Other Information
Medical Use
Cannabis has been used to smoke for over three thousand years, and as far as historians can look back there has not been a single reported death from the use of cannabis. Cancer is loosely linked to smoking cannabis, and in official reports they have to use words such as “may” or “should” cause cancer. The most educated on the subject know that these allegations are not directed towards the components in cannabis which get you high, but the fact that one is inhaling heated plant matter. Cannabis was widely sold over the counter in the form of oils and tinctures prior to prohibition, that were later replaced by drugs such as Aspirin and Advil (that have been proven to do damage) in the absence of cannabis.
Cannabis has been shown to reduce a variety of disorders and medical conditions such as seizures and glaucoma. The most controversial subject of the matter is whether or not Cannabis and its variants are effective at treating, or eliminating cancer. There have been multiple recored and documented cases of cannabis oil causing patients to go into full remission, while others show a slowing down of the cancer growth. What has been proven is that cannabis alleviates almost all of the horrible side effects of chemo and radiation therapy, which it has none of. Whether or not cannabis can be an effective treatment for cancer is still widely up for debate, but it most certainly deserves the same attention, if not more, than conventional methods. Currently in Canada cannabis is legal for medical use, however it recently became much harder and less confidential for patients to get their treatment.
War On Drugs in Canada
Canada overall spends around 444 million dollars every year in the war on drugs, whilst roughly 314 million of those tax dollars are used to arrest and prosecute marijuana offenders. This leaves only around 100 million to enforce the laws on crack, heroin, cocaine, meth, and other horrible drugs. This number is outrageous when looking at how little cannabis effects our society, in fact it is even less than the two legal substances (alcohol and tobacco). Cannabis has been proven to make the user passive, and therefore cannabis smokers are not very likely to engage in violent acts. From police officer to medical professional, the majority of emergency personnel will admit that most domestic abuse was carried out under the influence of alcohol, and cannabis seems almost non existent. When someone is imprisoned for smoking cannabis, they leave jail as a better criminal, and are treated as such. This extends to all illegal drugs. People who are actually addicted to drugs should receive medical treatment and should be treated as patients. Your body cannot become physically dependant on cannabis, but it is very habit forming and can become somewhat psychologically addictive.
Sources
- http://www.advancedholistichealth.org/history.html
- http://higherperspective.com/2014/02/5-uses-hemp-show-legalized-immediately.html
- http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/why-is-marijuana-illegal/
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dope/etc/cron.html
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1947221
- http://www.theunionmovie.com/TheUnionWeb.html + Documentary -main source
- http://thehempbuilder.com/
- http://www.madehow.com/Volume-6/Industrial-Hemp.html
- http://www.truthabouthemp.org/