Reasons cannabis is illegal

[Joe]

getting back to tboats take on the prison industrial complex...

 

Back in the early 90s I heard that a Texan company in the city of Austin, TI or Texas Instruments, sacked its entire factory floor workforce and replaced them with prison labour.

 

The wages for the floor workers went from 20 dollars per hour to around 20 cents for the prison workers. I wouldn't have a ref for this, it happened about 10 years ago.

 

Doesn't take too much to see that TI could halve their wage costs, and rely on the prison to do all the worker welfare stuff, if they have it in the states, and make the prison a nice profit at the same time. If TI also invests in the prison company then effectively they are paying themselves for slave labour. All this is hypothetical of course.

 

As is this. You lose your job at TI, sell a little mull on the side to keep up the mortgage and the kids fed. No Dole in the states remember, ( cept Bob Dole but he sucks)not much of a safety net. You get busted, you end up in prison.

 

Back working at TI, for 1% of your previous wage, and minus your freedom. No unions either. A prison enviroment to intimidate the workers, and the potential to keep them incarcerated forever, on continually trumped up charges, or charges that come from real and easily provokedevents.

 

The prison industry in the states has one of the most powerful lobby groups in Washington. It is merging with the military complex as the war on terror and the war on drugs seem to be coming closer together. I have heard that in the states there are adds saying things like every time you buy a foil you fund al queda, not that bluntly, but almost that bluntly. How much money have we sunk into our detention of refugees?

 

(Regardless of the rights and wrongs of refugee detention, it seems stupid to me that we spend so much money on allowing foreign owned companies to do this.)

 

At least if our detention centres were run by the gubberment not run by Wakenhut then the money we spend on them would stay in the country, well more of it anyway.

 

Prison workforces are an exploitable resource, anything that threatens the workforce threatens the industry that has built up around it. i guess this is why we won't be seeing legalisation coming out of the states in the near future.

 

Our judiciary seems to unwilling to jail people for minor cannabis infractions, but our govt is marching step for step with the US. Looks like a stalemate situation.

 

I think what is happening in Canada, in ontario I think, is an interesting situation. anyone else heard much about that?

[Tom]

I'm wondering if the prisoners get things like sick pay, holiday pay and a super fund and what do they do with long service leave, send them to a prison in Australia for a holiday?

 

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[misfit96]

I havent really read through much of the posts in this topic but i thought i would post up a summary of why cannabis is illegal seeing as i have the document on my pc(most of it has probably been said but oh well).

 

 

Hemp for fibre, paper, fuel:

 

 

The facts cited herein on marijuana are generally verifiable in theEncyclopedia Brittanica, which was printed on Cannabis hemp paper for 150 years. Other facts and anecdotes are source cited in brevity.

 

All schoolbooks were made from hemp and/orflax paper until the 1880s, and most schoolbooks were still made with Cannabis fiber until the early 1900s. (Hemp Paper Reconsidered, Jack Frazier, 1974).Seventy-five to ninety per cent of all paper in the world was made from Cannabis hemp until 1883. Most books, maps, etc.

 

It was legal to pay taxes with Cannabis hemp in the United States from 1631 until the early 1800s. (Los Angeles Times, Aug. 12, 1981, and other sources). Refusing to grow Cannabis hemp was against the law in the United States during the 17th and 18th century; one could be jailed in Virginia for refusing to grow hemp.

 

Cannabis hemp is the longest, most durable, and longest lasting natural fiber known to exist on the earth. Ninety per cent of all ships sails were made from Cannabis hemp since before Christ until the 1930s. Hemp was the second most used natural fiber in the United States untilthe 1930s, when it was replaced mostly be new Du Pont plastic fibers. Ninety per cent of all rope and twine was made from Cannabis hemp until 1937. Hemp rope and twine has been replaced mostly by petrochemical fibers, produced principally by Du Pont. When cannabis was made illegal, the cannabis paints, oils etc went to Du Pont(whom began to destroy rainforests despite the fact that 1 acre of cannabis produces the same amount of paper as 4.1 acres of trees, it prudces better quality material, grows super fast and is resistant to most insects and infections. If cannabis was industrialised, cotton wouldnt need to be produced, which costs alot to prouduce because so many pesticides are needed and is unfriendly to the environment.)

 

 

Hemp for food:

 

 

Marijuana seed was used in porridge, soups, and gruel by virtually all the people of the world daily until the twentieth century. Monks were required to eat it three times a day, they made their clothing from hemp, and printed their Bibles on hemp. Australia survived two prolonged famines in the 19th century using virtually nothing but marijuana seed for protein and marijuana leaves for roughage.

 

The Marijuana seed, which is technically a fruit, is the second most complete protein source known, after soybeans. The enzymes and endistins contained in marijuana seed break down food nutrients to allow easier digestion and more food value. Marijuana seed contains a higher percentage of enzymes and amino acids than any other food, including soybeans, and like soybeans can be made to taste like chicken, beef, tofu, etc. at five to ten per cent the cost of soybean protein. Domestic animals could also be fed for less than 20 per cent of current costs. (Marijuana Farmer). Marijuana can be grown very poor soil, is an excellent rotation crop (USDA), there is no THC content in the seed.

 

 

Medicinal properties of Cannabis:

 

 

For more than 3,500 years marijuana has been one of the most widely used drugs for oriental medicine. From 1850 to 1937 American Pharmacopeia prescribed marijuana for more than 100 separate illnesses or diseases. From 1842 to the 1880's marijuana was one of the most used drugs in the United States to treat the illnesses of adults and children. The American Medical Association testified against the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act. The United States Government forbid marijuana research for 30 years from 1931 to 1961.

 

Recent research (1966 through 1976) reconfirms marijuana to be the medicine of choice, best and safest, for glaucoma, for epilepsy, for muscular spasms, for reduction of tumors, for control of nausea in cancer chemotherapy, for emphysema, migraine, depression, and anorexia nervosa.Eighty percent of asthmatic - more than 15 million people are affected - could add two to four years to their lifespans, especially children, over the benefits of presently legal and toxic medicines.

 

Ninety percent of glaucoma victims can benefit from the use of marijuana. California eye doctors will tell their patients, discreetly, to use marijuana to save their eyes. Marijuana is two to three times as effective as any currently legal medicines for reducing ocular pressure, without toxic side effects destroying liver and kidneys, toxic effects associated with present legal glaucoma drugs.

 

Marijuana is also the supreme dilator of the airways, the bronchi, opening them up to allow more oxygen into the blood. Marijuana is the best dilator of the little air tubes of the lungs, the bronchioles. Marijuana is the best overall bronchiole dilator. (Therapeutic Potential of Marijuana, and studies by Taskin at UCLA from 1969 through 1983, and the U.S. Costa Rican

Studies, 1982).

 

"Cannabis has an effect on the heart, similar to the effects of exercise. It may be just as good for the heart as going to the gym". (BBC website).

 

The N.I.H. ordered only 300 copies of the Costa Rician Report to be printed. To read the suppressed original Costa Rican Report ordered by the U.S. Government would make you cry. The extrapolations of health potentials are extraordinary.Medical research indicates that light marijuana smoking would be the therapy of choice for mild emphysema to allow more fresh areas of the bronchi to open up for more oxygen transfer, and increase the quality of life greatly for tens of millions of sufferers of emphysema. (UCLA, 1974-1975).

 

All research into the oxygen transfer effects caused by marijuana indicates that chest pains, shallowness of breath, headaches, etc., which are symptomatic of heavy smog exposure are usually alleviated entirely by the light smoking of marijuana throughout the day. (Marijuana Pulmonary Research, Taskin, UCLA, 1969-1983). Marijuana is the best natural expectorant to void lungs of smog.Marijuana completely alleviates most migraine headaches most of the time. It is estimated that, if legal, marijuana would replace more than fifty percent of Valium, Librium, Stellazine, etc. (Therapeutic Potential of Marijuana). Marijuana is the best way presently known to dry the mouth's saliva, in dentistry.

 

If legal, it would replace the highly toxic Probanthine, manufactured by Searle & Co. Marijuana is also the best relaxant and back spasm medicine available short of morphine.Marijuana is the best herb known for reducing malignant and benign tumors. Until 1937 virtually all fistula, corns, and fibrosis were treated with poltices made from or treated with marijuana extracts. (The Therapeutic Potential of Marijuana and Marijuana Medical Papers,1972). Sixty percent of epileptics can benefit from the use of marijuana. It is considered to be the best medication for many types of epilepsy, and for most victim's post seizure trauma.

 

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Government ordered (then ordered suppressed) studies done at the Medical College of Virginia. After notable success in the research, orders were given by the DEA and the National Institute of Health, to cease all research and reports in 1975. (The Therapeutic Potential of Marijuana, and personal interviews with the doctors and researchers who conducted the research, by the California Marijuana Initiative in Washington, D.C., Nov. 1982). Marijuana is the best agent for control of nausea in cancer chemotherapy. (UCLA, Dr. Thomas Underleider, head of California's Marijuana for Cancer Research Project, 1979-1983).

 

The U.S. legal drug companies and beer companies(particularly budweiser) presently supply almost half of all funding for the 4,000 "Families Against Marijuana" type organizations in the U.S. The other half of the funding is from ACTION, a federal VISTA agency. Eli Lilly Co. would stand to lose a third of their patented monopoly, including Darvon, Tuinal and Seconal patented line, they already attempted to create synthetic THC called Nabilone in hope that if legalized they could stop people growing cannabis buy selling them synthetic THC(expensive and unaffective).(National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and by Omni Magazine).

 

It is interesting to note President Bush's anti drug stance. Bush is one of Eli Lilly Co.'s largest stockholders, and was director of the Eli Lilly Co. from 1977 to 1979. Bush's family owns controlling interest in Eli Lilly Company. (Internal Revenue Service).

 

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is still pressuring Latin American countries to use paraquat, a deadly herbicide. Mexico has been spraying fields with paraquat, much of this sprayed marijuana makes its way to the United States. Science Digest (a Hearst Publication) June 1983, NORML, L.A. Times, USA Today, and others state that paraquat is a very dangerous chemical and a singularly hideous way to die. It is a heinous crime for any government to allow paraquat to its people and its lands. The president of Chevron, the U.S. manufacturer of paraquat, has begged the U.S. Government, the U.S. State Dept., and the DEA to not use paraquat in this manner, as it may kill thousands of innocent people, and constitute other grave dangers. (Science Digest, June 1983).

 

In 1989 there were 327,000 arrests for simple possession of marijuana. Operation Green Merchant, which took place in the fall of 1989, was aimed at garden stores. Over 440 people were arrested and more than $9 million of property was seized. Advertisers in magazines such as High Times were targeted and mail-order catalog lists were siezed. About 150 times more money is spent on marijuana enforcement than on alcohol enforcement. (1981 FBI crime statistics).

 

At present it is estimated that marijuana's LD-50 is around 1:20,000 or 1:40,000. In layman terms this means that in order to induce death a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much marijuana as is contained in one marijuana cigarette. NIDA-supplied marijuana cigarettes weigh approximately .9 grams. A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response. In practical terms, marijuana cannot induce a lethal response as a result of drug-related toxicity.

 

 

Why its illegal:

 

 

The testimony before Congress in 1937 in favor of making Cannabis illegal consisted almost entirely of Hearst Newspaper articles read aloud by Anslinger. Anslinger was Director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics from 1931 to 1961. Prior to 1931, Anslinger had been Assistant U.S. Commissioner for Prohibition. Anslinger was picked to head the Federal Bureau of Narcotics by his uncle-in-law, Andrew Mellon, the Secretary of the Treasury under Hoover, and by the owner of Mellon Bank, Pittsburgh, the sixth largest U.S. bank, which invested its money in Du Pont which produced petrochemical fibers, a rival of hemp.

 

Anslinger was also involved in producing propaganda videos such as "reefer madness" in which it claimed, cannabis would make you lazy, cause insanity(after trying it even once) and kill your whole family with an axe. Meanwhile the governments own records still to date have found no deaths attributed to by the use of cannabis. Other films were produced like "Marijuana - The assassin of youth" which ended with the words "tell your children".

 

In 1937 Anslinger testified before Congress that "Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind." After the 1944 New York City La Guardia Marijuana Report refuting marijuana causing violence at all, Anslinger changed his tune before Congress by 1948, when he told Congress that he no longer thought marijuana violence-causing, but "a much more dangerous drug than America than that."

 

He testified that "Marijuana causes its users to become so peaceful and pacifistic that in the future American boys will not want to fight in our wars." Anslinger also warned Congress that "The Communists could use marijuana to sap our will to fight." This represents a reversal of the reasoning which originally produced marijuana's illegalization in the country in 1937. Anslinger retired in 1961.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

 

Here is a possible scenario reconstructed from facts which are public record. The Hearst Publishing Company can see it coming - heavy losses in the companies wood pulp paper holdings. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture itself had in 1916 invented a hemp pulp paper process which it proclaimed would, as soon as the technology became available, make paper both superior and cheaper than wood pulp paper. This technology becomes available in the 30's. At the same time Du Pont, an industry directly competing with Cannabis seed oil in paint and other petrochemical products, is able to put of their own men into the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. This man, Anslinger, then testifies before Congress in 1937, mostly reciting Hearst newspaper articles. The result was the 1937 Hemp Tax Transfer Law, which made marijuana illegal. Du Pont goes on to become a major player in the petrochemical/plastics industry, and secures use of their wood pulp paper process and the circle of self-interest is closed. It's up to us to re-open the discussion.