textfiles/drugs/ALT.DRUGS/mj_10_thngs.drg

From housed@infmx.informix.com Tue Dec 18 22:02:54 1990
From: housed@infmx.informix.com (Darryl House)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: flyer
Date: 12 Dec 90 22:09:48 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Informix Software, Inc.
Originator: housed@alf


 [ Reprinted in the public interest without permission from a flyer by
   the Family Council on Drug Awareness. This flyer is being distributed
   at public functions such as concerts, school gatherings, trade shows,
   and craft shows. Any typographic errors, unless noted, are mine. The
   author of this post has no affiliation with any agency or persons
   related to this document, and refrains from editorial comment. ]


   10 Things Every Parent, Teenager & Teacher Should Know

                       About

                     Marijuana


  "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
            December, 1840


      This pamphlet was researched and produced as a public service
      by the Family Council on Drug Awareness P.O. Box 71093, LA CA
      90071-0093

      Additional copies available from:

        BACH, PO Box 71093, L.A., CA 90071-0093
        35 cents apiece, Ten for $2.00, 100 for $10


  1 Q. What is Marijuana?

    A. "Marijuana" refers to the dried leaves and flowers of the cannabis
       plant [1], which contain the non-narcotic chemical THC at various
       potencies. It is smoked or eaten to produce the feeling of being
       "high." The different strains of this herb produce different sensual
       effects, ranging from sedative to stimulant.

  2 Q. Who Uses Marijuana?

    A. There is no simple profile of a typical marijuana user. It has been
       used for 1000s of years for medical, social, and religious reasons
       and for relaxation [2]. Several of our Presidents [3] are believed
       to have smoked it. One out of every five Americans say they have
       tried it. And it is still popular among artists, writers, musicians,
       activists, lawyers, inventors, working people, etc.

  3 Q. How Long Have People Been Using Marijuana?

    A. Marijuana has been used since ancient times [4]. While field hands
       and working people have often smoked the raw plant, aristocrats
       historically prefer hashish [5] made from the cured flowers of the
       plant. It was not seen as a problem until a calculated disinformation
       [sic] campaign was launched in the 1930s [6], and the first American
       laws against using it were passed [7].

  4 Q. Is Marijuana Addictive?

    A. No, it is not [8]. Most users are moderate consumers who smoke it
       socially to relax. We now know that 10% of our population have
       "addictive personalities" and they are neither more nor less
       likely to overindulge in cannabis than in anything else. On a
       relative scale, marijuana is less habit forming than either sugar
       or chocolate but more so than anchovies. Sociologists report a general
       pattern of marijuana use that peaks in the early adult years, followed
       by a period of levelling off and then a gradual reduction in use [9].

  5 Q. Has Anyone Ever Died From Smoking Marijuana?

    A. No; not one single case, not ever. THC is one of the few chemicals for
       which there is no known toxic amount [10]. The federal agency NIDA says
       that autopsies reveal that 75 people per year are high on marijuana
       when they die: this does not mean that marijuana caused or was even a
       factor in their deaths. The chart below compares the number of deaths
       attributable to selected substances in a typical year:

       Tobacco...............................340,000 - 395,000
       Alcohol (excluding crime/accidents).............125,000+
       Drug Overdose (prescription)............24,000 - 27,000
       Drug Overdose (illegal)...................3,800 - 5,200
       Marijuana.............................................0

       *Source: U.S. Government Bureau of Mortality Statistics, 1987

  6 Q. Does Marijuana Lead to Crime and/or Hard Drugs?

    A. No [11]. The only crime most marijuana users commit is that they use
       marijuana. And, while many people who abuse dangerous drugs also smoke
       marijuana, the old "stepping stone" theory is now discredited, since
       virtually all of them started out "using" legal drugs like sugar,
       coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, etc.

  7 Q. Does Marijuana Make People Violent?

    A. No. In fact, Federal Bureau of Narcotics director Harry Anslinger once
       told Congress just the opposite - that it leads to non-violence and
       pacifism [12]. If he was telling the truth (which he and key federal
       agencies have not often done regarding marijuana), then re-legalizing
       marijuana should be considered as one way to curb violence in our
       cities. The simple fact is that marijuana does not change your basic
       personality. The government says that over 20 million Americans still
       smoke it, probably including some of the nicest people you know.

  8 Q. How Does Marijuana Affect Your Health?

    A. Smoking anything is not healthy, but marijuana is less dangerous than
       tobacco and people smoke less of it at a time. This health risk can
       be avoided by eating the plant instead of smoking it [13], or can be
       reduced by smoking smaller amounts of stronger marijuana. There is
       no proof that marijuana causes serious health or sexual problems [14]
       but, like alcohol, its use by children or adolescents is discouraged.
       Cannabis is a medicinal herb that has hundreds of proven, valuable
       theraputic uses - from stress reduction to glaucoma to asthma to
       cancer therapy, etc. [15].

  9 Q. What About All Those Scary Statistics and Studies?

    A. Most were prepared as scare tactics for the government by Dr. Gabriel
       Nahas, and were so biased and unscientific that Nahas was fired by
       the National Institute of Health [16] and finally renounced his own
       studies as meaningless [17]. For one experiment, he suffocated monkeys
       for five minutes at a time, using proportionately more smoke than the
       average user inhales in an entire lifetime [18]. The other studies
       that claim sensational health risks are also suspect, since they lack
       controls and produce results which cannot be replicated or
       independently verified [19].

 10 Q. What Can I Do About Marijuana?

    A. No independent government panel that has studied marijuana has ever
       recommended jail for users [20]. Concerned persons should therefore
       ask their legislators to re-legalize and tax this plant, subject to
       age limits and regulations similar to those on alcohol and tobacco.


 For More Information, Write:
   Family Coucil on Drug Awareness
   P.O. Box 71093, LA CA 90071-0093



 FOOTNOTES TO THE TEXT:

  1. The same plant, known as hemp, has an estimated 50,000 non-drug
     commercial uses including paper, textiles, fuels, food and sealants,
     but these uses are also banned by existing laws. Sources: Encyclopedia
     Britannica, federal documents and historical records.

  2. Coptic Christians, Rhastafarnians [sic], Shintos, Hinus, Buddhists,
     Sufis, Essenes, Zoroastrians, Bantus, and many other sects have
     traditions that consider the plant to have religious value.

  3. Their personal correspondence and records reveal that U.S. Presidents
     Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and others smoked hashish, as did Benjamin
     Franklin and Mary Todd Lincoln. President John F. Kennedy is also
     reported to have smoked marijuana to relieve his back pain. Many of
     America's greatest leaders and Founding Fathers (including George
     Washington) were hemp farmers. Sources: National Archives, published
     reports.

  4. Archeologists report that cannabis was possibly the first plant
     cultivated by humans - about 8000 B.C. - and was used for linen,
     paper, and garments. Source: Columbia University, _History of the
     World_. It was being smoked in China and India as early as 2700 B.C.

  5. Turkish smoking parlors were popular in both Europe and America. as
     well as the Middle and Far East, as recently as the turn of the
     Century.

  6. The exhaustive Indian Hemp "Raj" Commission report (1986) by British
     authorities found no reason to restrict its use. But the notorious
     yellow journalist William Randolph Hearst fabricated and published
     horror stories about marijuana that were eventually investigated and
     shown to be lies, but not until long after the marijuana prohibition
     was enacted in 1938. Source: Larry Sloman, _Reefer Madness_.

  7. Laws against marijuana were passed a year after the invention of a
     machine to harvest and process hemp so it could compete commercially
     against businesses owned by Hearst, the DuPonts and other powerful
     families. Source: Jack Herer, _The Emporor Wears No Clothes_.

  8. Marijuana does not lead to physical dependency. Costa Rican Study,
     1980; Jamaican Study, 1975; Nixon Blue Ribbon Report, 1972, et. al.

  9. Source: Psychology Today, Newsweek, et.al.

 10. Source: All univerity medical studies: UCLA, Harvard, Temple, etc.

 11. Costa Rican Study, 1980; Jamaican Study, 1975; "The legal drugs for
     adults, such as alcohol and tobacco...precede the use of all illicit
     drugs." Source: National Academy of Sciences.

 12. The FBI reports that 65-75% of criminal violence is alcohol related.
     "Pacifist syndrome" testimony was given by Federal Bureau of Narcotics
     Director Harry Anslinger before Congress (1948). However, the "Siler"
     Study conducted by the U.S in Panama (1931) reported "no impairment"
     in military personnel who smoked marijuana while off duty.

 13. "The only clinically significant medical problem is that
     scientifically linked to marijuana is bronchitis. Like smoking
     tobacco, the treatment is the same: stop smoking." Source: Dr. Fred
     Oerther, M.D.

 14. Coptic study (UCLA), 1981; "There is not yet any conclusive evidence
     as to whether prolonged use of marijuana causes permanent changes in
     the nervous system or sustained impairment of brain function and
     behavior in human beings." Source: National Academy of Sciences.

 15. Source: Dr. Tod Mikuriya, _Marijuana Medical Papers_. Marijuana could
     replace at least 10-20% of prescribed drugs now in use. Source: Dr.
     Raphael Mechoulam. Marijuana was a major active ingredient in 40-50%
     of patent medicines before its ban.

 16. 1976

 17. 1983

 18. The U.S. Government reports that the oral dose of cannabis required to
     kill a mouse is about 40,000 times the dose required to produce
     symptoms of intoxication in man. Source: Lowe, _Journal of
     Pharmacological and Experimental Therapeutics_, Oct. 1946.

 19. In another famous study, Heath/Tulane (1974), wild monkeys were
     brutally captured, then virtually suffocated in marijuana smoke over a
     period of 90 days. Source: National Institute of Health.

 20. Examples: the "LaGuardia" Committee Report (New York, 1944) and
     President Richard Nixon's Blue Ribbon "Shafer" Commission (1972).