The post below comes from the following website.
libertyalliance.com
Post by reggiec
Full disclosure...I am a cannabis recommendation holder. I am a member of L.E.A.P. (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) at least where Cannabis is involved. I am retired from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, 28+ years of service. Before I began using cannabis for medical reasons I did extensive research. What I found is that Cannabis is illegal first because of racist beliefs by early government officials. Specifically Harry Anslinger. He hated blacks, jazz music and Mexicans. He believed that the dark races would get white women high and have sex with them. Another reason is that it seems every weird group has adopted cannabis as a way of protest
Now for the kicker...there have been numerous government and peer reviewed studies that have destroyed the myths about cannabis being dangerous but those studies have been buried by politicians.
If you think I am stretching the truth here are some excerpts. If you still think I am wrong, look up the original studies and read them yourself.
It is a long post but I have found that you need a huge cannon to counteract false information.
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1. 1860, Ohio State Medical Society, first U.S.government study of Cannabis..The study identified numerous maladies that were being successfully treated with cannabis.When pure and administered carefully, it is one of the most valuable medicines we have.
2. Late 1894, British Official Indian Hemp Commission:
The seven volumes and 3000 word report found; no connection between hemp use and crime, No evidence that hemp use drove men mad, No injurious effects on the mind and no moral injury whatsoever.
Their conclusion:
Suppression of the use of hemp would be totally unjustifiable. Any attempts to control or ban it would likely lead to far more serious problems with alcohol.
3. 1970s, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Jamaica study:
A comprehensive three year study on chronic ganja use by workers and their families; the study found no evidence of harmful changes in brain function or personality of chronic Jamaican ganja smokers.
4. 1970s, NIDA studies in Greece and Costa Rica:
NIDA found no palpable harm inflicted by the resinous herb, Neuropsychological and personality tests failed to reveal significant differences between cannabis smokers and nonsmokers.
5. 1944, La Guardia Report:
Conclusions; Incorrect to call cannabis a narcotic. It is a mild euphoric, is not addictive, does not cause insanity, sexual devianc, violence or criminal misconduct.
6. 1968, Wooten Report by the British Parliament:
The report stated that cannabis was very much less dangerous than opiates, amphetamines, barbiturates or even alcohol. Cannabis did not lead to violence, psychosis, or dependence in normal people. That the long-asserted dangers of cannabis are exaggerated and laws against it are socially damaging if not unworkable.
7. 1972, Shafer Commission Report under Nixon administration:
Touted as the most in depth study of cannabis done in the U.S. at that time at 1,184 pages; found that…Marijuana use does not cause physical or psychological harm; there are no significant withdrawal symptoms when use is stopped, it does not cause brain damage or birth defects, does not cause a compulsion to use hard drugs, has never caused a human fatality and neither cannabis or its use can be said to constitute a danger to public safety. Nixon was so mad that this study did not agree with his false beliefs that he buried it.
8. Mar. 1, 2011 European Journal of Neurology
"Spasticity is a disabling complication of multiple sclerosis, affecting many patients with the condition. Subjects were treated with nabiximols [Sativex], as add-on therapy, in a single-blind manner... This study has shown Sativex to improve spasticity in patients who had failed to respond adequaely to other antispasticity medications..."
Mar. 1, 2011 - Alena Novotna, MD
9..Aug. 30, 2010 Canadian Medical Association Journal
"Adults with post-traumatic or postsurgical neuropathic pain were randomly assigned to receive cannabis at four potencies (0%, 2.5%, 6% and 9.4% tetrahydrocannabinol) over four 14-day periods in a crossover trial. Participants inhaled a single 25-mg dose through a pipe three times daily for the first five days in each cycle, followed by a nine-day washout period. Daily average pain intensity was measured using an 11-point numeric rating scale.
Conclusion:
A single inhalation of 25 mg of 9.4% tetrahydrocannabinol herbal cannabis three times daily for five days reduced the intensity of pain, improved sleep and was well tolerated."
Aug. 30, 2010 - Mark A. Ware, MD, MSc
10. Nov. 6, 2009 Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
"The primary analysis of change from baseline in mean pain Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) score was statistically significantly in favor of THC:CBD compared with placebo...
Conclusion
This study shows that THC:CBD extract is efficacious for elief of pain in patients with advanced cancer pain not fully relieved by strong opioids."
6,June2009 Jeremy R Johnson, MBChB
11. The08 Journal of June 2008 Journal of
Thirty-eight patients underwent a standardized procedure for smoking either high-dose (7%), low-dose (3.5%), or placebo cannabis; of these,
32 completed all three smoking sessions. The study demonstrated an analgesic response to smoking cannabis with no significant difference between the low and the high dose cigarettes. The study concluded that both low and high cannabis doses were efficacious in reducing neuropathic pain of diverse causes."
June 2008 - Barth Wilsey, MD
So why is it demonized?
Who really is against both industrial hemp and psychoactive cannabis being made totally legal?
Clothing made from hemp fiber is softer, stronger and lasts longer than cotton so cotton farmers and the cotton industry oppose it.
Cotton uses massive amounts of herbicides and is a multibillion dollar a year business so the herbicide producers, shippers and
applicators oppose it.
Every part of the Hemp plant can be used; stalks for fiber, seeds for oil, biodiesel or cooking and the rest of the plant for animal feed.
Pharmaceutical companies that make pain killers, muscle spasm relief medicine and other maladies treated with medical cannabis oppose it because it would cut into their profits.
Liquor, beer and wine makers oppose it because people can grow their own, get stoned and not have a hangover the next day. Oh yea and too much alcohol can not only kill brain cells, other organs and even you. Cannabis by itself has never caused a human fatality from being ingested in any form.
Alcohol use contributes to aggressive and violent behavior. Marijuana use does not. Studies have repeatedly shown that alcohol, unlike marijuana, contributes to the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior. An article published in the Journal of Addictive Behaviors
reported that "alcohol is clearly the drug with the most evidence to support a direct intoxication-violence relationship," whereas "cannabis
reduces the likelihood of violence during intoxication."
• Alcohol use is a major factor in violent crimes. Marijuana use is not. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism estimates that 25-30% of violent crimes in the United States are linked to the use of alcohol.According to a report from the U.S. Dept. of Justice, that translates to about 5,000,000 alcohol-related violent crimes per year. By contrast, the government does not even track violent acts specifically related to marijuana use, as the use of marijuana has not been associated with violence. (Of course, we should note that marijuana prohibition, by creating a widespread criminal market, is associated with acts of violence.)
• Alcohol use contributes to the likelihood of domestic abuse and sexual assault. Marijuana use does not. Alcohol is a major contributing factor in the prevalence of domestic violence and sexual assault. This is not to say that alcohol causes these problems; rather, its use makes it more likely that an individual prone to such behavior will act on it. For example, a study conducted by the Research Institute on Addictions found that among individuals who were chronic partner abusers, the use of alcohol was associated with significant increases in the daily likelihood of male-to-female physical aggression, but the use of marijuana was not. Specifically, the odds of abuse were eight times higher on days when men were drinking; the odds of severe abuse were 11 times higher. According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) website highlights alcohol as the "most commonly used chemical in crimes of sexual assault" and provides information on an array of other drugs that have been linked to sexual violence. Given the fact that marijuana is so accessible and widely used, it is quite telling that the word "marijuana" does not appear anywhere on the page.
All these industries give massive political contributions to both parties. |
