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Marijuana Proclaimed
A Wonder Drug
Proponents of the use of marijuana for medical purposes are winning a major victory now that a government sanctioned research laboratory in
England is examining the effects the plant has on patients suffering from various physical afflictions.
Doctors involved
in the test trials are proclaiming that 80
percent of the patients prescribed marijuana are receiving benefits, with many
describing the results as "miraculous," a recent story in the London Observer said.
After only a year of the study,
the doctors say they believe marijuana can eventually be used to treat osteoporosis, cancer, HIV and AIDS, arthritis, spine
injury and certain forms of mental illness.
They say, however, that the results of the study are preliminary and that
more research needs to be done. Some scientists are so excited by the early results they are saying they believe marijuana
might eventually become as widely prescribed as aspirin and penicillin.
The report will hopefully put some brake on
the thousands upon thousands of drug dealers, police agencies, lawyers and court officials who have been reaping huge profits
from America's bogus war on drugs. For the first time there will be real scientific evidence to prove what many people all
over the world have secretly known for thousands of years; that marijuana is good medicine.
That our jails and prisons
are filled with people convicted of growing, selling and smoking the leaves of an innocuous plant that might be beneficial
to the user is a social crime that needs to be brought to a stop. The criminals that created these laws, and are now feeding
on them via the public trough need to be called for what they are; pillagers, thieves and liars.
That the high courts
in the United States have overturned various state movements to legalize marijuana so that people suffering from a variety
of painful afflictions can get inexpensive and effective relief, is an abomination.
That authorities would allow the
open sale of alcohol, which destroys brain cells and turns alcoholics into beasts, yet prohibit the masses from the comfort
of marijuana during these anxious times, is wicked.
The benefits of legalizing marijuana are so numerous it is hard
to include them all in this short writing. In brief, the plant also can be used for making paint, plastics, sealants, methanol
fuel, and industrial fabrication material. In one process it can be made into newsprint grade paper that is much cheaper than
wood pulp. The use of marijuana to manufacture paper would also be good for the environment. One acre of hemp, which can be
grown in weeks, replaces 40 acres of trees that take years to grow.
Hemp seeds produce oil for cooking, lubrication
and fuel. It is an excellent source of protein. The plant's leaves and flowers are edible. The plant not only eases pain,
it relieves stress, asthma and glaucoma. The smoking and eating of its flowers and leaves have other therapeutic, religious
and recreational uses. The roots of the plant anchor and invigorate soil to control erosion. The entire plant can be used
to produce biomass fuel.
But alas.
Even with scientific proofs to wave in front of lawmakers, I do not expect
this country to move quickly to legalize marijuana however. That is because there is just too much money to be made by the
racketeers who continue to pump "drug war" chicanery into the minds of the masses.
Just think of what would happen
if we legalized marijuana:
- Everybody would be able to grow marijuana in their home gardens, and keep the dried leaves in their homes for either
medicinal or social use. The plant grows everywhere and thrives on any soil. Once again it would become a cheap and inexpensive
product from the Earth. All of the people who secretly grow the weed and market it at high cost on the street would be suddenly
put out of business. A loss of billions of dollars now being enjoyed by the people who violate the law and produce marijuana
for the people who insist on using it anyway. That we wage a war against the plant forces the price up. Thousands of dollars
are made through the sale of a plant that anybody should be able to grow free in the back yard.
- Farmers could produce
hemp as crop for use in the production of rope, clothing, paper and all of the other products listed above. For those who
don't know, hemp is classified as cannabis even though it does not possess the same narcotic effects of the more sophisticated
variety. Thus the crop that once was considered so important to the American economy farmers were urged and at times even
required to grow it, is now prohibited. Instead of toppling our forests to produce a lower grade of paper product, volumes
of hemp would be freely available on the market.
- Drug companies would lose millions of dollars from lost sales of
expensive (and health threatening) drugs that could be replaced by home-grown marijuana. Insurance companies might gain, however,
from a reduction in claims for drug store purchases and medical problems brought on by reactions to the poisonous narcotics
we are forced to use in its place. For example, most pain medicine used by arthritis sufferers eventually cause kidney failure.
What worse side effect could Marijuana cause? We might hope the savings would be passed on to the consumer.
- Police
agencies would find themselves overstaffed. Since President Nixon declared the official start of the drug war, thousands upon
thousands of new police officers were brought into service. They were hired with the help of federal tax dollars, funneled
through state pipelines to fight the war on drugs. If we lay off all of the extra police who now exist for the sole purpose
of battling the production and sale of marijuana, it could amount to a substantial tax savings.
- Lawyers, judges, and court employees would
find their work-loads greatly reduced. (Their salaries, now measured in six-digit figures, should also be reduced.)
-
Thousands upon thousands of prisoners now crowding our county jails and state prisons on charges of the production, sale and
distribution of marijuana would be set free. Construction of new prisons could be stopped. Many prison employees would be
laid off. The cuts also would effect food service agencies and other human services that provide for people in jail.
Wouldn't
such changes be an improvement?
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