Date: Thu, 20 Jul 1995 17:44:33 -0500
From: [c--o--n] at [dsmnet.com] (Carl E. Olsen)
Subject: Hemp Growers Prosecution

>Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 09:52:13 -0700 (PDT)
>From: "Michael J. Fannon" <[m--n--n] at [nunic.nu.edu]>
>To: [natnor m l] at [aol.com]
>cc: [c--o--n] at [dsmnet.com]
>Subject: Hemp Growers Prosecution
>
>On July 4, 1994, Douglas Weissmann, Ronald Kiczenski, and Craig Steffens 
>informed the Madera County (California) Sheriff's Department that they 
>intended to plant 20,000 Hemp seeds on Douglas Weissmann's property in 
>Madera County for the purpose of growing industrial Hemp.  When the 
>Sheriff's Department arrived, they observed the three men planting the 
>Hemp seeds as stated.  The three men were then arrested for cultivating 
>marijuana, in violation of California law.
>
>Weissmann, Kiczenski, and Steffens claim they have the right to grow 
>industrial Hemp because of the ecological harm being done to the Earth by 
>the oil and timber industries.  Hemp could replace U.S. dependence on 
>foreign oil and timber and cause virtually no harmful pollution in the 
>process.
>
>This case has been continued several times because the court appointed 
>attorneys who were representing these men were attempting to get them to 
>plead guilty without presenting a "necessity" defense.  Douglas Weissmann 
>had recently hired attorney Michael J. Fannon, of Fresno, California, to 
>present the "necessity" defense to a jury, which will consist of not only 
>the legitimate use of industrial Hemp, but also the conspiracy to 
>suppress the legal use and production of Hemp by oil and timber 
>interests.  At the same time, Mr. Fannon will be filing a law suit 
>challenging the Constitutionality of the California Marijuana Laws which 
>do not distinguish between the drug Marijuana and the plant Hemp.
>
>The trial of Weissmann, Kiczenski, and Steffens is scheduled to begin on 
>August 15, 1995, at the Madera County, California, Superior Court.
>
>For more information, contact Michael J. Fannon, 2115 Kern Street, Suite 
>260, Fresno, California, 93721, (309) 498-3414, [m--n--n] at [nunic.nu.edu.]
>
>Please re-distribute this information to all interested persons.
>
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