YES WE CANNABIS (part of our series, Through The Eyes Of A Stoner, By James Munroe)
Dear Mr. President, People Need Medical Marijuana Legalized for Medicine from CannabisNet on Vimeo.
I knew he was trying to bait me. As soon as he opened his mouth it was completely obvious that all of his information was unsubstantiated hearsay that was now a personal truth.
“Weed doesn't cure anything. Not a single thing. Name one thing that cannabis can cure.”
I understood his inference straight away. I've heard it several times before. A lot of people seem to scoff at the idea of marijuana being a legitimate healer, but it's ignorance like the above displayed that is the most frustrating of all. Opening the doors to a debate with your premise being against weed as a medicine, displaying an unmistakably incorrect understanding of what medicine actually is in the first place is a terrible decision, wouldn't you agree?
“Now I'm no fucking scientist, but I'm pretty sure something doesn't have to be a cure to be considered a legitimate medicine.”
I couldn't help feeling bad a bit, I had responded with a bit of venom but nothing is more frustrating than someone having an opinion just to have one, however, and with the DEA’s ruling to continue the exile of cannabis as a schedule 1 drug, standing fast in its claim that the currently accepted medical value of marijuana is still at zero, these issues were fresh on my mind.
So my friend misunderstands what medicine actually is and the DEA claims that cannabis has no medical use. Everyone seems confused really. With all this disorientation we first need some clarity on the simplest of issues though: what is medicine in the first place?
Medicine as defined by dictionary.com is said to be any substance or substances used in treating disease or illness; medicament; or remedy.
Seems easy enough to understand.
My best guess at one of the problems is that many people imagine Cheech and Chong sitting in their car, trying to see each other through a haze of pot smoke, giggling while they take their ‘medicine.’ But medical marijuana’s more than baking out your car doing bong hits isn't it? The push for legalization is more than just an elaborate plan to legalize cannabis so that us weed heads can light up without worry. Cannabis has just as legitimate a standing in the nomenclature of medicine as does cough syrup or aspirin.
Recognition of marijuana’s healing properties predates oppressive stoner stereotypes like Cheech and Chong by about 5000 years, so why does it seem like so many people are so hell bent on denying it as a medicine? Where's all the confusion sourced? Even before simple innovations like running water, Chinese Emperor Fu Hsi was noting the popularity of cannabis amongst the public to treat certain ailments. Maybe such knowledge can be discounted as primitive error by some, but consider this- Chinese emperor Shen Nung, referred to as the Father of Chinese medicine, is attributed to discovering three staple remedies: cannabis, ginseng and ephedra. No one in this day and age discounts the latter two as medicine do they?
There's even debate that the oils used in both the Old and New Testaments of The Bible were actually cannabis oil. Elders of the church were instructed to anoint the sick with the oil. Jesus is speculated to have used cannabis oil. (And he's usually a poster boy for some pretty good shit.)
Ancient culture is full of references that point out the use of cannabis as an accepted and valued treatment for an assortment of things. The Greek used it to treat earaches, the Chinese recommended it in the treatment of rheumatism and ancient historian Pliny the Elder notes that cannabis can be used to ease aching joints.
The use of marijuana in medicine isn't secluded to a small part of ancient history either. By the 1840’s marijuana was mainstream medicine in the West used to treat headaches, as a sleeping aid and as an appetite stimulant.
By 1850 it was added to the United States Pharmacopeia and was branded proudly as a treatment for a number of afflictions, including: tetanus, typhus, rabies, tonsillitis, cholera, dysentery, alcoholism, opiate addiction, anthrax, leprosy, convulsive disorders, insanity, gout, excessive menstrual bleeding, uterine bleeding and incontinence; just to name a few.
I know the DEA had yet to be established in 1950, but don't they have access to the same information as us? Then why do so many people still seem so upside-down on the matter?
John F. Kennedy is reported to have smoked pot in the White House as a treatment to his Addison’s disease, for Christ's sake.
Countless millions have used cannabis as their medicine and as the push for legalization gains more ground it continues to be used today.
The problem is far more complex though isn't it? So many people have been held captive to a false idea of what marijuana is, and isn't, for so long that they've developed Stockholm syndrome.
People have been fed the idea that medical weed is an impossibility due to its high risk of abuse, dependancy and tendency to induce psychosis for so long that they not only believe it, but viciously defend it.
Make no mistake, people are dying and suffering unnecessarily because of the prohibition on marijuana. Should we thank the government for that? The lives of so many people have been dimmed and extinguished even, because of a tyrannical control over over a plant that has proven itself for thousands of years.
You want to know the real kicker too? Medical marijuana could be the one stop cure for a great many devastating diseases, but the DEA in all their wisdom strictly limits its scientific research by its illegitimate scheduling.
Lives are depending on the rescheduling of cannabis but government officials are too busy watching their bank balances grow by keeping cannabis illegal to worry about things such paltry things as your health. (But that's a conversation for another time.)
This shit’s getting kinda heavy though, I need to go get lifted.
My advice to you? Spread the word. We are the people. We have the power to change it all. Together, yes we cannabis!
Peace,
James
OTHER ARTICLES YOU MAY ENJOY...
DROP A DIME ON YOUR LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIAL, TELL THEM TO VOTE! CLICK HERE..
OR...
DO YOU KNOW HOW CANNABIS BECOME ILLEGAL TO BEGIN WITH, CLICK HERE...
