Pubdate: Thu, 7 May 2009
Source: Boulder Weekly (CO)
Copyright: 2009 Boulder Weekly
Contact:  http://www.boulderweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n481/a07.html
Author: Liz Brix

WHY POT IS ILLEGAL

(Re: "Pot reactions," letters, April 30.) I read a letter to the 
editor recently about legalizing pot, in which a proponent said there 
is no research done on pot because the government has made it 
illegal. Not true.

I wrote an extensive research report in college on marijuana, and I
found out they did do a lot of research on it. They gave it to
chimpanzees. The chimps were allowed constant access to it and food
and water. They would smoke it, then sit and be high, and eat, and be
happy. No addiction. When the same experiment was done with cocaine,
the chimps constantly took the coke without eating. Same with heroin
and cigarettes. The heroin they would take until they died - coke,
close to it. Pot they took occasionally, when they felt like it. They
don't need to do research on pot because they have already proven it
is not addictive.

There has never been a car accident that resulted from smoking pot.
Newspapers will often say the driver was smoking pot to make it look
like the cause, but with further reading you find he was also drinking
or doing other drugs.

Marijuana was made illegal because Dupont created a new fiber, Nylon,
which they felt was perfect for the shipping industry's ropes and
sails. Unfortunately, that was already being taken care of with hemp
rope and sail fabric. So, to get rid of competition, Dupont's nephew
Andrew Mellon was put in charge of a new government agency called the
Drug Enforcement Agency. They used propaganda and favors in the Food
and Drug Administration to make marijuana illegal, which made hemp
illegal - although most people at the time didn't know that hemp and
marijuana were the same thing. So, now the shipping and boating
industries use the shorter-lived Nylon ropes and sails, instead of the
tried and true long-lasting hemp, and no one can smoke pot anymore
legally except medical patients. How rude!

Liz Brix

Boulder
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