MMJ Spots

You are quite correct. Tobacco is a much worse hazard (sorry to the folks who beg to differ, but a recent study done by Dr. Donald Tashkin of NIDA determined that even chronic, long term smokers of cannabis do NOT have elevated risks of lung cancer — as long as they don’t touch any tobacco).
However, Tobacco has a huge lobby which pays millions in bribes to our elected officials. So, in spite of the fact that cannabis is actually healing, it remains illegal (oh you scoffers, I can hear the moralistic shouts through my computer screen — but you should know that the US Government is lying to you: They know cannabis is actually a medicine, and they have already taken out a patent on the medicinal benefits of cannabis. You can look it up. I am including references to everything I state.)
So back to why it is illegal. There are many sites which explain all the politics of it, but hemp (cannabis) used to be a huge cash crop in the US, and supplied the raw material for fiber, bio-plastics, diesel fuel, bird seed, and paper. But it was really difficult to harvest. In 1936 a thresher was patented that made harvesting much easier. But that put hemp in direct competition with the large paper mills (owned by Hearst); and DuPont chemicals, which had developed a process for producing plastics from petroleum.
All this pretty much coincided with the repeal of alcohol prohibition in 1933. Federal agents who had been merrily busting moonshiners and bootleggers who operated illegal stills, now were out of a job. Harry Anslinger, head of those operations wanted to keep his boys employed, so together with Hearst, DuPont, and a cadre of racists, started a campaign to demonize cannabis. They made up a new name for it (marijuana), said that the Mexicans and Blacks who smoked it, were corrupting white youth, and turning everyone who used it into crazed killers.
Congress, clueless as ever, agreed to but a ban on “marijuana”. Unfortunately, they didn’t realize it was the same thing as hemp. So a lot of farmers were ticked off. Also, a bunch of doctors were upset because cannabis had been used for a century in many medications including children’s cough syrup, and sleeping liquid.
But money talks, and it spoke loudly then, as now. Hearst (of the wood pulp and paper interests) used his many newspapers to print lies, and push the prohibition through.
Briefly, during World War II, access to imported hemp was cut off, and the the US Govt. realized it had shot itself in the foot, and actually had to make propaganda films encouraging farmers to grow hemp again (used in ropes, sales, parachutes, etc.)
Oh, human folly! In the 1960′s cannabis smoking became popular again, and was a part of the “mind-expansion movement.” Then in the early 1970′s, President Richard Nixon, of Watergate fame, was upset at all the cannabis smoking hippies who also happened to be demonstrating against the Viet Nam war. He wanted to crack down on them, so he commissioned a congressional committee to research cannabis so he could say how baaaaaad it was.
Unfortunately for Nixon, the Shafer Commission said they thought cannabis should be legalized. Nixon tore up the study, and (sadly for humankind) launched the “WAR ON DRUGS!”
Since then the lies, idiocy, and brainwashing persist. Prisons are making money on the 730,000 folks arrested each year for simple cannabis possession. Blacks and Latinos, as usual, bear the brunt of these asinine policies (which to a large measure are all about keeping ‘undesirable’ people ‘down.’)
Since mainstream media is beholding to corporate interests which have no stake in making cannabis legal again, it is very hard to find out the truth, or even have a sensible discussion about it.
Actually, you should all be very angry about these policies. Why? because of this stupid prohibition, promising medical studies were put on hold. Do you know anyone with cancer? Well, a 1974 study done at the University of Virginia discovered that cannabinoids (in cannabis) cause tumors to shrink and cancer cells to die (while leaving healthy cells alone.) The study was not followed up on. In fact the Ford, Regan and Bush Administrations stopped all research on cannabis, expect for research meant to prove harm.
And lastly, for those of you who say “legalizing cannabis sends the wrong message to children”, all I can say is: What a cop out. The truly wrong message is that it is OK for the government to lie! And as for damage to the children of cannabis users, I would like to point you to a study done in Jamaica in the 1980′s that determined that babies born to cannabis users tested BETTER on evaluations at 30 days of age than babies born to non-cannabis users.
And guess what, when a five year follow-up showed that these cannabis drenched children were doing just a well as children unexposed to cannabis, (thank you very much) NIDA defunded the study.
I hope this makes some of you want to insist that the truth be told, and acted upon. I am asking you to write to or call your elected representatives, and tell them what you have found out, and demand a change.
You should also know, that very ill people who use cannabis as medicine are being arrested each day, or live in fear of being arrested. This is what is truly criminal.

Firstly, saying that cigarettes are ‘much worse’ is a bit dodgy…
The combustion and inhalation of smoke is what causes problems so if you smoke canabis it can be just as bad. Plus, in jan 2008 a study showed that regular canabis smokers developed lung disease 24 years sooner than their cigarette-smoking counterparts. Canabis also contains the same carcinogens as tabacco.
Cannabis obviously causes psychoactive and physiological effects. These are subjective to each person but are of cause effects that cigarettes do not…for example, it is not a good idea to get high and then drive as motor skills can be severly impaired as well as perception. It can also cause a bad high in which severe paranoia (among other things) can cause you to do things you would not normally do.
The biggest issue in my mind is >long term< affects on mental health. mental health problems including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, psychosis, psychoneurosis and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are quite bad and can pretty much destroy your life! Certain mental health issues such as schizophrenia can make you a severe danger to yourself and others. would you want to have a hallucination that your family are killing you only to ‘wake up’ and realise you killed them ‘in defence’ ?
So yes, cigarettes can cause bad health issues and increase cancer chances but the bottom line is, cannabis can affect your whole life….and if you were running a country would you want to legalise it and deal with a nation of people suffering from mental health issues, disease and at the very least half of your workforce skipping it to get high?
It won’t help your country out lol

Thats true.
Cigarettes are bad for your health.
And Cannabis isn’t half as bad..and that stuff about it giving you mental illness later in life?
That is 100% rubbish.
But..
Cannabis is illegal because its supposedly dangerous because of when you get high and what it does to you. Although its only really like alcohol.
I don’t think it’ll be illegal forever, so many average people smoke the stuff..its growing largely.
But Cigarettes don’t make you high or out of control so that keeps the government happy.