AIMS AND PURPOSES
a). To conduct and manage an organisation dedicated to inform, educate, debate & disseminate information about hemp and Cannabis law reform.
b). To publicise the cause of drug law reform in general & Cannabis [law reform] in particular.
c). To research, advocate and lobby for changes in South Australian and Australian laws in relation to the personal use, medical & therapeutic use and industrial use of Cannabis.
d). (i) To lobby for, and encourage the establishment of a Hemp industry for fibre, paper, fabric and other industrial purposes.
d) (ii) To raise awareness and advocate the ecological, environmental, social and economic advantages of utilising hemp as a part of the transition towards a sustainable carbohydrate based economy.
e). To encourage research into, and development of medicinal and theraputic uses of Hemp.
f). To campaign for the adoption of harm minimisation strategies, techniques and policies at local, state and federal levels.
g). To act accordingly in support of the above aims and objectives.
from our Constitution, as amended May 2000.
A. Personal Use of Cannabis:
HEMP want the removal of all criminal and civil penalties for the possession, personal use and cultivation of Cannabis by adults.
Cannabis use is a civil rights issue. We believe in an individuals freedom of choice - not a government backed civil war on Cannabis users.
B. Medical & Therapeutic Use of Cannabis:
Cannabis has been unequivocally proven to be effective in treating certain conditions, such as nausea from cancer chemotherapy, glaucoma, pain & spasms and wasting syndromes associated with HIV/AIDS, and have few side effects.
HEMP believes it is cruel and inhumane to deny patients access to potentially life-saving cannabis medicines. HEMP demands immediate amnesty for all Medical marijuana users.
Research into the medical and therapeutic benefits of cannabis should be initiated and clinical trials begun now.
Let doctors decide what is best for their patients, not police and politicians!
C. Industrial cannabis products:
HEMP support, and have actively campaigned for the conversion of our unsustainable hydrocarbon dependent economy, into a sustainable one based on carbohydrates. Cannabis (and other annual crops) can be used to produce paper, textiles, oils, fuel, fibre, fodder, building products and literally thousands of other products.
HEMP believes that industrial cannabis products should be allowed to freely enter the market without discrimination. In the current setting HEMP oppose the artificially low limit of 0.3% THC allowed for industrial Cannabis. Farmers in South Australia must be able to compete equally with those in Communist China and Victoria without stifling government red tape.
Grow hemp, Stimulate the economy, Save the planet!
D. Regulated Availability:
HEMP advocates a system of Cannabis regulation that would include Cannabis Kafes with age restrictions, public health and agricultural controls, and taxation of cannabis for profit.
A well-planned system of cannabis regulation would discourage abuse, protect the public health and safety, reduce crime associated with illicit distribution, and raise new tax revenues.Regulation is the inevitable replacement of prohibition.
E. Personal Cultivation:
HEMP believes the right to possess Cannabis also includes the rights to grow Cannabis for personal use, to transport, and to gratuitously distribute small amounts of Cannabis.
F. Destruction of Criminal Records:
HEMP demands the expungement of all criminal records of persons arrested for, or convicted of, cannabis offenses prior to the enactment of legislation repealing criminal penalties for such offenses.HEMP are also calling for the release of all drug war prisoners currently serving time for personal use, cultivation and possession offences.
G. Driving While Under the Influence:
HEMP strongly discourages driving motor vehicles while impaired in any way whether by legal drugs like alcohol, benzos or other medication or simply by fatigue. HEMP recognizes a legitimate public interest in the preventing such activity, but believes that recent Australian and international scientific evidence showing that Cannabis use is not particularly hazardous,(especially when compared to alcohol) should be recognised. (Dr Jack McClean, an internationally respected researcher based at Adelaide University's NHMRC Road Accident Research unit, even suggested that one of the biggest advances in road safety would be to switch drivers who are alcohol users off the booze and on to Cannabis instead!)
HEMP support effective education campaign on
H. Public Use:
HEMP recognizes the individual rights of non-smokers not to be subject to passive smoking.
Cannabis smoking should be banned wherever tobacco smoking is banned.
I. Cannabis and Schoolchildren:
HEMP believe it is inappropriate for children to use any drugs without parental consent and supervision, particularly in a school setting. Punitive policies such as random urine testing and expulsions however are unecessary, expensive, invasive and counterproductive. HEMP endorses realistic, harm minimisation based approaches to drug education. We oppose DARE-type programs and any other "just say no!" approach, simply because they don't work and "send the wrong message'".
J. Role of Law Enforcement:
HEMP opposes any use of the military in civilian law enforcement. We further oppose the militarisation of domestic law enforcement and the use of tactics such as entrapment and undercover "sting" operations where otherwise innocent people are encouraged to buy drugs by police. There is no justification for the police to be selling drugs and it sets dangerous and often misused precedents to permit them to do so.
K. Drug Abuse:
Cannabis is not harmless, but prohibition of Cannabis causes more harms than it prevents. The effects of "drug abuse" are far more sensibly, humanely and cost-effectively dealt with by the health system rather than the criminal (in)justice system. Cannabis use is a health issue, not a crime! Treating kids as criminals doesn't help them.
Regulating cannabis would reduce other drug related harms by seperating the markets between cannabis and harder drugs. Harm minimisation capmaigns would see health information being given out at point of sale. Proceeds from taxing Cannabis sales could fund education campaigns and counselling services for problematic users.
L. Cannabis Eradication:
HEMP is opposed to the use of Paraquat and all other chemical herbicides or biological agents intended to destroy or identify cannabis under cultivation in Australia or globally.
Such chemicals are highly toxic to the environment and carcinogenic to humans if contaminated Cannabis is consumed.
War on Drugs is a war on people and the environment! It's time to end the war!
M Drug Testing in the Workplace
HEMP support education campaigns run by proactive unions and other groups to educate workers about appropriate use, safe workplaces and workplace safety.
HEMP oppose mandatory drug testing in the workplace on several grounds. Whilst recognising the legitimate occupational health and safety issues concerning impairment in a workplace, we do not belive tests as they are currently conducted are fair, error free and value neutral. (Abuse of alcohol in the workplace is a far more serious concern, yet workers are not breathalized daily). Tests can and do give false positives, and are an invasion of privacy.
These tests are counterproductive, perhaps encouraging harder drug use. Cannabis metatabolites remain in your system for up to 4-6 weeks, possibly longer, whilst metabolites from other more dangerous drugs like heroin, speed and even LSD are gone within hours or days. Speed metabolites are identical to ethedrine metabolites, whilst heroin metabolites are they same as codeine, so positive tests for these drugs can always be explained "legitimately". Tests like may make taking other harder drugs more attractive than Cannabis for that reason.
Just who does get to watch you providing your urine sample?
N. Policy on Drug Law Reform for other drugs:
Prohibition of all drugs has been as damaging for the users of other drugs and society as a whole, as has prohibition of Cannabis. The enforcing of personal use of drugs is no matter for the criminal law. The use of other drugs must become a matter of harm reduction, education, and a public and private health issue.
HEMP support drug law reform that can be shown to reduce harms to drug users and the community. We support trials of supervised injecting rooms and prescription heroin provided on harm minimisation grounds.
(Compare our views on drug law refom with the (amazing!) comments
by the NSW Police Association.)O. Other policy.
If & when HEMP members are elected as representatives at either State or Federal level, we are committed to broad consultation with members over other policies.
