extracted from: DETAILS, April 1991. BEDTIME FOR BONG-O The DEA has laid siege to High Times, the official voice of pothead culture. Can its editor blow the lid off the cannabis conspiracy? by Erik Hedegaard. Who are the men in the black van, and why are they following Steve Hager? Hager used to stay in motels when he traveled. No longer. Because when he did, the men in the black van with the smoked windows would rent the room next to his and pretend to work on it. They would be dressed just like real workmen. The men would have drills. The men would occasionally pull the triggers of the drill. "What're you guys doing?", Hager would say to them. The men would say, "We're working." Steve Hager knows what the men in the van were working on. What they were working on was him. Hager is the editor of High Times magazine. You may know High Times. Then again, you may not, so deep has it been buried at the newsstands that still carry it. High Times is the magazine for the recreational drug user: Penthouse for potheads. The High Times centerfold is a double-page, Vaseline-lensed shot of an exotic bud of glorious, mind-blowing weed. The magazine features all manner of growing information as well as travelogues on Nepal, Jamaica, Hawaii -wherever mind-altering substances can be found. A relic, then. A dream of the '60s. Except that in Steve Hager's mind the counterculture is very much alive. Hager is sitting in his Manhattan office. He's wearing a pair of no-name sneakers, jeans, and a sleeveless, lime-green T-shirt. He's got real skinny arms, along which highways of veins run jaggedly haywire. Hager shrugs and looks around his office, down at the floor, up into the corners. "I haven't done a sweep," he says. "I just take it for granted that this place is bugged." A week or two ago, his apartment was broken into. A random bit of thievery, or something more purposeful? Who knows? The men in the black van never seem to take a day off. These are heady times to be a pothead. Across the United States, pot and all that it stands for are under attack. In October 1989 the DEA put Operation Green Merchant into action. High Times's advertisers have been mostly gardening-supply companies, and Hager thinks that the DEA figured that by putting the pressure on them it could also do something about High Times. So it raided the merchants and began busting people who did business with them. A guy named Bob , in Colorado, was one such person. Here, according to the newspaper Westword, is what happened to Bob. The DEA agents, hot on the drug tail, wedged their way into Bob's place, after which one of them went over to Bob's arthritic old Doberman, slicked out his pistol, and put the pistol to the pooch's face. "We can either do this the hard way or the easy way," the agent said to Bob. The dog lived. Bob saw the bracelets. Moreover, there is the little matter of the Feds down in New Orleans. Hager learned of their interest last May, when he was served with a subpoena to appear before a grand jury investigating the magazine for conspiracy to distribute drugs. This allegation was based on the fact that High Times had accepted ads from a Dutch company doing business in mail-order marijuana seeds. (High Times has since been dropped from the investigation.) All of this, of course, has had an effect on High Times. In recent months, it has lost many of its advertisers. Hager, it must be said, conducts himself in this troubled situation with a certain sangfroid. But even he needs something to calm his frazzled nerves. He takes a bite of toasted bagel with cream cheese. "I would say being around High Times definitely makes me smoke a lot more pot than if I wasn't around High Times," he says. "It just sort of comes with the territory." Hager's is the benign face of the post-coke, post-crack substance abuser of the '90s. He is quiet and sincere. He doesn't touch synthetic drugs, thinks cocaine is the Antichrist. Conversely, pot is so wholesome it's almost good for you. "Like after a hard day at work," he says, "you want to come back to you pad and relax. One of the most effective, least toxic ways to do that is to smoke a joint. It makes you a less aggressive, more mellow person." The country's young people, Hager thinks, are rediscovering this. "The last generation that came up was a bad one," he says. "But the next one, coming up now, the kids just entering college, I think, have a whole new counterculture spirit. A lot of them are smoking pot, but more importantly, a lot of them realize that pot isn't a dangerous thing." Mention the youth of America and marijuana in the same sentence and you immediately make enemies. But black vans? Why are they out to get Steve Hager? What makes Steve Hager so dangerous? Hager knows. Hager is thrashing around his office, looking for a journal from the 1930s, a report that was presented during the Agricultural Processing Meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on Fegruary 26, 1937. Wide-eyed and unshaven, Hager is rummaging through overflowing files and digging his fingers into a pile of documents on a coffee table. The papers swirl away from him. Suddenly he's waving something: an analysis of the marijuana plant written by one George A. Lowry, entitled Flax and Hemp: From the Seed to the Loom. Hager flips into the heart of the document. "Let me show you real quickly what it says here about hemp," he says, and begins to read: "Hemp, the strongest of the vegetable fibers, gives the greatest production per acre and requires the least attention per acre. It not only requires no weeding but also kills off all the weeds and leaves the soil in splendid condition for the following crop." Also: "Floods and dust storms have given warnings against the destruction of timber. Possibly, the hitherto waste product of...hemp may yet meet a good part of that need, especially in the plastics field, which is growing by leaps and bounds." Hager drops the document on the coffee table and looks out a window that gives onto the city and its massive car-crammed streets. He shakes his head. He's a little grim now. "It was only a few weeks from the deliverance of this report," he says, "to the outlawing of hemp." That fact, to Hager, explains a lot -not only about why he's being hounded but also about who is doing the hounding. It all has to do with economics. In his estimation, the government is merely acting as the agent of a poweer even greater than itself, with "far-seeing eyes," that has "investigated possibilities of profits and long-term.. you know," and has come to the conclusion that High Times is a threat to the power's continuing existence and good fortune and that it must be driven out of existence- disappeared. Hager likes to say, "Hemp -pot- can be used in the manufacture of a whole range of products -plastics, fuel, fiber, food, medicines, even dynamite. These products, many of them, are currently made with petrochemicals, pollutants of the first water -so what Hager is proposing is that harmless hemp be used instead. He wants marijuana to be legalized, not only so the country can toke at will but also to save the country. Which is why the fellows in the black van have it in for Hager. Should he attract too many believerrs, there could be a ground swell of pro-hemp activism, which could lead to the overthrow of current laws regulating hemp, which could lead to hemp's replacing petrochemicals in the manufacture of any number of products. In other words, it could spell the demise of the petrochemical industry as we know it. But for a long time, that message did not get out. One imagines that some recreational user, at some point, realized the dark truth about the international petrochemical conspiracy -Eureka!- only, promptly, to forget. It goes with the territory. And so, for a long time after Dr. Lowry's fateful report, hemp made news only when it was cited as the cause of particularly grisly murders. The only Americans who experienced its wonders firsthand were bongo players, beatniks, and jazz freaks. Then, of course, came the Great Awakening. Acapulco Gold, Colombian Black, Thai Stick, Hawaiian. Chamber pipes, chillums, and Riz Abadie rolling paper. What magic those words held. Clouds of joy. Buy a triple-beam scale and smoke the profits! Plastics was no suitable career for a young man, but plastic made an excellent bong. High Times was lanuched in 1974, the brainchild of a longhair named Tom Forcade. Forcade had grown up in Arizona and, according to his mom, was "very sensitive, shy, and patriotic -a good Boy Scout and Explorer." buy that was before he lost interest in hot rods and started sucking down everything one could possibly suck down -from vanilla extract (six bottles a day) to absinthe (homemade). But mostly he was into pot, both as a user and as a dealer. To sell it, he set up smoke-easis: go to his loft, knock on the door once, twice, three times, and you'd be led to a room where you could sample a number of different strains, take your pick, pay up, and split. Dressed in his stovepipe jeans, toad-sticker boots, and floppy hat -either in that or a three-piece suit or as a priest, with a cleric's collar- he considered himself not so much a hippie as an outlaw. "People talk about peace," he used to say. "I'm not into peace. I don't want peace. I want life. I associate peace with graveyards. I associate peace with stagnation." Life to Forcade meant being on intimate terms with airplanes, which he flew to Colombia on pot-smuggling operations, and guns. "He knew munitions," recalls an early writer. Says another, "He wasn't afraid to carry a gun -or use it." For a while he covered his house's windows with barbed wire. When asked why, he would reply, "Did you notice the charred marks on the house when you came in? Someone threw a bomb." Forcade was, along with Abbie Hoffman, one of the original yippies. But unlike Abbie, Forcade thought that the yippies' antiwar demonstrations should involve serious mayhem; eventually he split from the main group and formed his own -the Zippies, ZIP standing for Zeitgeist International Party. Abbie immediately denounced Forcade as a "maniac" and began spreading rumors that he was a stoolie. At the same time, Forcade headed the Underground Press Syndicate (UPS), the counterculture's version of the Associated Press. His headquarters was the basement of a building on West Tenth Street in New York -actually, a warren of basements all connected like catacombs. Forcade's friends were people like Leonard Crow Dog, who was his bodyguard and beat up anybody who ripped him off. Forcade had a vision of how, if pot were legal, he and his friends could exist in a world that would be self-sustaining. They would sit around and smoke lots of dope, of course. But they would also be able to have careers. In advertising, for instance, coming up with campaigns to promote Acapulco Gold. Or in the head-shop business, hawking roach clips and bongs. Says Rex Weiner, one of the magazine's founding members, "It was the idea of having a world to live in where you wouldn't have to deal with the other world." Thus was High times created, to glorify pot and to be the driving force in the campaign for its legalization, which would then lead to the formation of a new nation populated by the 25 million Americans who were smoking dope. High Times's circulation jumped form 25,000 to 300,000 in two years. It ran articles with titles such as "I Was JFK's Dealer" and "Golden Days of Coca Wine." It featured sections that remain today, among them "Highwitness News" and "Trans-High Market Quotations," a rundown of pot prices that includes evaluations of what you get for your money. ("Iowa City, IA: Mexican, 'Lamb's Breath, tight buds, super high.'1/4oz., $35-$40; oz., $150-$160.") The magazine had bureaus in Southeast Asia, South America, India, and Europe. In the New York office, drugs were commonplace. "On Fridays -paydays- the dope dealers would come around, and everybody would sample their wares," says Weiner. And at parties, people would slither around with balloons filled with nitrous oxide. But not everyone was necessarily at the parties to have a good time. One High Times employee turned out to be an undercover cop. A friend turned out to be an informer for the Feds. History has not recorded whether or not there were black vans involved in this harassment, but Tom Forcade did not react with sangfroid. Legend has it that Forcade tried to shut the magazine down, going after the switchbaord with an ax and chasing people around the office. But by then the magazine had taken on a life of its own. "The momentum of it could not be stopped. He had created a monster, and it just kept going," recalls Weiner. Forcade cast about for a new wave to ride. He got involved in punk and make D.O.A., a documentary about the Sex Pistols' American tour. The Pistols thought he might be CIA. In 1978 he flew to L.A. to try to interest Hollywood in a movie project called Cocaine Cowboys, which starred Andy Warhol and Jack Palance. No one would distribute it. All Hollywood wanted was more of Forcade's nose candy. After a whil Forcade began to realize that his vision of Pot World was a pipe dream. The '70s were coming to an end, and efforts to legalize pot were going nowhere. "The big changes we had worked for, believed in, and hoped for were obviously being derailed, stomped on, and insulted," recalls one friend. On November 19, 1978, Tom Forcade shot himself. Following Forcade's death, the magazine floundered. For a While it tried to expand its audience by going general interest and suggesting that people get high on more than drugs -on love, for instance, and by climbing mountains and snorkeling. By the mid-'80s cocaine stories were a mainstay, tattoos a favored pictorial element. It had become a magazine without a soul. Outside, now, in midtown Manhattan, drones the dull, incessant thrum of engines sucking on petroleum products for dear life. Up Park Avenue comes a motorcycle. The rider is dressed in black leathers, head to toe. Years earlier this might have been Forcade. But today it is Steve Hager, who has brought High Times out of the wilderness and made pot, once again, its central focus. Hager is sitting in his office. The leathers are off, and he is speaking of how he ended up where he is today. He grew up in the heartland, amid amber waves of...hemp. "Hemp grows all over in Illinois," Hager says. "It was impossible to grow up in Champaign County and not be aware of it. It was everywhere." Bad shit, though -"ditch weed"- which Hager first smoked when he was fifteen. "I didn't really get anything out of it, except the thrill of knowing it was against the law." ******* For FREE recorded information on how hemp can save the world, use a touch tone phone to call 303/470-1100 Hemp Information Hotline ******* zzz DRUG LAWS KILL A Libertarian Outlook by Gerald Schneider, Ph.D. Bad as drug use can be, government laws to prevent drug use are worse! More people die and are maimed because of drug laws than from the drugs themselves. Drug laws can turn what may be a personal tragedy into a criminal catastrophe. Both drug users and drug haters would be better off if drug use were decriminalized. The intellectual establishment already knows that drug laws do not work and are counterproductive. Popular culture figures ranging from William F. Buckley, Jr. to _Bloom County_ cartoonist Berke Breathed have denounced drug laws openly. But the public still misunderstands. Democratic and Republican candidates have exploited public apprehension about drugs to get votes. These politicos promote the fiction that drug laws help and more drug laws would help more. They all stand guilty of fostering public hysteria about drugs. In contrast, Ron Paul, the 1988 Libertarian Party Presiden- tial candidate, opposes drug laws. He is supported by a few brave politicians such as Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke. More politicians would join with them if they did not fear public censure. Drug Laws Breed Crime Crime syndicates prosper from illegal drugs today just as bootleggers enriched themselves thanks to prohibition in the 1930s. High illegal drug prices attract and sustain criminals, while addicts murder and rob for money to buy drugs. In contrast, legalized drugs would sell at prices low enough to discourage professional criminal entrepreneurs. Addicts would not have to steal to pay for drugs to support their habits. For example, the legalized price of heroin necessary to maintain an addict would be about $1.50 per day. With the end of drug laws, murder would drop 70%, burglary 60%. Cities would be much safer. Police would be freer to focus on real crimes. Courts and jails would become uncrowded, ensuring swifter justice and less need, if any, to build new prisons. Government officials--foreign and domestic--would no longer be corrupted by large sums of drug money. Legal Drugs Safer History proves that regardless of health risks, drug users will be drug users. Alcoholism is considered a disease, not a crime. Why should this be less true for drug use? Better to depend on education, counseling, and voluntary treatment to curb addiction than to turn addicts into criminals. Coping with living is tough enough for addicts. Why saddle them with the added burden of finding safe and affordable drugs? Illegal drugs sold on the street are of unknown quality and, like "bathtub gin" during prohibition, can harm and kill users. Legal drugs would be sold over the counter in drug stores where safety and cost could be judged. Children especially need to be protected from bad drugs. Drug vending should not be left to strangers in school yards and on playgrounds. Legalized drugs would put most street drug peddlers out of business. Legal drugs obtained by children would at least be safer, even if these drugs are considered undesirable by parents. A Double Standard For what it is worth, legal drugs--alcohol and nicotine (in cigarettes)--kill thousands more people than illegal drugs do. For example, in 1984 (the latest year for which complete data is available), illegal drugs killed 3,500 people. In that same year, there were 150,000 alcohol-related deaths and 350,000 tobacco-related deaths! Beware of the contrived "war on drugs." Self destruction through drug abuse of any kind should be discouraged by responsible people. But keeping drugs illegal does not help, and, as facts show, only makes matters worse. Reprinted from THE WHEATON NEWS of Wheaton, Maryland, May 12, 1988. For a one year subscription to Mr. Schneider's biweekly "Libertarian Outlook" column, send $15 to: Gerald Schneider, 8750 Georgia Ave., Suite 1410-B, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Copyright 1988 Gerald Schneider, Ph.D. (This is the text of one of a series of eight topical Libertarian outreach leaflets produced by the Libertarian Party of Skagit County, WA. The leaflets have a panel with National LP member- ship information, with a space for other LP groups to stamp their own address and phone number. Samples and a bulk price list/ order form are available from: Libertarian Party of Skagit County, P.O. Box 512, Anacortes, WA 98221.) extracted from: THE HERB BOOK The most complete catalog of nature's miracle plants" ever published. by John Lust THE HERB BOOK has been called "The Natural Remedy Bible"...Crammed full of case histories, herbal formulas, full, yet concise descriptions of herbs, their properties and uses, the majority of them illustrated, THE HERB BOOK explains in easy-to-understand language how you may use Nature's gentle medicines to build a livelier, healthier, happier life! listed as a treatment for: Cannabis; alcoholism, asthma, boredom, childbirth easing, cough, cramps, genito-urinary ailments (disinfects the urine -useful for venereal diseases.), headache (migrane included), inflammation, insomnia, neuralgia... Hemp agrimony; bruises, constipation, fever, wounds, gall bladder, liver, rheumatism... Hemp nettle; bronchitis, gastroenteritis, lungs (suitable for supplementary followup treatment of tuberculosis)... CANNABIS (Cannabis sativa) Common Names: Marijuana, pot, bhang, grass, Indian hemp, marihuana, weed... Medicinal Part: Flowering tops. Descritpion: Cannabis is an herbaceous annual plant found growing wild and also cultivated in warm climates. It can be found to some extent everywhere in the U.S., especially in the central and midwestern states. The rough, angular, branched stems reach a height of 3 to 10 feet and bear opposite (or alternate near the top), palmate leaves with 5 to 7 narrow, lanceolate, coarsely serrate, pointed leaflets. The flowers are small and green, the male growing on one plant in axillary panicles, the female on another in spike-like clusters from August to October. The fruit is a small, ash-colored achene. Properties and Uses: Although the current interest in cannabis centers on its euphorigenic properties, the plant has in the past also shown much promise as a medicinal agent. One researcher's catalog of past uses includes: analgesic-hypnotic, topical anesthetic, antiasthmatic, antibiotic, antiepileptic and antispasmodic, antidepressant and tranquilizer, antitussive, appetite stimulant, oxyticic, preventive and anodyne for neuralgia (inculuding migraine), aid to psychotherapy, and agent to ease withdrawal from alcohol and opiates. Restrictions placed on cannabis in the U.S. since 1937 have practically eliminated its use as a medicinal agent, and even research into its properties was practically nonexistent until the last few years. Its medical history suggests that cannabis has only low toxicity (no confirmed deaths have been attributed to cannabis poisoning), but it also indicates that cannabis drugs are unstable and of variable potency. The euphorigenic substances of cannabis, isomers of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), are found particularly in resins contained in the upper leaves and the bracts of the female flowers. Preparation and Dosage: Not recommended for use without medical direction. Plants grown in dry, sandy soil are the most active medicinally. HEMP AGRIMONY (Eupatorium Cannabinum) Common Names: Sweet-smelling trefoil, water maudlin. Medicinal Part: The plant. Description: Hemp agrimony is a European perennial plant which grows along shorelines, in ditches, and in other moist places. The reddish, bluntly angular stem is the top. The short-petioled leaves are oposite, dark green on top, gray-green below, and palmately three- to five-parted, with lanceolate, serrate leaflets. The reddish flowers grow in compound terminal cymes from July to September. Properties and Uses: Cholagogue, diaphoretic, diuretic, emetic, expectorant, pugative. An infusion of the leaves is helpful for liver problems and is also recommended for rheumatism. A decoction of the rootstock is used as an expectorant; in large doses it acts as a laxative and emetic. Hemp agrimony can also be applied externally to wounds, bruises, sores, swellings, etc. Preparation and Dosage: Infusion: Steep 2 tsp. leaves or herb in 1 cup water. Take 1 cup a day. Cold Extract: Soak 1 tbsp. leaves or herb in 1 cup cold water for 8 to 10 hours. Take 1 cup a day. HEMP NETTLE (Galeoopsis tetrahit) Common Names: Bastard hemp, bee-nettle, dog-nettle, hemp dead nettle. Medicinal part: The herb. Description: Hemp hettle is an annual weed found in gardens and waste places all over Canada, in Alaska, and from the Great Lakes south to West Virginia. The square, branching stem is swollen at the joints and covered with bristly, downward-pointing hairs. The opposite, ovate, coarsely toothed leaves are from 2 to 5 inches long and bristly on both sides. Dense, whorled, terminal or axillary clusters of pale magenta, two-lipped flowers with bell-shaped, spiny calyxes appear from June to October. Properties and Uses: Astringent, diuretic, expectorant. Hemp nettle is particularly good for clearing up bronchial congestion and phlegm and is commonly used for coughs. It seems to have a beneficial effect on the blood and has been recommended for anemia and other blood disorders. Europeans also use it as a home remedy for spleen problems and tuberculosis. Preparation and Dosage: Use the dried herb. Infusion: Steep 2 tsp. dried herb in 1/2 cup water for 5 to 10 minutes. Take 1 to 1 1/2 cups a day. Decoction: Boil 2 to 4 tsp. dried herb in 1 cup water for 10 minutes. Take 1 cup a day. HERBAL MIXTURES FORMULAS FOR HEALTH Chest and Lung Problems- Knotgrass Shave grass Hemp nettle Primrose flower Boil equal parts of knotgrass and shave grass lightly, then steep equal parts of hemp nettle and primrose flowers in the decoction for 5 minutes. Add 1 tsp. honey per cup. Take 1 to 1 1/2 cups a day, in mouthful doses. Shave grass Witch grass Hemp nettle Mix in equal parts. Add 1 heaping tsp. to 1/2 cup cold water. Bring to a boil, boil for 1 minute, then steep for 1 minute and strain. Take 1 to 1 1/2 cuups a day, in mouthful doses, sweetened with 2 tsp. honey per cup if desired. HEMP (CANNABIS) Legend and Lore Thought to have originated in the area just north of the Himalaya mountains, the hemp plant was used by the Chinese to produce fiber as early as 2800 B.C. By 500 A.D. the plant had spread to Europe, and eventually it was brought to the New World by the explorers. Now it is a common plant found wild or cultivated over much of the world. The mind-affecting properites of hemp have also been known since antiquity. According to the Greek historian Heroditus (fifth century B.C.), the ancient Scythians and Thracians got high on the fumes of the roasted seeds. Because of their effects on the mind, hemp drugs are outlawed or restricted in most countries of the world; but the demand for them is more than sufficient to maintain considerable illegal world traffic. Hemp drugs are prepared in three main grades: bhang, ganja, and charras. Bhang, the least potent and cheapest form, consists basically of the dried leaves and flowering tops of male and female hemp plants. The marijuana used in the United States is comparable to bhang in quality and potency. Ganja, a more potent preparation, consists of a mixture of resin and plant parts from the flowering tops of female plants. Charras, the most potent and expensive grade, consists of pure resin from the female flowers of plants grown at high altitudes. Within the three main grades are further graduations of quality, depending on the actual method of preparation. Hashish, for example, is an inferior grade of charras. The word assassin is generally linked with hashish through the Arabic word hashshashin or hashishin (meaning "hashish eaters"), a term applied to a class of followers of a Persian secret society active from the eleventh to the thirteenth century A.D. Assassination of enemies, the predominant feature of the sect, was carried out by the hashishin under the influence of a drug, presumably hashish. However, both the identification of hashish with the drug involved and the validity of the etymology of assassin have been challenged as inaccurate. A definitve resolution of the question is of some importance, since the story of the Persian assasssins provides one of the main arguments for those who associate marijuana with crime. Transcript of the Original USDA Film: HEMP FOR VICTORY -1942- Long ago when these acient Grecian temples were new, hemp was already old in the service of mankind. For thousands of years, even then, this plant had been grown for cordage and cloth in China and elsewhere in the East. For centuries prior to about 1850 all the ships that sailed the western seas were rigged with hempen rope and sails. For the sailor, no less than the hangman, hemp was indispensable. A 44-gun frigate like our cherished Old Ironsides took over 60 tons of hemp for rigging, including an anchor cable 25 inches in circumferance. The Conestoga wagons and prarie schooners of pioneer days were covered with hemp canvas. Indeed the very word canvas comes from the Arabic word for hemp. In those days hemp was an important crop in Kentucky and Missouri. Then came cheaper imported fibers for cordage, like jute, sisal and Manila hemp, and the culture of hemp in America declined. But now with Philippine and East Indian sources of hemp in the hands of the Japanese, and shipment of jute from India curtailed, American hemp must meet the needs of our Army and Navy as well as of our industry. In 1942, patriotic farmers at the government's request planted 36,000 acres of seed hemp, an increase of several thousand percent. The goal for 1943 is 50,000 acres of seed hemp. In Kentucky much of the seed hemp acreage is on river bottom land such as this. Some of these fields are inaccessible except by boat. Thus plans are afoot for a great expansion of a hemp industry as a part of the war program. This film is designed to tell farmers how to handle this ancient crop now little known outside Kentucky and Wisconsin. This is hemp seed. Be careful how you use it. For to grow hemp legally you must have a federal registration and tax stamp. This is provided for in your contract. Ask your county agent about it. Don't forget. Hemp demands a rich, well-drained soil such as is found here in the Blue Grass region of Kentucky or in central Wisconsin. It must be loose and rich in organic matter. Poor soils won't do. Soil that will grow good corn will usually grow hemp. Hemp is not hard on the soil. In Kentucky it has been grown for several years on the same ground, though this practice is not recommended. A dense and shady crop, hemp tends to choke out weeds. Here's a Canada thistle that couldn't stand the competititon, dead as a dodo. Thus hemp leaves the ground in good condition for the following crop. For fiber, hemp should be sewn closely, the closer the rows, the better. These rows are spaced about four inches. This hemp has been broadcast. Either way it should be sewn thick enough to grow a slender stalk. Here's an ideal stand: the right height to be harvested easily, thick enough to grow slender stalks that are easy to cut and process. Stalks like these here on the left yield the most fiber and the best. Those on the right are too coarse and woody. For seed, hemp is planted in hills like corn. Sometimes by hand. Hemp is a dioecious plant. The female flower is inconspicuous. But the male flower is easily spotted. In seed production after the pollen has been shed, these male plants are cut out. These are the seeds on a female plant. Hemp for fiber is ready to harvest when the pollen is shedding and the leaves are falling. In Kentucky, hemp harvest comes in August. Here the old standby has been the self-rake reaper, which has been used for a generation or more. Hemp grows so luxuriantly in Kentucky that harvesting is sometimes difficult, which may account for the popularity of the self-rake with its lateral stroke. A modified rice binder has been used to some extent. This machine works well on average hemp. Recently, the improved hemp harvester, used for many years in Wisconsin, has been introduced in Kentucky. This machine spreads the hemp in a continuous swath. It is a far cry form this fast and efficient modern harvester, that doesn't stall in the heaviest hemp. In Kentucky, hand cutting is practicing in opening fields for the machine. In Kentucky, hemp is shucked as soon as safe, after cutting, to be spread out for retting later in the fall. In Wisconsin, hemp is harvested in September. Here the hemp harvester with automatic spreader is standard equipment. Note how smoothly the rotating apron lays the swaths preparatory to retting. Here it is a common and essential practice to leave headlands around hemp fields. Theses strips may be planted with other corps, preferably small grain. Thus the harvester has room to make its first round without preparatory hand cutting. The other machine is running over corn stubble. When the cutter bar is much shorter than the hemp is tall, overlapping occurs. Not so good for retting. The standard cut is eitght ot nine feet. The length of time hemp is left on the ground to ret depends on the weather. The swaths must be turned to get a uniform ret. When the woody core breaks away readily like this, the hemp is about ready to pick up and bind into bundles. Well-retted hemp is light to dark grey. The fiber tends to pull away from the stalks. The presence of stalks in the bough-string stage indicates that retting is well underway. When hemp is short or tangled or when the ground is too wet for machines, it's bound by hand. A wooden bucket is used. Twine will do for tying, but the hemp itself makes a good band. When conditions are favorable, the pickup binder is commonly used. The swaths should lie smooth and even with the stalks parallel. The picker won't work well in tangled hemp. After binding, hemp is shucked as soon as possible to stop further retting. In 1942, 14,000 acres of fiber hemp were harvested in the United States. The goal for the old stanby cordage fiber, is staging a strong comeback. This is Kentucky hemp going into the dryer over mill at Versailes. In the old days braking was done by hand. One of the hardest jobs known to man. Now the power braker makes quick work of it. Spinning American hemp into rope yarn or twine in the old Kentucky river mill at Frankfort, Kentucky. Another pioneer plant that has been making cordage for more than a century. All such plants will presently be turning out products spun from American-grown hemp: twine of various kinds for tying and upholster's work; rope for marine rigging and towing; for hay forks, derricks, and heavy duty tackle; light duty firehose; thread for shoes for millions of American soldieers; and parachute webbing for our paratroopers. As for the United States Navy, every battleship requires 34,000 feet of rope. Here in the Boston Navy Yard, where cables for frigates were made long ago, crews are now working night and day making corage for the fleet. In the old days rope yarn was spun by hand. The rope yarn feeds through holes in an iron plate. This is Manila hemp from the Navy's rapidly dwindling reserves. When it is gone, American hemp will go on duty again: hemp for mooring ships; hemp for tow lines; hemp for tackle and gear; hemp for countless naval uses both on ship and shore. Just as in the days when Old Ironsides sailed the seas victorious with her hempen shrouds and hempen sails. Hemp for victory. extracted from Dictionary of American History Volume III Charles Scribner's Sons -New York 1976- page 271 HEMP. Although England early sought hemp from the colonies to rig its sailing ships, and the British government and colonial legislatures tried to encourage its production by bounties, it never became an important export crop. But the virgin clearings and moderate climate of America invited its cultivation in a small way. Hemp patches were attached to many colonial homesteads, hemp and tow cloth were familiar household manufactures, and local cordage supplied colonial shipyards. After the Revolution, when settlers began to develop the rich Ohio Valley bottomlands, hemp became a staple crop in Kentucky. Mills for manufacturing it were erected at Lexington and elsewhere, and hemp cordage and bale cloth were used to pack the pioneer cotton crops of the Southwest. Output reached a maximum about 1860, when some 74,000 tons were raised in the United States, of which Kentucky produced 40,000 tons and Missouri 20,000 tons. Therafter the advent of the steamship, the substitution of steel for hemp cordage, and the introduction of artificial fibers lessened demand. The U.S. production of hemp for fiber ceased shortly after World War II. [Brent Moore, The Hemp Industry in Kentucky.] Victor S. Clark For more information about hemp use a touch tone phone and dial 303/477-1100....punch in 411 for general recorded information....punch in 477 to hear a 10 minute recording of Hugh Downs' ABC 20-20 program on HEMP! Visit HEMPware, etc, 1090 S Wadsworth Unit D for legal, non-smoking hemp products....visit with Connie and learn the truth about hemp! The most common arguments against ending marijuana prohibition are as easy to refute as they are to summarize: 1.Marijuana alters consciousness. 2.We have so much trouble with alcohol, tobacco and bad driving; why make matters worse? 3.Ending prohibition will "send the wrong message." 4.Some people just can't cope with marijuana use. 5.Marijuana smokers have no motivation. 6.What about the children? Anyone who advocates hemp/marijuana reform will hear these statements time and again. But these engaging yet specious arguments cannot hold up to rational scrutiny. Let's look at them individually. 1."Marijuana alters consciousness." Granted; but how is that bad? People who argue against getting high on this natural herb often suggest getting "high on life" or "high on God". This says that getting high is not, in itself, wrong. The real issue is freedom of thought. Eating chocolate, drinking coffee, watching TV, drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, even prayer and meditation alter consciousness. Who gave prohibitionists the power to dictate to the rest of us what we can or cannot do for fun? Will they ban these pastimes one day, too? Neither the U.S. Constitution nor the Bible prohibits marijuana use. In fact, the Bible says God gave man "all" the seed bearing plants to use,and the Declaration of Independence specifically declares that we have a right to the "pursuit of happiness." But people who make certain choices are now persecuted for doing so. 2."We already ahve so much trouble with alcohol, tobacco and bad driving; why make matters worse?" If you think we have an aclcohol problem today, just remember the "Roaring Twenties", when competing liquor outlets used to send carloads of gangsters out with machine guns to settle their differences. The criminal violence caused by Prohibition (the 18th Ammendment) were so much worse than the effects of drinking that the American people soon voted in the 21st Amendment, and liquor was re-legalized. Society has since learned to cope with alcohol use, just as we have accepted marijuana use for thousands of years. People are quick to adapt, and most knowledgeable sources agree that marijuana smokers are generally peaceful, law-abiding people. In fact, they are often among the nices people you'll meet. Drinking can lead to reckless driving. You shouldn't drive when using common medicines like antihistamines, either. This is a matter of common sense and personal responsibility. No one should ever drive if they are not fully alert and capable of doing so Also affecting public safety, alcohol and tobacco carry health risks that marijuana does not have. Some 500,000 people a year die from using tobacco or alcohol, but not one single person ever died from smoking marijuana in all of history. In fact, cannabis has hundreds of proven medical uses. Society might set age limits on marijuana use, as we have for alcohol and tobacco, but it is criminal to have set prison terms. 3."Ending marijuana prohibition 'sends the wrong message'-that we condone drugs." Prohibition is not about sending messages: It's about sending people to jail. And prison cannot rehabilitate patriotic Americans who blieve that the marijuana law is unconstitutional and immoral. Marijuana is not a manufactured drug: It's a natural herb. Some people enjoy smoking it, others don't. It's just a matter of taste. A difference of opinion: And that's what democracy is all about. Experts predict that marijuana use will level off soon after prohibition ends and people will reduce their use of hard drugs. So, the real message of prohibition is this: Despite all the safeguards in the Constitution, petty tyrants still spread lies and take away the freedoms of others. If we want society to send the "right" message, we must do it through honest educational programs about personal freedom and responsibility. Ending prohibition will be the first part of that lesson. 4."Some people just can't cope with marijuana use." That's right: About 10% of Americans have addictive personalities and they should avoid marijuana. Each of us has the right to say "no" to marijuana: But the 90% of us who can control our appetites also have a right to say "yes", if we so desire. Let's not ruin our lives with hysterical laws that do nothing to solve the real problems facing society. 5."Marijuana smokers have no motivation." Blaming marijuana is just a cop out. The Beatles wrote many of their finest tunes while being quite open about smoking pot. Justice Douglas Ginsburg was nominated for the Supreme Court and many members of Congress, as well as successful professionals and working people have smoked marijuana. When a person loses motivation, there are usually many factors to consider. They need our understanding and help. Arresting them and putting them in prison does not solve these problems: It makes matters worse. Most people prefer to smoke marijuana for relaxation or creative inspiration during leisure hours-not when they have work to do. And if marijuana smokers are so unmotivated, how come it takes urine tests, blood samples and hair analysis to tell who smokes it? The simple fact is that most marijuana smokers are highly motivated and productive citizens. 6."What about the children?" An excellent question. What kind of world are we making for our children: One full of prisons, secret police and intrusive laws that encourage them to spy on their own parents. I say, let's build them a world that respects each individual while it educates them about the resposible use of freedom. This is precisely why we must repeal prohibition. Not only will it protect the rights and liberties that geneterations of Americans have fought and died for: Hemp will also provide our children with a healthy environment and a sustainable economy to live in. Throughout history, hemp has been a help to our human society. It now holds the key to our future. For further information, write to:H.elp E.liminate M.arijuana P.rohibition 5632 Van Nuys Blvd. Suite #210 Van Nuys, CA. 91401 or call:1-213-392-1806 In Colorado, use a touch tone phone to get FREE recorded information about hemp....call the Hemp Information Hotline at 303/470-1100...punch in ext 411 for general system info....punch in 477 to hear a ten minute recording of Hugh Downs' ABC 20/20 program on hemp....punch in 123 to hear a Colorado man with AIDS speak out about hemp! Visit Colorado's only hempery! HEMPware, etc 1090 S Wadsworth, Unit D...open Monday thru Saturday form 10 am to 6 pm...Public meetings held every first and third Saturday from 6 pm to 8 pm......reading room open to public! extracted from THE EMPEROR WEARS NO CLOTHES, by Jack Herer. fully revised, updated and re-documented edition, September 1990. Chapter Sixteen: THE OFFICIAL STORY Debunking "Gutter Science" After 15 days of taking testimony and more than a year's deliberation, DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young formally urged the DEA to allow doctors to prescribe marijuana in a September, 1988 judgement. He ruled: "The evidence in this record clearly shows that marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision....It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence in this record. In strict medical terms, marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume...marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." Yet, DEA Administrator John Lawn December 30, 1989 denied this action and continues to deprive people of medical cannabis, based on famous anti-marijuana studies like these: WASTING TIME, WASTING LIVES Over 90 years has passed since the 1894 British Raj study of marijuana smokers in India reported that cannabis use was harmless and even helpful. Numerous studies since have all agreed: The most prominent being Siler, LaGuardia, Nixon's Shafer Commission and the Canadian government's LeDain Commission. When asked in late 1989 about DEA administrator John Lawn's failure to implement his decision, Young responded that Lawn was being given time to comply. More than a year passed after the ruling quoted above when Lawn officially refused to reschedule marijuana, keeping it classed as a Schedule One dangerous drug with no known medical uses. This was a politically motivated action that contradicts the facts and inflicts needless suffering on helpless Americans. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and Family Council on Drug Awareness quickly demanded Lawn's resignation. What level of hypocrisy allows public officials to scoff at the facts and deny the truth? How do they rationalize their atrocities? GOVERNMENT DOUBLESPEAK Since 1976, our federal government (i.e. NIDA, NIH, DEA* and Action), police sponsored groups (like DARE*) and special interest groups (like PDFA*) have presented to the public, press and parent groups their "absolute evidence" of negative marijuana health studies. *National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Inst. of Health, Drug Enforcement Agency, Drug Abuse Resistance Education, Partnership for a Drug Free America. When U.S. government sponsored marijuana research prior to 1976 indicated that pot was harmless or beneficial, the methodology of how the studies were done was always presented in detail in the reports; e.g., read T he Therapeutic Potential of Marijuana (1976) and you will see exactly what the methodology of each medical study was. However, when our government bureaucrats deliberately sponsored negative marijauna research -time and time again Playboy magazine and/or NORML, High Times, etc. had to sue under the new Freedom of Information Act to find out the actual methods employed. DR. HEATH/TULANE STUDY, 1974 The Hype: Brain Damage in Dead Monkeys In 1974, California Governor Ronald Reagan was asked about decriminalizing marijuana. After producing the Heath/Tulane University study, the so-called "Great Communicator" told the national press, "The most reliable scientific sources say permanent brain damage is one of the inevitable results of the use of marijuana." (L.A. Times.) And ever since, dead brain cells found in monkeys who were forced to smoke marijuana has been given maximum scare play in federal booklets and government sponsored propaganda literature against pot. Reports of these studies have also been distributed by the hierarchy of drug rehabilitation professionals as part of their rationalization for wanting to get kids off pot, based on supposed scientific studies. This literature is generally given to parent groups, church organizations, etc., who react in horror and redistribute it further. Senator Eastland, of Mississippi, used the same Heath study to terrorize and stop our national legislators from supporting NORML's decriminalization bills in Congress (throughout the mid-1970s), mostly sponsored by Senator Jacob Javitts of New York. In the report, Heath concluded that Rhesus monkeys, smoking the equivalent of only 30 joints a day, began to atrophy and die after 90 days. Heath opened the brains of the dead monkeys, counted the dead brain cells, then took control monkeys who hadn't smoked marijuana, killed them, and counted their dead brain cells. The pot smoking monkeys had enormous amounts of dead brain cells as compared to the "straight" monkeys. Ronald Reagan's pronouncement was probably based on the fact that marijuana smoking was the only difference in the two sets of monkeys. Perhaps Reagan trusted the federal research to be real and correct, therefore reflecting a real health hazard to humans. Perhaps he had other motives. Whatever their reasons, this is what the government ballyhooed to press and PTA, who trusted the government completely. IN 1980, Playboy and NORML finally received for the first time -after six years of requests and suing the government- an accurate accounting of the research procedures used in the famous report: The Facts: Suffocation of Research Animals The Heath "Voodoo" Research methodology, as reported in Playboy: Rhesus monkeys were strapped into a chair and then strapped into gas masks and given the equivalent of 63 Columbian strength joints in "five minutes, thru the gas masks" losing no smoke. The monkeys were suffocating! When NORML/Playboy hired researchers to examine the reported results against the actual methodology, they laughed. They discovered, almost immediately, that Heath had completely (intentionally? incompetently?) omited, among other things, the carbon monoxide the monkeys inhaled during these intervals of 63 joints in five minutes... Carbon monoxide is a deadly gas that kills brain cells and is given off by any burning object. All researchers found the marijuana findings in Heath's experiment to be of no value, because carbon monoxide poisoning and other factors involved were totally left out of the report. Three to five minutes of oxygen deprivation causes brain damage, i.e. "dead brain cells" (Red Cross Lifesaving and Water Safety manual). The Heath Monkey study was actually a study in animal asphyxiation and carbon monoxide poisoning. Because of the smoke concentration, the monkeys were, in effect, a bit like a person running the engine of their car in a locked garage five, 10, 15, minutes at a time, every day! This Heath study and others (like Nahas' early 1970s studies) tried to show THC metabolites in humans, found in the fatty tissue of the brain, reproductive organs and other fatty areas of the body were related, in some way, to the dead brain cells in the pot smoking monkeys. LINGERING THC METABOLITES The Hype: Stays in Your System for 30 Days The government also claimed that since "THC metabolites" stay in the body's fatty cells for up to 30 days after ingestion, just one joint was very dangerous; inferring that the long range view of what these THC metabolites eventually could do to the human race could not even be guessed and other pseudo-scientific double-talk (e.g., phrases like: "might be," "could mean," "possibly," "perhaps," etc.)* * "May, might, could and possibly are not scientific conclusions." Dr. Fred Oerther, M.D., September 1986. The spurious results of Heath, Nahas and the pregnant mice and monkey studies at Temple University and UC Davis (where they injected mice with synthetic third-cousin analogues of THC) are now out of the body of scientific and medical literature. They are not used in scientific discourse, yet hundreds of DEA and pharmaceutical company sopnsored literature goes to parent groups, about the long term possible effects of these metabolites on the brain and reproduction. (Read the 1982 N.I.H.; the National Academy of Science's evaluation on past studies; and the Costa Rican report, 1980.) The Facts: Government's Own Experts Say That Metabolites Are Non-Toxic, Harmless Residue We interviewed three doctors of national reputation either currently working (or having worked) for the U.S. government on marijuana research: -Dr. Thomas Ungerlieder, M.D., UCLA, appointed by Richard Nixon in 1969 to the President's Select Committee on Marijuana, re-appointed by Ford, Carter and Reagan, and currently head of California's "Marijuana Medical Program;" -Dr. Donald Tashkin, UCLA, M.D., for the last 14 years the U.S. government's and the world's leading marijuana researcher on pulmonary functions; and -Dr. Tod Mikuriya, M.D., former national head of the U.S. government's marijuana research programs in the late 1960s. In effect, these doctors said that the active ingredients in THC are used-up in the first or second pass through the liver. The leftover THC metabolites then attach themselves, in a very normal way, to fatty deposits, for the body to dispose of later, and this is perfectly natural. Many chemicals form foods, herbs and medicines do this all the time in your body. Most are not dangerous and THC metabolites show less toxic* potential than virtually any metabolic leftovrs in your body of any known to man. *The U.S. government has also known since 1946 that the oral dose of cannabis required to kill a mouse has been found to be about 40,000 times the dose required to produce typical symptoms of intoxication. (Mikuriya, Tod, Marijuana Papers, 1976; Loewe, journal of Pharmacological and Experimental Therapeutics, October, 1946.) THC metabolites, left in the body, can be compared to the ash of a cigarette. They are the inert ingredient left-over after the active cannabinoids have been metabolized by the body. These inert metabolites are what urinary analysis studies show when taken to discharge military or factory or athletic personnel for using, or being in the presence of cannabis within the last 30 days. LUNG DAMAGE STUDIES The Hype: More Dangerous Than Tobacco The Berkeley marijuana carcinogenic studies of the late 1970s concluded that "marijuana is one-and-a-half times more carcinogenic than tobacco." This is only true if you compare the smoke from the broad leaf of the tobacco to the broad leaf of the marijuana plant, which is how the government does it. The Facts: Not If You Smoke the Buds The marijuana flowers have one third or less carcinogenic tars as tobacco leaf, and virtually all the carcinogens can be removed by using a water pipe system. Our government omitted this information and its significance to the results of such studies when speaking to the press. In fact, it has been U.S. government policy to only compare leaf to leaf, even though it knows that 95% to 99% of marijuana smoked by Americans are the flowering tops (or buds) of the female plant. Marijuana leaf sells for $20 to $100 per ounce on the street but "buds" from the same plant will often sell for around $200 per ounce. Yet even the most naive marijuana smoker prefers a gram of bud to an ounce of leaf. Yet this difference in tar comparisons with tobacco leaf carcinogens gives a totally false interpretation in the public mind of marijuana smoking verses tobacco smoking and the carcinogenic properties of each. Also a tobacco smoker will smoke 20 to 60 cigarettes a day, where a heavy marijuana smoker may smoke five to seven joints a day. The Hype: More Harmful Than Tobacco Marijuana has n ever caused a known case of lung cancer as of December, 1989, according to Dr. Donald Taskin of UCLA. In 1976, Dr. Tashkin sent a written report to Dr. Gabriel Nahas at the Rheims, France, Conference on Potential Cannabis Medical Dangers. The report Tashkin sent became the most sensationalized story to come out of this negative world conference on cannabis. This surprised Tashkin, who had sent the report to the Rheims conference as an afterhought. The Facts: Only in One of the 29 Areas of the Lungs -and Marijuana Even Helps Other Areas What Tashkin reported to the Rheims conference was that of 29 areas of the human lung (pulmonary) studied, one -the large air passageway- found marijuana 15 times more an irritant than tobacco. Afterwards, the U.S. government offered more money to fund ongoing marijuana/pulmonary studies (which they had de-funded two years earlier when Tashkin was getting encouraging therapeutic results with marijuana/lung studies), but limited the research to the large air passageway. However, Tashkin admits that tobacco has little effect on this area (the large air passage way) and marijuana has a positive or neutral effect in most other areas of the lung. (See chapter 7, "Therapeutic Uses of Cannabis.") He admits the biggest health risk in the lungs would be a person smoking 16 or more "large" spliffs a day of leaf/bud because of the hypoxia of too much smoke and not enough oxygen. Tashkin feels there is no danger for anyone to worry about potentiating emphysema "in any way" by the use of marijuana -totally the opposite of tobacco. The Single Most Important Fact: Not One Recorded Case of Lung Cancer Linked to Cannabis We have inerviewed Dr. Tashkin numerous times. In 1986 I asked him about an article he was preparing for submission to the New England Journal of Medicine, indicating that cannabis smoking caused as many or more pre-cancerous lesions as tobacco in 'equal' amounts. Most people do not realize, nor are the media told, that a pre-cancerous lesion is any tissue abnormality; abrasion, eruption, or redness. Unlike the radioactive lesions caused by tobacco, the THC-related lesions contain no radioactivity. We asked Tashkin how many people had gone on to get lung cancer in these studies -or any other studies of long-term smokers like Rastas, Coptics, etc.? Dr. Tashkin, sitting in his UCLA laboratory, looked at me and said, "Well, that's the strange part. So far no one we've studied has gone on to get lung cancer." "Was this reported to the press in the article?" Well, it's in the article," Dr. Tashkin said in passing, "but no one in the press even asked. They just assumed the worst." This excerpt represents almost four pages of chapter sixteen from THE EMPEROR WEARS NO CLOTHES, which contains 182 pages in all (with the second half of the book being a severe compact of size-reduced appendicies).For the authoritative historical record of the cannabis plant, hemp prohibition, and how marijuana can still save the world...write to: H.E.M.P.\ 5632 Van Nuys Blvd. #210\ Van Nuys, CA 91401\ 1-818-377-5886 In Colorado, call 303/470-1100...use touch tone phone...listen to/leave msgs...lots of info...punch in ext 477 to hear a 10 minute recording of Hugh Downs' ABC 20/20 program on HEMP!....punch in ext 123 to hear a Colorado man with AIDS speak out about HEMP! Also visit Colorado's ONLY hempery....HEMPware, etc, 1090 S Wadsworth, Lakewood...open monday thru saturday from 10 am to 8 pm. Lots of legal, non-smoking hemp products such as hemp clothing, cloth, hemp-seed oil, etc, as well as a reading room open to the public. The Libertarian Party asks: SHOULD WE RE-LEGALIZE DRUGS? * Should We Re-Legalize Drugs? Libertarians, like most Americans, demand to be safe at home and on the streets. Libertarians would like all Americans to be healthy and free of drug dependence. But drug laws don't help, they make things worse. The professional politicians scramble to make names for themselves as tough anti-drug warriors, while the experts agree that the "war on drugs" has been lost, and could never be won. The tragic victims of that war are your personal liberty and its companion, responsibility. It's time to consider the re-legalization of drugs. * The Lessons of Prohibition In the 1920's, alcohol was made illegal by Prohibition. The result: Organized Crime. Criminals jumped at the chance to supply the demand for liquor. The streets became battlegrounds. The criminals bought off law enforcement and judges. Adulterated booze blinded and killed people. Civil rights were trampled in the hopeless attempt to keep people from drinking. When the American people saw what Prohibition was doing to them, they supported its repeal. When they succeeded, most states legalized liquor and the criminal gangs were out of the liquor business. Today's war on drugs is a re-run of Prohibition. Approximately 40 million Americans are occasional, peaceful users of some illegal drug who are no threat to anyone. They are not going to stop. The laws don't, and can't, stop drug use. * Organized Crime Profits Whenever there is a great demand for a product and government makes it illegal, a black market always appears to supply the demand. The price of the product rises dramatically and the opportunity for huge profits is obvious. The criminal gangs love the situation, making millions. They kill other drug dealers, along with innocent people caught in the crossfire, to protect their territory. They corrupt police and courts. Pushers sell adulterated dope and experimental drugs, causing injury and death. And because drugs are illegal, their victims have no recourse. * Crime Increases Half the cost of law enforcement and prisons is squandered on drug related crime. Of all drug users, a relative few are addicts who commit crimes daily to supply artificially expensive habits. They are the robbers, car thieves and burglars who make our homes and streets unsafe. * An American Police State Civil liberties suffer. We are all "suspects", subject to random urine tests, highway check points and spying into our personal finances. Your property can be seized without trial, if the police merely claim you got it with drug profits. Doing business with cash makes you a suspect. America is becoming a police state because of the war on drugs. * America Can Handle Legal Drugs Today's illegal drugs were legal before 1914. Cocaine was even found in the original Coca-Cola recipe. Americans had few problems with cocaine, opium, heroin or marijuana. Drugs were inexpensive; crime was low. Most users handled their drug of choice and lived normal, productive lives. Addicts out of control were a tiny minority. The first laws prohibiting drugs were racist in origin -- to prevent Chinese laborers from using opium and to prevent blacks and Hispanics from using cocaine and marijuana. That was unjust and unfair, just as it is unjust and unfair to make criminals of peaceful drug users today. Some Americans will always use alcohol, tobacco, marijuana or other drugs. Most are not addicts, they are social drinkers or occasional users. Legal drugs would be inexpensive, so even addicts could support their habits with honest work, rather than by crime. Organized crime would be deprived of its profits. The police could return to protecting us from real criminals; and there would be room enough in existing prisons for them. * Try Personal Responsibility It's time to re-legalize drugs and let people take responsibility for themselves. Drug abuse is a tragedy and a sickness. Criminal laws only drive the problem underground and put money in the pockets of the criminal class. With drugs legal, compassionate people could do more to educate and rehabilitate drug users who seek help. Drugs should be legal. Individuals have the right to decide for themselves what to put in their bodies, so long as they take responsibility for their actions. From the Mayor of Baltimore, Kurt Schmoke, to conservative writer and TV personality, William F. Buckley, Jr., leading Americans are now calling for repeal of America's repressive and ineffective drug laws. The Libertarian Party urges you to join in this effort to make our streets safer and our liberties more secure. 800-682-1776 Libertarian Party 202-543-1988 1528 Pennsylvania Avenue SE Washington, DC 20003 extracted from HISTORIC DOCUMENTS OF 1982 of CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY INC. --------------------------- MARIJUANA AND HEALTH REPORT February 26, 1982 --------------------------- A report entitled Marijuana and Health concluded that marijuana represented a potential health hazard that "justifies serious national concern." The study was conducted by the Institute of Medicine, an organization chartered in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to enlist experts to examine public health policy matters. Released February 26, the study was funded by a $454,000 federal grant from the National Institutes of Health. Begun at the request of Joseph A. Califano Jr. when he was secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare during the Carter administration, the report constituted the first thorough impartial report on the issues raised by the use of marijuana, particularly among adolescents and young adults. Surveys suggested that by the time of this study, about a quarter of the American population had tried marijuana and that half of all high school seniors used it with varying regularity. Its widespread use was of concern not only to members of the medical profession but also to local and federal authorities who increasingly had attempted to contain the drug culture surrounding marijuana by curbing paraphernalia traffic. (Court on "head shops," p.215) THE REPORT The report represented 15 months of research conducted by a panel of 22 scientists, chaired by Dr. Arnold S. Relman, editor of The New England Journal of Medicine. The panel consulted experts in each area of concern and reviewed all the existing literature on marijuana published since 1975 and relevant studies from before that time. The panel also accepted public comments, although Relman stated that little credence was given to personal testimonials and unverified claims. The report was unlikely to satisfy either strong supporters or opponents of the use of marijuana. "Our committee found the present truth of the matter to lie somewhere between the two extremes," said Relman, "so we give no comfort to those with strong positions on either side of the argument." While the panel found "disturbing" the mental phenomena associated with the drug and the possibilty that prolonged smoking would lead to lung cancer, it dismissed as "inconclusive" some highly publicized reports linking marijuana to possible chromosome breakage resulting in genetic damage, or a decrease in human fertility. The panel deplored the lack of available information and insufficient research on almost every topic explored. What made the study expecially difficult, members said, was that marijuana use had become widespread only in the last 10 to 20 years and long-term effects, such as lung cancer and psychiatric disorders, often take decades to develop and to detect. Difficulties in designing and executing good experiments, because marijuana was illegal and its smoke had a complex chemical make-up, provided another impeding factor in reaching conclusions. FINDINGS The report studied marijuana's effect on funtioning of the brain, heart, lungs, reproductive system and chromosome segregation during cell division, concluding that the drug had "possible adverse effects," but that further medical research was still necessary in each of these areas. Although the findings showed no evidence that the drug caused addiciton similar to narcotics, or that physical dependence had much to do with its pesistent use, a member of the panel, Dr. Charles P. O'Brien, psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, noted that chemicals found in marijuana, unlike those in alcohol, tended to persist in the brain for many hours after ingestion, a fact that he found "disturbing." The panel was cautious about attributing to marijuana the "amotivational syndrome," marked by apathy and lack of ambition among some users, and said it was impossible to know if the condition was the cause or the result of drug use. For similar reasons, the report was reluctant to say marijuana was a "stepping stone" to harder drugs. The report noted a suspected link between marijuana and cancer. Relman said, "We concluded that prolonged, heavy smoking of marijuana would probably lead to cancer of the lungs and to serious impairment of the pulmonary function." But he added that "so far there is no direct confirmation of this." The effects of marijuana on the lungs were compared with those of cigarettes. The connection between cigarette smoking and cancer was the subject of the U.S. surgeon general's 1982 report on smoking. (Surgeon general's report, p. 163) The National Institute of Medicine study also examined marijuana's alleged curative effects in the treatment of glaucoma, the control of the severe nausea and vomitting caused by cancer chemotherapy, astma, epileptic seizures, spastic disorders and other diseases of the nervous system. It determined that certain components of marijuana could be "helpful," though again more research for clearer medical evidence was deeemed necessary. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN REPORT Released two days prior to this report were the results of another study, based on a nationwide survey conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research under a contract with the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This report concluded that students used less marijuana in 1981 than in previous years. Overall use of drugs among students was very high; two-thirds of 17,000 high school seniors from the 130 private and public schools surveyed admitted to some use of an illicit drug. According to the study, marijuana still ranked as the most widely used of these drugs, with one out of 14 seniors smoking marijuana daily in 1981, as compared with one out of 11 in 1980 and one out of nine in 1979. Following is the text of the summary of Marijuana and Health, prepared by the Institute of Medicine and released February, 26, 1982. (Boldface headings in brackets have been added by Congressional Quarterly to highlight the organization of the text.): SUMMARY The Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences has conducted a 15-month study of the health-related effects of marijuana, at the request of the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Director of the National Instiutes of Health. The IOM appointed a 22-member committee to: -analyze existing scientific evidence bearing on the possible hazards to the health and safety of users of marijuana; -analyze data concerning the possible therapeutic value and health benefits of marijuana; -assess federal research programs in marijuana; -identify promising new research directions, and make suggestions to improve the quality and usefulness of future research; and -draw conclusions from this review that would accurately assess the limits of present knowledge and thereby provide a factual, scientific basis for the development of future government policy. This assessment of knowledge of the health-related effects of marijuana is important and timely because marijuana is now the most widely used of all the illicit drugs available in the United Stats. In 1979, more than 50 million persons had tried it at least once. There has been a steep rise in its use during the past decade, particularly among adolescents and young adults, although there has been a leveling-off its overall use among high school seniors in the past 2 or 3 years and a small decline in the percentage of seniors who use it frequently. Although substantially more high school students have used alcohol than ever used marijuana, more high school seniors use marijuana on a daily or near-daily basis (9 pecent) than alcohol (6 percent). Much of the heavy use of marijuana, unlike alcohol, takes place in school, where effects on behavior, cognition, and psychomotor performance can be particularly disturbing. Unlike alcohol, which is rapidly metabolized and eliminated form the body, the psychoactive components of marijuana persist in the body for a long time. Similar to alcohol, continued use of marijuana may cause tolerance and dependence. For all these reasons, it is imperative that we have reliable and detailed information about the effects of marijuana use on health, both in the long and short term. What, then, did we learn from our review of the published scientific literature? Numerous acute effects have been described in animals, in isolated cells and tissues, and in studies of human volunteers; clinical and epidemiological observations also have been reported. This information is briefly summarized in the following prargraphs. [EFFECTS ON NERVOUS SYSTEM AND BEHAVIOR] We can say with confidence that marijuana produces acute effects on the brain, including chemical and electrophysiological changes. Its most clearly established acute effects are on mental functions and behavior. With a severity directly related to dose, marijuana impairs motor coordingation and affect tracking ability and sensory and perceptual functions important for safe driving and the operation of other machines; it also impairs short-term memory and slows learning. Other acute effects include feeling of euphoria and other mood changes, but there also are disturbing mental phenomena, such as brief periods of anxiety, confusion, or psychosis. There is not yet any conclusive evidence as to whether prolonged use of marijuana causes permanent changes in the nervous system or sustained impairment of brain function and behavior in human beings. in a few unconfirmed studies in experimental animals, impairment of learning and changes in electical brain-wave recordings have been observed several months after the cessation of chronic administration of marijuana. In the judgement of the committee, widely cited studies purporting to demonstrate that marijuana affects the gross and microscopic sturcture of the human or monkey brain are not convincing; much more work is needed to settle this important point. Chronic relatively heavy use of marijuana is associated with behavioral dysfunction and mental disorders in human beings, but available evidence does not establish if marijuana use under these circumstances is a cause or a result of the mental condition. There are similar problems in interpreting the evidence linking the use om marijuana to subsequent use of ther illicit drugs, such as heroin or cocaine. Association does not prove a causal relation, and the use of marijuana may merely be symptomatic of an underlying dispositon to use psychoactie drugs rather than a "stepping stone" to involvememt with more dangerous substances. It is also dificult to sort out the relationship between use of marijuana and the complex symptoms known as the amotivational syndrome. Self-selection and effects of the drug are probably both contributing ot the motivational problems seen in some chronic users if marijuana. Thus, the long-term effects of marijuana on the human brain and on human behavior remaing to be defined. Although we have no convincing evidence thus far of any effects persisting in human beings after cessation of drug use, there may well be subtle but important physical and psychological consequences that have not been recognized. [EFFECTS ON THE HEART AND LUNGS] There is good evidence that the smoking of marijuana usually causes acute changes in the heart and circulation that are characteristic of stress, but there is no evidence to indicate that a permanently deleterious effect on the mormal cardiovascular system occurs. There is good evidence to show that marijuana increases the work of the heart, usually by raising heart rate and, in some persons, by raising blood pressure. This rise in workload poses a threat to patients with hypertension, cerebrovascular disease, and coronary atherosclerosis. Acute exposure to marijuana smoke generally elicits bronchodilation; chronic heavy smoking of marijuana causes inflammation and pre-neoplastic changes in the airways, similar to those produced by smoking of tobacco. Marijuana smoke is a complex mixture that not only has many chemical components (including carbon monoxide and "tar") and biological effects similar to those of tobacco smoke, but also some unique ingredients. This suggests the strong possibility that prolonged heavy smoking of marijuana, like tobacco, will lead to cancer to the respiratory tract and to serious impairment of lung function. Although there is evidence fo impaired lung function in chronic smokers, no direct confirmation of the likelihood of cancer has yet been provided, possibly because marijuana has been widely smoked in this country for only about 20 years, and data have not been collected systematically in other countries with a much longer history of heavy marijuana use. [EFFECTS ON REPRODUCTION] Although studies in animals have shown that Delta-9-THC (the major psychoactive constituent of marijuana) lowers the concentration in blood serum of pituitary hormones (gonadotropins) that control reproductive functions, it is not known if there is a direct effect on reproductive tissues. Delta-9-THC appears to have a modest reversible suppressive effect on sperm production in men, but there is no proof that it has a deleterious effect om male fertility. Effects on human female hormonal function have been reported, but the evidence is not convincing. However, there is convincing evidence that marijuana interferes with ovulation in female monkeys. No satisfactory studies of the relation between use of marijuana and female fertility and child-bearing have been carried out. Although Delta-9-THC is known to cross the placenta readily and to cause birth defects when administered in large doses to experimental animals, no adequate clinical studies have been carried out to determine if marijuana use can harm the human fetus. There is no conclusive evidence of teratogenicity in human offspring, but a slowly developing or low-level effect might be undetected by the studies done so far. The effects of marijuana on reproductive function and on the fetus are unclear; they may prove to be negligible,but further research to establish or rule out such effects would be of great importance. Extracts from marijuana smoke particulates ("tar") have been found to produce dose-related mutations in bacteria; however, Delta-9-THC, by itself, is not mutagenic. Marijuana and Delta-9-THC do not appear to break chromosomes, but marijuana may affect chromosome segregation during cell division, resulting in an abnormal number of chromosomes in daughter cells. Although these results are of concern, their clinical significance is unknown. [THE IMMUNE SYSTEM] Similar limitations exist in our understanding of the effects of marijuana on other body systems. For example, some studies of the immune system demonstrate a mild, immunosuppressant effect on human beings, but other studies show no effect. For FREE recorded information about HEMP, use your touch tone phone and dial 303/470-1100...punch in ext 411 for general Hemp Hotline Info...punch in 477 to hear a 10 minute recording of Hugh Downs ABC 20/20 program on hemp....punch 123 to hear a Colorado man with AIDS speak out about hemp at state capital rally. Visit Colorado's only hempery...HEMPware, etc., at 1090 S Wadsworth Unit D...outstanding legal, non-smoking hemp products! Reading room open to the public...Public meetings every 1st and 3rd Saturday from 6 pm to 8 pm.....store hours from 10 am to 8 pm Monday thru Saturday. [THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL] The committee also has examined the evidence on the therapeutic effects of marijuana in a variety of medical disorders. Preliminary studies suggest that marijuana and its derivatives or analogues might be useful in the treatment of the raised intraocular pressure of glaucoma, in the control of the severe nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy, and in the treatment of asthma. There also is some preliminary evidence that a marijuana constituent (cannabidiol) might be helpful in the treatment of certain types of epileptic seizures, as well as for spastic disorders and other nervous system diseases. But, in these and all other conditions, much more work is needed. Because marijuana and Delta-9-THC often produce troublesome psychotropic or cardiovascular side-effects that limit their therapeutic usefulness, particularly in older patients, the greatest therapeutic potential probably lies in the use of synthetic analogues of marijuana derivatives with higher ratios of therapeutic to undesirable effects. [MORE RESEARCH NEEDED] The explanation for all of these unanswered questions is insufficient research. We need to know much more about the metabolism of the various marijuana chemical compounds and their biological effects. This will require many more studies in animals, with particular emphasis on subhuman primates. Basic pharmacologic information obtained in animal experiments will ultimately have to be tested in clinical studies on human beings. Until 10 or 15 years ago, there was virtually no systematic, rigorously controlled research on the human health-related effects of marijuana and its major constituents. Even now, when standardized marijuana and pure synthetic cannabinoids are available for experimental studies, and good qualitative methods exist for the measuremnt of Delta-9-THC and its metabolites in body fluids, well-designed studies on human beings are relatively few. There are difficulties in studying the clinical effects of marijuana in human beings, particularly the effects of long-term use. And yet, without such studies the debate about the safety or hazard of marijuana will remain unresolved. Prospective cohort studies, as well as retrospective case-control studies, would be useful in identifying long-term behavioral and biological consequences of marijuana use. The federal investment in research on the health-related effects of marijuana has been small, both in relation to the expenditure on other illicit drugs and in absolute terms. The committee considers the research particularly inadequate when viewed in light of the extent of marijuana use in this country, expecially by young people. We believe ther should be a greater investment in research on marijuana, and that investigator-initiated research grants should be the primary vehicle of support. The committee considers all of the areas of research on marijuana that are supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse to be important, but we did not judge the appropriateness of the allocation of resources among those areas, other than to conclude that there should be increased emphasis on studies in human beings and other primates.... CONCLUSIONS The scientific evidence published to date indicates that marijuana has a broad range of psychological and biological effects, some of which, at least under certain conditions, are harmful to human health. Unfortunately, the available information does not tell us how serious this risk may be. Our major conclusion is that what little we know for certain about the effects of marijuana on human health -and all that we have reason to suspect- justifies serious national concern. Of no less concern is the extent of our ignorance about many of the most basic and important questions about the drug. Our major recommendation is that there be a greatly intensified and more comprehensive program of research into the effects of marijuana on the health of the American people.... [USE OF MARIJUANA IN THE U.S.] ...There has been a steep rise in the use of marijuana and other illicit drugs in the past decade. So far it is primarily a youth phenomenon. Since 1971 there has been at least a doubling of lifetime experience with marijuana in every cohort in the 12- to 24-year age group. Of all psychoactive drugs investigated (including inhalant, hallucinogens, cocaine, heroin, stimulants, sedatives, and tranquilizers), marijuana is by far the most commonly used illicit drug. Legal drugs for adults, such as alcohol and tobacco, are the most widely used of all drugs among adolescents. Although substantially more students have ever used alcohol in their lifetime than have ever used marijuana, more high school seniors use marijuana on a "daily" basis (9 percent) than use alcohol that frequently (6 percent). "Daily" users report the use of marijuana in school, whereas daily use of alcohol tends to occur after school and on weedends. Some trends in use of marijuana are apparent. The continuing dramatic rise in the use of marijuana has recently slowed. It is too early to tell whether this decrease will continue or is merely a pause in the rise. The overall prevalence of use of marijuana has remained at approximately 60 percent of high school seniors for the years 1978, 1979, and 1980. Between 1975 and 1978 ther was an almost twofold increase in "daily" use of marijuana from 6 percent in 1975 to a peak rate of 11 percent in 1978. In 1980 the "daily" use rate of high school seniors dropped by 1.2 percentage points, or more than 10 percent. This may signal a reversal of the upward trend in daily use unless higher absenteeism and school drop-outs of daily users are significant factors in the decline. Multiple sources suggest that out-of-school age mates are heavier users than those in school. Other trends have not slowed. There was a continuing rise in 1980 of the proportion of high school seniors who during the year had used some illicit drug other than marijuana, from 28 percent in 1979 to 30 percent in 1980. Throughout the 1970s, as a correlate of continuing rise in prevalence rates, there was a trend toward younger ages of first use of all of these drugs. For marijuana this age trend continues but has slowed somewhat. In 1979, 23 percent of seniors who had used marijuana started their use in the eighth grade or below as compared to 25 percent in 1980. "Daily" use of mariuana in high school and in early adult life is very high and merits special attention. Drawing on data from M onitoring the Future, characteristics of "daily" users were described. For high school seniors the rate of "daily" marijuana use in 1980 was 9.1 percent. Such users have very high involvement with other drugs and begin their use of drugs at very early ages. "Daily" users are predominantly urban although rates do not vary by geographical regions of the country,whereas use among white students is double that for blacks. "Daily" use is only slightly higher in disrupted or single parent homes than in nuclear families, and use is associated with poor school achievement, absenteeism, and dropout. Non-college-bound students are twice as likely to be "daily" users as were students planning to attend college. Religious commitment and self-rating of strong belief in law-abiding behavior are associated with lower "daily" use rates. "Daily" users are involved in more automobile accidents and delinquency. Post-high shcool "daily" user rates are lowest among full-time college students and those living in a college dormitory. "Daily" use among non-college students was not related to joblessness, employment, or military service. Single persons are twice as likely as married persons to be "daily" users. Among the married, those with children had very low rates of "daily" use. The "daily" use habit has a remarkable stability. By 4 years after high school, 85 percent of "daily" using seniors in the class of 1975 were still using marijuana, with 51 percent of them continuing to be "daily" users. In these studies, students report reasons for using marijuana: to have a good time with friends, to get "high," to relieve boredom, to enhance the effects of other drugs, and to cope with stress. "Daily" users are deeply immersed in a drug-using circle of friends. Some "daily" users have discontinued their habit. Reasons given for stopping use of marijuana are loss of interest in getting "high," concern about harmful pyhsical or psychological effects, and concern about their loss of energy or ambition. More is know about the antecedents of using marijuana than is known about the consequences of using marijuana....Longitudinal studies have established that use of marijuana is preceded by acceptance of a cluster of beliefs and values that are favorable to use of marijauna and also by the adoption of deviant behaviors. The deviant psycho-social attributes of marijuana users that were described almost a decade ago, when use of mariuana was a rare evert, are just as characteristic of marijuana users tooday, when 60 percent of all high school seniors report some experience with the use of marijuana. Daily users show the extremes of these deviant behaviors but less deeeply involved users also exhibit some deviancy. Friendship patterns and peer influence play a uniquely powerful role in determining youthful marijuana use. Negative parental relationshoips do not appear to be associated as an antecedent to use of marijuana.... ================================================================= ========== For FREE recorded information about hemp call 303/470-1100 from your touch tone phone. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz extracted from: DETAILS, April 1991. BEDTIME FOR BONG-O The DEA has laid siege to High Times, the official voice of pothead culture. Can its editor blow the lid off the cannabis conspiracy? by Erik Hedegaard. Who are the men in the black van, and why are they following Steve Hager? Hager used to stay in motels when he traveled. No longer. Because when he did, the men in the black van with the smoked windows would rent the room next to his and pretend to work on it. They would be dressed just like real workmen. The men would have drills. The men would occasionally pull the triggers of the drill. "What're you guys doing?", Hager would say to them. The men would say, "We're working." Steve Hager knows what the men in the van were working on. What they were working on was him. Hager is the editor of High Times magazine. You may know High Times. Then again, you may not, so deep has it been buried at the newsstands that still carry it. High Times is the magazine for the recreational drug user: Penthouse for potheads. The High Times centerfold is a double-page, Vaseline-lensed shot of an exotic bud of glorious, mind-blowing weed. The magazine features all manner of growing information as well as travelogues on Nepal, Jamaica, Hawaii -wherever mind-altering substances can be found. A relic, then. A dream of the '60s. Except that in Steve Hager's mind the counterculture is very much alive. Hager is sitting in his Manhattan office. He's wearing a pair of no-name sneakers, jeans, and a sleeveless, lime-green T-shirt. He's got real skinny arms, along which highways of veins run jaggedly haywire. Hager shrugs and looks around his office, down at the floor, up into the corners. "I haven't done a sweep," he says. "I just take it for granted that this place is bugged." A week or two ago, his apartment was broken into. A random bit of thievery, or something more purposeful? Who knows? The men in the black van never seem to take a day off. These are heady times to be a pothead. Across the United States, pot and all that it stands for are under attack. In October 1989 the DEA put Operation Green Merchant into action. High Times's advertisers have been mostly gardening-supply companies, and Hager thinks that the DEA figured that by putting the pressure on them it could also do something about High Times. So it raided the merchants and began busting people who did business with them. A guy named Bob , in Colorado, was one such person. Here, according to the newspaper Westword, is what happened to Bob. The DEA agents, hot on the drug tail, wedged their way into Bob's place, after which one of them went over to Bob's arthritic old Doberman, slicked out his pistol, and put the pistol to the pooch's face. "We can either do this the hard way or the easy way," the agent said to Bob. The dog lived. Bob saw the bracelets. Moreover, there is the little matter of the Feds down in New Orleans. Hager learned of their interest last May, when he was served with a subpoena to appear before a grand jury investigating the magazine for conspiracy to distribute drugs. This allegation was based on the fact that High Times had accepted ads from a Dutch company doing business in mail-order marijuana seeds. (High Times has since been dropped from the investigation.) All of this, of course, has had an effect on High Times. In recent months, it has lost many of its advertisers. Hager, it must be said, conducts himself in this troubled situation with a certain sangfroid. But even he needs something to calm his frazzled nerves. He takes a bite of toasted bagel with cream cheese. "I would say being around High Times definitely makes me smoke a lot more pot than if I wasn't around High Times," he says. "It just sort of comes with the territory." Hager's is the benign face of the post-coke, post-crack substance abuser of the '90s. He is quiet and sincere. He doesn't touch synthetic drugs, thinks cocaine is the Antichrist. Conversely, pot is so wholesome it's almost good for you. "Like after a hard day at work," he says, "you want to come back to you pad and relax. One of the most effective, least toxic ways to do that is to smoke a joint. It makes you a less aggressive, more mellow person." The country's young people, Hager thinks, are rediscovering this. "The last generation that came up was a bad one," he says. "But the next one, coming up now, the kids just entering college, I think, have a whole new counterculture spirit. A lot of them are smoking pot, but more importantly, a lot of them realize that pot isn't a dangerous thing." Mention the youth of America and marijuana in the same sentence and you immediately make enemies. But black vans? Why are they out to get Steve Hager? What makes Steve Hager so dangerous? Hager knows. Hager is thrashing around his office, looking for a journal from the 1930s, a report that was presented during the Agricultural Processing Meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on Fegruary 26, 1937. Wide-eyed and unshaven, Hager is rummaging through overflowing files and digging his fingers into a pile of documents on a coffee table. The papers swirl away from him. Suddenly he's waving something: an analysis of the marijuana plant written by one George A. Lowry, entitled Flax and Hemp: From the Seed to the Loom. Hager flips into the heart of the document. "Let me show you real quickly what it says here about hemp," he says, and begins to read: "Hemp, the strongest of the vegetable fibers, gives the greatest production per acre and requires the least attention per acre. It not only requires no weeding but also kills off all the weeds and leaves the soil in splendid condition for the following crop." Also: "Floods and dust storms have given warnings against the destruction of timber. Possibly, the hitherto waste product of...hemp may yet meet a good part of that need, especially in the plastics field, which is growing by leaps and bounds." Hager drops the document on the coffee table and looks out a window that gives onto the city and its massive car-crammed streets. He shakes his head. He's a little grim now. "It was only a few weeks from the deliverance of this report," he says, "to the outlawing of hemp." That fact, to Hager, explains a lot -not only about why he's being hounded but also about who is doing the hounding. It all has to do with economics. In his estimation, the government is merely acting as the agent of a poweer even greater than itself, with "far-seeing eyes," that has "investigated possibilities of profits and long-term.. you know," and has come to the conclusion that High Times is a threat to the power's continuing existence and good fortune and that it must be driven out of existence- disappeared. Hager likes to say, "Hemp -pot- can be used in the manufacture of a whole range of products -plastics, fuel, fiber, food, medicines, even dynamite. These products, many of them, are currently made with petrochemicals, pollutants of the first water -so what Hager is proposing is that harmless hemp be used instead. He wants marijuana to be legalized, not only so the country can toke at will but also to save the country. Which is why the fellows in the black van have it in for Hager. Should he attract too many believerrs, there could be a ground swell of pro-hemp activism, which could lead to the overthrow of current laws regulating hemp, which could lead to hemp's replacing petrochemicals in the manufacture of any number of products. In other words, it could spell the demise of the petrochemical industry as we know it. But for a long time, that message did not get out. One imagines that some recreational user, at some point, realized the dark truth about the international petrochemical conspiracy -Eureka!- only, promptly, to forget. It goes with the territory. And so, for a long time after Dr. Lowry's fateful report, hemp made news only when it was cited as the cause of particularly grisly murders. The only Americans who experienced its wonders firsthand were bongo players, beatniks, and jazz freaks. Then, of course, came the Great Awakening. Acapulco Gold, Colombian Black, Thai Stick, Hawaiian. Chamber pipes, chillums, and Riz Abadie rolling paper. What magic those words held. Clouds of joy. Buy a triple-beam scale and smoke the profits! Plastics was no suitable career for a young man, but plastic made an excellent bong. High Times was lanuched in 1974, the brainchild of a longhair named Tom Forcade. Forcade had grown up in Arizona and, according to his mom, was "very sensitive, shy, and patriotic -a good Boy Scout and Explorer." buy that was before he lost interest in hot rods and started sucking down everything one could possibly suck down -from vanilla extract (six bottles a day) to absinthe (homemade). But mostly he was into pot, both as a user and as a dealer. To sell it, he set up smoke-easis: go to his loft, knock on the door once, twice, three times, and you'd be led to a room where you could sample a number of different strains, take your pick, pay up, and split. Dressed in his stovepipe jeans, toad-sticker boots, and floppy hat -either in that or a three-piece suit or as a priest, with a cleric's collar- he considered himself not so much a hippie as an outlaw. "People talk about peace," he used to say. "I'm not into peace. I don't want peace. I want life. I associate peace with graveyards. I associate peace with stagnation." Life to Forcade meant being on intimate terms with airplanes, which he flew to Colombia on pot-smuggling operations, and guns. "He knew munitions," recalls an early writer. Says another, "He wasn't afraid to carry a gun -or use it." For a while he covered his house's windows with barbed wire. When asked why, he would reply, "Did you notice the charred marks on the house when you came in? Someone threw a bomb." Forcade was, along with Abbie Hoffman, one of the original yippies. But unlike Abbie, Forcade thought that the yippies' antiwar demonstrations should involve serious mayhem; eventually he split from the main group and formed his own -the Zippies, ZIP standing for Zeitgeist International Party. Abbie immediately denounced Forcade as a "maniac" and began spreading rumors that he was a stoolie. At the same time, Forcade headed the Underground Press Syndicate (UPS), the counterculture's version of the Associated Press. His headquarters was the basement of a building on West Tenth Street in New York -actually, a warren of basements all connected like catacombs. Forcade's friends were people like Leonard Crow Dog, who was his bodyguard and beat up anybody who ripped him off. Forcade had a vision of how, if pot were legal, he and his friends could exist in a world that would be self-sustaining. They would sit around and smoke lots of dope, of course. But they would also be able to have careers. In advertising, for instance, coming up with campaigns to promote Acapulco Gold. Or in the head-shop business, hawking roach clips and bongs. Says Rex Weiner, one of the magazine's founding members, "It was the idea of having a world to live in where you wouldn't have to deal with the other world." Thus was High times created, to glorify pot and to be the driving force in the campaign for its legalization, which would then lead to the formation of a new nation populated by the 25 million Americans who were smoking dope. High Times's circulation jumped form 25,000 to 300,000 in two years. It ran articles with titles such as "I Was JFK's Dealer" and "Golden Days of Coca Wine." It featured sections that remain today, among them "Highwitness News" and "Trans-High Market Quotations," a rundown of pot prices that includes evaluations of what you get for your money. ("Iowa City, IA: Mexican, 'Lamb's Breath, tight buds, super high.'1/4oz., $35-$40; oz., $150-$160.") The magazine had bureaus in Southeast Asia, South America, India, and Europe. In the New York office, drugs were commonplace. "On Fridays -paydays- the dope dealers would come around, and everybody would sample their wares," says Weiner. And at parties, people would slither around with balloons filled with nitrous oxide. But not everyone was necessarily at the parties to have a good time. One High Times employee turned out to be an undercover cop. A friend turned out to be an informer for the Feds. History has not recorded whether or not there were black vans involved in this harassment, but Tom Forcade did not react with sangfroid. Legend has it that Forcade tried to shut the magazine down, going after the switchbaord with an ax and chasing people around the office. But by then the magazine had taken on a life of its own. "The momentum of it could not be stopped. He had created a monster, and it just kept going," recalls Weiner. Forcade cast about for a new wave to ride. He got involved in punk and make D.O.A., a documentary about the Sex Pistols' American tour. The Pistols thought he might be CIA. In 1978 he flew to L.A. to try to interest Hollywood in a movie project called Cocaine Cowboys, which starred Andy Warhol and Jack Palance. No one would distribute it. All Hollywood wanted was more of Forcade's nose candy. After a whil Forcade began to realize that his vision of Pot World was a pipe dream. The '70s were coming to an end, and efforts to legalize pot were going nowhere. "The big changes we had worked for, believed in, and hoped for were obviously being derailed, stomped on, and insulted," recalls one friend. On November 19, 1978, Tom Forcade shot himself. Following Forcade's death, the magazine floundered. For a While it tried to expand its audience by going general interest and suggesting that people get high on more than drugs -on love, for instance, and by climbing mountains and snorkeling. By the mid-'80s cocaine stories were a mainstay, tattoos a favored pictorial element. It had become a magazine without a soul. Outside, now, in midtown Manhattan, drones the dull, incessant thrum of engines sucking on petroleum products for dear life. Up Park Avenue comes a motorcycle. The rider is dressed in black leathers, head to toe. Years earlier this might have been Forcade. But today it is Steve Hager, who has brought High Times out of the wilderness and made pot, once again, its central focus. Hager is sitting in his office. The leathers are off, and he is speaking of how he ended up where he is today. He grew up in the heartland, amid amber waves of...hemp. "Hemp grows all over in Illinois," Hager says. "It was impossible to grow up in Champaign County and not be aware of it. It was everywhere." Bad shit, though -"ditch weed"- which Hager first smoked when he was fifteen. "I didn't really get anything out of it, except the thrill of knowing it was against the law." ******* For FREE recorded information on how hemp can save the world, use a touch tone phone to call 303/470-1100 Hemp Information Hotline ******* zzz 8 In the same year, Hager started an underground newspaper and developed contrary opinions. "We hated synthetics, we hated polyester, and we hated plastic. We didn't know why we hated it, but we knew we didn't like it. We didn't like the oil companies. We hated the war machinery." Then Hager was busted. He and some of his hippie friends were in a room, and one of his hippie friends sold a hit of acid to a state narcotics agent. "I didn't do it," says Hager. "I didn't sell it." Guilt by association was the basis of the charge. But Hager believes he would have been let go had the police not known his underground newspaper was being distributed in four high schools in central Illinois. The incident taught Hager a lesson. "It gave me, at a very young age, a look inside the the criminal-justice system," he says. "It was just being used to target people the government didn't like." Hager eventually beat the rap, however, in the meantime going to Sweden to avoid the draft, and went on to earn a graduate degree in journalism from the University of Illinois. A child of the '60s -a child, in a sense, of Forcade- he, of course, came to New York to find work. He batted around as a journalist and screenwriter, without mission, without purpose, until, in 1986, he arrived at High Times. Within a year he had decided that hemp could save the world. Within two years he had decided that he and the magazine were the DEA's number-one target. Not cocaine. Not crack. But High Times. "This is like mecca to some people," says Hager. "People would come from all over the country just to stand in the offic. I stopped it, though. You never know when some nut is going to walk in and try to blow us up." High Times is girded for war. There are threats all over. In Ann Arbor not too long ago, Hager stepped out of the shower to answer a knock on the door. The man at the door claimed he was a member of the Freedom Fighters, High Times's political arm, there to pick up a medal. But no sooner had Hager opened up than two more people came in, with a video camera. Imagine Steve Hager standing there, dripping wet, in his towel, trying to get them out of his room. "They looked like informers, scum," he says. "They looked like people you didn't want to associate with." Tom Forcade might have sent Leonard Crow Dog after them, or attacked them with an ax. Hager is a kinder, gentler pothead. There is none of Forcade's madness in him. He merely wants his message to be heard, to get the cannabis conspiracy out in the open. Hard proof? Hager frowns and looks out the window. "Things don't work that directly," he says. "The board of directors at DuPont doesn't sit around and go, 'Let's call up William Bennett and get this hemp thing under control.' It happens in a shadowy world of favors and business interests, and when they are done, they sort of, like, brush away all evidence that they were ever there." So Hager does not have evidence. But that isn't about to stop him. He's got history, logic, and certitude. He has a mission, and he will not be denied. In fact, Hager said he wouldn't have been that unhappy had High Times been indicted. He wants to tell his story. "It's going to be very embarrassing for them," he said, "because we are going to educate the jurors....All the major corporations of the world have an interlocking system and a network, and oil drives it. Oil drives the world economy and everything they make out of it. Oil is everything." The conspiracy goes all the way up, up to the presidency itself, and Hager knows how it works. "When Bush left the CIA he went ot sit on the board of directors at Eli Lilly, which is one of the largest pharmaceutical countries -uh, companies- in the world. Lilly is owned by the Quayle family, which also owns the Indianapolis Star newspaper. And the first thing Bush did when he became vice president was get special tax treatment for pharmaceutical companies producing in Puerto Rico. So Bush is connected with oil and pharmaceuticals all the way, and uh, uh, uh..." Hager's lips pucker. His eyes cross. He looks at his bagel and then out the window. The world waits, the youth of America wait, the men in the black van wait, for an answer. "I forgot where I was going with that," Hager says. "What was the question again?" ********* For FREE recorded information about how hemp can save the world, use a touch tone phone and call 303/470-1100 Hemp Information Hotline. ********* zzzz 101st Congress 2d Session H.R. 4079 To provide swift and certain punishment for criminals in order to deter violent crime and rid America of illegal drug use. ------------------------------------------------ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 22, 1990 Mr. Gingrich (for himself, Mr. Armey, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Smith of New Hampshire, Mr. Hansen, Mr. Hiler, Mr. Ireland, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Barton of Texas, Mr. McEwen, Mr. Bliley, Mr. Condit, Mr. Weldon, Mr. Fields, Mr. Stearns, Mr. Schuette, Mr. Douglas, Mr. Livingston, Mr. Oxley, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Hancock, Mr. Schaefer, Mr. Bartlett, Mr. Shumway, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Nielson of Utah, Mr. Donald Lukens, Mr. Paxon, Mr. Herger, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Lagomarsino, Mr. Sensenbrenner, Mr. James, Mr. Upton, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Ritter, Mr. Dornan of California, Mr. Baker, Mr. DeLay, Mr. Hyde, Mr. Grandy, Mr. Hefley, Mr. Coughlin, Mr. Craig, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Dreier of California, Mr. Solomon, and Mr. McCollum) introduce the following bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on the Judiciary, Energy and Commerce, Public Works and Transportation, Education and Labor, and Armed Services ------------------------------------------------ A BILL To provide swift and certain punishment for criminals in order to deter violent crime and rid America of illegal drug use. _Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,_ SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the "National Drug and Crime Emergency Act". SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Sec. 1. Short title. Sec. 2. Table of contents. Sec. 3. Findings and declaration of a national drug and crime emergency. Sec. 4. Definitions. TITLE I--ELIMINATION OF CRIME WITHOUT PUNISHMENT Subtitle A--National Drug and Crime Emergency Policies Sec. 101. Judicial remedies for prison crowding. Sec. 102. Temporary prison facilities and expanded capacity. Sec. 103. Elimination of early release from prison. Subtitle B--Imposition of Mandatory Minimum Sentences Without Release Sec. 111. Increased mandatory minimum sentences without release for criminals using firearms and other violent criminals. Sec. 112. Life imprisonment without release for criminals convicted a third time. Sec. 113. Longer prison sentences for those who sell illegal drugs to minors or for use of minors in drug trafficking activities. Sec. 114. Longer prison sentences for drug trafficking. Sec. 115. Mandatory penalties for illegal drug use in Federal prisons. Sec. 116. Deportation of criminal aliens. Sec. 117. Encouragement to States to adopt mandatory minimum prison sentences. Subtitle C--Mandatory Work Requirements for Prisoners, Withholding Federal Benefits, and Drug Testing of Prisoners Sec. 131. Mandatory work requirement for all prisoners. Sec. 132. Repeal of constraints on prison industries. Sec. 133. Employment of prisoners. Sec. 134. Withholding prisoners' Federal benefits to offset incarceration costs. Sec. 135. Drug testing of Federal prisoners. Sec. 136. Drug testing of State prisoners. Subtitle D--Judicial Reform To Protect the Innocent and Punish the Guilty Sec. 151. Good faith standards for gathering evidence. Sec. 152. Strom Thurmond habeas corpus reform initiative. Sec. 153. Proscription of use of drug profits. Sec. 154. Jurisdiction of special masters. Sec. 155. Sentencing patterns of Federal judges. TITLE II--ACHIEVING A DRUG-FREE AMERICA BY 1995 Sec. 201. Findings. Sec. 202. Payment of trial costs and mandatory minimum fines. Sec. 203. Withholding of unearned Federal benefits from drug traffickers and users who are not in prison. Sec. 204. Revocation of drug users' driver's licenses. Sec. 205. Accountability and performance of drug treatment facilities. Sec. 206. Drug-free schools. Sec. 207. Drug-free transportation. Sec. 208. Financial incentives and citizen involvement in the war against drugs. TITLE III--MISCELLANEOUS Sec. 301. Authorization of appropriations. Sec. 302. Severability. SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF NATIONAL DRUG AND CRIME EMERGENCY. (a) FINDINGS.--The Congress makes the following findings: (1) Next to preserving the national security, protecting the personal security of individual Americans, especially children, by enacting and enforcing laws against criminal behavior is the most important single function of government. (2) The criminal justice system in America is failing to achieve this basic objective of protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty. (3) Reform is needed to ensure that criminals are held accountable for their actions, that they receive swift and certain punishment commensurate with their crimes, and that the protection of innocent citizens takes priority over other objectives. (4) The principle of individual accountability should also dictate policies with respect to drug users. Users should face a high probability of apprehension and prosecution, and those found guilty should face absolutely certain measured response penalties. (5) According to the Uniform Crime Reports issued in 1989 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), violent crime known to law enforcement reached an unprecedented high in 1988. A violent crime occurred ever 20 seconds. (6) The Department of Justice estimates that 83 percent of Americans will be victimized by violent crime during their lifetime. (7) The Federal Bureau of Investigation reports that violent crime in America rose by 23 percent during the period 1984-1988. (8) The National Drug Control Strategy reports that in certain large cities more than 80 percent of the men arrested have tested positive for illegal drug use. (9) According to the Department of Justice, the total number of Federal and State prisoners grew by 90 percent from 1980 to 1988. The growth rate of the total prison population during the first 6 months of 1989 exceeded the largest annual increase ever recorded in 64 years of recordkeeping. The 6-month growth rate translates to a need of almost 1,800 additional prison beds per week. (10) In 1985, 19 States reported the early release of nearly 19,000 prisoners in an effort to control prison populations, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. (11) According to the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics, 63 percent of State inmates were rearrested for a serious crime within 3 years of their discharge from prison. (12) The criminal justice system is overloaded and does not deliver swift and certain penalties for violating the law. In America today, there exists crime without punishment. Such conditions imperil the public safety, jeopardize the rule of law and undermine the preservation of order in the community. (b) DECLARATION OF NATIONAL DRUG AND CRIME EMERGENCY.--(1) Guided by the principles that energized and sustained the mobilization for World War II, and in order to remove violent criminals from the streets and meet the extraordinary threat that is posed to the Nation by the use and trafficking of illegal drugs, the Congress declares the existence of a National Drug and Crime Emergency beginning on the date of enactment of this Act and ending on the date that is 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act. (2) During the National Drug and Crime Emergency declared in paragraph (1), it shall be the policy of the United States that-- (A) every person who is convicted in a Federal court of a crime of violence against a person or a drug trafficking felony (other than simple possession) shall be sentenced to and shall serve a full term of no less than 5 years' imprisonment without release; (B) prisoners may be housed in tents, and other temporary facilities may be utilized, consistent with security requirements; and (C) the Federal courts may limit or place a "cap" on the inmate population level of a Federal or State prison or jail only when an inmate proves that crowding has resulted in cruel and unusual punishment of the plaintiff inmate and no other remedy exists. SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. For the purposes of this Act-- (1) the term "crime of violence against a person" means a Federal offense that is a felony and-- (A) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another; or (B) that by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense; and (C) for which a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years or more is prescribed by law; and (2) the term "drug trafficking crime," (other than simple possession) means any felony punishable under the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act (21 U.S.C. 951 et seq.) or the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (46 U.S.C. App. 1901 et seq.), other than a felony constituting a simple possession of a controlled substance for which the maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years or more is prescribed by law. TITLE I--ELIMINATION OF CRIME WITHOUT PUNISHMENT Subtitle A--National Drug and Crime Emergency Policies SEC. 101. JUDICIAL REMEDIES FOR PRISON CROWDING. (a) PURPOSE.--The purpose of this section is to provide for reasonable and proper enforcement of the eighth amendment. (b) FINDINGS.--The Congress finds that-- (1) the Federal courts are unreasonably endangering the community by sweeping prison and jail cap orders as a remedy for detention conditions that they hold are in conflict with the eighth amendment; and (2) eighth amendment holdings frequently are unjustified because of the absence of a plaintiff inmate who has proven that detention conditions inflict cruel and unusual punishment of that inmate. (c) AMENDMENT OF TITLE 18, UNITED STATES CODE.--(1) Subchapter C of chapter 229 of part 2 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new section: "Section 3626. Appropriate remedies with respect to prison crowding. "(a)(1) During the period of the National Drug and Crime Emergency, a Federal court shall not hold prison or jail crowding unconstitutional under the eighth amendment except to the extent that an individual plaintiff proves that the crowding causes the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment of that inmate. "(2) The relief in a case described in paragraph (1) shall extend no further than necessary to remove the conditions that are causing the cruel and unusual punishment of the plaintiff inmate. "(b)(1) A Federal court shall not place an inmate ceiling on any Federal, State, or local detention facility as an equitable remedial measure for conditions that violate the eighth amendment unless crowding itself is inflicting cruel and unusual punishment on individual prisoners. "(2) Federal judicial power to issue equitable relief other than that described in paragraph (1), including the requirement of improved medical or health care and the imposition of civil contempt fines or damages, where appropriate, shall not be affected by paragraph (1). "(c) Each Federal court order seeking to remedy an eighth amendment violation shall be reopened at the behest of a defendant for recommended alteration at a minimum of two-year intervals.". (2) Section 3626 of title 18, United States Code, as added by paragraph (1), shall apply to all outstanding court orders on the date of enactment of this section. Any State or municipality shall be entitled to seek modification of any outstanding eighth amendment decree pursuant to that section. (3) The table of sections for subchapter C of chapter 229 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new item: "3626. Appropriate remedies with respect to prison overcrowding.". SEC. 102. TEMPORARY PRISON FACILITIES AND EXPANDED CAPACITY. (a) IN GENERAL.--In order to remove violent criminals from the streets and protect the public safety, the Attorney General shall take such action as may be necessary, subject to appropriate security considerations, to ensure that sufficient facilities exist to house individuals whom the courts have ordered incarcerated. During the period of the National Drug and Crime Emergency, these facilities may include tent housing or other shelters placed on available military bases and at other suitable locations. The President may direct the National Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers to design and construct such temporary detention facilities. (b) USE OF MILITARY INSTALLATIONS.--(1)In order to provide facilities for incarceration authorized by subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense, the Commission on Alternative Utilization of Military Facilities, and the Director of the Bureau of Prisons shall-- (A) identify military installations that could be used as confinement facilities for Federal or State prisoners; and (B) examine the feasibility of using temporary facilities for housing prisoners with a specific examination of the successful use of tent housing during the mobilization for World War II. (2) Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau of Prisoners shall submit to the Congress a description and summary of the results of the examination conducted pursuant to paragraph (1). (c) PRIORITY FOR DISPOSAL OF CLOSED MILITARY INSTALLATIONS.--Section 204(b)(3) of the Defense Authorization Amendments and Base Closure and Realignment Act (10 U.S.C. 2687 note) is amended to read as follows: "(3)(A) Notwithstanding any provision of this title and any other law, before any action is taken with respect to the disposal or transfer of any real property or facility located at a military installation to be closed or realigned under this title the Secretary shall-- "(i) notify the Attorney General and the Governor of each of the territories and possessions of the United States of the availability of such real property or facility, or portion thereof; and "(ii) transfer such real property of facility or portion thereof, as provided in subparagraph (B). "(B) Subject to subparagraph (C), the Secretary shall transfer real property or a facility, or portion thereof, referred to in subparagraph (A) in accordance with the following priorities: "(i) If the Attorney General certifies to the Secretary that the property or facility, or portion thereof, will be used as a prison or other correctional institution, to the Department of Justice for such use. "(ii) If the Governor of a State, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, or the Governor of a territory or possession of the United States certifies to the Secretary that the property or facility, or portion thereof, will be used as a prison or other correctional institution, to that State, the District of Columbia, or that territory or possession for such use. "(iii) To any other transferee pursuant to the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 471 et seq.). "(C) Within each priority specified in clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall give a priority for the transfer of any real property or facility referred to in that subparagraph, or any portion thereof, to any department, agency, or other instrumentality referred to in such clauses that agrees to pay the Department of Defense the fair market value of the real property, facility, or portion thereof. "(D) In this paragraph, the term 'fair market value' means, with