Marijuana Doesn’t Need to be Rescheduled to do More Research
Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton criticize the Citizens United ruling without criticizing the millions and millions of dollars that George Soros, Peter Lewis and others have used to fund marijuana legalization. It is a double standard.
A few days ago on Good Morning America, a representative of NORML asked Hillary Clinton if she would support legalizing marijuana. She doesn’t support it, but she supports research and changing marijuana from a schedule I to schedule II classification.
Senator Clinton suggested that it would be necessary to change the designation to allow more medical research. However, she is wrong to think marijuana needs to be rescheduled in order to study it. Kevin Sabet issued a report, explaining why it is not necessary to reschedule marijuana to facilitate medical research. As the Director of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, Sabet is the nation’s leading expert on all aspects of marijuana policy.
Last week the government gave approval to a study of 76 veterans to see if marijuana can be used for PTSD. (Another study has clearly shown that marijuana makes some PTSD symptoms — including violence and alcohol use — worse.)
The tricky part of studying marijuana is how to conduct research on human subjects without unleashing dangerous side effects. There’s strong evidence of marijuana as a trigger for psychosis and schizophrenia, as well as other mental health risks such as depression, paranoia, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and addiction. It would very unwise for government — charged with protecting the welfare of its people — not to be extremely careful with a plant that grows like a WEED and inspires a lot of criminal behavior.
Conducting Medical Research on Marijuana
Any medical application to marijuana is likely to be found in component parts of the plant. The Food and Drug Administration has an extensive explanation on how it classifies drugs and conducts research involving cannabidiol (CBD) and THC. When isolating CBD, care must be taken to see that CBD doesn’t convert to THC* which causes the psychosis.
Some children who took some forms of medical marijuana, including CBD for seizures, have died. The marijuana industry hides this fact, but the public has the right to know. The chief science officer of the center for Accountability in Science has exposed the junk science behind the marijuana legalization movement. Furthermore, the FDA sent out a number of warning letters to companies selling CBD that make false claims.
Despite Hillary Clinton’s misunderstanding of marijuana’s classification, she may understand more about the negative consequences of marijuana use than any of the remaining presidential candidates, other than John Kasich. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz say legalizing marijuana should be a state’s right — which shows another form of amazing ignorance, or political calculation. Bernie Sanders has come out in support of legalization, with the hopes of getting younger voters.
Hillary Clinton is far more cautious, saying that states are laboratories of democracy. After the Governor of Colorado called it reckless and Colorado teachers and counselors reported tremendous problems, it is amazing that Senator Clinton hasn’t been informed about what is happening. She can no longer wait and see.
Why isn’t Senator Clinton Getting the Bigger Picture?
Hopefully, it is not a debt to George Soros that is keeping Hillary from seeing what should be obvious. Soros, who donates to Clinton, is also the principal financial sponsor of Drug Policy Alliance which supports legalization of all drugs. It has always been a plan to make “medical” marijuana a foil for full legalization of the drug.
The international community doesn’t want drugs legalized, according to the document adopted at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem that ended Thursday. By allowing certain states to legalize drugs, the US is out of compliance with international treaties.
Hillary Clinton should also know that big money was the reason Initiative 502 in Washington, Amendment 64 in Colorado and Measure 91 in Oregon passed. Both Senator Sanders and Senator Clinton should be honest about how big money brought us marijuana legalization and its consequential problems. Bernie Sanders loves to blame Wall Street bankers for everything, but he avoids acknowledging the one percenters behind Big Marijuana.
Hillary Clinton should know that legalization is not working in Colorado, which has the highest rate of teen marijuana users in the nation. It is also not working in Washington, where 37 % of the traffic fatalities involved drivers impaired by THC in 2014.
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*The sources that explain the conversion of CBD to THC are Roger Adams, Hans Wolff, C.K. Cain and J.H. Clark, Structure of Cannabidiol. V. Position of the Alicyclic Double Bonds (Contribution from Noyes Chemical Laboratory, University of Illinois), Mikes and Waser: Marihuana Components: Effects of Smoking , Forensic Toxicol (2007) 25:16-21 and Kazuhito Watanabe et al: Conversion of cannabidiol to tetrahydrocannabinol and related cannabinoids in artificial gastric juice, and the their pharmacological effects. For more information, please consult GW Pharmaceuticals or Dr. Orrin Devinsky of New York University Langone Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. The only way to deliver the CBD without risking the conversion is through a nasal spray. Smoking and edibles stomach are not good.
