DEA CBD ruling might just end the war

They've finally done it. The drug choice enforcement division of our corporate-corrupted Federal government has committed a critical error in its last-century scheme to keep cannabis (and many other medicinal plants) away from consumers--especially patients.

 

Placing CBD extracts on the scary drugs list of forbidden choices (Schedule 1) exposes the mission, and it's not public health and safety. The proof is in the ruling. Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the safest, most therapeutic medicines nature provides; patient-tested, not physically addictive and with little or no side effects. Not even a buzz (can't have everything).

 

Even harder evidence to swallow; US Patent 6,630,507 [Cannabinoids as Antioxidants and Neuroprotectants]. filed way back in 2003 by none other than Health and Human Services, the same agency that continues to insist that cannabis in any form is just bad, all bad--code for serious competition.

 

The abolition of Prohibition is already well underway globally and in states across America. Ironically, this latest desperate act of a faltering regime may serve to hasten the inevitable; freedom.

Perfect Freedom

Since the primary objective of the drug war is to keep the public in the dark about the true nature of cannabis (spoiler alert; it’s medicine) it should come as no surprise that the DEA is still guarding the gates as the walls come down, or that this prohibition era is ending like the last one; by will of the states.

The founders of this country were very clear. We the People have a right to do whatever we want with our own bodies. No provisos, no quid pro quos. Our bodies, our lives, our choices. And we earn that perfect freedom by taking personal responsibility for our actions in all aspects of our lives. 

It will take a few more freed states to shame Washington into ending its longest war, but to be sure, drug choice enforcers with their bullshit schedules and prisons enough for us all are finished in America. Prohibition has no place in a free country.

Top ten CULTURAL reasons cannabis freedom is rising

1.  The rise of advocacy groups which by their very names challenge the prevailing cultural order and prohibition-era stereotypes built up over generations.  Examples: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)...  Blueblood Yankees On Cannabis (they’d sooner die).

2.  Moms for Marijuana.  Watch out!  When the moms of America finally wake up and see what cannabis really is and what it can do for their family…Washington is gonna get so nailed for lying, and the drug war will be grounded. Forever. Nuff said.

3.  Countries like Uruguay, Portugal and Switzerland are taking the lead on crafting modern drug-use strategies, and proving once again that the freedom to choose works.  

4.  Cannabis is horticulturally, historically, medicinally, economically, artistically, and socially significant, and way cool.  It’s our very own ancient, healing, best exotic, fragrant, sweet, silly, sticky, sexy weed.

5.  Mainstream Americans, still the most influential cultural group in the world, are discovering the medicinal truth about cannabis in large numbers by way of their ailments, and internet testimonials by brave patient pioneers like Shona Banda and David Triplett.

6.  Alcohol and pill abuse is rampant in our culture, and cannabis is proving to be a useful exit drug for patients wrapped up in those costly, toxic, and often tragic addictions. [Myth-busting research study by Amanda Reiman: http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/6/1/35] 

7.  Doctors, particularly in free states, have begun to assert their sacred oath by insisting on treating patients in the privacy of their own practices—with cannabis if that works.

8.  Long-lasting, stealthy cannabis edibles and extracts are starting to make the party scene; 420 revelers typically drink less and feel better in the morning.  Evidence: Drunken driving fatalities decline in states that give their citizens the right to choose cannabis [see Maia Szalavitz piece for Time Magazine: http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/02/why-medical-marijuana-laws-reduce-traffic-deaths/].

9.  Cannabis festivals are all the rage: fun, safe, friendly, and often held on private land, these vibrant transitory marketplaces expand the support base, provide income for sellers of everything from goat soap to edibles, and serve as a key meeting place for local and regional growers, patients, ganjapreneurs, advocates and aficionados.

10.  To the utter frustration of the prohibitionists in power, the internet has fallen into the hands of the people.  The convenient medicinal and economic truth about cannabis is now appearing on screens large and small, all over the world.

Related works:
My new tune in celebration of cannabis freedom. http://cannatv.org/video/173/Free-To-Choose
Baking with Mom  http://cannabisrising.blogspot.com/2012/09/baking-with-mom.html

Lights, Camera, Cannabis! http://cannabisrising.blogspot.com/2012/07/lights-camera-cannabis.html

 

Top 10 Reasons Cannabis Legalization is Inevitable

…and why freedom will happen sooner than later.

1. Prohibition is against the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

2. States are asserting their right to restore liberties lost, and politicians who get it, like Colorado Congressman Jared Polis and the new Kennedy-seat Senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren, are on the rise in Washington.

3. Cannabis is a fast-growth, taxable enterprise frontier that delivers real medicine, good jobs, and sustainable opportunities to recession-weary Americans.  See related piece: http://cannabisrising.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-cannabis-trades-wheel-of-fortune.html

4. On the hemp front, struggling American farmers watch from the sidelines as countries like China, Canada and Romania take the lead in hemp cultivation for fiber (paper, textiles, composites, building materials), nutritious food, and earth-friendly bio-fuel.

5. Famously peaceful binge-bonging, chain-toking cannabis festivals now draw huge numbers, proving over and over that no matter how baked they get, cannabis fans pose little threat to themselves or to society.

6. Home cultivation for personal use is taking off because growing supplies can be freely sold, and small grows are impossible to police. 

7. We the People are demanding fiscal responsibility from Washington, and the failed drug war is a fiscal abomination that has met its match; a taxable economic frontier with a rising cultural distaste for intrusive government.

8. Research shows drunk driving fatalities decline in states that restore the right to choose and responsibly use cannabis.

9. The convenient truth, that cannabis is an ancient healing flower that never kills and is not physically addictive, is being re-discovered and shared online.

10. The US Government already knows cannabis is medicine, and has the patent to prove it (#  6,630,507 Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants).

In the 1800s cannabis use as medicine was all the rage.  It shall be again.

Mr. President; 

Americans are more than ready to embrace a healing flower that comes with its own economic frontier. The US has fallen way behind on the enterprise front, especially with regard to encouraging hemp cultivation for food, fiber and fuel. It's not dope, sir. And you know it. Tell the truth and restore our freedom to choose and make good use of cannabis.

If you don't, you can be sure you'll be hearing from us. Soon, and often.

Cannabis country sketches for screenwriters

Compelling, true life cannabis conflict is happening in the shadows all around, but it’s almost never portrayed on film.  Here are some sketches of characters struggling in the conflict zone, on the hard road between now and the restoration of a patient's right to choose and responsibly use cannabis.  

Clean not sober

A creative, thoughtful, introverted atheist from a conservative Philadelphia family is slowly dying from alcohol and drug abuse.  Now in her late 30s, Darci has been in and out of Western-style rehab eight times in a dozen years.  She hates everything about it; the group meetings, the halfway houses, the religious overtones, and the pill prescriptions for depression that dampen her creative skills.  She has tried cannabis in the past to no ill effect, but her well-respected psychologist insists that weed is what got Darci into this mess, and that’s good enough for her family.  So instead of questioning the methodology, the science, or the practitioner (who believes cannabis is just pot), they blame the patient for failing to get with the program.[1]  At a family gathering her favorite nephew quietly reveals he has taken himself off his OCD and depression meds with cannabis tincture. He offers to help.

Cannabis for Kids

Taylor is sixteen and has been on medication for ADHD since he was nine.  He’s a smart kid but a terrible student. He’s dazed, uninspired, and at times quietly suicidal.  He has never thought much about the medicine being prescribed to him by his doctor and given to him by his caring, single mom.  In Oklahoma that’s what is prescribed for what he has.  Boulder, Colorado, he discovers, is a long way from Tuttle, Oklahoma.  During a visit with his 'black sheep' father (a bud tender with a Colorado cannabis dispensary) he learns there is an alternative to prescribed medicines. Back home, his mom forbids him from even discussing the possibility of substituting cannabis for his 'modern' meds.  Taylor decides to explore on his own with goodies his father drives to the border.  His first attempt at treating himself goes badly.  He ends up in the hospital with an edibles overdose. He is arrested and the charges will ruin his life, unless he reveals the source.

Fighter for freedom not free to choose cannabis

A soldier returns from Afghanistan and tries to settle back into normal life in Southern New Hampshire.  Casey is physically fine but is tormented by the action she saw, and by the actions she took to survive.  Her brother Dave is a successful lawyer and closet weed aficionado whose wife and family believes he tokes far less than he does.  Lately Dave has been exploring green dragon tincture[2] as a stealthy means of enjoying a good buzz without drinking so much at cocktail parties.  He encourages his sister to try it as a sleep aid and to calm her daily anxiety.  Casey resists at first because she has a good civilian job with a local defense contractor that has a zero tolerance for use of illegal substances.  They’ve never drug tested, so after another bad week of nightmares, Casey gives tincture a try.  It works for her, and when an old Yankee farmer at a coffee shop in Peterborough spies Casey furtively dosing her oatmeal with cannabis drops, she quietly introduces herself.  Suddenly Casey is learning how to make extracts and edibles from an expert grower who has been quietly growing her own for years.  Casey brings a couple of small, potent cookies to work, planning to bite off tiny pieces throughout the day.  When she leaves her desk, a bothersome, unsuspecting co-worker swipes one of the treats and has a bad overdose.  Casey is immediately fired.  The local police are taking it seriously as well, and if convicted, Casey could lose not only her military benefits, but her freedom.

Important!  No rights reserved. No restrictions apply.  e-signed: Carl E. Hedberg

Related articles: 

Lights, Camera, Cannabis!  http://cannabisrising.blogspot.com/2012/07/lights-camera-cannabis.html

Cannabis medicine  in a disaster movie: http://cannabisrising.blogspot.com/2012/10/cannabis-in-times-of-crisis.html

 

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[1] Related article: Baking with Mom  http://cannabisrising.blogspot.com/2012/09/baking-with-mom.html

[2] Related article: Tincture for Cashy Hyde http://cannabisrising.blogspot.com/2012/07/cannabis-oil-for-cash-hyde.html