Cannabis: An Amazing Healer…The Long & Winding Road To Respectability. Written by Kelley Aiyana, LCSW (Kelley coordinates state of Hawaii medical cannabis certification services with <strong>Maui</strong> physician Dr. Irving Brown at her psychotherapy office in Kihei, <strong>Maui</strong>) 1. The medicinal use of cannabis dates back thousands of years to ancient China, <strong>In</strong>dia and Egypt. Cannabis was entered into the US Pharmacopeia in 1850 as a treatment for: Neuralgia, Tetanus, Typhus, Cholera, Rabies. Dysentery, Opiate addiction, Anthrax, Hanson’s disease (called Leprosy at that time), <strong>In</strong>continence, Snakebite, Gout, Seizure disorder, Tonsillitis, <strong>In</strong>sanity, Excessive menstrual bleeding, Uterine bleeding. It was widely available in pharmacies and even grocery stores. 2. Years later with the rise in popularity of new synthetic drugs, opium derived drugs and other factors including business interests & government propaganda campaigns, laws against cannabis use were passed and eventually it was removed from the US Pharmacopeia in 1941. A few years earlier in 1936 in preparation for the removal, the film “Reefer Madness” was released as propaganda to instill fear and stigma into society for many generations. Now it has been made into plays and musicals performed in live theatre mocking the absurdity of the lies. It wasn’t until 1970 when President Nixon moving against the increasingly popular use of marijuana, associated marijuana with “liberal Jews,” “hippies” and college students who were protesters of the Vietnam Nam war and autocratically classified cannabis as a “controlled substance.” This put cannabis into the most dangerous drug category stating it has a high risk of addiction and abuse and no longer recognizing it as having any medicinal benefit. He even assigned a commission to “prove” the lack of evidence for medical use and appointed strong anti-drug warriors to do this. <strong>In</strong> the end they were all surprisingly convinced that it indeed had medical use and should not be criminalized. But Nixon would not accept this and they were made to change the findings which means lie about what they found. This led to “all out war on drugs” and since then more than 5 million people have been arrested for marijuana offenses with many arrests made with machine guns and military style raids. 3. Additionally, this prevented much needed research and treatments for patients with pain, seizure disorders, cancer, PTSD and many other conditions. After years of accruing evidence in favor of medicinal cannabis, in 1988 Chief Administrator Law Judge Francis L Young from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) ruled in favor of moving cannabis to a less restrictive category stating: 4. “Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substance known to man” and “the evidence in the record clearly shows that marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people…It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to stand between the sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence in this record.” As ridiculous as it sounds, however, he was overruled by the head of the DEA (4) and it continues to remain on federal record that cannabis has no medicinal benefit. NO MEDICINAL BENEFIT!!! Unbelievable! 5. Fast forward to now, currently 29 states have medical marijuana laws and many more have some limited form of legalization. It may be a surprise but it is reported that seniors are the fastest growing group of new medical cannabis users because it works for them. Researchers from University of Georgia found seniors who use medical cannabis often use fewer prescription drugs for painful joints, arthritis and other aches and pains. 6. Out of the 783,936 annual deaths from conventional medicine mistakes, approximately 106,000 of those are the result of prescription drug use [1]. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, two-hundred and ninety people in the United States are killed by prescription drugs every day Note the DEA reports year after year that there are no deaths caused by cannabis. 7. That’s amazing given the amount of deaths caused by commonly prescribed drugs. 8. <strong>In</strong> addition to the physical symptoms and illnesses that medical cannabis treats, it has been found to help negative emotional states as well. Carl Sagan, a long-time cannabis advocate and NASA consultant and advisor famously stated: “The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce serenity and insight sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.” - Carl Sagan - 1934 - 1996 (Astronomer, Astrophysicist, writer, professor at Cornell University and Harvard and narrator & co-writer of public tv series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage). REFERENCES: 1. Boire, Richard Glen; Feeney, Kevin (January 26, 2007). Medical Marijuana Law 2. <strong>In</strong>graham, Christopher (July 29, 2014). “Medical marijuana opponents’ most powerful argument is at odds with a mountain of research”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 12, 2016. 3. Zeese, Kevin (March 20, 2002). “Once-Secret “Nixon Tapes” Show Why the U.S. Outlawed Pot”. AlterNet. Retrieved May 16, 2017. 4. Eddy, Mark (April 02, 2010). Medical Marijuana: Review & Analysis of Federal & State Policies. 5. <strong>Maui</strong> Grown Therapies, 7 Things Seniors Should Know, <strong>Maui</strong> Dispensary Educational Literature. April 2017 6. Null, Gary, Death by Medicine 2011, Starfield, B. 2000, (JAMA) Journal of American Medical Association, Vol 284, No 4 7. Drug Enforcement Agency DEA Drugs of Abuse Resource Guide 2017 edition. Pg 74. 8. Grinspoon, Lester, Marihuana Revisited, 1971. Carl Sagan essay originally written in 1969 under his alter-ego “Mr. X”. FOR GREAT OFFERS AND FREEBIES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD VISIT OURTOWNSDEALS.COM • ©2017 TODAY IN MAGAZINE • OURTOWNSFINEST.COM • 818-573-5443 22
FOR GREAT OFFERS AND FREEBIES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD VISIT OURTOWNSDEALS.COM • ©2017 TODAY IN MAGAZINE • OURTOWNSFINEST.COM • 818-573-5443 23