This petition was NOT written to talk about the miracles or healing powers of cannabis (marijuana), because they dont exist. This petition was NOT written to encourage the smoking of cannabis. The purpose of this petition is to correct the mistake of grouping cannabis as a schedule I drug.



Marijuana (Cannabis) is a schedule I drug grouped with heroin, ecstasy and LSD. It is more illegal than cocaine and methamphetamine according to federal law. This alone shows the faulty scheduling in which the drug was originally grouped. In 1910 the recreational use of this drug was introduced by large numbers of Mexicans immigrating to the United States because of the Mexican Revolution. Cannabis was outlawed in Texas in 1919 and was seen as a drug that made people criminally inclined because of those who were associated with the drug. The name marijuana is the Mexican name for cannabis and was used instead of cannabis because at the time cannabis had a reputation for pharmaceutical safety in the United States. The drug prohibitionists in the 1920s and 1930s used a Mexican name for this drug deliberately playing on the Americans nationality because of the struggles between the United States and Mexico at this time. Because the Mexican population was connected to crime most people thought marijuana must be responsible. The first law prohibiting the use of cannabis was by Utahs Church bound legislature. In 1910 the Mormon Church realized its mistake with polygamy and got rid of the practice. Many of the old believers did not want to give up this practice of polygamy so they moved to Northwest Mexico. By 1914 most of these old believers came back to the United States bringing with them cannabis. As the Mormon Church saw the presence of this drug, they were strongly opposed to any euphoria-inducing drugs and in October of 1915 the first law against cannabis was instated because of the acute ties between the Church and State in Utah. The laws against cannabis are underlying prejudices that has never been properly addressed because of the negative connotations that have followed in pushing the issue further into Uncle Sams closet of clandestine issues.



Cannabis is seen as the cause for crime by many Americans today as it was in the 1900s. But on the contrary, under the influence of this drug the heart has a tendency to speed up causing anxiety and sometimes leading to panic attacks. Why would anxiety cause someone to commit a crime? The government was scared and cannabis was being used by the people who were seen as criminals, therefore it was outlawed. After marijuana was moved to a Schedule II drug in California under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (Proposition 215), voted upon November 5th, 1996, the violent crime rate went down 15.74\% (1996-1997) compared to the previous years (1995-1996) when it dropped only 4.03\%. Although the likely hood of violent crimes and the rescheduling of cannabis are probably not related in any way it just proves that the link between violent crimes and rescheduling cannabis are obsolete. The strict laws against cannabis do almost nothing to deter the use of the drug and are completely unnecessary in most circumstances. The social prejudices alone stop many people from ever trying cannabis, not the laws that only make it more difficult to find a place to engage in the activity. The prejudices that come along with smoking cannabis are just the same as they were in the early 1900s, but rather than being viewed as a Mexican criminal the common cannabis smoker is now seen as a stoner. A Stoner is someone who engages in the smoking of cannabis regularly and is often described as peaceful and lazy. If the governments concern is that the population will become a lazy group of people who are no longer economically driven when put under the stresses of modern-day life then it is understandable why they try so hard to scare people away from cannabis. This concern alone is an unconstitutional reason to make something illegal. If a person chooses to be under the influence during their free time why should the government allow the influence to be alcohol, which has been proven as directly connecting to violent acts compared to the influence of cannabis which has been proven as less harmful and is not directly tied to violent acts of any sort.



Cannabis is used as a type of medicine in many states and although it may be deemed as an addictive drug it nowhere near compares to the addictive personalities of other medicine. The addiction that many people talk about when they refer to cannabis is a psychological dependency which does not only occur when one smokes cannabis habitually, but when a person does anything habitually for a long period of time such as gambling, internet use, sex / pornography, eating, and other various activities. This type of dependency leads to psychological withdraws (cravings, irritability, insomnia, depression) but this does not compare to the severity of a physical dependency in which the body actually needs the substance to function properly. Physical dependence is not seen in cannabis but rather in barbiturates, benzodiazepines, caffeine, ethyl alcohol (alcoholic beverages), GHB, methaqualone, nicotine, opioids, and amphetamines; many of which are legal and always will be. Some of the withdraws caused by physical dependence are seizures, hypertension, schizophrenia, and delirium tremens (also known as rum fits or trembling delirium in Latin) in which the person shakes and in many cases hallucinates.



Cannabis is the number 1 gateway drug? Most people who go onto other drugs will first try nicotine or alcohol way before cannabis and why are those not considered gateway drugs when they are more harmful and have caused more deaths than any other drugs combined? To find a person who has tried cannabis but not a cigarette or an alcoholic beverage first and is on the path to addiction would be nearly impossible and impractical. The health risks involved in the use of cannabis are much less harmful than many legal substances. While a clear increase in cancer risk was seen among cigarette smokers in the study, no such association was seen for regular cannabis users. Even very heavy, long-term marijuana users who had smoked more than 22,000 joints over a lifetime seemed to have no greater risk than infrequent marijuana users or nonusers. FOX News (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,196678,00.html)



Marinol is a Schedule III drug that is also a cannabinoid with the same active ingredient (THC) as cannabis, but because it went under the radar of radical marijuana prohibitions the proper studies were done and it was categorized more carefully. Another cannabinoid is Nabilone, a Schedule II drug, used in the same means in which Marinol is used. Nabilone is not derived from the cannabis plant like Marinol, but is rather synthesized. The only difference between Nabilone and cannabis is the sense of euphoria which is present while smoking cannabis, which isnt enough for a drastic difference in legality. The fact that phencyclidine (PCP) is a Schedule II drug and cannabis is a Schedule I further pushes the issue of rescheduling. PCP induces severe hallucinations, alters motor skills drastically, along with the altering of autonomic nervous system regulation causing rapid heart rate. Recreational doses of the drug PCP can result in what is closely described as a schizophrenic episode. Although cannabis is proven to speed up the heart during the first hour of being under the influence, this only causes slight anxiety if any, not near the severity of a schizophrenic episode.



Smoking in general is a risk to the bodys health, theres no question about that. Many activities that play key roles in our lives have health risks, and just because of those risks the activities are not made illegal. Cannabis deserves to be made a choice to those in need, without a legal barrier blocking its possibilities as a helpful medicine.