Repeal "Support Hemp Production"

Repeal "Support Hemp Production" was the last in a long string of resolutions that had reached the proposal queue in late August and early September of 2006. The resolution maintained a large majority of votes throughout the course of the entire voting period, and garnered only 6 pages of discussion in the official debate thread on the UN Floor.

Resolution text

Description:
UN Resolution #85: Support Hemp Production (Category: Environmental; Industry Affected: All Businesses) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.

Argument:
The United Nations,

AGREEING in principle with UN Resolution #85, "Support Hemp Production", that hemp is 'a profitable and environmentally friendly crop',

CAUTIOUS, however, of the resolution's effusive praise of hemp, offering no mention of any of the disadvantages of the hemp crop,

HIGHLIGHTING, for example, that hemp can only be harvested at specific times, whereas many other crops can be harvested throughout the year, thus making the use of hemp in processes requiring large, regular harvests considerably more difficult,

DISAPPOINTED that the resolution introduces no checks or balances in the creation and operational running of hemp advisory boards, thus rendering the process very open to corruption, unfair apportionment of funds, or the dissemination of unsuitable advice,

CRITICISING the system of stipends and subsidies proposed by the resolution, and the poor logic of such a scheme,

OBSERVING that if hemp is indeed as profitable and commercially viable as the resolution claims, such support would be unnecessary, wasteful, and would endanger competition,

FURTHER OBSERVING that if the projects did not prove viable and did in fact require such support, tax-payers would be forced to contribute large sums of money solely to keep unprofitable enterprises afloat,

APPALLED that such a burden would be placed not only upon tax-payers within specific nations, but on all UN member nations, through the mandate for the UN to contribute funds to such projects,

BELIEVING that government-enforced bias towards particular crops to be unfair as well as impractical, as it discourages specialisation and development of resources, and could lead to wasteful excess of certain crops and shortages of other essential varieties, especially those used towards the production of food,

FURTHER NOTING that placing special emphasis on one single crop risks ecological and economic catastrophe in the case of specific crop diseases, climate conditions or pest attacks affecting that crop;

CONSIDERING such flaws too critical to justify retaining the resolution and its bureaucratic, inefficient and wasteful system of finance:

1. REPEALS UN Resolution #85, "Support Hemp Production";

2. AFFIRMS that this repeal will not prohibit any nation from continuing such programs on a national level should they choose to do so, noting that their right to implement such schemes would remain protected by the UN under Resolution #128, "Representation in Taxation".

Co-authored by the members of ACCEL

Votes For: 9,311

Votes Against: 2,815

Implemented: Sun Sep 24 2006

Additional materials

• Repeal "Support Hemp Production" UN Floor Debate
• Support Hemp Production
• Submitted: Free Trade in Hemp Proposed replacement discussions
• UN Timeline
• Index of UN Resolutions
• United Nations