The Hemptation of Free Love Cannabis
Performed by Geraint the Bard
In 1994 Free read a book that would significantly change his life. The book, ‘The Emperor wears no clothes’, by Jack Herer explained that from 1000 BC to the late 1800s, Hemp (aka Cannabis) was the most widely cultivated plant on the planet, providing us with a highly nutritious edible seed, a strong durable fibre for clothing, paper and building materials, high levels of ‘bio-mass’ for sustainable eco-fuels, as well as a source of safe natural medicine that Queen Victoria’s personal physician, Dr Reynolds, described as ‘one of the most valuable medicines we possess’
The more he read and researched about the plant, the more he felt he wished to change public opinion and legislation around the use of the plant. To this end he joined the Legalise Cannabis Campaign, being elected onto the executive committee in 1995. However he found the LCC paranoid, and far to focused on the right to smoke Cannabis, rather than all the other uses of the plant, so he founded the Cannabis Hemp Information Club in Summer 1995, with the aim of raising peoples awareness about the history and many uses of Cannabis.
In 1995 and 1996, Free co-organized two Cannabis conferences and in 1996 and ’97 he instigated two ‘turn yourself in days’. On September 28th 1996 he distributed Free Cannabis with former Cannabis smuggler ‘Mr Nice’, Howard Marks, before heading to Marylebone police station, where an appointment had already been made for their arrest. The police refused to arrest anyone.
Also in 1996 Free launched what the media referred to as ‘Britain’s First Cannabis Museum’, with Howard as guest of honour. This generated huge amounts of very positive and informative media coverage, with a front-page lead article in the Daily Telegraph.
In May 1997 Free launched the ‘Free Medical Marijuana Foundation’ by standing outside the department of Health giving out Free Cannabis. He continued to run a Cannabis distribution network up until 2003 with no interference from the police.
In 2005 Free ended an eighteen-year habit of smoking Cannabis, which he feels to be one of the most beneficial things he has done in his life. Though he stopped smoking Cannabis, he most definitely incorporates the plant in to his diet and lifestyle and is very pleased that leading doctors, such as Dr Courtney are backing up with hard science what he has felt for a long time, that Cannabis is indeed a dietary essential.
Since the summer of 2014 Free has been distributing ‘high CBD-low THC’ Hemp flower extracts with phenomenal feedback from people whose lives have been enriched through the healing that Cannabis brings.
In tonight’s special birthday celebration of twenty years of Hemp In Avalon, Free will extol the many virtues of this incredible plant. The talk will be interspersed with poetry, the sharing of Hemp snacks and live music.
www.freecannabis.net
