Repeal Archaic Anti-Marijuana Laws
Although cannabis has been used in medical treatment for thousands of years in China and India, it became illegal in most of the western world in the first half of the twentieth century. This was thanks to an early corporate conspiracy involving DuPont, William Randolph Hearst, the Mellon Bank and Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon. The major problem with hemp was its immense versatility. Most paper and nearly all plastics were made of hemp fiber, while hemp oil was a major fuel. Dupont was trying to promote their own petroleum-based plastic, Hearst his wood pulp paper factories, and Mellon his friends at Standard Oil. See The Politics of Hemp.
Recent research, mainly out of Spain and Italy (such research is illegal in the US), reveals that treatment with a cannabis metabolite cannobidiol (CBD) has a marked effect on immune function and is useful in the treatment of breast, bowel and other metastatic cancers, diabetes, epilepsy, glaucoma, high blood pressure, chronic pain and a host of other medical conditions.
Recent improvements in plant breeding have led to the cultivation of a CBD-specific form of cannabis which doesn’t cause the spaciness, memory problems, and anxiety many patients associate with the high levels of tetrahydrocannibinol (THC) found in marijuana sold on the street. More information on the uses and availability of CBD is posted at http://projectcbd.org
Below is a link to a groundbreaking lecture on the medical benefits of cannabis by University of California-San Francisco oncologist/AIDS specialist Donald Abrams, MD. Abrams contends that smoking cannabis actually reduces your chances of lung cancer, owing to its anti-inflammatory and immune effects.
Owing to archaic federal laws that make any form of cannabis research illegal in the US, America has fallen far behind the rest of the world in identifying new cancer treatments. While it’s good to see 20 states asserting their sovereignty in legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, the only way to make CBD-rich cannabis available for research is to repeal the federal law prohibiting its cultivation.
photo credit: ilmungo via photopin cc
Reposted from Veterans Today
