The LEAF THE LEAF May-June 17 | Page 12

The focus is on finding the negative side of marijuana and not the mountains of independent research showing the overwhelming benefits. Instead of researching the “supposed benefits”, why not just pretend they do not exist. “It started in 1963, when Mechoulam applied for NIH (National Institute of Health) funding and was told that cannabis research wasn’t of interest to the agency because marijuana wasn’t an “American problem,” recalls Mechoulam. “They told me to let them know when I have something more relevant to the U.S.” A year later, Mechoulam received another call from the same official. A U.S. senator, whose name the official withheld from Mechoulam, had caught his son smoking weed. The senator had asked the NIH what effect the drug might have on his son’s brain. To the embarrassment of America’s top public health agency, no one could answer the question; there was no research on file. The NIH official asked Mechoulam if he was still working on cannabis. For the next 45 years, the NIH gave Mechoulam’s team approximately $100,000 per year to study, for example, how cannabinoids can lower human resistance to antibiotics.” Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/us-govt-funding- israeli-researcher/#qMPlvhwG1rzO24z2 ) Is it any wonder that we are hearing about covert research being carried out on foreign soil, funded by Americans, yet being withheld from the American Public? Should we be surprised that the same research was going on and being funded while the American Public was being denied the benefit of the research? While Big Pharma dumps buckets of cold, hard cash into fighting the legalisation of its mortal enemy – cannabis – the US Government has been funding its research for years, just do not ask them about it. Big Pharma sees legalisation as a major threat to its already gargantuan profit margins. It is any wonder that they are adamant that legalisation be stopped at all cost? Big Pharma, along with Police and Guard unions, and Tobacco and Alcohol make up the largest groups protesting and lobbying against marijuana law reformation. It is easy to see how all these groups would see legalisation as a detriment to their livelihood. Marijuana, cannabis, and the like, have been in the foreground of this “war” since its inception. Sure, the police and guards will see fewer prisoners. I would think less money spent on housing marijuana users would mean more money for issues that deserve notice, like pensions for officers and funds set up for the families of those who die protecting us. I would love to see the US of A put money into our veterans, not our prisons. The American Public is awakening to the reality of cannabis being viable in a myriad of medical applications. Meanwhile, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), based on the recommendations of the FDA, has taken a hard-nosed stance on the legalisation of marijuana: nope. The DEA is the spearhead of the now infamous, yet vastly debated, “War on Drugs” which was first brought into existence under the leadership of our very own Ronald Reagan. The main spokesperson for this new campaign was none other than Mrs. Nancy Reagan. It is a good example of the type of mentality of the time. Older, conservative, and less than receptive to new ideas. We can say that, as with all out-dated ways of thought, they were doing what they thought best for society at the time. By ...or can we? It seems as if covert and open research operations around the world are showing that the benefits of cannabis are, by far, outweighing the negatives.