Editor,
Our country was founded on the premise that all men and women should have the right to pursue happiness however they see fit, as long as they are not violating the rights of others.
Yet, today, the U.S. federal government violates this principle with the prohibition of the cannabis plant. For those who wish to use industrial hemp to help end deforestation, our government acts as an oppressor. Legalizing marijuana and hemp for adult use would be not be a promotion of drug use, it would be a promotion of freedom and liberty that we are all entitled to. The purpose of our government is not to oppress its citizens but to protect their rights and increase their well-being.
Recently, many new state medical marijuana initiatives have been put on ballots throughout the country with the support of the American people, only to then be faced with opposition from the federal government. Why are marijuana's many medicinal properties ignored by the federal government? Its placement as a schedule one drug is in defiance to the conclusions of doctors and medical professionals around the world. The debatable negative health effects of marijuana are miniscule when compared to the dangers of alcohol or tobacco.
Not one death has ever been attributed solely to marijuana use while hundreds of thousands die from tobacco and alcohol every year in America. Defending the continued prohibition of cannabis in the interest of public health is completely ridiculous. The truth is that the cannabis plant has been used as a safe and effective medicine throughout the world for centuries. A citizen's responsible personal use of marijuana should no longer be a crime. It is an act that is certainly no more criminal than drinking wine or smoking tobacco.
The many materials that hemp can produce including paper, cloth and biomass fuel can be of great benefit to the public and the environment. Why are we using toxic, polluting fuels instead of clean renewal fuels like Biofuel, solar and wind energy? Why are we destroying forests, drastically altering the Earth's ecosystem for the worse, when we can use hemp to create higher quality paper and construction products instead? One is left to conclude that the reasons for the restrictions on this plant are not based on the well-being of the American people, but rather that this law serves the financial interest of industries that would lose money if hemp and marijuana were a legal commodity.
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We respect the politicians and citizens working to end this unjust and unconstitutional war on the use of cannabis and hope others join in speaking out against this oppressive law, revealing its hypocrisy and injustice to more Americans.
Austine C. Fink
UNM Hemp Coalition
