the facts about...
CANNABIS
Cannabis is a family tHe PrOHibitiOn Of Cannabis was largely a reaction toward an influx of
of plants grown all over the Mexican immigrants in the South, and Latin American and black jazz musicians in the
world. Also known as marijuana East. News tycoon William Randolph Hearst opposed the development of hemp paper,
or pot, cannabis has been used and he lost 800,000 acres of timberland to Pancho Villa, so he despised Mexicans. He
for its medicinal properties since wrote: “(Marijuana is) the deadly, dreadful poison that racks and tears not only the
ancient times. It has been used body, but the very heart and soul of every human being who once becomes a slave to it
as a holistically effective in any of its cruel and devastating forms…. (It) is a short cut to the insane asylum.”
medicinal agent on every
continent, by all types of people. every seriOUs sCHOlar and gOvernment commission examining
It was described in a Chinese the relationship between cannabis use and crime has reached the same conclusion:
medical compendium in 2737 Marijuana does not cause crime, but criminality thrives in the black market sale of
B.C., and its use spread from the substance. Almost all human and animal studies show that marijuana decreases
China to India and then to North aggression.
Africa, reaching Europe at least
as early as 500 A.D. tHe CUrrent COnsensUs is well stated in the 20th annual report of
the California Research Advisory Panel (1990), which recommended that personal
Cannabis was listed in use and cultivation of marijuana be legalized: “An objective consideration of
the United States Pharmacopeia marijuana shows that it is responsible for less damage to society and the individual
from 1850 until 1942 and was than are alcohol and cigarettes.”
prescribed for various conditions
including labor pains, nausea
“
and rheumatism.
The illegaliTy of cannabis is ouTrageous,
Cannabis Has been Used an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps
to assist patients with AIDS, produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and
Alzheimer’s disease, Anorexia, fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly
Arthritis, Autism, Cancer, mad and dangerous world.”
Chronic Pain, Crohn’s disease, carl sagan, astronomer, cosmologist
Depression, Diabetes, Epilepsy,
Fibromyalgia, Glaucoma,
Insomnia, Liver Fibrosis,
Migraines, Multiple Sclerosis, in 1972, after reviewing tHe sCientifiC evidenCe, the National
Nausea, Post-Traumatic Stress Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse concluded that while marijuana is not
Disorder and Tourette entirely safe, its dangers had been grossly overstated.
Syndrome.
desPite tHe faCt tHat cannabis is less harmful than most other drugs,
Patients in 16 states
including alcohol and tobacco, it is the most common drug that people are arrested for
and the District of Columbia
have access to medical possessing. In 2009, 858,408 people were prosecuted under cannabis laws.
marijuana, but those elsewhere
buy or grow the drug illegally to wHile Cannabis fOr reCreatiOnal use is illegal in all parts of the
ease their conditions. world, though decriminalized in some, it is legal for some specific use as a medicine
in a number of territories, including Canada, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands,
tHe nOn-mediCinal Spain, Israel, Italy, Finland, and Portugal. In the United States, federal law outlaws
variety of cannabis is known as all use of cannabis, while some states have approved use of medical cannabis in
hemp, a fast-growing, fibrous conflict with federal law.
plant from which an estimated
50,000 products can be produced.
Printed on hemp: the Gutenberg encourage your lawmakers to More
Bible, the Declaration of
Independance and the United
States Constitution. eNd prohIBItIoN
the facts about...
CANNABIS
Cannabis PrOdUCes On marCH 29, 2011, fOr tHe first time, the National Cancer Institute’s
immediate, temporary changes website listed cannabis as a Complementary Alternative Medicine, in contrast to
in thoughts, perceptions and information from the U.S. Department of Health, which calls marijuana a dangerous
information processing. Short- drug with no medical value.
term memory is most clearly tHe COUntry’s twO largest PHysiCian grOUPs – American
affected, though diminishment Medical Association (AMA) and American College of Physicians (ACP) – have both
only lasts for the duration of called for a review of marijuana’s status as a Schedule I controlled substance:
intoxication. • ama: urges the National Institutes of Health to implement administrative
procedures to facilitate grant applications and the conduct of well-designed clinical
sOme effeCts may inClUde research into the medical utility of marijuana.
a general alteration of • aCP: Additional research is needed to clarify marijuana’s therapeutic properties
conscious perception, euphoria, and determine standard and optimal doses and routes of delivery. Unfortunately,
feelings of well-being, relax- research expansion has been hindered by a complicated federal approval process,
ation or stress reduction, jovial- limited availability of research-grade marijuana, and the debate over legalization.
ity, introspection, enhanced Marijuana’s categorization as a Schedule I controlled substance raises significant
concerns for researchers, physicians, and patients.
recollection, increased sensual-
ity, increased libido, creative, in 1995, based On tHirty years Of sCientifiC researCH,
abstract or philosophical editors of the British journal Lancet (the British equivalent of New England Journal
thinking, disruption of linear of Medicine) concluded that “the smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not
memory and paranoia. Anxiety harmful to health.”
is the most commonly reported
“
side-effect of smoking cannabis.
Marijuana is The finesT anTi-nausea
OtHer sUbjeCtive and medication known to science, and our leaders have lied
highly tangible effects include about this consistently. [Arresting people for] medical
greater enjoyment of food taste marijuana is the most hideous example of government
and aroma, an enhanced enjoy- interference in the private lives of individuals. It’s an outrage
ment of music and comedy, within an outrage within an outrage.”
and marked distortions in the Peter McWilliams, self-help author
perception of time and space.
At higher doses, effects can
include altered body image, Cannabis Use is Prevalent amOng Dutch patients with neurologic
auditory and/or visual illusions. disorders. Nearly four out of ten patients with prescriptions for “medical grade
cannabis” (cannabis provided by Dutch pharmacies) use it to treat Multiple Sclerosis
Cannabis inCreases or spinal cord injuries, according to survey data published in 2005 in the journal
the pulse rates for about an Neurology. Perceived effectiveness of cannabis is greater among respondents who
hour. This is not generally inhale cannabis versus those who ingest it orally, the study found.
harmful, since exercise does the
same thing, but it may cause tHe sUrvey says:
problems to people with pre- • 72 percent agree that adults should be allowed to legally use cannabis for medical
existing heart disease. There is purposes if a physican recommends it.
no evidence that cannabis use • 59 percent believe that marijuana has medical benefits and would obtain it for a
causes persisting hypertension suffering loved one.
• 58 percent from ages 45-49 have smoked cannabis, 30 percent over the age of 49.
or heart disease; some users
~ from a poll conducted in 2004 for AARP the Magazine on Medical Uses
claim that it helps them control of Marijuana, surveying U.S. residents 45 years and older
hypertension by reducing stress.
tHere is nO letHal
encourage your lawmakers to More
dose of cannabis. You cannot die
from “binge smoking” like you
can from binge drinking. eNd prohIBItIoN