The Truth About Marijuana

Grass, herb, weed, Mary Jane, regardless of what you know it as, the position of legalization of marijuana has more to it than a Cheech and Chong fan base. Cannabis' shaky past wrongly hinders it a real taboo in a society that could use it to greatly advance technology.

Marijuana has been used around the world for thousands of years. Hemp has been used in the past in order to produce products such as paper, textiles, oil, rope, and canvas. Marijuana use dates back to 2737 B.C, when it was described in a Chinese medical compendium. Its medical, spiritual, and production uses spread from China to India to North Africa and reached Europe as early as 500 A.D. When hemp reached America it was widely used in many products and present in 40-50% of patented medicines. Its use was even listed in the Pharmacopoeia from 1850 until 1942, when it was banned (Marijuana).

Due to false propaganda against marijuana in the early 1900's, scare tactics have now become "medical facts", but due to research conducted on cannabis in the past 10 years, the world can see a new side to the falsely named "killer drug".
It was said that marijuana causes lung cancer, this "fact" has recently been proven wrong. In a recent study by Daniel Tashkin at UCLA, cannabis smoke, even "long term use", was found to not influence cancer of the lung, upper airways, or esophagus. The study also noted that out of every 100 non-users who get cancer, only 72 people who smoke get lung cancer. Some instances of the study even showed THC acting as a protector against cancer-causing carcinogens (Gardner).
Another myth is that being under the influence of THC is dangerous when driving. The Journal Youth Studies Australia showed in a recent article that accoding toChild Safety Research in Australia, cannabis is second to Alcohol in Drugs present in the bodies of young people killed in car crashes (Cannabis). Research through phone surveys in Ontario, however, show that only 2% of the public had driven under the influence, yet cannabinoids were found in 14% of drivers injured in accidents. A very important variable looked over by researchers, is that THC stays present in the human body for up to 30 days. The drivers in the accidents could have consumed the THC anytime within a one month period. This data juxtaposes nicely along the research conducted that marijuana doesn't impair driving, but improves it. "Although marijuana definitely impairs driving in laboratory test conditions, the amount of impairment produced in real-life city traffic conditions was minimal or non-existent" (Marijuana and Driving).

The medical possibilities of marijuana are plentiful and very real. Scientists in Canada have decided to support using marijuana in medicine after discovering, in a new study, that a "synthetic cannabinoid" assisted in forming new neurons in the brain (Odriscoll). Recently the New Drug Study Group in London discovered that THC works to kill leukemia cells by affecting the gene that causes it (Marijuana's Active). Marijuana also has many potential uses once legalized:
-The reduction of the fluid pressure in the eyes of glaucoma patients.
-Reduction of severe nausea due to cancer treatment.
-Stimulation of appetite and reduction of pain in patients with cancer or AIDS.
-Anticonvulsant in treating epilepsy.
(Sherwood)

Setting aside personal opinions about the "dangers" of marijuana, assume that casual use was dangerous and that it should only be used for medical purposes, how would patients be protected and treated at the same time? The Marihuana Medical Access Regulations of course. The MMAR came into effect June 29, 2005; it requires applicants to acknowledge that the benefits and risk are not "fully understood" and that they accept those risks. Applicants also recommend their own dosage and means of administration, which the physician will use for their decision. Physicians must also state which of two categories the patient falls under, end-of-life or debilitating symptom, and whether conventional treatments are inappropriate or ineffective (Sibbald).

So if cannabis is a harmless drug, with many medical uses, and hemp itself is an element in many useful products, why was it made illegal in the first place? The truth is that hemp is the victim of a conspiracy by corporations that stood to lose billions in the 1930's, when hemp-fiber-stripping machines were introduced. Throughout the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, hemp was a requirement for farmers to cultivate, due to its ability to produce twice as much fiber per acre as an average forest. This is the history of hemp in the United States as told by Ted Williams in his article "Legalize It".

On August 12, 1930, the treasury secretary, Andrew Mellon, created the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. "Father of the Drug War" then came into play. Harry J. Anslinger, future husband of Mellon's niece, was elected the first Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics of the United States. After this, anti-marijuana propaganda began to spring up everywhere. Then in 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act took effect. "It made no chemical distinction between hemp and marijuana, and taxed the leaves and flowers at $100 an ounce, successfully outlawing them" (Williams). But if the real problem was in fact the danger that the drug posed to the people, why wouldn't Anslinger send his agents to the border of New Mexico, where the drug was coming in high numbers? Because he was too busy "doing a public service" in Minnesota and Illinois, where he busted farmers making a living on hemp products.

Five years after the marijuana crusade run by Anslinger, Japan seized the Philippines. The supply of "Manila hemp" was cut off. The government then encouraged Americans to be patriotic and grow hemp. "The Department of agriculture even created a film entitled "Hemp for Victory", which showed footage of farmers harvesting pre-Anslinger hemp in Kentucky" (Williams). No federal laws were altered, but an estimated 400,000 acres were planted to hemp. The hemp was processed by 42 hemp mills built by War Hemp Industries Corporation. After the war was over however, the hunt for marijuana perpetrators was back on. Afterwards, Anslinger dropped his argument that marijuana inspired violent crimes, and brought about a new theory that it left its victims weak and pacifistic which meant they could easily be converted to communism, anything to make the public feel patriotic for following his opinions.

But what exactly were the motives of Anslinger? Did he really know more about the dangers of marijuana than the public did? Or was his eradication of marijuana simply a small step in a very big con? During this time period, some very important facts were hidden from the public.

DuPont was a major company in this time period; it patented a process to make plastics from oil, and a more efficient process for making paper. Andrew Mellon, the secretary treasurer at the time was an oil and timber baron, he was the president of the Mellon bank of Pittsburgh, DuPont's chief financial advisor.

As future nephew-in-law of Mellon, Anslinger had a lot to live up to. His rain of propaganda to America was heightened by his partnership with Hearst Newspapers, who spewed lies deeming marijuana to be an extremely dangerous drug.
"Anslinger testified before the U.S. Senate that no less an authority than Homer had revealed that the plant "made men forget their homes and turned them into swine" and that a single joint could induce "homicidal mania" sufficient to cause a man "probably to kill his brother." The Hearst papers claimed that under the influence of marihuana, "Negroes" transmogrified into crazed animals, playing anti-white, "voodoo-satanic" music (jazz) and committing such crimes as stepping on white men's shadows. The hype created an insatiable market for low-budget movies like Marihuana: Weed With Roots in Hell, posters for which featured a rendering of a man thrusting a hypodermic needle into a woman in a low-cut dress and which promised: "Weird orgies. Daring drug expose! Horror. Shame. Despair. Wild Parties. Unleashed Passions! Lust. Crime. Hate. Miser" (Williams)."

Today, marijuana is the most commonly used drug in the United States (NIDA). There were 700,000 marijuana arrests in the United States in 1997, with yearly arrests mounting every year. At any given moment, 59,300 prisoners charged with or convicted of violating marijuana laws are behind bars. They make up 3.3% of the total incarcerated population, and the total cost to taxpayers is $1.2 billion per year (Thomas).

The possibilities are seemingly endless on what could happen if it was legalized, a Mercedes car powered by hemp-seed oil is on a trip across American to encourage drug-law reform by showing how useful hemp plants are (HEMP). I believe that if legalized and taxed, the gross from marijuana sale would greatly help the economy. Though the laws should still be strict on age, marijuana at the required age of 18 or 21 would be sufficient.

In conclusion, hemp is an extremely useful plant that was the victim of a con in the 1930's. If its history of uses across the world are not enough to show that it should be legal, its present uses and studies on its potential abilities should be enough to bring Americans to light. Unfortunately, even today false propaganda is spread about cannabis. Instead of trying to scare the public from drugs, the government should educate people on them so that they aren't blindly following half truths. The false facts presented almost a century ago, still take a toll in scaring the public from the medical uses of marijuana, when the possibilities of uses are right under our noses.

STUDY FINDS NO LINK BETWEEN MARIJUANA AND CANCER: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729.html
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