What is Cannabis?

Cannabis

Cannabis has many different names, pot, hemp, marijuana and marihuana but its affects are all the identical. Firstly I would like to show where Marijuana stands compared to other legal and illegal drugs.

Over 70 million Americans have smoked marijuana at some time in their lives. Of these, 18 million have smoked marijuana within the last year, and ten million are regular marijuana smokers.

The French National Health and Medical Research Institute, INSERM, consulted with experts from other countries and rated drugs by their danger in 1998 at government request. They established 3 groups:

"Most dangerous" - heroin, alcohol, and cocaine
"Next most dangerous" - tobacco, amphetamines.
"Least dangerous" - Marijuana, since it has "low toxicity, little addictive power and poses only a minor threat to social behavior," [annual drug related deaths in the U.S. are about 400,000 for tobacco, 100,000 for alcohol, 10,000 for all illegal drugs, and zero for marijuana]

Marijuana is Much less dangerous than heroin, alcohol, and cocaine. It is not a "gateway" that leads the use of any other drug, but making marijuana illegal does establish a "gateway."

The primary focus of the drug war, draining half of its resources and tying up about a third of the criminal justice system. An 80% increase in marijuana arrests since 1993 has led to 700,000 annual arrests, about 88% for possession, more than the number of arrests for murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault combined. The primary source of temptation to involve otherwise law abiding citizens in illegal activity. [This seems to flow partly from a conviction on their part that they are not doing anything wrong and that the government has been irrational and dictatorial.] Marijuana can be grown cheaply and sold for more than the price of pure gold. U.S. production has soared some 400% in 20 years, making it one of the leading cash crops in many states. Illegal marijuana is more available to most teens than legal alcohol. Under current conditions, we say that about 50% of our young adults are criminals, eroding the criminal justice system and respect for the law.

The key to the credibility of all drug education, which, in turn, is a major key to all drug policy. Widespread perceptions that the disparity between the treatment of alcohol and marijuana is hypocritical, and that laws banning the medical use of marijuana and the industrial growth of non-psychoactive hemp border on the fanatical, have undermined the ability of authority figures to effectively educate on all other drug related matters. This is aggravated by myths that make false or grossly exaggerated claims about the hazards associated with marijuana use. Used at about the same rate in different areas despite wide ...

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Marijuana is so widely that the laws can only be selectively enforced. A large number of prominent officials have admitted to marijuana use when younger and have suffered no penalty for substantially the same offences that have resulted in prison sentences that have destroyed the lives of many other citizens. Perhaps the most critical area of drug policy is the question of the treatment of marijuana under the law. A series of government and independent expert commissions over the past 50 years have repeatedly pointed out the need to decriminalize marijuana. Now there have been strong calls for legalisation of adult sale and use from a spectrum of highly respected sources.

Examples:

Governor Gary Johnson [R-NM]
Ralph Nader - presidential nominee, Green Party
Harry Browne - presidential nominee, Libertarian Party
The Lancet - arguably the world's foremost medical journal
Edward Ellison - retired head of the Scotland Yard anti-drug squad

"Alcohol is the only psychoactive drug that in many individuals tends to increase aggressive behaviour temporarily while it is taking effect. Marijuana and opiates temporarily inhibit violent behaviour. In the case of alcohol, ... hazards tend to be related to use, while for illegal psychoactive drugs they tend to be related to distribution and purchase." - The Panel on the Understanding and Control of Violent Behaviour, 1994, established for the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

For over 20 years, 85% of our young have told us that illegal drugs are "Easy to get." Today the figure has grown to 90% and most says marijuana is easier to get than alcohol. - National Survey Results on Drug Use from the Monitoring the Future Study, 1975-1995, Johnston. Retired head of Scotland Yard's Anti-Drugs Squad, Edward Ellison, 3-10-98: "'Legalised cannabis' does not mean 'encourage cannabis'. It means the reverse. I want to see the lowest level of drug abuse, with the least detrimental effect on everyone else. Legalised cannabis would mean that parents and teachers could discuss it with young people openly, not confrontationally. It means those thinking of using it will get education, not propaganda, and they will be less likely to take it as a gesture of adolescent rebellion."

"By any of the major criteria of harm - mortality, morbidity, toxicity, addictiveness and relationship with crime - marijuana is less harmful than any of the other major illicit drugs, or than alcohol or tobacco. ... The present law produces more harm than it prevents,” In response to Health Minister Allan Rock's "open mind" on marijuana decriminalisation, RCMP Chief Supt. Robert Lesser has gone on record saying that the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police's drug abuse committee does not support decriminalisation. Of course it doesn't. Marijuana law reform would derail the entire drug war gravy train.

Sensible regulation is desperately needed to undermine the thriving black market. Marijuana is the most popular illicit drug. Compared to legal alcohol and tobacco, marijuana is relatively harmless. Although there is nothing in marijuana that compels users to try harder drugs, its black market status puts youth in contact with criminals who push them.

Cannabis has been used as a painkiller, as well as a recreational drug, for thousands of years and it is estimated that around 10,000 people currently use cannabis medicinally in the UK. Anecdotal evidence has linked the drug with the suffering brought on by glaucoma, asthma, high blood pressure and multiple sclerosis. Whilst the use of cannabis remains illegal in the UK, many are breaking that law in the quest for pain relief, so is it time that scientists developed a drug based on the properties of cannabis? Richard Black from Science In Action reports on the developments made in pain-killing drugs, which derive from the weed.

There certainly have been claims that cannabis may have beneficial effects in a variety of medical conditions. It is used as a treatment for symptoms, not a cure. Conditions said to benefit include not just Multiple Sclerosis, but also, severe nausea and vomiting (for example, during cancer chemotherapy), glaucoma, chronic pain, wasting in AIDS, and even migraine.

For example, in a survey in 1997, MS patients said that cannabis helped many aspects of their disease. 97% said that spasticity (i.e. spasm) of their muscles improved, while many reported improvements in pain, tremor, emotional dysfunction, fatigue, double vision, bladder problems, balance, muscle control, and memory.

The problem is, many of these claims are little more than anecdotal evidence - that is, personal reports from people who have tried it, or treated someone with it. Reliable scientific evidence, based on properly carried out clinical trials, is sparse.

Just as the benefits really have yet to be proven, so has the hype and rumour about the risks, with little real evidence about the damage said to be done. Cannabis may cause short term memory problems, poor concentration, and slowed reaction times during acute intoxication, but no-one knows for sure whether these problems persist long term.

There is concern because it undoubtedly has psychoactive effects (this is, after all, why people use it as a recreational drug, because it makes them feel good). But whether cannabis use leads to other more serious drugs, or whether it causes long term psychological harm, is subject of heated debate.

One of the problems is that herbal cannabis contains hundreds of chemicals, which could be having different effects, and it is difficult to know exactly what you are getting, as well as what dose when you smoke it.

Hasan Ali Khan Page: Date: 25th