legalization of cannabis and hemp

First, the "wildly inaccurate portrayal" of William Randolph Hearst. Yes he almost went bankrupt and yes it would appear that he would have only benefited from cheaper hemp paper. It also states in the paragraph following yours that: "In any case, the Hearst papers never needed hidden self-interest to trumpet fiendish menaces. The expression "yellow journalism" comes from Hearst's campaign for a war against Spain in 1898. And from the 1930s on, his papers were finding RED SUBVERSIVES and PINKO FELLOW-TRAVELERS under every bed. In 1935, a University of Chicago professor accused of being a Communist by the Hearst-owned Herald-Examiner told the Nation that the reporter covering him had admitted, "We do just what the Old Man orders. One week he orders a campaign against rats. The next week he orders a campaign against dope peddlers. Pretty soon he's going to campaign against college professors. It's all the bunk, but orders are orders." " Orders are orders. Because some people just know better. How does the idea that even if a majority of people believe that cannabis was made illegal for the wrong reasons make my position on cannabis prohibition wrong? The fact that it was made illegal due to untruths and half conceived notions that it is terribly unhealthy is exactly the point that many cannabis activists are pointing out. It is because of these irrationalities as to the toxicity and harm cannabis causes that has decreased its public awareness as far as actual knowledge of its health effects is concerned, as well as it being misconstrued as an awful substance that turns people into addicts who will do anything to get their fix because it is grouped improperly with cocaine and heroin. Despite cannabis being the most widely used illicit drug in the Western world, controlled trials for cannabis use disorder have only been reported in literature in the last 15 years. Though controversial (many clinicians continue to conclude that the relatively mild withdrawal syndrome associated with cannabis indicates that dependence is unlikely and treatment unnecessary), research has shown a substantial percentage of cannabis users develop cannabis-related problems, including dependency. Overall, the addiction potential for cannabis is significantly less than that for tobacco, alcohol, cocaine or heroin, but slightly higher than that for psilocybin, mescaline, LSD, and MDMA. Anthony, J., Warner, L. & Kessler, R. (1994). Comparative epidemiology of dependence on tobacco, alcohol, controlled substance and inhalants: Basic findings from the National Comorbidity Survey. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology 2, 244-268 Swift, W., Hall, W. & Teesson, M. (2001). Cannabis use and dependence among Australian adults: Results from the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. Addiction 96, 737-748 Anthony, J.C. & Helzer, J.E. (1991). Syndromes of drug abuse and dependence. In. L.N. Robins & D.A. Regier. (Eds.). Psychiatric disorders in America: The Epidemiological Catchment Area Study, pp. 116-154. New York: The Free Press. http://www.druglibrary.org... http://www.drugrehabtreatment.com... The Most Addictive Drugs The point here, once again, is that the socially accepted drugs of today alcohol and tobacco are inherently more toxic and harmful. Also, neither of these substances have the medicinal properties cannabis is known to have. This is the reason that it has been made medically legal in 14 states. The fact that most people, even though they may not have all the knowledge on how cannabis may be harmful to the user still find that it is not a big deal, which is shown by the fact that 13 states have decriminalized it. As to another of the empirically proved net negative consequences of cannabis consumption, the largest longitudinal study examining the link between cannabis and psychosis was undertaken by Andreasson and colleagues and followed 45,570 male Swedish Army conscripts for 15 years. After controlling for other factors such as parental mental illness or a pre-existing psychotic illness at conscription, the study found that the odds of developing schizophrenia later in life were "1.5 times higher for those who had used cannabis 1-10 times and 2.3 times more likely for those who had used cannabis 10 times or more". Further to criticism that the study did not control for the use of other potentially psychotogenic substances such as amphetamines, a follow-up study re-analyzed the data and ruled out this argument, finding that cannabis use remained predictive of schizophrenia in a dose-dependent manner even after accounting for other substance use and pre-morbid social integration. Andreasson, S., Allebeck, P. and Rydberg, U. (1989). Schizophrenia in users and nonusers of cannabis: a longitudinal study in Stockholm County. However, a 2005 meta analysis of available data which evaluated several hypotheses regarding the correlation of cannabis and psychosis found that there is no support for the hypothesis that cannabis can cause cases of psychosis which would not have occurred otherwise, however further study is needed to explore the correlation between cannabis and other types of psychosis patients. Studies have shown that a risk does exist in some individuals with a predisposition to mental illness to develop symptoms of psychosis. The risk was found to be directly related to high dosage and frequency of use, early age of introduction to the drug, and was especially pronounced for those with a predisposition for mental illness. These results have been questioned as being biased by failing to account for medicinal versus recreational usage — critics contend it could be a causal relationship, or it could be that people who are susceptible to mental problems tend to smoke cannabis, or it could be connected to the criminalization of cannabis. Another important question is whether the observed symptoms of mental illness are actually connected to development of a permanent mental disorder; cannabis may trigger latent conditions, or be part of a complex coordination of causes of mental illness, referred to in psychology as the diathesis-stress model. People with developed psychological disorders are known to self-medicate their symptoms with cannabis as well, although one study has claimed that those with a predisposition for psychosis did not show a statistically significant increase in likelihood of cannabis use four years later. Degenhardt L, Hall W, Lynskey M (2001). Comorbidity between cannabis use and psychosis: Modelling some possible relationships. Technical Report No. 121. Sydney: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. http://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au.... Retrieved 19.18.2006. T.F. Denson, M. Earleywine (June 20, 2005). "Decreased depression in marijuana users". Addictive Behaviors. Once again, it boils down to the fact that there is an equal and opposite argument for almost every scientific claim made about cannabis on both sides of this debate. This tells me two things, that there needs to be irrefutable scientific evidence pointing one way or the other, and that people should be properly educated rather than prohibited. There needs to be once and for all a truly unbiased test pointing out the very real facts of both sides of cannabis consumption, good and bad. And, just like tobacco and alcohol, have a government controlled warning telling people the toxicity, potency and risks of use. For the government to alleviate some of people's natural destructive choices, regulation not prohibition should be utilized. All you are saying in your logic is that cannabis should be regulated by the government instead of prohibited, because the government can control it better than the people who need protection from themselves. Because, being prohibited, people will still choose to use this substance and should be properly informed and regulated instea