Lets stop wasting so much money

Ok, time for some debate and controversy.

Marijuana was made illegal during the reaction to drug use decades ago. It was classified as a "Schedule 1 narcotic". In order to be classified as this, the substance must:

1) Have a high potential for abuse
2) Have no accepted medical use in treatment in the US
3) Have a lack of accepted safety for the use of the substance under medical supervision

Now, we could have a debate on number 1, but I'll concede there's a high potential for abuse. I'm not sure I see how that abuse has near the high level of consequence that a schedule 1 should have, but it really is easy to abuse. (So easy in fact that I think we can play hell ever STOPPING it from being abused)

Number 3? There are no safety issues with Marijuana at ALL, medically supervised or not. Unless you count people that are giving it to 8 year olds, or people that burned up their barcolounger because they fell asleep burning one, Marijuana is one of the innocuous drugs out there.

Now, lets move on to number 2.

I recently, due to my own medical issues, had reason to do some research. I found that there's growing scientific evidence that a chemical in Marijuana (Cannabidiol, or CBD) prevents tumor formation. It also for some types of cancer, seems to be able to attach to the receptors of the cancer cells, and tell them to "suicide". (this isn't far fetched, the body has methods of telling certain cells to kill themselves. It's almost the definition of cancer that thee orders stop working on them). CBD has NO narcotic affects. In fact, it seems to temper the affects of THC, which is the narcotic element of pot.

Of course, recreational users shoot for low CBD, and high THC, because that's the affect they're after. Increasingly however, the big push is for high CBD marijuana, which has a limited recreational appeal, and some very definite and VERY interesting medicinal qualities.

There is also excellent research showing it's very strong medicinal affects on Parkinsons, some types of epilepsy (Cannabis can easily cross the blood/brain barrier), and even weight management and/or diabetes.

For decades we've known the palliative affects Marijuana has on people undergoing Chemo, Radiation, or other harsh medical treatments. What we haven't known until recently is the curative aspects. In fact, there are very convincing annecdotal cases of people that were diagnosed as terminal, and after cannabis oil treatments were completely cured. The doctors found a completely dead tumor when they went in later.

Personally? Well, at the least we need to be researching this. At the least, we need to acknowledge that Marijuana never did fit the definitions for level 1 narcotic, and at this point it probably can only classify as something that might need to be age restricted.

We also need to admit that we are only preventing the people that need it most from using it the way things are. We will NEVER stop or even slow down recreational use. The only people that we're hurting the way it stands are the people that need it medically.