reveals that violent crime
today still remains at a historic high. "This study
paints a realistic and sobering picture of violent crime in
America," says Bennett.
Future reports and conferences will be aimed at addressing
potential solutions to America's violent crime problem, the
bipartisan task force announced. One of the problems that
the bipartisan commission intends to address is the notion that
America's current criminal justice system is simply a
"revolving door" for career offenders.
"We are hear to underscore the American people's perception
on violent crime," Bennett concluded.
For more information or for a copy of the report, "The
State of Violent Crime In America," please contact Lara
Stead by fax @ (202) 822-8328.
-END-
MORE THAN 10 MILLION MARIJUANA ARRESTS SINCE 1965 ... ANOTHER EVERY 65 SECONDS!