Dear Editor:
“There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance.”
? Hippocrates
My interest in the marijuana issue began two years ago when I heard a first hand account of a woman sent home to die with end-stage cancer, but who completely cured her condition by consuming home-made cannabis oil. This significant news from a very credible person led me to investigate this subject further.
The information I am about to relate was obtained by simple web searches for “cannabis health research”, “sacred plant”(very up-to-date), “marijuana benefits”, “cannabis study”, “RSO”, “Rick Simpson oil”, or other phrases along those lines. To avoid confirmation bias, I also searched for “cannabis dangers”, “cannabis gateway”, or similar terms. Polling information came from the Wisconsin Professional Police Association’s 2018 poll.
I found out that the story I first heard was just one of a multitude of similar testimonials. I also found an amazing volume of scientific literature and credible anecdotal information on the health benefits of cannabis.
Many doctors (even the ever-famous Dr. Sanjay Gupta), researchers, scientists, and recognized world-class experts, have been bringing forth extremely positive research results at an ever accelerating rate. Modern science suggests the use cannabis oil either combined with, or instead of petrochemical drugs for the treatment of many illnesses and health conditions.
The State of Israel for example, which has a 50 year head start in research on the US, has incorporated cannabis into widespread medical use. The Israeli military also benefits from the use of it quite extensively, as off duty smoking is now allowed. They are known to take the country’s defense very seriously, and their well-informed acceptance of cannabis use for soldiers speaks louder than all the rhetorical chatter in Madison put together.
Before its prohibition in the US, cannabis was a widely used by our grandparents, great-grandparents, and those before them, as a genuine healing remedy. They could buy it at the store, or easily make from the plant a safe, effective medicine. This idea has finally been rediscovered and put to use today in the states where it is legal.
Cannabis CBD oil (a limited-canabinoid version of the whole plant oil) by itself is currently helping with many chronic conditions that were formerly either left for dead by establishment doctors, or smothered in opioid prescriptions. Schizophrenically, while Madison has deigned to allow CBD oil sales in Wisconsin, they continue to outlaw the cultivation of the plants that produce that oil. At the average retail cost of typical CBD oil and average per-plant production, this equates to about $8,400.00 per plant that could have stayed in Wisconsin, but is instead leaving the Wisconsin economy right now because of this state’s indefensible bias against the plant.
Elsewhere, there is a growing number of children’s and cancer patient’s lives being saved and restored by using the whole-plant cannabis oil with its full spectrum of over 400 cannabinoids including THC (the necessary element to kill cancer). Common results include vast improvements in Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Lyme’s, PTSD, and autoimmune disease, among a long list of others. Considered to be impossible by medical doctors until they saw it – in certain difficult cases of life-threatening epileptic seizures, the use of cannabis oil eliminated them almost entirely. Uncontrollable autism symptoms are reduced to patient near-normalcy with the oil, as well as many cancers being reversed at any stage. All of these without the need for the massive medical-industrial complex being involved.
But of course, none of this is happening in Wisconsin.
And yes, THC (and the other beneficial cannabinoids) do stay in the system for a number of days, as critics claim, but that’s a good thing because the healing effects continue long after the psychoactive effects (if any) have dissipated.
Does cannabis cure everything for everyone? No, of course not; nothing does, but all the indications are that it is a very good bet. Moreover, the positive research results, and personal testimonies are so numerous, impressive, and genuine, that it’s hard to comprehend the widespread beneficial impact this decision will have on our society once this herb is legally in common use.
Critics are stalling for time with excuses about the “dangers of cannabis” and how we must proceed slowly, and it must be regulated, etc. They are trying to hold cannabis to an impossible standard of safety while giving the current medical system a pass on over 100,000 deaths nation wide per year from properlyprescribed drugs (FDA numbers) and death from medical treatment overall is quoted at nearly 10 times that. This does not include horrific injuries such as blindness, coma, and paralysis, etc. If you don’t believe me, just start with a search for “Vioxx deaths”, and go from there.
In contrast, not a single death has been attributed to cannabis consumption or overdose in any amount – ever. The herb just does not work in a way that can do that (Tylenol, for example, causes over 400 deaths, and over 50,000 ER visits per year). So the whole “safety” issue with cannabis is just a big fat red herring to add to the confusion.
Furthermore, contrary to widespread anti-cannabis mythology, there are many THC-containing strains of this plant that have major health benefits while having no psychoactive effects at all, yet are still illegal in Wisconsin. Not because they are dangerous or bad, but because they are good; too good for big pharma’s liking.
Common people of all ages and classes are getting fed up with having their friends and family suddenly die, become debilitated, addicted to drugs, or in other ways harmed by the current medical establishment’s “standard of care”. These families are increasingly discovering that simple consumer-made cannabis products can help (often cure) for pennies on the dollar, many human ailments for which the world’s highest- priced healthcare system can give only mediocre results.
Citizens are working, as all responsible people should, to eliminate bad laws. That’s what happened in Colorado, Michigan, and other states that are no longer behind what I call an iron curtain of corporate medical monopoly control. The analogy is enhanced when we see medical refugees literally fleeing to these “free” states simply to save their lives with a natural medicine that would have put them in prison back home. Ask yourself: When the State unjustifiably makes a criminal of someone trying to save their own life, who becomes the real criminal?
Any assertions of decriminalized cannabis being a danger to youth, is another case of the “impossible standard” hypocrisy. Let them first address the long term brain damage being caused right now by Ritalin and Adderall before they condemn legalized cannabis for yet-to-be-seen problems. Damage that may very well end up being repaired by cannabis oil, if the State ever allows it.
Abuse of cannabis can cause memory impairment in some developing brains, but ironically – it reverses those same cognitive impairments and memory loss in those people who already have the problem. Verified science confirms that – Cannabis can cure “senior moments.”
Current research indicates that cannabis has the ability to help with nerve healing and enhance neurotransmission and the regrowth of new brain cells whether or not it has psychoactive effects. Its use promises to help provide a much more active, functional, “living” old age than the current drug-induced incapacitation and tubes-up-the-nose medical paradigm.
Access to results like this will happen only if the people demand their right to it, because it is certainly not going to be handed to us by benevolent government.
So if anyone out there thinks this medical/recreational issue just involves pain sufferers on one side, and recreational “stoners” on the other, or that the “medical” label on marijuana is just a cover story for pot-heads to get smoked up – you are very, very much mistaken. These are created false perceptions intended to distract the public from the real issues. If they can control the parameters of the discussion, they can control the discussion, and likely the outcome.
The discoveries on what cannabis is, and how effectively it works are, as Mr Spock would say – “fascinating”. This may all seem like too much to believe, but the research and testimonies are bearing out this information as true; even conservative. Facts are facts, and this is just a short review – a thumbnail sketch of what is actually happening today. Give yourself time to absorb this news before you reject any of it out of hand.
We really should all be looking into this seriously, and rise above the implanted biases and sense of stigma that once permeated our society about this natural herb. We would all be well advised to start taking responsibility for our own health, because it is you who will pay the price of failed medical treatments, not your doctor. The “cure” that people ran races for is basically here, it is cheap (potentially free), and it’s natural; if only people would stand up to claim their right to it before Madison sells out and hands it over to corporate control, which is what “prescription only” really means.
We are in the midst of a sea change of awareness on this issue. Polls indicate that the majority of Wisconsinites favor legalization one way or the other. With effort we can change the healthcare landscape massively for the better, the way the internet changed information flow.
The material presented here is readily available to anyone who wants to find it. When information this well documented is ignored by those in elected offices, it amounts to gross incompetence, or a breach of duty; both of which are a violation of the public trust.
Every person in elected office in this state has sworn to uphold the state and federal constitutions and to “do my duty in an unbiased manner to the best of my ability”.
So when it comes to this marijuana issue, I believe that every politician from Scott Walker down to the county board is guilty of breaking their oath of office when they oppose putting the cannabis plant back into the hands of the people of this state, where it has always belonged.
I say this because a bias is a belief that cannot be defended by facts or rational discussion, and that is what we are seeing in this state today. The 80 year old government campaign to keep the world safe for pharmaceutical company profits by outlawing the cannabis plant, has not been defended by facts, but by the guns and battering rams of the police. While there may have been a time when ignorance was a defense for the anti-cannabis crowd, it is no longer even an excuse. The anti-cannabis myths and misinformation that flooded our schools and airwaves for decades just doesn’t fly anymore in this information age. We can now find for ourselves if there is any justifiable science behind the government position.
I am sending this letter as a private citizen, but as a member of the Village of Kronenwetter board of trustees, I would appreciate input from anyone with or without health problems and either for or against this issue. Ultimately it should be the people of the village who will create the outcome of any ordinance that we might consider, and I’m here to help facilitate that.
Without public participation and support in this matter, I can assure you – nothing good will happen.
Thank you for your time.
Kenneth Charneski, Kronwenwetter
Editor’s note: The views of our readers are independent of this newspaper and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wausau Pilot and Review. To submit a letter, email [email protected] or mail to P.O. Box 532, Wausau, Wis., 54402-0532.
