DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION INTRANSIGENCE
http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/article/NP/20160904/LOCAL1/160909966
The DEA announced that it will not reschedule marihuana from a Schedule 1 drug to Schedule 2, which would allow that cannabis has medicinal applications.
DEA chief Chuck Rosenberg defended the ruling, citing an FDA finding that marihuana has “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.”
Chuckie goes on, “This decision isn’t based on danger. This decision is based on whether marihuana, as determined by the FDA, is a safe and effective medicine, and it’s not.”
The DEA employed 11,055 people in 2014. Its budget is over $2 billion per year. For 40 years, the agency fought any change that would ease restrictions on marihuana, including research on potential medical benefits of the drug. A lot of government bureaucrat careers are at stake, and the DEA shields a lot of politicians (who budget agency money) from scrutiny on cannabis policy, hence the agency’s resistance to any threat to their status quo.
2,737 BCE marks the first recorded use of cannabis as medicine by Emperor Shen Neng of China.
As early as 2,000 BCE, Hindus used cannabis medicinally and ritually as an offering to Shiva.
700 BCE, Zorostrian Zendavesta religious texts refer to marihuana as the “good” narcotic.
23-79 AD, Pliny mentions cannabis’ analgesic effects.
70, Roman physician Dioscorides lists medical marihuana in his Pharmacopoeia.
1578, China’s Li Shih-Chen writes of the antibiotic and antiemetic effects of marihuana.
1794, medical marihuana appears in The Edinburgh New Dispensary.
1850, cannabis is added to The US Pharmacopoeia.
1850-1915, marihuana is widely sold and used medicinally in the US.
1910, Mexican immigrants displaced by the Mexican revolution introduce marihuana used as a recreational drug.
1914, the Harrison Act is the first federal law criminalizing non-medical drug use.
1960, Czech researchers confirm the antibiotic and analgesic effects of marihuana.
1971, first evidence that marihuana may help glaucoma patients.
1971, President Nixon declares the War On Drugs, which he intends to use as “cover” for government harassment of minorities and Viet Nam war critics. “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marihuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.” (Nixon aide, John Ehrlichman)
1988, a US DEA administrative law judge finds that marihuana has a clearly established medical use. His recommendation to reclassify it is ignored.
You know the rest.
Filed under: General Problems
I wish someone would ask ole’ Chuckie if the same logic applies to the legality of tobacco and alcohol. Are they safe and effective forms of medication? (Again, in no way am I suggesting the government further restrict, tax, or ban alcohol or tobacco, as we all should have free will to use or not to use. I’m merely pointing out the hypocrisy known as the US government).
Agree with Chippy – DEA needs to be completely disbanded. They are too corrupt and don’t appear to have to answer to anyone. Most importantly, they routinely infringe upon people’s constitutional rights. I have always had the utmost respect for law enforcement, but the DEA as a federally-funded law enforcement agency, they no longer just “enforce the laws.” They now make their own laws. Too Much Power.
Why is it that in the US today that the needs of the few are more important than the needs of the many? This is downright coruption in every branch of our government that is spacifically geared to turn over half our county’s population into criminals.
At last estimate over 60% of the US population were either pushing for or agreed that Marijuana should totally be decriminalized. Documentaries and reports are coming out of educational television networks and independent studies on the medical values of cannabis in not only treating pain but also PTSD and a host of other mental illnesses and our wonderful governmental structure still denies all its benefits. Registered voters tell candidates constantly that they want the federal government to decriminalize Marijuana and yet they ignore their own constituencies.
Could any of you imagine how much fat could be trimmed from the federal budget by totally legalizing Marijuana? Just taking into account it’s medical benefits alone would cut a tremendous amount. Then to be able to.tax the recreational user just as they tax cigarettes and alcohol would increase tax revenue, create tens if not hundreds of thousands of jobs, and let’s not forget how much tax revenue would be saved by not throwing millions of people into jail / prison for Marijuana use or possession. Oh yeah, we could also get rid of the bottomless pit that our government has been just throwing money down for decades. That’s right, the DEA would be able to be totally disbanded and all these crooked agents could either try to make their livingstone in the private sector or the honest ones could be absorbed into other enforcement agencies. To tell you the truth, I’d like to see the director of the DEA become a minimum wage security guard at Walmart.