Posts Tagged ‘homophobia’
Last Week The Anti-Cannabis Gutter Press Launched An Attack On Mike Barnes. This Week It’s My Turn.
Jonathan Bucks
An email popped into my inbox this morning announcing the Mail on Sunday’s intention to ‘do a hatchet job’ on me in tomorrow’s edition, just as it did to my friend and colleague Mike Barnes last weekend. The email and my response are published below.
Evidently, cub reporter Jonathan Bucks took umbrage at my response to his work last weekend. My tweets from my own account and CLEAR’s seem to have upset him. It’s no surprise at all of course to see a Mail publication using its power to bully an individual. That’s the way the Fleet Street Mafia works. Six years ago it branded me a ‘cannabis zealot’ because I insisted on some scientific accuracy rather than hysterical scaremongering. See: ‘Boasts of cannabis zealot who forced anti-drugs JP to quit: Campaigner who made complaint says drug is ‘safer than peanuts”
From: Jonathan Bucks <Jonathan.Bucks@mailonsunday.co.uk>
Sent: 15 December 2018 09:37
To: peterreynolds@clear-uk.org
Subject: Mail on Sunday request
Hi Peter
Jonathan Bucks from the Mail on Sunday here.
Tomorrow (16th) we will be running a story naming both you and CLEAR. Specifically, we will be reporting that CLEAR has changed its policy and is encouraging people to buy cannabis seeds so they can grow their own cannabis. This is despite CLEAR’s claims that it ‘does not advocate, condone or encourage breaking the law’ and it ‘exists to promote a change in the law by legitimate means’.
We will also be reporting that in the past you have made anti-Semitic and homophobic comments on your blog. We will be reporting that you described Jewish people as ‘evil’ and Israel as ‘the Nazi power in the world’.
We will also report that you wrote: ‘Homosexuality is a perversion from the norm and gay culture has been allowed virtually to extinguish heterosexual influence in the fashion industry.’
This is a chance for you to make any comments you wish regarding the change in policy, as well as explain the offensive remarks you have made in the past.
I would be grateful if you could please get back to me by 3pm today (15th).
Kind regards
Jonathan Bucks
Mail on Sunday reporter
From: peter@peter-reynolds.co.uk <peter@peter-reynolds.co.uk>
Sent: 15 December 2018 11:29
To: ‘Jonathan Bucks’ <Jonathan.Bucks@mailonsunday.co.uk>
Subject: RE: Mail on Sunday request
Dear Jonathan,
Yes, CLEAR has changed its policy on home cultivation. It is no longer against the law to use cannabis for medicinal purposes and I congratulate Sajid Javid on taking the law out of the equation completely. The problem now is an appalling ignorance of the science and the evidence amongst doctors. While lack of knowledge can be excused, bigotry, refusal to educate themselves and placing their caution and fear above the interests of patients cannot. The dreadful NHS guidelines are preventing patients accessing the medicine they need and it seems only private doctors have the courage to make their own decisions. In these circumstances the ethical and economical choice is to grow your own.
I am neither anti-semitic nor homophobic. On the contrary, I regard tolerance and liberty as the most important principles. Only those who seek to twist my words make these deliberate misinterpretations.
I do not regard Jewish people as evil. In some ways they are as much victims of the evil Israeli regime as all the inhabitants of Palestine. It is a fact that the violent oppression, apartheid and vicious policies pursued by Netanyahu’s war criminal government are closely comparable with the Nazi regime.
Yes, homosexual culture does dominate the fashion industry which is an imbalance that would be better corrected. The context of my remarks was in discussing dangerously underweight models who look more like boys than women. It will be no surprise to see your ‘newspaper’ publish my remarks out of context. See my full article from 2009 here: https://peter-reynolds.co.uk/2009/06/13/size-0-the-politically-incorrect-truth/
Thank you for asking for my comments. My remarks are not offensive unless you choose to interpret them that way. I have been subject to the same and similar fake allegations and smears previously. The High Court considered whether they could be justified and as a result issued an Injunction prohibiting their repetition in 2014, see https://peterreynolds.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/high-court-injunction-250714.pdf
A very Merry Christmas to you.
Kind regards,
Peter Reynolds
Reefer Madness In A Final Frenzy
“In years to come, the attitudes that now prevail towards people that choose cannabis will be as politically incorrect as racism, homophobia or denying women the vote.
Cannabis is one of God’s greatest gifts with which mankind has had a symbiotic relationship since the dawn of time.
The prohibition experiment of the last 80 years has been a disaster. A rational approach will bring enormous benefits to our country, save billions in wasted expenditure, create thousands of new jobs, cut crime and disorder, provide tremendously safe and effective relief to millions in pain and disability.
The time has come to embrace cannabis as the miraculous plant that it is.”
False Accusations Of Racism Should Be A Criminal Offence
John Terry
It’s a crime to use racist or homophobic abuse. The concomitant of that should be that it is a crime falsely or maliciously to accuse someone of racism or homophobia.
I don’t know John Terry, and I have just about zero interest in football but I know what it’s like to be falsely accused of racism. The scum of the earth that indulge in such abuse are exactly the same as those who falsely cry rape. They should go to jail for just as long as the sentence for the crime they falsely allege.
I’ve had long term relationships with both black and asian women and I have lots of friends of all different races but it doesn’t matter what the facts are, if some oik chooses to endlessly repeat a false allegation of racism there is nothing you can do about it. This is unjust and unfair. If it’s a hate crime to be racist then it’s a hate crime falsely to accuse someone of racism.
Bigotry, Prejudice, Hatred And Prohibitionists Come In Many Disguises
Ask yourself, why would anyone go to such lengths to discredit me?
Why, at a time when the cannabis campaign is enjoying more success than ever with thousands of people joining together as never before, why do a few individuals go to such extraordinary lengths to smear my reputation.?
Out of 477 articles on my personal website, written over a period of three and a half years, two articles have been held up and misrepresented in the most despicable and dishonest way to accuse me of being a racist and a homophobe. Laughably I’ve also been accused of being a member of the EDL, attending an EDL demonstration in Weymouth and of selling Nazi memorabilia on a Swansea market stall! These are lies and nonsense.
Of course, in a civilised, adult world what people do in response to articles they disagree with is post comments and discuss – and some of those discussions become pretty heated. I’ve been accused of being anti-Muslim, anti-Jewish and for and against just about every issue you care to mention. My writing was intended to be provocative and controversial. Cannabis was only one of the subjects that I covered on my website and when I was elected leader of CLEAR I wrote:
The accusations of racisim and homophobia are entirely false. I could present a host of evidence to prove my “innocence” but the trolls and liars twist everything. My oldest and best friend IS a Jamaican. If Terry got his hands on some of the individuals that have been making foul slurs against me, they would not enjoy Jamaican justice. Two examples though – I used to live on a road called The Chase, just off Clapham Common. When the Gay Pride event was held there in, I think it was 95 or 96, I was a steward. When more recently I lived in Notting Hill and all my friends and neighbours were black, they used to call me a “wigga”, a “propa black white man”.
So, I say again, ask yourself why would anyone go to such lengths to discredit me at a time when under my leadership, CLEAR is achieving so much success? Why would they set up websites, multiple Facebook pages and groups and engage in hours and hours of trolling, abuse and misrepresentation?
I’ll tell you why. It’s because the individuals behind this are big time growers and dealers who rely on prohibition to maintain the ludicrously high price of cannabis and fill their own greedy pockets.
They pretend to be pro-cannabis because they seek to subvert, disrupt and undermine the cannabis campaign. They’ve been doing it for years.
Many believe that the main protagonist has an even more sinister role because he appears to be teflon coated when it comes to the criminal justice system. For all the times he has been arrested and charged, he has always walked away while others round him have been sent to prison.
He claims not to live in Britain anymore but the man is a liar and a fraud. He lives off his past reputation when he claims to have been growing and providing cannabis to medicinal users free of charge (a good cover story!). This is false. I have several emails from people who he used to supply who tell me that he used to charge them £5.00 per gram plus, believe it or not, next day delivery and packaging charges. At the time that price was top whack if not more.
It is extraordinary that over many years, every single time there has been disruption and conflict in the cannabis community he has been there, goading, provoking and fermenting divisiveness. Back in 2010 , when I managed to get MPs, members of the House of Lords and even the government’s chief drugs advisor to sign up to the BMCR medicinal cannabis initiative, he waded straight in and did all he could to destroy it by snide insinuation, bickering and negativity.
The man is a charlatan. Why would anyone go to such extraordinary efforts and lengths to disrupt the CLEAR campaign? Now you know. Grass is an old term for weed but perhaps one that is most appropriate in this case.
Tribalism Is the Enemy Of Reform
Some of the more gullible members of the cannabis community have been taken in by these attacks against me but I am greatly encouraged that by far the majority have not. The messages, emails and comments supporting me have far outweighed those against. Thank you to all. I WILL stay strong. I will stay focused. The idea is to distract and divert me from the campaign. That is not going to happen.
Being at at the centre of a trollstorm during the season of goodwill has not been pleasant. My mother and my sons have been very upset to see the abuse, lies and hate filled propaganda about me and my leadership of CLEAR posted on the internet.
These people aren’t engaged in campaigning for cannabis. They’re pursuing their own selfish, jealous and truly pitiful agendas by attacking the success that CLEAR has achieved under my leadership.
The cannabis campaign has failed to make any progress over the last 10 years. A lot of this is due to sheer incompetence and laziness. When I was elected leader I discovered that literally nothing was being done by the LCA and any initiative that was proposed was shut down by the “co-ordinator” he that “does not want to lead and does not want to be led”. The darker, subversive forces set out to fragment and cause conflict within the campaign and that suits their wallets very well indeed, thank you very much.
Most of all though it’s about tribalism. This is what has held us back for so long. The idea that if you’re in favour of cannabis being legally available then you must be on the left of politics, you must be anti-Thatcher and you must have at least three piercings – oh and you must not, under any circumstances, wear a tie – plus many other ridiculous prejudices. These people think they’re cool and hip and smart but they’re not, they’re dumb, bigoted and prejudiced, just like a Daily Mail journalist only they’ve got a joint hanging off their lip. Not so much Andy Capp, more Hopeless Hypocritical Hippy.
This is why so many were confused when back in Cardiff at the Million Marijuana march in May CLEAR launched the idea of “Hippies in suits”. These politically incompetent and naive people don’t really want you to be able to smoke a joint if you wear a suit. They are in fact as prejudiced and discriminatory as the attitudes they pretend to fight against. CLEAR welcomes members and supporters from all points on the political compass. We aim to be mainstream, not “alternative”.
All my life I have stood for liberty, truth and justice and against prejudice, discrimination and bigotry. Unlike the trolls I am a strong believer in freedom of speech and expression. However, the foul language that was posted on my and CLEAR’s Facebook page was horrifying. These are people who can’t express themselves without using disgusting swear words. They are as much victims of the mendacious individuals behind this hate campaign as anyone.
To those who feel offended by my opinions. I don’t mean to cause offence so I am sorry if I have. That doesn’t mean that I retract them though! I am entitled to my opinion as is everyone else.
There are of course many more honourable and decent people who have been involved in the campaign in the past rather than those who work against it but it is this tired, destructive tribalism that has ruined their efforts.
So tomorrow Britain returns to work and so do I. I shall not make any further comment on the dreadful events of the last few days and I advise all of you not to feed the trolls. That is the only thing that gives them any power. Ignore them. I will fight tirelessly to end the prohibition of cannabis, most particularly for those who need it as medicine.
The Politics Of Cannabis
Originally Published In ISMOKE Magazine Issue 1
Cannabis is a political issue. Make no mistake about it. The scientific, moral, medical and health arguments have all been won. What we need to do now is find a way to make change happen.
It’s in the prohibitionists’ interests to keep debating all the ins and outs and going through the evidence because it diverts from the imperative for change. We have to keep repeating the truth. We have to cut through their deception and scaremongering but above all, we have to demand action.
In the US, they’ve gone way, way past the silly and irrelevant arguments about cannabis being dangerous or harmful. We like to think that we’re smarter, a more mature democracy but so many Brits are still suckers for a Daily Mail scare story. The propaganda and bigotry still prevails here. In America they simply accept that if you abuse or misuse something it may cause you harm. They rarely even mention the psychosis theory. Even after Congresswoman Giffords’ shooting and the stories of Jared Loughner’s marijuana use, his friends were quick to step forward and say he’d stopped some time ago and actually seemed worse and more unstable without self-medicating on cannabis. More importantly than that, the US media reported what his friends said rather than hushing it up because it wasn’t sensational enough.
Peter Hitchens, the Mail On Sunday columnist wrote a disgusting rant about the shooting, blaming it all on cannabis and having nothing to do with the truth at all. Now the US media are ridiculing him about Britain’s Reefer Madness. He really is an example of the very worst in journalism. The truth means nothing to him. He is a liar and a mendacious frightener of the vulnerable, the elderly, of children and their parents. You will be interested to know that the Legalise Cannabis Alliance has drawn a line in the sand. We will no longer let such nonsense go unchallenged. A formal complaint is being made in the LCA’s name to the Press Complaints Commission. It will be the first of many. We will no longer allow the British media to distribute lies without calling them to account.
The War On Prohibition Can Be Won!
Prohibition is fundamentally immoral. It is nothing less than the unjustified oppression of a section of society. It is as pernicious and evil as racism, sexism, homophobia or any other form of prejudice. It says that, irrespective of facts, evidence, science or justice, just because we disagree with you, we will make your activity illegal. We will criminalise you, imprison you, ruin your career, endanger your family, smear you with unjustified innuendo and suspicion. We will cause you far more harm than the activity you choose ever will.
It is pretty well accepted now, worldwide, that Nixon’s war on drugs can never be won. It makes Vietnam or Afghanistan look like a little skirmish in some backwater. It has been responsible for far more death, misery and destruction than any war since Nixon first declared it. There are still those who cling to its ambitions, like our favourite preppy, baby face minister James Brokenshire But he is rather like one of those Japanese soldiers, found on some remote Pacific island, thirty years after his Emperor surrendered – still dangerous, still committed to his cause but hopelessly out of touch, in need of re-education, a very, very sad case.
The war on prohibition is now in full flow and this is a campaign that can and must be won. It is a war that has right and justice and common sense on its side. It is time that we marshall our forces, determine our strategy, plan our tactics and hold fast to our courage as we advance on the enemy. I believe that this year or next marijuana will be legalised in at least one state in America. Once the dam is broken, progress will begin to roll out all over the world.
I believe that the Legalise Cannabis Alliance is the standard around which we should rally. We are responsible, respectable, reasonable citizens and we need to unite to fight the war on prohibition.
What is vital is that the LCA communicates its messages effectively to the right people. It seems to me that one of, if not the most important audience is members of parliament. They, after all, are the only people who can actually change the law. We therefore have to play their game by their rules.
In the documentary “In Pot We Trust”, Aaron of the Marijuana Policy Project says that one man in short hair and a suit, lobbying congressmen can achieve more than hundreds marching in the street. I think he’s right.
The LCA must re-launch its campaign. We must overhaul our image, update the logo and the website. We must become conscious of our communications, control and deliver our messages with ruthless effect, use all the spin doctor tricks and techniques, just as any other political party or pressure group.
I will put on a suit and tie for the LCA because that’s what is needed to make progress with politicians, through the media and, most importantly, with the great God of public opinion.
I think we also have to consider our name. Not throw it out for the sake of something new but recognise that “Legalise” is a word that frightens people. They think it means an uncontrolled free for all, whereas what we argue for is fact and evidence based regulation. We also need to consider the word cannabis. People are frightened to have it on their Facebook profile and concerned that it may come up in a Google search when they’re applying for a new job. We have to consider these things. I would argue that instead of saying “Legalise Cannabis”, we might say “End Prohibition”.
So we do need to become much more professional about our communications and image. Anything put out in our name needs to be “on message” in every sense of the phrase – look, feel, content, style, etc. Each target audience needs to be addressed on its terms. We need an analysis and a plan for each individual MP and constituency. We need a rota of pro-active media communications. We need to enlist the help of celebrities who support our cause. This needs to be done consistently and repeatedly. We need a team of people all over the country working together with a plan to succeed.
I also believe that we should re-register as a political party and field candidates in every byelection. In fact, I would propose that we field the same candidate in every byelection and we build.the campaign and awareness over time. I don’t expect us to win a seat in parliament but I do expect us to start being taken seriously. I want to see us on Newsnight and on Question Time. When Debra Bell is asked for a quote or is interviewed about a cannabis story, I want us to be quoted as well and to be on the other side of the TV sofa facing down her mischief and misinformation.
Cannabis is a political issue. If we get our act together and get serious about the war on prohibition, get serious about achieving results, explain the facts, expose the lies, then we can prevail. We can see the truth revealed. We can win!
Peter Reynolds 