Drug Policy

I'm a long-time advocate of cannabis. The first thought I had after my introductory doobie was, "Wow! This could change the world...." That was in 1965 and the world was in dire need of change.

All of the legitimate scientific studies at the time recommended decriminalization citing the benign nature of cannabis. The government of Canada did the LeDain Commission in 1967 and convinced us that by '68, it would be legal. And just like Obama they ran up against the REAL ruling mechanism.

However, even though the truth was out about the nature of cannabis and our country appeared to have more than a passing interest in promoting public health, the opposition to cannabis use has remained strong. We've let ourselves get sidetracked, let the opposition set the agenda and the discussions.

"Science indicates marijuana is less habit-forming than caffeine, has never caused a death, has definite benefits for patients with various illnesses, marijuana has saved or extended lives by making it possible to keep down powerful drugs, has proven benefits for people with MS - marijuana is already approved as a drug to treat side effects of MS in Germany, the UK, Israel and Canada via GS/Bayer Pharma "sativex" - marijuana completely removes a form of neuropathic pain associated with a breast cancer drug treatment, marijuana stops epileptic seizures for some people with epilepsy - and in human trials, cannabinoids shrunk brain tumor cells."

And "science" claims to have perfectly good patented drugs, already available for these conditions and that is my point. They are way ahead of us.

Our scientific superiority is based on 'public health and economics' but clearly those are not crucial components of the drug industry.

They are not sexy enough. We need lurid propaganda.

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