The Quagmire that Nobody in the Federal Government Wants to Talk About: Marijuana

Abstract

Marijuana has piqued human interest since the beginning of recorded history. Public opinion on approving or disapproving marijuana use has waxed and waned over the centuries. The ancient Chinese discovered marijuana's healing properties, 1 used it in tea or as an edible extract, and depicted the herbal medicine in symbolic form-as two plants in a drying shed. 2 Marijuana is still used in China today as an appetite stimulus and for relief from diarrhea and dysentery. 3 In ancient India, Ayurvedic healers used marijuana to improve sleep, appetite, and digestion. 4 The ancient Greek and Roman physicians were not as pleased with its healing properties, and they cautioned that an excess of marijuana could "dampen sexual performance." 5 Muslim clerics long ago determined that hashish, a drug made from marijuana resin, should be forbidden for recreational use but permitted for medical use. 6 Marijuana use did not flourish in western civilizations during medieval times, although it was common to use hemp, marijuana's cousin, to make rope, cloth, and paper. 7 In the 1830s, one Irish doctor learned of * Associate Professor of Law, Lincoln Memorial University-Duncan School of Law. I want to thank the participants at the Oxford Round Table on Critical Public Issues in Oxford, England, where I presented The Marijuana Dilemma in the United States: the Government's Quagmire and the Impact of the Legalization Movement, a precursor to this article. I would like to thank Adam Bullock, Katherine Marsh, Charlie Olachea, Carl Beckett, and Bob Reid for their invaluable assistance on this article. 1. See ALISON MACK & JANET JOY, MARIJUANA AS MEDICINE? THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE CONTROVERSY 14 (2001) (explaining marijuana was used as a cure in Ancient Chinese medicine for "gout, rheumatism, malaria, and absentmindedness"). 2. Id. 3. Id. 4. See id. at 14 (explaining that in 1985, India prohibited the production of cannabis resin and flowers except for use in religious ceremonies). 5. Id. 6. Id. at 15. 7. Id.

Understanding cannabis use in Singapore: profile of users and drug progression

“…Amidst the controversy surrounding the legalisation of cannabis for both medical and recreational use, one central argument against legalisation focuses on the increased risk of progressing to other illicit drugs, particularly hard drugs with more adverse impacts and addictive potential, from prior cannabis use. [ 5 6 7 ] Using data from a national survey conducted in the United States, Lessem et al . revealed that after controlling for history of conduct disorder and race, individuals who had used cannabis at least once in their adolescence were 1.8 times more likely than nonusers to initiate the use of other illicit drugs in adulthood.…”