Medical progress versus the Gravy Train

The UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs headed by neuroscientist David Nutt came into the spotlight in 2007. As the head of the ACMD, Nutt was criticised for his controversial opinions on the use of drugs in Britain. His subsequent dismissal stands as a glaring model of institutional malfeasance. The findings and measures published by Nutt in The Lancet had far reaching implications. In every single aspect, the recommendations spelled out a clear ideological barrier to progress being made in the treatment of substance abuse.

To provide an accessible model, Nutt coined the term 'Equasy' which combines the words Ecstasy and Equestrianism.

Equasy – An overlooked addiction with implications for the current debate on drug harms") in which the risks associated with horse riding (1 serious adverse event every ~350 exposures) were compared to those of taking ecstasy (1 serious adverse event every ~10,000 exposures)

Basically, Nutt was saying that there are many people in the UK who would admit to an obsessive compulsion with the riding of horses despite it being quite dangerous. This does not necessitate or justify legislation banning horse riding. We should never in a democratic and conscientious society see a 'War on Show Jumping'.  Unfortunately the Home Secretary at the time Jaqui Smith, considered this analogy to be horribly offensive and really quite an inflammatory statement.

Fast forward to contemporary times and Professor Nutt has regrouped with some of the people who resigned from the AMCD in support. Their rebranded organisation is now known as DrugScienceUK and has a lot to say about the medical usage of cannabis products.

The unprecedented campaign by DrugScience to prove the medical efficacy of cannabis products is called Project21. In essence the aim of the trial is to provide a sample set of 21,000 patients who treat a variety of medical symptoms with cannabis and related products. This ground breaking medical trial intends to provide a comprehensive data set for the inclusion of cannabis in medical prescriptions. The process incorporates a group of private GP's who evaluate and prescribe marijuana products to patients based on a variety of qualifying factors.

Resistance to medical cannabis usage has always been conspicuously disproportionate in the UK. Despite both the U.S.A and many European countries moving toward widespread tolerance of cannabis usage, THC has remained a highly contested prescription in the UK. To ameliorate criticism, the UK Govt did make concessions on the usage of CBD. Consequently many herbalist retailers and online sources have been free to sell CBD products in various forms for several years. There is still resistance to CBD vending in the form of restrictions to online billing. This is comparable in many ways to the ideological resistance to the billing of adult content in the UK. Basically the law says you can provide these products, but many merchant services T&Cs state that you can not use UK based billing services to collect associated revenue. Consequently vendors are compelled to take advantage of overseas billing or get creative with their billing terminology.

This was not always the case, there was a time when cannabis tincture was readily available from pharmacists and apothecaries. One of the greatest monarchs that Britain has ever produced (Queen Victoria herself) apparently used cannabis tincture in the treatment of her monthly cramps.

Admittedly during the Victorian era one could also obtain opiate based products over the counter. Many references in antiquated literature make references to Laudanum based solutions. These highly intoxicating suspensions were made available for patients suffering from all manner of debilitating ailments. Unsurprisingly addiction issues ensued and eventually opiate based products became the sole remit of prescribing medical doctors or ruthless drug dealers.

Many visitors to the state of California over the past 2 -3 decades have been astounded at the progressive attitudes towards the use of marijuana. Since the widespread adoption of decriminalisation in the USA, over thirty states have declared cannabis usage as a non criminal act. In addition nineteen of these states have gone further and made recreational usage completely legal. This has generated unprecedented levels of legitimate revenue. In 2020 the declared income as a direct result of the sale of cannabis products reached 17 billion dollars ($17,000,000,000). This represents an average spend of over $50 for every single citizen in the USA.

Clearly the British Govt is no stranger to the desire for increased revenue. So why would they consistently oppose the usage of this ubiquitous herbal remedy?

To understand this bizarre intransigence we must examine the interests of less public groups than the Palace of Westminster. There are groups involved with control of the masses that have financial interests which are threatened by the popular acceptance of marijuana. Historically these groups have been represented by the paper industry and also the petroleum industry. Hemp makes for a much higher quality paper than wood pulp ever could. Historically it was considered second only to vellum (animal skin) as a writing material. Consequently some major wood pulping magnates in 1900's USA objected to the citizenry being allowed to grow any crops of cannabis. Subsequently the 'Reefer Madness' propaganda films were produced and seeded into the American consciousness.

With modern processing mechanisms, hemp can be used for a practically limitless number of applications. Visiting a CBD retailer generally provides an education as to the diverse number of products that have been made from cannabis. This includes plastic substitutes and clothing materials. In many ways the fast growing and tenacious plant out performs oil in terms of producing viable and most critically sustainable raw materials. Consequently any lobby groups motivated by the oil industry are not known for their enthusiasm to legalise marijuana.

Finally there is an unavoidable issue which most researchers do not care to cover. Ultimately the Rastafarian philosophy of cannabis being an inherent part of spiritual observance has serious merit. There is a quote which is popular among Rastafarians which has been mined from Revelations 22:2

And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

While this quote from scripture has been frequently criticised for being out of context, it does allude to a more controversial reality. The regular usage of marijuana has the propensity to suppress dreams and / or any memory of dreams. Consequently daily users of cannabis are rarely assaulted by visceral experiences of the unconscious mind. This leads to a literal mindset which can counter the increasingly popular use of hidden meaning in social interaction. This increasingly dominant social abberation can be linked to the vast increase in electromagnetic frequency pollution of the planet.

These frequencies have been (and may still be) deliberately transmitted into the ambient spectrum by such installations as The Woodpecker in Russia and the Montauk Project in the USA. In addition advances in both consumer and non consumer uses of the radio frequency spectrum have received criticism for their damaging characteristics. All things considered, it appears that regular users of cannabis are effectively immune to much of the psychological damage done by these unnatural radio frequencies. Consequently there would appear to be a direct correlation between the clandestine interests of the the military industrial complex, their commercial partners and the discouraging of the widespread use of cannabis.

Project21 would appear on most levels to represent the beginnings of a governmental climb down on the usage of cannabis for medical treatments. However it would be naive to assume any form of altruism whatsoever from the powers that shouldn't be. Why would any facet of the military industrial congressional / governmental complex abandon their extensive investment in controlling the minds of the population? The reality is far more likely to come under the well known mantle of the 4 C's of the clandestine method:

The state approved prescription of cannabis facilitates yet another partnership between healthcare and big pharma. Regular users have been accustomed to maintaining relationships with multiple conventional / black market providers. This allows them to use their own judgment when it comes to favouring certain outlets. Many factors contribute to the chosen purveyor of their drug of choice. From convenience to quality and even social motivators, users will generally exercise discretion in the same ways that any conventional consumer would. However if the user is locked into a healthcare controlled relationship with their provider, they will assume that the consistency and quality of product are reliable. This provides big pharma with a conduit which is trusted by the consumer.

Most regular users will at some point have experienced less than satisfactory results dealing with conventional outlets. Often the cannabis will be of a strain which is not to their particular liking or may indeed be contaminated. The greatest share of the market is dominated by hydroponically grown marijuana which uses a variety of additional chemicals to augment bulk and potency. The chemicals introduced could in no way be considered 'organic' and ultimately the plants are grown indoors in sanitised environments with artificial lighting. Introducing specific pharmacological additives represents a fundamental product divergence in comparison to imported solid hashish. There's a profound difference between sunlight grown plants with roots in the earth and hydro plants with their roots suspended in a solution containing (among other additives) hydrogen peroxide. 

Moroccan, Indian, Pakistani, Middle Eastern and Caribbean exports were the mainstay of cannabis usage in the UK from the 1950's through to the early 21st century. Generally speaking the mode of acquisition for an importer would require a buyer going to these markets and sourcing their plants from local farmers. These plants would then be taken to threshing facilities which are normally manifested in the form of domed outbuildings with smooth walls. The cannabis is threshed, the pollen sticks to the walls and is then scraped off. The final products became known for the particular characteristics acquired during the organic process.

There is a school of thought which asserts that the black market drug industry represents the last bastion of pure capitalism. Clearly there have always been factors which have impacted on the import of contraband to the British Isles. Relying on the coordinated supply chain of illegal products is never going to be 100% predictable. Buyers sourcing their product overseas would often have to exercise highly vigilant quality control to prevent their product from contamination. The reality of third world economic pressures were realised by local farmers seeking to maximise their profit margins. Turn your back on the threshers and they would undoubtedly introduce kilograms of sand or turkey feces to 'cut' the pressed bricks of hashish. When your family relies on bottled water to survive, short changing some decadent hippies from the first world does not represent any form of ethical or professional barrier. However the end users / consumers of the finished product would certainly provide instantaneous and negative feedback for any importer who failed in their quality control responsibilities. Depending on the scale of the import, this could well mean serious financial implications for any importer that had the goat hair pulled over their eyes. In large scale import and distribution scenarios, these implications could (and did) extend beyond the financial into the realm of risks to well-being and the preservation of life. 

The testing of pharmacological products for the purposes of mind control have been well documented. Numerous government and military experiments on personnel or populations have been admitted to or exposed by journalists. The 1951 public health disaster in Pont-Saint-Esprit in France was claimed by the authorities to be as a result of Ergot poisoning. At least seven people were killed and numerous others were admitted to mental institutions for conditions of schizoid mania. However the book 'A Terrible Mistake' by Hank P. Albarelli Jr states categorically that aerial spraying with LSD was part of the MKNAOMI biological warfare program perpetrated by the most disreputable agency in the world. The 1990 film 'Jacobs Ladder' focuses on psychoactive drugs given to US Army personnel during the Vietnam War. Clearly the military industrial congressional / governmental complex is not averse to using pharmacology to control human behaviour.

The Veterans Association in the USA officially endorses a viewpoint in line with the anti cannabis federal legislation. In direct opposition to this a significant number of veterans not only use marijuana to control their PTSD, but also recommend it to their recently demobbed colleagues. In Britain and other markets, the security industry accounts for many cases of PTSD. A significant number of workers in this field use marijuana on a regular basis.

When it comes to perceiving reality in a balanced and rational way, the mainstream agenda disapproves of any medication other than those promoted by big pharma. However the widespread prescribing of antidepressants by GP's has come under harsh criticism in recent years. The main purpose of prescribing antidepressants is to chemically force an abatement of symptoms to find other treatment vectors. In other words the doctor should only be giving out happy pills to 'buy some time'. This is not in line with the contemporary method for the prescribing of antidepressants. More often than not, prescriptions for these pharmacological solutions run into years or decades. Counseling and therapy treatments are massively over subscribed and as such are often ignored in favour of ongoing medication. Consequently a large percentage of the population are dependent on pharmacological solutions in order to deal with their daily lives. Obviously this creates substantial revenue for the big pharma companies and also encourages the dependent population to ignore the causality of their reduced psychological wellbeing. There is an opinion among therapists that the use of antidepressants represents a major issue in society. Some even go as far as to say that self medication with controlled drugs (including alcohol) is less damaging to the psyche than pharmacological dependency.

The ability to employ critical thinking is (for many) fundamentally increased as a result of regular cannabis usage. This represents a major problem for those seeking to promote a herd mentality among the population. While regular usage is unlikely to lead to species wide enlightenment, it certainly represents a less harmful reality than billions of big pharma dependent zombies.

An altered state of consciousness has been advantageous to witch doctors, magi, creatives and philosophers throughout known history. The use of hallucinogens such as Ayahuasca have been used to combat opiate dependency and other psychological dysfunction. Were it not for the forward thinking hippy visionaries of Silicon Valley, our current technological paradigm would be far less comprehensive. Among songwriters and musicians, the use of cannabis is practically ubiquitous. Even mainstream artists such as Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus confess to smoking major amounts of seriously potent, hybridised marijuana during their creative process. Some of the greatest musical minds of recent times have admitted to (and been prosecuted for) cannabis usage.

Ultimately cannabis is a hardy and virulent plant which can grow practically anywhere on Earth. It's usage throughout known history has been highly versatile and predominantly harmless. Prior to the commercial and control interests of the 20th century, it was an accepted staple of herbalist medicine. Since humans learned how to puncture the Earths crust and escape the limitations of the sunlight to crop growth relationship, populations have exploded. This swollen presence of humanity is approaching the exit of the fossil fuel paradigm. It seems that our requirement to adhere to the mandates of fossil fuel lobbyists is becoming increasingly redundant.

Unfortunately using marijuana stands in opposition to the promotion of herd mentality and mind control. Consequently it behooves any rational and free thinking individual to tell these asinine ideologues to step off.

Stand up and proclaim support for the immediate and global legalisation of marijuana.