| Media
Release 22 June 1999
Nimbin
Hemp Embassy demands Honesty from Prohibitionists
Its time David Walters and the rest of the zero-tolerance crowd took a long honest look at themselves, and the consequences of their "Reefer Madness" lies. The professionals that he proudly lists are betraying both their professions and the youth of Australia by presenting misinformation to support their political/economic agendas. They probably have no personal experience of cannabis to draw on, and I suspect many actually believe the nonsense themselves! Thankfully the "superpot" myth has now been officially exposed by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, but there's plenty more reefer madness hysteria around. The Prohibition lobby must now backup their fanciful theories with real facts. There's already enough confusion in the drug debate.
Almost invariably, people's initial experience using cannabis is a safe and pleasurable one. How confusing that it's a criminal offence and you can't be open about it with family, teachers, employers, etc? Who do you go to for advice? This is the beginning of the alienation and rejection which is causing so much trouble, particularly with young people. The War on Drugs (i.e. the war on a few medicinal herbs!) is responsible for the alienation and rejection of our youth and much of the trouble they are getting into. Youth desperately need to be heard, respected, and spoken to honestly. Then they might respect and listen to us. UNDERSTANDING FREES YOU! |
If experience counts, young people know far more about cannabis than the
warmongers do. The real concern is that younger and younger people are playing with drugs
— and they don't know who's advice to trust. Certainly not the zero-tolerance crew!
Young people aren't fooled so easily and misinformation makes them sceptical about all
advice. Keeping communication lines open is critical and bullshit closes the door quickly.