Freedom to farm - No prison term for André Fürst

After the refusal of his appeal to the Swiss Federal Court, André Fürst, founder of Chanvre-Info, is now facing a prison term of 29 months because of the production and sale of hemp products. All around the world, people who are in favour of individual liberties and a pragmatic drug policy should take action against this unacceptable sentence.

This remarkably harsh sentence affects a long-term militant for the right to cultivate hemp. André Fürst has never acted as a drug trafficker. He has invested almost the entire benefits of his company in activities to inform on the various applications of hemp, apart from its psychoactive and medical use. He has created an agro-industrial chain resulting in a large amount of new and perfectly legal hemp products: textiles, food supplies, cosmetics, building material, plastics, energy supply, all containing less than 0,3% THC.

The hemp industry fits perfectly well in a concept of small scale agriculture that operates without state support and promotes sustainable development by replacing the use of non-renewable energy sources and forms of agriculture that damage the environment. Hemp has the potential to become one of the answers to the global ecological and economical challenges of the 21st Century. André Fürst is one of the people who have done most for its rehabilitation.

Besides, André Fürst is an active supporter of drug policy reform in Europe. He has organised several presentations on the beneficial uses of hemp, among others in the European Parliament and elaborated concrete proposals to install harm reduction measures concerning the use of cannabis and other drugs. In June 2007 André Fürst was elected member of the Steering Committee of the European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies (ENCOD), a pan-European associations formed by organisations of citizens working for drug policy reform.

From 1996 to 2004, Swiss local and national authorities implemented a tolerant policy on the sale of small quantities of hemp containing more than 0,3%. During those years, approximately 300 shops and companies operated in Switzerland within the margins of this policy that was supported by official health institutions as well as the Federal government.

In 2004, this policy came to an end, following the approval of a modification of the Swiss drug law with a tight majority of 6 votes. All companies were forced to close their operations, and most legal cases against them ended with a conditional prison term or a fine. However, in the case of André Fürst, authorities have decided to make one person pay for this collective political failure.

André Fürst’s fight is political, so the sanction against him is political as well. Swiss authorities want to show that the country is entirely committed to the war on drugs. As everywhere else in the world, this war is failure. In the week up to New Year’s Eve 2006, at the height of the ski season, a research found that up to 1,400 lines of cocaine were snorted every day in the exclusive Alpine city of St Moritz. Switzerland also applies a pragmatic drug policy concerning the use of drugs like heroin, with a remarkably sophisticated harm reduction policy including the existence of user rooms and the controlled dispensation of heroin. Does this pragmatic policy end with hemp? Are Swiss authorities sacrificing the consumers of cannabis and hemp to save the country’s image?

By imprisoning André Fürst, Swiss authorities make an end to a courageous example of rational drug policies in the heart of Europe. They envisage a person who has dedicated his life to promote the beneficial use of a plant, which has accompanied human kind for more than 10.000 years. The consequence of this sentence is that many thousands of consumers will be forced to provide themselves with cannabis on the illegal market, which is dominated by organised crime.

We call upon all activists of the entire world to support the appeal for the revision of this sentence. ENCOD will in the coming days start a public letter campaign addressed to Swiss authorities to ensure that André Fürst can continue his civil right to participate in the political debate and promote the beneficial use of hemp.

ENCOD