With Friends Like These Hemp Doesn’t Need Any Enemies

(Marijuananews note: Last week I got the following from cair@cair.net  [Sam H. Clauder II]:

To Cowan@marijuananews.com

"Where's the story about the California Democratic Party adopting the resolution?"

To which I responded: See Marijuana Induces Minimum Driving Impairment Compared to Alcohol; California Democrats Adopt Resolution Supporting Hemp—NORML Weekly Press Release
at
http://www.marijuananews.com/marijuana_induces_minimum_drivin.htm

I received the following response:

5/1/99 2:31:13 PM Central Daylight Time cair@cair.net (Sam H. Clauder II)

To cowan@marijuananews.com

Neither Allen St. Pierre nor the NORML Foundation asked or told me that they were going to release a PR about this. They had no authority to do this. Please explain why, with all the other PR’s that were sent out about this campaign, that the only one you posted was from an organization that has never shown any interest in propagating the truth about Industrial Hemp? Is this website sponsored by NORML?

Since the DEA and ONDCP stopped arguing against Industrial Hemp years ago, marijuana smokers are the only ones left to oppose CAIR’s campaign. No media outlet in California can get any individual or entity, public or private, to argue against me on the issues surrounding Industrial Hemp.
See
CBS Eye On America Let’s Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey Make a Fool Of Himself About Hemp Cultivation
and
Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey VS Hemp In Kentucky; An Interview and A Response From A Kentucky Farmer
and
NORML Director Defends Canadian Imprisoned In Nicaragua
After DEA "Convinces" Local Narks That Hemp Is Just Marijuana – Really Sad

and
The Sioux May Have To Sue The DEA To Be Allowed To Grow Hemp On Tribal Lands
and
A Wry Look At the Louisville Forum On Hemp; "The DEA argument was the party line."
and
"It is time that hemp once again be made legal in the United States.
Says Multinational Monitor -- Petitioner In DEA Suit

and
NH  State Representative Sues DEA For Right to Grow Hemp; Seeks Restraining Order
and
Hemp Opposed By Authorities In Ohio:
"The Drug Enforcement Administration and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
have said that permitting hemp farming would send the wrong signal to young people."

and
The Ban On Industrial Hemp May Be Hurting Marijuana Prohibition
Even More Than Legalizing It Would.
Is The Czar Considering A Tactical Retreat? – An Article And A Great Editorial

and
Hawaii Authorizes Industrial Hemp Seed Variety Trials.
"...DEA will consider setting the level of THC content for Cannabis Sativa L., hemp
that may be grown for industrial purposes."

You know who they can get? Dope smokers who want to patronize the DEA’s old argument that hemp and marijuana are the same! Jack Herer, Dennis Peron, and Ed Rosenthal! They’re the only opposition left! Pathetic nitwits who care nothing for the legal and political requisites necessary to accomplish real change in this society!
See
Jack Herer To Emcee 99 Santa Cruz Industrial Hemp Expo
Fortunately, this opposition continues to publicly disgrace itself in front of the broad majority of California voters, and so it is actually more of a political asset than a liability. The public believes, if they are against me, I must be right.

My concern with your website and the posting of this PR is that, by citing me and NORML as sources of the story, you’re feeding naive minds the same false propaganda that the DEA and ONDCP used to promulgate— the bald-faced lie that Industrial Hemp and mj are the same thing. And, in the face of the complete retreat of the DEA and ONDCP to continue this falsehood, you are all that’s left.

I challenge you to acknowledge and accept what has been indisputably proven to me over and over again, that Industrial Hemp is not mj, in any way, shape and form, once the seed is planted in the ground. But I especially want your cooperation in ceasing to discredit this and other campaigns on behalf of Industrial Hemp by reporting on them as if they are furthering the cause of mj legalization.
See
Is The Hemp Leaf Just A Fig Leaf For Marijuana? Uneasy Relationships in the Cannabis Movements

If not, then please pull this PR off your website and don’t post another report on this campaign. But, especially, DON’T EVER MENTION ME, C.A.I.R., OR OUR CAMPAIGN ON BEHALF OF INDUSTRIAL HEMP, IN THE SAME CONTEXT WITH ANY (ab)NORML CHAPTER OR PERSON, AGAIN!!!!!

Thank you.

(Marijuananews note: First, when a press release goes out it is not customary to call the sender to ask for permission to quote it. After all, that is why releases are sent out. And you can quote me on that.

Second, if it weren’t for Jack Herer most of the "Me No Marijuana" hemp promoters would never have heard of hemp.

Third, very simply, hemp is not necessarily marijuana, but all marijuana is necessarily hemp. Swiss hemp has no THC limits, but Canadian and other Western European hemp have a very low limit.
See
Switzerland Moves Toward Legalization; Sweden Moves Toward Apoplexy

Fourth, I find it very strange that "Industrial Hemp" advocates are opposed to people who support hemp cultivation, and tell the truth about it, and then suck up to people who want to arrest hemp farmers and lie about it.
See
Wisconsin Legislator Wants To Legalize Hemp; Fears Support Of Marijuana Reform Advocates;
Attorney General Is Opposed; Narks Claim Local Weed Is 25% THC!

Fifth, I will continue to run the NORML weekly press releases, as well as other stories about hemp, and I am delighted to have John Dvorak as the contributing editor of the Hemp Pages.

Sixth, anyone who thinks that the hemp issue can be separated from the rest of the cannabis issues is free to think that, but that is not my reading of the political reality.

Seventh, if at all possible, I will definitely avoid any future mention of CAIR. I wouldn’t want to create the impression that hemp causes bad manners.

For Mr. Clauder's views on how marijuana is to hemp as vodka is to potatoes see www.cair.net
-- RC)
See
And With Friends Like These; Part 2.
Former Head of CIA, Now at the North American Industrial Hemp Council, Tells Post That
NORML is "welcome to join his side, though its presence on his team borders on absurd:"
"Hemp is nature’s own marijuana eradication system."