Cannabis
 Cannabis    | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | plant, drug |
| Interest of | • Sue Grey • Martin A Lee • Bob Marley • Salem News |
| Easily grown around the world, with a long history of medical and recreational use, 'weed' is the world's most popular recreational drug. | |
Cannabis sativa is an easily grown plant with a long history of use for medical and recreation purposes. One of the world's most widely used drugs, as of 2016 it remains illegal in most countries of the world, with those who are caught possessing it facing harsh penalties, even including the death penalty.[1][2]
Contents
Official narrative
The DEA’s position on marijuana has remained relatively unchanged since 2011, when it produced The DEA Position on Marijuana[3] which ignored the range of long established medical uses and cited “getting arrested,” “gum disease” and “disobedience” as evidence of the drug’s harm.
History
Cannabis has a long history of use stretching back into pre-history. However, it was not widely used as an intoxicant in USA until the early 20th century. Cannabis was subject to a devoted campaign by Harry Anslinger. The propaganda materials were not only explicitly racist, but so false as to be laughable from a modern perspective - but since the US public was unfamiliar with the drug, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was successful at demonizing it.
Several scholars have claimed that Andrew Mellon, who created the Bureau of Narcotics and put Anslinger in charge of it, may have been motivated by a desire to prevent a fall in his investments in the US timber industry. The legislation against cannabis applied equally to hemp (which has minimal psychoactive purposes), which was starting to become a potential rival to the long established use of wood pulp to produce paper. If true, this is a close parallel with John D. Rockefeller's support of alcohol prohibition as a means of preventing ethanol threatening his petroleum monopoly.
Medical Marijuana
right|400px Marijuana is proven to be effective at treating a number of medical issues, including some for which no pharmaceutical medicine is available. Active ingredients from marijuana have been isolated by drug companies and sold in pill form, which is outside the remit of the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Medical marijuana has been a subject of much campaigning in recent years in USA (and worldwide) and has been legalized by an increasing number of US states.
DEA's Profiteering
Jesse Ventura termed the DEA "Judge and Jury on Marijuana", after their unilaterally decision that cannabis should remain in the same legal classification as heroin - deadly, addictive and with no known medical value. As he observed, it was obvious that they would do this, to protect their income stream.[4]
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Cannabis comparative risk assessment.pdf | Report | 30 January 2015 | Jürgen Rehm Dirk Lachenmeier | Comparative risk assessment of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and other illicit drugs using the margin of exposure approach |
- ↑ http://www.ccguide.org/deathpenalty.php
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20041107125819/http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=9705
- ↑ https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/dea-csa-enforcement-in-states-with-legal-marijuana-use-10465/#file-25355
- ↑ http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/08/19/the-dea-judge-and-jury-on-marijuana/
