On Marijuana Prohibition: "The government has drawn an arbitrary line..."

"The federal government has drawn an arbitrary line that says adults can put certain substances in their body and then other substances they cannot. And that line is not based on science - it is not based on potential dangers to the user or potential dangers to society."

- NORML Deputy Director, Paul Armentano, expert on marijuana policy, health, and pharmacology.

it should have never been made illegal.

On the one hand, United States federal government officials have consistently denied that marijuana has any medical benefits. On the other, the government actually holds patents for the medical use of the plant.
Just check out US Patent 6630507 titled “Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants” which is assigned to The United States of America, as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The patent claims that “Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and HIV dementia.”
The patent was obtained in October of 2003.

-----------

The US government may hold this patent, but that will not stop their officials from consistently denying the benefits of medical marijuana.

---------------


It makes you wonder why the U.S. government is so unwilling to admit that marijuana has some valid medical properties. It seems unlikely that there is a popularity issue, especially when 60% of Americans believe that doctors should be allowed to prescribe marijuana. Maybe there are some lobbyists or bigwig campaign contributors that would get a little upset.

Since one part of the government applied for the patent of medical marijuana, and another part of the government approved that patent, it seems logical to conclude that the federal government knows that marijuana has some valid medical properties.

Now the hard part. How do we get them to admit it?

I did big reasearch paper on this in college.

You guys know why it was made illegal right? If not i'll give a super short summary.

1) You can make a crapload more paper from 1 acre of hemp over 20 years than you can from 1 acre of trees over 20 years.

2) Paper companies hired "doctors" and "experts" to do studies on marijuana as they feared hemp farmers putting them out of business

3) The result of these studies were things such as you hear in the movie called Reefer Madness.


Basically a company felt threatened by the hemp plant and demonized it successfully. Now its an illegal "narcotic"


At least in MA its a civil and not criminal offense to possess it.

I am going to win, and I don't care if you are here, because I am going to rub it in your face for the next two years. I called 1994 and 2006 within two votes each time, and the Pubs will pick up no more than 8 to 10, not the more than 35 they would have to have to give the GOP an absolute majority.

It may have started with the paper industry, but now it is the Alcohol lobby that keeps marijuana illegal.

Thats true. It is based on historical patterns.
Your point?
My solution is to see all drug dealers get a fair trial and then summary execution. Would certainly cut down on the trade.