Suppose someone put two marijuana plants in front of you and asked you to pick which one was medical marijuana and which one was home grown. Could you tell the difference?
Of course you couldn’t. There is none. But knowing the legal difference could save you from jail time. Maybe.
The laws vary from state to state and are very confusing. Medical marijuana is legal in 33 states. Recreational marijuana is legal in 10 states and Washington DC. (Link below). Current DC law allows residents to grow and smoke recreational marijuana, but not to legally sell or purchase it. Recently, a medical dispensary opened in DC, where just the buds could be purchased legally for an average cost of $200-$400 an ounce. This doesn’t include the cost of a medical marijuana card, which runs about $80 -$150, requires a doctor’s “recommendation” (they can’t prescribe it because it’s illegal), only covers certain health issues, and must be renewed yearly. (Links below)
So, if you live in Washington DC—you can grow and smoke your own marijuana but you can’t buy or sell it. So how do you grow it in the first place? It’s not like you can order plants from a catalog or buy them in a nursery. How can you smoke it if you can’t buy it? Confused?
Marijuana prohibition began 80 years ago when the federal government banned the cultivation, use, and sale of the cannabis plant. Like so many other beneficial plants before it, grown freely and naturally in the wild, cannabis has now become a patented (Epidiolex) drug. You can purchase Epidiolex for $32500/year for the treatment of seizures. Similarly, opium made from Shaker-grown poppy was used extensively during the Civil War. No more poppies in your garden—it’s illegal to grow them–but you can buy opioid drugs. White willow bark, on the other hand is still considered a supplement. It was used by natives to make teas and tinctures. Trees were carefully preserved in the process. Bayer manipulated a few molecules in order to patent the bark into a pill called aspirin.
But manipulating the natural order of plants causes side effects. When you change their energy signature, you change their effect. And synthetic versions have no energy signature. They simply substitute a pill for a function.
The company Bayer is almost synonymous with the product aspirin. But most people are not aware that Fritz Ter Meer, who was tried and convicted of horrific war crimes in Auschwitz, served three years in prison and then became Chairman of the Board of Bayer. You never hear about that when your doctor advises an aspirin a day. You probably are not aware of recent findings regarding aspirin. As reported on the evening news this week, a study of 164,000 people not diagnosed with heart disease– showed that a daily aspirin lowered their risk of heart attack or stroke by only 11%—but increased their risk of bleeding by up to 43%. This study can only be found on Facebook. The very same news station later showed their “medical correspondent” saying the opposite. (Link below).
The very same news station also recently rejected a Super Bowl advertisement for medical marijuana. Super Bowl ads aren’t cheap, but they provide an opportunity to reach millions of people. The marijuana investment firm was willing to pay 5 million dollars for the one-minute spot, but it was turned down. The ad, shown below in resources, “profiles three people who say medical marijuana has improved their quality of life. The three people are a boy who suffers from hundreds of seizures a day, a man addicted to opioids and a veteran who was in severe pain after his leg was amputated.”
The purpose of the ad was to push for marijuana legalization nationwide. CBS says they don’t allow marijuana ads on air. Facebook and Google won’t either and will not allow me to boost anything I write about marijuana. It’s hard to educate people on the benefits of cannabis for seizures, hormonal help for menopause, PTSD, and even cancer–fully proven by credible science and even more by human testimony– when the feds continue to promote cannabis as an illegal, scheduled drug. How terribly sad that a child with seizures who lives in one state, or a veteran with PTSD, are limited in their choice of treatment simply because of location and legal availability.
There is some light at the end of the tunnel. Just this week Baltimore’s State Attorney, Marilyn Mosby announced that marijuana possession will no longer be prosecuted in the city. You may still be arrested—but not prosecuted. “For far too long, we have sat back and watched idly as communities and families are literally destroyed by the failed policies of the war on drugs.” (Link below)
Despite the fact that 62% of Americans (including 74% of millennials) favor legalizing marijuana—it remains illegal at the federal level. (The Pew Research Center, link below) Despite the fact that natural cannabis has been found to help and even reverse so many conditions—we are still being conditioned to believe that marijuana is a dangerous drug. But paying for medical marijuana is okay. In some states, that is. Step over the line, you go to jail.
And highly addictive prescription opioids are legal. But you can’t grow poppies.
Resources
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-nfl-players-rally-behind-medical-marijuana
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/08/americans-support-marijuana-legalization/
https://www.marijuanadoctors.com/blog/average-cost-of-medical-marijuana-prescription/
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/new-study-affirms-the-health-benefits-of-daily-aspirin/
https://www.wthr.com/article/cbs-rejects-super-bowl-ad-medical-marijuana
