On On CannabisCannabis

By By Dean Reist and Chris FinkDean Reist and Chris Fink

What is Cannabis?And I will raise up for them a plant of renown… Ezekiel 34:29 • One of the first plants to be cultivated by mankind.• Thought to have originated in temperate zones of central Asia.• Incredibly versatile, this plant can grow literally anywhere in the

world, except in extremely cold climates. – Altitudes up to 8000 feet– Life cycle of thee to five months, germinates within six days– Can grow at up to 15cm/day– Requires very little water except in germination and early

growth.– Can easily grow in poor soil, sandy soil, however prefers loamy

soil.– Prefers direct sunlight (heliotropic)

What is Cannabis?

• Great source of natural fiber, one of the strongest and sturdiest. Most commonly used in rope-making, cloth, burlap, twine, paper.

• Contains six essential oils, hempseed is the most complete singular food source for a human.

• Hempseed oil contains the highest amount of essential fatty acids out of any plant known to man, and is responsible for clearing the arteries of cholesterol and plaque, and sharpening immune system response.

• Contains a therapeutic drug with the ability to affect the human consciousness.

History, America• Hemp was grown in colonial times for rope and

other industrial applications.• Thomas Jefferson risked his life to smuggle

hemp seeds out of France into the colonies.• Both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington

were hemp farmers. “Make the most of the hemp seed. Sow it everywhere.” –George Washington

• Both drafts of the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp.

• Hemp was so valuable that in Virginia, it was illegal not to grow it if one was a farmer.

• Marijuana was often linked to crime and violence often without any proof.

Why it’s Illegal

• It is perceived as “addicting”• “no accepted medical use”• Due to Control Substances Act of 1970,

Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug and has “high potential for abuse.”

• Other Schedule I drugs are: Heroin, LSD, and Ecstasy.

• Some Schedule II drugs are: Cocaine, Meth, Opium, and Morphine.

• Gateway DrugBULLCRAP!!!

Decriminalization vs Legalization

• To legalize is to make something legal

• To decriminalize means to remove criminal sanctions on an act or behavior

• Decriminalization reduces penalties

Why Should it be Legal?

Industrial Uses

• Hemp twine: Asia, plates of body armor have been sewn together with this product, and this replaced bamboo fiber as ideal material for bow strings.

• Rope: a very common use for hemp, extremely durable.• Coarse and fine cloth: hemp has been used for centuries

as clothing. Hemp cloth is softer, warmer, more absorbent, has three times the tensile strength of cotton, and is more durable. Hemp fiber is very mold-resistant. ‘Fifty percent of all chemicals used in American agriculture

today are used in cotton growing. Hemp needs no chemicals and has few weed or insect enemies’

Paint and varnish: hempseed oil was used for these to make eco-friendly, durable products, but after the ban, the change went to synthetic petrochemical oils commonly made by Du Pont.

Industrial Uses

• Oil: Hemp oil is the brightest lamp oil, and is non-pollutant. If it were to spill, it would just become fertilizer.

• After the ban, oil use changed to synthetics, like petroleum and kerosene.

• “The seed [of cannabis] is prized in other countries for its oil, and its neglect here illustrates the same wasteful use of our agricultural resources.” - Botanist Luther Burbank

• Bio-degradable plastics: far safer than current chemical-based plastics, very eco friendly, used today for applications like PVC tubing.

Industrial Uses• Building materials: One acre of hemp produces

the same amount of cellulose fiber pulp as 4.1 acres of trees. Building materials made of hemp also have additional benefits over wood: – thermal insulation and sound dampening qualities– superior in strength– flexible, and are quite inexpensive compared to wood.

• Drywall• Pressed board, Particle board, plywood, beams.• Concrete.• Fiberglass replacement: Hemp fiber is being

used instead of glass fibers in surfboards and snowboards already, and hemp can provide the resin itself.

Industrial Uses• Biomass Energy: Cannabis can be

converted into methane, methanol, or gasoline at a minimal cost of what the current cost of oil, coal, and nuclear energy costs.

• Ends acid-rain effect.• Ends sulfur-based smog.• Starts a reverse on Greenhouse Effect

immediately. • Once the process has been sophisticated,

use of hemp-based oils is likely to negate the need for oil drilling. An oil spill would not be an economic disaster, it would become fertilizer.

Henry Ford, Ford Motor Henry Ford, Ford Motor Co.Co.

Ford tried many agricultural crops, Ford tried many agricultural crops, including wheat, in the manufacture including wheat, in the manufacture of automobiles. He found hemp to be of automobiles. He found hemp to be the most beneficial and useful of the most beneficial and useful of these crops.these crops.

Rudolf Diesel designed his engine to Rudolf Diesel designed his engine to run on vegetable and seed oils, run on vegetable and seed oils, including hemp oil. It ran on peanut including hemp oil. It ran on peanut oil for 1900 World’s Fair. oil for 1900 World’s Fair.

Henry Ford crafted his first Model T Henry Ford crafted his first Model T out of out of hemp, hemp, to run on hemp!to run on hemp!

……Had hemp plastic panels whose impact Had hemp plastic panels whose impact strength was 10 times stronger than strength was 10 times stronger than steelsteel

- Popular Mechanics, 1941- Popular Mechanics, 1941

"the axe bounced, and "the axe bounced, and there was no dent..."there was no dent..."

Economic Costs and Benefits• In 1938, on the cover of Popular Mechanics, the title stated “Hemp

Called Billion Dollar Crop”, the first time a cash crop ever had the potential to generate one billion dollars.

• According to a recent analysis of fiscal impact of a pending marijuana regulation, California stands to take in roughly 1.4 Billion dollars a year.

• Estimates:– Annual California marijuana consumption is roughly one million

pounds.– $50 an ounce fee would generate $990 million a year, $392 million

in sales tax revenues. – Would cause roughly 50% price drop– Increase consumption by 40%, however, $50 an ounce fee would

cause that to drop by 11%.• Federal taxpayers spend $23,000 a year to house one inmate.• Federal taxpayers spend about $8,000 a year to educate one child.

Medical Uses, Historical• Historically used for:• Dysentery• Insomnia• Fever• Migraine• Glaucoma• Syphilis• Rheumatism• Tetanus• Cholera• Epilepsy• Uterine hemorrhaging• Alcoholism and opiate

addiction• Cramps• Coughs• Venereal disease• post-natal depression• earache

• Rabies – ‘the awful malady was stripped of its horrors; if not less fatal than before, it was reduced to less than the scale of suffering which precedes death’

even removed hydrophobia, the intense fear of water.

• Neuralgia• Typhus• Anthrax• Leprosy• Incontinence• Snake bite• Gout• Any disease that induces

convulsions• Tonsillitis• Insanity• Menorrhagia

Known Medical Benefits

• Marijuana contains many different chemicals, amongst them the most popularly known THC, and has many different properties that can and have been used by humans, including use as:

• An Analgesic (meaning a pain reliever)• Muscle-relaxer• Anti-depressant• Anti-emetic agent (meaning that it reduces nausea

and vomiting)• Subduing epileptic fits• Stimulating appetite (munchies)• bronchial tissue dilator

Medical Uses, Modern Day• Used today for:• AIDS – anti-emetic, appetite stimulator• Asthma – Bronchodilator, and reverses bronchial constriction.

Slower, but considerably longer lasting and with much less risk than conventional medications such as Advair. 80% Effectiveness

• Arthritis/Autoimmune Diseases – Controlling pain, autoimmune modulator.

• Cancer – anti-emetic, appetite stimulator. Oftentimes more effective than mainstream anti-emetics for patients undergoing chemotherapy. >90% Effectiveness.

• Tumor – reduces benign and malignant tumor size. DEA funded studies to find immunicological problems, but discovered a breakthrough.

• Chronic pain – relieves pain caused by large amounts of disorders and injuries.

Medical Uses, Modern Day

• Epilepsy – used as an adjunctive medicine to prevent epileptic seizures. 60% Effective.

• Depression/Mood Disorders – shown to help dysphoria gently and safely, compared to stabilizing drugs, lithium, tricyclics, MAO inhibitors, all of which can have serious health risks and side effects.

• Glaucoma – reduces intraocular pressure, analgesic, slowing, and occasionally halting progress of the condition, and is 2-3x more effective than conventional medications. 90% Effectiveness

• Multiple Sclerosis – analgesic, reduces muscle spasticity, relieves tremor and unsteady gait.

• Migraine headaches – relieves pain and inhibits the release of serotonin during attacks.

Medical Uses, Modern Day

• Insomnia – can help people sleep, much safer than hypnotics. Hypnotics can have side effects and/or tolerance problems.

• Menstrual Cramps and Labor Pain – far more effective pain relief than conventional drugs, babies tend to be more alert at birth.– Interesting little bit: a study of marijuana babies shows that

children of moderate marijuana smokers show superior psychomotor skills. Now this could be true of marijuana, it could be coincidence that these children just happen to be naturally skilled, or the study could be skewed.

• A study done by Dr. Gerald Lancz of University of South Florida in 1990 showed that in direct contact, THC killed the herpes virus. As recently as 2004, studies show that smoking does not cure herpes, but do indicate faster drying and healing.

On the Drug, Dependency

• Marijuana is non-habit forming • Unlike drugs such as heroin, users suddenly stopping

continued use will not suffer through withdrawal effects. • It has been found that 8% of heavy users can form

physiological or psychological dependence to marijuana. • Psychological dependence to marijuana is interesting. It

is simply the user’s perceived need to feel high. – If they were to stop taking it, they could display irritability,

nervousness, and restlessness. – Dependency is about equivalent to a coffee drinker’s addiction.

Toxicity• Marijuana is non-toxic• no deaths have been recorded from overdose• It has been suggested that it would take 800 joints in one sitting

to kill someone; however, death would result from carbon monoxide rather than cannabinoids. – The reason for this is most likely because there are a very small amount of

cannabinoid receptors in the areas of the brain responsible for life supporting functions.

Compare Lethality: • 300 ml of vodka is lethal. • 60 mg of nicotine is lethal. • 800 joints is possibly lethal…due to CO poisoning or

asphyxiation.Studies on mice show that the required ratio of cannabinoids to

overdose versus amount necessary for intoxication is 40,000:1. that means one would have to consume 40,000 times the required amount to get high to overdose.

• The alcohol ratio is 4:1.

Causes of Death Annually

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in Tax Revenue a Year." Stop the Drug War. 17 July 2009. Web. 11 May 2010. <Stopthedrugwar.org>.

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• Mižík, Peter. "CANNABIS RUDERALIS Janisch. – Konopí Rumištní / Konopa Rumovisková." BOTANY.cz CANNABIS RUDERALIS Janisch. 20 Nov. 2007. Web. 2 May 2010. <http://botany.cz/cs/cannabis-ruderalis/>.Images

• Booth, Martin. Cannabis: a History. New York: Picador, 2005. Print. • Rosenthal, Ed, Steve Kubby, and S. Newhart. Why Marijuana Should Be Legal.

Philadelphia: Running, 2003. Print.

“Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.” – Abraham Lincoln, 1840.