This is kinda a lame paper I wrote and just wana know what you guys think.
The Cannabis Controversy
Cannabis - can-na-bis
-noun
1. The hemp plant, Cannabis sativa.
2. The flowering tops of the plant.
3. Any of the various parts of the plant from which hashish or marijuana and mildly euphorogenic drugs are prepared from.
Origin: 1790-1800; < NL. L: hemp < GK kánnabis
Cannabis is currently grown in the U.S. legally for medical use by patients with AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, depression, Parkinson’s disease, dystopia, Crohn’s disease, epilepsy, fibromyalgia, high blood pressure, migraine, nail patella syndrome, schizophrenia, tourett’s syndrome, and others.
It is absolutely amazing how much cannabis helps patients suffering from of the ailments listed above. Cannabis produces immediate, temporary changes in thoughts, perceptions, and information processing. The cognitive process most clearly affected by cannabis is short-term memory. In laboratory studies, subjects under the influence of marijuana have no trouble remembering things they learned previously.
However, they display diminished capacity to learn and recall new information. This diminishment only lasts for the duration of the intoxication. There is no convincing evidence that heavy long-term cannabis use permanently impairs memory or other cognitive functions.
Cannabis falls under the Plantae Kingdom, the Magnoliophyta Division, the Magnoliopsida Class, the Rosales Order and finally the Cannabaceae Family. There are three putative species of cannabis: Cannabis sativa, Indica and Ruderalis. The largest species of cannabis is sativa then indica and the smallest being ruderalis. Cannabis is an annual flowering herb but the interesting thing about cannabis is that there are male and female plants but unlike every other plant this, male female difference is visible just by glancing at the plant. Cannabis plants can be as tall as 20ft or a small as 1ft
A brief history on cannabis: The Cannabis plant has been grown in China since 8000B.C, the Chinese grew the plant for the seeds which was eaten (good source of amino acids) later the Chinese discovered that by breaking the stalks they could uses plants fibers to make cloths, paper, fishing nets and textiles as well as thousands of other products. The Chinese were perplexed by cannabis because no other only plant has a male plant and a female plant in fact the word cannabis comes from the word “canna” meaning two and “bis” meaning forms.
Cannabis was the first plant ever grown for war, the Chinese designated many acres to the growth of the plant but they didn’t grow it for smoking but for hemp. Hemp string is much stronger and more durable than traditional bamboo string so the Chinese began using hemp to make bow strings. As early as the 10th century (2800B.C) the Chinese were using cannabis for its medical benefits, Emperor Shen Nun founded the science of Chinese medicine and his herbalists discovered its medical use, even wounds sustained in battle were bandaged in cannabis leaves.
The Emperor Shen was not the only emperor to endorse cannabis, the Emperor Gallienus of 218A.D took up the throne of Rome during a very hard time, the Germanic tribes were attacking Rome and the people were uneasy. Gallienus encouraged his people to smoke cannabis because he believed it would make them happy, unfortunately for Gallienus the Catholic Church was gaining in popularity partly because Christianity incorporated parts of Rome’s old religion later after the Church ruled Rome Emperor Innocent VIII in 1484 A.D declared that smoking cannabis was sacrilegious and promoted wine as the only Christian holy sacrament.
In the 9th century under Charlemagne cannabis was encouraged but for the production of hemp, in the monasteries monks wrote there manuscripts on hemp paper by the light of a hemp oil lamp. In 1945 Guttenberg printed the first Bible on hemp paper. In 1492 Christopher Columbus landed in America and introduced hemp to the new world, he gave gifts including hemp seeds and cloths to the natives.
In 1620 the Mayflower brought pilgrims to concur America they also brought hemp seeds; 100 years later the first drafts of the American constitution were written on hemp paper, the same paper was used in 1776 for the Declaration of Independence.
Hemp is an extremely strong and durable material that can be made into boards for homes, textiles, nets, rope, canvas, cloths, soap, string, food, furniture, oil, shoes, paper, shampoo, cosmetics, flax, bedding and many other products. Hemp boards are actually more durable than today’s wooden boards and are fire and rot resistant.
Cannabis is currently illegal in the United States today but has not always been. In 1911 New Orleans, Louisiana, Mississippi and a few other states outlawed cannabis; meanwhile alcohol was being seen as a danger to society and American women lobbied for alcohol to be banned which lead to illegal speak eases the proceeds of which endorsed criminals, violence and gang warfare. Alcohol was legalized again in 1933 but government officials and people like Harry Anstiger, William Randolph Hurst, DuPont and the cotton companies wanted to outlaw hemp and they succeeded.
During the 1940s the U.S. was cut off from their hemp supplies because of WWII and the U.S navy was completely dependent on hemp for rope and other components so cannabis was legalized again in America; the government even funded a movie endorsing the growth of hemp called “Hemp for Victory” to encourage farmers to grow hemp for the military. After the war America began importing hemp products and once again banned cannabis.
The DEA spends millions of dollars to eradicate a plant that has been around longer than humans. The DEA began its cannabis eradication plan in 1979 they call it the Domestic Cannabis Eradication Program or DCEP. The DEA imprisons thousands of American citizens every year and it costs American tax payers around $250,000 a year to keep a single prisoner in prison, that money could be spent on incarcerating rapists, thieves, and murderers or at least spent on tracking them down. In 2007 alone the DEA arrested more than 8,000 Americans for growing cannabis and taken more than fifty million dollars of cultivator assets.
Most sensational claims of the health risks of cannabis cite no studies or sources at all. Others rely on a handful of inconclusive or flawed reports. The government uses exaggeration and scare tactics to discourage marijuana use, like the "Reefer Madness" campaign of the 1930s and the PDFA today.
“Penalties for possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the drug itself” – President Jimmy Carter, Message to Congress. Aug 2, 1977
The U.S and the DEA claim that more research is needed before we can say cannabis is not harmful; well there have been hundreds upon hundreds of legitimate scientific studies in the United States alone and here is some date from a hand full of those studies.
Facts:
1. No drug is always safe for everybody, but after 150 years of scientific study, the only proven health problem from cannabis is that its smoke can be linked to bronchitis. The smoke contains potential carcinogens, but there are no proven cancers. Moreover, it is a safe and effective medicinal herb with proven therapeutic value in treating hundreds of symptoms and ailments, including glaucoma, MS, asthma, arthritis, cancer, AIDS, epilepsy, nausea, anorexia, depression, stress, etc. The US Institute of Medicine (IOM) determined in 1999 that "Except for the harms associated with smoking, the adverse effects of marijuana use are within the range of effects tolerated for other medications
2. No; not even once has someone died due to marijuana. It is difficult to gauge the eaten dose, which can lead to unpleasant, but non-lethal effects. Judge Francis Young studied the evidence, and ruled in 1988 that "marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume." This comparison chart shows the number of deaths from selected substances in a typical year.*
Tobacco 340,000 to 425,000
Alcohol (excluding crime/accidents) 150,000 +
Legal Drug Overdose (prescription) 14,000 to 27,000
Illegal Drug Overdose 3,800-5,200
Aspirin 180 to 1000+
Marijuana 0
* Based on US Surgeon General and other statistical sources.
3. No, it does not lead to harder drugs. According to the 1999 IOM report, "There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the use of other illicit drugs." In fact, there is some evidence that suppressing cannabis may lead people to use hard drugs, as happened in Hawaii. NIDA study links marijuana crackdown to increase in methamphetamine "ice" in Hawai'i.
4. No, it is not addictive, although some minor dependency can develop. According to the IOM: "Although few users of marijuana develop dependence, some do. But they appear to be less likely to do so than users of other drugs (including alcohol and nicotine), and marijuana dependence appears to be less severe than dependence on other drugs." The typical pattern of social cannabis usage begins with experimental use in the late teens and peaks in the early adult years, followed by a period of leveling off, and a gradual reduction in use.
5. Moderate smoking of cannabis appears to pose minimal danger to the lungs. Like tobacco smoke; cannabis smoke contains a number of irritants and carcinogens. But cannabis users typically smoke much less often than tobacco smokers, and over time, inhale much less smoke. As a result, the risk of serious lung damage should be lower in cannabis smokers. There have been no reports of lung cancer related solely to cannabis, and in a large study presented to the American Thoracic Society in 2006, even heavy users of smoked cannabis were found not to have any increased risk of lung cancer. Unlike heavy tobacco smokers, heavy cannabis smokers exhibit no obstruction of the lung's small airway. That indicates that people will not develop emphysema from smoking cannabis.
6. In 1972, after reviewing the scientific evidence, the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse concluded that while cannabis was not entirely safe, its dangers had been grossly overstated. Since then, researchers have conducted thousands of studies of humans, animals, and cell cultures. None reveal any findings dramatically different from those described by the National Commission in 1972. In 1995, based on thirty years of scientific research editors of the British medical journal Lancet concluded that "the smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not harmful to health."
7. The Netherlands' drug policy is the most non-punitive in Europe. For more than twenty years, Dutch citizens over age eighteen have been permitted to buy and use cannabis (marijuana and hashish) in government-regulated coffee shops. This policy has not resulted in dramatically escalating cannabis use. For most age groups, rates of cannabis use in the Netherlands are similar to those in the United States. However, for young adolescents, rates of cannabis use are lower in the Netherlands than in the United States. The Dutch people overwhelmingly approve of current cannabis policy which seeks to normalize rather than dramatize cannabis use. The Dutch government occasionally revises existing policy, but it remains committed to decriminalization.
8. There is no compelling evidence that cannabis contributes substantially to traffic accidents and fatalities. At some doses, cannabis affects perception and psychomotor performances- changes which could impair driving ability. However, in driving studies, cannabis produces little or no car-handling impairment- consistently less than produced by low moderate doses of alcohol and many legal medications. In contrast to alcohol, which tends to increase risky driving practices, cannabis tends to make subjects more cautious. Surveys of fatally injured drivers show that when THC is detected in the blood, alcohol is almost always detected as well. For some individuals, cannabis may play a role in bad driving. The overall rate of highway accidents appears not to be significantly affected by cannabis’s widespread use in society.
The smoking of any substance whether it be cannabis, tobacco or paper IS harmful to your lungs but to make claims that cannabis is more harmful than nicotine is a blatant and disgusting lie. There is a crusade against cannabis in America and this crusade is only harming us. The U.S. would save a lot of money if we ended the war on drugs, we wouldn’t have the crime that surrounds drugs today.
The crime around the cannabis industry is only as deep and the illegality goes; just as during prohibition when alcohol was made illegal. During prohibition gangsters ran wild and as soon as prohibition ended, you see a large part of the crime industries die. If cannabis was made legal then the government could tax it and we could become an economic powerhouse again.
If you watch the movie “Super Size Me” you can see that the main character who consumes fast food everyday for thirty days becomes extremely ill and close to death by the end of the ordeal. “Super Size Me” plainly shows that fast food is dangerous and needs to be controlled. There are many people that consume cannabis everyday and live perfectly healthy normal lives but yet it is still a Schedule I drug and American children are still morbidly obese because they are addicted to fast food. I say: end war on drugs and turn the guns on the fast food industry.
--------------------
I had two bowls for breakfest one was cereal. Long live the Growery!
Edited by 2Cents (01/28/09 05:02 PM)
|
Threaded
Previous
Index
Next
Edit 
Reply 
