Cannabis and What The Government?s Take On It Is

2009.05.03

 Cannabis Indica has for a long time been used as an opiate, a psychoactive drug and been use for medicinal purposes. Its by-product, hashish was used to for psychoactive purposes for a tribe who were professional killers, called assassins derived from the word hashish. For many years, in Europe, its medicinal used was widely recognized and, in fact written up in medical journals like the Lancet, in particular, one article written up by Sir John Russell Reynolds who was the personal physician of Queen Victoria.

 The real effort to criminalize cannabis began in the 1930’s with the Roosevelt administration changing the name specifically to demonize the drug. It was widely rumored then, and into our time that the reason this was done was to make accessions to the burgeoning pharmaceutical trade, who viewed cannabis as a threat, because it was being used in many home remedies, and farmers grew it openly, never for trafficking but for their own personal use. Different governments, of course reflect different attitudes, and in some countries, weed can be bought over the counter, as in the Netherlands. Other countries like East Asia heavily and severely punish the possession, use and trafficking of cannabis with sentences as harsh as a life sentence, or even execution.

            It seems that the decision to criminalize the drug has had the opposite effect than was intended, for now, those criminal laws have created a burgeoning criminal drug trade that grows exponentially in money made from its trade, and in bloody gang wars that have recently erupted in British Columbia, Canada. None of these patterns is new, though as in the 20’s and thirties when prohibition was in effect. Criminalizing of alcohol helped make organized crime very rich, and almost out of control.

            Whether you say that marijauna is good or bad, or whether you contend that it is addictive or no, it is the attitude of the government that prevails. They seem to have the final word in how cannabis or marijuana is treated. I mentioned before about the recent killings in British Columbia, Canada – the result of that being that the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper resolved to crack down on the possession, use and trafficking of cannabis with stiffer fines, imprisonment and a slash and burn policy to destroy all plants being grown.

The paradox lies in the sanctioning of pot for medical use as allowed by the medical profession according to what they deem necessary for treatment of Glaucoma, Alzheimer’s, and some types of cancer. It is also interesting to note that governments seem to be increasingly involved in the very thing that were outlawed decades ago, with alcohol sales, and gambling in the form of Lotto’s. The arguments for the de-criminalization of cannabis are mounting toward the same end, with the arbitrary decision of the government determining for us all, yet again, what is ultimately for our own good.