[THS] In Memoriam, Dr. Hans Georg Behr

[The Harder Stuff in news and commentary]

http://marijuanacannabis.wordpress.com/2010/07/09/in-memoriam-dr-hans-georg-behr/


In Memoriam, Dr. Hans Georg Behr
9 07 2010

Dr. Hans-Georg Behr, noted neurotoxicologist and author, passed away on the
evening of July 7 2010, at the age of 72.

In 2009 Dr. Behr was awarded the International Cannabis Cultuurprijs in recognition
of his fight against the prohibition of cannabis and against the demonisation of
people who enjoy it. Although poor health prevented him from attending the award
ceremony, his sense of humour was unaffected.

“I am as happy as Charlie Chaplin when he was given an Oscar,”  joked Dr. Behr
when he received the news.

Hans Georg Behr’s work has not always been met with such appreciation. His book
Von Hanf ist die Rede, Kultur und Politik einer Droge (‘Hemp is the Question- the
Culture and Politics of a Drug’) was published in 1982 and remains a relevant and
authoritative work on cannabis. In the storm of indignation which arose after the
publication of his book, police searched Mr. Behr’s home and found 0.318 grams of
cannabis.

Dr. Behr, who had never made a secret of being a ‘kiffer’ (cannabis smoker), was
dragged before the courts. The show trial which followed lasted for 52 days and
ended with  the dismissal of the charges against him. Despite this experience, Dr.
Behr  could laugh about the collective panic of the times:  “Until now I have not
properly described the phobia about cannabis. I name it the distinct madness of the
Germans. Paranoia Germanica.”

Dr. Behr’s breakthrough to a mainstream readership came in 2001 with the
publication of his autobiographical novel Fast eine Kindheit (‘Almost a Childhood’).
The novel describes his early years as a child growing up in Vienna – amongs the
high ranking Nazi, then under the Russian occupation of the city after the Second
World War.

Happily, in his later years, Dr. Behr had no fear of being prosecuted by the German
justice department:

“I’m very excited that I’m the only one in Hamburg allowed to smoke hash. People
now leave me in peace; after all,  they blamed me and my kind more than enough in
the past.”