Author: Administrator

A large argument coming from opponents of marijuana is that marijuana is a “gateway drug”. This line of thought is that marijuana use leads to harder drug use. I believe there is some truth to this, but not in the way that opponents of legalization think. The simple truth is, I have been using marijuana for over 25 years. I started using it as a teenager. I started marijuana because it was easier to get then alcohol (drug dealers don’t check ID’s). I do not use hard drugs. In fact, I prefer marijuana to prescription medicines (I will even use marijuana in place of ibuprofen… both are anti-inflammatories).

Marijuana is not a Gateway, Marijuana Prohibition is

Marijuana prohibition is, in itself, the gateway. There are 2 major issues with marijuana prohibition that make it more easy for marijuana users to move on to hard drugs and therefore make the gateway possible. First, there is the trust issue. Marijuana prohibition teaches that marijuana is a dangerous narcotic. When a young person tries marijuana, they soon realize that the fear mongering about marijuana is a bold faced lie. Logic then leads them to question what other “dangerous narcotics” they may have been lied to about. This has the potential to lead to experimentation with hard drugs.

The second issue with marijuana prohibition that supports the gateway theory is the supply chain. With marijuana being illegal, a marijuana user is forced to buy it from a drug dealer. Since marijuana is not a very profitable drug to sell on a small scale, most drug dealers sell other narcotics with a better profit margin. As professional salesman, these drug dealers push their marijuana buyers to try their other products. Making ten dollars on a bag of weed isn’t nearly as nice as making fifty dollars on an eight ball of cocaine, and users will go through that cocaine faster then the marijuana.

The simplest way to get rid of the gateway potential of marijuana is legalization and regulation. When we teach our children that marijuana is more on the dangerous level of alcohol, and less on the level of cocaine and heroin, then we will see our children less likely to make the move from marijuana to those harder drugs.

When marijuana is legally sold in legitimate, licensed, and regulated stores, you will no longer have the sellers trying to up sell the buyers to more profitable (and harder) substances.

So you see, the idea that marijuana is a “gateway drug” is really a reason why it needs to be legalized and regulated. Not a reason to keep it on the black market.

From the dawn of recorded history, marijuana has been a valuable crop to mankind. Used in everything from rope and cloth manufacture to medicinal uses. George Washington (America’s first President) is quoted as saying “Make the most of the Indian hemp seed, . . . and sow it everywhere!”.

Federal control of marijuana was first attempted in 1937 with the passing of the Marijuana Tax Act. This law ruled that growers of marijuana had to pay a tax based on the weight of marijuana that they grew. It was illegal to be in possession of marijuana with a tax stamp. However, the grower had to produce the harvested marijuana to be weighed so that he could get the tax stamp. This would then result in the growers arrest for having marijuana without a tax stamp. The law was ruled unconstitutional in 1969 in the Supreme Court case Leary v. United States. As a direct response to this ruling (that effectively legalized marijuana possession in all 50 states), the US added marijuana to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Marijuana was added as a schedule I Narcotic under the advise of Assistant Secretary for Health and Scientific Affairs Roger O. Egeberg who stated in a letter to congress:

‘…Some question has been raised whether the use of the plant itself produces “severe psychological or physical dependence” as required by a schedule I or even schedule II criterion. Since there is still a considerable void in our knowledge of the plant and effects of the active drug contained in it, our recommendation is that marihuana be retained within schedule I at least until the completion of certain studies now underway to resolve the issue. If those studies* make it appropriate for the Attorney General to change the placement of marihuana to a different schedule, he may do so in accordance with the authority provided under section 201 of the bill..'”

Those studies were concluded in the 1972 Schafer Commission report, which recommended removing marijuana from the scheduling system and decriminalizing it. Those recommendations were ignored. This has brought us to our current situation where the law clearly states that the Attorney General should re-schedule any substance that does not fit the criteria for it’s current schedule into a schedule more fitting for it, yet for over 40 years, no Attorney General has moved marijuana away from schedule I. Meanwhile, cocaine, mdma (ecstasy), and opium (among others) all enjoy a schedule II or below classification allowing them to be used for medicinal purposes, legally, in all 50 states.

Economic Advantages of Marijuana Legalization

In our current state of technological advancement, we are teetering on economic catastrophe. Although technological advancements have greatly increased the quality of life, they have also greatly increased the cost of living. These technological advancements have also decreased the quality of available jobs, and will continue to do so at an accelerated rate.

Automation decreases the need for manufacturing jobs. Mobile pay kiosks decrease the employment need for cashiers at restaurants, and retail stores. High speed connectivity has pushed many customer service and technical jobs to oversees markets where favorable exchange rates and lower cost of living provides inexpensive labor. These examples we have already started to see. Not only will they continue, but technological advancements on the horizon will continue to impact jobs. Self Driving vehicles will eliminate the need for chauffeurs, cab drivers and delivery drivers, as well as reduce the need for police focused on traffic duties, and they will have a strong impact on the insurance industry. Connected homes will severely impact the home security industry as well as impact police personnel dedicated to burglary cases. 3D printing will further decrease manufacturing and retail jobs. Advances in genetic science will soon decrease medical, and pharmaceutical jobs.

With our countries current job situation, and these advancing technologies on the verge of disrupting many more job markets, it is imperative that we find new opportunities for income generation.

Legalized marijuana is the opportunity we need to create jobs across multiple fields. Retail stores to sell the marijuana need “baristas” and security, and they need to rent storefronts from which to sell. Grow operations need to rent facilities, and hire security as well as employees to grow, harvest and trim the product. Labs are needed to test the quality of the product being sold. Bakeries are needed to create marijuana edibles, the list of jobs goes on. Hemp (for paper, textiles, and even building materials like hempcrete) need vast amounts of land to grow, and harvest, and vast amounts of employees to maintain such operations. All of these operations will also create tax income to the state and federal government.

The Marijuana Industry has the potential to create millions of jobs, and strong economic growth. While the taxes generated from the marijuana industry has the potential to relieve a large amount of the tax burden citizens currently bear. Considering marijuana should have been legalized 40 years ago, it seems absurd that we hold on to incorrect presumptions of the “dangers of pot”. If we want economic growth in the face of technological job loss, we need to embrace legalization and regulation of the marijuana industry in the same way that we embraced the legalization and regulation of the alcohol industry after the repeal of prohibition in 1933.

Additional Information on Legalized Marijuana Products:

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There are over 1,000 strains of marijuana, so choosing the right strain for you can be a challenge especially if you’re looking to help a certain medical condition or find a desired effect. It’s important to understand that everything you find in your local dispensary or collective has a foundation in one of these types of cannabis plants or can be a hybrid of the two.  – For tips, great weed deals, recipes and more visit www.Greenito.com

Cannabis Indica and Cannabis Sativa are plants with different appearances, growing cycles, and native environments and have been classified as such for hundreds of years. However, these classifications have recently become a lot more important to today’s consumers as they look to customize their marijuana experiences by taking advantage ways that these two different plants produce diverse highs and treat specific symptoms. Indica versus Sativa is a major deciding factor when it comes to what the consumer buys or what a physician may prescribe.

Growers and researchers are in on it, too, constantly working within the two classifications to understand their effects and properties, including returning to some of the original genetic extractions. But what does this mean to you? Just what are the differences between the two and why are they important to you as a consumer?

We want to break it down for you.  –

While the two strains have a fairly dependable and oft reported variance in effect and medical treatment, there are other factors at play in the way individuals experience their highs. Things like a person’s weight, age, gender, or even a woman’s time of the month, can affect your experience. Marijuana cannabinoids and terpenes are also responsible for the physical effect experienced when it is smoked or ingested. So while we see a lot of consistency in the differences between the indica and sativa strains, there are still variables at work.

Follow these three (3) easy steps to learn how to get medical marijuana in Canada from authorized producers under the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (or MMPR).

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Step 1) Consult with a Health Care Practitioner

Treatment decisions are best made in consultation with your doctor. Under the MMPR, an authorized health care practitioner includes physicians and nurse practitioners in all provinces and territories. Schedule a visit with your healthcare practitioner to discuss:

• Your current symptoms and medical conditions.
• The previous medications you’ve taken, along with any therapies you’ve tried in the past, or are currently using to treat your health condition.
• Share any of the side effects you have experienced from conventional medications and treatments with your healthcare practitioner.

Step 2) Obtain a Medical Document from your Health Care Practitioner

If your doctor believes that medical marijuana is a promising option to help you treat the symptoms of your condition, ask your doctor to complete the Medical Document. The Medical Document is to be completed only by an authorized healthcare practitioner.

• Download the Medical Document from the official website of the licensed producer of your choice. All licensed Canadian medical marijuana producers have their own version of the Medical Document available on their website for the convenience of patients and doctors, but they all include the same information. Health care practitioners can complete Health Canada’s sample medical document or provide the required information in the format of their choice.
• Bring a printed copy of the Medical Document to take with you to your doctor’s appointment so that your doctor can complete the form.
• Make sure your health care practitioner includes all of the following information on the medical document signed and dated:
  • Your full name;
  • Your date of birth;
  • The address where you consulted with the practitioner;
  • The daily dose in grams as well as the time period of the prescription, the period of use which cannot exceed one year.
  • The health care practitioner’s name and, administrative information; and
  • An attestation by the health care practitioner that the information contained in the document is correct and complete.

Step 3) Register and Order with a Licensed Producer

Once you’ve got the go-ahead from your health care practitioner and obtained a Medical Document, you can register as a client with your preferred licensed producer. The registration process may differ slightly from one producer to another, however; all producers will require you to submit the original medical document completed in full and signed by your health care practitioner along with their own registration form(s) before you can order medical marijuana.

After registering as a client, you will be able to order dried marijuana from the licensed producer.

Important Notes

• Your medical marijuana will be mailed to you directly by the licensed producer. Retail store-fronts and dispensaries are not allowed under the marijuana for medical purposes regulations.
• The amount of medical marijuana you can possess is the lesser of thirty (30) times the daily amount stipulated by your health care practitioner with a maximum of one-hundred-fifty (150) grams.
• If asked by law enforcement, you can demonstrate that you are in legal possession of medical marijuana obtained from a licensed producer by showing either the label on the marijuana packaging containing your patient information or the separate document that will be included with your shipment of medical marijuana from the licensed producer.
• The “Authorization to Possess” document issued from Health Canada is no longer accepted by law enforcement for medical marijuana ordered from a licensed producer.

Visit MMJPR.ca for more details on How to get medical marijuana in Canada