Title: The 90's, episode 203: THE HEMP TAPES"

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0:24 Cold open with Johnny Marijuanaseed. 01:33 "Johnny Marijuanaseed" by Nancy Cain. Johhny Marijuanaseed, a hemp activist, tells Nancy Cain: "It was William Randolph Hearst who was instrumental in outlawing hemp. A newspaper baron, Hearst was concerned that newsprint manufactured from a hemp byproduct would interfere with his immense profits from the enormous tracts of forest that he owned...In 1937 Hearst along with DuPont and Mellon were instrumental in the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act, which made the growing of hemp illegal in the U.S. At the time the AMA fought the legislation arguing that hemp is a useful medicinal plant..." 05:00 Interview with Gatewood Galbraith, Democratic gubernatorial candidate from Kentucky and marijuana advocate. "Reagan and Bush are not conservatives, they're aliens...I believe that marijuana should be licensed and regulated as a cash crop and let our farmers make this money...When I was growing up, conservative meant you kept the government in the box...The government does not have the right to interfere in alot of different aspects of people's lives in this state. Marijuana is a benchmark topic for this election... A society that can accommodate tobacco and alcohol should accommodate marijuana... The government, if not controlled, will grow to occupy the space currently occupied by our civil liberties..." 14:44 Richard Dennis, chairman, Advisory Board Drug Policy Foundation, speaks: "The current drug policy is doing kids a disservice... it's saying that all drugs are the same and it's setting up kids to have endless doubts about what authority figures say if they can be trusted. Minority neighborhoods are being used as staging zones for drug warriors to attack dealers in order to protect people in the suburbs from themselves... the War on Drugs is regressive." 15:50 "Cook County Prison." In Chicago, a group of singers made up of inmates and guards entertain prisoners. 18:09 "Tom McKean" by Joel Cohen. Ex-cocaine addict McKean does open line radio and talks to school kids in Chicago's inner city about how to avoid peer pressure and drug use. He says that "government is not the answer, prison is not the answer, rehabilitation is the answer...The reason we do drugs is because we live fast-paced lives and we have needs and we don't know what to do...Kids need to be loved off drugs." 24:07 "Hon. Robert Sweet" by Esti Marpet. N.Y. Judge Robert Sweet speaks: "In 1972, a committee reporting to Nixon recommended marijuana be legalized...The National Academy of Sciences made the same recommendation a few years ago. Growing marijuana is the second largest cash crop in California. The American people have learned that the threat of 'reefer madness' is nonsense...If we want to be practical we have to realize that 75% of arrests in the criminal justice system are marijuana arrests...If we eliminate prohibition of marijuana we will ease the burden on the criminal justice system." 26:31 "Dead Are Not Dead" by Judith Binder. A Venice Beach musician sings: "Our spirit lives on and on, in the trees, in the water, in the fire that's dying." 28:11 More from "Johnny Marijuanaseed." Johnny tells us that no other plant has as many byproducts as hemp and is as good for the environment. "You can make fabric from it, you can make paper from it, you can make gas and electricity. It's organically grown...it could replace fossil fuels." 30:12 More from Gatewood Galbraith, smoking marijuana as he speaks: "The problem is that the pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries control this country. Hemp is the greatest product. Hemp IS petroleum. It's no coincidence that in 1937 when hemp was outlawed, nylon was patented. The true battle on this planet today is between the naturals and the synthetics." 34:14 Tony Serra commentary by Jesse Drew. Serra, a civil rights lawyer, talks about the legalization of marijuana: "The truth is that marijuana is more benign than alcohol and tobacco put together. Marijuana should be legalized. There is no nexus, no stepping stone between marijuana and shooting heroin. Total prohibition has created the drug problem." 39:17 "Don Fielder" by Eddie Becker. Fielder, the Executive of NORML, speaks: "William Bennett is a dangerous man...anyone who speaks out against his drug policy is considered unpatriotic. The drug problem is an issue for the Surgeon General, not the Attorney General. Bennett's solution is to create more prisons, more jails and take away our constitutional freedoms." 40:59 "Wavy Gravy" by Pat Creadon. At Weedstock in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, Wavy Gravy, the perennial countercultural figure, speaks about legalizing marijuana. He says: "Let's get real, herb should be legalized, I'm tired of my friends getting put away for smoking a little herb. Part of my spiritual life is smoking herb." "The 90's are the 60's standing on their head." 48:17 More from Richard Dennis: "I don't see what law enforcement does except add to people's misery. It makes no sense. If I could have a 'wish list' of drugs to outlaw, the first would be crack, the second, tobacco. We should never talk of crack and pot in the same paragraph." 48:45 "Earth Day 1990: Washington DC" by Eddie Becker. Members of NORML sell clothing made of hemp. According to them, "Hemp is the only biomass capable of making America energy independent. One acre of pot equals four acres of trees grown for paper production. Hemp can be grown in any soil, it has no enemies. The only enemy is the U.S. Government. Smoking pot is good for you - it lowers stress, dilates the arteries and lowers your body temperature. Smoke pot - you'll live longer!" 53:02 "The 'Pope" by Esti Marpet. From Greenwich Village in New York City, a man claims: "I am the pope, self appointed. Marijuana can save the world. You can make clothes out of it, it grows quickly, it conserves soil. It's the only safe drug." 54:41 More from "Johnny Marijuanaseed": "Everything you can make from whale oil, you can make from hemp oil. You can process and texturize hemp into tofu... we could save the Whales!"

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