Cannabis prohibition has no scientific basis and has been perpetuated with very little evidence for decades using propaganda and conjecture that has been fed to the American public. In fact, the entire reason why we (mistakenly) call this plant marijuana and not cannabis is because of the government’s skewing of this substance during the 1930s when cannabis prohibition began.
‘Marijuana’ was a slang term that followed the many Mexican immigrants who were seeking refuge from civil war in the early 1900’s. Most people at that time didn’t realize that Cannabis and Marijuana were one and the same. The term ‘Marijuana’ was adopted by the propagandists of the time in an attempt to attach a racist and negative stigma to its public perception. As many of you may know, there was a series of events that then led Cannabis to be placed under prohibition in 1937.
However, there is a deep unscientific foundation of Cannabis prohibition and, sadly, even with current research being done in states with legalized Cannabis, there still seems to continue be no scientific basis for the continued prohibition of this plant.
A recent column in the Collegiate Times argues the case that we need to promptly and effectively legalize the use of recreational/adult-use and medical marijuana nationwide from a strictly scientific perspective.
Psychological theory states that we are more likely to have an aversion to something that we perceive as novel or different. So it is reasonable to infer that the stigma around marijuana stems from society’s misunderstanding of the drug. Yet in order to truly grasp the physiological impact of marijuana, it is important to understand what drugs are and how they work.
The author then goes on to give a crash course on the mechanics of drugs and how they affect the brain, including explanation of neurons and neurotransmitters, as well as comparing cannabis to alcohol and tobacco. The author concludes that, “Clearly, there are many benefits to smoking marijuana, and they vastly outnumber the potentially harmful effects. The bottom line here is to enjoy everything in moderation.”
We agree whole heartedly and will continue to post news and information in an effort to reaching the tipping point where cannabis is legalized federally and prohibition ends based on real scientific basis.