The Word on Weed #2: Anslinger's War

 Marijuana has been in an “official” state of prohibition since 1937-s Marijuana Tax Act (in the United States). Because, among other reasons, it made supposedly white women desire black men.

Maia Szalavitz has a great takedowen of pundits like Tina Brown and David Brooks, who recently made specious claims that marijuana makes you stupider. Brown actually said Americans who smoke pot won't be able to "compete" with the Chinese. Her moment of xenophobia wasn't out of keeping with the history of anti-pot rhetoric.

Writes Szalavitz:

The truth is that our perceptions of marijuana—and in fact all of our drug laws—are based on early 20th century racism and "science" circa the Jim Crow era. In the early decades of the 20th century, the drug was linked to Mexican immigrants and black jazzmen, who were seen as potentially dangerous.

Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (an early predecessor of the DEA), was one of the driving forces behind pot prohibition. He pushed it for explicitly racist reasons, saying, "Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men," and:

"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others."

The main reason to prohibit marijuana, he said was "its effect on the degenerate races." (And god forbid women should sleep with entertainers!)

Although it sounds absurd now, it was this type of propaganda that caused the drug to be outlawed in 1937—along with support from the Hearst newspapers, which ran ads calling marijuana "the assassin of youth" and published stories about how it led to violence and insanity. Anslinger remained as head of federal narcotics efforts as late as 1962, whereafter he spread his poisonous message to the world as the American representative to the U.N. for drug policy for a further two years.

Before marijuana was made illegal, the American Medical Association'sopposition to prohibition was ignored, as was an earlier report on marijuana in India by the British government, which did not find marijuana to be particularly addictive or dangerous. That "Indian Hemp Drugs Committee" reporthad concluded way back in 1894 that, "The moderate use of hemp drugs is practically attended by no evil results at all."

The Word on Weed #1

No one has ever overdosed or died from smoking too much weed. In the history of mankind.

While prescription painkillers cause thousands of overdose deaths each year, no one has ever died from a marijuana overdose.

But is it even possible to overdose on weed? The answer is no, according to the National Cancer Institute. And here’s why:

“Because cannabinoid receptors, unlike opioid receptors, are not located in the brainstem areas controlling respiration, lethal overdoses from Cannabis and cannabinoids do not occur.”

n other words, marijuana and opioids affect different pathways of the body. Opioid pathways, also known as receptors, are present in areas of the brain that control breathing. As a result, taking too many painkillers can cause a person to stop breathing.

But marijuana acts on a completely different set of pathways. These pathways are called cannabinoid receptors and they do not affect respiration. Thus, marijuana cannot cause someone to stop breathing, no matter how much they ingest.

Another way of measuring a drug’s safety is by its therapeutic index. The therapeutic index is the ratio between a drug’s lethal dose and its therapeutic dose (amount that causes a therapeutic effect).

Studies show that marijuana has a therapeutic index of 40,000:1. This means someone would have to take 40,000 times the normal amount of marijuana in order to die.

Opioid-based painkillers have much lower therapeutic indexes. For example, the therapeutic index of morphine is only 70:1.

The Word on Weed #1

No one has ever overdosed or died from smoking too much weed. In the history of mankind.

While prescription painkillers cause thousands of overdose deaths each year, no one has ever died from a marijuana overdose.

But is it even possible to overdose on weed? The answer is no, according to the National Cancer Institute. And here’s why:

“Because cannabinoid receptors, unlike opioid receptors, are not located in the brainstem areas controlling respiration, lethal overdoses from Cannabis and cannabinoids do not occur.”

n other words, marijuana and opioids affect different pathways of the body. Opioid pathways, also known as receptors, are present in areas of the brain that control breathing. As a result, taking too many painkillers can cause a person to stop breathing.

But marijuana acts on a completely different set of pathways. These pathways are called cannabinoid receptors and they do not affect respiration. Thus, marijuana cannot cause someone to stop breathing, no matter how much they ingest.

Another way of measuring a drug’s safety is by its therapeutic index. The therapeutic index is the ratio between a drug’s lethal dose and its therapeutic dose (amount that causes a therapeutic effect).

Studies show that marijuana has a therapeutic index of 40,000:1. This means someone would have to take 40,000 times the normal amount of marijuana in order to die.

Opioid-based painkillers have much lower therapeutic indexes. For example, the therapeutic index of morphine is only 70:1.

Next Stop on the "Weed Legal Train": Cali 2016?

localjoe.myorganogold.com