Drug Watch
International
Resolution
RESOLUTION AGAINST
"INDUSTRIAL" MARIJUANA HEMP
Whereas:
Drug abuse threatens our democratic institutions, world security, and the
future of nations;
Whereas:
Families and communities are directly and heavily impacted by the tragedy
and devastation of the illegal use of drugs;
Whereas:
Marijuana use by youth greatly increases the likelihood
of other drug use;
Whereas:
Marijuana use endangers adults and especially children, and it has
created widespread societal problems throughout the world;
Whereas:
Marijuana Hemp (Cannabis sativa), due to its psychoactive content
(THC level), is the only type of various hemp plants that is illegal to grow and
is the only hemp plant being proposed for new industrial production and use;
Whereas:
The threshold level of THC proposed for industrial marijuana hemp is of
the same strength as marijuana sold on the streets in the 1960s and 1970s;
Whereas:
Smoking marijuana hemp with a low THC level of 0.25 percent could result
in psychological effects on inexperienced users (children, for example), or on
individuals with a high degree of sensitivity to THC;
Whereas:
THC accumulates in the fatty cells of the body;
Whereas:
A threshold THC concentration, below which industrial marijuana hemp
would have no significant psychoactive properties, has not been determined;
Whereas:
Even the supposedly low psychoactive (THC) level proposed for industrial
marijuana hemp creates the potential for problems similar to those faced in
areas where marijuana hemp grows wild;
Whereas:
There is a possibility for diversion of marijuana hemp into the illicit
drug trade:
§
Through
increasing the psychoactive content by harvesting selected parts of the plant,
§
Through
manufacturing a higher-potency drug product from the marijuana hemp plant using
accessible recipes and combining it with other ingredients, and
§
Through
using low-potency marijuana hemp as a filler to increase the bulk of
higher-potency marijuana sold in illicit markets;
Whereas:
Industrial low-potency marijuana hemp and high-potency marijuana hemp are
often visually indistinguishable and can only be differentiated through chemical
analysis, allowing marijuana hemp plants with illegally high potencies to be
covertly grown in industrial marijuana hemp fields;
Whereas:
Pro-drug advocates promote the normalization and legalization of
marijuana under the guise of "industrial hemp";
Whereas:
Supporting industrial marijuana hemp sends an ambivalent and harmful
message to youth and others regarding marijuana;
Whereas:
Claims of economic advantages to the agricultural community from growing
industrial marijuana hemp are significantly exaggerated, and the market for
industrial marijuana hemp is, in fact, miniscule, with existing alternative
products and raw materials being cheaper and healthier to produce and providing
better market results; and
Whereas:
Claims of environmental advantages from growing industrial marijuana hemp
are misleading and significantly exaggerated;
THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
DRUG
WATCH INTERNATIONAL IS OPPOSED TO THE PRODUCTION OR USE OF MARIJUANA HEMP
(CANNABIS SATIVA) FOR CONSUMER PRODUCTS, BECAUSE OF ITS POTENTIAL FOR INCREASING
DRUG PROBLEMS, ITS LACK OF
POTENTIAL FOR IMPROVING THE ENVIRONMENT, AND ITS LACK OF POTENTIAL FOR PROVIDING
SUPERIOR ECONOMIC REPLACEMENT FOR OTHER AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
AND
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT:
THE
PUBLIC IS ENCOURAGED TO BECOME MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE REGARDING INDUSTRIAL MARIJUANA
HEMP AND TO REFRAIN FROM PURCHASING ITEMS MADE WITH INDUSTRIAL MARIJUANA HEMP TO
SHOW OPPOSITION TO THIS AND OTHER ILLICIT DRUGS.
[April
1999]
Return
to Drug Watch International Homepage
This page was last updated on May 17, 2001
Copyright © 2001 Drug Watch International. All rights reserved. Disclaimer
Please address all comments and questions to: Drug Watch International, P.O. Box
45218, Omaha, NE 68145-0218, USA