Home > Cannabis is illegal by mistake.

Cannabis is illegal by mistake.

by Open-Publishing - Monday 3 April 2006
2 comments

Justice International Health

It was added to a list of proscribed substances in an act of crass stupidity by a junior apparatchik during the 1920’s.

Of course, however the mistake is made, we all know that our wonderful governments do not admit to fallibility. How we have suffered as a result.
Now the time has surely arrived for us, as a nation, to take a grown up standpoint on such a ridiculous decision.

Cannabis is called weed for a single reason: if it gets the chance it will grow anywhere. From that position alone it must occupy the role of God’s biggest mistake.

Firstly, let us take a moment to consider what exactly we are talking about here. This is a plant - NOT a drug, just a plant. Believe it or not it is also an absolutely beautiful plant.

But this isn’t a debate about the beauty or otherwise of horticultural specimens. Rather it is an opening salvo in the battle to understand and deal with a substance that seems to raise the most irrational and ill-informed responses in the general population.

The reasons for the lack of any reasoned response are quite certainly rooted firmly in the twin evils of self interest and ignorance.

The self interest lies with politicians who define themselves - at least in drug policy - by their perceived macho viewpoints and zero tolerance ideas (that have singularly failed) and the ignorance belongs to the rest of us who are constantly fed scare stories on one hand and refused any access to informed or even vaguely intelligent debate on the other.

Until the truth is told - or confronted - the battle between fact and fiction is entirely one sided and can only lead to ever greater misunderstandings about the, so called, war on drugs.

This is where the Cannabis Man comes in. As his time moves closer (watch this space - within a fortnight all will be revealed) his mission to educate and inform becomes ever more urgent.

So what are we actually dealing with when we think of this, supposedly, terrible substance called Cannabis? How many of those who scream from the rooftops about the evils of this plant have ever encountered it in a growing form? How many understand its properties, ability to heal or its legendary ability to relieve pain in a massive range of ailments? How many know that its very illegality is itself illegal?

Perhaps that last comment is one that needs an explanation of its own. Under UN regulations it is totally illegal for any government to restrict access to medicine. As cannabis has succeeded spectacularly in many, many drug trials and experiments over the years then its very illegality is illegal.

There may be thousands of people in this country alone whose lives could be spectacularly improved by this simple plant - those living with MS and Parkinson’s Disease are clinically proven to benefit from cannabis and yet its use is denied because of the hubris and downright stubborn stupidity of politicians who would no sooner deny themselves anything necessary for their own well-being than fly to the moon - and yet the rest of us are expected, not only to suffer but risk arrest and prosecution even if we can show genuine medical need.

Surely it’s about time that we took a sensible approach to this issue. To this end, over the next few days we will reveal many things about this extraordinary plant that you probably do not know... All will be based on thirteen years of painstaking work and research by the Cannabis Man and will be followed by a gesture on his behalf that will confirm his seriousness about this issue once and for all. We have always said - Watch this Space - and now the space is to be filled.

Forum posts

  • I am a medical patient who was prosecuted for growing marijuana. I had two cars seized, much of my property, lost my house and my livelihood and spent time in jail. The US government is a bunch of criminals, especially the feds. They are also two faced cowards who thrive on the absolute control of others. They could care less about cancer patients or any other user of this gift from God. You are absolutely correct that the prohibition of cannabis is illegal and immoral, like most of the actions of the American government. Richard Nixon started the DEA and his jar head mentality is still plainly obvious in the assholes that work for the thugs in the federal government. These people are pencil pushing cowards and their day will come soon. Ever notice that when a son or daughter of a government official or the elite gets caught with a controlled substance nothing seems to happen to them while the rest of us rot in prison? I met a gentleman in prison who got 25 years for growing weed in Oklahoma. Murderers and child molestors get out sooner than that. And how has this experience changed me? Well, my motto now is, "the only good pig is a dead pig!" All controlled substance laws are in direct violation of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Did you know that using a medical defence in a marijuana trial is forbidden? So these scumbags won’t even let a cancer patient mention that fact in a trial! I trust God more than my illegal, fascist government and I will grow weed until I am dead. Long live the true patriots. The cowards that work for the government will rot in hell. When the stuff hits the fan after our economic collapse these people would be well advised to remain hidden. Especially the terds in Texas.

    • Add to everything else the greed of rapacious big chemical companies. At a time when people were discovering that hemp (a very close relative) was in incredible source of many useful substances, Dupont was pushing for an oil-based economy. Many of the substances at the time that could be made by fractioning and recombining petrochemicals, could be replaced by less harmful substances from the renewable source of hemp. Americans in earlier centuries knew about it: many of the founding fathers grew it for ropes (hemp ropes stretch much better without fraying or tearing), paper (both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are written on hemp paper), medicinal (which we all know about), polymers (the first Model T Fords had their bodywork made from hemp-based "plastics"), and fuel. The problem with most if this is, people can make the things themselves; they don’t need big chemical companies to make it for them. Because they saw their potential profits going down the tubes, Dupont threw their weight behind the anti-hemp and anti-marijuana legislations.