Even today, with 80% of states legalizing cannabis in some form, and half the country legalizing it for medical purposes, I have been called a lunatic for ever thinking that cannabis would be recognized for the miracle plant that it is. Shockingly enough many have yet to see through the mainstream media facade to the ruling puppeteers behind.
Many still hold fast in their belief that cannabis is dangerous and not medically efficacious, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary backed by scientists and industry leaders alike. The only ones, it seems, that are not reconciling their incorrect beliefs, and intentionally so, are the politicians with their hands in Big Pharma’s back pocket, also known as, the American political elite.
They continue to stand on their podium of lies broadcasting their misinformation, casting aside what little integrity they retain while making the conscious decision to sell out their constituents, their country, and themselves, all for a little extra paper, that they most likely did not truly need in the first place.
Despite the onslaught of ridiculous claims and outright lies reminiscent of the days of "Reefer Madness” that have been cast into minds of unsuspecting Americans, it would seem that We, as a nation, or rather as the people of a nation, have chosen to see past the obvious attempts by the government to misdirect our attention and feed us State-sponsored comforting lies, that only benefit an elite few, and perpetuate a Deep State agenda.
We, as the American people, have shown this country's ruling masters that we see though their half-hearted attempts to coral us into an aligned way of thinking and viewing the world, a way of thinking that primarily benefits those in control and casts what little remains down to those of us still scrabbling for the scraps from their table. We have shown them, that we will think for ourselves.
As there are most definitely more pressing issues facing this nation, and the world for that matter, the topic of cannabis and its subsequent legalization is, in my opinion, one of the primary catalysts that began the awakening we are currently experiencing. It showed every American citizen that when the people stand together, truly unite, our voices are all that matter.
Below we are breaking down the top ten marijuana myths that no intelligent, critically thinking person should still believe:
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frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Myth #1: MARIJUANA IS MORE HARMFUL THAN CIGARETTES, ALCOHOL AND PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
According to a DEA report 80% of states have legalized cannabis in some form.A pound of salt, if consumed, is indeed lethal.
Not a single person has ever dies from cannabis use.
Cigarettes kill half million people each year.
CDC claims-5.5 million YPLL(years per life lost) each year in the US.Alcohol is the cause of over 50,000 cases of alcohol poisoning every year, of which one a week dies.
Proferror David Nutt was fired for speaking out about the reality of alcohol and how dangerous it truly is.Prescription Drugs cause over 100,000 deaths a year.
CDC calls prescription drugs the fasting growing cause of death in the US, and is currently the leading cause of death.
There are 290 deaths a day due to prescription drugs; that's one every 20 min and they are given kids and adults alike.
According to KVTX 19, In 2010 doctors prescribed enough painkillers to give a 45mg percocet and 24 5mg vicodins to every person in the United States.
According to the British Medical Journal, every 1 dollar that pharmaceutical companies spend on research and development, they spend 19 dollars on promotion and marketing of their drugs.
Myth #2: MARIJUANA IS HIGHLY ADDICTIVE
There is a major difference between a psychological addiction(desire/obsession) and chemical addiction(withdrawal).
Only 9% of users who regularly use cannabis even develop a psychological addiction.One can become addicted to anything, but that does not make everything addictive, especially not enough to be added to the Controlled Substance Listing.
Recent studies show minor withdrawal symptoms associated with long-term, everyday cannabis consumers suggesting a very small percentage of chronic users do develop a chemical, albeit very minor, addiction.
These symptoms were relatively mild, elevated pulse, irritability and headaches, when compared to even the lowest level opiate (Schedule II). It is important to understand that these were the only negative withdrawal symptoms from a lifetime of cannabis use. One could hardly consider this withdrawal, being less intrusive than a caffeine addiction. An everyday, long-term opiate user would have an extreme and possibly deadly withdrawal.Cannabis has the lowest recorded addiction of all the drugs in any Schedule.
Studies have shown that a person can actually have withdrawals after abstaining from a habit of excessively eating of junk food.
Myth #3: MARIJUANA CAUSES SCHIZOPHRENIA
This is an extension of the classic "Reefer Madness" - Pot makes you crazy.
Scientists have long known that schizophrenia is inherited genetically.
Inheriting genes from both parents is a legacy of issues and benefits that none can avoid.
It is genetically impossible for marijuana use to cause schizophrenia in a person that did not already have the inherit genes necessary to trigger the ailment.
The illness naturally occurs in a small percentage of the general population with a predisposition for the disease. It has a higher rate of 10 percent occurrence in those who have a first-degree family member with the ailment, such as a parent, brother or sister. The risk is highest for an identical twin of a person with schizophrenia. He or she has a 40 to 65 percent chance of developing the disorder.
“While cannabis may have an effect on the age of onset of schizophrenia it is unlikely to be the cause of illness,” said the researchers, who were led by Ashley C. Proal from Harvard Medical School.
This illness can be triggered by a serious car accident but that does not mean that driving should be made illegal.
There is an undeniable correlation between those who use cannabis and those with schizophrenia, however, a Harvard Medical study as well as many others, show that those with the gene for schizophrenia have a genetic predisposition for drug use. Seeing as how marijuana is the most common drug of choice and roughly 60% of the U.S. has smoked marijuana at some point in their lives, it becomes an easy statistic to show that the vast majority of those with schizophrenia are also marijuana smokers. One could show a direct correlation between marijuana smokers and just about anything due to the rising percentage of those who have smoked marijuana in this country. Using that same logic, one could show a direct correlation between cannabis use and the flu. There would no doubt be a large percentage of people who had previously gotten the flu, and had also smoked marijuana, simply due to the prevalence of marijuana use today. This however, does not mean that marijuana use causes the flu. This is one way that polls and statistics can be quite misleading.
Myth #4: MARIJUANA HAS NO PROVEN MEDICAL BENEFITS
“We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States… marijuana was a legitimate medication.” Dr. Sanjay Gupta
After Nixon declared marijuana enemy number one in the early 1970’s there was a massive and discreet effort to erase all evidence of its value. In just a few decades, the U.S. government was able to wipe thousands of years of anecdotal as well as solid scientific evidence of the efficacy of cannabis in treating a wide range of ailments and diseases from our collective medical knowledge.
“There’s actual documentation that shows the United States Government under Nixon was actively writing to universities saying ‘pull your information of cannabis, hemp and marijuana out of your libraries, literally purge it.” Todd McCormick – Researcher, Editor of “The Emperor Wears No Cloths”
Both celery and parley have the ability to effectively combat breast cancer, so why is not being researched?
Myth #5: THE GATEWAY THEORY
Marijuana is the most commonly used drug in the United States. The most recent poll showed that 108 million people in America have tried marijuana. With that fact in mind, consider for a moment how easy it would be to show a correlation between any common practice and marijuana use.
79% of regular marijuana users do not use any other illicit drug.
Nearly 85% of everybody in this country that uses any form of illicit substance whatsoever, uses solely marijuana.
“Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang members are probably 104 times more likely (comparing to an earlier reference) to have ridden a bicycle as a kid than those who don’t become Hell’s Angels, but that doesn’t mean that riding a two-wheeler is a “gateway” to joining a motorcycle gang. It simply means that most people ride bikes and the kind of people who don’t are highly unlikely to ever ride a motorcycle.” -Time Magazine
“There are about 16.1 million monthly users of marijuana and only 287,000 monthly users of heroin. Not only do most people who try marijuana never move on to heroin, the vast majority of them don’t even continue smoking marijuana.Marijuana use among adolescents appears to be a symptom of problem behavior, not a cause.
Myth #6: MARIJUANA CAUSES MEMORY LOSS AND A GENERAL REDUCTION IN LOGIC
The first and most important distinction to make when discussing marijuana’s effects on memory is the very big difference between the effectiveness of memory recall while under the influence of cannabis and while sober. Marijuana has been shown to affect short-term memory and one’s ability to form new memories while under the influence, however, has little to no effect on one’s ability to recall memories formed before or after. In other words marijuana does not harm one’s long-term memories but makes it more difficult to retain information while intoxicated. Many feel that alcohol causes much more impairment on short-term and long-term memory, and its effects are not limited to the time of impairment, but cause lasting detriment to the memory.
Any cognitive damage that does occur as a result of cannabis use is reversible.
A study conducted by Harvard Medical School shows that even this type of excessive marijuana use and consequent perceived harm is completely reversible. If and when one chooses to discontinue the excessive use, the brain function will return to normal. This in itself disproves years of marijuana propaganda.
A vast majority of those shown to have negative effects attributed to long-term marijuana use, have a substantial correlation to those who started at a young age. Therefore the majority of those effects can be attributed to the use of a mind altering substance with a developing brain, whether it be cannabis or any other.
Myth #7: THERE ARE OVER 400 CHEMICALS IN MARIJUANA
One of the many statements that are commonly used to continue this campaign of false information is that cannabis contains hundreds of chemicals, as if implying, or rather letting the public assume, that those chemicals are inherently unsafe.
The reality is that roasted coffee contains over 1500 chemicals. Only 21 of those chemicals have actually been tested on animals and 16 of these cause cancer in rodents. Yet, coffee remains legal and is generally considered safe.
This misleading statistic is often used to make marijuana look dangerous. Cigarettes contain over 4000 chemicals while rat poison contains only 30. One can easily see how this information can be misleading.
A recent study in the journal Scientific Reports showed that alcohol is an astounding 114 times more dangerous to consume than cannabis.
The entourage effect is the result of using the naturally occurring chemical combination with in the cannabis plant that nature saw fit to provide humanity with. When taken in its unadulterated state, cannabis creates this medically miraculous effect that has unrivaled healing results, yet, it is illegal, ask yourself why...
Myth #8: MARIJUANA HAS YET TO BE SUBJECTED TO ADEQUATE SCIENTIFIC STUDY
Anecdotal:
Cannabis has had a longer history of safe and effective use as a therapeutic agent than virtually any comparable substance. Cannabis based textiles have been identified in northern China dating back to 7000 B.C and the recognition and use of the plant’s medicinal abilities date back almost as far.Cannabis has been used in this country as an all-purpose fabric, oil, paper and medicine until the early to mid nineteen hundreds when it began to compete with the leading industries that were primarily run by the country’s ruling families.
Scientific:
Despite the claims of politicians, marijuana is one of the most studied biologically active substances of modern times. A search on PubMed, the repository for all peer-reviewed scientific papers, using the term “marijuana” will produce nearly 20,000 scientific papers referencing the plant, most in the last decade.
By comparison, a keyword search using the term “Tylenol” yields 17,370 published papers. A keyword search using the term “ibuprofen” yields 10,500 published paper. A keyword search using the term “Ritalin” yields 7,012 published papers, and a keyword search using the term “hydrocodone” yields only 630 published papers.More than 100 controlled trials, involving thousands of participants, have tested and evaluated the safety and efficacy of cannabis.
This body of clinical evidence exceeds that of many FDA-approved prescription drugs. According to a 2014 review published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, of the 188 novel therapeutic agents approved by the FDA between the years 2005 to 2012, “The median number of pivotal trials per indication was two, and 74 indications (37%) were approved on the basis of a single trial."
Myth #9: THE MARIJUANA MOVEMENT IS JUST AN EXCUSE FOR PEOPLE TO GET HIGH
The Hearst and Dupont families were deeply invested in timber and synthetics, both of which would suffer with the rise of hemp.
In 1916 the us Gov, predicted that by 1940 all paper would come from hemp, and no more trees need be cut down, triggering their fear of the rise of hemp products.
1 acre of hemp = 4.1 acres of trees.
In 1938 hemp was named the first “billion dollar crop.”
This entire debate is deeply rooted in ones right to choose, not just about cannabis itself.
The movement was started as a public outcry against the government’s encroachment on all personal freedoms in this country, and centered around one issue in particular: marijuana legalization. This focus was chosen because, along with legalization, it ties all current constitutional issues together under a banner that ultimately represents the gravest issues facing this country today: loss of civil rights, government misconduct and misappropriations, and a century long conspiracy, of which is slowly becoming public knowledge; as well as uniting two vastly different generations under one flag.
Myth #10: OPPOSITION TO MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION IS DRIVEN ENTIRELY BY CAUTIOUS PRUDENCE
Prison Industry:
In the 1.5 million arrests on drug related offenses in 2011, about 50% were for marijuana use. In 1965, police were solving about 90% of the murders in this country. Today that’s under 65%, and that’s considering all the tremendous advances in technology.
“Attorney General Kleindienst for Nixon, was quoted after Nixon declared Drugs ‘public enemy number one’ as saying that they knew in the Nixon administration that drug treatment worked and incarceration did not, but the enormous political benefit by declaring a war on drugs, that can’t really fight back, he said they chose the incarceration route for political reasons, and then were absolutely overwhelmed by the positive political benefits that they received after the declaration.” -Judge Jim Gray – Former Orange County Supreme Court Judge
This began the US and its war on ideas i.e. drugs, terror, etc.
Big Pharma:
Most of the major groups fighting to keep marijuana perceived as the most deadly drug known to man, just so happen to be funded by companies that stand to lose money with the rise of an all-natural medicine that can be grown in one’s back yard. These groups preach from on high about the moral and compassionate reasons for opposing legalization when in reality the greedy Big Pharma is pulling all the strings. The Community Anti-Drug Coalition of America (CADCA) and the other groups leading the fight against relaxing marijuana laws, including the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids (formerly the Partnership for a Drug-Free America), derive a significant portion of their budget from opioid manufacturers and other pharmaceutical companies
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There are many who undoubtedly believe wholeheartedly that marijuana is the worst substance on the planet. This most definitely derives from the 70 year smear campaign designed to instill just that type of fear. It is unfortunate that many have yet to see the light in regards to marijuana’s healing properties; even more so unfortunate that those very same individuals are being manipulated into fighting a war for an elite group with no one’s interest in mind except their own.
From the prison industry, to the pharmaceutical industry, to the timber industry, billions of dollars are being thrown at the failing marijuana war in an attempt to maintain the facade of a evil drug that will corrupt your children and ruin your life. This however is a remanent of a time before the internet; a time when the government could be caught in a lie and there was time to secretly hide the evidence. That time has come to an end. When one hears, many hear. When one sees, we all see.
Follow the change. Be the change.
Written by Ryan Cristian
Founder/Owner/Editor-in-chief of The Last American Vagabond
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