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CANNABIS IN US

Thanks very much for your article, "Marijuana As First Amendment Right" [Courts & Crime News, November 6, 2007], by J.  Tobias Beard.

With an estimated 300 million cannabis consumers around the globe, this is no small issue.  And considering the absolute farcical fabrications underlying the much maligned plant's prohibition, the case of Carl Olsen touches on much more than religion.

In consideration of cannabis' place as an important agricultural, medicinal, industrial, spiritual and nutritional commodity around the globe for thousands of years, pot's prohibition is laughable in the face of reality.  As a medicine its use is ancient.  As a religious sacrament it has for millenia touched many religions in many regions of the globe.

Napoleon's attack on Russia was over hemp.  Hemp/cannabis is a proven ( and highly nutritious ) food source, a valuable fabric, a quality building material, an effective medicine for many conditions ( including quite possibly as a treatment against cancer ) and a plant that has such an ancient association with humanity that we carry receptors for it in our bodies at a cellular level.

The real debate is not about the validity of Olsen's ( or anyone else's ) religious use but rather about the lies that form the corrupted foundation for all laws against cannabis.  Laws based on lies have no relationship with justice.  Without justice, our legal system is a fraud.

Allan Erickson

Drug Policy Forum of Oregon

Eugene, Oregon