Earth Day Tragedy-Of-Sorts: Wal-Mart, Hemp and Right-Wing Anti-Cannabis Crusades
April 22nd, 2008 By: Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director Born the same year in 1970, Earth Day and NORML have grown up side-by-side. Today, millions of Americans will celebrate and be mindful of the basic message of Earth Day: Living in harmony with nature.
Frustratingly, NORML recently discovered through a tip from a supporter and a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that an anti-drug group based in Florida called Drug Free America Foundation (DFAF) in their zeal against anything having to do with cannabis harass major corporations and retailers to stop marketing all products that are made of hemp, books that educate about the plant and even CDs from musical artists that dare mention the word ‘hemp’.
One of DFAF’s targets was retail giant Wal-Mart. In 2005, DFAF director Calvina Fay (a former law enforcement employee) wrote to the CEO of Wal-Mart, S. Robeson Walton, bringing to his attention that of the tens of thousands of products Wal-Mart sells, DFAF took great umbrage with the company for selling two hemp-related books and a CD by Canadian rock band ‘Chixdiggit’.
hxxp://blog.norml.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/0009878703552_150x150.jpg
“Save Money. Live Better.” (Wal-Mart motto)
A search of Wal-Mart’s webpage today, and a trip to a Wal-Mart in Maryland confirms, that apparently DFAF’s harassment of Wal-Mart worked as the company no longer sells any book titles concerning hemp, no hemp-related clothing, jewelry or backpacks. However, despite DFAF’s protest, Wal-Mart still retails CDs by Chixdiggit, featuring the song ‘Hemp, hemp hooray!’
What can cannabis consumers and concerned citizens do to counter the anti-cannabis advocacy of groups like DFAF? Do the same thing! Write to the CEOs and/or owners of retail stores and tell them that you logically want hemp-based products to purchase for all obvious reasons—hemp is an environmentally safe, responsible and valuable agricultural product that takes little fertilizer and almost no pesticide to produce a cash crop that is as utilitarian, if not more so, than the soybean.
Let prospective business owners who may have a commercial interest in selling hemp products know that virtually every country in the world (even though ‘marijuana’ is not legal in these countries to ingest) allows non-psychoactive hemp to be cultivated and used for industrial purposes/apparel, and that the two primary reasons that hemp is not a staple agricultural commodity in America is 1) because of the country’s misguided and blanket cannabis prohibition (a.k.a. Reefer Madness) created by the federal government in 1937, and 2) so-called anti-drug groups disingenuously confusing industrial hemp with marijuana for the purposes of continuing the mindless practice of opposing any human interaction at all with the cannabis plant, be it for adult recreant use, a safe/non-toxic therapeutic or as a valuable industrial plant that humans have been cultivating and employing for the betterment of society for thousands of years.
On this 38th Earth Day, do something bold for the planet and personal freedom: Support and commend your local retailers and stores that carry hemp products while at the same time opposing anti-drug groups like DFAF from making the war on some drugs any worse for society or the environment than it already has become.
I decided after much thought and the wisdom of a certain wise man on here, thank you BTW you know who you are, that blind stupidity and passion will get you nowhere, this is a war of knowledge and exposing the truth. So I went to this DFAF.org site and checked it out. I also noticed they have contact info and the usual misinformation or rather half right data on MJ. The reason I bring up the contact info is they list a phone number and an address, I decided that they might like to recieve some phone calls and some letters asking why they present half arsed info. For the letter I decided that I am going to go through all their "data" print it out and dispprove as much as I can and send it with my letter. If you do decide to do anything please read their marijuana info first, trust me it will motivate you. I also decided that the letter will be as unbiased as possible and I will remain level headed. I have also gotten some interest from other sites I post at and some of my friends and family, we are all going to call and write until they are sick of us. I also have a friend here in my area that works on one of the local radio stations, he is an activist and when i told him about the letters and calling he said he would do better. he wants to see if he can get them on the radio, these shows are usually goofy but at the same time I live in a major area and this is sure to tick off a lot of us that are sick of these people and their lies...maybe if it all works out a lot of people will make calls and write letters.
The thing that confuses me the most is don't these idiots understand the difference between hemp and what we are smoking LOL. I might just have to ask what they have against the enviornment?
I so wish someone on here was a reporter or something cause these are the people we need to call out and debate. I hope I did not cross any lines, i did not post any personal info and I am only asking people who really are angry to do it if they decide to, think for yourselves but show respect and do some research.
I feel the need to do this because there is a section on their site right here
hxxp://www.dfaf.org/marijuana/excuse.php
They are saying MM is an excuse to get high not a drug with any medical value, leave the sick people alone. And of course there is debate in that area, but I can go to a doctor tomorrow and get almost any pill I want if I have the right story, point being we don't know what it does yet. They aslo like to drop the FDA into some of their arguments. Was it the FDA that approved all these prescription drugs that had to be recalled cause they were harmful. I'm pretty sure it's the same FDA. Also what's up with all the lead on toys getting into the country? That's not the FDAs fault cause apparently they are too busy to worry if an infant has lead in his mouth. Or if our shampoo imported from China is laced with some cancer causing chemical. I'm not sure but the last time I checked there was one FDA and it has really made some poor judgement calls IMO, but apparently we should all listen to the FDA religously, otherwise we might take something bad for us....chantix to name one. it's silly but this is what I mean by tearing their data apart.
And lastly some of you might want to ask why they have a graphic when you first enter the site that shows a LEO's gun? I found that quite the wrong picture to send people. you might have to re enter the site a couple of times as the graphic alternates between page loads but it's there.
April 22nd, 2008 By: Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director Born the same year in 1970, Earth Day and NORML have grown up side-by-side. Today, millions of Americans will celebrate and be mindful of the basic message of Earth Day: Living in harmony with nature.
One of DFAF’s targets was retail giant Wal-Mart. In 2005, DFAF director Calvina Fay (a former law enforcement employee) wrote to the CEO of Wal-Mart, S. Robeson Walton, bringing to his attention that of the tens of thousands of products Wal-Mart sells, DFAF took great umbrage with the company for selling two hemp-related books and a CD by Canadian rock band ‘Chixdiggit’.
hxxp://blog.norml.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/0009878703552_150x150.jpg
A search of Wal-Mart’s webpage today, and a trip to a Wal-Mart in Maryland confirms, that apparently DFAF’s harassment of Wal-Mart worked as the company no longer sells any book titles concerning hemp, no hemp-related clothing, jewelry or backpacks. However, despite DFAF’s protest, Wal-Mart still retails CDs by Chixdiggit, featuring the song ‘Hemp, hemp hooray!’
What can cannabis consumers and concerned citizens do to counter the anti-cannabis advocacy of groups like DFAF? Do the same thing! Write to the CEOs and/or owners of retail stores and tell them that you logically want hemp-based products to purchase for all obvious reasons—hemp is an environmentally safe, responsible and valuable agricultural product that takes little fertilizer and almost no pesticide to produce a cash crop that is as utilitarian, if not more so, than the soybean.
Let prospective business owners who may have a commercial interest in selling hemp products know that virtually every country in the world (even though ‘marijuana’ is not legal in these countries to ingest) allows non-psychoactive hemp to be cultivated and used for industrial purposes/apparel, and that the two primary reasons that hemp is not a staple agricultural commodity in America is 1) because of the country’s misguided and blanket cannabis prohibition (a.k.a. Reefer Madness) created by the federal government in 1937, and 2) so-called anti-drug groups disingenuously confusing industrial hemp with marijuana for the purposes of continuing the mindless practice of opposing any human interaction at all with the cannabis plant, be it for adult recreant use, a safe/non-toxic therapeutic or as a valuable industrial plant that humans have been cultivating and employing for the betterment of society for thousands of years.
On this 38th Earth Day, do something bold for the planet and personal freedom: Support and commend your local retailers and stores that carry hemp products while at the same time opposing anti-drug groups like DFAF from making the war on some drugs any worse for society or the environment than it already has become.
I decided after much thought and the wisdom of a certain wise man on here, thank you BTW you know who you are, that blind stupidity and passion will get you nowhere, this is a war of knowledge and exposing the truth. So I went to this DFAF.org site and checked it out. I also noticed they have contact info and the usual misinformation or rather half right data on MJ. The reason I bring up the contact info is they list a phone number and an address, I decided that they might like to recieve some phone calls and some letters asking why they present half arsed info. For the letter I decided that I am going to go through all their "data" print it out and dispprove as much as I can and send it with my letter. If you do decide to do anything please read their marijuana info first, trust me it will motivate you. I also decided that the letter will be as unbiased as possible and I will remain level headed. I have also gotten some interest from other sites I post at and some of my friends and family, we are all going to call and write until they are sick of us. I also have a friend here in my area that works on one of the local radio stations, he is an activist and when i told him about the letters and calling he said he would do better. he wants to see if he can get them on the radio, these shows are usually goofy but at the same time I live in a major area and this is sure to tick off a lot of us that are sick of these people and their lies...maybe if it all works out a lot of people will make calls and write letters.
The thing that confuses me the most is don't these idiots understand the difference between hemp and what we are smoking LOL. I might just have to ask what they have against the enviornment?
I so wish someone on here was a reporter or something cause these are the people we need to call out and debate. I hope I did not cross any lines, i did not post any personal info and I am only asking people who really are angry to do it if they decide to, think for yourselves but show respect and do some research.
I feel the need to do this because there is a section on their site right here
hxxp://www.dfaf.org/marijuana/excuse.php
They are saying MM is an excuse to get high not a drug with any medical value, leave the sick people alone. And of course there is debate in that area, but I can go to a doctor tomorrow and get almost any pill I want if I have the right story, point being we don't know what it does yet. They aslo like to drop the FDA into some of their arguments. Was it the FDA that approved all these prescription drugs that had to be recalled cause they were harmful. I'm pretty sure it's the same FDA. Also what's up with all the lead on toys getting into the country? That's not the FDAs fault cause apparently they are too busy to worry if an infant has lead in his mouth. Or if our shampoo imported from China is laced with some cancer causing chemical. I'm not sure but the last time I checked there was one FDA and it has really made some poor judgement calls IMO, but apparently we should all listen to the FDA religously, otherwise we might take something bad for us....chantix to name one. it's silly but this is what I mean by tearing their data apart.
And lastly some of you might want to ask why they have a graphic when you first enter the site that shows a LEO's gun? I found that quite the wrong picture to send people. you might have to re enter the site a couple of times as the graphic alternates between page loads but it's there.
