We begin this issue with an expanded collection of Milestones from around the world. Although the past months have been a mixed bag of setbacks and successes, there has been a great deal of worldwide discussion and debate about the issues of marijuana, hemp, and drug policy in general. These issues are coming into the public eye more and more often, and the numbers of those who realize that change is necessary are rapidly growing.

Canadians have seen a significant change take place in their nation's drug policy, but unfortunately it is a change for the worse. The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act was passed by the Senate and is now law in Canada, and so Cannabis Canadians must prepare ourselves for a new wave of harassment and abuse as the police incorporate the Act into their procedures. We offer you a warm Welcome to the Drug War.

Despite the fact that the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act drastically increases police powers of search and seizure, as well an encouraging the police to actively sell drugs themselves, it has received almost no media attention during the 10 years it has been in development. David Malmo-Levine examines the media's coverage of the bill, and explains how Yellow Journalism is alive and well in Canada, and responsible for a great deal of public ignorance and misinformation.

If Canadians do not become more aggressive in our pursuit of tolerance and freedom then we might one day find our own government executing drug offenders in the same way as many other countries do around the world. Matthew Elrod discusses the use of the death penalty for drug offences in the context of Canadian Ronald Wilson McCulloch, who was recently facing the possibility of a mandatory death sentence for trafficking in marijuana. Although McCulloch was ultimately sentenced to "only" nine years in prison, many native inhabitants find themselves Swinging in Singapore for their involvement in marijuana or another banned substance.

Some Cannabis Canadians who have been attacked by their government have refused to back down, and have taken their battle to the courts. Sara F. profiles Randy Caine, whose charge for a half gram of marijuana has led to both a massive constitutional challenge and his personal proprietorship of a hemporium and coffee shop. Despite a hostile city council, no business license, rumours that he's been shut down, and the ongoing expense of the constitutional challenge, Randy has persevered in Keeping the Joint Open and fighting for his freedom.

We also profile four other Canadians who have put their freedom on the line and Cannabis in the Courts. Each of the four has been charged for violating a different aspect of cannabis prohibition, and so they cover the spectrum from industrial hemp, viable seeds, seedlings, and paraphernalia. Check this out for details of their unique circumstances and strategies.

Ignorance can sometimes grow and feed simply on the force of its own inertia, and when mixed with fear it can be a powerfully destructive force. The city council of Langford on Vancouver Island are both afraid and ignorant of cannabis hemp, and so in June they banned all aspects of the cannabis plant from within their city limits, just to stop a hemp store from opening up in their community. Nicole Nicholson tells the story of how Big Brother, Small Town, can really mess things up.

Things have also been messed up for Regina native Grant Kreiger, who flew to Amsterdam to receive a prescription for marijuana to help his Multiple Sclerosis. Unfortunately, he spent two nights in a Dutch jail, and returned home empty handed, only to discover that his home had been raided by police in his absence. Dr Sumach fills us in on the Grant Kreiger story, and shows us how Life on Earth isn't always what we want or expect it to be.

Medical marijuana is also a major issue in the State of California, where an initiative to decriminalize marijuana for medicinal use recently received enough signatures to be placed upon the state ballot for the fall elections. Rose Ann Fuhrman tells the story of how the signature gatherers faced a Cliffhanger in California, but rallied together in a last minute frenzy that pulled them well over the finish line.

Another medical marijuana user with a story to tell is Elvy Musikka, who is one of only eight Americans who currently receives legal medicinal marijuana from the US government. Elvy has severe glaucoma, but she explains in an interview how she was Blinded by Ignorance, and went through unnecessary surgeries and medications until she discovered that marijuana allowed her to see. She took her government to court and forced them to provide it to her, and now she travels across the continent spreading the good news about marijuana's healing effects.

Sasha Przytyk takes us on a tour of Hemp in Poland, introducing us to cannabis culture in Posnan and untangling the intricacies of hemp cultivar maintenance at Poland's Institute of Natural Fibres. Sasha's European hemp tour also swings through Hungary and Holland before heading home with some words of wisdom for the nascent Canadian hemp industry and a handy hint for getting through customs with ease.

Although Holland leads the world in practicing harm reduction policies and treating drug users with some respect, some Dutch police apparently took these concepts a bit too far. It was recently revealed that the Dutch Inter Regional Team police force had been smuggling marijuana and other drugs into the country in vast quantities. The resulting political confusion has led to a few changes in Dutch drug policy, and an impending shake-up of their entire police system. For more information on The IRT Affair, see our story by special Dutch correspondent Sander de Jong.

Grow guru Ed Rosenthal joins us from South of the border for a look at some new technologies that are literally shaking up the marijuana business. Instead of throwing away your leaves and shake, Ed explains how a new breed of sophisticated sifters and strainers can help you extract more of the resinous glands and turn your Trash to Stash.

Our final article in this issue is the astonishing true story of a first time smuggling run that brought a ton of pot from Jamaica into Florida. Pilot Alan McTeer spins a tale with crashing thunderstorms, Jamaican police, a trigger happy American, heart-stopping action, and carefully flying fifty feet above the ocean in the dark of night. McTeer tells the amazing story of how he got There & Back Again.

We conclude with some of the Pought Thots we've received over the past few months. Two reminders on the dangers of pigs, rants against inept politicians and a deceitful actor, and a note that we are an inspiration for some of our brothers and sisters in less liberated parts of the world. As always, we welcome all your feedback, comments, and thoughts about our magazine.

The fact the our government was able to pass a law that steps up the oppresion of Canadian marijuana smokers is a sad testament to the fact that we still have a great deal of work to do before we can live in peace. We must convince our elected oppressors that marijuana users are not their enemy, and that they should nobly lead our nation out of the dark ages of prohibition, instead of continuing to enforce archaic and brutal laws. The mindless persecution of marijuana users has been clearly shown to be destructive, counter-productive, and immoral.

We must find the strength to do what our government has not done, and force an end to the vicious war against us.

Dana Larsen, editor

As promised, we present to you Issue #6 of Cannabis Canada just as Winter 96/97 issue hits the newsstands. Since these articles were written in the summer of 1996, a lot has happened in the Big, Wonderful World o' Cannabis.

While many Canadians were celebrating Canada Day on July 1st this year, the country's cannabis community gathered in large numbers to get festive; July 1st was also Cannabis Day across the nation. In Vancouver, crowds gathered at the Art Gallery and marched through the streets en masse to Sunset Beach. In case you didn't make it, we provide a review of Cannabis Day, July 1st 1996 to get you stoked for next year.

Summer festivals and outdoor events are always popular with all sorts of people. One case in point is an August night in 1971 when a marijuana rally in Vancouver coincided with a police head-busting festival, what later came to be known as the Grasstown Police Riot (see our last issue). In the summer of 1996 the cannabis community of Vancouver gathered once again in the same location to remember all the fun, for the 25th Anniversary of the Grasstown Police Riot.

This fall David Malmo-Levine, whose article Yellow Journalism appears in this issue, decided to set an example of a real harm reduction strategy. While summer rallies had eliminated some of the stigma of smoking pot in public (at least in Vancouver), buying and selling marijuana still carried it's full freaky-freaky drug war paranoia. So David decided to hold a public free-market pot-selling rally in Grandview Park to send off his new Harm Reduction Club. During the day about 1 pound of marijuana was sold with police standing by, while David sang loudly, "I'm Selling Marijuana!"

That kind of talk can put a real kink in one's neck, yes? If I had any of my senses left I might make some thinkin' feller-type comments here, but they've all gone to the right and want to become CEOs for the power of it. Me, what's really in here, like what's really at the DMT all-waystation, is just wishing you some goodness and a balance in your preferred existence (see, they're not all murderous madmen; some of them are nice!).

Some senses just dropped back in for a minute or two; they'd like to express a sincere hope that everyone out there is not particularly set on world oblivion, and is acting accordingly. Like, the dollar casts the vote in a consumer society like ours, and so treat each purchase with the same gravity as an election. And learning to relax; kicking back, easing the mind and body, getting laid or high or both - these are important things. An at-ease individual benefits society through at-ease interactions, and so chilling out is an act of social conscience. You getting laid eases tensions for everyone; smoking a joint is for the good of the whole world. Elementary interpersonal communication system theory.

Going past that reason stuff, I feel pretty good considering I haven't slept today, or yesterday, or the day inbetween (reason tags along), and haven't eaten a good full meal in a few days. I feel excellent, but I don't excersize much either, other than taking stairs over the elevator when not too tired, and typing. It must be the drugs. Thank goodness that the War on Drugs is a total failure, and anything you desire is readily available; as untaxable as this market is, and as expensive as the police make-work project is, we should maybe divert that money elsewhere. Why not put the FUN back into FUNding? It's about time we got to work on those space hotels and the moon colonies (Choose-your-own-gravity! Now who's relaxing?). While we're waiting for the chance to grow Lunar grass, at least they're some good space fun to be seen. New Star Wars movies, two Mars landings, and the first chunk of a world space station thrown out into orbit. That's entertainment. Entertainment good. Go good.

Thanks for absorbing our information. We believe the message is worthwhile and important, so we give you access for nothing. Free information - Everyone's Utopia! However, in order to keep myself and the other fine Cannabis Canada people employed, bossman has to make money. So maybe you like to buy copy of magazine, or some item from HempBC?

Karlis, the person typing this

Cannabis Canada Issue #6 Publishing Information

Publisher

Marc Emery
memery@hempbc.com

Editor

Dana Larsen
muggles@hempbc.com

Layout/Art Direction

David Cheong
takwei@hempbc.com

Contributing Writers

Dana Larsen
David Malmo-Levine
Matthew Elrod
Sara F
Dr. Alexander Sumach
Rose Ann Fuhrman
Sasha Przytyk
Sander de Jong
Ed Rosenthal
Alan McTeer

Contributing Artists

David Cheong
Dr. Alexander Sumach

Contributing Photographers

David Cheong
Rose Ann Fuhrman
Sasha Przytyk
Ed Rosenthal
Caroline Mangosing

Production Office

#504 - 21 Water Street,
Vancouver, BCÊV6B 1A1
phone: (604) 669-9069
fax: (604) 669-9038
www.hempbc.com

Issue #6 - Fall 1996

Circulation 20,000
Printed in Canada
Canadian Publications Mail Product
Sales Agreement No. 0716367

Cannabis Canada is a quarterly publication that exists to advocate the beneficial uses of cannabis and to work towards an end to prohibition and censorship everywhere.

We welcome unsolicited articles and artwork, but will not return any material unless it is accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. We pay a minimum of 4 cents a word for articles, and $30 for most art and photographs.

We encourage you to copy and disseminate the information in our magazine as long as its not for profit. We require that you notify us, and credit Cannabis Canada and the author if you reprint a story.

If you wish to reprint photographs and illustrations out of context from the pages of Cannabis Canada please notify our office as to your intent before doing so.

Front Cover

British Columbian Mighty Mite.

Photograph by Lincoln Clarkes