US-Hemp: Ralph Nader Interview

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Underground, US- Found this article while surfing.. interesting. Pinch



U: Why do you feel the government is so resistant to legalizing cannabis?



RN: Well, I mean, our campaign stood tall for decriminalizing marijuana, and regulating it. And very strong for legalizing the agricultural production of industrial hemp, which has 5,000 uses including fuel, food, energy, clothing, paper. It’s a very environmental benign plant, it can reduce our imports of oil, it would give farmers an added source of income, and produce paper without chlorine, reduce the number of trees that are cut down.



It’s insane that we don’t allow this to happen, because we do allow the importation of industrial hemp from Canada…it’s about $200 million last year, but the idea of, “It’s OK to import it, but not OK to let our farmers grow it,” it’s something that started back in 1937. It was put in there by pressure of the paper industry- which is now either neutral or supporting industrial hemp; I guess they’re running out of trees. International Paper, I know, supports the legalization of industrial hemp.



We’ve filed two detailed petitions to the Clinton and Bush administrations, to take it off the DEA prescribed list, but those petitions were turned down by Democrat and Republican administrations. Ron Paul, the Congressman of Texas, is just about to introduce a bill legalizing industrial hemp. And finally, we have a website that details all of this: go to www.essential.org. You’ll see lots of materials on the struggle to legalize industrial hemp.



U: Do you feel that if They were to legalize it all over, and regulate it, and have hash bars like there are in Amsterdam, do you feel that would overall be a detriment to society, or do you think overall legalizing cannabis and hemp would benefit our society?



RN: Well, I don’t care much for addictions of any kind. However, when you make them illegal, you just drive them underground. We tried prohibition of alcohol as a nation in the 20’s, and it helped build the underworld, and it discredited the law, and it was not a good experience, which is why it was repealed in the 30’s.



I don’t really go for people harming themselves, harming their bodies in any way, but if that’s their choice, then the product should be regulated, and they should be labeled, there should be standards of quality, and that should be subjected to taxation the way tobacco is. All along, we should try to get young people not to get addicted, to either alcohol, drugs, marijuana, tobacco, whatever.



Any time you try to criminalize an addiction, it doesn’t work. You can’t enforce it, it drives it underground, and the costs are far greater than they would be otherwise.



U: Do you think John Walters [ONDCP “Drug Czar”] is insane?



RN: [laughs] Well, when federal agents swoop down on Sioux Indian reservation, the Rosebud Reservation, and pull out 3,000 industrial hemp plants at 5am in the morning with helicopters, with the Indian farmer looking at them totally astonished, that’s pretty medieval and ridiculous. They felt ridiculous, actually, but they were just following orders…



U: Why do you think the trend, as far as the ONDCP’s tactics, have gone back to the 30’s? Like, with a lot of the anti-marijuana commercials seeming to mirror things like Reefer Madness, and it seems like when Bush came into office, they suddenly went back to these old-school tactics.



RN: A huge bureaucracy for this. The money could be much better spent on health care, and they spend far more money on the drug wars than they do on corporate crime, which has looted and drained trillions of dollars, and millions of workers’ pensions money, and their 401k’s, which has violated pollution control laws and other health and safety laws, resulted in death, injuries and disease. And they’re spending their time on the drug wars. Money, time, staff…



Source: Get Underground
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