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History
of Cannabis |
| One
of marihuana's greatest advantages as a medicine is its remarkable safety.
It has little effect on major physiological functions. There is no known
case of a lethal overdose; Marihuana is also far less addictive and
far less subject to abuse than many drugs now used as muscle relaxants,
hypnotics, and analgesics. The ostensible indifference of physicians
should no longer be used as a justification for keeping this medicine
in the shadows." Journal of the American Medical Association,
June 21, 1995. Commentary. p. 1874-1875. |
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SHADOW
OF THE SWASTIKA: |
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| INTRODUCTION There really is no difference between cannabis hemp and marijuana. They are in fact the same plant. Cannabis hemp is considered marijuana (better known as resinous cannabis) when expressly cultivated to contain more than 0.3% of the psychoactive substance delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. This resulting drug comes in a variety of forms and is known by dozens of street names, among them pot, hash, mary jane, reefer, weed, dope, grass, bud, etc. For all industrial purposes cannabis is grown with negligible amounts of THC.[i]
In those cases it is sometimes called industrial hemp. Industrial
hemp will not get you high if you smoke it.
The
earliest knowledge we have of resinous cannabis use comes from the early
Chinese around 3750 B.C. One of the first to bring civilization to
the barbarian societies, a philosopher and farmer named Shen Nung preached
the value of cannabis hemp. He showed the Chinese how to make rope
and clothing from hemp, and to use the oils and seeds for food. His
teachings brought prosperity and he became a mighty emperor. Most importantly,
he collected old family traditions to create one of the first books
of medical knowledge. There he listed ta ma (true hemp) as a
"superior" immortality elixir. For many thousands of years resinous
cannabis extracts were the most commonly used real medicines. [ii]
The
idea of prohibiting resinous cannabis is not a new idea either. The
ruthless Catholic empire held medical treatment (especially the use
of resinous cannabis) as witchcraft. Anyone who betrayed the law risked
being burned at the stake as a heretic or a witch. During the dark
ages there was, subsequently, very little use of resinous cannabis (or
medicine at all for that matter). [iii] Meanwhile the serfs who worked
the land were too poor to buy new clothes, and handed down their old
hemp clothing from generation to generation. These clothes did not
tear and wear like cotton does and lasted for many years.
Today resinous cannabis, in fact the entire cannabis hemp plant, is
illegal in the United States (and many other countries worldwide).
This has effectively been the case in America since 1937. (Before then
we used it regularly in our everyday lives). Summarized below is the
history of prohibition in America, and how it has warped our society
for over 60 years. Remember, education is the most important tool we
have. Send this out to others and spread the truth, for our future
and our children.
1900-1937
By
the beginning of the 20th century Cannabis Hemp medicines
were very common. From 1842 through the 1920's resinous hemp extracts
were the second and third most used medicines for Americans, from birth
through old age.[iv] Then
in the 1930's everything turned upside down.
For
thirty years American business mogul and newspaper giant William Randolph
Hearst had fed the public racist attacks on the Mexicans, caricaturing
them as lazy "marihuana" smokers (an Americanized version of the Mexican
term). This was probably because in the Spanish American war in the
late 1800s, Pancho Villa and the marijuana smoking Mexican army had
seized 800,000 acres of Hearst's land.[v] Fortunately
for Hearst, his newspaper empire served him with plenty of audience
for his lies and propaganda. In those days there was no Internet and
this served as mass communication. Hearst newspapers were a major factor
in shaping public opinion.[vi]
The
money William Randolph Hearst made came from more than just newspapers.
His empire extended to many sectors of business and industry, including
the production of paper. Alongside this a chemical company named DuPont
had just developed a process for using chemicals to better manufacture
paper products, and was also looking to forge a strong empire with synthetic
fibers like nylon and rayon. These industries were about to be overthrown.
New farming machines were going to make hemp more easily cultivated,
and cannabis was about to become the number one crop in the country.
The synthetic fibers DuPont patented could be easily replicated and
replaced by Hemp products. DuPont and Hearst stood to lose millions
of dollars. Their companies would be decimated.
For
twenty years Hearst had proclaimed resinous cannabis the "killer weed"
from Mexico. Now Hearst newspapers began to proclaim crazed Negroes
were raping white women after getting high on "marihuana." (Previously
the press had made the same accusations and claimed it was from cocaine.)
White people who smoked resinous cannabis were supposedly subject to
moral lapse and would perform unspeakable and vile acts. The newspapers
said that resinous cannabis led to "Voodoo-satanic" music, or "jazz,"
and that the music was somehow anti-white. Hearst told the public (and
was summarily believed) resinous cannabis led to "blood-lust" and violence.
Into
the picture stepped Harry J. Ainslinger. The new head of the Federal
Bureau of Narcotics (we call them the Drug Enforcement Agency now),
in 1931 he began a thirty year campaign against resinous cannabis.
He spent the 1930's touring the country preaching the evils of the herb,
filling Americans with blatant lies about the drug. He would often
say, "if the hideous monster Frankenstein came face to face with the
monster marihuana he would drop dead of fright." Concerned mothers
and citizens began to rally behind the anti-cannabis movement. Films
like "Reefer Madness," and "Marijuana-Assassin of Youth," further destroyed
the truth. Ainslinger lied with no abandon and the public was swayed.
And
by 1937, secret meetings had been taking place for two years behind
closed doors in Washington. The Treasury department had been plotting
how to get rid of cannabis hemp to keep Hearst and DuPont happy, and
the demonized "marijuana" was the answer. Treasury secretary Andrew
Mellon was the uncle-in-law of Harry J. Ainslinger and had appointed
him to his position with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Mellon was
the owner of the Mellon Bank, one of the two banks for DuPont.[vii]
On
the 14th of April, 1937, the House Ways and Means Committee
introduced the Marihuana Tax Act. That particular committee is the
only one that can send bills directly to the floor of congress, without
the legislation going to other committees for debate. And still, the
American Medical Association, upon learning that cannabis hemp was about
to be prohibited, promptly sent their top expert, attorney and physician
James Woodward.
Woodward
spoke against the bill to Ainslinger and the Ways and Means Committee,
saying "We cannot understand yet, Mr. Chariman, why this bill should
have been prepared in secret for two years without any imitation, even
to the profession, that it was being prepared." He further stated the
only reason the AMA had not protested the tax earlier was because resinous
cannabis had been described by the press for 20 years as "killer weed
from Mexico." Ainslinger denounced the American Medical Association
(!) and had Woodward excused in the middle of his testimony.
And so the bill went to the house floor. The debating over the bill
lasted about two minutes. One pertinent question was asked, "Did anyone
consult the AMA and get their opinion?"
The
Ways and Means Committee answered, "yes, we have, a Dr. Wharton (mispronounced
Woodward) and [the AMA] are in complete agreement!"
And
if one lie was not enough, Ainslinger's testimony before congress was
totally damning. With a similar disregard for the truth he said, "marijuana
is the most violence causing drug in the history of mankind." He claimed
as fact that minorities like Negroes and Mexicans committed 50% of violent
crime, and those crimes could be directly traced to resinous
cannabis. He said resinous cannabis caused white women to lie with
Negroes, and in one case at the University of Minnesota, caused a girl
to become pregnant. Congress was outraged. The lies stuck, and the
marihuana tax act became law.
In Septmeber of 1937 the new tax took effect. No one could cultivate
any cannabis hemp plant, under the guise of "marihuana." The reasons
for this probably in all likelihood had nothing to do with resinous
cannabis, but with the potential resource of the hemp plant.[viii]
Two very reputable government studies,[ix]
both previously done specifically to understand the risks associated
with smoking resinous cannabis, had indicated that in fact resinous
cannabis was safe and not a danger, and did not recommend criminal penalties
for its use. Ainslinger conveniently ignored this.
1937-1960
Now the cannabis hemp plant, not just resinous cannabis, was a restricted
crop. A special permit became necessary in order to cultivate the plant,
associated with absurd taxation laws.[x]
This effectively stopped independent cannabis growing. Meanwhile Ainslinger
was waylaying the AMA. Through 1939 he prosecuted some 3,000 doctors
for prescribing drugs for illicit purposes. The AMA responded to the
blackmail and switched sides, turning against resinous cannabis. From
1939-1949 only 3 doctors were prosecuted for illegal drugs.[xi]
Ainslinger himself was meanwhile illegally administering morphine to
anti-communist zealot Joseph McCarthy, a felony offense and an effective
indication of how badly he abused his power.
In
1945 a committee of doctors and scientists known as the LaGuardia Committee
further researched the effects of resinous cannabis. They supported
the conclusions of earlier studies and found cannabis "does not lead
directly to mental or physical deterioration, does not develop addiction
or tolerance as is characteristic of opiates, and is not a direct casual
factor in sexual or criminal misconduct." Ainslinger threatened to
have the committee jailed if further research was conducted, and convinced
the AMA (who by now feared his wrath enough to do his bidding) to denounce
the results.
Meanwhile
the same government that prohibited resinous cannabis issued hempseeds
to farmers around the country for the war effort. We needed hemp for
our cords, riggings, and even parachutes (if not for hemp, George Bush
Sr. would never have survived the jump when he had to bail out of his
plane during WWII) and so despite the law we grew hundreds of thousands
of pounds of hemp during the mid-forties.
By
1948, however, the war was over. Ainslinger made sure America began
to forget about the helpful hemp plant. With the laws in place and
a growing narcotics task force, evil ran unopposed. In 1948 Ainslinger
again testified before Congress, this time a solidly anti-communist
one. He said this time that resinous cannabis caused extreme pacifism
(!) and would destroy the American spirit to fight communism. Congress
voted to continue the resinous cannabis prohibition, fearing our citizens
would become "marijuana-zombies" who were overly pacifist, or even communist.
This is not true. Cannabis does not cause people to become communists.
It has been said to promote peaceful behavior.
The
re-billing of resinous cannabis as a pacifist drug also prompted worldwide
response. Russia, China, and Eastern Europe, who now viewed America
as a major world power, also outlawed the medicine because they feared
it would make their soldiers pacifists. Worldwide, Ainslinger's lies
now took cannabis hemp from global society and ejected resinous herb
from accepted culture. Now there was no more need for Americans to
produce hemp, and Ainslinger spent the "golden era" of the 1950's stamping
out hemp cultivation of any kind. By the end of the decade industrial
hemp in America was no more.[xii]
In foreign countries the medicine, and the plant itself, fell into similar
disfavor. "Marijuana" was feared and avoided, and cannabis hemp was
simply forgotten.
1960-2000
At
the beginning of the 1960's the cannabis users in America were well
underground, surviving through beatnik and alternative culture. But
times were changing. John F. Kennedy was in the white house, and around
the nation culture was starting to explode. Martin Luther King Jr.
and Malcolm X among others were shaping a new African American consciousness.
The "flower children" were coming into their age. As Bob Dylan so poetically
sang, "the times, they are a changing."
In
1963 Kennedy fired Harry J. Ainslinger from the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.
The Presidential Committee on Narcotics and Drug Abuse made the distinction
between resinous cannabis and opiates like heroin. They said resinous
cannabis use should be a less-serious offense. The youth culture of
the 1960's began rallying around the drug. Pop icons like the Beatles
and the Rolling Stones were involved in advocacy, and members of both
groups were arrested for possession of resinous cannabis.[xiii] Many people
claimed cannabis use was one of the reasons Woodstock was a peaceful
gathering.
In
the courtroom times were changing as well. The marihuana tax act was
overturned, and the law was determined unconstitutional. For a few
brief years in the 1960's no law prohibited resinous cannabis use.
Millions of people used the drug. In response the new Drug Enforcement
Agency simply re-classified the cannabis hemp plant as a dangerous substance.
In 1971 it was classified as a schedule one narcotic, meaning it is
without medical value and should be totally repressed. New laws to
fit the times had the same unjust effects.
Meanwhile
the trend for legalization and support continued into the 1970's. The
drug laws grew increasingly unpopular and in 1972 President Richard
Nixon had a special commission do exhaustive research. They ultimately
concluded that cannabis hemp should be legalized. Nixon refused his
own committee's advice and it remained illegal. Later the president
resigned; in the last days in the white house he abused alcohol, tranquilizers
and amphetamines.
On
the other hand, Americans everywhere were supporting the drug. In 1975
America's leading researchers on resinous cannabis met in Pacific Grove,
California, to discuss this growingly popular drug. And these scientists
almost unanimously agreed that more research should be done, and that
there was an undeveloped potential to heal millions with just cannabis.
New articles citing more uses for cannabis as medicine appeared in the
press almost weekly.[xiv] One prominent
doctor (Mechoulam) said that resinous cannabis would be among the most
widely used medicines by the mid 1980's.
Once
again the U.S. government stepped in and blocked progress. In 1976
they decreed that pharmaceutical companies would do all further research
on resinous cannabis. The same companies that were doing the research
stood to lose billions if marijuana became available as a medicine.
No standards of accountability would be held, and of course the drug
companies promptly shelved natural cannabis hemp in favor of synthetic
alternatives. These alternatives have invariably proved ineffective
as far as medicine goes. Naturally grown resinous cannabis is far superior
as a medicine to these synthetic drugs.
Then a group of new studies came out at the end of the 1970's and in
the 1980's that claimed negative effects of resinous cannabis. Lyndon
LaRouche and Gabriel Nahas, the same people who had covered up the Nazi
war crimes of Austrian Kurt Waldheim after the second world war, now
turned their heads towards generating new propaganda. Working as the
head of cannabis research for the UN, Nahas gave money to special colleagues
to fund research determining ill effects of resinous cannabis. Those
studies have been summarily disproved. Earlier in his career a scandal
occurred when Nahas fraudulently reported a cannabis death in Belgium.
Improper studies done on monkeys supposedly proved lung damage, and
that cannabis caused sterility. The monkeys studied were given equivalent
doses of 100 resinous cannabis cigarettes, an absurd amount to be subjected
to at one time. Added to this the smaller lung size of the monkey,
and the dose equivalent could be multiplied by a factor of 15. The evidence
that "proved" sterility was in fact faked. Then in a final (but really
unsurprising blow) the National Institute on Drug Abuse decreed this
new information sufficient, saying they were "convinced" marijuana
was dangerous. [xv]
The threat of actual research and reliable results was no more. In
1980 Reagan and the new "Reagan-omics" replaced the Carter administration.
The new republican government promptly launched the War on Drugs. Lies
and disinformation were the norm; studies still circulated as fact today
indicated negative health effects of resinous cannabis (but these reports
since been disproved as fiction). In the mid eighties Peggy Mann, now
infamous among cannabis culture, compiled the falsified studies and
preached to a growing anti-cannabis nation. The Reagan administration
sank billions into the Drug Enforcement Agency's budget, and the prosecution
rates for these non-violent resinous cannabis users skyrocketed. America
once again was happily practicing prohibition. It still does today.
2001
The
new millennium has dawned. And still, last year we arrested some 700,000
Americans for resinous cannabis offenses, 90% for simple possession.
While hurting the economy, oppressing the people, and violating our
constitution, the Drug Enforcement Agency is getting bankrolled quite
nicely. The voters are scared of cannabis hemp, and all because we
have used the slang term "marihuana" to destroy the truth. Instead
of a profitable cannabis hemp economy, big corporations are stealing
billions from regular people all over the world. All this needless
waste is simply because we are afraid to understand the benign herb.
Sick people suffer because of our fear. Our own government oppresses
us through our fear. Rich men steal our money because of our
fear. That day is soon over.
For
now, however, the United States government does not tolerate the use
of resinous cannabis. The Drug Enforcement Administration classifies
the entire cannabis hemp plant as a schedule one narcotic substance.
This means it has no recognized medicinal value and also is so dangerous
it must be suppressed. It is considered a hallucinogen and penalties
can range from small fines to life in prison. Over ten billion of our
tax dollars were spent in our anti-marijuana education campaigns and
on police and law enforcement in just the last year.
Resinous
cannabis in fact is not hallucinogenic. Though it can have hallucinatory
properties, this occurs only if consumed in large doses.[xvi] There are 421
compounds in resinous cannabis (60 of which are active), and the effects
of smoking or eating it are actually unlike any other drug. One of the
most common terms for the effect of smoking resinous cannabis is "getting
high," and perhaps most aptly describes the sense of euphoria the user
feels. Today about 12 million Americans illegally use the drug. They
believe that the risk is worth the positive effects of the substance.
Unlike many other illegal drugs (cocaine, opium, heroin, crystal meth,
PCP, etc) resinous cannabis does not develop any addiction physically.
In some cases minor dependency can occur, but it is still far safer
and less addictive than either alcohol or tobacco. It is, in fact,
even safer than many of the foods we eat.[xvii]
Smoking resinous cannabis can lead to increased risk of bronchitis,
though using a vaporizer[xviii]
allows the user not to inhale any smoke at all, and still achieve the
same effects. Compared to the radioactive substances, the 700 dangerous
compounds, and the 400,000 deaths per year associated with tobacco,
cannabis is as mild as can be. Of course, no one has ever died
from cannabis.
Most
people, however, do not know this. They see resinous cannabis as the
dangerous "marihuana," associated with many lies and false studies claiming
the drug is deadly. Cannabis has been said to cause "permanent brain
damage." This is not true.[xix]
The government claims cannabis causes lung damage and lung cancer.
This is also not true.[xx] In the media and on television
the drug is demonized. Television ads produced by the Partnership for
a Drug Free America depict cannabis users as sleazy vermin and cockroaches
(in truth cannabis users are underrepresented in violent crime, do just
as well in the workplace, and are usually perfectly decent people).
. Still, the attitude pervades in the pubic perception of the harmless
hemp plant.
It is time for the laws to change. The sick and dying are being denied
necessary medicine. Americans are forced into terrible burdens by unjust
laws and criminal prosecution. Compared to the terrible health risks
of tobacco, cannabis is mild and harmless. Now we citizens must rise
up in support of freedom, democracy, and the rights guaranteed
by our constitution. Let the world know the truth.
Resinous cannabis has 3-4% THC in it, and industrial hemp can have as
little as .06% THC.
Chris Conrad, Hemp for Health
Jack Herer, The Emperor Wears no Clothes
Jack Herer, The Emperor Wears no Clothes
Jack Herer, The Emperor Wears no Clothes
".Hearst
had been expelled from Harvard for 'riotous behavior' and his father
thought the newspaper toy (the San Francisco Examiner) would
calm him down. Quite the reverse occurred. Hearst spent $8 million
turning the Examiner into a huge commercial success.helped to
start the Spanish-American war.He sat for New York in the house, got
40 percent of the votes in one ballot at the Democratic presidential
convention of 1904, and acquired seven dailies, five magazines, two
news-services, and a movie company." .From Paul Johnson, A History
of the American People
Author's
note: He also was the unnamed subject of the famous film Citizen
Kane
Jack Herer, The Emperor Wears No Clothes
More plausible is that Ainslinger and the treasury department used the
law to promote the chemical industries and restrict cannabis hemp production
by farmers. Remember that Ainslinger was working on behalf of Andrew
Mellon, who was closely associated with DuPont. And it is some coincidence
that it was Hearst newspapers that ran the fictitious stories demonizing
this harmless medicine, considering that Hearst owned wood paper mills
sure to be overrun in favor of hemp paper.Jack Herer, The Emperor
Wears no Clothes
The
Siler Comission Report, 1930, and the British Report of the Indian
Hemp Drugs Commission 1893-1894
In 1937 the price of resinous cannabis was 1 dollar an ounce, and the
tax laws for transfer of resinous cannabis were 100 dollars an ounce
if the dealer was not properly registered or an additional dollar an
ounce if they were.
Jack Herer, The Emperor Wears no Clothes
There is an unconfirmed rumor that deep into Kentucky and Tennessee
hemp fields still exist. After all, the Army and Navy still use hemp,
and it has to come from somewhere.
Mick Jagger spent 6 months in jail for possession. John Lennon, George
Harrison, and Paul McCartney have all been arrested on various occasions
for possession.
Chris Conrad, Hemp: Lifeline to the Future
Chris Conrad, Hemp: Lifeline to the Future
The Effects of LSD are about 160 times stronger than resinous cannabis.from
Chris Conrad, Hemp for Health
According to Judge Francis L. Young, a DEA administrative law judge.
He called resinous cannabis "one of the safest and most therapeutically
active substances known to man,".from the Washington Post, September
7th 1988, reprinted in Jack Herer's The Emperor Wear's
No Clothes
Vaporizing is a process where the user heats the bud (cannabis) without
ever actually burning it. The THC boils and is released as a vapor,
so no harmful smoke affects the lungs
In 1974 the infamous Heath/Tulane University study concluded rhesus
monkeys smoking 30 joints a day began to atrophy and die after 90 days.
But when the methodology was examined, the truth came out. The monkeys
had been fed, in a single five minute period, the equivalent of 63 Colombian
strength joints. The smoke was not released, meaning no air was coming
in. In fact the brain cell damage was due to asphyxiation and carbon
monoxide inhalation, not cannabis smoke. The study is simply not credible.from
Jack Herer, The Emperor Wears No Clothes
One of the airway passages in the lung develops "precancerous" lesions,
according to a study done by a Dr. Tashkin in 1976. He found the area
was 15 times more irritated with resinous cannabis than with tobacco.
The interesting postscript is that not one of those "precancerous"
lesions ever developed into full-blown cancer. ..Jack Herer, The
Emperor Wears No Clothes |
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