New Zealand NORML Founder Gets
Great Publicity Wearing Hemp Suit
For Swearing In Ceremonies In Parliament. -- 2 Articles
December 21, 1999
From The Dominion
letters@dominion.co.nz
http://www.inl.co.nz/wnl/dominion/index.html
Page A2
By Helen Bain
GREEN MP SWEARS BY HEMP
OLD-STYLE MPs might sneer at the likes of dreadlocked Rastafarian Nandor Tanczos being
elected to Parliament, but they cannot look down their noses at his dress sense.
Mr Tanczos, a Green MP, wore a navy-blue hemp suit for his
swearing-in at Parliament yesterday, and his attire was crisper than the crispest Nat suit
- sharper than Winston Peters, even.
He had the suit specially made by an Auckland tailor, using a Chinese
hemp-wool cloth blend cloth. With it he wore an off-white hemp-viscose blend shirt and a
green-patterned tie, topping off the ensemble by twisting his waist-length
dreadlocks into a turban shape.
(Marijuananews note: New Zealand is a major wool producer. The sheep
actually outnumber the people.)
"People expect me to look like I was wearing sackcloth and ashes," he said.
Co-owner of The Hemp Store, Mr Tanczos hoped the suit would be a good advertisement of
what could be done with hemp - and contribute to a push to have hemp legally grown in New
Zealand.
See
Meanwhile In New Zealand, The
Narks and Bureaucrats Stall On Growing Hemp.
Founder Of Kiwi NORML, Now In Parliament, To Push Issue.
And no, he will not be trimming a bit of cloth off his trouser cuffs to roll up and smoke
- you cannot get stoned on hemp.
Mr Tanczos's partner, Linda Robinson, attended the swearing-in, and declared his suit
looked fabulous. She agreed his status as Parliament's thinking woman's piece of crumpet
was not undeserved.
"I suppose he's pretty sexy," she said.
Mr Tanczos responded: "She's got nothing to worry about."
Not that he minded hordes of female reporters running their hands over his suit - just to
check his assurances about the fine texture, of course.
Copyright: 1999 The Dominion
December 20, 1999
From The New Zealand Press
editorial@press.co.nz
http://www.press.co.nz/
MP'S HEMP SUIT TAILOR'S DELIGHT
The most talked-about item of clothing to grace a parliamentarian since that infamous pair
of silky boxers will make its first public appearance tomorrow. When Green MP Nandor
Tanczos walks up the steps of Parliament to be officially sworn in, he will be clad in a
brand-new hemp suit.
He expects some people to ask him why he did not follow through on his promise.
"People expect it to be like sackcloth." But the dark blue fabric was soft,
textured, and a tailor's delight, he said.
Posing in Ponsonby's Western Park yesterday in the hemp and wool
blend creation, his metre-long dreadlocks arranged in turbanlike fashion on his head, Mr
Tanczos appeared the perfect poster-child for the creation of a New Zealand hemp industry.
Hemp is a woody variety of the cannabis plant, and while it is legal to import finished
hemp products, importing hemp seed is illegal.
The Green Party wants trials of hemp crop in New Zealand, following the trend in more then
30 countries.
As co-founder and owner of the Hemp Store, Mr Tanczos also saw the
sales potential for the suits in Parliament. "I'd happily take orders."
He said his suit was comfortable, and breathed well.
Hemp promoters say there is no risk of hemp being used as a drug.
(Marijuananews note: But the prohibitionists claim that what we were
smoking back in the sixties was just hemp.)
Copyright: 1999 The Christchurch Press Company Ltd.
John researches and writes about the past, present and future uses of cannabis hemp. He is the founder and proprietor of the Boston Hemp Co-op, Museum and Library. John was the Managing Editor of Hemp Magazine and has had articles published in Hempworld Magazine, the Journal of the International Hemp Association and Cannabis Canada (now Cannabis Culture). He is a member of the Hemp Industries Association, the International Hemp Association, and Mass Cann/NORML. He can be reached at boston.hemp@pobox.com and 781-662-4313, or through www.hempology.org.