Cannabis
...roduces fibers for industrial uses. 1. Hemp is mainly used for making rope or twine and can also be woven into cloth both fine and rough for making textile from blankets, clothes and flags for boat sails. Hemp is also an unrivalled source of cellulose pulp, used for paper production and occasionally, for money. Its seeds are rich in oil, which is used to make paint and soap; its seeds are used as food for humans or more commonly for birds. 2. Perhaps the most surprising use of hemp is in the body manufactured by Henry ford from hemp-based plastics in 1941. The plastic was much lighter than steel and could withstand ten times the impact without denting. The car was evenly fuelled by cleanburnin hemp-based ethanol fuel. Unfortunately the ban on hemp, 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, put an end to the project. Next, we are going to moving from the history of cannabis to the medical purpose of Cannabis. II. Second, Cannabis is used for a wide variety of medicinal purposes. A. Lets start by reviewing the early stages cannabis for medicinal cures. 1. Chinese shaman would approach his patient clasping a handful of cannabis stalks, which would have carved figures resembling snakes. With these he would strike the bed around the patient hopefully driving out the demons. If the demons were in the patient’s head then this would work, if that patient was physically ill then obviously and commonly this would not work. a. In the second century AD in China the herbalist Hua T’o (190-265) recommended a mixture of cannabis resin and wine as an analgesic during surgery. This was a huge success, making it possible for a number of complex operations without causing the slightest pain. However, modern studies have shown that cannabis does have some anesthetic properties, they would hardly be sufficient for complete unconsciousness; more likely, the patient might become slightly drowsy, but it was the sheer acute pain of the knife’s first cut that actually knocked them out. (Grinspoon, Marijuana, the forbidden medicince) b. Chinese doctors used every part of the plant to help cure diseases. Of many of the illnesses considered susceptible to the drug’s curative powers were constipation, diarrhea, continuous vomiting, and intense thirst. There is also some evidence proving that diabetes was also treated with cannabis. 2. In the Indian culture cannabis was a cure for all ills, it was used for pretty much everything. The prime use was for the nervous system, gastrointestinal tract and as an aphrodisiac. It was commonly employed for many other functional for organic troubles in the genital and urinary systems, both of women and men. Use as vermifuge and skin remedy was among its other common applications; it was used against the venom of poisonous fish bites and scorpion stings; it was used even against leprosy. B. This list covers those illnesses that, after wide-ranging research, have been shown as susceptible to cannabis or cannabis-based drugs. 1. Deprived government support, thousands of ill people, many of whom might well need cannabis in its recreations context, is forced to decriminalize them. And many have actually been prosecuted. A century or so ago, no such problems existed, Cannabis was an accepted drug, one of the most popular, and efficacious, in the pharmacopoeia. Thanks to modern research we know not only that the pharmacopoeia was right but also how cannabis interacts the brain and why cannabis is a useful medicine. (King, Cannabible) 2. Aids wasting syndrome, arthritis, asthma, cough, Crohn’s disease, depression, eating disorders, emphysema, epilepsy, glaucoma, head injuries and stroke, herpes skin infections, high blood pressure, insomnia, migraines, movement disorders, multiple sclerosis, nausea and vomiting, pain (mainly nerve), schizophrenia, tumors and Ulcerative colitis (inflammatory large intestine, colon). Lastly, now that we have gone over the health advantages for cannabis we will be going over some of the Law’s and regulations about medicinal marijuana. III. Law’s and regulations about medicinal marijuana. A. President Jimmy Carter delivered this speech to congress in 1977. “Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clearly to me than the laws against possession of marijuana in private for personal use… Therefore, I support legislation amending Federal Law to eliminate all Federal criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana.” (Green, Cannabis) B. In 1972, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws petitioned the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, known as the DEA, to reclassify marijuana as a schedule II drug, thus allowing its legal prescription. As time passed, with no response, more and more organizations joined the campaign, notably many involved with new illness, AIDS. Finally, in 1986 the DEA agreed to hold hearings. The parties agreed beforehand to contest only two questions: whether cannabis had currently accepted medical use and whether there was a lack of accepted safety for its use under medical supervisions. Each side was allowed to object to the evidence of the other side, and the DEA’s own administrative law judge, Francis L. Young, ruled which evidence should be excluded. In 1988, the report ‘accepted as fact’ that cannabis had a medical use. 1. The DEA did not stop there and kept on trying medical marijuana back to court. In March 1991, the plaintiffs took their case to the District ...