Legalization and the War on Drugs

Legalization and the “War on Drugs”

For roughly a century, the United States government has been putting their priorities out of order by placing more important things off to the side in order to fight a “war” on drugs. More recently, the “War on Terrorism” has been pushed aside several times to capture and prosecute the real criminals, marijuana smokers. They have even started lumping cannabis users into the same pile as terrorists. Shortly after 9-11, commercials were run saying if you buy marijuana, you support terrorism (probably because terrorists come from Middle Eastern countries which are hashish-smoking cultures). This “war” began to gain momentum during the 1920's. America was worried about the new Chinese immigrants and the opium that was being brought over by them. So in Europe, an opium conference was held where U.S. delegates asked if there were any other drugs that should be put with opium in regards to danger and addiction. An Egyptian delegate mentioned a drug called hashish that he said was the worst drug ever. It was far worse than opium and produced nightmarish side effects such as the “shakes”, angry rages, and violence, which basically would lead to permanent insanity with a high risk of dying. This also seems to be a big factor in the laws regarding cannabis today. False, made-up “side effects” are still being made in order to frighten off people from using the illegal herb. One of the first reasons marijuana was outlawed is because "those Mexicans go crazy after one or two puffs." That is the first known legislation (said on the floor of the house) about cannabis. The man who drug that bit of information up equated our marijuana laws to laws in England back when they outlawed gin because it was what the poor people drank.

The Cannabis plant comes in many shapes, sizes, colors, and potencies; ranging from medicinal quality marijuana to non-psychoactive hemp. The Cannabis plant can grow anywhere in the world, and is very adaptive. The weed can be trained to grow as a vine, or even into a tree, yielding pounds each harvest. Cannabis is a naturally occurring benign non-toxic substance that has been used for over six millennia. Our government states that Cannabis is the most dangerous “Schedule I substance,” the most dangerous and most punishable substances known to law- including heroin, an opiate that can literally snap a user’s bones upon withdrawal from its chemical addiction. Thankfully the government doesn’t stop at just throwing the full power of the law at Cannabis. The government also installs anti-marijuana billboards along our roads, funds anti-marijuana television advertisements even during the Super Bowl, and fights “drug” wars against other civilizations to protect our nation from this evil flower. From within our nation, the government protects us by sending out specialized helicopters to destroy wild patches of this plant, also equipped with infrared vision to detect illegal growing operations hidden in civilian houses. Drug testing allows employers to weed-out anyone with “drugs,” including marijuana, in their system. Any chance of financial aid from the government is eliminated upon a drug offense to keep “drugies” out of higher education. Your casual user can get caught smoking a single joint at a concert and be denied their only way to pay for school, while rapists and murderers, however, can still receive financial aid and attend any institution of higher learning they want.

Why is Cannabis so dangerous? This first of many articles discussed here is about government-funded research in 1974, initiated to verify that Cannabis was destructive to the immune system. The article opens with this question: “The following article was listed as one of the top 25 censored stories of the year 2000. We reprint it here and pose the question, why would the government want to keep us from knowing this,” (Cushin, 2001)? The universities working on the project could not confirm the claim that marijuana was destructive to the immune system, rather it is stated: "The active chemical agent in marijuana curbs the growth of three kinds of cancer in mice and may also suppress the immunity reaction that causes rejection of organ transplants, a Medical College of Virginia team has discovered," (Cushin, 2001). The amazing discoveries of THC’s effects were investigated further. In February of 2000: “researchers in Madrid announced they had destroyed incurable brain tumors in rats by injecting them with THC, the active ingredient in cannabis,” (Cushin, 2001). The time span between these two discoveries was over twenty-five years -- perhaps this explains why: “The DEA quickly shut down the Virginia study and all further cannabis/tumor research… …In 1976, President Gerald Ford put an end to all public