Temaet jeg valgte til særemnet vi hadde i engelsk på skolen var Cannabis. Jeg fikk 5-6 på denne oppgaven, og tenkte at mange her på nff kunne ha nytte av denne kunnskapen. Det er mye å lese, men leser du dette vet du det meste om cannabis (hvertfall hvorfor det er ulovlig). Jeg vet ikke hvordan jeg laster opp filer, så jeg legger ut oppgaven i tekst her:

Cannabis from a different perspective


Table of contents

Introduction................................................ ............................................................ .....1

Approach to the problems.................................................... .......................................1

What is cannabis?................................................... ....................................................1

Chemistry................................................... ............................................................ .....1

Effects..................................................... ............................................................ ........2

Cannabis and health...................................................... ..............................................3

Why is cannabis illegal?.................................................... .........................................3
Mexico, the Mexicans and the hemp........................................................ ........................................4
Jazz and Assassins................................................... ............................................................ .............4
Alcohol Prohibition and Federal Approaches to Drug Prohibition................................................. .5
Harry J. Anslinger................................................... ............................................................ .............5
William Randolph Hearst and propaganda trough the media....................................................... ...6
The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937........................................................ ..............................................6

Conclusion.................................................. ............................................................ ...9

Sources..................................................... ............................................................ .....9


Introduction:
Cannabis is the most commonly used drug in the world, but even though it's classified as a drug, this substance can work miracles for people suffering from MS, HIV and other illnesses known for causing a lot of pain. Cannabis is also as commonly used in India where it's used in ceremonials and as a stress relief, as beer is used in Europe with one main reason; get drunk. I think it's weird that a substance known as one of the best painkillers in certain situations with the least bi-effects is classified as a drug in a larger part of the world, when alcohol which causes death to thousands of people every year is a legal substance, so I decided to dive into this subject to learn more about this plant, and find out if cannabis really is as dangerous as “everybody” wants us to believe, and if it's not, why it is illegal to use.

Approach to the problems
-What is cannabis?
-Why is it illegal?

What is cannabis?
Cannabis is a plant which grows wild in many of the tropical areas of the world. It is grown both indoors and out in the nature for the production of its flowering top, aka. buds which is the part of the plant that users consume in order to get a mild, psychedelic, stimulating effect. Cannabis also comes in a concentrated form called hashish and as a black liquid called hash oil. There are three different species of cannabis; Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. The name “hemp” is used to describe low-THC (will be explained later) varieties of cannabis which are grown for industrial uses.

The potency of cannabis varies greatly from strain to strain, which means that with some types of cannabis the smoker gets full effect from one hit of a joint, while with other types the smoker need to smoke the entire joint in order to get the same effect. The amount consumed in order to get high varies greatly from one person to another, but in general 3,5 grams of average quality marijuana is enough to get around 20 to 30 people high.

The ingredients that makes the effects when cannabis is consumed are called cannabinoids. There are many cannabinoids produced by the plant; tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabinol, cannabidiol, cannabinolidic acid, cannabigerol and cannabichromene, though delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol is the cannabinoid that is thought to be the reason for the psychoactive effects, and is the active ingredient in syntetic THC pills like Marinol. Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol is commonly known as THC.

Chemistry
Name: Tetrahydrocannabinols (THC)
Chemical name: Tetrahydro-6,6,9-trimethyl-3-pentyl-6H-dibenzo[b,d]pyran-1-ol
Chemical formula: C21H30O2
Molecular weight: 314.47
Boiling point: 200 degrees Celsius
Effects
When cannabis is smoked, the onset lasts for 10 minutes where the effect gradually escalate. The “coming-up” lasts for 5-10 minutes and the peak lasts for 15-30 minutes. After that, the comedown lasts for 45-180 minutes. The duration varies on the potency and the amount of cannabis smoked.

When eaten, the onset lasts for 30-120 minutes, the “coming-up” for 30-120 minutes and the peak lasts for 2-5 hours. As when smoked, the duration varies on the potency and the dosage.

Positive effects: euphoria, laughter, relaxation (stress reduction), creativity, philosophical thinking, increased appreciation of music, increased awareness of senses, increased body/mind connection, pain relief, increased appetite (used medically), boring tasks or entertainment can become more interesting or funny.

Neutral effects: general change in consciousness, increased appetite, slowness (talking etc.) change in vision like sharpened colors or lights, closed-eye visuals, tiredness/sleepy, stimulation, inability to sleep (less common), red eyes (more common with certain strains of cannabis, and inexperienced users), mouth dryness, interrupts linear memory, facial tension (less common), racing thoughts, altered sense of time (common at higher doses).

Negative effects: nausea, coughing, asthma, respiratory problems, reduced short term memory, fast beating heart, feeling tense, anxiety, panic attacks (with very high doses), headaches, confusion, fainting (rare), paranoid and anxious thoughts, possible psychological dependence on cannabis, clumsiness/loss of coordination, can trigger latent mental disorders and make mental disorders worse.

Withdrawal symptoms: mild to moderate withdrawal symptoms may be experienced after daily use. These symptoms can last for 1-6 weeks after cease of use, and can include anxiety, reduced experience of pleasure, headaches, uncomfortable feeling, and a wish to consume cannabis (the severity of the symptoms depends on frequency of use and the individual), loss of appetite, and increased boredom.

The main effects that people smoke cannabis to achieve are relaxation and changes in perception. The effects vary depending on the amount of cannabis consumed. Effects at low doses are a sense of comfort, the amount of information picked up by the senses is increased, changes in way of thinking, giggling, increased interest for conversations, increased appreciation of music, increased appetite, and mild closed-eye visuals. Sense of time is altered at higher doses, memory is reduced and mental perception may be altered.

At extreme doses, the effects are like other psychedelics, and panic and bad mood are common. There is almost impossible to consume an extreme amount of cannabis by smoking it, because the user is likely to pass out/fall asleep before he/she can smoke enough to have consumed a dose high enough, but when taken orally, the effects kick in after about 30-120 minutes which means the user is able to consume a lot more before falling asleep. Extreme doses can sometimes result in difficult situations and visits to the emergency room because of fast heartbeat, extreme confusion, short term memory loss, and panic. After a high dose experience after effects can last for 1-2 days, especially with people who are not regular users.
The effects from cannabis may vary a lot from person to another, depending on many factors like body chemistry, age, gender, physical health etc. When a person consumes cannabis he/she is not likely to experienced all the positive, neutral and negative effects, but a few of each.

Cannabis and health
Cannabis a relatively safe drug to use. There have never been confirmed any deaths caused by cannabis itself, but death have been the result from injuries from accidents occurring while affected by cannabis. While being high many users act clumsy and accidents may occur for example while driving or using electric tools. Panic attacks may occur, where the person can feel extreme dread like like he/she is going to die.

Regular use of cannabis can lead to respiratory problems at the same degree as tobacco. Cannabis is assumed to be four times as hard for the lungs as tobacco, which means: one pure cannabis-rolled joint can be compared to four cigarettes. However, a cannabis user is in almost every incident smoking ten or more times less cannabis than a tobacco-user smokes tobacco, which means that the effects to the respiratory from cannabis smoking is generally less harmful then tobacco use is.

People suffering from AIDS may suffer from undernourishment, and this is severe to a person with a decreased immunity system as he/she won't get those vitamins etc. needed. When cannabis is consumed it decreases the amount of blood-sugar in the body, something that results in a great increase in appetite (called munchies).

Glaucoma is a illness which increases the pressure within the eyeball. The increased pressure may result in optic nerve damage, and loss of sight. When cannabis is ingested, the pressure is released. The person suffering from this illness can therefore smoke cannabis to prevent blindness.

In addition to this, cannabis can be used against multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, paraplegia and quadraplegia, and analgesic.

Why is cannabis illegal?
Cannabis has been illegal for less than 1% of the time that it's been in use. Cannabis has been in use since 7000 B.C, and it was legal even at the time when Ronald Reagan was a boy.

The hemp plant has many different uses, and the earliest known woven fabric used hemp as material. Over centuries, the plant was used for food, cloth, rope and much more.

America's first cannabis law was introduced in Virginia in 1619. It was a law ordering all farmers to grow Indian hemp-seed. There was several other «must grow» laws over the next 200 years (you could be jailed for not growing hemp when there was a shortage, in Virginia between 1736 and 1767) and at that time, the population could even pay taxes with hemp. Hemp was so useful for many different purposes that the government encouraged growing of the plant.
The United States Census counted 8327 hemp plantations growing cannabis/hemp for cloth and canvas, in 1850
Mexico, the Mexicans and the hemp
In 1910 it was a revolution in Mexico. The revolution affected several places around the border of Mexico, mainly General Pershing's army clashing with the Mexican bandit Pancho Villa. Later in that decade, conflicts raised between the small farmers and the large farms that used cheap Mexican labor. Then, then the depression came and increased the conflicts, as it was a major lack of jobs.

One of the cases debated at this time was that many Mexicans smoked marihuana and had brought the plant with them. However, the first state law outlawing marihuana did not outlaw it because of the Mexicans using the drug, but because the Mormons used it. Mormons who traveled to Mexico in 1910 came back to Salt Lake City with marihuana. The church was no happy with this because of their «against use of drug-view». The state of Utah converted the church's view into law, and so was the first state marihuana prohibition introduced in 1915. Other states followed Utah and their marihuana/cannabis prohibition laws, including Whyoming in 1915, Texas in 1919, Iowa, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Arcansas in 1923, and Nebraska in 1927. These laws was targeted specifically against the Mexican-American population.
When Montana outlawed marihuana/cannabis in 1927, the Butte Montana Standard reported a legislator's comment: "When some beet fiend peon takes a few traces of this stuff... he thinks he has just been elected president of Mexico, so he starts out to execute all his political enemies." In Texas, a senator represented the senate when he said "All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff (marihuana) is what makes them crazy."

Jazz and Assassins
In the eastern states, the «problem» was related to a combination of Latin Americans and black jazz musicians. Marihuana and jazz "traveled" from New Orleans to Chicago, and then to Harlem, where marihuana became a great part of the music, and some of the black hits of the time (Louis Armstong's "Muggles", Cab Calloway's "That Funny Reefer Man", Fats Waller's "Viper's Drag") included words like reefer etc. Again, racism was one of the charges against marihuana, and newspapers in 1934 wrote things like: «Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men's shadows and look at a white woman twice.». Two other insane rumors started to spread: that Mexicans, Blacks and other foreigners were snaring white children with marihuana, and that prehistorical assassins were given lagre doses of hashis and brought to the ruler's garden to give them a glimpse of the paradise that awaited them upon successful completion of their mission. Then, when the effets of the drug disapperared, the assassin would carry out his mission with cool, calculating loyalty.

In the 1930s, the story had changed. Dr. A. E. Fossier wrote in the 1931 New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal: "Under the influence of hashish those fanatics would madly rush at their enemies, and ruthlessly massacre every one within their grasp.". Within a short time, marihuana started to be associated with violent behavior.

part 2 siden det ikke var mulig å lime inn hele:

Alcohol Prohibition and Federal Approaches to Drug Prohibition
From 1919 to 1933, alcohol was prohibited in the United States. This matter was very «visible» to everyone and it was debated at high levels, while drug laws were passed without the general population knowing about it. The national alcohol prohibition happened trough the purpose of one of the preparations to the constitution.
In 1914, the Harrison Act was passed, which introduced federal tax penalties for opiates and cocaine.

The federal approach was considered at the time when the federal government didn't have the constitutional power to outlaw alcohol or drugs, and this is the reason why alcohol prohibition required a constitutional preparation. Because of the lack of power to outlaw drugs at the federal level, a decision was made to use federal taxes as a way around the restriction. The Harrison Act had introduced taxation for legal use of opiates and cocaine (probably as an income needed by the federal government to finance the courts) and those who didn't follow the law got in trouble with the Treasury Department.

In 1930, a new division in the Treasury Department was established: the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, and Harry J. Anslinger was the director of this department. This was the beginning of the federal war against cannabis/hemp.

Harry J. Anslinger
Anslinger saw the Bureau of Narcotics as a great career opportunity – a new division with a main responsibility to find both the problem and the solution. He soon realized that opiates and cocaine wouldn't be enough to build up the Bureau of Narcotics, and it was well known that a great percentage of the population used cannabis, so he started to work on making it illegal at the federal level. He used racism and the propaganda saying that cannabis made the user act violently to draw attention to the problem he had created. Here are a few examples of his quotes about marihuana:
"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others."

"...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races."

"Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."

"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men."

"You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother."

"Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind."

He also loved to explain his own version of the "assassin" definition:
"In the year 1090, there was founded in Persia the religious and military order of the Assassins, whose history is one of cruelty, barbarity, and murder, and for good reason: the members were confirmed users of hashish, or marihuana, and it is from the Arabs' 'hashashin' that we have the English word 'assassin."




William Randolph Hearst and propaganda trough the media
William Randolf Hearst was the owner of several newspapers and a big investor in the timber industry, mainly to support the production of his newspapers. He had lost 800.000 acres of timberland to Pancho Villa, so he hated Mexicans and he was strongly against cannabis/hemp because of the threatening competition to his acres of timberland. He teamed up with Anslinger and soon the propaganda articles against cannabis dominated his newspapers. Not even did he participate in Anslinger's war against cannabis, he also sold more newspapers than ever before because of the untrue violent and shocking, stories published in them. These are some samples from the San Francisco Examiner (one of his newspapers):
"Marihuana makes fiends of boys in thirty days -- Hashish goads users to bloodlust."

"By the tons it is coming into this country -- the deadly, dreadful poison that racks and tears not only the body, but the very heart and soul of every human being who once becomes a slave to it in any of its cruel and devastating forms.... Marihuana is a short cut to the insane asylum. Smoke marihuana cigarettes for a month and what was once your brain will be nothing but a storehouse of horrid specters. Hasheesh makes a murderer who kills for the love of killing out of the mildest mannered man who ever laughed at the idea that any habit could ever get him...."

And other nationwide columns:
"Users of marijuana become STIMULATED as they inhale the drug and are LIKELY TO DO ANYTHING. Most crimes of violence in this section, especially in country districts are laid to users of that drug."

"Was it marijuana, the new Mexican drug, that nerved the murderous arm of Clara Phillips when she hammered out her victim's life in Los Angeles?... THREE-FOURTHS OF THE CRIMES of violence in this country today are committed by DOPE SLAVES -- that is a matter of cold record."

Hearst and Anslinger were then supported by Dupont chemical company and several pharmaceutical companies in the war against cannabis and the effort to outlaw it. Dupont had patented nylon and wanted to remove hemp as a competition. Cannabis could not be identified, nor dosage-standardized, and it could be grown by anyone, almost everywhere, so the pharmaceutical companies predicted a heavy decrease in income if cannabis stayed at the marked.

The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937
After two years of secret planning, Anslinger presented his plan to the congress, along with a book full of articles about ax-murders who had smoked marihuana, and racial discriminating articles, from Hearst's newspapers. The one person who spoke against Anslinger's propaganda was Dr. William C. Woodward, Legislative Council of the American Medical Association. Woodward started to flame Anslinger and the Bureau of Narcotics for twisting earlier AMA statements that had nothing to do with marihuana, in favor of Anslinger and his case. He also criticized the legislators and the Bureau for using the name “marihuana” and not cannabis or hemp, because at this time, marihuana was associated with Mexicans smoking a drug, and many people didn't know that marihuana actually was the cannabis/hemp plant. Many people who had actual reasons to oppose the proposal of criminalization, weren't even aware of this. Woodward then stated that the AMA was against the proposal of criminalization, and further on close to clear accusation of misconduct by Anslinger and the committee:
"That there is a certain amount of narcotic addiction of an objectionable character no one will deny. The newspapers have called attention to it so prominently that there must be some grounds for [their] statements [even Woodward was partially taken in by Hearst's propaganda]. It has surprised me, however, that the facts on which these statements have been based have not been brought before this committee by competent primary evidence. We are referred to newspaper publications concerning the prevalence of marihuana addiction. We are told that the use of marihuana causes crime.

But yet no one has been produced from the Bureau of Prisons to show the number of prisoners who have been found addicted to the marihuana habit. An informed inquiry shows that the Bureau of Prisons has no evidence on that point.

You have been told that school children are great users of marihuana cigarettes. No one has been summoned from the Children's Bureau to show the nature and extent of the habit, among children.

Inquiry of the Children's Bureau shows that they have had no occasion to investigate it and know nothing particularly of it.

Inquiry of the Office of Education--- and they certainly should know something of the prevalence of the habit among the school children of the country, if there is a prevalent habit--- indicates that they have had no occasion to investigate and know nothing of it.

Moreover, there is in the Treasury Department itself, the Public Health Service, with its Division of Mental Hygiene. The Division of Mental Hygiene was, in the first place, the Division of Narcotics. It was converted into the Division of Mental Hygiene, I think, about 1930. That particular Bureau has control at the present time of the narcotics farms that were created about 1929 or 1930 and came into operation a few years later. No one has been summoned from that Bureau to give evidence on that point.

Informal inquiry by me indicates that they have had no record of any marihuana of Cannabis addicts who have ever been committed to those farms.

The bureau of Public Health Service has also a division of pharmacology. If you desire evidence as to the pharmacology of Cannabis, that obviously is the place where you can get direct and primary evidence, rather than the indirect hearsay evidence."
Members of the committee answered by attacking Woodward by questioning his reasons to oppose the proposal of criminalization. Even the Chairman did this:
The Chairman: If you want to advise us on legislation, you ought to come here with some constructive proposals, rather than criticism, rather than trying to throw obstacles in the way of something that the Federal Government is trying to do. It has not only an unselfish motive in this, but they have a serious responsibility.

Dr. Woodward: We cannot understand yet, Mr. Chairman, why this bill should have been prepared in secret for 2 years without any intimation, even, to the profession, that it was being prepared.
After further discussion:
The Chairman: I would like to read a quotation from a recent editorial in the Washington Times:
The marihuana cigarette is one of the most insidious of all forms of dope, largely because of the failure of the public to understand its fatal qualities.

The Nation is almost defenseless against it, having no Federal laws to cope with it and virtually no organized campaign for combating it.
The result is tragic.

School children are the prey of peddlers who infest school neighborhoods.
High school boys and girls buy the destructive weed without knowledge of its capacity of harm, and conscienceless dealers sell it with impunity.

This is a national problem, and it must have national attention.

The fatal marihuana cigarette must be recognized as a deadly drug, and American children must be protected against it.
That is a pretty severe indictment. They say it is a national question and that it requires effective legislation. Of course, in a general way, you have responded to all of these statements; but that indicates very clearly that it is an evil of such magnitude that it is recognized by the press of the country as such.
And that was it. Propaganda in the media won against medical science, and the committee passed the proposal of criminalization of marihuana/cannabis on. On the floor of the house, the entire discussion was:
Member from upstate New York: Mr. Speaker, what is this bill about?

Speaker Rayburn: I don't know. It has something to do with a thing called marihuana. I think it's a narcotic of some kind.

Member from upstate New York: Mr. Speaker, does the American Medical Association support this bill?

A member on the committee jumps up and says: "Their Doctor Wentworth (he didn't even get the name right) came down here. They support this bill 100 percent."

And because of that lie, marihuana/cannabis became illegal at the federal level 02.08.1937. The entire coverage in the New York Times: “President Roosevelt signed today a bill to curb traffic in the narcotic, marihuana, through heavy taxes on transactions.”

After the criminalization in the US, other countries followed, and passed on laws against possession and use of marihuana.

There are therefore six reasons why marihuana/cannabis is illegal:
-Racism
-Fear
-Protection of profits
-Propaganda
-Incompetent legislators
-Greed and career opportunities

Conclusion
Hemp is a plant with endless uses (some people would go as far as saying it's a gift from god to humanity). It has been traced back to 7000 years B.C. and has been illegal for less than 1% of the time it has been in use. It can be used to make everything from textiles to cars and fuel, and it is great in the treatment of several illnesses.

Hemp/cannabis has been outlawed and criminalized because of racism, fear, big corporations' protection of profits, propaganda in the media, incompetent and corrupt legislators and because of greed and career opportunities, not because any medical studies have shown that cannabis is very harmful to a regular person. The criminalization was based on lies and the outcome is that drug less harmful then alcohol is illegal to use.

Sources
www.erowid.com
http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stori...naIllegal.html
“Reefer Madness” by Larry “Ratso” Sloman (book)
“The Emperor Wears No Clothes” by Jack Herer (book)
“Marijuana Myths Marijuana Facts” by Lynn Etta Zimmer, John P. Morgan (book)
“The Great Book of Hemp” by Rowan Robinson (book)
“The Marijuana Conviction” by Richard J. Bonnie, Charles H. Whitebread (book)

hmm.. meget bra da(leste nesten hele)
mye fakta der å om du røyker selv(?) så har du iværtfall motevist at man ikke blir dum i skallen av en jonas til jul å påske

Utrolig bra skrevet. Tror engelsklærern din har blitt overbevist og har begynt å hyge selv.

Damn man

Dette her var fine saker

Takk for veldig interresant lesing

veldig bra tror du overbeviste sensor

Godt jobbet. Du fortjente den karakteren der Kunne mye fra før, men det gjør meg ingen ting å få dypere kunnskap om emnet

Takk for den positive kritikken=) Kult at noen finner det interessant og gidder å leser hele.

Dette var virkelig godt skrevet..

Enormt bra! Beste jeg har lest på lenge! =)

Jeg har ikke tid til å lese hele innlegget nå, men siden det får så god respons tar jeg like godt å slenger det inn i Must-read tråden her på rusmidelforumet . Kudos til nilsern!

Fin tekst må jeg si Håper du fikk bra karakter på den

Kanskje du skulle spesifisert hvilke land du mener når du sier "Why is cannabis illegal?"
Det er jo ikke ulovlig i alle land må du huske på