In November of 1996 Proposition 215 was placed on the ballot as a measure that would create one of the first Medical Marijuana programs of the country. This program would let individuals suffering from most medical ailments and diseases enroll and be issued medical cards in which marijuana could be bought and used as a sort of miracle medicine that would work like nothing else on the market. We understand that the chemical composition of Marijuana or Cannabis is very complex. Being made up of over 400 different chemicals 60 of which are only found in Cannabis one of these Being THC. THC is one of the main ingredients in Marijuana that gives the user the sense of euphoria that can last anywhere from 1 -2 hours. In some instances there can be lasting effects on the endocrine system if absorbed into the body at a early enough stage in there life. Some effects can include lower healthy sperm count in males, and minor changes in the balances with the menstrual cycles in females (1)
With all the empirical evidence backing the validity of using marijuana as a medicine, some people would still bring up that fact that marijuana is still a drug, and a drug that in this authors eyes, as well as the federal governments, is still labeled an Illegal substance. But where does all this animosity come from towards marijuana as a simple plant that grows from the ground ? The debate about the legality of marijuana dates all the way back to the early 20th Century. The first occurrence of marijuana on the national level didn’t start with marijuana as a drug it started with marijuana as a material also known as hemp.
The disgust that was directed solely at Marijuana or Cannabis started in 1937 as a bill in the 75th congress of the United States which actually imposed a levy on the production and sale of hemp in products that were found in items which included paper newspaper and most other fiber manufactured products. This was called the Marihuana Tax of 1937, it was backed by the Secretary of the Treasury who at the time had large investments in Nylon. Nylon as was Paper was being decimated by the sale of Hemp due to its inexpensiveness to produce.
Most other drugs were touched on long before marijuana. Habit forming drugs had to be labeled first before they could be sold without a prescription. Due to the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1907, which also created the FDA, as long as habit forming products had a label they were okay to sell without a medical prescription. This is why coca cola was able to sell minor traces of the opiate cocaine in there product.
From the facts and information that is stated above we can deduce that the assault on the drug industry isn’t a new problem. It is one that has been around for decades. It also didn't start with marijuana. It started with cocaine, marijuana was just a innocent bystander in this world war on narcotics. Cocaine being as volitle to society as it was, did the 13 countries that came together in 1912 to put a stop to the Opium Trade not have justification for doing so. Opium in any form is a horrible and lethal drug. Criminalizing it as they did would be the only way to put a stop to it.
If you were making a law to make the sales of purple cars illegal if purchased in California, would you not have to specify which purple cars would become illegal. Is violet okay, is royal purple okay, electric purple, Han purple. Are all these colors still not some form of purple. So why does the principle change when we talk about controlled substances. If we drugs are illegal then we should define them first....... PARTS 2 COMING SOON
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