Why is Marijuana Illegal? | Examining the Health Aspects of Cannabis
Why is Marijuana Illegal? Countless studies have highlighted the industrial and medicinal uses of marijuana (cannabis), yet the federal government claims that it has ‘no accepted medical use’ and continues to classify it in the same category as heroin, MDMA, and PCP. Despite the ruling, the medial marijuana market is priced at around $1.7-billion — that’s almost as much as the explosive Viagra market, coming in at around $1.9 billion.
Why do so many individuals suffering from disease swear by marijuana if it has no real medical use? And furthermore, were the thousands of studies on the medicinal benefits of marijuana completely incorrect?
Studies have found marijuana use to be beneficial in treating multiple sclerosis, Tourette syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, brachial plexus neuropathies, insomnia, pain, memory disorders, anxiety disorders, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and many more conditions – so why is marijuana illegal?
Marijuana Plant, Hemp, and Cannabinoids
Some cannabis activists actually state that certain properties of marijuana can act as a “cure-all” in the right forms. You may know that marijuana is usually quite high in THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol), which is the compound responsible for the psychoactive effect of cannabis. In contrast, it is also low in CBD (cannabidiol) content. Both THC and CBD are known as cannabinoids, however, which interacts with your body in a very unique way.
What you may not be familiar with is how CBD has been shown to block the effect of THC in the nervous system. This allows marijuana plants to exhibit the most psychoactive effects. Hemp, on the other hand, is high in CBD and low in THC. This is due to the fact that it is bred to maximize its fiber, seeds, and oil. Of course these key properties are what it is most commonly used for.
You see, hemp is a very powerful industrial substance, but it also has a number of health benefits. Interestingly enough, THC-free hemp is actually quite popular in protein drinks, green superfoods, and even clothing. This type of hemp has zero psychoative effects, yet it is still illegal to grow within the United States.
Related Interest: Marijuana Found to Kill Cancer Cells – The Marijuana and Cancer Relationship
Two tablespoons of shelled hemp seeds contain about 11 grams of protein and 2 grams of unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids.
Cannabinoids are promoted as a health-promoting substance in the popular documentary “Run from the Cure” with Rick Simpson. The entire documentary is available free on Youtube:
The film speaks specifically on Hemp Oil, which Rick Simpson and his followers say can even cure cancer. Speaking on the subject of marijuana benefits, particularly in the form of Hemp Oil, Simpson states:
“I have been providing people with instructions on how to make Hemp Oil medicines for about 8 years. The results have been nothing short of amazing. Throughout man’s history hemp has always been known as the most medicinal plant in the world. Even with this knowledge hemp has always been used as a political and religious football.
Why is Marijuana Illegal when Pharmaceuticals Kill More than Traffic Accidents?
Why is marijuana illegal when research has shown marijuana to be beneficial to health? The federal government even goes as far as to classify marijuana as dangerous – leading to the substance being outlawed. Many pharmaceuticals, on the other hand, have gone unchecked despite causing more fatalities than traffic accidents. In fact, even slightly more than the recommended dose of Tylenol can kill you, while THC-free hemp will simply boost your immune system.
You do not have to smoke marijuana to enjoy its benefits. THC-free hemp, which comes without any mind-altering effects, is a great health superfood that is used by many. For the government to classify marijuana in the same category as heroin and PCP while allowing deadly pharmaceuticals to go unregulated shows how little they truly care about public health.
Whether individuals choose to use marijuana or hemp should be their choice. There is plenty of information available portraying the positive aspects of these plants, but government censorship still persists. No matter what, being able to use these substances is our given right, and no authority should be able to take that away from us.
Google Plus Profile
Anthony is the Editor of NaturalSociety, producer, consultant, and seeker of truth. Anthony's work has been read by millions worldwide and is routinely featured on major alternative and mainstream news website alike, like the powerful Drudge Report, NaturalNews, Infowars, and many others. Anthony has appeared, oftentimes routinely, on programs like Russia Today (RT), The Alex Jones Show, Coast to Coast AM, and others. Anthony is also a founding member of Natural Attitude and the creator of the independent political website Storyleak
|
People all have their own opinions..
Marijuana is STUPID !
Your stupid. I bet ur one to enjoy a glass of alcohol n get bebind a wheel. Or take rx n think its ok. Nothing man made can benefit you. Marijuana is natures medicine. It also was the first material to mKe clothing. So tell me whos stupid? A natural plant or a natural idiot with no knowledge
I do not agree with most of the thing FDA does, but I cannot quite agree with people who support Marijuana use with open hands.
As a therapist, I saw teenagers whose life got completely controlled by pot. They become very irritable when they are not using pot, and the life looks so boring without pot that they have to keep using it. I heard professionally and personally so many accounts from the family of daily pot users about pot users becoming violent when not using pot. In some cases this led to DV. A recovering addict who got somehow "prescribed" Marijuana to treat his mood disorder (I really don't know how that happened) got into the car accidents while under the influence, endangering his child.
I do support natural medicine and I do not use pharmaceutical medicine myself. But if you really study and know herbal remedy deeply, herbs could present danger. There is no herbal remedy that can be used everyday anytime and by anybody. That's the fact.
If i understand your argument against it's use, then shouldn't all drugs and alcohol be prohibited as well? An irresponsible person will do irresponsible things. It is an error to blame the substance that they decided to do that with. It is akin to executed the weapon that a murderer used to kill someone.
if you are a therapist then you should also have realized that the mentality of a child differs to that of an adult. The majority of laws give adults access to the plant, not children. In most cases only a doctor could give a child the substance and that is a but better alternative to what they could be given to help then cope with the pain of terminal illness. would you honestly want children to be dosed with opium derivatives over cannaibis?
The only thing i saw here that makes sense is the word teenager. Come on kids go through stuff to but most of these kids arent smoking pot because they ha e a medi,al condition. Most are smoking n drinking a.d “popping mollys” come on. I bet they didnt dis lose that information.
I don’t care what anyone says. If you have ever smoked weed you know that the effects are harmless. If anything you feel relaxed and carefree not so mentally distraught you can’t see straight or have a normal thought process. Marijuana is a plant not a chemical like meth or crack or pcp or any other “drug.” marijuana is not a drug it’s not harmful. People don’t get addicted to weed. They just like the way it makes them feel, which is relaxed and calm.
you're right!!
Dude I couldn't agree with you more. I am waiting and waiting til it becomes legal. But in the mean time I'm still gonna get high as hell.
and ciggarretes and alcohol r legal but they kill a ridiculous amount of people every year, ive never even heard of 1 person who died from marijuana
wow. i love how all these comments are from people who smoke marijuana. if you actualy take the time to go look up reaserch, it may kill cancer cells, but it can also cause it just as easy. Using it too much can affect your immune system. So if thats affected, whats going to happen? Youre going to be an easy target for cancer and then marijuana will really not help you. Why would you want to impare youre brain and thinking skills? What happens when you go driving after you smoked? Youre going to jail! Thats exactly why its illegal
bull shit
If you actually take the time to go look up research tobacco and alcohol may not kill cancer cells, but can definitely cause them. Using both can affect your immune system as well. So if that immune system is affect, what's going to happen? You're going to be an easy target for cancer and then neither tobacco or alcohol will really not help you.
What happens when you go driving after you've had one too many alcoholic drinks? You're going to jail! That's exactly why alcohol is ill…. er legal?!
Just to add to this: I'm not a marijuana smoker. Actually, I've never even tried the stuff. But it doesn't take a rocket-surgeon (figured that'd make more sense to someone who wrote something as asinine as this than rocket-scientist)to realize there is no real valid reason as to why marijuana is illegal when substances such as alcohol are legal.
most of the research proving what you've stated is a result of biased science that only does the research necessary to prove it and does not bother to go any further. The research is done on an agenda and is funded by the war on drugs. Marijuana cannot cause cancer nearly as easily as cigarettes because the main cause of cancer from cigarettes has been proven in studies to be a result of radio active isotopes present in tobacco from the certain pesticides used. Marijuana does not have this problem and has actually been proven to clear out some of the radioactivity from radioactive hotspots on lungs. The immune system claim is also bogus because the studies done to prove it that i've research were done on mice that were chemically fed ridiculous amounts of pure thc, more than anyone can hope to consume by smoking or even eating edibles. and thc is not even close to the only ingredient in marijuana there are roughly 500 other cannibinoids. Also marijuana is the only "drug" that our brain actually has receptors for. Our brains are made to take in cannibinoids. and when a nerve is spiking too high cannibinoids will attach themselves and bring that nerve down and vice versa if it is too low it will attach and bring the nerves sensitivity back up. So unlike any other drug that just basically floods the brain with chemicls and can slow heart rate and breathing and other organs functions, marijuana cannot because our brain does not have receptors in the areas of the brain where these functions are run.
also i guarantee if proper studies were done it would be proven that marijuana can help make people think more objectively, without biased, and steer people away from unproven predispositions, if used for intelectual purposes. dont pretend you know anything about it if u havent used it or at least attempted to read up on both sides of the argument. I truly believe that if marijuana were research with pure objectivity it would be easily accepted to be legal by almost everybody
N thats exactly why ur a tight ass. Smoke a joint
The Smoke from Marijuana can cause cancer. However, weed can be taken through vaporizers or orally (by eating it) and you will get the same affect. Not only that, but there is No proven case of Marijuana killing brain cells. that is as big a myth as people saying that the Declaration of Independence was written on Hemp paper. Please know your “facts” before you go spouting off lies. Thank you.
Previously I sent my opinions to submit. Vanished it did. So I am starting another one. Brief read carefully. MASS Voting…Go Vote. If your privilege to Vote has not be taken away (which the gov't does for Felonies). All is a MONEY making game. YES.a Game. Big Brother Industries, Local Gov't and all legal agencies, I hope you read the article on Private Prisons and the deals made internally in which the tax paper is not aware of. Big Money…Court Rooms, Police Depts, Prison Systems which get 2BILLION DOLLARS OF YOUR TAX MONEY each year. Prisoners are like CATTLE HERD..Making Money for all interwoven within the JUDICAL SYSTEM. Right down to the Drug Companies making big money pushing Pill Poppers;but LEGALLY…YOU do it you get Prison Time. FAIR? Start Petitions..over and over again until some new Senator or President gets blessed by the HOLYSPIRIT to Listen to the People,by the People,Under One Nation..You get the picture. Wake up before you know it..you LOSE your Rights and to Speak OUT..cause next time you will be the next one to be Imprisoned and come out of prison needing to go on MEDS just to keep your Brain on sort of straight and FLAT Broke.
Lets start a revolution! Everybody grow and go get high. Don't be afraid of the government, you have a voice. Stand up for your beliefs and tell them to get the fuck up out of your living room!
YEA AND WATCH THE FUCKING FEDERAL GOVERMENT COME OUT LIME A PACK OF WILD PANZIEZ AND TAKE YOUR FUCKING HOUSE AWAY U FUCKING PUNK
thats who he said all of us.they cant lock everybody up we have the numbers just people are afraid.ino what your saying they will kick in doors but not if everyone stand up together.
Llegalize IT! I could cure my towns economic ills with the weed. As far as the LAW is concerned it's a serious misallocation of wealth and resources. If I was a narc or DEA, I'd be too ashamed to admit it.
As a person who has recently been arrested for growing Marijuana, and soon to be facing court. I have been charged with sale and supply. What little money I had was taken from me, to prove that I was a dealer. It was for my own use. The reason I grew it was so I did not have to deal with dealers. My personal diaries were taken, along with my passport. I am writing this from Ireland, and would just like to add that with the spread of Globalism also came the spread of Fascism. The American led war on drugs arrived into my life.Smoking Marijuana did not detract from my life it aided me when I was suffering from severe sickness. The so-called ''war on weed'' is in fact a war on humanity.
How can a Government make a plant illegal that is older than any Government ?…
I so too agree with you all the way….
Nice.
GOD BLESS AND GOOD LUCK WITH OUR SCREWY UNFAIR SYSTEM!! JUST LEAGALIZE IT N LET THE LITTLE GUYS ALONE!! IT ONLY A HERB AND GOD PUT IT HERE FOR A REASON!! TO SMOKE AND ENJOY THE HIGH!!
Cannabis cured my cancer. This video is my story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtcY90UoPAo
need a password to hear your story my friend… would love to help some folks if this really helps, thanks for sharing.
Cannabis sativa & indica have a long world history as a
medicinal herb. Ancient Chinese emperor Shen-nung was the first to record the medical use in 2737 B. C.
Here in the Western world, after a century of behavior modification, control, and propaganda by the secret agenda groups, misunderstandings, misdirection, and disinformation about drug use has made it challenging and very difficult to have intelligent discussions about them.
Drugs that jack you up or dull your mind, the habituating drugs, are the ones the government and its pimps, the multinationals, want us to use. Neither wants us using the ones which will help us free our souls and our imaginations.
r u talking about befor crist
Maybe you should smoke some and calm dude! Damn…
BigUP Cannabis!
BigUP JAH!
BigUp ALL!
this is a "meditation @ 4:20/BigUP!"
Abolish the FDA
Vote RON PAUL 2012!
That fact that smoking cannabis is pleasurable makes it an appealing target to the puritanical element of American society who hate the thought of someone, somewhere having fun.
Cannabis is a gateway drug. A gateway to another reality. The powers that be do not want you to believe in anything except to work, pay taxes, and die. Marijuana opens up the gateways. Listen to binaural beats and smoke some ganja. aummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Why wouldn't the medical companies repackage and sell all the benefit drugs made from Cannabis? That is the question as the profit potential is in the Trillions. Are they afraid of making money? There's something they are not telling us. Could it be that is cures something they make money off off selling us? Like Cancer? And even if it did, were talking Trillions on profits. Why do they not want to make MORE MONEY? Tell us why?
because everyone would be able to grow their own medicine and therefore they would not profit. Unless they made it legal to manufacture for the pharma companies and illegal for individuals to grow and consume which would be hard to control
Marijuana will never be made legal because it is too versatile and useful, as well as easy to grow. If it were legal…how would the government, tax authorities, drug companies…I.e. The parties who benefit monetarily from it's prohibition, they wouldn't to insure that they got their cut. Drug companies make billions off of the US population! In their eyes, it's better to keep a customer coming back. Keep them sick and provide "easement" for their symptoms but keep them sick. Soon the drug companies will be allowed to use marijuana to create all variety of drugs….it will, however…still be legal for everyone one else to grow and use the plant. The only "legal" marijuana will be the tightly controlled chemical analogs, synthetic creations and chemical derivatives…available at a premium price, with a doctors prescription. Weed will never be legal because there are many rich and powerful people who benefit from it's prohibition
Long years ago, there used to be a character in the Lil' Abner comic strip called the Shmoo. it naturally produced eggs, all manner of foodstuffs and if you looked at it hungerally, it would instantly turn into a ham. The Gov.. made the inhabitants get rid of them. Too useful.
Know this: we long ago lost our country and produced religious meddlers who tacked on the 19th amendment to the constitution (Prohibition), and the Bill of Rights has been thrown into the trash. And you one day expect ganja to be made legal? Too useful! Marijuana is the Shmoo of the botanical world.
But people can make homemade liquor,beer and wine
"[...]hemp is a very powerful industrial substance, but it also has a number of health benefits."
Those are the ONLY two reasons why hemp/canibus have been villified since the turn of the 20th century.
If medical canibus (everybody needs to stop using the intentionally demeaning name, "marijuana!") were to become legally and readilly available, it would merely prepresent the "shoe in the door," and there would no longer be ANY argument against the cultivation and use of industrial hemp. If that were to come to pass, the timber/wood pulp, cotton and petro-chemical industries would all implode virtually over night. Does anyone really think those very wealthy, very powerful people would ever allow that to happen, unless it benefited them personally somehow?
As the saying goes: "Those who assume positions of power and authority rarely relinquish them voluntarilly."
The fact is, the PTB don't give a rat's arse about anybody getting high on canibus. That's just the popular political line that's used to help win elections and garner grant money from the pig trough we all pay into one way or another.
I'm somewhat astonished that the "real" reason canibus is illegal is still a topic of conjecture, or even discussion.
Sheesh – I meant to say "cannabis."
Perhaps you were channeling Anibus, who I think would agree with you.
Egregious regulatory capture is what it is, plan and simple.
Vivek
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com/the-plan/
And I of course meant to say plain. Freudian slips abound.
Vivek
Unfortunately for Americans, the unelected FDA is nothing more than a high powered drug lobby and YOU are worth more sick than healthy to them.
The pink ribbon scam is just that, a SCAM. There is no interest in curing anything, least of all cancer. If it were cured, the economy would collapse from that one breakthrough.
Free the Medicine Flower.
Genesis Chapter One verse 28 goes something like " he gave to man every green thing and seed bearing fruit" is my rough memory. Science has made itself the trollop of empire in service of the medical society and its church approved cant. Profits are sought in order to further finance CONTROL which is needed in order to fatten up and dumb down the naive consumer. Dont be One of these. Medicine Flowers are prolific and beautiful unlike the tac squads and prisons that finance the "social" experiment war on drugs/prohibition. Thrive personally by learning to give and produce in the totally lawful realm of Cultivation. Be Blessed Ya.
Basically the federal government would be happy if everybody would just go die. They hate your guts and everything that makes you who you are. They are the sworn enemy of every right human being who strives for compassion, love, understanding, knowledge and growth.
haha, I completely agree with you, and it's sad that we allow these people to control/influence such personal decisions.
they been posessed by fallen angels. they are your enemy
It should be noted that hempseed oil, which is used in the protein drinks and readily available in the natural food store, is NOT the same as the hemp (or more correctly-cannabis) oil. The cannabis oil is derived from the flowers of high grade cannabis and for those who don't have time to watch the video, is processed by boiling it down. The medical cannabis industry is devoting time to develop strains that are high in the CBDs, which are the most medically beneficial, and don't induce the "high" as much. For those so anti-cannabis due to the pleasure of the high, what's so bad about feeling good?
The hempseed oil, though in itself a healthful high protein oil, doesn't have the same benefits as the cannabis oil. There are some who claim this oil has cured their cancers, and even Hepatitis C.
But the government has no problem with Pharma dosing you with drugs that can kill you, and poisoning the water with fluoride-but you can't have cannabis as it might cut into the Pharma profits.
Got that right!