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The Controlled Substance Act of 1970 legally classified drugs based on their potential danger to users. The most dangerous of all known substances were labeled Schedule 1 drugs, which are defined as having potential for high abuse (highly addictive), no recognized medical benefit, and that there is a lack of safety concerning use of the drug.
Marijuana, now legal for medical use in 17 states and Washington DC, still remains a Schedule 1 drug alongside heroin and LSD. However, it is now obvious to everyone but the Feds that marijuana does not belong in the same category as heroin and should be rescheduled.
Because both Congress and the president ignore this issue like the plague, marijuana is unlikely to be rescheduled in the near future. Yet, that doesn't mean that it can't happen quickly as all it would take is a stroke of the president's pen with an executive order.
With three states voting this fall for full legalization of marijuana, setting up a potentially disastrous confrontation with the federal government, it's time for the Feds to simply reschedule marijuana to its proper classification.
The Case for Rescheduling Marijuana
Low Level of Addictiveness: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines addiction as "the compulsive use of a substance despite ongoing negative consequences, which may lead to tolerance or withdrawal symptoms when the substance is stopped." By this definition, only 10% of marijuana users become addicted.
Less than 10 percent of marijuana users ever exhibit symptoms of dependence (as defined by the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-IV criteria). By comparison 15 percent of alcohol users, 17 percent of cocaine users, and a whopping 32 percent of cigarette smokers statistically exhibit symptoms of drug dependence. (Source)Another definition of addiction used by doctors is whether a substance produces severe physical withdrawal symptoms when the user quits. In this regard, marijuana is absolutely not addictive.
In this view, the paradigm for addiction is heroin: the shaking, puking heroin junkie who can’t quit because the withdrawal sickness is impossible to bear. Because marijuana cessation is not linked with such severe symptoms, the drug isn’t seen as physically addictive. And considering that most people view physical addiction as uncontrollable, but psychological addiction as manageable with proper willpower, marijuana tends not to be regarded as addictive in general. (Source)The government's own figures list alcohol and tobacco as more addictive than marijuana, and cocaine, too, which is classified as a less dangerous Schedule 2 drug. There is simply no way for the government to continue to defend the idea that marijuana is "highly addictive" and worth of Schedule 1 status.
Obvious Medical Benefits: Besides the fact that cannabis is one of the oldest known natural medicines on the planet, the "official" evidence continues to prove its medical benefits. Cannabis is known to relieve symptoms of chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, epilepsy, and a host of other ailments, in addition to providing relief from general anxiety and the side effects of dangerous pharmaceuticals. Indeed, the U.S. government holds patents on these medical properties of marijuana.
US Patent 6630507 Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants, held by Department of Health and Human Services of The United States of America: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.Cannabis has even been proven by Harvard to reduce cancerous tumors. Again, this is fully acknowledged by the government on their own public cancer website and has resulted in other government-owned patents.
Finally, there are already synthetic pharmaceuticals like Marinol on the market to relieve many of the ailments previously mentioned. So, how can the DEA maintain that there are no recognized medical benefits?
The U.S. Court of Appeals is set to hear oral arguments in the case Americans for Safe Access v. Drug Enforcement Administration later this year. Americans for Safe Access is suing the DEA to force them to admit that there are indeed medical benefits and it appears that the DEA has virtually no legal defense of their position.
Lack of Safety: It's unclear what this portion of the Schedule 1 classification means, but let's assume it means the drug is very dangerous to the health of the user or the surrounding society. In 5000 years of recorded use, there have been NO deaths from marijuana use. In contrast, in the decade between 2000-2010 legal pharmaceutical drugs killed over 450,000 people. Even Aspirin and peanuts kill more people than marijuana. It's proven to be as safe as water for human consumption.
As for its impacts on society; a recent car insurance study proved that marijuana users are safer drivers than non-marijuana users. Marijuana users are also rarely aggressive towards others in contrast to alcohol users. So the real threats to society seems to be from keeping it illegal and fighting a war against it. Otherwise it's harmless to users and to society.
Conclusively, marijuana does not qualify for any of the three measures of a Schedule 1 drug. All the government and President Obama must do to prevent an escalated clash between state law and federal law is to be honest with themselves and the American people, and reschedule marijuana or remove it altogether from the controlled substances list. The longer they choose deny reality, the more foolish they begin to look. The time has come to get sensible about marijuana.
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12 comments:
If you look at what the War on Drugs has in common with funding the covert actions carried out by the CIA, & the many other gov agencies that get their orders from the ESF & the exective branch, you will find the war on drugs is the cash cow that keeps on giving, do you think that the Exec & the ESF will give up a muti billion dollar steady stream of income, hell no they want. The countless lives lost carried out by covert operations world wide to provide herion to the world worth billions flows thru US & Europen banks & then back to the ESF. Only a non progressive like Ron Paul would end such a dirty program & end the war on Pot & unlease the millioms of uses that pot has!
Illegal weed when it is so much a part of our culture is ludicrous. Just posted this at Aging Hippie Blog:
"Smoking Grass with a NASA Scientist: I smoked weed with a mad scientist at NASA once. The years I spent as a press officer at NASA I did not run into a lot of pot heads, I was really out of place there."
Continue reading here:
http://cityofangels25.blogspot.com/2012/09/smoking-grass-with-nasa-scientist.html
At City of Angels Network.
A very good subject, yes, but hybrid varieties that are almost total THC, with almost no CBD are highly dangerous, produced by highly irresponsible developers who have no proper understanding of how temporary and sometimes long-term acute psychosis can be produced by the crap they are breeding.
There are a lot of extremely violent and out of control people in my area who use high strength THC skunk varieties, including those who do not drink alcohol or smoke other drugs. The only weed considered for legalization should be natural weed with a good balance of THC and CBD in it, that helps prevent and even relieve previously existing mental illness.
Good article. That marijuana was placed as a Schedule 1 Drug reveals a deep-seated insanity within humanity. There is a police mentality buried within that insanity whose only purpose for existence is control, control and control. Government officials are demented control freaks that desire to control every grain of sand on the earth, every atom of the universe, and everything in between. Believe it, this is not hyperbole.
"Nine more bodies found hanging from a bridge near the mexico border," -this has become a daily occurrence because of the extreme financial rewards for foreign dealers of a harmless but prohibited native plant.
It's all out war on God's medicine, with a direct cost to society in both cash outflow and in human lives.
The reason that pot remains illegal is that of all the 'drugs' in Schedule 1, it is the most visible. I.E. Not easily concealed. Thus it makes an easy target of law enforcement because marijuana is bulky. If pot was legal, then the cops would have to spend their time chasing more concealable and compact drugs such as meth and cocaine. And since the U.S, Military is smuggling heroin in in the flag draped casket of the war dead (because the military doesn't have go through customs), they keep pot illegal so that it keeps domestic law enforcement busy chasing the easy to find stuff stuff like pot.
No, the reason weed is illegal is because ANYONE can grow it, therefore making it impossible to regulate and tax.
Let look at the definition of "food" and "drugs" under the Clean Food and Drug Act and Controlled Substances Act found in Title 21 USC:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/21/321
(f) The term “food” means
(1) articles used for food or drink for man or other animals, . . .
and:
(g)(1) The term “drug” means
(B) articles intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in man or other animals; and
(C) articles (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or other animals;
//
So if you consider yourself an "animal" then feel free to be prosecute for your food and drug crimes under this "code" - LMFAO
Great article! Growers should be aware that there is an excellent source of information here: www.checkertone.com
http://www.marijuana.com/threads/marijuana-and-mental-ilness.305451/
There are MANY REASONS ,the fed's are holding a BOGUS WAR ON MARIJUANA!!
1- There are NOT enough drug arrest's to JUSTIFY a "WAR ON DRUGS" WITHOUT making Marijuana illegal!
2- It interferes with the CIA's black market, which makes them BILLIONS YEARLY, on marijuana sales!
3- It interferes with MAJOR PROFIT'S to the Private Public PRISON SYSTEMS!!
4.- IT interferes with MAJOR PROFIT'S to the DRUG COMPANIES!
5- AND MARIJUANA is NOT conducive TO MIND CONTROL,IT actually increases your CONSCIOUS LEVEL! Something they GREATLY FEAR!!
The list goes on but these are some of the MAIN reason.s and as YOU CAN SEE-- NONE OF THEM ARE ABOUT HEALTH AND SAFELY issue, because there aren't REALLY ANY ADVERSE HEALTH ISSUES!!
IT'S just a major CONN JOB being used as a NOOSE around our necks!!
Fortunately, these OLD AND OUT DATED policy maker's are GOING BY THE WAY SIDE! BUT they won't do down WITHOUT A FIGHT! But we the people, are going to STOP THIS B.S. ONCE AND FOR ALL!! WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!!!
SORRY MOTHMAN777 BUT YOUR THE ONE WITH THE MENTAL ILLNESS! GO back to your prescription drugs the numb your mind!
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