        ммммммммммммм                            ммм           мммм
     мллллллллплпппппллм       ммппппмммм млм  мллллллллмммммлпп плл
    пллллллллллллллм  плл   млллмллммм   пллллм плллллллмллмммллн лп
        пппллллллллллм он  лллллллллллпплмоллл    лллллм    пплллоп
Mo.iMP  мллм  плллллллнл  оллллллллл    олллл     олллллн      плп
      мллллллл  ллллллллн оллллллллн     ллл       лллллл
     млллллллн  олллллллл олллллллл       п        оллллллм   мл
    млллллллн    лллллллл  ллллллллн               оолллллллллп
   млплллллл мм  ллллллллн ллолллллн               оллллллпп
  млпллллллмллллмолллллллл ол пллллл           м   лнллллл             м
 мл оллллллллллп  ллллллллл плм  плллмм    ммлллп ол олллн         ммлл
лл   ллллллллп    ллллллллллм плм  пплллллллллп мммп ллллмммммммлллллп
 плм   млллп       пллллллллллм  ппмм ппмллпп  пллм   ппплплллллллпп
    ппппп                ппллп      ппппп        ппппппппппппп
          ARRoGANT                CoURiERS      WiTH     ESSaYS

Grade Level:       Type of Work           Subject/Topic is on:
 [ ]6-8                 [ ]Class Notes    [Q/A on Legalization of  ]
 [x]9-10                [ ]Cliff Notes    [Marijuana               ]
 [ ]11-12               [ ]Essay/Report   [                        ]
 [ ]College             [x]Misc           [                        ]

 Dizzed: 07/94  # of Words:1485  School: ?              State: ?
ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>Chop Here>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ
"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

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.

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 Presidents3 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.

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 hashish5  made from the cured flowers of  the plant.
It was  not seen  as a problem until a calculated disinformation campaign
was launched in the 1930s,6 and the first American laws against using it
were passed.7

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
n  chovies. 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

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)  14,000-27,000
Drug Overdose (iilegal)  3,800-5,200
Marijuana      0
* Source:  U.S. government  Bureau  of  Mortality  Statistics,
1987.

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.

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),  thethee-legalizing
marijuana  should be considered as  one way  to curb  the growing  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.

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 plann instead of smoking it13  or can  be reduced
by smoking smaller amounts of stronger marijuana.
     There is no proof that marijuana causes serious health or sexual
problems14  but, like  alcohol, its  use by children or adolescents is
discouraged. Cannabis is a medicinal herb that has hundreds  of proven,
valuable  therapeutic  uses  -  from stress reduction  to glaucoma  to
asthma  to  cancer  therapy, etc.15

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  Health16  and finally renounced  his own  studies
as  meaningless.17 For one experiment, he  suffocated monkeys for five
minutes at a time, using prorortionately more smoke than the average user
inhales in  an   entire  lifetime.18  The  other  studies  that  claim
sensational health  risks are  also highly suspect, since they lack
controls  and produce results which can not be replicated or independently
verififi.19

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.


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:  Encyclopaedia
Brittanica,  federal  documents  and historical records.

2.  Coptic   Christians,  Rhastafarnians,   Shintos,   Hindus, 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 grgrt 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 8,000 B.C. - and was used fororinen, 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 (1896) 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 Emperor Wears No Clothes.

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

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

10. Source:  All university  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 medicaa problem that is
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  repllce at least 10-20% of prescription 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 s quired  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 monkeysysere
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).
