Barack Obama, Arnold Swarzenggar, the founders of CNN and Apple, Brad Pitt, Megan Fox, Michael Phelps, almost every musician and even our dear friend Jasper all have something very interesting in common. Have you guessed it yet? It’s one of the safest substances known to man, it has more medical benefits than anything else, it’s a plant and more than 500 Million people have used it. That’s right, Cannabis. And yet it’s illegal. Now I could quite comfortably assume that the majority of you would hold the opinion that it shouldn’t be legalised, but let me remind you, opinion is irrelevant when you’re not informed enough to have one. So that’s what I’m here to try and do today – to inform you.
So let’s take a look at why it was made illegal in the first place. Before 1937 cannabis was perfectly legal and up until 1883 it was the world’s largest agricultural crop. In fact, the first law on cannabis was ordering US farmers to grow hemp, the most efficient, durable fibre on the planet. Hemp is 100% bio-degradable and is more effective than anything else for making paper, rope, bio-fuel, and cloth, as well as an estimated 30,000 other products. The pharmaceutical, paper and cotton industries caught on to how beneficial hemp is, and more importantly for them, how much of a threat it would be.
In order to eliminate competition, publishing tycoon Randolf Hearst initiated a propaganda campaign against cannabis. Hearst suggested that it was negroes and Hispanics who were smoking it, and would go around raping white women. He also said that after one joint you’re likely to kill your brother, among other ridiculous claims. Back then, people were more racist and impressionable, and so accepted such statements as truth. Soon after, the ‘Marijuana Tax Act’ was passed in the US, making cannabis illegal. The rest of the world quickly followed America’s lead, launching a crusade of lies that have been fed to children ever since. This is also known as childhood indoctrination.
So how much of what we’re taught, or fed, really is true? Firstly, the notion that smoking cannabis kills brain cells. This came from a study where monkeys had cannabis smoke pumped into their lungs. While it was found that the monkeys suffered brain cell loss, what they didn’t tell you was that this was a result of a lack of oxygen to their brains. The monkeys were essentially suffocated from the smoke. In fact, a recent study conducted on mice at a Canadian university found a 40% INCREASE in brain cell growth when given cannabis.
And addiction. We’re often brought up to believe that cannabis is highly addictive. As with all pleasurable things in life, there is a small chance for addiction, however this poses little threat and it has been proven that cannabis is even less addictive than caffeine. you don’t see too many people strung out on coffee do you?
So hopefully you’re beginning to see that cannabis isn’t nearly half as bad as it’s made out to be. But just to push this idea further, here’s a few interesting facts. It is physically impossible to overdose on cannabis. For one to suffer from a lethal dose, they would have to consume 1,500 pounds in under 15 minutes. Isn’t this ironic when you can die from overdosing on water?! In fact no one in recorded history has ever died from cannabis.
It is also incredibly effective in treating a variety of diseases and ailments such as glaucoma, AIDS and arthritis. There are people out there whose diseases can ONLY be effectively treated with cannabis. The fact that people in genuine need of it run the risk of being sent to prison, is just plain sick.
But here’s something astounding. Several studies suggest that THC, the active chemical in cannabis, kills cancerous cells in the body. So called ‘Hemp Oil’, a lotion form of cannabis, has proven successful in most cases in COMPLETELY curing people of their cancer and other diseases. This is a ground-breaking discovery, but pharmaceutical companies reject it because they cannot patent a plant such as cannabis. In other words, they cannot make any profit off of it and ultimately care more about money than the well-being of their patients. It’s interesting to note that these were the people fighting to make it illegal in the first place.
So we understand that the sole reason cannabis was made illegal was because a select few would gain more money from it. But what would society be like if it were legal? For one, it would be much harder for children to get their hands on. In a recent American survey, teenagers confessed that it was much easier for them to purchase illegal drugs, than it was to get alcohol and tobacco. This is because they are controlled and require proof of age, something dealers don’t bother with when selling drugs like cannabis. Also, millions of pounds would be saved in law enforcement giving police more time and resources to focus on the more detrimental crimes such as murder, theft and rape. The taxpayer’s money would no longer be spent locking up harmless cannabis users, which would free up the jails for the true criminals. And on the subject of money, a legal cannabis market would create thousands of new jobs, providing tremendous stimulation for our struggling economy. This is evident in The Netherlands where they have decriminalised cannabis, allowing certified ‘Coffee Shops’ to sell it in small quantities. The country sees drug use and crime rates, significantly lower than most other nations. Cannabis there is an accepted part of society and this approach has been declared by their government as a resounding success.
So in a world where 2 and a half million people die from alcohol each year, and a further 5 million from tobacco, do we really need another legal drug? Many would argue no, but when the statistics show that no one has ever died from it, that you cannot overdose on it, that it doesn’t kill brain cells or cause cancer, that it has a plethora of medical benefits and that it doesn’t contribute to violent behaviour, it’s quite clear that the real dangers of cannabis are the ones imposed by its prohibition. I think some serious consideration on law reform is well overdue, to say the very least. Thank you.
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