What Does 2012 Hold For The Cannabis Campaign?
Probably quite a lot. I expect to see some significant progress both in the UK and abroad.
The campaign has at last moved away from the hopeless hippy image of the past. CLEAR has been instrumental in achieving that in the UK and it means that we are now becoming mainstream. Cannabis is an important issue for everyone, users or non-users, parents, doctors, politicians and, of course, hippies, whether they wear a suit or a kaftan. In the US, organisations like NORML, the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) and Moms for Marijuana have already transformed the image of cannabis and cannabis users. In Europe, I am confident that the temporary blip in Holland will soon pass while Copenhagen, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and former Eastern bloc countries like the Czech Republic are leading the way with intelligent and progressive policies. Israel’s medicinal cannabis programme is establishing a model that others will soon follow.
The Home Affairs select committee inquiry into drugs policy is a huge opportunity and I am immensely proud of the way that CLEAR members and supporters have responded. No one knows what its outcome will be as far as cannabis is concerned but make no mistake, when reform does finally arrive, this is how it will happen. The government, ministers and the Home Office have been knowingly telling lies about cannabis for years. They need an excuse to let them off the hook and perform a U turn. A select committee report is exactly the mechanism that will allow this to happen.
Why have our political leaders been so dishonest with us?
Principally out of fear of the Daily Mail whose mendacious campaign against cannabis we are finally starting to bring under control. Although the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) is undoubtedly a corrupt and dishonest organisation (it works in the interests of the press, not the public), CLEAR’s determined and consistent flow of complaints is having a big impact. That is why we will continue until the PCC finally bites the dust. Its replacement will undoubtedly be a lot tougher and I look forward to drafting my first complaint to it. The days of liars like Amanda Platell being able to get away with falsifying scientific evidence are over. I should think the PCC’s replacement is probably about a year away yet.
Lie After Lie After Lie After Lie...
Another reason is to please their chums in Big Booze and to secure lucrative directorships for themselves once they retire from politics. One source of much of the improper influence over government is the Portman Group, an incredibly wealthy, shadowy lobbying organisation for the alcohol industry. These people are the real drug pushers that no caricature can properly describe as evil as they actually are. They really do push this most poisonous of all substances with no concern at at all for the millions of lingering deaths that it causes across the world every year. They deliberately promote it to and make it more palatable for children. They manipulate and distort markets with impunity and deliberately to get people addicted to their product..
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