The war on Drugs is a war the United States of America lost. It should have been called the attempted eradication of cannabis. After all, they demonized a harmless plant and have ruined lives around the world in the pursuit of their own private agenda. During the 1980s the Reagan administration helped push countries around the world to provide full support of the war on drugs criminalizing cannabis. In 2012 that war took a significant shift towards the favor of the cannabis community. Uruguay became the first country to announce the legalization of recreational cannabis. Washington and Colorado followed later that year in the same footsteps.
Today the United States is falling behind the rest of the world with cannabis legalization. From cannabinoid research to business investments the U.S. is clinging to a draconian past. This is while the rest of the world is moving fast around them. Cannabis legalization and favorable cannabis reform laws have taken place in areas around the world such as South Africa, Lebanon, the UK, South Korea, and more. So just how did cannabis go from becoming the devil’s lettuce and a plant that would make you kill your brother with only one puff to a peaceful plant saving the lives of children and others around the world?
It Could Have Been Saving Lives All Along
Cannabis has always had the properties to help save the lives of children and adults. It wasn’t until the early 1900s that cannabis was criminalized and began to become demonized. Harry Jacob Anslinger fueled marijuana prohibition striking fear into the hearts of millions. Today we have an active media. This media shares countless stories of children’s lives who have been saved thanks to medical cannabis. Sharing is caring, and it really shows. The American public has opened their hearts to the healing attributes cannabis offers. Perhaps the rebranding of marijuana to cannabis and the removal of the fictional stigma attached to it was enough for any sensible person to support it.