Dear Editor,
In recent weeks the media has been reporting on several calls for the decriminalization of the use and possession of marijuana. Discussions involving this topic have even engaged the Minister of Legal Affairs. Notwithstanding, unless there is a comprehensive understanding and analysis of the proposal, with the public being fully informed of all the major implications, the decriminalization of cannabis and hemp should not be given serious consideration.
Decriminalization is the removal of criminal penalties for drug law violations (usually possession for personal use). Less than five per cent of the countries in the world have gone this route. Why so few?
Now, anyone who has researched marijuana would have heard of Raphael Mechoulam. He is an 84-year-old organic chemist, born in Bulgaria, who lived most of his life in Israel and spent most of it studying cannabis. He is the author of more than 400 scientific papers and the holder of 25 patents. He is also an emeritus professor at Hebrew University’s Hadassah Medical School. He is literally the ‘Father of Marijuana.’
A few months ago Hampton Sides, a journalist from the National Geographic magazine interviewed Professor Mechoulam and here are some of his revelations:
- Professor Mechoulam discovered that marijuana has two major ingredients, namely tetrahydrocacabinol (THC), which is the stuff that makes you high and cannabidiol (CBD) the key component which has many potential medical uses.
- He says that he has never smoked marijuana and is not in favour of legalisating it for recreational use.
- He does not believe that anyone should go to jail for possessing it.
- In young people especially, his studies show that prolonged use of high-THC strains of marijuana can change the way developing brains grow. It can also provoke serious and debilitating anxiety attacks. Cannabis may trigger the onset of schizophrenia among those who have a genetic predisposition to the disease.
- Professor Mechoulam believes that cannabis should only be used for its medical properties (CBD) but for it to work efficiently in the medical world, this substance has to be separated from the plant and quantified. As he puts it, “If you can’t count it, it’s not science”.
- Cannabidiol can treat glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, cancer and AIDS among other conditions by extenuating the symptoms. Manuel Guzman, a colleague from Spain who studied marijuana for 20 years called it the “miracle drug”.
- The most critical challenge facing the research of cannabis is separating the mind-altering essence (THC) from the medical therapeutic ingredient (CBD).
- The good news is that a geneticist named Nolan Kane is presently developing at the University of Colorado Boulder, USA, a variety of marijuana with a low percentage of THC ( the bad component).
Finally, in the face of the government’s gigantic task of mitigating our world record of suicides, an increasing murder rate and widespread poverty, does the coalition see decriminalization of marijuana as a priority at this time when control and monitoring of such would be adding a further burden on our already beleaguered law enforcement agencies?
Yours faithfully,
Bertrand R Stuart
