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Hemp: Uses and Cures (Ghee and Herbal Extract Recipes Included!)

Hemp, Cannabis sativa, is one of the world’s oldest sources of food and medicine, with a history that dates back at least ten thousand years. It relieves glaucoma, epilepsy, migraines, insomnia, asthma, the nausea associated with AIDS and chemotherapy, and a host of other conditions. It was once a staple in every American medicine cabinet, but because hemp is the plant from which marijuana is derived, it has been made unavailable to consumers until recently. Now products made from imported hemp-seed are sold by stores and mail-order companies across the United States to satisfy a growing demand.

Why Hemp?

Let’s start out with the irrefutable qualities of hemp, and how resourceful and versatile this God-given plant is. Firstly, Hemp seed is not psychoactive and cannot be used as a drug. As a food, Hemp Seed is far more nutritious than soybean, contains more essential fatty acids than any other source, is second only to soybeans in complete protein (but is more digestible by humans), is high in B-vitamins, and is 35% dietary fiber. For our health, hemp has been proven to create miraculous results. Hemp can also be used to create textiles, building materials and hygiene products. The list goes on…..

A recommended read on the subject is“Hemp for Health: The Medicinal and Nutritional Uses of Cannabis Sativa“. Hemp for Health reveals the developments that have returned this ancient plant to the forefront of health and nutrition and that have doctors calling for its legalization.

The author provides everything from recipes using hemp-seed, and an analysis of cannabis’s therapeutic effect on the nervous system, to current information on bills that are currently moving through several state legislatures to legalize domestic hemp production.

There are Differences Between Cannabis and Hemp…

To break the stigma associated with marijuana, it is important to actually understand the difference between the two plants.

The two are related through the same genus of plant. While industrial-grade hemp is a rather helpful resource in the world, it lacks the stimulating power of the substance known as delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or for short, THC. It is this active chemical of THC that brings about the “high” associated with marijuana.

Hemp contains 1.5% of this substance, while marijuana possesses between 4 % and 20%. In Canada, the legal amount of THC used to create products cannot exceed 0.3%. Overall, the plants are rather close in details, but supply very different functions for many dissimilar reasons, which especially shows through in the physical makeup of the two plants.

Hemp is much stronger than the marijuana variety, meaning it holds the possibility to create a wealth of raw materials. Marijuana is actually quite delicate, eliminating it as a contender regarding serving a purpose to benefit mankind in a manner acceptable by law (with the exception of medicinal uses).

Farming practices also dictate the amount of THC produced by the plant. The unfertilized female species of cannabis sativa L contains the highest amount of THC, thus the male species is removed to prevent pollination, increasing it’s psychoactive properties dramatically. Reference

How to Make Tinctures And Herbal Extracts:

Herbs: Either fresh or dried finely chopped herbs can be used. Use of one pint of menstruum to two ounces of dried herbs, or about two handfuls of fresh.

Menstruums: There are three basic menstruums, or solvents used to extract the chemical compounds of herbs in tinctures, alcohol, glycerin, and vinegar. Alcohol is the most used because it can extract fats, resins, waxes,most alkaloids, and some of the volatile oils, as well as many other plant compounds. Water is also necessary to extract the water soluble plant chemicals. Using an 80 to 100 proof alcohol such as vodka, brandy and gin provides the alcohol-water ratio you need without having to add anything. If pure grain alcohol (190 proof) is used, water will have to be added. Don’t use city tap water that contains chlorine, use either distilled or pure spring water.

The important thing is to completely cover the herbs, leaving a couple of extra inches of liquid about the herbs to allow for swelling as the herbs absorb the liquid. Leave some headroom in the jar. If using vinegar, warm first before pouring it over the herbs.

Procedure for making an easy tincture:

Chop herbs finely
Place in a glass jar, labeled with the current date and name of the herb
Add sufficient liquid menstruum to completely cover the herb
Cap with a tight fitting lid, put the jar in a dark place at room temperature, and shake at least once daily.
After 2 to 3 weeks, strain the contents through several layers of cheesecloth.
Allow to settle overnight in a clean jar
Restrain through a filter paper
Store in a labeled, amber glass bottle away from light and heat.

The Chinese macerate herbs for months sometimes even years. For stronger tinctures a suggested time can be 4 to 6 weeks. The duration depends on the mixture and on your patience, in time you will develop your own style. I use a kitchen cupboard that I open on a regular basis, so I don’t forget the shake the bottle. Tinctures will keep for 6 months. The standard dose is one tablespoon in a wineglass of water once or twice a day.

Liniments are made exactly the same as herbal tinctures, except they are meant for external use. Make sure and label your liniments “FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY” , when using a solvent that is inedible such as rubbing alcohol.

Using vinegar to tincture herbs. Alcohol has mostly displaced vinegar as a menstruum for making liquid herbal extracts, as it is far more efficient in extracting and preserving the medicinal properties of herbs. Vinegar is however passable solvent and useful in cases where you wish to avoid alcohol. When used in conjunction with alcohol, vinegar can sometimes assist in the extraction of alkaloid (base) substances from herbs. Such an extract containing both vinegar and alcohol is known as an acetous tincture.

How to Make Cannabis Ghee

Description:

Ghee is clarified butter. It contains mostly butter fat and trace amounts of water and milk solids.

Ingredients for Ghee:

2lb unsalted butter

Making the Ghee:

1. Melt the butter in a pan or a double boiler at a low to medium temperature so that the butter is hot enough to boil.

2. A froth will form on the surface of the butter.

3. Remove the froth with a spoon.

4. Continue until no more froth appears.

5. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Ingredients for Cannabis Ghee:

1lb Ghee

1oz/28g of finely ground cannabis*

*The finer the powdered cannabis, the better this method will work.

Making the Cannabis Ghee:

1. The ghee is melted in a pan or double boiler and allowed to simmer.

2. Add the cannabis slowly, and stir often.

3. Allow to simmer for an hour.

4. Strain with cheese cloth or a fine mesh strainer, and allow to cool.

5. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” ~ Hippocrates ca. 400 BC

A note from WuW: The possession and cultivation of hemp is still prohibited by law in many countries. Wake Up World does not advocate breaking the law, Wake Up World advocates changing the law.

About the author:

Yolanda Bertaud, MSOM, HHP, CH. is an Holistic Health Practitioner, Chinese Herbalist and researcher with a Masters of Science and Oriental Medicine. She is also an advocate for natural organic foods, gardening and farming methods, humane treatment of animals, and sustainable treatment of our environment.

As a health practitioner, Yolands is available for personalized on-line consultations to support your health, wellbeing and diet. To schedule a private online (Skype) consultation, please contact Yolands via email: ybertaud@yahoo.com.com. For more information, please visit Yolanda’s website, Facebook page and Twitter profile.

Group Of Nuns Are Growing And Selling Marijuana Illegally, Making $400,000 Annually

Sister Kate and Sister Darcy are on a mission to share the healing benefits of cannabis with the world – that is if their business doesn’t get shut down first.

Reports Reuters, the non-religious – but spiritual – sisters have been growing and selling marijuana for medicinal purposes in Merced, California (where it is legal) for three years now. Unfortunately, their business is in jeopardy since Merced City Council issued a temporary ban on marijuana cultivation after a 6-0 vote on January 4, 2016.

Reportedly, the change is an effect of a “drafting error” in California’s revision to its medicinal marijuana law. While medical marijuana was legalized in the state nearly twenty years ago, a loophole in the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, which passed in October 2015, is giving dozens of municipalities in CA the opportunity to ban various aspects of cannabis cultivation.

Due to this, the sisters are, understandably, frustrated by the public’s resistance to allow an acknowledged cure for cancer.

“It’s frustrating to me because there are all of these people with negative attitudes about something that is truly God’s gift,” Sister Darcey told ABC News.

The nuns’ business, Sisters of the Valley, sells high-quality medicinal salves, tonics, and tinctures on Etsy. Their products, which are independently certified as organic, are high in CBD, or cannabidiol, a cannabis compound that has been shown to have significant medical benefits, and low in THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the better-known cannabis compound with psychoactive properties.

According to Sister Kate, the medicines they produce are based on “ancient ritual,” which involves turning their cannabis tinctures every morning and night, only bottling tinctures during a full moon and saying a healing prayer over every bottle and jar before it’s sold, reports EcoWatch.

“We make CBD oil, which takes away seizures and a million other things,” Sister Kate told ABC News. “It’s very high in demand from cancer patients right now. And we make a salve that’s a multi-purpose salve, but we found out it cures migraines, hangovers, earaches, tooth aches and diaper rash.”

Their Etsy sites shares that the salve is made from cannabis trim, coconut oil, vitamin E, lavender oil, calendula oil, and beeswax.

The medicines don’t come cheap, however. Two fluid ounces (400mg) of CBD oil made by the moon’s cycles and used for pain relief, costs patients $85.15, not including shipping, through their Etsy page.

Regardless, they hope to continue healing the sick with ‘God’s Medicine’ legally, therefore, are petitioning to stop the ban.

“Embrace, regulate, and tax, that’s all we want them to do,” said Sister Kate.

The future of the business remains uncertain as Mercer City Council meets this week to consider banning all marijuana growing in the area. The council must now decide if they wish to follow these recommendations, go with a total ban, or adopt something in between.

However, the point may soon be moot. According to Merced City councilman Kevin Blake, recreational marijuana is expected to be on the state ballot in November.

He told the Merced Sun-Star: “I give it a year or two and this may all be irrelevant” in regards to the local debate on the allowance of medical marijuana.

Watch below as the Sisters make salves during a winter solstice moon:

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4 Surprising Health Benefits Of Juicing Raw Marijuana

4 Surprising Health Benefits of Juicing Raw Marijuana

By Healthy Holistic Living

Did you know that marijuana is a vegetable? Yup – it’s true.

The marijuana plant’s leaves and buds are actually loaded with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer compounds. These compounds are known as cannabidiols (CBD) and they make marijuana, cannabis, or whatever you want to call it, a superfood.

Yup – it’s true.

Don’t Get Dazed And Confused

But when heated, all of that goodness evaporates – it goes up in smoke and is blown away. Instead, be blown away by the health benefits of juicing the raw marijuana plant.

When heated the psychoactive compound – tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – is released from the plant. Most people don’t want medicine to get “high” though. Our bodies were made to receive cannabidiols and the plant does not need to be heated to get these healing properties.

We have cannabinoid receptors built-in to our bodies. Getting CBD into your body can normalize functional systems like cell communication and immune functions. This means that the systems that make up your body, from cells to organs, will talk to each other better, have a better understanding of what’s going on, and help to clean things up.

Whole Lotta Love

It’s like a good relationship – both people should talk to each other and work with each other to keep the house clean.

And with cannabinoid receptors in our brains and pretty much no other way to get cannabidiol, marijuana seems to be the perfect medicine to ensure our bodies are working at peak performance. Major league sports would disagree.

CBDs bridge the gap of neurotransmission in the central nervous system by providing a two-way system of communication that completes a positive “feedback loop” says Dr. William Courtney, a medical marijuana expert and founder of Cannabis International. This is instead of a one-way transmission which promotes chronic inflammation.

CBDs mimic the body’s natural two-way communications system.

Stairway To Heaven

“The endogenous cannabinoid system acts as a modulator in fine-tuning a lot of these systems, and if something is deranged biochemically in a person’s body, it may well be that a cannabinoid system can bring things back into balance.” – Dr. Ethan Russo, a Seattle area physician, Senior Advisor to GW Pharmaceuticals.

Juicing marijuana ensures you’ll get the healing benefits of the plant without the high. No smoking, no high, and you can ingest higher doses of the drug, which will inevitably have your system running more smoothly and you feeling better. Juicing the plant also offers versatility: you can add other fruits and veggies to make delicious juices and incorporate cannabis into your diet.

Communication Breakdown

Smoking promotes inflammation which leads to infection and potential dysfunction or communication breakdowns in your body. While lots of doctors suggest vaporizing over smoking, most promote edibles over vaporizing. But you still need to heat up the drug to make edibles. That’s why, medically speaking, juicing the plant works best.

4 Health Benefits To Juicing Marijuana

Dr. Courtney and others are working hard to legalize the drug and work it into mainstream diets. They’ve found that using cannabis as a food (instead of a smokeable) it can help prevent, diminish, and fix:

Autoimmune Disorders
Cellular Dysfunction
Chronic Inflammation
Cancer Cells

Of course, be sure to talk to a doctor – not a dealer – when expressing interest in the drug. It is only currently legal in Colorado, Washington, Alaska, and Oregon, but it has been allowed for medical use in 23 other states.

Powerful New Study Blows The “Smoking Pot Makes You Stupid” Myth Out Of The Water

You’ve probably seen the propagandistic anti-drug ad that attempts to analogize the perils of drug use with a frying egg: “This is your brain,” the very serious narrator says, as someone holds a whole egg. The hand cracks the egg into a pre-heated pan, and as it sizzles and sputters, the narrator gravely warns, “This is your brain on drugs.”

Of course, the theatrics were intended to scare the bejeezus out of kids who didn’t want to somehow end up idiots for life; but the oft-parodied advertisement has now been officially debunked. Data released for a new study proves cannabis use is not associated with lower IQ or educational performance.

According to British researchers assessing the relationship of cumulative cannabis use by adolescents, once confounding factors had been adjusted, such as cigarette-smoking and childhood depression, “Those who had used cannabis 50 [or more] times did not differ from never-users on either IQ or educational performance.”

A group of 2,235 teens served as the sample group for the study, slated for publication in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, which sought to “test the relationships between cumulative cannabis and IQ at the age of 15 and educational performance at the age of 16.” Of the 15-year-olds, 24% reported having tried cannabis at least one time.

These findings further dispute a previous study published in 2012 in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that suggested heavy cannabis use by those under the age of 18 led to lower IQ twenty years later in life. Though it received a great deal of publicity, further review of the same data published in the same journal implied socioeconomic status — not cannabis use — likely explained the lowered IQ measurement.

In fact, the researchers did find a “robust” correlation between adolescent cigarette smoking and poorer educational performance that had nothing whatsoever to do with marijuana use.

So feel free to laugh — if you didn’t already — the next time anyone references that infamous Drug War fried egg.

Study Shows Marijuana 114 Times Safer Than Drinking Alcohol

We have been led to believe that marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug that destroys lives and is a far greater risk than other recreational drugs such as alcohol. Governments have tried diligently to to convince the public that people who use pot are more at risk to themselves and the public than those who use alcohol. As the debate over marijuana legalization continues, a new study now shows that smoking the controversial plant is about 114 times safer than drinking alcohol.

In fact, alcohol was found to be the deadliest drug on an individual level, at least when it comes to the likelihood of a person dying due to consuming a lethal dose. Heroin and cocaine were the next most deadly substances, followed by tobacco, ecstasy, and meth. Trailing up the rear was marijuana.

According to the team of international researchers behind the study, published in the journal ‘Scientific Reports,’ the findings suggest that marijuana risks — at least those related to mortality — are trumped when compared to substances like alcohol.

“The results confirm that the risk of cannabis may have been overestimated in the past,” the report reads. “At least for the endpoint of mortality, the [margin of exposure] for THC/cannabis in both individual and population-based assessments would be above safety thresholds (e.g. 100 for data based on animal experiments). In contrast, the risk of alcohol may have been commonly underestimated.”

Both alcohol and cannabis can be considered a narcotic or hallucinogen, that affects the central nervous system, causing changes in behavior and often addiction. But there are major differences in how each reacts with the human body.

As reported by the Washington Post, the study’s results aren’t exactly new, though they do confirm similar findings first reported a decade ago. In a separate story last year, the Post noted that Wayne Hall of the World Health Organization said it’s nearly impossible for even those who smoke large amounts of cannabis to overdose on the drug.

“The estimated fatal dose [of THC, the primary active compound in marijuana] in humans derived from animal studies is between 15 and 70 grams. This is a far greater amount of cannabis that even a very heavy cannabis user could use in a day,” Hall wrote last year.

Even alcohol’s unsafe margin of exposure (MOE) ratio isn’t all that surprising since, unlike heroin and cocaine, it is legal and much more readily available and accepted.

Alcohol, regardless of its type (i.e. beer, wine, liquor, etc) is a class A1 carcinogen which are confirmed human carcinogens. Alcohol consumption has been causally related with breast cancer for some time. Increasing evidence indicates a stronger association with neoplasms, though the risk is elevated for other types of breast cancers too. Regardless of how much alcohol is consumed, it will always be a class A1 carcinogen. That doesn’t mean you will get cancer from drinking a beer or a glass wine, but the classification for the substance is clear.

Marijuana legalization advocates are welcoming the new study, using it to suggest that America’s current ban on the drug is wrong and misguided, considering the mortality rates associated with alcohol and tobacco — both of which are legal and easily accessible to those of age. Marijuana, meanwhile, is still illegal on the federal level and largely illegal on the state level — except in Colorado, Oregon, Alaska, and the District of Columbia.

Even the researchers noted that compared to other drugs, their findings support regulating pot as a legal substance instead of a banned one.

“Currently, the MOE results point to risk management prioritization towards alcohol and tobacco rather than illicit drugs,” the report reads.“The high MOE values of cannabis, which are in a low-risk range, suggest a strict legal regulatory approach rather than the current prohibition approach.”

10 REASONS CANNABIS IS SAFER THAN ALCOHOL

1. Many people die from alcohol use. Nobody dies from cannabis use. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that more than 37,000 annual U.S. deaths, including more than 1,400 in Colorado, are attributed to alcohol use alone (i.e. this figure does not include accidental deaths). On the other hand, the CDC does not even have a category for deaths caused by the use of cannabis.

2. People die from alcohol overdoses. There has never been a fatal cannabis overdose. The official publication of the Scientific Research Society, American Scientist, reported that alcohol is one of the most toxic drugs and using just 10 times what one would use to get the desired effect could lead to death. Cannabis is one of — if not the – least toxic drugs, requiring thousands of times the dose one would use to get the desired effect to lead to death. This “thousands of times” is actually theoretical, since there has never been a case of an individual dying from a cannabis overdose. Meanwhile, according to the CDC, hundreds of alcohol overdose deaths occur in the United States each year.

3. The health-related costs associated with alcohol use far exceed those for cannabis use. Health-related costs for alcohol consumers are eight times greater than those for cannabis consumers, according to an assessment recently published in the British Columbia Mental Health and Addictions Journal. More specifically, the annual cost of alcohol consumption is $165 per user, compared to just $20 per user for cannabis. This should not come as a surprise given the vast amount of research that shows alcohol poses far more — and more significant — health problems than cannabis.

4. Alcohol use damages the brain. Cannabis use does not. Despite the myths we’ve heard throughout our lives about cannabis killing brain cells, it turns out that a growing number of studies seem to indicate that cannabis actually has neuroprotective properties. This means that it works to protect brain cells from harm. Research published in the journalsBehavioural Brain Research and Experimental Brain Researchdemonstrated that even extremely low doses of THC (cannabis’s psychoactive component) — around 1,000 to 10,000 times less than that in a conventional cannabis cigarette — can jumpstart biochemical processes which protect brain cells and preserve cognitive function say researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU). Another example is one recent study which found that teens who used cannabis as well as alcohol suffered significantly less damage to the white matter in their brains. Of course, what is beyond question is that alcohol damages brain cells. Scripps scientists discovered that eleven months of alcohol consumption that produced a blood alcohol level sufficient to be considered intoxicated decreased neurogenesis by more than fifty percent! Furthermore, the decrease in neurogenesis lasted for many weeks of abstinence. In contrast to the effects of alcohol, a series of publications during the past few years suggest that stimulating the brain’s cannabis neurotransmitter system appears to have the exact opposite effects upon neurogenesis in the hippocampus of both young and old laboratory animals and humans, i.e. neurogenesis is increased by stimulation of our brain’s cannabis receptors. When we are elderly, our brain displays a dramatic decline in neurogenesis within the hippocampus. This decline may underlie age-associated memory impairments as well as depression. Research has demonstrated that stimulating the brain’s cannabis receptors restores neurogenesis. Thus, later in life, cannabis might actually help your brain, rather than harm it.

5. Alcohol use is linked to cancer. Cannabis use is not. Alcohol use is associated with a wide variety of cancers, including cancers of the esophagus, stomach, colon, lungs, pancreas, liver and prostate. Cannabis use has not been conclusively associated with any form of cancer. In fact, one study recently contradicted the long-time government claim that cannabis use is associated with head and neck cancers. It found that cannabis use actually reduced the likelihood of head and neck cancers. If you are concerned about cannabis being associated with lung cancer, you may be interested in the results of the largest case-controlled study ever conducted to investigate the respiratory effects of cannabis smoking and cigarette smoking. Released in 2006, the study, conducted by Dr. Donald Tashkin at the University of California at Los Angeles, found that cannabis smoking was notassociated with an increased risk of developing lung cancer. Surprisingly, the researchers found that people who smoked cannabis actually hadlower incidences of cancer compared to non-users of the drug. THC that targets cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 is similar in function to endocannabinoids, which are cannabinoids that are naturally produced in the body and activate these receptors. Researchers suggest that THC or other designer agents that activate these receptors might be used in a targeted fashion to actually treat lung cancer.

6. Alcohol is more addictive than cannabis. Addiction researchers have consistently reported that cannabis is far less addictive than alcohol based on a number of factors. In particular, alcohol use can result in significant and potentially fatal physical withdrawal, whereas cannabis has not been found to produce any symptoms of physical withdrawal. Those who use alcohol are also much more likely to develop dependence and build tolerance. Also when cannabis is more available, studies show that the use of hard drugs like heroin and cocaine actually decreases.

7. Alcohol use increases the risk of injury to the consumer. Cannabis use does not. Many people who have consumed alcohol or know others who have consumed alcohol would not be surprised to hear that it greatly increases the risk of serious injury. Research published this year in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, found that 36 percent of hospitalized assaults and 21 percent of all injuries are attributable to alcohol use by the injured person. Meanwhile, theAmerican Journal of Emergency Medicine reported that lifetime use of cannabis is rarely associated with emergency room visits. According to the British Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, this is because: “Cannabis differs from alcohol … in one major respect. It does not seem to increase risk-taking behavior. This means that cannabis rarely contributes to violence either to others or to oneself, whereas alcohol use is a major factor in deliberate self-harm, domestic accidents and violence.” Interestingly enough, some research has even shown that cannabis use has been associated with a decreased risk of injury.

8. Alcohol use contributes to aggressive and violent behavior. Cannabis use does not. Studies have repeatedly shown that alcohol, unlike cannabis, contributes to the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior. An article published in the Journal of Addictive Behaviors reported that “alcohol is clearly the drug with the most evidence to support a direct intoxication-violence relationship,” whereas “cannabis reduces the likelihood of violence during intoxication.”

9. Alcohol use is a major factor in violent crimes. Cannabis use is not. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism estimates that 25-30% of violent crimes in the United States are linked to the use of alcohol. According to a report from the U.S. Dept. of Justice, that translates to about 5,000,000 alcohol-related violent crimes per year. By contrast, the government does not even track violent acts specifically related to cannabis use, as the use of cannabis has not been associated with violence. (Of course, we should note that cannabis prohibition, by creating a widespread criminal market, is associated with acts of violence.)

10 Alcohol use contributes to the likelihood of domestic abuse and sexual assault. Cannabis use does not. Alcohol is a major contributing factor in the prevalence of domestic violence and sexual assault. This is not to say that alcohol causes these problems; rather, its use makes it more likely that an individual prone to such behavior will act on it. For example, a study conducted by the Research Institute on Addictions found that among individuals who were chronic partner abusers, the use of alcohol was associated with significant increases in the daily likelihood of male-to-female physical aggression, but the use of cannabis was not. Specifically, the odds of abuse were eight times higher on days when men were drinking; the odds of severe abuse were 11 times higher. According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) website highlights alcohol as the “most commonly used chemical in crimes of sexual assault” and provides information on an array of other drugs that have been linked to sexual violence. Given the fact that cannabis is so accessible and widely used, it is quite telling that the word “cannabis” does not appear anywhere on the page.

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Why You Should Care About The Number Of Marijuana Overdose Deaths In America Last Year

The number of people fatally overdosing from marijuana last year is dreadfully significant.

Despite the state spending thousands of dollars a second – ticketing, kidnapping, caging, and killing evil drug users, the rate of lethal drug overdoses in the last 15 years has skyrocketed.

According to the 2015 data on death rates from 2001-2014, released by the Centers for Disease control and Prevention this month:

Prescription drug overdose deaths have nearly tripled since 2001
Opioid overdose deaths have nearly quadrupled since 2001
Benzodiazepine overdose deaths have increased by more than 600% since 2001
Cocaine overdose deaths are up 42% since 2001
Heroin overdose deaths are up nearly 500% since 2001

Across the board, drug use and deaths associated with drug use have increased at alarming rates. No amount of AR-15s, SWAT police, MRAPs, or any other military gear has had a hand in lowering these statistics. In fact, the increase in overdose deaths nearly coincides with the increase in militarization in the last decade and a half.

“More persons died from drug overdoses in the United States in 2014 than during any previous year on record,” reports the CDC.

One drug, or rather plant, which is still viciously sought after in the state’s immoral war on drugs is absent from the CDC’s report of overdose deaths. That plant is cannabis.

In spite of some form of cannabis being legal in some fashion in 23 states, the government still violently and with extreme prejudice continues to seek out those who dare possess it.

If the CDC calculated the number of deaths inflicted by police while enforcing marijuana laws, that number would certainly be shocking and could even be deemed a risk to public health. Marijuana is, indeed, dangerous, but only because of what can happen to you if the police catch you with it.

Nothing highlights the hypocrisy, immorality, and sheer idiocy of the drug war quite like marijuana prohibition. Here we have a medicine that kills cancer cells, saves the lives of countless epileptic children, heals broken bones, relieves pain, treats PTSD, is not dangerous, and exhibits a variety of other incredible benefits – yet the state will kill you over it.

So why do these tyrants keep it illegal?

If you want to know who profits from ruining lives and throwing marijuana users in cages, we need only look at who bribes (also known as lobbies) the politicians to keep the war on drugs alive.

Below is a list of the top five industries who need you locked in a cage for possessing a plant in order to ensure their job security.

Police Unions: Coming in as the number one contributor to politicians for their votes to lock you in a cage for a plant are the police themselves. They risk taking massive pay cuts and losing all their expensive militarized toys without the war on drugs.
Private Prison Corporations: No surprise here. The corporatist prison lobby is constantly pushing for stricter laws to keep their stream of tax dollars flowing.
Alcohol and Beer Companies: These giant corporations hate competition, so why not pay millions to keep a cheaper and far safer alcohol alternative off the market?
Pharmaceutical Corporations: The hypocrisy of marijuana remaining a Schedule 1 drug, “No Medical Use Whatsoever,” seems criminal when considering that pharmaceutical companies reproduce a chemical version of THC and can market and sell it as such. Ever hear of Marinol? Big pharma simply uses the force of the state to legislate out their competition; that happens to be nature.
Prison Guard Unions: The prison guard unions are another group, so scared of losing their jobs, that they would rather see thousands of non-violent and morally innocent people thrown into cages than look for another job.

What does it say about a society who’s resolute in enacting violence against their fellow human so they can have a job to go to in the morning?

The person who wants to ingest a substance for medical or recreational reasons is not the criminal. However, the person that would kidnap, cage, or kill someone because they have a different lifestyle, is a villain on many fronts.

When does this vicious cycle end?

The good news is that the drug war’s days are numbered. Evidence of this is everywhere. States are defying the federal government and refusing to lock people in cages for marijuana. A record number of law enforcement personnel are even quitting their jobs and joining the push to end the drug war.

Colorado and Washington served as a catalyst in a seemingly exponential awakening to the government’s immoral war. Following suit were Oregon, D.C., and Alaska. Medical marijuana initiatives are becoming a constant part of legislative debates nationwide. We’ve even seen bills that would not only completely legalize marijuana but deregulate it entirely, like corn.

Also, while the idea of treating an addict with compassion instead of violence is a radical notion in this country, in other countries, such as Portugal, its effects have been realized for more than a decade. In 2001, the Portuguese government decriminalized all drugs.

14 years later, drug use, crime, and overdoses have drastically declined in Portugal exposing the cruel reality of prohibition. Eventually, more states will adopt this approach, and the drug war tyrants will finally be outnumbered.

As more and more states refuse to kidnap and cage marijuana users, the drug war will continue to implode. We must be resilient in this fight.

If doing drugs bothers you, don’t do drugs. When you transition from holding an opinion — to using government violence to enforce your personal preference, you become the bad guy. Please, for all that is good, don’t be the bad guy.

Narcotics Cop Who Ruined Countless Lives For Weed Possession, Busted With $2 Million In Marijuana

York County, PA — A California police officer was recently busted after driving 247 pounds of marijuana all the way across the country. Yuba County Deputy Christopher M. Heath was caught in York, Pennsylvania with a shipment of marijuana that was worth over $2 million. Heath was reportedly on vacation from his job at the Yuba County Police Department at the time of his arrest.

The York County Police Department has been cautiously silent about the investigation, and they have refused to comment on the details of the arrest, and how they became aware of the shipment.

York County District Attorney Tom Kearney admitted at a recent press conference that this arrest was a part of a large investigation that included various different police departments. Penn Township
Police, West Manheim Township Police, Hanover Police, Northern York County Regional Police, York Area Regional Police, Springettsbury Township Police and the York barracks of Pennsylvania State Police were all involved in the arrest and present at the press conference.

“One has to be both saddened and angry that a law-enforcement officer was allegedly involved,”

Kearney said, adding that “This was a very sophisticated operation, and obviously a large one.”

Investigators also had no idea that Heath was a cop until after the bust.

“I will tell you prior to the stop we were unaware that this individual was law enforcement,” Kearney said. “We did not become aware of that until we made the stop.”

Heath, along with two other men, Tyler N. Long, and Ryan J. Falsone traveled across the country in two pickup trucks where the marijuana was stashed in vacuum sealed bags.

Chief deputy prosecutor David Sunday that while marijuana is not the department’s main focus, they are still targeting marijuana dealers in their investigations.

We spend a majority of our time focusing on heroin and cocaine (dealers),” Sunday said. However, he defended the arrest by saying that the men were caught with “a startling amount of marijuana.”

Undersheriff Jerry Read.of Yuba County said that Heath was an “adequate” officer.

“He was assigned to a narcotics task force … (for) almost three years. Conditions are very good in Yuba County for the growing of marijuana. We take down high-poundage dealers with some frequency, and take down growing operations sometimes with as many as a thousand plants,” Read said

This case is especially interesting because Heath was an officer on a narcotics task force, meaning that he was responsible for putting nonviolent people in prison for using and selling drugs. Meanwhile, he himself was selling drugs and taking part in the same actions that he was locking people up for.

Of course, it is the view of the Free Thought Project that anyone should be able to possess marijuana, as it is an incredibly beneficial plant. While those who would lock up morally innocent people for possessing a plant are bad enough, it takes a uniquely vile individual to ruin the lives of countless individuals while at the same time committing equivalent acts.

This hypocrite is currently on paid vacation from the department in Yuba despite admitting to transporting the marijuana from California to Pennsylvania. Heath is free on a 1$ million bond.

John Vibes is an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. He also has a publishing company where he offers a censorship free platform for both fiction and non-fiction writers. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Facebook page. You can purchase his books, or get your own book published at his website www.JohnVibes.com.

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