How should I write this blog when what I am writing about should have more space than what I am going to give it? I have just read the latest addition of National Geographic History magazine, entitled Marijuana. You should read it because it is an eye opener. I say that because for years, while in the military, I worked with a drug dog and later, while in the military, oversaw the dogs on my military base. I thought I knew a great deal about marijuana/hashish. By reading the entire magazine I have seen that I knew very little. What I mostly knew was government misinformation. It seems misinformation is everywhere which have been happening for hundreds of years and marijuana is only one example.

Mostly, this misinformation, coming from the various governments around the world, was for their benefit. They either wanted a certain situation to happen or for the benefit of getting more money. The use of marijuana has been going on for thousands of years. Prehistoric artifacts (jars) have been found with decorative twine around it which was hemp twine. Thousands of years ago (BC), people used hemp for clothing, rope, sails and medicine. Old Roman sandals have been made from hemp. Until the use of steamships, hemp ropes and sails were used because it was more durable. In some places, hemp was used as a form of money, accepted everywhere. It was used everywhere.

Here in America, the colonies were mandated to grow hemp in order to wean the British from Russia. Russia had a monopoly on the supply of hemp. It was found that Washington, Jefferson, Madison and others grew fields of hemp that were maintained by their slaves. Kentucky and Tennessee were states known to grow the most hemp. It was found that the warmer states (and countries) had plants with the greater amount of THC (the active drug found in the hemp plant). The warmer places produced the most THC from their plants for medicines and other beneficial uses. The cooler areas gave the most material for weaving into whatever was needed because THC was very small.

All governments wanted a high tax on the use of the plant. They all saw a monetary benefit for their treasury. Every time a government found that they were having difficulty getting the tax money due they tried to regulate the growing and usage as well as a penalty. That is exactly where the USA is today. Unless they can get money, then it is illegal.

Studies have been conducted for hundreds of years on the medicinal value of the plant. Time and time again it was found to have great value, because it is non-additive, is not a gateway drug, etc. States have made is noncriminal although the federal government still have it as a schedule 1 drug, along with heroin, cocaine, etc. The only time marijuana/hashish have been additive, with all the bad things that comes with that, is when amounts of heroin and/or cocaine is mixed with marijuana/hashish.

What I have written is a tiny amount of what I have read and, really, I don’t think I have given it the justice that is warranted. Get the magazine and read it for yourself. You will be surprised. Enlightened. When I was using drug dogs and, when I retired from the military (I became a city policeman) I was only doing a job. I never was for or against anything. I did the job I was hired to do. But I see that the information I was given was misinformation. I had to follow the law and do my job. Read the magazine and make up your own mind.