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Cannabis Prohibition as a Fully Delusional System

An essence of a delusional system can be clearly seen from a "funny story" that goes as something like this: There was a man who locked himself in his room and refused to go out because he believed that he was actually a kernel of corn and that the chickens would eat him up immediately if he left his room.
So, the concerned relatives checked him in a psychiatric hospital where he was given all kinds of medications and psychotherapy aimed at convincing him that he was a man and not a kernel of corn. Eventually, the patient was called for a final evaluation before he was to be discharged from the hospital. "Well", says the hospital Chief of Staff, "do you know now that you are not a kernel of corn"? "Yes", says the patient. "So then, are you ready to leave the hospital"? "No", says the patient, "because even though I know that I am not a kernel of corn, I am not so sure that the chickens know it too".

As this funny story demonstrates, a delusional system can be quite firmly "entrenched", being totally impervious to reason and logic. Any evidence running contrary to the delusional belief system will be simply disregarded or "countered" with yet another chain of faulty "reasoning" that reinforces the delusion. If we look closely at the current system of cannabis prohibition, we will see that it is not very far from our little "funny story" about a man who thought that he was a kernel of corn. The delusional belief here is as follows: "marijuana is a dangerous drug with no accepted medical use". It does not matter at all that cannabis has been used for thousands of years as a medicinal plant, perhaps helping millions of patients throughout history; it makes no difference that no one has ever died from using cannabis; it fails to make an impression that cannabis has no documented physical withdrawal syndrome or that the so-called "gateway drug" theory has been completely discredited; the same goes for the fact that cannabis is incomparably safer than alcohol, opiates, benzodiazepines and most other prescription or even "over-the-counter" drugs; all these facts fall on "dead ears" as the prohibitionists keep repeating their delusional belief that "marijuana is a dangerous drug with no accepted medical use".

Just a few days ago the administration's "drug czar" Mr. Kerlikowske complained that the illegal drug use "is on the rise", even though cocaine use has actually dropped by 30% since 2002. The increase in "illegal drug use" such as dab for sale is exclusively attributable to a slight increase in Cannabis use because Cannabis is correctly perceived as a safer alternative to alcohol or hard drugs recreationally, and much safer alternative to many prescription drugs medically.

The whole system of measuring the drug use employed by cannabis prohibitionists is faulty for the following reason: the actual drug use in our society is very, very close to 100%, as we have to count all psychoactive substances, including alcohol, nicotine and caffeine, and not only those substances that were, rightly or wrongly, declared "illegal". "Illegality" is a human concept, not an intrinsic property of any substance! Of course, any delusional system, including that of cannabis prohibition, must be enforced and "protected" from any "inconvenient" scientific facts that may endanger its "validity".

It has become "fashionable" lately for the right-wing extremists to accuse president Obama of "Marxist" policies; these people have very little knowledge of what Marxism really is, so none of their accusations "correspond" with reality; however the cannabis prohibition is patterned after a Marxist system in that, just like the Marxists, the prohibitionists tend to think that they know what is "best" for people better than people themselves. Poll after poll demonstrates conclusively that 80%+ of the voters are in favor of the Legalization of at least the medicinal cannabis, and yet the prohibitionists in "high places" refuse to budge.

This policy is highly reminiscent of a Marxist "dogma" that "religion is opium for the people". Now, after Karl Marx himself pronounced this "judgment", subsequent Marxist regimes ruthlessly suppressed religion, saying in effect, "We will take "opium" from the mouths of fools, and they will thank us later". So, even in our "democratic" society, where Marxist dogmas and methods have been supposedly repudiated, when it comes to the dogma of cannabis prohibition, an elaborate system of repression (again reminiscent of Marxism) is put in place.

Most of the nation's doctors, who alone should be entitled to judge the merits of the current drug "scheduling" in general and cannabis prohibition in particular, do not enjoy the "freedom of speech" if they want to continue practicing medicine. Every doctor in this country is assigned a special DEA number, without which a medical license is a worthless piece of paper.

It is not then difficult to see why there has not been a widespread "outcry" from the medical community about the anti-cannabis repression by the DEA, even in the face of a firm scientific truth that cannabis is incomparably safer than alcohol, nicotine, or the opiate "pain pills", for example. Suppose an addiction medicine doctor, such as myself, would get up at the medical staff meeting and simply enumerate the scientific facts about cannabis that are not even in dispute, such as the truth about the so-called "gateway drug" theory, absence of fatal overdose potential or its safety in comparison with alcohol.

True, such a doctor would not be exiled to Siberia or summarily executed, but she probably could forget about working in addiction medicine any longer because of an "arch-heresy" that such purely scientific declarations would mean! At the same time the organs of repression such as the DEA continue their all-out war against Medicinal Cannabis clearly contrary to the people's wishes in this respect.

Also, most of the working population in this country lives in fear of a "random drug screen" which may take place quickly in case of an open pro-cannabis attitude by a person. Now, all this suppression of Truth is patently and indisputably Marxist in its nature and methods! Despite all the repression, there is a definite hope that the truth will not be suppressed forever, for just like the former KGB, our modern-day DEA fears nothing more than the wide exposure as an anti-democratic and anti-scientific "state within the state".

More and more countries in Europe along with Israel, allow the medicinal use of cannabis plant according to destinationsmoke.com. More and more scientific data is being accumulated that clearly contradicts the anti-scientific "dogma" of the DEA and its prohibitionist allies. The delusional belief-system that envisions a "drug-free" society is going to be as "successful" as the one that advocated "abstinence" in lieu of the proper sex education; for just like education about the "safer choices" in sexual behavior, that about "safer choices" in "substance use" will be the only thing that will bring a long-lasting solution to this very important issue that we face as an open and democratic society!