ABOUT "HEMP DOWN UNDER"  

-    A DISCLAIMER - (this is not a pro-drug site):

This site began as a graphic design commission. Most of the graphic designs used on this site were originally created by Byron Bay Interactive (link ) in response to a brief from the client to develop a themed series of cards to be marketed commercially as a collectable set (in the hope of emulating the commercial success of the banned American import "online hemp" card-set).

Though it was a major Melbourne publishing company with a long track record in diverse publishing that commissioned the work, they ultimately experienced some "commercial pressures".... became uncontactable, and, after many hundreds of hours of work - we became 'creditors' ....such is the lot of the creative artist!

Well, judge for yourself - was it worth the time & effort? We suspect that, though it's a curiosity and a bit of fun, and it proved an enjoyable challenge to work within the genre, we probably should have gone to the beach instead....Still the issues underlying this work are serious, and becoming more so as climate change becomes a reality. What began as a way of at least making some use of the large amount of work produced for the original "collectable cards" project - has blossomed into a full scale project in its own right, as the interesting aspects of the whole debate began to become clearer. The more we researched the more fascinating and multi-faceted the topic became.

The original research, text and copyright clearances were the work of Peter Kelly (of Hemp Connection and "Cannabis:the Board Game" fame), later substantially revised, edited and vastly expanded by Byron Bay Interactive.

Please understand from the outset - this is meant to be a statement which argues for sustainable ecological and industrial practices, and to serve as a case-study of wide-spread fears concerning the power of "Big Business" to ruthlessly subvert commonsense, the media and legislative processes in the name of profit.

 

In no way should this site be taken as a 'pro-drug' document. Freedom of choice is the issue.