Pubdate: Wed, 25 Mar 2015
Source: East Bay Express (CA)
Copyright: 2015 East Bay Express
Contact: http://posting.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/SubmitLetter/Page
Website: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1131
Author: William Clark

MEDICINAL OIL FOR THE PRINCE OF PEACE

Big business interests should not be allowed to outlaw home 
cultivation. You cannot patent a plant, only the strains you have 
created. If home cultivation is forbidden, the number of strains 
available to patients and public alike will be limited to those that 
enrich a few wealthy, greedy, morally unscrupulous people who favor 
"limited prohibition" in order to line their own pockets.

Prohibition of marijuana is a premise built on a tissue of lies: 
"Concern For Public Safety." Our new laws save hundreds of lives 
every year, on our highways alone. In November of 2011 a study at the 
University of Colorado found that, in the thirteen states that 
decriminalized marijuana between 1990 and 2009, traffic fatalities 
have dropped by nearly 0 percent - now nearly ten percent in Michigan 
- - while sales of beer went flat. No wonder Big Alcohol opposes it.

In 2012, a study released by 4AutoinsuranceQuote revealed that 
marijuana users are safer drivers than non-marijuana users, as "the 
only significant effect that marijuana has on operating a motor 
vehicle is slower driving," which "is arguably a positive thing." 
Despite occasional accidents, eagerly reported by police-blotter 
"journalists" as "marijuana-related," a mix of substances were often 
involved in such cases. Alcohol, most likely, and prescription drugs, 
nicotine, caffeine, meth, cocaine, heroin - plus a trace of the 
marijuana from a party last week. However, on the whole, as revealed 
in big-time, insurance-industry stats, within the broad swath of 
mature, experienced consumers, slower and more cautious driving shows 
up in significant numbers. A recent federal study has reached the 
same conclusion. And legalization should improve those numbers further.

No one has ever died from an overdose of marijuana. It's the most 
benign "substance" in history. And most people - and particularly 
patients who medicate with marijuana - use it in place of 
prescription drugs or alcohol.

Marijuana has many benefits, most of which are under-reported or 
never mentioned in American newspapers. Research at the University of 
Saskatchewan indicates that, unlike alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and 
Nancy ("Just say, 'No!'") Reagan's beloved nicotine, marijuana is a 
neuro-protectant that actually encourages brain-cell growth. Research 
in Spain (the Guzman study) and other countries has discovered that 
it also has tumor-shrinking, anti-carcinogenic properties. These were 
confirmed by the thirty-year Tashkin population study at UCLA.

Drugs are man-made and cooked up in labs for the sake of patents and 
the profits gained by them - often useful, but typically burdened 
with cautionary notes and lists of side effects as long as one's arm.

Marijuana is a medicinal herb, the most versatile in history. 
"Cannabis" in Latin and "kaneh bosm" in the old Hebrew scrolls, quite 
literally the Biblical Tree of Life, marijuana was used by early 
Christians to treat everything from skin diseases to deep pain and 
despair. The very name "Christ" translates as "the anointed one." 
Well then, anointed with what? It's a fair question. And it wasn't 
holy water, friends. Holy water came into wide use in the Middle 
Ages. In Biblical times it was used by a few tribes of Greek pagans. 
But Christ was neither Greek nor pagan.

Medicinal oil, for the Prince of Peace. A formula from the Biblical 
era has been rediscovered. It specifies a strong dose of oil from 
kaneh bosom, "the fragrant cane" of a dozen uses: ink, paper, rope, 
nutrition. It was used for clothing on their backs and incense in 
their temples. And a "skinful" of medicinal oil could certainly calm 
one's nerves, imparting a sense of benevolence and connection with 
all living things. No wonder that the "anointed one" could gain a 
spark, an insight, a sense of the divine, and the confidence to 
convey those feelings to friends and neighbors.

I am appalled at the number of "Christian" politicians, prosecutors, 
and police who pose on church steps or kneeling in prayer on their 
campaign trails, but cannot or will not face the scientific or the 
historical truths about cannabis: Medicinal Herb Number One, safe and 
effective for thousands of years, and celebrated by most of the 
world's major religions.

William Clark, Rochester, Michigan
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom