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Newsbrief:
European
Union
Blocks
Cannabis
Exhibition
4/30/04
Member of the European Parliament
(MEP) Marco Cappato of the anti-prohibitionist Transnational Radical Party
(http://www.radicalparty.org)
reported Monday that the parliament has blocked the authorization for an
exhibit of industrial cannabis (hemp) products that was to take place in
the European Parliament building in Strasbourg. The denial of permission
was made by the parliament's Quaestors, a small group of MEPs who look
after the organization's affairs.
Cappato had been working
since July 2003 with Chanvre Info (http://www.chanvre-info.ch),
a Swiss hemp industry group, to win authorization for the exhibition, which
would have dealt only with hemp products, not those related to psychoactive
marijuana. Cappato and Chanvre Info had followed all the rules, Cappato
said in a statement, but the Quaestors still refused to allow the exhibit.
The Quaestors denied permission
on April 5, prompting Cappato to write them a letter hoping that their
decision was the result of a "misunderstanding." In the letter, Cappato
explained that "cannabis derivatives are not only a legal product throughout
the European Union, but they are also subsidized by the European money
destined to agriculture." Moreover, Cappato wrote that "it would
be paradoxical, as well as unacceptable, to use the rules governing exhibitions
at the EP -- where it is said that the 'exhibition cannot, in any way,
trigger major political objections' -- to impede the exhibition of goods
that are the products of cultivations financed by the EU budget."
Despite Cappato's clarification
and despite assurances from the parliament that a formal statement that
no illegal products would have been exhibited would have been sufficient
to gain authorization, the Quaestors have refused to revisit their decision,
Cappato reported.
"The decision taken by the
Quaestors is inadmissible and underscores, once again, the fact that bureaucratic
decisions are de facto, and increasingly also de jure, substituting the
legitimate political powers within European institutions," Cappato said
Monday. "I urge all those European citizens that will read this message,
and in particular producers and vendors of cannabis derivatives that are
legally used as widely useful, to express their indignation to the President
of the EP Pat Cox and the other Quaestors."
Cappato has thoughtfully
provided their email addresses:
MEP Pat Cox, [email protected]
MEP Mary Banotti, [email protected]
MEP Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl,
[email protected]
MEP Jacques Poos, [email protected]
MEP Miet Smet, [email protected]
MEP Richard Balfe, [email protected]
-- END --
|
Issue #335, 4/30/04
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