Mr.KushMan
Well-Known Member
Got an paper due tomorrow please leave edit ideas or revisions
THANKS!!!!!
THANKS!!!!!
Marijuana or cannabis has been a controlled substance in Canada well before I was born and even my parents. It is clearly a plant that can be used beneficially to many, as well as its environmental benefits and should be uncontrolled for personal use.
To understand the war on drugs you must first understand Cannabis. Pot comes from a plant, known as Cannabis Sativa or Cannabis Indica. This plant has been grown for hundreds if not thousands of years and has been praise for its psychoactive effects and its usefulness as a medicine and fiber. The origins of the plant trace back to eastern Asia. The curious thing about this plant is it is the only plant known on earth that produce Cannabinoids. What is curious is that our bodies contain receptors allowing the active ingredient, Delta9-Tetrahydrocannabinol, THC to bind to cells in the brain and body by traveling through the blood to give the high associated with Cannabis, as little as 10 micrograms of THC per kilogram of body weight is needed to "feel it". It is considered a hallucinogen because of its vast range of effects, it can be used as a sedative, stimulant, or psychedelia.. Cannabis is a very interesting plant, a tree, more specifically a vegetable and a herb. There are 3 species of Cannabis; Sativa, Indica and Ruderalis, all produce the flower known as marijuana. However only the Saiva and Indica strains will produce the psychoactive substance THC in "high" enough quantities. The Ruderalis strain is known as industrial hemp. The purpose of THC for the Cannabis plant is simple really, it protects the flowers and seeds from the harmful rays of the sun, more specifically UV-B rays, its sunblock. It is also interesting that a seed from these plant is either a male or a female, there is no self fertilization occurring in nature with the Cannabis plant. If fertilization of a flower does not occur, the plant will redirect its energy to resin production. Sinsemilla, the goal of the pot farmer. THC is produced marorily in resinous mushroom shaped glands. These glands are comprised of several differing cannabinoids, several are psychoactive, several are not, most have medical purposes.
Marijuana a medicine is as old as the plant its self. The 2 primary medical constituents of the resin glands are cannabinoids. There are two I want to talk about, the first THC a chemical that produces a high when ingested or smoked. It has been indicated as a medication in over 250 conditions, including; nausea, vomiting, unintentional weight loss, lack of appetite, migraine, spasms, PMS, arthritis, asthma, hypertension, insomnia, neurogenic pain, movement disorder, glaucoma, epilepsy, depression, PTSD, ASS, ADHA, OCD, bi-polar disorder; cancer, AIDS and hepatitis treatment symptoms, ect. The next CBD, a compound similar to THC in structure but as far as can be told holds no psychoactive effects. The amounts of CBD as well as other cannabinoids found in the resin are hypothesized to plat off each other and change the overall effect dramatically. It seems to help convulsions, inflammation, anxiety, nausea; and has been suggested an an anti-psychotic in schizophrenia patients. However most surprisingly they both have been found to have anti-cancerous and anti-tumorous, and exhibit neuro-protective antioxidant properties. Not only can it be used as a medicine but as a fiber.
Hemp has been highly utilized as a fiber to make clothing, rope, paper, fuel, and biodegradable plastics. Many famous paintings and historical documents have been hemp paper or canvas because hemp is stronger and decomposes slower than tree fiber. It is capable of producing ten tons of bio-mass per acre in four months. One acre of hemp can produce as much usable fiber as trees can with 4 acres, trees take 50-500 years to grow before they can be cut down for production, where hemp can be ready in as little as 100 days, producing 4X more paper in a 20 year period. As well as a fibrous material, parts of the plant can be used in a fermenting process to make methanol, about ten times more than corn can. It also has a tremendous rate of photosynthesis, which means more air for everyone. Now for something a little more recent.
The use of this plant as a drug, both medical and recreational, has been highly debated for well over the last 50 years. Some of the ideas that have fueled this prohibition are complete overstatements and misconceptions. One of the major tales, myths, lies whatever you wish to call it, is the gateway drug theory. This is the idea that if you begin by smoking weed you will eventually use stronger more destructive substances like heroin. It is true that abusers of illicit addictive opiates, stimulants, ect. are likely to have started with marijuana. However the abusers of those drugs may have been lead to believe that marijuana, heroin, ecstasy, any one of these are just as destructive as the next, they are likely to have tried pot and made an misinformed decision about there future use of heroin, due to the lack of information the government provides. The drug marijuana is the dried flowers and leaves of the Cannabis plant, generally smoked in a cigarette paper called a joint, or in a pipe or glass bong. Compared to other drugs including alcohol, tobacco and some prescription narcotics, it can be considered one of the most benign substances. Alcohol can cause liver damage, black-outs, and the inability to make decisions, it has also been indicated as a neurotoxin. Alcohol is responsible for about 100,000 deaths per year. Prescription narcotics, like benzodiazapine, opiates, barbiturates, stimulants, ect., can have physical dependence issues and severe withdrawal effects as many are chemically similar, in some cases stronger, to their illicit counter parts, heroin, crystal meth, ect. Conventional medication claims about 750,000 lives per year. Saving one of the most famous comparisons used when talking about drug legality for last, marijuana versus tobacco. These two examples have been used on both sides of the debate from many different angles due to its amazing social similarities. Comparing the smoke toxicity as follows, Health Canada reports, Cannabis smoke has twenty-times more ammonia, five-times more hydrogen cyanides and nitrogen oxides, but is found to have less poly-cyclic aromatic hydro-carbons, which are known carcinogens, mutagens, and teratogens. Long term smoking effects of Cannabis are not known, but we are told from birth that you will develop cancer from tobacco. The tobacco industry claims about 5,400,000 human lives per year. There is not one recorded death from marijuana in all of world literature. It is obvious that something is not working correctly in this finely tuned machine.
When you look at the controlled drug and substances act it becomes visible that the list has been put together without extreme medical research. There are drugs that have been found to have extreme ill effects and are placed lower in scheduling than drugs that have been found to be completely harmless. The list was put together with blinders on. When you actively and objectivity look at the idea of this prohibition you can see that it is about control. If a person is telling me I can have alcohol, caffeine and tobacco, but not marijuana, magic mushrooms and LSD based on absent harm data, is a person controlling my mind. These are all mind altering substances, and you are controlling what goes in and out of my body and subsequently my mind. if we are truly a free Country should we not get to decide what chemicals enter our bodies. It is the governments job to tell us about these substances and let us make the choice.