With help from some people in Salt Lake City, associated with the Mormon Church and the Mormon National Tabernacle in Washington -- with their help and a lot of work we found out what the genesis was of the first marihuana law in this country. Yes, it was directly connected to the history of Utah and Mormonism and it went like this.
I think that a lot of you know that, in its earliest days, the Mormon church permitted its male members to have more than one wife -- polygamy. Do you all know that in 1876, in a case called Reynolds against the United States, the United States Supreme Court said that Mormons were free to believe what they wanted, but they were not free to practice polygamy in this country. Well, who do you think enforced that ruling of the Supreme Court in 1876? At the end of the line, who enforces all rulings of the Supreme Court? Answer: the state and local police. And who were they in Utah then? All Mormons, and so nothing happened for many years. Those who wanted to live polygamously continued to do so.
In 1910, the Mormon Church in synod in Salt Lake City decreed polygamy to be a religious mistake and it was banned as a matter of the Mormon religion. Once that happened, there was a crackdown on people who wanted to live in what they called "the traditional way". So, just after 1910, a fairly large number of Mormons left the state of Utah, and indeed left the United States altogether and moved into northwest Mexico. They wrote a lot about what they wanted to accomplish in Mexico. They wanted to set up communities where they were basically going to convert the Indians, the Mexicans, and what they referred to as "the heathen" in the neighborhood to Mormonism.
By 1914, they had had very little luck with the heathen, but our research shows now beyond question that the heathen had a little luck with them. What happened apparently -- now some of you who may be members of the church, you know that there are still substantial Mormon communities in northwest Mexico -- was that, by and large most of the Mormons were not happy there, the religion had not done well there, they didn't feel comfortable there, they wanted to go back to Utah where there friends were and after 1914 did.
And with them, the Indians had given them marijuana. Now once you get somebody back in Utah with the marijuana it all becomes very easy, doesn't it? You know that the Mormon Church has always been opposed to the use of euphoriants of any kind. So, somebody saw them with the marijuana, and in August of 1915 the Church, meeting again in synod in Salt Lake City decreed the use of marijuana contrary to the Mormon religion and then -- and this is how things were in Utah in those days -- in October of 1915, the state legislature met and enacted every religious prohibition as a criminal law and we had the first criminal law in this country's history against the use of marijuana.
A US high school student who was suspended for unfurling a banner saying "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" did not have his rights violated, a divided US Supreme Court ruled today, in its first major decision on student free-speech rights in nearly 20 years.
BOSTON, April 18 (UPI) -- A U.S. study says the active ingredient in marijuana may help fight lung cancer.
Harvard researcher Anju Preet says lab and mouse studies show the compound THC cut lung tumor growth in half and helped prevent the cancer from spreading, WebMD reported Wednesday.
Preet said THC boots the natural anti-inflammatory properties of two specific endocannabinoids present in high amounts on lung cancer cells. THC was injected into mice that had been implanted with human lung cancer cells. Tumors shrank by about 50 percent in three weeks, compared with tumors in untreated mice, the report said.
The report, presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, says other research suggests THC could also help fight brain, prostate and skin cancers.
Marijuana in all this time has never killed anyone. Can the same be said for drinking alcohol? So, If we take a look at the reasoning the Government gives for it's ban on Marijuana, why aren't Cigarettes, that are full of additives that get you hooked, as well as alcohol banned by the Federal Government? Now, if you want to argue that the reason the latter two are not banned is because they are not drugs, then look at the listing of chemicals that are used to make Cigarettes. In California, Marijuana is listed as Medicine for: Cancer, Anorexia, Aids, Chronic pain, Spasticity, Glaucoma, Arthritis, Migraine or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.
In Oregon Marijuana is used as medicine for: Cancer, Glaucoma, positive status for Human Immunodeficiency Virus or acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or treatment for these conditions, Cachexia, Severe pain, Severe nausea and Seizures, including but not limited to seizures caused by Epilepsy, and Persistent muscle spasms, including but not limited to spasms caused by Multiple Sclerosis
When have the Members of Congress started becoming doctors? All you need do is look at the money trail. How much have manufacturers in the pharmaceutical industry donated to the Members of Congress?
Pharmaceuticals donated Total to Democrats: $834,864. Total to Republicans: $2,248,770
The most important risk factor for lung cancer is tobacco smoking. So with our Government knowing this, why isn't Tobacco Outlawed? The reason is clear. Our Government makes so much money, in the field of Tobacco, it's OK with our Government that people die from this drug. And it is a drug when people smoke for say, two months, they are HOOKED.
Now let's look at Legal Pain Killers and boy are they KILLERS. As for Each year, use of NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) accounts for "an estimated 7,600 deaths and 76,000 hospitalizations in the United States." (NSAIDs include aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac, ketoprofen, and tiaprofenic acid. Tell me this, how many deaths are due to the use of Marijuana?
The National Academy of Sciences has stated and I quote "Is marijuana addictive?" and the answer to that question is 9 % Ever Became Dependent Compared to Heroin that has a level of 23 % of Dependent Addiction.
Now if you look at the Schedule I drug listing you will see that Marijuana is in the same listing as Heroin. Now did you also know that Tobacco has a Dependent rateing of 32 % and Alcohol has a Dependent rating of 15 %? So, with the reasoning the Government is giving for Marijuana to be outlawed, Congress should also have outlawed Tobacco and Alcohol, both with a higher rating of Dependent addiction.
Also, Marijuana has been found to help with Nausea, Appetite loss, Pain, and Anxiety. All can be mitigated by marijuana. Although some medications are more effective than marijuana for these problems, they are not equally effective in all patients as is pointed out in the Federal IOM report on page 107. Approximately 77,000 marijuana offenders are in prison or jail right now
A recent study of prisons in four Midwestern states found that approximately one in ten male inmates reported that that they had been raped while in prison. Rape and sexual assault against women prisoners, are in high numbers. Women prisoners are most likely to be abused by male staff members, they have been reported to be as high as 27 percent in some institutions.
The war on marijuana consumers costs taxpayers nearly $12 billion annually
Organizations that have endorsed medical access to marijuana include: the AIDS Action Council, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Public Health Association, American Academy of HIV Medicine, American Nurses Association, Lymphoma Foundation of America, National Association of People With AIDS, the New England Journal of Medicine, the state medical associations of New York, California, Florida and Rhode Island, and many others.