Fédération Des Consommateurs de Cannabis. F.D.C.C. Swiss Federation of Drugs and Cannabis Consummers FDCC

NEW: you can now enter our website in FRENCH as we've installed a translator button on every pages.

26 1 2002: after 73 days of HUNGER STRIKE, in jail, for Cannabis Freedom, Bernard Rappaz has been released..... HE IS NO MORE A CANNABIS political prisonner in a prohibitionist Swiss province He just will have to face court once again, but thanks to your international support... Bernard will face the tribunal as a normal cytizen again. ... We received the support of an international solidarity chain.....our call : "Free Bernard" becomes

" The scientific and medical communities now understand what the governments does not: prohibition harms society more than narcotics do. Educating politicians takes time, especially when they are getting paid to do the wrong thing."

Nov 14th 2001: While our Government says: "Yes" to regulated Cannabis... our Hemp and Cannabis politician,Bernard Rappaz, has been arrested. The 20 growers who worked for him heve been treated like they were mafiosi. This is the same problem anywhere that cannabis is prohibited -- the honest growers have problems,
while the real mafiosi prosper."...full text .... anyway Bernard did 73 days of hunger strike in jail for cannabis.

2001 december 29th ............UP FROM THAT DAY....we are "making" a chain...

from Switzerland ....to Paris and Montpellier, France, then:Belgique , Australie...

Our hemp and cannabis pionnier Bernard Rapppaz, our Swiss and Euro hemp politician is having a FAST (+40 days of fast )...in jail.

He is accused to be involved in a cannabis network for patients under medical control.

They've seized and took away more than 50 tons (50 000Kg) : thee.whole.cannabis 2001.harvest.

As an answer to the destruction of his 20 years work: Valchanvre, Bernard is FASTING in strict jail for 46 days ........now.

... please inform your mailists members. Fasting 43 days is........... so great an event !…. we need you all

The whole www Swiss cannabis network is on the event.... The future of legal " statut "medical cannabis is on its way...... help.And now the INFO with a better English than mine...

NEWS:

9. Jailed Swiss Cannabis Activist in Ninth Week of Hunger Strike

Bernard Rappaz, owner of the Valchanze cannabis company in Martigny,
Switzerland, jailed since November 14 after distributing medicinal
cannabis to illness sufferers, is now on the 65th day of a hunger
strike to protest his detention.

Although Valchanze is a well-established Swiss company producing a
variety of cannabis products, Rappaz had dealt openly with Swiss
authorities for years, and Switzerland is on the verge of legalizing
cannabis consumption
(http://www.drcnet.org/wol/154.html#swissdecrim), local authorities
resorted to US-style SWAT team tactics in arresting and charging
Rappaz, according to his supporters.

"The police came in like gangbusters," said Boris Ryser of the Swiss
Cannabis Consumers Association
(http://www.multimania.com/fdcc/homepage.htm). "They woke him up in
the morning, coming in with weapons drawn and TV cameras, they even
filmed Bernard's arrest in his bedroom," Ryser told DRCNet.

"They are treating him and the 20 growers who worked for him like
they were mafiosi," said Ryser. "This is the same problem anywhere
that cannabis is prohibited -- the honest growers have problems,
while the real mafiosi prosper."

In addition to charging and jailing Rappaz, local Swiss authorities
have frozen the company's assets, threatening to drive Rappaz and
Valchanzre into bankruptcy. Local police also carried away 20
truckloads of high-THC cannabis, an estimated 50 tons, according to
Ryser.

A spokeswoman for the Swiss embassy in Washington, DC, told DRCNet
the Swiss government had no comment on the Rappaz case. "We don't
generally comment on pending legal matters," she said. "We let the
courts rule, that is our comment."

But Rappaz and his supporters are not waiting. Rappaz began his
hunger strike almost immediately upon his arrest and refuses to stop
despite the urgings of his worried comrades. "Bernard has lost 30 or
40 pounds already," said Ryser, "and we are doing all we can to
persuade him to stop. It is too dangerous, he is too old." But if
Rappaz is too old to continue, he is too principled to stop. "He
believes very strongly in this," said Ryser.

While imploring Rappaz to break his fast, supporters have also
organized global solidarity actions. "We have a chain of people
doing solidarity fasts in Australia, Switzerland, France, and
Belgium," said Ryser, "and we have organized a new group, Cannabis
International Coordination, to call for an immediate, global end to
cannabis prohibition. We will be going to Vienna [home of the UN's
Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention] and Brussels [seat of
the European Union] to demand these changes." A petition demanding
freedom for Rappaz is also online at the FCCH web site.

Why now, when the country is on the verge of legalization?
"Switzerland has been very tolerant for the past eight years,"
offered Ryser. "We have more than 400 hemp shops selling mainly
smokable cannabis. But now, as we are about to regulate cannabis,
the retrograde prohibitionist right wing is taking its last shot.
The people are with us, 90% of the politicians are with us, but one
right-wing magistrate ordered this arrest. We are a democracy, and
the police are paid by the people. People want to know why this is
happening. Why is cannabis illegal, why is Bernard in jail? This
must change."

For US residents who would like to relay their thoughts on the
Rappaz matter to Swiss authorities, the phone number of the Swiss
Embassy in Washington is (202) 745-7900.

Patience is the key !