CANNABIS AND WHAT THE GOVERNMENTS TAKE ON IT IS

2009.04.02

When one thinks of marijuana, they don't associate it with the big bad drugs like Heroin or Cocaine. With that being said, the Governments in many countries have reduced the penalties of having weed (be it in a small amount) down to a less punishable offence. As long as you are using it as a recreational outlet, if you are caught with pot you may get a fine rather than jail time.

If you sell it, then the Government calls it trafficking and indeed puts a higher priority on busting the pipeline from where it comes from. Many countries import marijuana to North America like Acapulco, Thailand, Peru and even from within its own borders like Mexico and California. Also today with all the new technological advances with hydroponics anybody with some money can have their own grow operation, which can yield more than what the average person smokes personally.

The medicinal uses of Marijuana have now become beneficial and legal in some countries like Canada, Denmark, Netherlands and the UK. Some companies such as Superdog and Boots are allowed to sell weed with a prescription from your doctor.

On the flip side if your caught with weed in some countries like East Asia you can go to jail for life or even face execution.

Call it weed, cannabis or marijuana, it was used by some doctors to treat symptoms for some famous people. Apparently, Queen Victoria suffered serious menstrual disorders and her doctor Sir John Russell Reynold found with use of Cannabis it alleviated her symptoms. This  prompted him to write an article about the benefits of THC as a pain reliever in the first edition of the medical journal called The Lancet.

A report was written in 1894 by the Indian Hemps Drugs Commission ordered by the UK Secretary of State and the government of India that prevented Marijuana users being charged with a criminal offence in certain countries.

Things soon changed in America and from 1906 regulations were put in place to limit the imports of Cannabis indicia. A radical step for America happened in1925 where a total ban of Cannabis prevented the import of this drug unless certification of its scientific or medicinal purposes were proven.
The final major blow to the industry was when in 1937 F.D Roosevelt put forth the Marijuana Tax Act calling possession of weed to be an illegal act in the United States.

Marijuana’s name comes the Mexican Spanish language and is normally associated with the buzz you get from smoking it. Americans tried to use a Mexican name for the drug during the 1920s to the 1930s to turn the population against the use of Cannabis being legalized playing on the fact Mexico was quite unpopular at that time.

Many still think that Marijuana should not be legalized due to the fact when you smoke it you get a high or buzz. The truth is today’s society is starting to come around to fact that if a so called drug like alcohol can be legalized, regulated and taxed, why can't a drug like Marijuana which has already been proven throughout the years to have major medicinal purposes compared to booze should not be at least decriminalized to a point where an individual can enjoy the aspects of Cannabis without recriminations from the law.