It’s Just A Plant, Folks…It’s Past Time To Legalize Cannabis

At some point, we need to treat cannabis the same as any other plant that grows in one’s garden, as a food, an herb, or a healing plant that at least in my case, saved my life. I just read that Elizabeth Warren has a plan to decriminalize cannabis that also includes expunging the records of anyone who has been incarcerated for cannabis crimes. Thank you, Senator, for that, but it’s not enough.

Cannabis crimes. The very thought that someone can sit in prison for a plant that saves people’s lives is appalling. And yet, it still happens in this country and around the world that people are arrested and subsequently jailed for possessing or using a plant that is both safe and medicinal.

For discussion purposes, however, I need to define what cannabis actually is. When we think of marijuana, what we’re really talking about is a variety of cannabis with higher levels of THC than what exists in what’s known as industrial hemp. Although both are varieties of cannabis, over the years, we’ve drawn a distinction between the two with one regarded as a “dangerous” drug and another used to make jeans and rope. Yes, that’s a little simplistic, but I’m certain you get the idea.

Laws enacted surrounding medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp were based on a lie told long ago by men who wanted to increase their own profits, so they lied about industrial hemp to increase their own bottom line. The government also removed cannabis out of the nation’s pharmacopeia at the same time, making both cannabis with higher amounts of THC used in medicine and industrial hemp with merely trace amounts illegal to grow or use.

Although I’m glad Democrat candidates are looking at legalization, the word decriminalization concerns me. I don’t want possession reduced to a minor infraction. I want it taken out of the books entirely, records expunged, and an educational campaign begun to explain the truth about medicinal cannabis and its cousin, industrial hemp.

Now that laws surrounding industrial hemp are relaxing in states around the country, my own included, hemp products in the form of CBD preparations are now flooding the alternative healing market with any number of salves, creams, oils, and tinctures. THC is present in trace amounts only, so they’re available everywhere to treat arthritis pain and other conditions.

Again, cannabis, with or without THC, is an incredibly healing plant. I simply disagree with how we’re communicating that truth. We don’t need to approach this in a step-down fashion where we first decriminalize and then take endless time to finally do what we should have done in the first place.

Medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp production should have remained part of both the food and textile industry as well as for use in medicine but it was decided by a small group of men with vested interests to grow cotton and cut down trees instead of growing a plant that contributes so much to our lives. It was about power and control and never about truth.

So, as we go forward in what is likely going to be an involved discussion about all things cannabis, why don’t we forget the notion of decriminalization and tell the truth for once. Describe the varieties of the plant that exist and how they can be used for medicinal and industrial use. Explain that the lie told long ago was just that: a lie to serve only a few, making them rich while others continue to suffer from their deception.

And then, open the doors to healing. Because for all the industrial uses that the non-THC version of cannabis has, it’s real power is in its ability to heal. As research continues, we’ll know when we need the variety with THC and when medicines created from industrial hemp are all that’s needed to heal.

In my own situation, I used cannabis to bring my severe rheumatoid arthritis into remission. It happened quickly, achieving remission in only 2 1/2 months after beginning my treatment with cannabis concentrates and raw cannabis. I didn’t know that would happen. I thought I might improve, but I had no idea I could actually heal. But I did and I’m still in remission after almost nine years. I’m not taking prescribed drugs anymore either.

After discontinuing all other prescribed drugs, I stayed on Humira until 2015 when I finally discontinued that in September of that year. I had been playing around with the injection timing during the prior year, extending it out to once a month instead of every two weeks with no return of symptoms so although it was scary, I decided to discontinue the biologic. And to date, no symptoms have returned. Instead, even more healing has taken place.

It’s time to open the curtains and let the light shine in on a plant that heals and is safe for anyone to consume. Dietarily, I still use raw cannabis leaf in fruit smoothies and as part of vegetable juicing. When using raw leaf and bud, the natural plant acids are preserved and we heal without the high, so to speak. Cannabis isn’t sedating until it’s dried and the THC-A molecules convert into THC. So, cannabis leaf in all forms, THC or otherwise, really should be available in the produce section at our local grocery stores for dietary use.

So, to any candidates out there who are talking about changing the conversation on cannabis and industrial hemp, you should know that boldness is not enough. You must be brave and tell the country the truth about this amazing plant. Tell everyone how it heals and how we’ve all been lied to. Tell the story. Tell the truth. Tell everything.

And then, forget the notion of decriminalizing. Legalize cannabis fully. Require the states to end their ridiculous control over a plant that is not dangerous, because that’s what their bizarre control still implies. It’s like a sin tax on steroids. Legalize cannabis in all forms both federally and at the state level and only control it when it comes to market, in the same manner as any other vegetable product is controlled. Keep it safe and keep it readily available. But don’t punish people by regulating what we can grow and how much we consume. In other words, deal with issues as they arise instead of assuming that they will.

This is not about legalizing something that should remain illegal. This is about telling the truth and healing the damage. The language we use matters. And it’s not going to help if those in power approach this in a namby-pamby fashion. Instead, they should be horrified at what our government has done to all of us and move heaven and earth to stand up for the truth.

I’m alive today because of this plant. So are others. Legalize cannabis in all forms. Do it now. Just don’t be stupid about it.

Blessed Be