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<$Project P.E.A.C.E. -- Planet Ecology Advancing Conscious Economics$>
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Last week, for the first time since the war on drugs took hold of the European Union, testimony was invited from a drug policy reform group at an EU conference in Dublin. The NGO, called ENCOD (www.encod.org), made a statement recommending a change of course in Europe's approach to dealing with the drug problem, advocating harm reduction and regulation over prohibition. The statement made in Dublin by ENCOD can be found at
http://www.encod.org/dublin.htm
Specific mention of the nutritional value of Cannabis was added, to bring attention to the tragic effect of Cannabis prohibition in suppressing the U.N.'s recognition of Cannabis for food, fuel and other essentials,
"In fact, awareness of the true value of the sustainable, organic agricultural resource that the mentioned plants represent, could lead to introduction of a whole range of applications that are benefitial to human kind. In the case of cannabis or hemp, there is no other species that even comes close when considering organic production of biofuels, vegetable protein, herbal therapeutics, paper, cloth, building materials and thousands of other essential products."
As I have pointed out repeatedly in my work with ENCOD, the fact that the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) has no investigations of Cannabis as a strategic food resource for ending hunger and malnutrition, is criminally negligent, considering the extreme nutritional value of hemp seed.
The recent report by the FAO (released yesterday), promoting the use of GMOs, is chilling evidence that the UN would rather risk environmental damage by investing in "Frankenfoods" than acknowledge the true value of Cannabis. The following letter was sent to ENCOD to bring attention to this correlation, and the importance of understanding the economic dynamics which operate against ending prohibition.
Needless to say the same dynamic is operating here in the United States, though GMOs have already gotten their foot in the door, to a greater degree here, than in Europe.
"U.N. Touts Biotech to Boost Global Food Supply"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34536-2004May17.html
A 200 page report was issued by the U.N. Food & Agriculture Organization (UN/FAO) in Rome yesterday, advocating the use of GMOs in poor countries. Using the excuse of the need to feed people in poorer countries, the UN/FAO is revealing itself as a pusher for the Biotech industry.
This is extremely relevant to the drug policy debate because of the suppressive role 'marijuana' prohibition has played in the FAO's dismissal of Cannabis, the world's best available source of vegetable protein and essential fatty acids (EFAs). Prohibition has created an atmosphere which
allows FAO to disregard Cannabis as a strategic resource for addressing hunger and malnutrition.
Because Cannabis is a critically determinate crop, in the absence of Cannabis protein, there is a condition of essential resource scarcity, creating a market for GMOs that would not otherwise exist. As GMOs become more economically impacted into farming practices, it will be more difficult to displace the mechanism which is creating the demand for them, namely, Cannabis prohibition.
Before Europe is forced to swallow GMOs as a solution to global food shortages, it would be wise to recognize the dynamic in effect and insist that the UN/FAO acknowledge Cannabis as a more environmentally sane and acceptable approach to the problem of providing sustainable source of
protein, and other essential resources.
With the growing recognition of biodiesel and ethanol as preferable alternatives to toxic fossil fuels and nuclear energy, Cannabis prohibition can be even more obviously related to policies disruptive to achieving regional sustainability. As part of a realistic strategy for ending drug
prohibition, it is vitally important to recognize the underlying economic constructs that keep it in place.
Even though Cannabis is being grown in many countries in the EU and elsewhere, the failure of the UN/FAO to recognize and promote this unique and essential resource can be interpreted as part of the effort to minimize the role of Cannnabis in the free market economy. Prohibition of marijuana
plays a key role in allowing that dynamic to continue, effectively devaluing a resource which ought to be much more prominent in the mankind's struggle to survive on this planet.
For peace,
PvH
posted by projectpeace @
10:16 PM
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Tuesday, May 18, 2004  |
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