2/10/2005 03:52:00 AM|W|P|projectpeace|W|P|Dear friends, I hope you may find the following suggestions for relevant topics useful, while excusing the obvious and repetitive... > The general objectives are as follows: > Public Health programme (2003-2008). > > (1) Improving information and knowledge for the > development of public health; Knowledge of the unique & essential nutritional value of Cannabis seed's EFAs and edestin proteins, as they relate to prevention & treatment of 75% of the diseases that are likely to kill us. (See "Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill" by Udo Erasmus) > > (2) Enhancing the capability of responding rapidly > and in a co-ordinated fashion to health threats; Resource efficiency and plain common sense considered in an increasingly limited time-frame, amplify the urgency of implementing effective programs and discontinuing failed prohibition policies. In essence, it has become more urgent to fix the 'old problems' since prolonged implementation of failed policies has exacerbated the conditions they were meant to fix, while creating new problems that synergistically aggravate the old problems. > (3) Promoting health and prevent disease through > addressing health determinants across all policies and > activities. Re-directing resources from wastefully expensive, counter-productive policies which emphasize punishment, to health-based measures would enable drug regulation, disempower black market economics, and stimulate regional, organic agricultural productivity. > And one of the criteria for the activities that the EC > wants to support is that they should contribute to > tackling inequalities in health. The availability of useful organic products, directly from our gardens, inclusive of foods and herbal therapeutics, makes freedom to farm essential for equitable distribution of resources and provides direct access to primary, phytotherapeutic healthcare strategies. The importance of shifting human values back into respect for the Natural Order and the effects on health that doing so would have, includes specifically empowering women, by improving direct access to and production of essential resources (food, fuel, therapeutics, raw materials for manufacturing items to sell and trade, etc.). > > Concerning (3); I have put this first because this is > much closer to our concerns. In 2004 there were two > grants relating to HIV as well as the following: > “Elisad internet gateway: A qualitative resource for > European web sites on drugs, alcohol, tobacco and > other addictions.” Cannabis is either 'highly' regarded or completely neglected in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, cancer, heart disease... > > Concerning (1), in both 2003 and 2004 there was no > topic that directly related to the field of substance > abuse. What about nutrition? There is a giant hole in people's awareness of the importance of Cannabis seed in health and nutrition. This gross underestimation of the resource (i.e. failure to recognise the plant as nutrtionally "unique and essential") is what makes it possible for government to impose controls over it. There is a huge opportunity for ENCOD here, to point out the fact that while the E.U. subsidizes hemp cultivation, the U.N. doesn't even recognize it as food for humans, and actually discourages it. The threat posed by prohibition to global food security is hardly acknowledged. GMOs are being developed partly because organic protein production has been severely limited by Cannabis prohibition. > Concerning (2), the projects awarded grants in 2003 > and 2004 were more specifically targeted to particular > illnesses e.g. heart disease than the projects listed > as in arising out of point (1) or (3). This topic area > i.e. (2) is less community health oriented. > > Health determinants can be divided into general areas: > > a) Lifestyle (e.g. tobacco); > > b) Socioeconomics; > > c) Environment; > > d) Genetics and screening. > > We could for instance set up an activity around the > question: how can we best warn users when there are > dangerous substances on sale in the black market e.g. > street MDMA laced with PMA. Years ago, I asked a Cannabis merchant/friend if the herb he was selling was organic. His reply was, "It's whatever you want it to be." The reality is, there are always dangerous substances on sale in the black market. If some pot grower is using chemicals to boost yields, kill pests, or even, out of greed or ignorance, just fertilizing his crop too late in the growing cycle, there is no way for most people to know. Even if people don't get sick immediately, they still could be getting poisoned. That's one of the variables in Cannabis research that is hardly mentioned. The importance of knowing the source and methods of production for anything we ingest is obvious. It may be worthwhile to mention that in the context of prohibiition, this is extremely rare, unless someone is growing their own, or buying herb from a trusted friend who knows what they're doing. It may be useful to point out the possibility of dangers intentional contamination of the unregulated drug supply, by 1. Unscrupulous dealers who lace herbs (i.e. Cannabis, coca, mushrooms) with chemical drugs, to expand their market, "hooking" people on more physically addictive substances. 2. Terrorist attack. 3. The mentally unbalanced (i.e. remember contaminated Tylenol?). 4. Those who may wish to exaggerate the dangers of drugs, for the purpose of instilling fear and panic in the public to maintain support for the drug war. |W|P|110803634831205563|W|P||W|P|projectpeace@gmail.com