Jesus: Don't let the law stop you doing
what is right
In Jesus' time there was a mass of detailed
regulations governing the most minute areas of life.
These often prevented people looking after themselves
or others. Jesus objected to this and broke the law
in full view of the authorities as a challenge.
Mark 2: 23-28
'One Sabbath day Jesus was going through the corn
fields. His disciples began to pluck ears of corn as
they made their way along. The Pharisees began to say
to him, "Look! Why are they doing what is not
allowed on the Sabbath?" "Have you never
read", he said, "what David did when he and
his friends were in need and hungry? Have you never
read how he went into the house of God, when Abiathar
was High Priest, and ate the shewbread - which none
is allowed to eat except the priests - and gave it to
his friends as well?" "The Sabbath,"
he said to them, "was made for the sake of man
and not made for the sake of the Sabbath."
Many who take cannabis to relieve stress similarly
chose to break the law on the grounds that the law
should not stop you doing something healthy.
The Law was made for man, not for the sake of the
Law.
The next passage, Mark 3: 1-6, then describes how
Jesus healed a person on the Sabbath - another act
against the law. Before healing him Jesus noticed the
observing Pharisees and could see they were plotting
to 'formulate a charge against him'. As Jesus planned
to heal, they planned his death. So he contrasted his
behaviour with theirs asking them:
' "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day?
Or to do evil? To save a life? Or to kill it?"
But they remained silent. He looked round on them
with anger, for he was grieved at the obtuseness of
their hearts. '
Then he decided to break the law again in front of
the authorities who 'immediately went out and began
to concoct a plot'.
Many prosecuted for supplying cannabis for
medicinal purposes have been in exactly the same
position: as they plan to heal the authorities
'formulate a charge' and 'plot' against them.
Quotes:
"The price of apathy towards public affairs
is to be ruled by evil men."
Plato
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of
evil is for good people to do nothing."
Edmund Burke
"We cannot, by total reliance on law, escape
the duty to judge right and wrong... There are good
laws and there are occasionally bad laws, and it
conforms to the highest traditions of a free society
to offer resistance to bad laws, and to disobey them."
Constitutional scholar Alexander Bickel
"In any civilized society, it is every
citizen's responsibility to obey just laws. But at
the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility
to disobey unjust laws."
Martin Luther King Jr
Politicians: Chris
Davies MEP
Cannabis cafes: Colin Davies
Individuals: Mr Rob Cannabis
Glastonbury’s “prince of high fashion”
languished in jail last week for refusing to pay an
outstanding fine for possession of 1.5 grams of
herbal cannabis. However, he was grateful to Mendips
magistrate for their part in raising a four-figure
sum for the organisation he founded: FREE MEDICAL
MARIJUANA FOUNDATION.
Robert Christopher , who runs a shop in Glastonbury
called In Harmony with Nature, has now changed his
name to Free Rob Cannabis and his clothing,
right down to his boxer shorts, underwear and shoes,
is made from the fibres of the cannabis plant.
It was under his new name that he was taken to court
in Wells before Christmas for not paying 140 pounds (fine
and costs) imposed by Reading magistrates last year.
He told the Wells court that he could not pay because
to do so would show his support “ for this
physically and morally harmful law.” He asked
the magistrates either to dismiss the case , imprison
him or order him to carry out community service by
removing graffiti or other offensive material in
Glastonbury. The court then advised him to take legal
advice before the hearing was resumed on Friday.
But cannabis, aged 30, used his extended freedom to
gain sponsors who would promise to make donations for
each day he spent in jail either to FMMF or to
Glastonbury Assembly Rooms appeal fund. And when he
returned to court, Cannabis told chairman Ray Collins
: “ Last time I was here I was told the bench
had to uphold the law. But when it comes to the
prohibition of cannabis this law is fundamentally
based on lies. All I have done since the moment I was
violently assaulted by a Brunel security guard last
spring is tell the truth. And now I am due to be sent
to prison for telling the truth and harming no-one.
Is this justice?
“ This is control through fear. The state uses
fear to control its subjects; fear of arrest, fear of
court and ultimately fear of prison. I have no fear
because I know the truth behind the real reasons that
led to the worldwide prohibition of cannabis- a plant
that has served mankind for thousands of years.
“Governments are more concerned about protecting
the vested interests of large multi-national
corporations rather than caring for the health and
welfare of the people whom they are supposed to
represent.
'I am here to take a stand against the Babylonian
state, for I am deeply concerned about our
environment and the health and welfare of my brothers
and sisters. I suspect from the last time. I was here
that you didn’t really want to send me to prison.
Well I certainly won’t hold it against you for
my heart is overflowing with love and this I freely
give,” he added.
But if the court decreed that he should go to prison
, he would take comfort from the fact it would also
have helped to raise over 1000 pounds for FMMF. For
that sponsorship money from his supporters, some of
whom attended the court hearing , would be used to
buy cannabis which would be freely distributed to
medical users. “ So sentenceÉand be praised.”
Added the former civil engineer.
On that note , Mr Cannabis was sentenced to seven
days in jail and taken off to Hatfield, resigned to
the fact that his normal snack diet of marzipan and
organic hemp seed was likely to be replaced for a few
days by porridge and that he could well be employed
turning hemp fibres to other uses.
Cannabis was back in his shop this week after
completing his sentence : “ My imprisonment has
meant that more than 1000 pounds was raised for the
FMMF which has been supplying free cannabis to
medical users since May 1997. While in prison , I
wrote to the Home secretary asking him if he would be
willing to discuss the subject of cannabis in a live
one-to-one TV debate. I am waiting to hear back.
“
