Thoughts from the void: February 2019

'"My way of joking is to tell the truth. That's the funniest joke in the world."

- Muhammad Ali.

The US DEA keeps cannabis in its most restricted list of controlled substances, the Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, with the main argument being that cannabis has no medicinal value. Similarly the UN keeps cannabis in its least restricted list of controlled substances, the Schedule 1, stating that cannabis is a dangerous drug. The UN moved cannabis from its most restrictive list, Schedule 4, to Schedule 1 in December 2020. Moving it to Schedule 1 has not had any positive impact for the common person, as cannabis remains as illegal as ever world wide.

The Indian Hemp Commission of 1895 stated that "Cannabis indica must be looked upon as one of the most important drugs of Indian Materia Medica." On studying the medical uses of cannabis in India until the 19th century, the Commission found that it had the following medical uses in India:

Communicable and infectious diseases.
Among communicable and infectious diseases, we find the use of cannabis for remittent fever, ague, cholera, malaria, dysentery, syphilis, gonorrhea and hydrophobia, both as prophylactics and treatment. One witness states that "I have been informed of cases in which attacks of intermittent fevers (ague) have disappeared by a single process of smoking ganja—cases I mean of jungle fevers, in which the administration of even large doses of quinine have failed to ward off the attacks or in districts in which quinine is not obtainable." Numerous witnesses speak about the use of cannabis, in places of wet conditions and "bad water", by soldiers, mendicants, and the working and labouring classes, to keep infectious diseases and epidemics at bay. The fact that cannabis was analgesic, anti-inflammatory, sedative, diuretic, diaphoretic, digestive, carminative, and disinfectant, among other things, may have contributed to its popularity in these places. Admitting that cannabis may be useful in treating or warding off infectious and epidemic diseases, the Commission states that "There are also many cases where in tracts with a specially malarious climate, or in circumstances of hard work and exposure, the people attribute beneficial effects to the habitual moderate use of these drugs; and there is evidence to show that the popular impression may have some basis in fact."

Non-communicable diseases.
The use of cannabis for the treatment of non-communicable diseases, involving numerous body systems, was even more extensive.

The following kinds of non-communicable diseases used cannabis for treatment and medicine:

Diseases of the nervous system - headache, hysteria, neuralgia, sciatica, delirium tremens, muscular rheumatism, brain fever, paralysis, mania
Diseases of respiratory system - hay-fever, asthma, bronchitis, and coughs, burning symptoms in phthisis Diseases of the digestive system - flatulence, diarrhea, dyspepsia, piles, prolapsus ani, to regulate salivation, for irritability of the bladder, piles, fistula of anus, dysentery, for stricture and ulcers, to moderate excessive secretion of bile
Diseases of the urinary and reproductive system - diabetes, impotency, stricture, spermatorrhea, hydrocele, incontinence of urine, swellings of the testicles, orchitis, cramps, gleet, in impotency on account of its supposed aphrodisiac power, uterine affections such as loss of blood from uterus, dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, strangulated hernia, gout, to restrain seminal secretions, and as a diuretic
Skin diseases - scabies, guinea-worm, fresh wounds and sores, inflammations and cure of erysipelas, pruritus, and boils. An oil prepared from bhang and other ingredients is prescribed in white leprosy, for catarrhal and skin diseases,
As an antidote - against the poisons of fish and scorpions, poisoning by orpiment
As a parasiticide - it was used for ear-aches caused by the presence of worms, guineaworms, applied to the head as a wash removes dandruff and vermin, and for treating tetanus. The ashes of burnt charas were said to be used for sciatica and worms.
As an anodyne/analgesic - for allaying neuralgic pains, rheumatism, and gout, to allay pain in the chest and sides, "to relieve burning symptoms in phthisis," erysipelas, as an anaesthetic in dentistry, etc.
As an anti-bacterial in the treatment of tetanus and gonorrhea

Beside all the above, hemp drugs were also stated to be prescribed in diseases of the heart, brain and spleen.

19th century therapeutics using cannabis.
In addition to the use of cannabis in the treatment of both communicable and non-communicable diseases in 19th century India, it had a key role to play in the area of therapeutics, ensuring that body and mind were kept healthy through preventive and restorative mechanisms, especially using its sedative, analgesic, tonic, digestive, carminative and stimulant properties that kept all the above mentioned diseases at bay.

One of the most common uses of cannabis as medicine was for the relief of pain, being used either as local or general anodynes. Bhang poultices were frequently mentioned as soothing local applications to painful parts; and poultices were used for inflamed piles and over the seat of pain in liver and bowel diseases, and to check inflammation and erysipelas. Fumigation with the smoke from burning ganja or bhang was also used as a local sedative in piles. A small fragment of charas was placed in a carious tooth to relieve toothache. In cases of circumcision the drugs were used as anesthetics, and a witness mentions that native doctors on rare occasions substituted ganja for chloroform in operations. The tincture of cannabis was used as a local anesthetic in extracting teeth. One witness states that hemp drugs were used as a substitute for opium. My thinking is that hemp drugs superseded opium in the Indian sub-continent in the treatment of pain, as the usage of hemp was much more pervasive and ancient, opium having arrived from outside in more recent times. Cannabis posed a very serious threat to the use of opium for treating pain. Opium was more favored by the British, and the prohibition of cannabis enabled opium to become the world's leading analgesic that it is today, with numerous pharmaceutical companies benefiting from opioids, besides a rampant illegal trade and a burgeoning number of deaths from opioid addiction and overdoses.

Besides the use of cannabis in pain management, as a part of therapeutics, it was also used for increasing appetite, giving tone to the liver, removing fatigue, ensuring sleep, reducing nausea, and as a stimulating and invigorating beverage in hot weather. The Commission states that "The 'cooling and refreshing' cup of bhang taken by the well-to-do, especially in the hot weather, to stimulate their energies and to create an appetite for food is frequently in evidence. Some of the most intelligent and enterprising classes of the community are among those who thus use bhang. This use is generally spoken of without any marked condemnation, and often even with approval; for it is the practice of the respectable classes. But after all there seems quite equally good ground for believing that the chillum of ganja taken by the labouring man after his food with the object of allaying weariness and assisting digestion is no more harmful; and there are many witnesses whose evidence is in this sense. The use of bhang in the one case is sometimes compared to the glass of wine taken at meals by a moderate consumer of alcohol, and the use of ganja in the other case to the labouring man's glass of beer or even to his pipe of tobacco. It is possible also that the effects of hemp drugs in this respect may be to a certain extent comparable with those of tea." One witness states that in parts of Dacca, where large numbers of the labouring classes who used cannabis regularly toiled in the heat and humidity, "sunstroke and fever were almost unknown among them".

Today, based on the latest scientific findings, we know that the endocannabinoid system, discovered as late as in the 1990s, is located throughout the human body, with higher concentrations in the digestive system, skin, brain, etc. The uses in the 19th century correlate largely to diseases in these parts of higher endocannabinoid receptor concentrations. Mind you, the questions which asked about specific diseases led to a narrow band of responses, with many choosing to restrict their responses to the specific diseases addressed in the questions. This, I believe, as stated earlier, along with the exclusion of native practitioners of cannabis as medicine, shows only a partial picture of the medicinal uses that cannabis was being used for in reality. In spite of all these drawbacks, the picture that emerges of cannabis as medicine is quite impressive and helps one understand why the Commission states that "Cannabis indica must be looked upon as one of the most important drugs of Indian Materia Medica."

Elixir of the working and labouring classes
India's working and labouring classes effectively ran on cannabis. It is said that as much as 50% of these classes consumed cannabis to relieve fatigue, for stamina, to sleep, to fight diseases, increase appetite and digestion, to improve concentration, and for relaxation and intoxication. The working and labouring classes, along with the indigenous communities and the poor, constituted then, and still does, the majority of India's population, something like 70%. Witnesses state that the classes that consumed cannabis, as medicine or tonic, included weavers, potters, carpenters, masons, wrestlers, lattials, milkmen, day labourers, palki-bearers, postal runners, coolies, syces, boatmen, and ticca garhi drivers, haris, kahars, agriculturists, malis, mistris, blacksmiths, cooks, confectioners, professional musicians, chandals, soldiers, constables, field labourers, camel-drivers, merchants, brokers, clerks, shopkeepers, artisans, fishermen, singhara cultivators working in tanks, dhobis and night watchmen, jewellers, sculptors, blacksmiths, stonemasons, dyers, etc.

It is interesting to note that those from the middle class, i.e. merchants, brokers, clerks, shopkeepers, preferred bhang, much like the ruling and upper classes. Ganja and charas were mostly used by those from the "lower classes", and hence slowly gained the reputation of being low-class drugs used by bad society, when in fact it is ganja and charas that have a higher concentration of the medicinal cannabinoids, and hence need to be taken in smaller quantities than bhang to prove effective. This bias towards bhang over ganja and charas by the ruling and upper classes, and the middle classes, eventually led to the belief among these classes that bhang was an altogether different drug than the ganja or charas used by the lower and working classes, when in fact, they are just the leaves, flowers and resin of one and the same cannabis plant. So, here we have evidence of how the discriminatory class system was even applied to the cannabis plant, widely called Siva's herb, and the alleged lower classes of the plant i.e. flowers and resin were made untouchable. This discrimination is very much in force today and governs the world's cannabis laws. If Gandhi called the untouchable classes of Indian society as Harijan,, then we must now call ganja and charas as Sivapathri.

From the categories of persons who consumed cannabis, as stated by witnesses to the Commission, one can get an idea of the importance of cannabis to these populations that worked under adverse conditions like heat and damp, and performed strenuous tasks, mostly for the ruling and upper classes. It is strange that the ruling and upper classes should choose to take away the very elixir that enabled their labourers to work well for them consistently. The absurd bias against cannabis, and also the workers who used it, come out clearly in the witness responses. Many witnesses cite that ganja and makes a man lazy and arrogant, talking back to the upper classes, which is something that neither the ruling or the upper classes wanted.

The Commission states that - "The use of these drugs to give staying-power under severe exertion or exposure or to alleviate fatigue is very largely in evidence. Here it is ganja especially which is credited with these beneficial effects. For ganja is far more extensively used than bhang by the labouring classes. The latter is mainly used by persons like the Chaubes of Mathra, who are very frequently referred to, and professional wrestlers. Gymnasts, wrestlers and musicians, palki-bearers and porters, divers and postal runners, are examples of the classes who use the hemp drugs on occasions of especially severe exertion. Fishermen and boatmen, singhara cultivators working in tanks, dhobis and night watchmen, mendicants and pilgrims, are named as among those who use them under severe exposure. All classes of labourers, especially such as blacksmiths, miners, and coolies, are said more or less generally to use the drugs as a rule in moderation to alleviate fatigue." Fishermen believed that by the use of ganja their powers of diving and remaining under water could be increased. Cannabis was said to be of great use for work that required great concentration, such as the work of jewelers, sculptors, artisans, etc.

Mind medicine
What I believe is the most important medical benefit of cannabis, what makes it the most popular global intoxicant and medicine, is something which appears to be consistently ignored by policy makers and medical experts. This is the role of cannabis as the world's best mind medicine. It could be the healing that it brings to the body that subsequently brings mental well being, or vice versa, or both through simultaneous action on body and mind. Its mental effects, immediate when smoked or inhaled, delayed when ingested as an edible, are profound. It calms the mind, exhilarates and stimulates it, heightens the senses, sparks creativity, taking one to a state of increased awareness of oneself and one's surroundings. Cannabis, as mind medicine, besides increasing concentration and mental focus, is described in ancient medical texts as "warming circulation, brightening eyes, alleviating depression and creating exhilaration." Some of the descriptions in medical texts include "cause cheerfulness, colour to the complexion, excite imagination into the rapturous ideas, cheer intellect, deterging the brain, induces costiveness, sharpens the memory," etc. It is aptly described as a 'brain detergent' by a source in the Indian Hemp Commission report because it appears to cleanse one's perception, revealing the reality of the world for what it is.

For me, cannabis is the entheogen par excellence. The strong association of cannabis with Siva, the god of tantra, yoga and asceticism, only further strengthens the bond between the herb and followers of these ways of life. It is not only the followers of Siva, but also religious Sufi mendicants of Islam, Sikhism and Buddhism, who used cannabis to keep their minds on the spiritual nature of life. The feeling of oneness with all things, the sense of divinity in oneself and in all things, the here and now aspect of cannabis, is unmistakable. It is easy to reach the last three states described by Patanjali in his ashtanga yoga - states of dharana or steady state of mind, dhyana or pinpoint focus, and samadhi or merging with the eternal spirit, with cannabis. This is the predominant reason why spiritual mendicants revere the herb. These persons, who surrendered all their wealth and possessions and chose to lead a life in pursuit of spirituality, faced adverse conditions, undertook arduous journeys and often lived with very little food, clothing or shelter. Cannabis was consumed to steady and focus the mind, and to meditate on the eternal spirit, besides being used to relieve fatigue, ward of diseases and allay hunger. Cannabis did not cost anything in the past. It was freely available everywhere. Spiritual mendicants never ran short of cannabis, their spiritual fuel. If ever they ran out of cannabis, society would consider it a privilege to offer them the divine herb. You can imagine the great hardships the spiritual mendicants faced when their herb was initially regulated, made more and more expensive, and then finally completely prohibited by the ruling and upper classes, not just the British, but the Indians who claimed themselves to be followers of Mahadeva, the great god, whose favorite herb it was said to be. The only persons with free access to the herb were, the ones who wore the colors of the ruling and upper clases, while those who did not suffered the same fate as the rest of society. This is still the case, in fact increasingly more so.

In today's world, we see clear evidence of the mind medicine aspect of cannabis when we consider that it is increasingly being used to treat deadly brain cancers, such as gliablastoma, epilepsy, and injuries caused to the brain from traumatic brain injury, and brain damage from the abuse of alcohol and deadly synthetic drugs, such as cocaine and methamphetamine. At the time of the Hemp Commission's report, many western physicians believed that the use of cannabis caused lesions in the brain, similar to the use of alcohol or dathura, and that cannabis compounds were alkaloids that accumulated in the brain, creating lumps of tangled brain tissues, responsible for dementia. However the experiments by Dr Cunningham on rhesus macaques using cannabis and dathura, revealed on autopsy that cannabis created no physical damage to the brain whereas dathura and alcohol left the brain seriously damaged. Current science has just started to discover the workings of the endo-cannabinoid system, which is found extensively in the brain, and the cannabinoids in the cannabis plant, as well the interactions between the two. Some of the world's leading intellectuals and artists, like Carl Sagan and Bob Dylan for example, have long advocated the mind medicine aspect of cannabis.

Some of the leading causes of mental health issues are depression, anxiety, stress and insomnia, together attributing to easily over 60% of global mental health issues today. Cannabis was used to treat all these conditions in the past, not just as prescribed by native physicians, but also as a way of life among the general population. The consumption of cannabis, much like tea or beer today, ensured that people, in general, led balanced, healthy lives. Today, besides pain management, the leading reasons why cannabis is consumed today, as well as medically prescribed, are anxiety, stress, depression, and insomnia. The alternatives to cannabis now available for these conditions are lethal synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, each capable of causing more dangerous mental health issues than the ones the patient had to start with in the first place, such as addiction and suicidal tendencies. To top it all, these dangerous synthetic pharmaceutical drugs are mostly available only to the ruling and upper classes all over the world, whereas the majority of the world's people have had their mental health medicine taken away, the herb par excellence that was accessible to all and could be grown at one's home. Oh yes, the ruling classes have made available alcohol, another leading cause of mental health issues, besides also creating a market for dangerous illegal synthetic drugs of increasing complexity and lethal potency.

Medicine of the poor
The main users of cannabis, especially as ganja or charas, were the poor, consisting of the labouring and working classes, mendicants - religious or otherwise, and the indigenous and tribal communities. These together comprised the majority of India's population, while the elites formed a minority, as they do everywhere and always. India's social and cultural fabric was composed largely of the poor, as it still is now, who had used cannabis for thousands of years in an unbroken tradition, giving rise to India's rich and diverse cannabis culture. The rich, those who used cannabis that is, preferred it in the form of bhang, which they considered refined and harmless, even beneficial, unlike ganja or charas, which they viewed as the harmful drug of the lower classes. This bias towards the leaves of the plant, and opposition to the flowers and resin of the plant, is a bias that runs even today. This bias is what has led to the prohibition of ganja and charas, whereas bhang is considered legal, not just in India, but also in the 1961 Single Convention Treaty that forms the basis of global anti-cannabis drug laws today. The reason behind this, I believe, is that the rich who are indulgent and ignorant, have mostly reached their position, through the exploitation of nature and the poor. Many of the ruling and upper classes who oppose cannabis do not come from a tradition of cannabis usage, having often migrated to India in more recent times than the endemic populations. For these ruling and upper classes cannabis as bhang, is an indulgence, just like opium and alcohol. It is not an essential part of their existence, as medicine and intoxicant, as it is for the poor. When the rich indulge in cannabis, through their decadent lifestyles, they create the image that cannabis is harmful. The whole myth that cannabis causes insanity was largely created and propagated by the ruling and upper classes, in India and all over the world, using false data.

The importance of cannabis to the poor, who used it to allay hunger, relieve fatigue, cure themselves of diseases, for digestion, to recreate and to lead a healthy life can be gauged from the classes of persons who consumed cannabis, as mentioned above, as well as some of the statements made in the Hemp Commission's report. The Commission states that "They [hemp drugs] are said to be used by the poor and on occasion by others to alleviate hunger when sufficient food is not obtainable." The Commission also admits, grudgingly, that "The truth seems to be that while, no doubt, these drugs are more commonly consumed merely as stimulants than from any clearly defined idea of their beneficial results, yet they are popularly believed to have (if moderately used) some such beneficial results as have been above described. Moderate consumers believe this, and would feel a sense of deprivation if they were unable to obtain what they regard as a beneficial stimulant. This deprivation would be more felt among the poorer classes than among the wealthier, whose tastes lead them to more expensive luxuries. It is the poorer people and the labouring classes who as a rule use these drugs for the purposes indicated. They are admittedly as a rule moderate consumers. They do not seem to exceed in the use of hemp so frequently as in the use of liquor." One witness states that fifty percent of the labouring and working classes used cannabis, while nearly all religious mendicants, across all religions, used it.

The irony of cannabis legalization today is that it is only the rich nations, who propagated cannabis prohibition in the first place, who have access to it through legalization. Even among rich nations that have legalized cannabis in dome form, it is mostly the elite and upper classes within these nations who have access and can afford the legalized cannabis.

Medicine for the elderly
Today, in places where cannabis has been legalized for medical or recreational use, the elderly comprise the fastest growing age demographic of cannabis users. The elderly are replacing synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, including opioids, with cannabis to treat various aging relation health conditions such as anxiety, stress, depression, loss of appetite, nausea, for digestion, pain and insomnia, to name a few. The Commission's 19th century report shows that this is not a new phenomena. One of the witnesses, Assistant Surgeon, J. E. BOCARRO, Lecturer, Medical School, Hyderabad (Sind), states that "I have personally examined a large number of those between the ages of 40 and 60 years, and have found them to be not only sound in all their internal organs, but also of good bodily frame. Further, what might appear to be a strange thing is that most of them have even preserved good vision. Cataractous condition of the lens is, I observe, an uncommon thing among those who take bhang in moderation." Another witness states that "There would seem to be a very general use of bhang in moderation as a stimulant and digestive by the middle classes, especially in advancing years."

Today, the elderly who benefit from cannabis are the elderly among the rich and elite classes all over the world, who can access and afford the legal cannabis available in wealthy nations like the US, Canada, Germany Australia and Israel. For the majority of the world's elderly, it is the same story as that of the poor.

Medicine for children

Today, we find that some of the chief arguments against cannabis legalization is that it is harmful for children, and that children will become addicted to it. Both these false myths are perpetrated in parallel with ensuring that alcohol and tobacco is legal, and that plenty of dangerous synthetic, legal and illegal, pharmaceutical medications are around for children to abuse. The fact that cannabis is used today to treat epilepsy, ADHD, cancer and autism in children is rarely mentioned. When we look at cannabis use as medicine for children in the 19th century, we see that it has always been used to treat nausea, diarrhea, convulsions and restlessness in children. Not just its sedative and anti-spasmodic properties, children benefit from many of its other properties, including its analgesic, expectorant, prophylactic, digestive, diuretic, refrigerant, diaphoretic properties. Cannabis, as medicine, was typically given to children in the form of sweetmeats. The multiple modes through which it can be administered, and its high safety profile, means that cannabis is one of the most ideal medicines for children suffering from numerous medical conditions. The fact that the child has to consume one herb, instead of a plethora of dangerous chemical compounds, should have been sufficient to make it available universally.

Unfortunately, children today face increasing anxiety, stress, depression, insomnia and attention deficiency at mental levels probably unseen in the history of humankind. They also face physical threats in the form of malnutrition, degradation of their environment and lifestyles. The world's children suffer the same problems of accessibility and affordability to medicine that the poor and the elderly face. The unlucky few, who can access or afford the dangerous and expensive synthetic pharmaceutical medications, belong to the ruling and upper classes. Where cannabis has been legalized for recreational use, in about 18 US states and Canada, it has been found that cannabis usage rates among children actually came down, thus disproving the myth that legalization will cause increased consumption among the under aged.

Medicine for women
The Hemp Commission states erroneously that women were not significant consumers of cannabis. This is because the Commission sought its information from the largely male population of the ruling upper class administration, and from cannabis retail outlets and public places where upper class men gathered to drink bhang. The only segment of women that the Commission found using cannabis significantly were the prostitutes, who were the only women among the working and labouring classes that the Commission or its witnesses heard about. These women consumed cannabis for the very same reasons that the other sections of the working and labouring classes consumed it, which was to relieve fatigue, to sleep and to ward off diseases when working in adverse conditions, especially sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea and syphilis. This lopsided perspective of women's consumption of cannabis paved the way for the myth that all women who consume cannabis are immoral, one of the key propaganda measures used to dissuade women from using cannabis.

Women are likely to have consumed cannabis nearly as much as men, because all the benefits that men derived from cannabis women also did. Not only that, there are women specific medical conditions for which cannabis is beneficial, as revealed by witnesses in response to the Hemp Commission's questions. These include "many uterine affections", including "loss of blood from uterus, "relief in protracted labour pains", "dysmenorrhœa", "menorrhagia", "cramps", "lohiwa (a disease of women of daily menstruating blood instead of at the menses time)". The ecbolic, parturifacient, and haemostatic properties of cannabis were especially suited for women. The fact that nearly every house in some places had at least one cannabis plant, and the ease with which cannabis can be consumed as edibles or beverages, shows how integrated it was with the whole household and society, and not just its male members. It is not necessary for a woman to smoke cannabis like men do, she can just as easily combine it with her cooking and consume it, or apply it as oils and butter to her body, thus being discrete because a patriarchal society discriminates against her for cannabis use.

Today, women are coming out more in the open with their cannabis consumption in places where cannabis has been legalized. Women use cannabis for medicine, recreation, wellness and food and many new cannabis businesses are created and run by women. Many women have become cannabis entrepreneurs and leaders in the cannabis industry. Some of the leading global cannabis advocates are women. Yet, in a largely patriarchal world, the narrative still dominates that the only women who consume cannabis are loose women. Once again, the story of women in the world, by and large, is the same, or even worse than that of the elderly, the poor and children, because it is even more difficult for a woman to access or afford cannabis, if she does not belong to the ruling and upper classes. Even if she does belong to the upper classes, the patriarchal societies of the world are quick to punish and shame her in full public view so that she does not influence other women to be more free. Woman is the nigger of the world, eh John?

Treatment of diseases in animals

Man was not the only animal whose diseases were treated with cannabis. We find that traditional Indian medical practitioners used cannabis for treating cows, bullock, buffalo, horses, sheep and elephants. The use of cannabis for treating animals was so pervasive that the Hemp Commission states "Regarding the use of hemp drugs in the treatment of cattle-disease, out of a total of 1,193 witnesses, one-half give no information; and of the rest rather over one-half speak to the use of bhang alone, while the remainder speak generally of the use of both ganja and bhang." It also states that "This use of the drugs is in evidence in all provinces, though naturally to a less extent in Bombay and Madras than elsewhere, and least of all in Burma. Among the diseases for which hemp drugs are prescribed in native veterinary practice for cattle, horses, sheep, and occasionally elephants may be mentioned colic, bowel-complaints, diarrhœa, sprains, constipation, cow-pox, foot-and-mouth diseases, hoof disease, pneumonia, affections of the throat, colds and coughs, quinsy, and rinderpest. Ganja is used to extract worms in foot-sore diseases of cattle and to remove intestinal worms, and is also burnt to disinfect sheepfolds. A very common use of the drugs is as a tonic to produce condition, to make oxen fleet of foot, to relieve fatigue, and to give staying power. Bhang is sometimes used to increase the flow of milk in cows, and also to stupefy them when they refuse to be milked. The drug is occasionally given to mares shortly before being covered, and it is also used after delivery. Bhang mixed with salt is given to cattle as preventive against purging, to which they are generally subject from feeding on the young shoots of grass sprouting during the early part of the monsoon." Cannabis appears to have been commonly used for indigestion and heat apoplexy among cattle, administered with molasses to horses and ponies to remove stomach complaints and to refresh them after hard labour.

One witness makes an interesting statement regarding the effect that cannabis appears to have on herbivorous and carnivorous animals by stating that "With regard to the diseases of cattle, the hemp plant, particularly its leaves, were used externally for rheumatism, fresh wounds and sores, and internally for tetanus and hydrophobia; and the effects are more salutary in the case of Grassominivorous animals without any unpleasant after-consequence, as the intoxicating effect of the drug is less perceivable in them than in the carnivorous group." Ganja was also rubbed over the tongues of the bullocks to sharpen their appetite. The tongues of cattle refusing to eat are rubbed over with powder made of ganja, saffron and salt. Ganja mixed with grain and pounded gives strength to cattle, and is believed to keep them in good condition. It was used for mules and horses suffering from asthma and cold. Ganja leaf (not dried) is given to cows and buffaloes which withhold milk. It then gives milk. It seems to serve the purpose of carbolic acid. A horse, after a bath, was sometimes given a pill consisting of patti, turmeric and molasses.

In Burma, the community known as Karens cultivated large quantities of ganja for sale to timber traders (Thitgaungs), who use it as medicine for elephants. A witness states that "Every one possessing elephants is bound to keep ganja." Another witness states that "When an elephant suffers from agunbai, the symptoms of which are trembling of the body, hasty perspiration, sores in throat and excessive warmth in the body, native doctors prescribe bhang. If not attended to immediately, the elephant dies within three hours. The administration of bhang with other medicines thrice cures the animal. When the elephant becomes must and lustful and does not eat, bhang with other medicines proves very effective. A camel can be cured of tetanus by giving him on three alternate days—bhang a quarter seer, sugar one seer, oil one-and-half seer. Bhang is sometimes given to a horse in the ease of stomach-ache or for removing fatigue." In Burdwan it was habitually given to the Raj Bari elephants as a tonic.

In today's world, animals face the same onslaught of harmful synthetic pharmaceutical medicine as humans. The gap between natural medicine and modern synthetic medicine is as evident among animals as it is among humans. Cannabis was as much food and medicine for animals as it was for humans. When the ruling and upper classes did not give the slightest consideration for India's vast labouring classes, its poor, and its indigenous communities when they decided to prohibit cannabis, then what chance did the other animals stand? The reality today is that avian and insect populations are facing massive collapse, while domesticated animals such as horses, chicken, sheep, cattle, etc. are fed unhealthy diets and get pumped with antibiotics, hormones and steroids for good measure. Animals in the wild are poached for their body parts in the name of aphrodisiacs when cannabis would more than adequately meet the needs. Every year animals are subjected to numerous tests for synthetic chemical products and medicine and killed in the process. Cannabis as medicine and for cosmetics and wellness would save these animals.

Today, science states that cannabis, as animal food, has vast nutritive and health value. Science also says that it is not just cattle, elephants, pigs and horses that benefit from cannabis, it is also birds and insects. Cannabis cultivation provides important nutrition for birds and bees and plays a significant role in cross-pollination, contributing to the sustenance of natural biodiversity. The biomass as a result of cannabis cultivation is being looked at as a very important source for animal nutrition in countries where cannabis has been legalized. The presence of cannabis in areas of water and food scarcity would provide nutrition as well as counter the effects of waterborne diseases among animals.

The Indian government today, takes absurdity to new heights by banning the culling of cattle for meat and setting up rehabilitation centers for old and sick cattle, all in the name of religion, when the most significant action it can take towards animal welfare would be to legalize cannabis, and use it for animal food and medicine. But then the Indian government today comprises of the same ruling and upper classes that, in the 19th century, went all out to prohibit cannabis so that western medicine, alcohol and opium could replace it.

Medical Properties of cannabis
Here is a list of the medical properties that witnesses attributed to cannabis in the course of the Commission's study - anti-inflammatory, analgesic/anodyne, anaesthetic, diuretic, stimulant, sedative, intoxicant, aphrodisiac, disinfectant, antiphlegmatic/expectorant, tonic, antispasmodic, astringent, haemostatic, purgative, ecbolic, digestive, prophylactic, laxative, hypnotic, refrigerent, antiperiodic, soporific, parturifacient, antidote, diaphoretic, carminative, excitant, heating.

Medical conditions for which cannabis is prescribed today
If we look at the medical conditions for which cannabis is prescribed as medicine, in US states and European countries where cannabis has been legalized for these purposes, we find a number of conditions that include, as well as are different from, those in 19th century India. Some of the conditions are - intractable epilepsy, seizure disorders, severe nausea, severe or chronic pain, cachexia (wasting syndrome), anorexia, hospice or palliative care, terminal illness, sickle cell anemia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Crohn’s disease, Huntington’s disease, neuropathies, damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/Lou Gehrig’s disease, HIV/AIDS, cancer, traumatic brain injury (TBI), chronic renal failure requiring dialysis, spasticity, muscle spasms, cramping, appetite loss, severe vomiting, hepatitis C, glaucoma, pain lasting longer than two weeks, autism, ulcerative colitis, Alzheimer’s disease, neural-tube defects, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, neurodegenerative diseases, dyskinetic and spastic movement disorders, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Tourette’s syndrome, fibromyalgia, arthritis, lupus, diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, spasmodic torticollis (cervical dystonia), inclusion body myositis, anxiety, migraines, muscular dystrophy, chronic pancreatitis, Ehler’s Danlos syndrome, nail-patella syndrome, Lennox-Gestaut syndrome, Dravet syndrome, spinocerebellar ataxia, syringomyelia, Tarlov cysts, Sjogren’s syndrome, post-concussion syndrome, neurofibromatosis, myasthenia gravis, myoclonus, hydrocephalus, hydromyelia, interstitial cystitis, CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome type II), dystonia, fibrous dysplasia, causalgia, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, Arnold-Chiari malformation, epidermolysis bullosa, mitochondrial disease, decompensated cirrhosis, osteogenesis imperfecta, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, post herpetic neuralgia, post laminectomy syndrome with chronic radiculopathy, severe psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis...

Source: https://www.leafly.com/news/health/qualifying-conditions-for-medical-marijuana-by-state

The biggest joke
So, the stand of the US DEA and the UN that cannabis has no medicinal value is one big joke. To go along with this, the continued stand by heads of government, law and drug enforcement agencies, the judiciary, policy makers, health experts and medical organizations, can only be termed as the act of clowns who are being paid to live out a lie, thinking that nobody can see through their imbecility...Through this they protect the petrochemical industry, the synthetic pharmaceutical industry, the medical industry, the alcohol industry, the tobacco industry, the opioid industry, the illegal black market for dangerous synthetic drugs, the chemical fertilizer and pesticide industry, etc., etc.. All these entities together ensure that we destroy the planet and all life on it...And the people who buy this joke, thinking that it is the truth, what can be said of them - the herd???

Thoughts from the void

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Monday 25 February 2019

No Medicinal Value?

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