Due to the many positive responses in my articles concerning marijuana, I have decided to create a forum on it. Below is one of my original articles, so have a look and feel free to comment. Thanks! :)
By: Miss Green
April 28, 2008
Did you know that for over 200 years throughout America, you could pay your taxes with cannabis hemp? How about that you could even be jailed for not growing cannabis during the shortage periods? Yes, indeed, cannabis (more commonly known as marijuana) was absolutely legal in the United States until 1937. That means if you have a grandparent older than 71, they once lived in a day where marijuana was not only used as a medicine, but was so important agriculturally that it was once accepted as legal tender. With all of these amazing facts, I decided to do more research to figure out why something so important could become entirely illegal. Later on, I will explain why it was made illegal and cover the many uses of hemp. But first, I’m going to explain a little about the plant and its history.
Cannabis contains a chemical compound commonly known as THC. This chemical is what makes marijuana psychoactive, which made it such an important medicine. However, THC was used as the reason for marijuana to become illegal. Since the highest concentrations of THC are found in the female flowers, the male plants have insignificant amounts of it. This is a problem for hemp, because hemp is derived from the male plant. So even though the male plants contain little or no THC, they are still illegal, which makes hemp illegal in the United States. According to the diaries of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington himself both grew marijuana on their plantations. In fact, Benjamin Franklin started one of America’s first paper mills with cannabis. These facts alone prove the importance of hemp and its cultivation.
Hemp can be used for, literally, thousands of different things. Until the 1880’s in America, 80% of all textiles and fabrics used for clothing, tents, bedsheets, and linens were made from hemp. Even our national flag “Old Glory” was made from cannabis fibers. Hemp also made up nearly 90% of all the paper in the world. Not only does hemp paper last 50 to 100 times longer than most other materials, but it was also a hundred times easier and cheaper to make. Even the Constitution of the United States was written on hemp paper. Other uses for hemp are rope, paints, oil for laterns, building material, cattle feed, and fuel for vehicles. The list goes on and on. One of the most interesting facts was that Henry Ford invented a car that was made out of hemp, and ran on hemp fuel.
So why was cannabis made illegal? It was very profitable, easy to grow, easy to harvest, and had limitless uses. However, the leaders in the oil, cotton, and timber industries saw a threat from cannabis. It was much cheaper and found throughout the world, and these industry leaders knew that they would be put out of business is hemp agriculture was continued. So, marijuana became the new enemy. The next thing you know, it was said to kill people, make men crazy, cause women to rebel, and even cause “negroes to sleep with our white women”; which was said in front of Congress in 1937, the same year it became illegal.
Even though it is a harmless plant that could even help save our economy, it is still illegal. This could be the key that makes us, and all other countries, energy independent, not to mention all of the other uses of hemp. It’s about time that our government starts making decisions based on what is best for the country, not what can make certain people the most money. I urge you to get out and do your own research and help promote the plant that even our founding fathers found to be invaluable. In closing, I would like for you to consider this Surgeon General's report:
TOBACCO kills 340,000 to 450,000
ALCOHOL (Not including 50% of all highway deaths and 65% of all murders) kills 150,000+
ASPIRIN (Including deliberate overdose) 180 to 1,000+
CAFFEINE (From stress, ulcers, and triggering irregular heartbeats, etc.) 1,000 to 10,000
"LEGAL" DRUG OVERDOSE (Deliberate or accidental) from legal, prescribed or patent medicines and/or mixing with alcohol - e.g. Valium/alcohol 14,000 to 27,000
ILLICIT DRUG OVERDOSE (Deliberate or accidental) from all illegal drugs. 3,800 to 5,200
MARIJUANA 0
Maybe now you can realize how harmless the plant really is.
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No matter what, I will never agree with marijuana or any other kind of drugs. It doesn't matter for me what the people say because I know that the after effects it has on a person who consumes a drug.
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trace minerals
Fine, so don't agree. But how does that make it justified to use force to stop other people from doing it?
don't you know that when you smoke a joint it makes jesus cry?
Jesus will roll one for you ;)
OK, could you please tell me the "after effects" that cannabis has on a person after they consume it? I would like to discuss this in further detail.
Also, do you consume Tylenol? Caffeine? Nicotine? Aspirin? Etc. Just wondering.
-Miss Green
"Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it."
There is something fishy going on. You all my not be aware of this but just pop into your local head shop and you will be amazed that there are legal alternatives to pot. one alterative is called Spice gold or platinum. These products are made up of herbs used since mankind can remember. 4 grams go for.. are you ready..70 bucks and up. Do a search on it and you will be introduce to the new world of legal drugs. It is truely amazing the amount of legal alternatives out there. I just found out about this a couple of mths ago. These head shops can't keep enough in stock. Some of these alternative will get you twice as high as some of the best herb around. And to top it off most of these herb fall under religion. Tom
There are many entheogens (psychoactive substances) found in nature- many of which are 100% legal. Head over to the entheogen.com forums to find out more alternatives:
http://www.entheogen.com/forum/index.php?
This is a perfect example to the argument that marijuana activists are just out to get high legally.
-Miss Green
"Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it."
http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/110806/attacking_alzheimer%27s_with...
Attacking Alzheimer's with Red Wine and Marijuana
By Tom Jacobs, Miller-McCune.com. Posted December 8, 2008.
Two new studies suggest that substances usually associated with dulling the mind -- marijuana and red wine -- may help ward off Alzheimer's disease and other forms of age-related memory loss. Their addition comes as another study dethrones folk remedy ginkgo biloba as proof against the disease.
At a November meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Washington, D.C., researchers from Ohio State University reported that THC, the main psychoactive substance in the cannabis plant, may reduce inflammation in the brain and even stimulate the formation of new brain cells.
Meanwhile, in the Nov. 21 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, neurologist David Teplow of the University of California, Los Angeles reported that polyphenols -- naturally occurring components of red wine -- block the formation of proteins that build the toxic plaques thought to destroy brain cells. In addition, these substances can reduce the toxicity of existing plaques, thus reducing cognitive deterioration.
Together, the studies suggest scientists are gaining a clearer understanding of the mechanics of memory deterioration and discovering some promising approaches to prevention.
Previous research has suggested that polyphenols -- which are found in high concentrations in tea, nuts and berries, as well as cabernets and merlots -- may inhibit or prevent the buildup of toxic fibers in the brain. These fibers, which are primarily composed of two specific proteins, form the plaques that have long been associated with Alzheimer's disease.
UCLA's Teplow and his colleagues monitored how these proteins folded up and stuck to each other to produce aggregates that killed nerve cells in mice. They then treated the proteins with a polyphenol compound extracted from grape seeds. They discovered the polyphenols blocked the formation of the toxic aggregates.
"What we found is pretty straightforward," Teplow declared. " If the amyloid beta proteins can't assemble, toxic aggregates can't form, and, thus, there is no toxicity." If this also proves true in human brains, it means administration of the compound to Alzheimer's patients could "prevent disease development and also ameliorate existing disease," he said. Human clinical trials are upcoming.
At Ohio State, researchers led by psychologist Gary Wenk are studying the protective effects of tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly known as THC. They found that administering a THC-like synthetic drug to older rats performed better at a memory test than a control group of non-medicated elderly rodents.
In some of the rats, the drug apparently lowered inflammation in the hippocampus -- the region of the brain responsible for short-term memory. It also seems to have stimulated the generation of new brain cells.
"When we're young, we reproduce neurons and our memory works fine," said co-author Yannick Marchalant, another Ohio State psychologist. "When we age, the process slows down, so we have a decrease in new cell formation in normal aging. You need those cells to come back and help form new memories, and we found that this THC-like agent can influence creation of those cells."
Wenk added two cautionary notes to his report. First, to be effective, any such treatment along these lines would have to take place before memory loss is obvious. Second, the researchers still have much work to do.
"We need to find exactly which receptors are most crucial" to the generation of new brain cells, he said. This discovery would "ideally lead to the development of drugs that specifically activate those receptors."
In the meantime, should aging baby boomers who are worried about old-age mental impairment light up a joint?
Wenk was cautious in his answer, no doubt because marijuana is suspected to be harmful to health in other ways.
"Could people smoke marijuana to prevent Alzheimer's disease if the disease is in the family? We're not saying that, but it might actually work," he said. "What we are saying is it appears that a safe, legal substance the mimics those important properties of marijuana can work on receptors in the brain to prevent memory impairments in aging. So that's really hopeful."
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I'll drink to that.
__________________
Freedom is an inside job
Hi, read this article, I really enjoyed it. :)
You like this, you'll like my little blog here as well. I encourage you all to check it out.
http://www.breakthematrix.com/content/Cannabis-vs-Authority
- God must have loved idiots, there sure are a lot of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxvvvc1DfAo
The Onion: "Studies show that Methamphetamine drugs may be a gateway drugs to other drugs that are almost as dangerous."
The main issue to me concerning the legal status of marijuana and other currently illicit drugs is not their actual or potential benefits, but whether or not the individual is free to decide to use or to avoid them. As for myself, I would not use them for recreational purposes if they were legal and delivered free to my door.
"And what is this liberty, whose very name makes the heart beat faster and shakes the world?" -- Frederic Bastiat
Yes, you're right. In the end, it really shouldn't matter if it is harmful or beneficial- if someone wants to use it, then that's their preogative. No one (especially a government) should be able to tell someone what they can/can not put in their own bodies.
-Miss Green
"Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it."
I am impressed, this blog is very insightfully yet I think it's a little biased in favor of marijuana. I don't doubt that this plant has an interesting history but I also know that there one needs to have serious reasons to make a plant illegal. Has anybody ever thought about that? I work in a drug treatment center and I saw my share of drug disasters so I have my reasons to be skeptical about marijuana too.
They SHOULD have serious reasons for making it illegal. That doesn't mean that they DO.
I hate to be the one to break this to you, but POLITICIANS DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU. They're not going to act in your best interests; they will only act in their own best interests. They're not going to act for your benefit; they will only act for their own benefit and the benefit of their friends and campaign supporters.
And if you really do believe that they need serious reasons to make a plant illegal, then you should demand to know what they are. Marijuana isn't even as harmful as many foods on the market!
Hear, hear!!
-Miss Green
"Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it."
It is always amazing how people who express concerns about removing the prohibition of drugs act as if those prohibitions were actually accomplishing anything positive. Drug abuse continues at some sustained level in spite of all the "new weapons" introduced into the battle. What has been "achieved" by the war on drugs is the mapping of whole new levels of problems and miseries onto existing ones. The price of this folly does not come cheap, and the $66 billion per year (estimate from former Seattle police chief) is only the first of several costs.
"And what is this liberty, whose very name makes the heart beat faster and shakes the world?" -- Frederic Bastiat
Thank you for your comment, and I would love to talk about it more with you. Honestly, I have yet to find a serious reason why the plant was made illegal.
Did you know that the year it was made illegal, Harry Anslinger (director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics - now known as the DEA) read into US Congressional testimony stories about "coloreds" with big lips, luring white women with jazz music and marijuana? He also gasped at the fact that this drug seemingly caused white women to touch or even look at a "negro".
This was all recorded, in front of Congress. These are just a few of the many outlandish "reasons" that cannabis was made illegal. Let's not also forget that the oil, timber, cotton, and pharmaceutical companies were all threatened by cannabis, because it would put them out of business.
Anyway, I would love for you to address you concerns about why you are skeptical of marijuana, it would be a great conversation.
-Miss Green
"Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it."
And they did the same thing with cocaine! It was quite amazing to me once I learned not only the shady history of drug prohibition but the racist propaganda associated with it as well!!
"free thinkers are dangerous, and beautiful"
www.AmericanGoddessPosse.ning.com Live Radio Tue and Thurs 8pm est
The racist propaganda in the history of drug prohibition is bad enough, but just taking a look at the statistics of jail time and numbers in jail related to drug offenses, cannot help but cause one to conclude that the War on Drugs is a de facto War on Blacks. I was looking for an article about the journalist who wrote about the CIA distributing drugs in South Central LA some years ago. He was harshly derided for those writings by others for several years until what he wrote was confirmed by other sources. I stopped my search for the information on that journalist when I rediscovered the following "chill to the bone" article. I think the placing of a disproportionate amount of the brunt of the War on Drugs on the African-American community may be part of the psychology to help maintain its acceptance by the public.
"How the US Government Created the 'Drug Problem' in the USA" by Michael E. Kreca
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/kreca1.html
Michael E. Kreca, RIP
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/010564.html
"And what is this liberty, whose very name makes the heart beat faster and shakes the world?" -- Frederic Bastiat
http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/106141/pot_wins_in_a_landslide%3A_a...
Pot Wins in a Landslide: A Thundering Rejection of America's Longest War
By Rob Kampia, AlterNet. Posted November 5, 2008.
On Tuesday, largely under the radar of the pundits and political chattering classes, voters dealt what may be a fatal blow to America's longest-running and least-discussed war -- the war on marijuana.
Michigan voters made their state the 13th to allow the medical use of marijuana by a whopping 63 percent to 37 percent, the largest margin ever for a medical marijuana initiative. And by 65 percent to 35 percent, Massachusetts voters decriminalized the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, replacing arrests, legal fees, court appearances, the possibility of jail and a lifelong criminal record with a $100 fine, much like a traffic ticket, that can be paid through the mail.
What makes these results so amazing is that they followed the most intensive anti-marijuana campaign by federal officials since the days of "Reefer Madness." Marijuana arrests have been setting all-time records year after year, reaching the point where one American is arrested on marijuana charges every 36 seconds. More Americans are arrested each year for marijuana possession -- not sales or trafficking, just possession -- than for all violent crimes combined.
And the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, with “drug czar” John Walters at the helm, has led a hysterical anti-marijuana propaganda campaign. During Walters' tenure, ONDCP has released at least 127 separate anti-marijuana TV, radio and print ads, at a cost of hundreds of millions of tax dollars, plus 34 press releases focused mainly on marijuana, while no fewer than 50 reports from ONDCP and other federal agencies focused on the alleged evils of marijuana or touted anti-marijuana campaigns.
Walters himself campaigned personally in Michigan against the medical marijuana initiative, calling it an "abomination" and claiming yet again that there is no evidence that marijuana has medical value -- an assertion flatly contradicted by at least four published clinical trials in just the last two years.
In Massachusetts, the state's political and law enforcement establishment lined up solidly against the marijuana decriminalization initiative, including both Republican and Democratic politicians and all 11 district attorneys -- several of whom actually admitted to having smoked marijuana. They warned of rampant drug abuse and crime should the measure pass, simply ignoring the fact that no such thing has happened in the 11 other states (including California, Ohio and New York) that have had similar laws for years.
Voters were having none of it, giving a thumping rejection to government officials’ lies and hysteria in both states. Americans have taken a hard look at our national war on marijuana and rejected it for the cruel, counterproductive disaster that it is.
The voters are right. Of over 872,000 arrests in one year, 89 percent are for possession only.
What has this gotten us? Not much. Marijuana arrests weren't the only thing that set a record last year. So did the number of Americans who have tried marijuana. Usage rates came down marginally in the last few years but are still higher than in the early 1990s. Marijuana is our nation's number one cash crop.
The one thing our costly and futile efforts to "eradicate" marijuana have accomplished is to create a boom for criminal gangs, to whom we've handed a monopoly on production and distribution. Unlike producers of legal drugs like beer, wine or tobacco, these criminals pay no taxes and obey no rules. Their illicit efforts despoil our national forests and bring violence and destabilization to Mexico.
For years, politicians who know our current marijuana laws make no sense have been afraid to change them for fear of political retribution. The voters' thundering rejection of our misguided war on marijuana shows that those fears are misplaced.
It's time for Congress and the new administration -- not to mention state governments around the country -- to listen to the public. It's time for a new approach.
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Freedom is an inside job
A lot of really good information.
It seems sad that it is a case that has to be made at all, frankly. Big brother could never allow people to make their own decisions about what they put into their bodies
non-addictive, with no side-effects... Isn't that what everyone wants? If recreational drugs were legal, market forces would probably give rise to safer and more effective mind alteration to suit every taste.
Personally, it's not my cup of tea-- I rather like my reality unaltered-- but I think there are people who are really drawn to drugs, and no amount of legislation is going to change that. Shouldn't they have a safe, legal, way to fulfill their needs?
As for smoking pot, I'm pretty sure that smoking anything is bad for your lungs. Wouldn't it be better to eat it?
If your preference is not to smoke, then yes- eating it will have the same effects (although it takes longer to have an effect when you eat it because of the digestion process). However, this is how many medical marijuana patients take their medicine, because it is completely safe. There are some companies who make marijuana ice-cream, cookies, etc. which are provided through licensed medical marijuana dispensaries. Also, there are vaporizers that heat the herb just enough to release the vapors without creating combustion. These are completely harmless as well.
-Miss Green
"Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it."
I wish you had been around back in the day when I ate half of an entire tray of hash brownies-- and just kept on eating one after the other because nothing was happening. Two days later when the fog finally cleared I was left with a lifetime aversion to cannabis products.
I still like ordinary brownies, though ;-)
I could definitely see where that could happen!! :) I think you might this funny:
-Miss Green
"Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it."
THC has to enter through the blood in order for it to be as effective. Other drugs are through the digestive tract. It has to do with their base component. When you smoke pot it goes directly into the blood stream through blood vessels if you eat it, it all goes to waste because not enough of it enters the system before your body disposes of it.
Actually, most drugs work through the bloodstream. Oral is easier to take, but it takes longer to absorb and take effect. That's why you have the headache for 20-30 minutes after taking a Tylenol or whatever.
The biggest difference is whether the drug is a molecule or a protein. Since proteins are broken down in your stomach, they can't be taken orally. That's why morphine is always given intravenously. Anything oral has to be in molecular form. THC is a molecule, so it can be taken orally, but as I said it's more effective to inhale it. However, it appears that other cannabinoids can do other things, from fighting cancer to preventing Alzheimer's. They don't know quite why yet, but it's probably one or more proteins that are responsible. If that's the case, people consuming cannabis will not get the benefit from it; only those smoking it.
Now, once they isolate exactly what protein is giving a particular benefit, it may be possible to synthesize the molecule that the protein creates in the body. Once they have that, then that particular molecule could be taken orally and the patient could get the benefit from it.
But eating it wouldn't have the same hallucinogenic effect. I think it's something about burning it. There are some people that boil it and drink it as a tea but there's no grand effect there. You are right about having a legal way of smoking pot due to the many people that do it illegally with no regard to the present laws.
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Cigars
The biggest benefit to burning it is that, since the active ingredients are inhaled, they go instantly into the bloodstream and reach the brain within seconds. One problem people can have with consuming marijuana is that they don't know when to stop: they have to eat a lot before they feel any effects, but later on the effects catch up with them as the body digests the food and absorbs the ingredients.
There's also a problem with medicinal use: Marinol is synthetic THC, but it's only available in an oral dose. If, say, a cancer patient takes it for nausea and vomiting, Marinol won't do any good as he'll likely regurgitate the medicine before it'll do any good (this is most likely what killed Peter McWilliams after the Feds took his medical marijuana, perfectly legal under California state law). But if it's inhaled, the effects are immediate and the patient can take the medicine on an as-needed basis with no risk of ill effects from taking too much.
I wanted to add to your comment that Marinol is also actually 100% THC, which is not like the natural plant at all. There are CBD's and THC in marijuana (think of it as the THC is psychoactive and the CBDs are anti-psychoactive). The plant has a natural balance of these which makes it such an effective medicine. This doesn't even include the many other chemical compunds found naturally in the plant.
So, they synthesize THC only, and expect it to have the same effects as ingesting the actual plant. Not going to happen. No wonder people who take Marinol says that it makes them sick or doesn't work at all!!
-Miss Green
"Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it."
back then the societies we hear about today did not have the internal means to test this theory of immunity to mind control with elf variations and THC compounds in the 1930's they saw it as a financial threat as stated in the industry, the government on the other hand has been working black budget projects for decades in attempt to control free will, ie HAARP or other so called governmental experiments that are covert or plain Jane view.
Call them Illuminati , NeoCons, Malta, Templar, SkullNbones or what ever covert society classification they get this week the agenda is still the same and will persist. To follow up back on total subject of legality and the constitution. this makes people feel good, the right to happiness. legal or not the constitutional rights we base our country off of have been breached way before Anslinger and his so called war on pot.
I smoke it and will do till the day I die, legal or not, put that in your pipe and toke it .
This country is in a revolution and I am lucky to be part of it!
"Ron Paul 2008"
Bring back Tesla's research for a clean world full of free energy. Light,heat,cooling,transportation free of control and taxation for the good of humanity.
"Freshmeat 20