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From: Marihuana, A Signal of Misunderstanding, the Report of the US National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, 1972
The term "marihuana" is a word with indistinct origins. Some believe it is derived from the Mexican words for "Mary Jane"; others hold that "marihuana" comes from. the Portuguese word marigu-ano which means "intoxicant" (Geller and Boas, 1969: 14). This chapter outlines the many and varied uses of marihuana through history, and deals with its use in medicine and its use as an intoxicant.
The experience of the 1960's might lead one to surmise that marihuana use spreads explosively. The chronicle of its 3,000 year history, however, shows that this "explosion" has been characteristic only of the contemporary scene. The plant has been grown for fiber and as a source of medicine for several thousand years, but until 500 A.D. its use as a mind-altering drug was almost solely confined in India. The drug and its uses reached the Middle and Near East during the next several centuries, and then moved across North Africa, appeared in Latin America and the Caribbean, and finally entered the United States in the early decades of this century (Snyder, 1970: 129).
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Although legalization activists and many marijuana users believe smoking pot has no negative effects, scientific research indicates that marijuana use can cause many different health problems.
Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. When smoked, it begins to effect users almost immediately and can last for one to three hours. When it is eaten in food, such as baked in brownies and cookies, the effects take longer to begin, but usually last longer.
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Marijuana is a green or gray mixture of dried, shredded flowers and leaves of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. There are over 200 slang terms for marijuana.
Street Names
Pot, herb, weed, grass, widow, boom, ganja, hash, Mary Jane, cannabis, bubble gum, northern lights, fruity juice, gangster, afghani #1, skunk and chronic.
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Medical marijuana is no longer a "political issue," since the Supreme Court's recent ruling on the drug, according to President Bush’s “Drug Czar" John Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy.
In a White House press release, Drub Czar Walters urged Americans who depended on doctor-prescribed marijuana to look instead to "proven medicine by legitimate doctors," for relief of pain caused by chronic illness. "Smoking illegal drugs may make some people 'feel better.' However, civilized societies and modern day medical practices differentiate between inebriation and the safe, supervised delivery of proven medicine by legitimate doctors," stated Walters.
On June 6, 2005, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that federal law can be used to prevent doctors from prescribing marijuana for treatment of pain caused by serious illnesses, including cancer.
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Drugs are bad. Drugs destroy peoples' lives. Didn't you know that marijuana turns regular everyday people into zombie pot smokers? That's why we have a war on drugs in America: to protect our children from potheads.
Drugs are bad. Especially marijuana. I learned this the other day when I visited an elementary school as a guest speaker. The schoolchildren were well trained in describing the dangers of drugs. On command, they would spout out any number of statements describing them.
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Medical researchers are once again warning about the long-term memory effects of smoking marijuana. Toking on the herb for decades apparently makes your memory, well, dopey. That is, if you believe the study which was based on 40 people found in a drug rehabilitation program who said they only smoked marijuana about 20 times in their entire life.
Right. I've never heard of anyone checking into a rehab center after smoking pot only 20 times. And besides, if pot destroys a person's memory as researchers claim it does, how do they know these people haven't smoked pot a thousand times and just can't remember?
Let's face it: Basing research on the personal memories of people who scientists claim have had their memories destroyed is not exactly good science. It sounds more like an agenda that uses science to support the War on Drugs and the continued incarceration of thousands of Americans whose only crime is getting high in the basement of their parents' house.
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A compound found in marijuana won’t make you high but it may help keep your eyes healthy if you’re a diabetic, researchers say.
Early studies indicate cannabidiol works as a consummate multi-tasker to protect the eye from growing a plethora of leaky blood vessels, the hallmark of diabetic retinopathy, says Dr. Gregory I. Liou, molecular biologist at the Medical College of Georgia.
“We are studying the role of cannabinoid receptors in our body and trying to modulate them so we can defend against diabetic retinopathy,” Dr. Liou says. Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults and affects nearly 16 million Americans.
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(NaturalNews) California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill last week that would have allowed the state's farmers to grow hemp for its oil, seed and fiber for industrial use in the production of food, paper, personal care products, car parts and building materials.
AB1147 -- co-authored by Assemblymen Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, and Chuck Devore, R-Irvine -- sought to allow California to join the 30 other countries that allow hemp farming. Currently California state law does not differentiate between hemp crops and marijuana crops, so farmers have been hesitant to grow hemp for fear of having their crops confiscated.
Schwarzenegger said in his veto message that although he wants to encourage new state agricultural production, there is no federal law distinguishing between hemp and marijuana.
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