Hi everyone,
I have come across a great book, which many of you have probably already read. It is “The emperor wears no clothes”, by Jack Herer (Welcome to Jack Herer's Home on the Web). It describes very well what the reasons behind prohibition around the world are.
We learn in detail of the interests that the paper, the oil, the pharmaceutical, the alcohol industries have in common to press on politicians to forbid a plant which itself has a great variety of uses. It becomes clear why hemp is dangerous to them: all investments and profits in those fields would be lost. Net theory explains how a synergetic action among different powers is possible.
But what is even more clear is the power that we, as citizens, have. For a “Marihuana lover”, it should be compulsory knowing what's behind those wonderful, fat buds. The edonistic use of hemp is what we have in common, but it shouldn't stop at that level. Each of us should be able to accurately debunk each of the lies we commonly hear when talking of Marihuana.
I have been thinking for a while that we could do more than just planting our own. If each of us (here in Italy, where I live, statistics talk of ten millions smokers) dropped a hemp seed everytime he/she smokes, there would be an invasion of plants. They would grow on roofs, on sidewalks, in forests, in woods, in countrysides. It would be very hard to control the spread.
Of course, this should not be the only thing to do. Information and knowledge about hemp should be spread, too. Firstly, by us. This means that we should make an effort to actually know by heart all that has been written about hemp, all the studies that have proved it is a great plant, one who's been with mankind as long we have walked.
Here in Italy, old people can recognise a hemp leaf on the spot, because many of them used to grow it, and live through it. From one day to another, it became the evil plant that must be avoided. In twenty-thirty years, the majority of people has ended up believing it. I don't mean we should stop people in the street and annoy them by talking of the prodigies hemp may do, but rather, that we should be as informed as we can, and drop truth as much as seeds. In this way, creating the basis for a common knowledge and, more, re-estabilishing a true common sense regarding hemp, we could eliminate the misconceptions that have been propagated by a few individuals for their own benefit.
It is not only to have free puffs. It is for the sake of truth. We have been told we'll end up as drug addicts, as brain-damaged, as lost souls, because self-growing does not make money. At the same time, we all risk from fines to jail, on the basis of pure lies. Well, not all of us. For the few lucky ones who's “made it”, it usually fetches up with a fine, then a brief media storm, then silence. Here in Italy, there have been a few scandals with cocaine trafficking in the Parliament, but nothing has happened, showing a two-sided way of acting. Involvments of the Bush family in drug trafficking have been silenced, and the journalist investigating in it, Gary Webb, “committed suicide” by shooting two bullets in his head. Meanwhile, we talk of the lack of press freedom in Russia.
If hemp plants started to grow everywhere, people would ask themselves why. And to avoid to be labelled by mass media as “a bunch of idiots” or, worse, “terrorists”, information should be there, too. Granitic information, not just a few words.
A spliff is not just a spliff. A seed is not just a seed.
For the moment, I am deciding to remain anonymous, as in my country is illegal to self-grow, and I have clearly made statements about my doing it.
This is my seed, I drop it, I hope it grows. Not onanistically, I wish.
