cannabisnews.com: Therapeutic Use of Cannabis No Myth










  Therapeutic Use of Cannabis No Myth

Posted by CN Staff on August 14, 2004 at 09:43:29 PT
By Bob Newland 
Source: Rapid City Journal  

Hermosa -- "Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men." When Federal Bureau of Narcotics Commissioner Harry Anslinger said that in 1943, he was trying to get Congress to give his agency more money to fight the largely unknown menace, "marijuana."Worse than that, Anslinger claimed, dark-skinned musicians smoked "marijuana," then used their altered abilities to "insert extra notes into a measure of music," thus creating the abomination known as jazz. "They also give marijuana to white women to seduce them."
Using the twin tactics of advertising that women become helpless in the hands of men who give them marijuana (misleading, at best, based on my experience) and creating a market incentive for people to grow or import and sell marijuana, Anslinger and his successors managed to increase the rate of marijuana use from about one-tenth of 1 percent of Americans to about 20 percent in just 40 years. Very few ad campaigns have ever managed a 20,000 percent increase in market penetration. They also managed to cut by more than half the average age of first consumption.More people smoking pot for more years. A dream for suppliers.While public expenditures of $50 billion a year now help maintain a monopoly of the marijuana trade in the hands of outlaws, that figure is dwarfed by the untaxed profits created for those willing to take the risk of delivering the product.One embarrassing consequence of the massive proliferation of marijuana use caused by the prohibition laws is that tens of thousands of sick, disabled and dying people have learned of the relief, comfort and healing cannabis can bring them. Their experiences render absurdly impotent the non-medical, uninformed, malicious declaration by federal and state legislatures that marijuana has "no medical use."Medical cannabis patient Matthew Ducheneaux of Eagle Butte testified to the drug and alcohol subcommittee of the legislative Criminal Code Revision Commission in Pierre July 29. After describing how smoking cannabis marijuana safely relieves him of pain and life-threatening muscle tremors, Ducheneaux was asked, "What do you suggest we do to make marijuana available to people who need it, like you?""Jeez, just do it," Matthew said. After wrestling with their consciences overnight, the committee decided, in opposition to the subcommittee's chair, Rep. Tom Hennies, that it was too much trouble to try to allow sick people a medicine, safer than aspirin, that gives hope and comfort to people who live in constant pain without it.At least four major U.S. government-sponsored studies in the 20th century concluded there is medical benefit in marijuana. Adding several dozen minor U.S. medical studies, and dozens in Europe, we have a body of research pointing to an inescapable conclusion: cannabis marijuana is of medical benefit to a wide range of patients with a wide range of medical conditions.Then there's the inconvenient fact that the U.S. government has sent 300 rolled marijuana cigarettes a month to each of seven medical patients for over 10 years, whose doctors have all acknowledged these folks would be dead (or blind) without cannabis.Having listened to Matthew Ducheneaux describe to the subcommittee how muscle spasms in his back "feel like somebody's hitting me in the back with an ax, and the spasms keep me from breathing, like being squeezed by an anaconda," and having witnessed Matthew gain immediate relief from such a spasm provided by marijuana, I just don't get it. What kind of society rewards a South Dakota Judge Tim Tucker or a Minnehaha County Prosecutor Dave Nelson for maintaining that white is black, and for that reason you must either suffer or become a criminal?Rep. Hennies asked the subcommittee to recommend that people arrested for small amounts of marijuana be allowed to argue in court that they did so because they have a medical condition, and marijuana alleviates it. That's all he asked for. To be allowed to say from your wheelchair, "Your honor, I use marijuana because without it I will die."Nelson and Tucker, both subcommittee members, said such a proposal would cause problems. "If a medical defense is allowed in marijuana cases, it is tantamount to legalizing marijuana," Tucker said. He also said it would cause a "burden" on judges.Apparently Tucker doesn't think the 43,877 marijuana criminal charges filed over the past five years in South Dakota, or the 18,328 resultant convictions are overly burdensome. But here I am trying to fathom the thoughts of an obviously enigmatic man.Therapeutic use of the herb, cannabis, is not a myth. The evidence is there in overwhelming abundance. There is no evidence in opposition. For thousands and thousands of people who gain relief by using it, the law is relevant only inasmuch as they must live in fear of being imprisoned and separated from the remedy that works for them. Even Judge Tucker and Prosecutor Nelson would smoke marijuana if they were in Matthew Ducheneaux's wheelchair.Note: Bob Newland publishes the magazine -- http://www.hemphasis.net/ -- from his home near Hermosa. Source: Rapid City Journal (SD)Author: Bob NewlandPublished: August 14, 2004Copyright: 2004 Rapid City Journal Contact: dan.daly rapidcityjournal.comWebsite: http://www.rapidcityjournal.com Related Articles & Web Site:Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmMedicinal Marijuana Defense Tossedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17742.shtmlMan Seeks Legalized Use of Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17480.shtml

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Comment #58 posted by gloovins on August 19, 2004 at 05:02:26 PT
There is a reason prohibs do not want a THC tester
It would bring an easier way to detect the pyscoactive ingredient, THC, and then, with this knowledge, THE PEOPLE could decide if 1% or less THC content cannabis can or cannot be grown.Remember, each medical marijuana initiative has passed -- from Calif in '96 to Detroit in '04. I say this because I think INFORMED, UN-BIASED VOTERS today, would vote to legalize industrial hemp in a snap! It's just too important to the survival of this planet but too $cary to big oil, big pharm, etc etc.If a LEO wanted to test the plant for its THC levels, that "officer" could do that but they are deliberatly dragging their feet on a standardized testing device because then their argument that "hemp is marijuana -- there is no differance" that lie just flies out the window like a wild parakeet.Abolish the DEA is the first place we should start folks. Then lets start re-harvesting all that leftover ditchweed from the '40's our tax dollars are now currently used to seek, cut down, and destroy and start to plant and grow even more acres of low or no thc cannabis across this country to take advantage of it's 25,000 different uses.Oh wait, that would be rational, eco-freindly and just plain wise now, uh?I'm sorry for putting forth such a notion, I had forgotten for a sec who stole the last election and who currently sits in the White Haus -- my bad.
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Comment #57 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 10:56:32 PT
The Nanny State questions
her charges...trying to figure out who's guilty of something.And we all pay, pay, pay.
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Comment #56 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 10:54:31 PT
Alabama survey
"The survey was based on the responses of 68,126 people interviewed in their homes." 
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Comment #55 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 10:52:36 PT
hmmm...I find it a bit hard to believe
looks like some Alabama folk have learned to zip it when it comes to government surveys. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1167/a09.html?397
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Comment #54 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 10:39:11 PT
Have it open in another window
It is exactly what we were talking about. 
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Comment #53 posted by FoM on August 16, 2004 at 10:36:04 PT
Hope Check This Out
This is exactly what we've been talking about!Brain Disease Rates Soaring, Pollution Link Cited: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19344.shtml
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Comment #52 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 10:35:30 PT
interesting
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1167/a09.html?397
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Comment #51 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 10:27:31 PT
That sounds wonderful
FoM.There is plenty of pollution here. I'm too close to a busy highway. Farms surround me. I don't have much land and this place was once part of a farm belonging to the same elderly couple I spoke of earlier. There is sky, meadow breezes, woods, and space, though.
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Comment #50 posted by FoM on August 16, 2004 at 10:21:06 PT
Hope
My husband and I were raised on the east coast. When we moved to Ohio in 73 we couldn't believe all the land there was. Friends and family we have back where we came from are suffering from problems from being sensitive to chemicals. We have never fertilized our land and we've lived here since 79. It is as unpolluted as it could be. We have deep well water that is wonderful to drink. Clean water will be the next war. We have three deep water wells and I'm glad we do.
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Comment #49 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 10:18:17 PT
that pink lace fence
would degrade too fast without being sprayed with plastic or something. I was rather waxing silly, anyway. But hey...it takes a bold step into what appears silly sometimes...to understand, sometimes.
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Comment #48 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 10:14:15 PT
the earth
is part of what makes us all "one body".
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Comment #47 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 10:12:16 PT
fusarium whatever it was 
That fungi they want to turn loose on the earth to kill cannabis. That could lead to a soylent green scenario.
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Comment #46 posted by FoM on August 16, 2004 at 10:11:25 PT
Hope
Yes that would be wonderful. If people who care keep reminding people who don't think much about the earth maybe change will come. We are to be good stewarts and care for the earth that was made for us to live on. If we kill the earth we will die too. That's the bottom line.
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Comment #45 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 10:10:08 PT
Soylent Green
A very "rough" movie.It gives me indigestion to think of it...and I haven't even eaten anything lately. aaargghhhhh...very rough movieI love Edward G. Robinson. The movie was a well made absolutely horrendous story. Nauseating.
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Comment #44 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 10:06:48 PT

Vision (imagining)
looking ahead...will we have beautiful hemp fences woven in lace designs?Stained bright purple pink with poke salat berries?
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Comment #43 posted by FoM on August 16, 2004 at 10:06:28 PT

Hope
That's right! I love the earth. I love unpolluted land. I love fresh air. Remember Soylent Green? When Edward G. Robertson was dieing and he watched a movie of how the earth was when there was food? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/usercomments
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Comment #42 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 10:03:28 PT

Sharing a garden
And being thoroughly organic...was how I found out my neighbors were using arsenic on their plants in the first place. The dear old man told me, when I questioned him about the white powder I found one day sprinkled all over the leaves of my potato plants, that he had gone ahead and dusted my plants for me while he dusted his.I'm still terrified of that event. If it had rained before I saw the plants...we wouldn't have known.That was done by many people for many, many years.

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Comment #41 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 09:58:35 PT

glass bottles
were cumbersome and nasty after being used...but I remember a few times in my early youth that involved gathering and "redeeming" those bottles that were quite delightful.
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Comment #40 posted by FoM on August 16, 2004 at 09:56:35 PT

Share The Earth With Bugs
The way I look at it is this. Grow enough vegetables that the bugs can have some too. When we kill bugs those that survive are stronger. Organic farming doesn't produce as much as chemically treated vegetables but we have plenty of land to grow more that currently only grows weeds. Legal ones I mean.
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Comment #39 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 09:54:44 PT

The fabrics
were wonderful. Unless the moths got them...part of "taking care" of them.The shoebrush and the shoeshine box and clothes brush were a part of grooming.

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Comment #38 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 09:52:24 PT

The bugs
The bugs are too scary.
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Comment #37 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 09:50:33 PT

Plastic, no doubt, is a wonder
We need to know though, whether it is wise to cook with or make furniture and fences from it. Will we fill the air with extremely dangerous pollution? I know insecticides, herbicides, and fertilizers have caused so much danger. For years, many people kept potato bugs under control by sprinkling their potato plants with arsenic. That is no lie or misperception. It was common. Beloved neighbors did and they both had horrendous headaches before their pain filled deaths. Arsenic, as I understand it is as enduring as atomic waste. It can only sink into the water table.I cannot live frightened out of my mind; "there is a lion in the streets!” Nevertheless, I would like to know how to practice caution with these products.

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Comment #36 posted by FoM on August 16, 2004 at 09:37:38 PT

Plastic
Plastic has been a blessing in some areas but it has caused more damage to the earth then the benefits it has created. I remember when clothes were made of wool and cotton not synthetics. They were much nicer and richer looking and lasted forever with proper care. When I think of landfills I think of how we are filling them up with things that aren't bio degradable. I see a picture of the earth with mounds and mounds of plastic waste and no way to get rid of it. A Doctor died in Texas from the flesh eating bacteria after he got a cut while fishing in the gulf of mexico. We are poisoning our land and no one seems to care. Chlorine won't kill some viruses and or bacteria anymore because they have adapted to chlorine. The bugs will win if we don't get some sense and soon.
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Comment #35 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 09:30:02 PT

Plastic
And apparently, from stuff in the news lately, plastics along with insecticides...may be killing us at great rates.
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Comment #34 posted by FoM on August 16, 2004 at 09:24:52 PT

Hope
I get upset when I think of the benefits of Hemp and Cannabis. So many good uses. From saving a persons horses from lung disease to building houses to helping stop brain tumors. This world is so synthetic and we ignore what nature has given us to use. We are plastic people living in a plastic world. 
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Comment #33 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 09:18:35 PT

Hemp bedding
would make it all that much easier and pleasant and more worry free.Bet it smells fresh, too.Horses have very sensitive big ole nostrils.
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Comment #32 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 09:16:22 PT

I've been up all night more than once
and catching naps in a feed trough when a horse needed walking all night long. I've had vets out at midnight giving enemas to horses. I've kept hot, wet bath mats wrapped around my big babies' necks trying to keep them from getting their wind cut off by the swelling from a snake bite. Animals are a big responsibility.Too many people from the city buy themselves a "ranchette" in the country and put cows or horses on it and don't check on them for weeks at a time. It's wrong and often has disastrous consequences.Bedding is so important, along with the right foods, the right fences, the right medicines...it isn't a cheap endeavor either.

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Comment #31 posted by FoM on August 16, 2004 at 09:08:13 PT

Hope
They are very delicate. I've lost a couple horses or had to have them destroyed. It's very sad.
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Comment #30 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 09:05:49 PT

I realize bedding for horses is important
Domestic horses are extraordinarily fragile creatures. It worries me to see people want to be horse owners who don't have a clue.
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Comment #29 posted by FoM on August 16, 2004 at 08:58:47 PT

Hope
I am very interested in hemp bedding. Most of my life I had horses. Bedding is a very important issue with horse owners. The Queen of England grows and uses Hemp Bedding for her valuable horses. Horses get respiratory disease very easily and owners spend a lot of money trying to keep their horses wind sound. Horses can get a lung disease called Heaves. They usually must be destroyed then. Straw is dusty and so are wood shavings. Some wood shavings can cause a horse to founder and that's where their blood vessels blow in their feet. Like what happens when you hit you thumb nail with a hammer except it displaces the delicate bones in the horses feet. I am fascinated with Hemp Bedding.
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Comment #28 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 08:54:28 PT

sheer idiocy
What a "veil of delusion" is made of.
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Comment #27 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 08:52:00 PT

Wow...(thought in a soft tone)
Obviously, hemp is wonderful stuff, truly. Yet United States farmers are forbidden to grow it. Propagated fears yield sheer idiocy.
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Comment #26 posted by FoM on August 16, 2004 at 08:44:25 PT

Hemp for Horse Bedding
For good health and well-being, the stabled horse needs a soft, comfortable bed, which will absorb moisture and ammonia, giving a clean, dust-free environment.Hemcore Horse Bedding is made from the inner core of the hemp plant stem which is grown and processed entirely in the UK. It is not bleached and no chemicals are added at any stage of its growth, so producing a 'green' product which is full recyclable into useful compost. Hemp is also fast-growing and fully sustainable.In the past, hemp has traditionally been grown to produce fine paper products, rope and textiles and is now also used to make Hemcore - a natural horse bedding.When the crop is harvested in late summer, the outer fibres of the stem are stripped off to produce traditional and new products, whilst the soft inner core is used to make Hemcore. It is dried, chopped, dust extracted and packed into heat-sealed, recyclable polythene bags. http://www.hemcore.co.uk/
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Comment #25 posted by FoM on August 16, 2004 at 08:39:09 PT

Hemp
I think Hemp would be so useful. House of Hemp: 
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18119.shtml
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Comment #24 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 08:35:28 PT

How biodegradable is hemp?
Do termites like hemp fiber?I suspect they like anything wood or wood like. But it's worth a thought. What is toilet paper made out of today?Trees?
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Comment #23 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 08:29:46 PT

Why?
I've wondered if low thc hemp wouldn't be a safer smoking substitute for tobacco. Would it?Why not?
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Comment #22 posted by FoM on August 16, 2004 at 08:13:53 PT

Hope
Thanks! If a quality Cannabis plant was left to grow very tall and skinny it would be low in THC I would think. The stalk is what is needed to make fiber. The seeds for fuel and food. I guess if Cannabis was re-legalized it wouldn't make a difference. It would be up to the farmer who wants to grow Hemp instead of a person who wants to grow Cannabis.
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Comment #21 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 08:07:14 PT

Remember
Dr. Reuben?Asking questions about cannabis/marijuana is/was scarier than asking your grandparent about sex.
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Comment #20 posted by Hope on August 16, 2004 at 08:02:57 PT

FoM
You may not have a scientific mind but you certainly have a curious mind.Wonderful questions."What You Always Wanted To Know About Cannabis/Marijuana/Pot, But Were Afraid To Ask"
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on August 15, 2004 at 21:27:35 PT

Thanks mayan
That is interesting but how do they determine what is hemp or what is cannabis. Can a person think they are smoking Cannabis really be smoking a good quality of Hemp? They mentioned about field corn and corn for eating by humans. You can eat field corn but field corn grows and gets hard and corn for people gets mushy and rots if it goes too long I think. Can you eat popcorn early? Oh I'm just full of questions. Do they determine Hemp by a THC meter? I'm not very scientific.
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Comment #18 posted by Hope on August 15, 2004 at 21:07:37 PT

Thanks, Mayan
good site
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Comment #17 posted by Hope on August 15, 2004 at 19:58:08 PT

FoM: Hemp or Cannabis Sativa?
I don't know. It's been so long since I read anything about that stuff that I really don't know. I'd have to research it to know.
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Comment #16 posted by mayan on August 15, 2004 at 02:25:05 PT

FoM...
Hemp and Marijuana: Myths & Realities - by David P. West, Ph.D. - for the North American Industrial Hemp Council:
http://www.gametec.com/hemp/hemp.mj.html
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Comment #15 posted by The GCW on August 14, 2004 at 20:36:06 PT

I haven't yet read this one but the title reminds
Me of what I just read and IT'S link...CN BC: Locking Pot Users Up Isn't Working, Says Former Health Officerhttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1156/a12.html?397Because; the U.S. prohibition of cannabis has been working exactly as planned. The laws were implemented for racist reasons (as Harry Anslinger clearly indicated in 1943) and work perfectly well to cage disproportionate percentages of minorities.The prohibition has been doing exactly as Harry intentioned.The differences between minorities and whites being caged are staggering enough to make any supporter of cannabis prohibition a racist by any definition of the term. Of course Canada may be innocent and cages a balanced amount of the population for using what Christ God Our Father said is good on literally the very 1st page of the Bible. Harry, Dick and Bush...Oh, and thank You Mr. Clinton.Excuse Me while I take a clinton and wipe My bush.Or is it:Excuse Me while I take a bush and wipe My clinton.It would be nice to not have to take that guilt with You when You die.And the murdering. Bush has been murdering like it is His passion.Man, is He in trouble or what?Jesus Christ, Our Father gave instructions about 2K years ago; and it included to love one another.Boy does Bush have things twisted in His backwards mind.420moretocom.Also,I was extra impressed with this LTE:CN BC: PUB LTE: War on Drugs Causes More Damage to Kidshttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1158/a03.html?397Editor, The Record: Re: Argument supporting drug trade real crime, Aug. 5, The Record: Robert T. Rock, in strong, poorly chosen words, criticizes Alan Randell for suggesting people should be allowed to ingest what they want to. Mr. Rock goes on to ask what we think about a series of classic arguments for continuing drug prohibition - birth defects, overdoses, drive by shootings, robberies, home-invasions, panhandling - all because of drugs. This poor man just doesn't get the message. Those are the exact reasons we want to eliminate prohibition! I feel bad that no matter what anyone says or what anyone proves, you will still walk around with patches over your eyes and silly putty in your ears and you will never get it. The current "War on Drugs" is causing more damage to our children, our society and our very existence than any other social policy, law or war that we have ever seen in the history of our country. Only prohibition of alcohol came close to threatening our very way of life as much as the current prohibition is causing. That is what Alan Randell believes and that is what many thousands of the rest of us believe. I have plenty of experience in the world of drugs Bobby and I know from experience that you are the real danger - you and all the other closed or destroyed minds who spout such ignorance. Good luck with life Bobby - you will be defeated. It is only a matter of when. Ron Porter Portland, Oregon (I think Ron is a Green Collar Worker also) 
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Comment #14 posted by Virgil on August 14, 2004 at 20:23:50 PT

Taste great. Less filling.
There are two sides on this prohition. One has articles of demonization. The other side has articles appear here much less often. This article is favorable to harm reduction and I think it very refreshing to have harm reduction break through. The article leans on the call for harm reduction without actively stating that there is harm here that can be reduced.
I fault it for not mentioning the term harm reduction and "blissfully ignorant" would give her some bonus points.I think it is just fine. The article that really needs to be written in the style of Paul Armetto's recent piece on faith-based initatives, is how CP is similar to slavery in US history. We have a moral failure that goes on because of institutionalized injustice. They both rob the people of their unalienable rights. 
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on August 14, 2004 at 20:21:47 PT

Hope
Do you know if there is a difference between Hemp and Cannabis Sativa? I know Hemp grows tall and skinny but couldn't Cannabis grow tall and skinny too? How can the two be told apart? 
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Comment #12 posted by Hope on August 14, 2004 at 19:45:50 PT

help our cause? 
Corvallis Eric, it probably doesn't. But, I think some of this type of rhetoric comes from speaking back to the opposition in the tone set by the opposition. I don't know if that makes sense, but, maybe that's where it comes from. 
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on August 14, 2004 at 18:19:38 PT

A Question
When I mentioned that I don't believe Hemp and Cannabis are different I meant because it is the same species if that's the right word. The THC is different but it still is the same plant. I have a question? When does Hemp become Cannabis? I mean what THC level determines when it's Hemp or Cannabis. I've always wondered that.
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Comment #10 posted by global_warming on August 14, 2004 at 17:06:31 PT

A Little Mouse
A Little mouse came out of the woods, and is seeking some warmth, he is basking beneath my charcoal grill, only to take some warmth, so that it might survive."The truth is that hemp seed or hemp textile products generally contain too little THC to even show up in tests. No one ever tries to smoke or otherwise ingest birdseed or hemp caps to get "high" &endash; at least not twice. The hemp plant growing in the field usually has a miniscule amount of THC in its flowers and buds, but those who use "marijuana" to "get high" avoid hemp.""The DEA is malicious. Anyone who subscribes to its lunacy is uninformed, stupid, crazy or malicious. Or all four. And that person might say this: "Allowing farmers to grow and sell hemp would send the wrong message to children."I might ask, who's children, the children of the corn, the children of the very rich and powerful, whose children, ..Mr. Newland, "Thank You" for your efforts, and "we" are listening, be assured, that each of us in our little worlds, have caught a glimpse of this "insanity", the rest of this story, remains in the hands of the "people", yet old bargains, and trusted efforts, seem to be in shamble, largely by the efforts of those that sow the seeds of division, the minds of the young are filled with fast tracts toward food and irresponsible growth patterns, ..Nature, in her grace, has seen that life continues on this barran planet, and the stars twinkle, to remind us, that can see the night sky, that this universe is beyond our science, beyond our equations, beyond our acceptances of a Godless Universe, ..GW
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on August 14, 2004 at 16:19:14 PT

What I Believe
I don't separate Hemp from Cannabis. A rose is a rose is a rose even if they look totally different. I believe that the laws haven't changed because it will show that the laws have been so wrong and it will be very embarrassing. That's what I think. Politicians don't like to admit error.
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Comment #8 posted by CorvallisEric on August 14, 2004 at 15:50:31 PT

More by the author
I just looked at Bob Newland's magazine (link at the end of the story, above). In the first issue:Our Opening Statement -- Stupid, Crazy, or Malicious? -- Why do the politicians continue to oppose industrial hemp? -- A statement of the HEMPhasist philosophy -- http://www.hemphasis.net/0101.htm#openingThere are a couple paragraphs that bother me, and I'm struggling (with great interest) over his assertion that:Hemp is not illegal because of possible conflicts in enforcing "marijuana" laws. To the contrary, "marijuana" is kept illegal in order to keep hemp off the market.But, on the whole, it's a very well written, and quite humorous, series of arguments against prohibition from a libertarian perspective.
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Comment #7 posted by unkat27 on August 14, 2004 at 15:39:36 PT

Our Leaders are Alien Sadists
What is really bad for us are all these sadistic leaders who make all the big decisions in our government. SD Judge Tim Tucker and County Prosecuter Dave Nelson are just two examples of sadistic pigs that appear to get some kind of sick sadist-faction out of maintaining policy and laws that make people suffer in pain without relief. Along with the sick sadistic ways of our CIC and his administration in its dealing with Muslim Iraqis (Mass-murder of men, women, and children, anyone?) I am now convinced that our leaders have been taken over by aliens from outer space and are no longer human. I also am having strong doubts about the sick sadists behind the firing buttons in the gunships over Iraq. The excuse that they are 'just following orders' hardly excuses the mass-murdering they are responsible for anymore.George Bush said about the AQ, 'They hate us and they hate our freedom'. The truth is, George Bush and his ilk are aliens from outer space who 'hate humans' and the proof is becoming quite obvious.
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Comment #6 posted by global_warming on August 14, 2004 at 15:25:30 PT

The Animals
Nature, in her wonderful abundance, has provided for all her children.In the "wild" most sick animals can seek and find the remedy for their health problem.Back here in the USA, we need experts to tell us what we should be taking for our maladies.In the darks of Africa, the "medicine man" had some potion or herbal mixture, that could clear up the health problem.This problem we are having with Medical Cannabis, is like the "medicine man" revolting against his patients, because they are not listening to him (in all his worldly glory)..Sometimes, I think that the common beast has the advantage over our "evolved" examples of civilization, for the common dog or cat, has the freedom to self medicate, yet we, the ones closest to God, remain in a prison of ethics that has given birth to so much corruption.What "man" has wrought, in his mind and family, not only is destroying ourselves, but, it is reaching out into the darkest parts of the forest.gw
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on August 14, 2004 at 13:48:48 PT

CorvallisEric 
I'm glad you agree. Society wants to make something good or bad most times. That's just not logical. Also what might be good for one person might be bad for another person. We should be allowed to find our own way in life but then when we make a bad decision we shouldn't try to blame others for it. 
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Comment #4 posted by CorvallisEric on August 14, 2004 at 13:24:36 PT

FoM
Cannabis use is not as harmful as the laws that are in place to control it's use.That's exactly the message that needs to be broadcast until "they get it." It's also the conclusion of numerous scientists who don't necessarily agree on any other aspect of cannabis.
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Comment #3 posted by CorvallisEric on August 14, 2004 at 13:18:28 PT

Science and politics
Part of the inspiration for comment #1 is this widely published AP article. I really hope if Bush loses this November that much of the blame will be pinned on his perversion of science:Science, Politics Collide in Election Year - by Matt Crenson Last November, President Bush gave physicist Richard Garwin a medal for his "valuable scientific advice on important questions of national security." Just three months later, Garwin signed a statement condemning the Bush administration for misusing, suppressing and distorting scientific advice.So far more than 4,000 scientists, including 48 Nobel prize winners, have put their names to the declaration.http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2004/08/14/ap/headlines/d84f3t400.txt
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on August 14, 2004 at 13:12:46 PT

CorvallisEric
I honestly don't know that there is anything in life that doesn't have possible negative effects. The way I look at the cannabis issue is in a balanced way. Cannabis use is not as harmful as the laws that are in place to control it's use. That's how I see it.
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Comment #1 posted by CorvallisEric on August 14, 2004 at 13:06:15 PT

An honest question
Very good article, especially the first few paragraphs about 
Anslinger, jazz, marketing (Anslinger selling a seduction aid - brilliant!), tax, and medical discovery (which is, in part, really re-discovery). But then:Therapeutic use of the herb, cannabis, is not a myth. The evidence is there in overwhelming abundance. There is no evidence in opposition.I have a problem with statements like "There is no evidence in opposition." I've read stuff like this literally thousands of times over the years. It's not the kind of result one sees in large-scale medical science. Nor is it the kind of result expected by scientists - and other honest people - in order to reach useful conclusions and create good policy. The opposition reads statements like that and laughs - "Here we go again, hemp is going to save the world" - "Marijuana cures everything and with no side effects" - etc.Finally, the question: does this rhetoric help our cause? Is it not enough to make evident the benefits outweighing the liabilities? Or, has the American political ethos degenerated (many thanks to Bush) to the point where decent, intelligent people have to abandon scientific objectivity to have a chance to prevail?
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