Oct
9
Of course, there are many who still proclaim that the weed is terribly dangerous. Their arguments are becoming increasingly unconvincing. Scientific data that will support them are hard to find and there is almost an embarrassment of riches available when one looks for scientific evidence proving that pot is no more threatening to civilization than bubble gum.
In 1892, the English government appointed a Hemp Drug Commission to investigate the cannabis habit in India, where it is generally consumed in the milk drink bhang or smoked in the form of charas, usually considered stronger than marijuana. (Some estimates say that charas is even stronger than hashish.) After interviewing thousands of doctors and users all over India and checking out every story of “addiction” or of “psychoses” resulting from abuse, in an investigation that required two years, the commission concluded that cannabis was not addicting, that “moderate use” is the rule, that overuse or abuse is rare, that the stories of “psychoses” were unfounded and that the drug represented no menace; they recommended that no law be passed against it, and no law was ever passed, until India ratified the United Nations Hemp Drug Act over 50 years later — which they did, according to Dr. Joel Fort, who was drug consultant to the World Health Organization at the time, only because they were bullied into doing so by the American delegation. Even then, India did not ban the flowering tips of the hemp plant from which marijuana is made.
In 1923, the U.S. Army, not a notably liberal organization, also investigated the use of marijuana among American soldiers in the Panama Canal Zone. Again, the report concluded that the habit was harmless and did not need to be prohibited; it pointed out that alcohol created more problems for the soldiers who used it.
In 1942, the LaGuardia Commission investigated the marijuana habit in New York, and also concluded that the weed is not addictive and does not produce any clear-cut bad effects even in users who have had habit for a matter of decades. […]
In 1968, Drs. Zinberg and Weil, in Boston, completed the most intensive scientific investigation of marijuana made to date. They, too, found no clear-cut harmful effects. […]
The Presidential Commission on Marijuana (March 22, 1972), as is well-known, came to the same basic conclusions, and recommended that jail sentences for use of the weed be discontinued. President Nixon, however, disagreed with the commission, saying, in effect, thet their evidence did not support the conclusions he had formed before their evidence was collected. As was the case in his rejection of the previous Pornography Commission, the President seemed to think that scientific evidence should guide legislators only when it supported his own intuitive judgements; many other people seem to have that attitude toward science but few are so refreshingly frank in stating it as Mr. Nixon was.
Non-Medical Use of Drugs, the Interim Report of the Canadian Government Commission of Inquiry, comes to the same general conclusions, and recommends the abolition of criminal penalties for blowing the weed.
To believe that pot is really harmful, at this point, one must posit an 80-year-old conspiracy of M.D.s, chemists, psychologists, psychiatrists, government officials and military officers, in several nations on four continents, deliberately distorting their evidence to hide all alleged bad effects. Members of the John Birch Society may believe in such conspiracies, but for all others it would seem that, at a minimum, the verdict on marijuana’s harmfulness must be: not proven. Robert Anton Wilson, “Sex, Drugs & Magick”
In 1892, the English government appointed a Hemp Drug Commission to investigate the cannabis habit in India, where it is generally consumed in the milk drink bhang or smoked in the form of charas, usually considered stronger than marijuana. (Some estimates say that charas is even stronger than hashish.) After interviewing thousands of doctors and users all over India and checking out every story of “addiction” or of “psychoses” resulting from abuse, in an investigation that required two years, the commission concluded that cannabis was not addicting, that “moderate use” is the rule, that overuse or abuse is rare, that the stories of “psychoses” were unfounded and that the drug represented no menace; they recommended that no law be passed against it, and no law was ever passed, until India ratified the United Nations Hemp Drug Act over 50 years later — which they did, according to Dr. Joel Fort, who was drug consultant to the World Health Organization at the time, only because they were bullied into doing so by the American delegation. Even then, India did not ban the flowering tips of the hemp plant from which marijuana is made.
In 1923, the U.S. Army, not a notably liberal organization, also investigated the use of marijuana among American soldiers in the Panama Canal Zone. Again, the report concluded that the habit was harmless and did not need to be prohibited; it pointed out that alcohol created more problems for the soldiers who used it.
In 1942, the LaGuardia Commission investigated the marijuana habit in New York, and also concluded that the weed is not addictive and does not produce any clear-cut bad effects even in users who have had habit for a matter of decades. […]
In 1968, Drs. Zinberg and Weil, in Boston, completed the most intensive scientific investigation of marijuana made to date. They, too, found no clear-cut harmful effects. […]
The Presidential Commission on Marijuana (March 22, 1972), as is well-known, came to the same basic conclusions, and recommended that jail sentences for use of the weed be discontinued. President Nixon, however, disagreed with the commission, saying, in effect, thet their evidence did not support the conclusions he had formed before their evidence was collected. As was the case in his rejection of the previous Pornography Commission, the President seemed to think that scientific evidence should guide legislators only when it supported his own intuitive judgements; many other people seem to have that attitude toward science but few are so refreshingly frank in stating it as Mr. Nixon was.
Non-Medical Use of Drugs, the Interim Report of the Canadian Government Commission of Inquiry, comes to the same general conclusions, and recommends the abolition of criminal penalties for blowing the weed.
To believe that pot is really harmful, at this point, one must posit an 80-year-old conspiracy of M.D.s, chemists, psychologists, psychiatrists, government officials and military officers, in several nations on four continents, deliberately distorting their evidence to hide all alleged bad effects. Members of the John Birch Society may believe in such conspiracies, but for all others it would seem that, at a minimum, the verdict on marijuana’s harmfulness must be: not proven. Robert Anton Wilson, “Sex, Drugs & Magick”
