Chapter One The Identity of Cannabis

Written by Kleanthis Grivas |

Books - Cannabis: Marihuana - Hashish

Drug Abuse

Chapter One The Identity of Cannabis

Until the end of the 19th century, 90% of all ships' sails... 80% of all mankind's textiles and fabrics... 75-90% of all paper in the world... 70-90% of all rope, twine, and cordage... art canvas, paints, varnishes, and lighting oil... the most commonly used medicines in the world... the most complete and available-to-the-body proteins... a lot of building materials and housing... and a number of relaxational substances... were made from hemp.
Jack Herer (2)

1. The plant

Cannabis belongs to the genus Cannabaa. It comprises only one species, Cannabis sativa, of which there are over a hundred natural varieties. In the past, the many varieties of the plant, which Linnaeus classified as Cannabis sativa in 1753, have caused botanists to argue fiercely about its precise classification. Today it is accepted that there is one original species, Cannabis sativa, from which have come many varieties (Cannabis indica, Cannabis ruderalis, etc.), which are distinguished mainly by the active substances they contain.

Cannabis belongs to one of the most highly developed plant families. It uses sunlight more efficiently than any other plant and is a splendid wealth-producing resource that renews itself, thus helping to maintain an ecological balance. It is a self-sown plant, cultivable, fibrous, annual, dioecious (having the male and female flowers on separate plants), capable of being spun, and it produces oil. It looks like a rather erect bush, grows in moist ground under any climatic conditions, and reaches a height of between 1 and 7 metres, depending on the variety grown and on the environmental conditions.(3) The trunk is straight and strong and thickly branched. The leaves are hairy, firm, long-stalked, and palmatisect, with between five and eleven lanceolate, dentate lobes. The male flowers are yellowish green in colour; the female flowers are arranged in characteristic spicate bunches. The seeds are oval, some 4-5 mm long, and contain a thick oil.

2. The uses of cannabis

Throughout history, into the early decades of the twentieth century, cannabis was widely and systematically cultivated because of its extremely useful nutritional, therapeutic, and euphoriant properties.(4)A quick look at its many uses will help us to appreciate the real reasons why cannabis was outlawed and to realise which economically powerful groups had a vital interest in seeing the ban imposed and enforced.(5)

NUTRITIONAL VALUE Until the twentieth century, hemp seeds, either ground or whole, were, and in some cases still are, a staple part of many people's diet, for they are a source of high-quality vegetable protein.(6)

No other single plant source can compare with the nutritional value of hemp seeds. Both the complete protein and the essential oils contained in hemp seeds are in ideal ratios for human nutrition. Only soybeans contain a higher percentage of protein; however, the composition of the protein in hemp seed is unique in the vegetable kingdom. Sixty-five percent of the proteit content in hemp seed is in the form of globulin edestin.(7) The exceptionally high edestin content of hemp seed combined with albumin, another globular protein contained in all seeds, means the readily available protein in hemp seed contain all the essential amino acids in ideal proportions to assure your body with the necessary building blocks to create proteins like disease-fighting immunoglobulins-antibodies whose job is to ward off infections before the symptoms of sickness set in.(8)

These properties of cannabis led many researchers to conclude that its essential oils provide the immune system with defences against the viruses and various other agents that attack it.

These essential oils support the immune system and guard against viral and other insults to the immune system. Studies are in progress using the essential oils to support the immune system of victims of HIV. So far they have been extremely promising... The insane prohibitions against the most valuable plant on Earth, cannabis hemp, must yield to public demand... The promise of super health and the possibility of feeding the world is at our fingertips.(9)

THERAPEUTIC VALUE Throughout human history cannabis and its derivatives have occupied a paramount position in day-to-day therapeutic practice. Lavishly supplied by nature, non-toxic, safe, and with a wide range of applications, cannabis was recommended for `neuralgia, gout, tetanus, hydrophobia, epidemic cholera, convulsions, chorea hysteria, mental depression, insanity, and uterine haemorrhage'.(10)

In the nineteenth century, the various products of marihuana and hashish in the form of distillations, tinctures, and elixirs were the third most favoured type of medicine of all doctors and patients in the USA. This is why they were included in the American Pharmacopoeia until 1942. Since then, despite the ban, cannabis and its derivatives have remained a major therapeutic agent in the arsenal of natural medicine. (11)

EUPHORIANT PROPERTIES The euphoriant effects of the derivatives of cannabis are superior in every way to those of tobacco and alcohol, making marihuana and hashish formidable rivals to these.

Alcohol is extremely toxic. It triggers aggressive behaviour: 50% of all fatal road accidents, 65% of all crimes, 80% of rapes of children and women, and 80% of all cases of domestic violence every year in the US take place under the influence of alcohol. It is addictive and is responsible for many of the mental and physical pathological states (with cirrhosis of the liver leading the field) that kill 150,000 people in the United States every year. An effective dose is very close to a fatal dose (from 1:4 to 1:10).

Tobacco too is toxic and addictive. It seriously affects all the functions of the user's body, particularly the cardiovascular system. It is a powerful carcinogen and 450,000 people die in the US every year of lung cancer due to smoking .(12)

Cannabis is the least toxic of all the mind-affecting substances on this planet. It has a sedative effect, is non-addictive, is responsible for no mental or physical pathological state, and it is virtually impossible for it to cause death. In short, one may say that cannabis has all the positive and none of the negative features of alcohol (with the exception of possible dizziness or disorientation in inexperienced users consuming large amounts, or panic attacks, again in cases of over consumption).

ENERGY The biomass produced by cannabis can be converted into methane, methanol, or liquid fuel. In view of the environmental destruction attendant on the production, processing, and use of oil, coal, and nuclear power, it would obviously be much cheaper to produce energy from cannabis, and the effects on the environment would be far less damaging.

Methanol, one of the products of pyrolysis of the biomass of cannabis, was extensively used between 1920 and 1945 to power agricultural and military vehicles, and is still used today in most racing cars. Methanol can also be converted into high-octane liquid fuel by means of a catalytic process the patent for which is owned by Mobil Oil.

PAPER Until 1883, some 75-90% of the world's paper (books, newspapers, maps, banknotes) was made from cannabis. Paper made from cannabis is of higher quality and more durable than any other paper ever made. `Hemp paper lasted 50 to 100 times longer than most preparations of papyrus, and was a hundred times easier and cheaper to make.' (13)

Many historians believe that the long-lasting superiority of Chinese over Islamic and Western science and art was due to the fact that the Chinese knew how to make paper from cannabis at least as early as the first century BC (i.e. 800 years before the Islamic civilisation and 1,200 years before Western civilisation adopted it). The possession of paper which was of better quality and longer lasting than that produced by other means enabled the Chinese to pass on knowledge from generation to generation, constantly enriching it along the way.

All the major works that have made their mark on modem Western culture were printed on cannabis paper, from the Gutenberg Bible in the fifteenth century to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland in the nineteenth; and the first (28 June 1776) and second (2 July 1776) drafts of the American Declaration of Independence were written and signed on cannabis paper, just before independence was gloriously proclaimed on 4 July 1776 and the United States of America came into being.(14)

SHIPS' EQUIPMENT From the fifth century BC to the nineteenth century AD, when the steamship was invented, 90% of all ships' equipment was made from cannabis: all the sails, the rigging, the maps, the logs, the books, and the flags were products of 'grass'.(15)

FABRICS AND TEXTILES Eighty percent of the fabrics and textiles people used to make clothes, tents, linen, bedcovers, towels, rugs, babies' napkins, and many, many other things were made from cannabis. Until the eighteenth century, the renowned Irish and Italian linens were made from cannabis; after the eighteenth century, Levi jeans were made from cannabis, though it was later superseded by cotton denim; and right up until the interwar years, the parachutes, tents, rucksacks, and flags used by armies and air forces were also made of cannabis.

ROPE, THREAD, CORD Seventy to 90% of the world's rope, thread, and cord was made from cannabis and was 100% recyclable. After the ban on cannabis in 1937, they were all replaced by non-recyclable petrochemical products, on which DuPont had the monopoly, having reached an agreement with I. G. Farben, the German company that owned the relevant patents.

PAINTING CANVAS All the works of the great painters who have changed the way we view the world, from Caravaggio to Van Gogh, were painted on canvas made from cannabis, which has the advantage of not deteriorating and of remaining in perfect condition for centuries on end.

PAINTS AND DYES For thousands of years, almost all the paints and varnishes that people used either were produced from cannabis or contained hempseed oil. In 1935 alone `58,000 tons of hemp seed were used in America just for paint and varnish. '(16) Since 1937 these natural dyes have been replaced by petrochemical products.

BUILDING MATERIAL The cellulose pulp obtained from cannabis can be made into an excellent building and construction material that is practical, cheap, and fire-resistant, and has splendid heat- and sound-insulating properties. We would do well to replace building material produced by felling timber and destroying forests with that produced from cannabis in order to preserve our forests, which are being eroded at a dangerous rate. Unlike forest trees, cannabis renews itself annually and produces 4.1 times more cellulose pulp per acre than other trees.

LAMP OIL Until 1800, hempseed oil fulfilled most of the world's demand for lamp oil. From 1800 to 1870 it lost its place to whale oil, and after that both began to be superseded by petroleum products.

As we shall see, it was precisely this plethora of advantages that led to cannabis' being prohibited, relentlessly persecuted, and harshly suppressed from 1937 onwards.(17) But despite the legal risks, the `forbidden plant' and its derivatives continue to be used for their euphoriant and therapeutic properties and as raw materials to satisfy many people's day-to-day needs.

3. The extent of use

The use of cannabis in traditional societies (e.g. in India) satisfies many day-to-day needs as a source of food, for its therapeutic and euphoriant properties, and as a construction material; while modem industrial societies use it as a raw material for various industrial products and (chiefly the middle and upper social strata) as a euphoriant.(18)

Cannabis occupies fourth place amongst the licit and illicit mind-affecting substances consumed all over the world for the purpose of inducing euphoria. The first three are caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. In 1950 there were 200,000,000 cannabis users(19) and in 1969 250,000,000.(20) Cannabis is first amongst the world's illicit mind-affecting substances used for this purpose. In the United States in 1977, a total of 43,000,000 people had used cannabis at least once; in 1990 that figure stood at 66,500,000.(21) In 1977, 55% of the 18-25 age range had tried cannabis at least once;(22) in 1990, 52%.(23)

Today there has been a reduction in the use of marihuana in the USA, judging by the fact that the proportion of school leavers who had smoked `grass' in the month preceding the relevant investigation had fallen from 37% in 1978 to 18% in 1988.

4. Active ingredients

Cannabis contains at least 426 chemical compounds and more than 60 alkaloids, which exist only in this particular plant and are known as cannabinoids.(24) Two of these have physical and psychological effects on human beings, while the rest are biologically inert:

1) Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol or Δ9-THC is the main active ingredient of cannabis and is found in high concentrations in the sepals of the female plant, which are rich in secretory glands. (25) It was isolated in 1964 by Dr Raphael Mechoulam and his associates in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

2) Δ8-Tetrahydrocannabinol or Δ8-THC is much less active thanΔ9-THC.

Cannabis is often erroneously referred to as a narcotic for reasons that have nothing to with its pharmacological properties or its structure. It is in fact a non-narcotic substance which combines certain characteristics of two broad categories of mind-affecting substances, tranquillisers and psychedelics, while at the same time differing considerably from these.

In small and moderate doses,Δ9-THC promotes tranquillity and a light sleep with pleasurable dreams followed by a pleasant awakening; from this point of view it resembles `mild' tranquillisers. In larger doses, it induces euphoria. And in even larger doses, it has a mind-expanding effect similar to that of psychedelic substances. In contrast to tranquillisers, however, in extremely large doses Δ9-THC does not lead to unconsciousness, coma, or death. Nor does cross tolerance develop betweenΔ9-THC and LSD or hypnogenic tranquillisers.(26)Δ9-THC is also difficult to classify on the basis of its structure, which is unlike that of any of the neurotransmitters we know of or believe to exist.

This is why it is now accepted that cannabis `is not a narcotic [and] will be classified as a unique psychoactive drug (27) and that cannabinoids `are a separate group of mind-affecting substances' .(28)

It is speculated that the analgesic effects of Δ9-THC are due to the . fact that it occupies special receptors in the brain or that it may conduce to the deactivation of a special enzyme (adenocyclase). Its euphoriant effects are believed to result from its interlocking with the receptors of dopamine or serotonine.(29)

5. Derivatives of cannabis

The main products derived from cannabis are marihuana, hashish, and hempseed oil. The first two are widely used as euphoriants and for their therapeutic properties; hempseed oil is not widely used .(30)

1) Marihuana is a greenish mixture made up of dried fragments of all parts of the plant (leaves, flowers, and stems).(31)

2) Hashish is the dried, dark resin produced by the glandular hairs of the flowers and terminal stems of the cannabis plant after they have been compressed under heat.(32)

3) Hempseed oil is the thick, viscous substance obtained from the sepals of the cannabis flower after they have been processed with ethyl alcohol.

These cannabis products differ considerably in their Δ9-THC content. The various kinds of marihuana contain between 0.2% and 5 % Δ9-THC; hashish 5-12%; and hempseed oil 20-60%. The marihuana used in Europe and the USA contains about 1 % Δ9-THC. TheΔ9-THC content of cannabis steadily diminishes at room temperature by 3-4 % per month.

6. Absorption, breakdown, and excretion

When inhaled as smoke, 50-60% of the A9-THC in marihuana is absorbed and the rest is destroyed by pyrolysis. When ingested in solid or liquid form, a third of the amount taken in by smoking is absorbed.

Like any other substance, once it has entered the body marihuana undergoes a process of metabolism, (33) the products of which (metabolites), being fat soluble, tend to concentrate in tissues that are rich in fat. They stay there for several days, after which they are excreted in the urine, where they can be detected by various laboratory techniques.(34)

The detection of cannabis derivatives in the urine is of slight and purely relative value, because it does not specify either the manner or the extent of use, but simply shows whether the person concerned has consumed cannabis in the thirty days or so prior to the test. This means that, whether the test is conducted on a chronic user who smokes five to ten joints a day or on someone who has had a few drags out of curiosity, and whether the person concerned smoked a joint an hour ago or a month ago, the result is the same: positive for cannabinoids.

7. Doses and users

The standard dose is considered to be 20 mg of Δ9-THC taken by mouth. This corresponds to 1 g of marihuana with a content of 1 Δ9-THC ,(35)

In the West, the typical habitual user smokes between one and eight joints with a content of 1 % Δ9-THC a day. This means a daily consumption of between 500 mg and 4 g of marihuana, containing 540 mg of Δ9-THC, of which 2-12 mg are absorbed. Each joint contains 500 mg of marihuana and 5 mg of Δ9-THC, of which one third (approximately 2 mg) is absorbed.(36)

Chiefly for the purposes of research and statistics, cannabis users are divided into four categories on the basis of frequency and duration of use.

1) Experimental users consume cannabis once or a few times, out of curiosity or as an experiment.

2) Occasional or circumstantial users consume it between one and three times a week.

3) Regular or systematic users consume it on a daily basis for up to two years.

4) Chronic users consume it on a daily basis for more than two years.

8. Effects of use

The effects of cannabis on the user depend on the type and the quality of the cannabis itself, the duration of use, the dose, the manner in which it is prepared and taken, climate, cultural circumstances, and finally the user's own previous experience, psychological state, and expectations.

DURATION OF EFFECT When it is taken into the respiratory system - by smoking - the effects are felt within a few minutes and last for two to four hours. When it is taken into the digestive system- eaten or drunk - the effects are felt within thirty to forty minutes and last for five to twelve hours. The kind of effect depends on the type, the quality, and the amount of cannabis used, as also on the user's previous experience, psychological state, and expectations. This is why it varies from person to person.

EFFECTS OF A NORMAL DOSE The physiological effects of a normal

dose of cannabis are an increase in the heart rate and in the circulation of the blood and reddening of the eyes. On a psychological level, it has a relaxing, calming, and euphoriant effect, accompanied by drowsiness if the user is alone, or spontaneous laughter if s/he is with other people.

There is usually a subjective conviction that all the senses are heightened and that time is passing more slowly ('everything lasts longer'), short-term memory is weakened, and attention is easily focused on specific things or circumstances. These effects may be accompanied by over-emotionality, a dry mouth, a feeling of increased mental activity, muscular strength, and appetite, a sensation of weightlessness, and pleasurable fantasies accompanied by relaxation, calm, and sleep with pleasant dreams. On awakening, the user feels refreshed and good-humoured.(37)

Cannabis usually has a positive effect on the user's social and sexual behaviour, the latter because, since concentration is focused on the activity in hand and time seems to pass more slowly, love-making is more pleasurable. Cannabis seems to affect the functioning of both hemispheres of the brain, slightly weakening the processes governed by the left side (logical associations, mental structures) and strengthening those governed by the right side (aesthetic and artistic judgement, holistic thinking).

EFFECTS OF A LARGE DOSE A dose larger than normal will cause the inexperienced user to have unpleasant or even nightmarish feelings, to be unreasonably suspicious of the members of their social group, or to be overcome by paranoia. A large dose may elicit changed perceptions of one's own body, intense anxiety, and panic, particularly in an inexperienced user who is sensitive to cannabis.

FATAL DOSE Death from an overdose of cannabis is virtually unknown. A fatal dose of Δ9-THC is approximately 150 g, i.e. 40,000 times greater than an effective dose; while a fatal dose of alcohol is no more than 4-10 times greater than the normal effective dose. An effective dose of Δ9-THC is 50 mcg/k, a fatal dose is 2,160,000 mcg/k, giving a ratio of 1:40,000.(38) An effective dose of alcohol is 0.05-0.1%, a fatal dose is 0.4-0.5%, and the ratio of effective dose to fatal dose is between 1:4 and 1:10.

9. Tolerance and dependence

TOLERANCE Normal use of cannabis does not lead to tolerance (the need to steadily increase the dose in order to achieve the desired effect). On the contrary, it often leads to reverse tolerance (the reduction of the dose to achieve the desired effect).

PHYSICAL DEPENDENCE (OR SIMPLY DEPENDENCE) Cannabis does not lead to physical dependence; cessation of use is not followed by withdrawal symptoms,(39) and consequently `THC is not a narcotic',(40) Stephen Szara of the United States NIDA categorically stated in 1976:

The question of physical dependence, again up to recently, has been answered with a flat no. No physical dependence, the type seen in opiates, has been seen in man and this is true even today. (41)

This is precisely why the most authoritative textbooks on `addressing and curing dependency' used in medical schools in the US and Europe propose no specific treatment or method for curing cannabis 'dependence'. (42)

The results of the research conducted on regular users of cannabis by the Canadian Government's Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs (the Le Dain Commission) are revelatory. The Le Dain Commission concludes that:

Marihuana is not an addictive drug. Users do not develop tolerance in the classic sense - the kind of tolerance that leads to increasing the dosage... Physical dependence on marihuana has not been demonstrated; it would appear that there are normally no adverse physiological effects or withdrawal symptoms occurring with abstinence from the drug, even in regular users. (43)

However, medical literature does contain some accounts of cases of tolerance and mild withdrawal symptoms in individuals taking large doses of synthetic Δ9-THC (a daily dose of 210 mg), under laboratory conditions.(44) Professor Jerome Jaffe writes that:

A withdrawal syndrome has been observed under laboratory conditions when volunteers have taken high doses of Δ9-THC every few hours for several weeks. Signs and symptoms included irritability, restlessness, nervousness, decreased appetite, weight loss, insomnia, rebound increase in REM sleep, tremor, chills, and increased body temperature. Overall, the syndrome is relatively mild, begins within a few hours after cessation of drug administration, and lasts 4 to 5 days. The relationship between this relatively mild syndrome and cannabis-seeking behaviour, if any, is unclear. (45)

Needless to say, from a scientific point of view it is quite unacceptable to draw parallels between the consumption of small or moderate doses of natural cannabis for the purpose of getting high and the experimental administration of extremely large doses of syntheticΔ9-THC for the purposes of research. There are huge differences between the two cases, with regard to the quality of the substance, the circumstances and purpose of consumption, the dose, and the psychological state of the user.

The substance In the first case, natural marihuana is consumed, which contains at least 400 chemical compounds and more than 60 cannabinoids, all of them interacting positively together. In the second case, synthetic Δ9-THC is administered (i.e. just one of these substances).

The circumstances In the first case, consumption takes place in a warm, familiar, everyday environment. In the second, in an inhospitable laboratory.

The purpose In the first case, the purpose is to experience certain psychobiological sensations under the influence of a natural substance. In the second, it is to investigate the physical and psychological effects of a synthetic substance.

The dose In the first case, small or moderate doses of natural marihuana containing 1-2% Δ9-THC are consumed (note that the average user who smokes six joints of natural marihuana a day, weighing 500 mg and containing 1-2%Δ9-THC, takes in a total of 30-60 mgΔ9-THC). In the second, the subject of the experiment takes a multiple quantity of synthetic Δ9-THC, with a daily dose of up to 210 mg. (46)
• The user Between a person who uses marihuana to satisfy his or her own personal needs and someone who uses it in the role of an experimental and closely monitored subject in the context of a strictly controlled investigation, there is a qualitative difference with respect to their psychological state and their expectations.

10. Psychological dependence

The term psychological dependence refers to a totally subjective situation that cannot possibly be defined in objective terms or quantified. It therefore serves very well as a panachrest, i.e. a semantic tool that is quite useless for the scientific study of a phenomenon, such as the use of certain substances, but a very convenient excuse for banning and criminalising them.

From a political point of view, the notion of `psychological dependence' as an objective criterion for diagnosing `addiction' is a sheer figment of imagination dreamed up by criminal lawyers and the police. It came into use in the sphere first of politics and criminal law, and then of medicine in an effort to give some `scientific' legitimacy to extending suppression from the mind-affecting substances that lead to physical dependence (the only kind of dependence that in fact exists) to those that do not.

Before 1937, suppression was directed at the opiates which induce physical dependence, and their prohibition consequently received a certain amount of scientific backing from the contemporary medical definition of drugs as substances which `act on the central nervous system, create dependence, and the cessation of which is accompanied by withdrawal symptoms'. After 1937, suppression turned against marihuana, which does not lead to physical dependence and was therefore not covered by the definition. It thus became necessary to revise the definition so that it would embrace all the substances the authorities might want to control both then and in the future. So the scientifically correct definition of drugs quoted above was replaced with the incongruous police and penal definition of drugs as substances which `act on the central nervous system and lead to physical or psychological dependence'.

From a psychological point of view, the term `psychological dependence' connotes the desire or the tendency to repeat any activity that gives joy, pleasure, or satisfaction. It can therefore be applied to a great many situations and most, if not all, the choices people make in their personal and social lives.

The moment the notion of `psychological dependence' becomes an acceptable diagnostic criterion for `addiction' (which is not only a psychological, but a complex, psychobiological state), human beings are imperceptibly trapped in a closed pantheistic universe of dependence: all their relationships with other people and with things are transformed into dependent relationships; all the other people and things with which they associate become addictive factors; and consequently everyone is dependent, indeed everyone is multiply dependent, which is to say addicted, and indeed multiply addicted. Addicted to food, drink, clothing, work, love-making, social relations, entertainment, knowledge, art, political action, sport, mind-affecting substances...

The establishment of the notion of `psychological dependence' as a diagnostic criterion for `addiction' attests the victory of authoritarian metaphysical irrationality over the logic of the natural science of medicine. It is exclusively the product of the authorities' unacceptable interference in the definition of medical criteria; an interference which is made possible by the medical fraternity's subservience to those who wield power.

2 J. Herer, The Emperor Wears No Clothes (1992), pp. 5-11

3 Five varieties of cannabis are grown in Europe, four of which reach a height of between 1 and 2.5 m

4 In Greece cannabis was a major agricultural crop and export product until 1932: `In 1928 Greece had ten spinning-mills especially for the products of hemp, which was one of its exports' (Pyrsos Encyclopaedia, `Cannabis', Athens: 1930).

5 The main thrust of this paragraph is discussed by J. Herer in The Emperor Wears No Clothes.

6 Hemp seed is also an ideal food for many birds, both domesticated and wild.

7 D. Walker, Can Hemp Save Our Planet?, Ph.D. thesis quoted in Herer (1992), p.41.

8 S. Cohen and R. Stillman, The Therapeutic Potential of Marihuana (1976), quoted in Herer (1992), p.41.

9 Statement by William Eidleman, MD, and Lee Hamilton, PhD, researchers in the medical school of UCLA, on 29 December 1991, quoted in Herer (1992), p.41.

10 G. Wood and F. Bache, Dispensatory of the United States (1854), p.339.

11 See L. Grinspoon, Marihuana Reconsidered (1973); L. Grinspoon and J. Bakalar, Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine (1993); S. Cohen and R. Stillman, The Therapeutic Potential of Marihuana (1976); M. Braude and S. Szara, eds., Pharmacology of Marihuana (1976).

12 M. Fiore, `Trends in Cigarette Smoking in the United States', Medical Clinics of North America, vol. 74, No 2 (1992), 289.

13 J. Herer, The Emperor Wears No Clothes (1992), p.7.