Saturday 28 July 2018

Medicalisation of cannabis favours pharmaceutical profiteers

So in 1971 the then government banned the use of cannabis as a medicine including tincture, on the grounds that its use could lead to use of hard drugs and an ill-informed / lie in international and UK legislation that classified the plant as having no medicinal value.

Now, some 47 years later, after causing many tens of thousands of people including children to unnecessarily suffer from dreadful ailments and injuries (and basically calling those that claimed that cannabis helped were liars), our government is acknowledging that cannabis does, in fact, have medicinal properties.

So they will allow a very strict and limited prescription system for certain cannabinoids and pharmaceutical substances such as Sativex and Bedrocan (Sativex has been allowed for some time but has been hard to get and expensive) .. whilst continuing to threaten everyone that does not fall within their definitions, with prison sentences.

So far they have failed to recognise the wide range of benefits including as a preventative medicinal substance.

So whilst this small step may appear to some as a huge step, it is a very limited step that will benefit a minority rather than a majority of those in need.

In 1971 they then argued that cannabis "misuse" could be gateway to hard drug addiction, so they closed the door.

Now they want to avoid widespread medicinal availability to prevent that same door from opening.

I say, legalise now and hold the door open. It is a fact that even under prohibition, the very large majority of cannabis consumers do not later become drug "addicts" and those that have, are actually a product of prohibition and the profiteers.

Wednesday 25 July 2018

Cannabis: use and misuse: the false distinction

Supposedly ... cannabis was included in the Misuse of Drugs Act to try to stop or decrease the "misuse" of cannabis (as with other drugs listed) - that means the use other than as a medicine, although cannabis was also scheduled as a drug with no medicinal uses: that is all use is Misuse.

Now the scheduling and laws are being changed and cannabis, CBD, THC, will once again be recognised as a drug with medical uses.

However, cannabis will remain in the Misuse of Drugs Act, will still be classified as a drug with a potential for "misuse", that is when used "recreationally" or "religiously".

People will be arrested for growing their own (unless of course, as some people want, some people will be permitted to grow their own with doctor's permission or special exemptions.

People may still be arrested for possession without prescription.

But those in medical need, with their doctor's agreement (if they can get it) will be prescribed cannabis and cannabinoids produced by pharmaceutical companies, and their pains reduced, which of course is good.

But the false distinction between users and the matter of their Rights and Freedoms, is still being ignored.

Otherwise law-abiding people that choose to produce and possess, use, share, cannabis even in the privacy of their own homes, may still be open to ATTACK by tyrants and prohibitionists that want to ignore their Rights.

That is the majority of UK cannabis consumers and those unable to get prescriptions.

The "we want medical cannabis", playing into the hands of pharmaceutical profiteers, are taking is back to that false distinction that gives the wrong impression that the law is about drugs, when in fact it is about people, and largely ignoring the issue of Human Rights laws, which are higher laws that are meant to stop tyrannical laws such as the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Monday 23 July 2018

From Myhat in Egypt, Through The Eyes of a God: AMENY

Each evening there were dancers and jugglers and clowns and a lot of sex as young girls and courtiers came on board from the other boats. Bertie, for sure, was having the time of his life. He spent a great deal of the time naked, with a girl or two at his side or sitting on his lap. He certainly was not shy. Ed and Ana agreed to restrict their sexual activities to the covered sleeping section allocated to them. But they did not restrict the amount of sex that they had. On those occasions, Ed carefully hung me from the wooden struts. One morning, Ameny invited the three English people to see his collection of drawings. There were sketches of pyramids and of gods and goddesses, many of the boy himself, some with his father the Pharaoh, one that the boy said was of his mother. Plenty of animals and plants.

To Ed's surprise, he found himself looking at drawings of planes, helicopters and what looked like astronauts with spaceships, even cars with wheels. He had seen no vehicles with wheels at all, during his visits to this time. He spoke to Ana and Bertie later about those drawings and they agreed that certainly this could be seen as a corruption of the time-line. Somebody from the future had been here and left those drawings. Ed wondered if it may have been Abamira's uncle Mustafa, who was not to be seen here and whom, in the future, was supposed to be in Cairo. A few days later, I had the biggest surprise of life time since I first met Ed.

Suddenly, after playing hoops, Ameny asked Ed if he could try me on and if it would be agreeable with Ed to make a similar hat for himself, in the colours white and red, signifying Upper and Lower Egypt. Ed knew that the white crown of Upper Egypt was officially known as the Hedjet, whilst the Red Crown of Lower Egypt was called the Deshret. After Egypt had been unified, the double crown, red and white, was called the Pschent. That was several hundred years before Ameny and the double crown would be worn by him when he became Pharaoh, as it was by his father Senwosret.

THROUGH THE EYES OF A GOD Ed was not in the habit of letting others wear me, although I had been on Ana's head and a few others over the years. He could hardly say no to a boy god who was his host, so he took me off, bowed and presented me to Ameny. What a revelation!

The boy totally believed that he was of divine birth, that he was a god and that he was all powerful. Only his own father was above him in rank. I realised that that Ameny regarded everyone else as inferior, including Ed and Ana, other members of his own family and court, including the many Priests that he regarded with suspicion and as struggling to gain position in his eyes. He had little genuine respect or care for anyone, not even his own family and, as Ameny knew his successors had done, was quite prepared to destroy people's lives and use people for his own purposes. Ameny knew that one day he may have to dispose of his father. He felt that when he openly worshipped the gods, he was worshipping only what he was. Ana's name meant Goddess. Ameny knew that Ed and Ana came to him from a very far away and mysterious place, a place where huge birds carried people through the skies and people communicated through the air even showing pictures through their mysterious boxes powered by an unseen energy called electricity which was, he had concluded, a great gift from the gods. Ameny saw himself as indestructible: he could do whatever he wanted to or with whoever he wanted, except he could not fly. The head of Ameny was nothing like the head of Ed, or Ana, or any other head that I been upon. The world view was so different that I became almost lost in it.

TAKEN FROM Myhat in Egypt Through the Eyes of a God ISBN 978-0-9932107-7-8