This is My Story

The following was written during the worst time of my entire life, the summer of 2004, and sent to every activist and organization I could think of. Needless to say, no one responded. Warning: if you read this you will know more about me and my struggle than you ever imagined.

This is My Story:

The Chronical of the Sensimillian

Disclaimer: TOO MUCH INFO!!! If you don't care to hear my "life story" and just want the facts, scroll past it to the next section.

In the beginning...

On June 2^nd, 2001, while driving to a friends’ house, I was near-fatally injured in a head-on motor vehicle collision. Initially at the scene, the “Fatality Squad” was called to take my body for I was presumed dead. I was then airlifted to the Cooper Medical Trauma Center in Camden NJ, where they saved my life and treated me for my numerous physical injuries including two bilateral ankle fractures (one of which was compound and sticking through my shoe); as well as a fractured C-2 vertebra (the same spinal column break which paralyzed Christopher Reeves). Thankfully, I did not remember anything leading directly up to the accident or directly after the accident, and still do not to this day. My first coherent memory that I can be sure isn’t a dream, is waking up in the trauma unit a few days after the accident (I was in a coma) with my family standing around me, and thinking “What is this huge thing down my throat (the life support breathing system) and why is everyone staring at me?”

After weeks of surgeries to repair my ankles, the stabilization of my neck with a Halo Brace, and bandages/splits/braces to cover the rest, I was finally released from Cooper. Being only 19 at the time and not wanting to be sent to a nursing home, I was sent to Magee Rehabilitation Hospital for “home training”. Here I was given extensive physical and occupational therapy, to help adjust to my sudden new way of living. The weeks spent at Magee were truly a blessing. They showed me ways to cope with the new obstacles I would face with my new disability. With a shiny new wheelchair and new tricks to help get around easier, it was time to go home.

Constantly being on your back or in a wheelchair is enough to make anyone depressed, so I guess I shouldn’t be embarrassed to say that I was diagnosed with severe depression after the accident, but no one can really know exactly how I felt. Before the crash I was a student at Drexel University, I played bass guitar in a band, I had a girlfriend, I even had a social life… not to mention it was only June 2^nd! I had the entire summer of the nineteenth year of my life to look forward to. Instead I was confined to my living room, which my mother converted to a hospital room so I wouldn’t have to go into a nursing home. If it wasn’t for the strength and support for my mother during this period, I would not have made it through. While in the hospital, my body’s only concern was staying alive. Being so close to death, healing all the injuries I sustained came secondary, my body only knew survival. When I was finally sent home, my body started its physical recovery, and for months all you can do is lie around and think about what you could be doing. It’s enough to take its toll on anyone. My first glimpse of hope towards a new life came about four months, hundreds of doctor visits and a couple repeat surgeries later; I finally did something I only dreamed about… I stood up. Thankfully, my C-2 break had not severed my spinal cord; it had only been resting on it, the vertebra broken even so, which is why I was able to breathe on my own, unlike the unfortunate circumstances of Christopher Reeves who suffered the same spinal column break. For whatever reason, God saw fit to show unbelievable mercy on me. That glorious day, with my dad by my side for support, and my wheelchair in front of me to steady myself; these awkward, baby-like steps were the proverbial first steps down a long road to “full” physical recovery. Just when I thought it was almost finally over, was when my mother first started to notice my problems with memory and concentration.

After my Halo Brace was finally removed and my legs and ankles were strengthened from what seemed like endless months of physical therapy, and with the help of a new drug my doctor prescribed me called Oxycontin to help relieve chronic arthritis pain in my ankles, I began my psychological and mental healing process. This was also around this time when my migraines began. Throughout my life I had always been an exceptionally healthy kid; rarely even a cold. I completed all four years of high school without missing a single day. I must admit at graduation it was a little embarrassing being called to the front of the ceremony for being “the kid who never missed a day of school in four years”, but now I look back on it as a great accomplishment. My mother always instilled a great sense of pride in obtaining knowledge, now I’m glad I took every opportunity I was ever given to do just that. She told me knowledge was the only thing no one can ever take away from you, and she was right. However, unbeknownst to me and my family at the time of the accident, it was later revealed to us that I had sustained a moderate frontal lobe brain injury. This brain trauma, my doctors stated, was the cause for my deep depression, memory loss, difficulty concentrating, and my migraine headaches which were becoming more severe. Along with my pain medication, I was prescribed Prozac to treat the depression, Concerta for my concentration, and Norvasc for migraine prevention. The Prozac worked temporarily, but I was eventually switched to a higher dose of a stronger extended release drug called Effexor, which I still presently take. The Norvasc, a drug which is usually prescribed for blood pressure regulation, worked briefly to suppress the migraines until they became more intense; after that I was prescribed an onslaught of heavier migraine meds which totally incapacitated me. First Imitrex, then Maxalt, and finally Axert, all of which killed the migraines, but at the same time put me in such a debilitated state that all I could possibly do for days at a time was sleep. This is not okay for trying to lead a “normal” life. To make matters worse, around this time reports of Oxycontin abuse were being reported all over the country. For reasons unknown (my guess is all of the negative media attention) my doctor took me off this medication; the only chance of easing any pain I was constantly feeling was now gone. Devastated, but understanding the dangers of addiction to painkillers, I accepted his decision, even if it meant not being able to walk anymore without the aid of my leg braces, and without being in physical pain with each step.

After insisting and pleading that my meds needed to be changed and the ongoing migraines and constant feelings of drowsiness which were amplified after the accident, I finally was approved to have a sleep study done to see if a sleep disorder, not concentration problems were causing my inability to stay awake and focus. The sleep specialist couldn’t solve my headache problems but he was determined to find the reason for my inability to stay awake even with the aid of a heavy stimulant like Concerta, which he compared to being on speed. An overnight sleep study done concluded that I had Narcolepsy, which was now assumed to be the cause of the accident. A rare, sleep disorder had almost taken my life. That day I was immediately taken off the Concerta and put on yet another new drug, Provigil to treat the newly diagnosed disorder.

For the next few months, my body felt like it was on a never-ending rollercoaster ride. The Provigil treated the Narcolepsy so I was no longer falling asleep when I should be awake, but now I was unable to sleep at all! For days at a time I would be awake, wanting to sleep but not being able to. If I did get to rest, it was never for more than two or three hours at a time. But at the same time, if I didn’t take my meds, I couldn’t stay awake at all; so I chose the lesser of two evils and saw more sunrises than I ever knew existed. After months of my body being sleep deprived, I finally crashed. One evening, after one of my short naps, (usually, if I ever got to sleep, it would be from around 5-8 PM) I woke up to migraine pain like I have never experienced before. Immediately I attempted to take one of my cocktail of emergency migraine pills, which my body rejected. Through the night and into the next morning, I laid in excruciating pain. The pain along with the vertigo was so intense, it caused me to vomit every time I would attempt to consume anything or even stand. After about 12 hours of being in too much pain to sleep, too much pain to hold anything solid or liquid, and too much pain to even take medication to try to relieve this intense pounding in my head, my mother called my physician and he suggested that I take a trip to the Emergency Room. Many hours and two morphine shots later, I woke up in the E.R, still heavily sedated but no longer in pain, I was finally able to go home. Yet, this day of unequalled pain, like no pain I have ever felt before that day or any day thereafter, was when I made a life-changing decision… no longer would I live with pain if I did not have to. And so, nearly two years, countless doctor visits, and failed prescriptions later, I began my journey…

How I found the truth.

Upon searching the internet for alternative ways to treat migraines, I made a shocking discovery: there were/are other people like me all over the U.S.! People living in pain for which “conventional” medicines were not treating or relieving. After reading testimonial after testimonial on countless support web-pages, all types of people ranging from housewives, truckdrivers, doctors, brokers, even politicians all saying the same thing: they had used Cannabis to treat, heal, cure, and/or ease, their ailments!

Being a natural skeptic and never believing anything until it’s been confirmed by hard facts, not just word-of-mouth, I continued to dig deeper into medical research done about this plant. If I was going to sacrifice my personal convictions in exchange for physical comfort, I wanted to be completely sure that it was indeed a safe, miracle drug like these individuals had claimed. While seeking the truth about this herbal remedy, I came across a countless doctor reports and tests which confirmed what the consensus was saying. Not only did the medicinal and scientific facts corroborate the claims that cannabis use treated these illnesses as the patients claimed, but it also showed that unlike other prescribed medications, cannabis has NO lethal levels. Not one death due to cannabis use has ever been reported in the history of America. The Drug Enforcement Administration’s own chief administrative law judge, Francis Young, noted such facts in a 1988 ruling when he advised the FDA to reclassify the cannabis plant. Here are excerpts taken directly from his report:

September 6, 1988.

Docket No. 86-22.

Francis L. Young, DEA Administrative Law Judge

“Based upon the facts established in this record and set out above, one must reasonably conclude that there is accepted safety for use of marijuana under medical supervision.”

“To conclude otherwise, on this record, would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious….”

“The cannabis plant considered as a whole has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, there is no lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision and it may lawfully be transferred from Schedule I to Schedule II. The judge recommends that the Administrator transfer cannabis.”

[Excerpts from U.S. Federal Court Decision in the Case of Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics, et al., vs. US Drug Enforcement Administration (IRS): In the Matter of MARIJUANA MEDICAL RESCHEDULING PETITION]

Section VIII: Cannabis/Marijuana’s Accepted Safety for Use Under Medical Supervision

Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects. But marijuana (cannabis) is not such a sub-stance. There is no record in the extensive medical literature describing a proven, documented cannabis-induced fatality.

This is a remarkable statement. First, the record on cannabis encompasses 5,000 years of human experience. Second, cannabis is now used daily by enormous numbers of people throughout the world. Estimates suggest that 20-million to 50-million Americans routinely, albeit illegally, smoke marijuana without the benefit of direct medical supervision. Yet, despite this long history of use and the extraordinarily high numbers of social smokers, there are simply no credible medical reports to suggest that consuming cannabis has caused a single death. By contrast aspirin, a commonly used, over-the-counter medicine, causes hundreds of deaths each year.

Drugs in medicine are routinely given what is called an LD-50. The LD-50 rating indicates at what dosage fifty percent of test animals receiving a drug will die as a result of drug induced toxicity. A number of re-searchers have attempted to determine cannabis’s LD-50 rating in test animal, without success. Simply stated, researchers have been unable to give animals enough cannabis to induce death.

At present it is estimated that cannabis’s LD-50 is around 1:20,000 or 1:40,000. In layman terms this means that in order to induce death a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 time as much cannabis as is contained in one marijuana cigarette. NIDA-supplied marijuana cigarettes weigh approximately .9 grams. A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of cannabis within about 15 minutes to induce a lethal response. In practical terms, cannabis cannot induce a lethal response as a result of drug-related toxicity.

In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough cannabis to induce death.

Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis cannabis can be safely used with a supervised routine of medical care.

There have been occasional instances of panic reaction in patients who have smoked marijuana. These have occurred in cannabis-naive persons, usually older persons, who are extremely anxious over the forthcoming chemotherapy and troubled over the illegality of their having obtained the cannabis. Such persons have responded to simple person-to-person communication with a doctor and have sustained no long term mental or physical damage. If cannabis could be legally obtained and administered in an open, medically-supervised session rather than surreptitiously, the few instances of such adverse reaction doubtless would be reduced in number and severity.

Despite the mountains of overwhelming evidence and facts supporting his claims, the judge’s decision was reversed, not on facts, but on a technicality. The Federal appeals court stated:

“… [T]hree of the factors in the Administrator’s eight factor test appear impossible to fulfill and thus must be regarded as arbitrary and capricious. … Since the government did not respond clearly to the argument, we are left in doubt as to the argument’s validity.”

Simply put what they were saying was (in part), because it is impossible to administer 1,500 pounds of cannabis to someone to see if a lethal reaction would indeed occur as it is assumed by scientific date, then the findings are only that: assumed. I think it’s also safe to assume that if someone detonated an atomic bomb in Central Park, a lot of people would die. Just because no one has actually done it to prove it that hypothesis, doesn’t make that assumption invalid. It’s based on the previous knowledge of the capabilities which atomic bombs possess; just as those studies are based on the prior knowledge of cannabis. In a subsequent DEA appeal, a federal court ruled that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should also have been involved in the argument. This overlooked technicality set the case back to its starting point, and has not been reviewed again since. All of this overwhelming evidence may not have been enough for the DEA (formally called the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, and headed by Harry Anslinger) to reverse their decision; however it was more than enough to convince me that this was indeed my miracle cure I had been looking for the past two years. My only problem was (and sadly, still is) how to obtain it? Knowing, and fearing, the consequences of being “caught” by the authorities while possessing substances which they deemed “illegal”, I turned to friends whom I felt would not judge me or look down on me for wanting to treat my continuing illnesses. Ultimately, I found someone who placed my trust in to help provide me with my medicinal miracle. Unfortunately, this knowledge of the truth has since been a blessing and a curse. A blessing because I had finally found, or at least I hoped, something that would forever cure my chronic migraines, post-traumatic arthritis pain, and help regulate my sleep and depression; and a curse because of the events which would soon transpire.

It is said that the healing effects of smoking cannabis can be felt within four seconds of taking the first inhale. When my first migraine appeared after obtaining my new medication, I was praying that statistical fact was true. By the time I was finished my first exhale, the intense pressure behind my eyes, along with the pounding in my temples, miraculously started to subside. In less than two minutes, my migraine was completely eliminated! I was cured alright! But how was this possible? Cannabis dilates arteries, and because migraine headaches are the result of artery spasms, the vascular change which cannabis causes in the covering of the brain (meninges) make migraines disappear; which now explains why I was given a blood pressure drug in order to help treat [unsuccessfully] my migraines. Evidence of this artery-dilating vascular change which increases blood flow and erases migraines, can be seen in the user’s red eyes; the increased blood flowing through the arteries, which are extensions of the brain, against the whites of the eyes, makes it very easy to see the medication doing it’s job. However, my elation over my miracle medicine was short-lived. When my mother returned home from work that day, she questioned me about a “smell” in my room. I told her about the research I had found concerning my migraines and my new-found cure for them, and to my surprise she was not supportive in my decision. Needless to say, I was shocked that my own mother, who knew first-hand of the all suffering I had been through for over two years combating the slew of physical and mental injuries sustained from my accident, would not be sympathetic, compassionate, and even enthusiastic that my chronic pains and ailments had finally been alleviated. As I stated before, knowing the truth about this miracle medicine, was a blessing and a curse.

Following this discouraging encounter with my mother, I felt as if I was back to where I had started two years earlier. Just as my doctor had taken my medication to ease the pain of my deteriorating ankle joints, I was being told I could not use the one thing which had cured my migraines. How much more would I have to endure before I was able to live a normal, healthy, pain-free life? I prayed for God’s help and wisdom in dealing with such a confusing situation, and that’s when I remembered something my mother would persistently tell me as a teenager, and even still to this day: “Don’t do anything illegal or immoral.” I knew what I was doing was illegal, but did that make it immoral? I was not, am not, and have never been a drug addict. Is trying to live life without pain illegal or immoral? It shouldn’t be, as long as I am not violating the rights of another. Therefore, I ask you if something is illegal, does that automatically mean it is immoral; or vice versa?

God's Laws versus Man's Laws

Ever since I was a child, my mother has instilled in me a strong sense of morals, ethics, and principles. She always taught me to respect authority, but if I felt I was being treated unfairly, to speak up. In this case, I knew I was being treated unfairly, but the unreasonable and irrational stigma which has been placed on this plant, a natural herb which reproduces by seed and grows out of soil, stifled her ability to think rationally about its potential. Believing with all of my heart and soul that although this plant may be considered illegal in the United States, I turned to the only judge of morality whom I can trust one hundred percent: The Holy Bible.

I have been a member of Christ Baptist Church in Burlington, NJ for over five years now. In the summer of 1999, I was baptized by Reverend F.C. Johnson, Pastor and completed my required classes for full membership. Being an obedient servant to God is a very big part of my life, and has become more important now more than ever especially after the accident. I know it was by His grace that my life was saved. Many people sustain injuries not nearly as bad as mine and their lives are taken, so I know I was truly blessed. Having first-hand experience of the undeniable powers which God possesses, I can not understand why people refuse to see that he is capable of all things. God is capable of creating all of existence and the universe, yet we see the possibly of him creating a perfect natural resource which could be abundantly used forever by his children on Earth as being totally improbable? I’m not too sure about which God most “Christians” claim to serve, but my God can do anything, so creating a non-toxic plant which heals, feeds, fuels, and clothes doesn’t sound like much of a difficult task. The proof is in the scientific and medical evidence! Why would he put a plant on His Earth, which has been proven through scientific research and study to possess infinite uses and no possibility of lethal harm whatsoever, only to be prohibited? That doesn’t sound like something the God I serve would do.

Isn’t it more logical to think that these laws were perhaps backed by an unreasonable fear, greed, or maybe even prejudice? Have we forgotten our history so soon? We assume fundamental rights are inherited just by being born human, but Jim Crow laws and laws like them have shown us that unjust laws do get passed. Those laws were eventually amended (or torn-out of the history books to preserve face) so why not this one? For thousands of years, well before the establishment of the United States, this plant was known to be used for healing. Even once the states were formed, from 1776 to 1937, hemp was a major American crop and textiles made from hemp were not only common, but encouraged! At the time, farmers who didn’t grow hemp to help support the war efforts faced imprisonment (as shown in the “Hemp for Victory” movie made by the U.S. government, instructing farmers to grow hemp to help our troops)! Yet, The American Textile Museum, The Smithsonian Institute, and most American history books contain no mention of hemp. The government’s war on “marijuana smokers” has created an atmosphere of unspoken self-censorship; even speaking of hemp in a positive manner is considered taboo. I wouldn’t be surprised if you stopped reading this the moment I mentioned the word cannabis and it wasn’t followed by “Just say no!” If you’ve made it thus far, I commend you. It’s not your fault you have been brainwashed into this way of close-minded thinking. The ignominy placed on hemp and its consumers comes from many years of careful planning and prejudice by the United States government and its co-conspirators.

No other natural resource offers the potential of hemp. Cannabis Hemp is capable of producing significant quantities of paper, textiles, building materials, food, medicine, paint, detergent, varnish, oil, ink, and fuel. Unlike other crops, hemp can grow in nearly any climate and on most farmland throughout the world. Plant care only requires moderate water and minimum fertilization; no pesticides and no herbicides. Cannabis Hemp (also known as Indian Hemp) has enormous potential to become a major natural resource that can benefit both the economy and the environment. United States Presidents have even praised this plant for its wondrous uses. John F. Kennedy, the greatest President of this century, was known to smoke cannabis for back pain. He was also the first President to ever consume inside the White House. In a letter to his farm-hand, written in 1794, our first President, George Washington instructed: “Make the most you can of the Indian Hemp seed and sow it everywhere.” So where did we go wrong? What happened that changed America’s minds about cannabis hemp and its infinite value to mankind? The truth is utterly appalling.

From the late 1920s through the mid 1930s, the economic power in the United States began to consolidate in the hands of a small number of steel, oil, and munitions companies, laying the foundation of the national security state. THE DUPONT CHEMICAL CORPORATION, the U.S. government’s primary manufacturer of munitions, also owned the patents on synthetic petrochemicals and industrial processes. These patents, which were obtained from German industrial giant, I.G. Farben Corporation, promised billions of dollars in future profits from the sale of wood pulp paper, lead additives for gasoline, synthetic fibers, and plastics. The only problem for DuPont was his competition with a renewable natural resource which could be grown privately, freely, and anywhere in America. This infinitely renewable natural resource was already doing the jobs which DuPont hoped to profit off of, so synthetic products were not needed. What was this magnificent renewable resource? The cannabis hemp plant. [A few years later, I.G. Farben would manufacture the deadly Zyklon-B gas, used in Nazi death camps to murder millions of Jews, among other minorities. DuPont owned and financed approximately 30% of Hitler’s I.G. Corps, the military-industrial backbone of the fascist Third Reich. Simply stated: the United States government, led by its cash-cow the DuPont Corporation and Standard Oil, directly funded the war efforts of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party.] After the prohibition of hemp, DuPont would later create Rayon, the world’s first synthetic fiber, from stabilized guncotton. But how did they convince an entire country which has depended on this plant for millennia to no longer use hemp in order to pave the way for synthetic materials? The answer is simple: it was achieved the same way you can send a nation to war without a real reason. All it takes are low friends in high places to create an irrational fear. Herman Goering, one of Adolph Hitler’s top Nazi officials said it best at the Nuremberg trials: “Of course the people don’t want war. But after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.” Does the term “Weapons of Mass Destruction” sound familiar? Or, “Love it or Leave it! Remember 9/11! If you don’t support the war, you yourself are a terrorist!” However, this secret alliance of oil and petro-chemical interests (DuPont and Standard Oil), abetted by long-time Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon and his nephew-in-law Harry Anslinger, with the help of newspaper and timber tycoon William Randolph Hearst, mounted a propaganda campaign against one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind…

Proprietor and newspaper tycoon is most likely what William Randolph Hearst will be remembered as. At the height of his career, he owned 28 major newspapers and 18 magazines, along with several radio stations and movie companies. He is responsible for publications such as: San Francisco Examiner, Chicago Examiner, Boston American, Cosmopolitan, and Harper’s Bazaar. What most people do not know is that he was an avid supporter of the Nazi Party, which upset many “left-wings” at the time. Basically, he hated all minorities, and he used his chain of newspapers to aggravate racial tensions at every opportunity. Hearst especially hated Mexicans. Hearst papers portrayed Mexicans as lazy, degenerate, violent, marijuana smokers and job stealers. Hearst newspapers continually denounced Spaniards, Mexicans, and Latinos after the seizure of 800,000 acres of Hearst-owned prime Mexican timberland by the “marijuana smoking army of Pancho Villa.” Vigorous slander of the Mexican people continued in Hearst publications for decades. His personal prejudices against Blacks and Hispanics and his covert motivations to link them with the proliferation of an “evil drug”, the Mexican-slang term “marijuana” is used exclusively to identify hemp throughout this “public disinformation” campaign. This word alone, totally unfamiliar to the average hemp-using American, instills fear and disgust towards a plant nearly every American used daily! Unbeknownst to them, the active ingredients of the tonic they gave their baby to ease colic came from this “marijuana” plant, as well as the smoke they inhaled in their ever popular hashish parlors, and countless other uses. The plant, at this time, was only known in the U.S. by its English names, Cannabis or Hemp. Hearst’s attempt to trick the American readers into hating and fearing something which they themselves used, simply by calling it by this unfamiliar name was ingenious. Headlines like “Marihuana Makes Fiends of Boys in 30 Days” and “Hasheesh Goads Users to Blood-Lust, Create Terror of the Killer Weed from Mexico” was all that was needed to start the ball rolling towards its prohibition. Hearst is credited with bringing the word marijuana into the English language, and in addition to fueling racist attitudes toward Hispanics, Hearst’s papers ran articles about “marijuana-crazed Negroes raping white women and playing voodoo-satanic jazz music.” Driven insane by marijuana, these blacks, according to accounts in Hearst-owned newspapers, “dared to step on white men’s shadows, look white people directly in the eye for more than three seconds, and even laugh out loud at white people.” Stereotypes portrayed in Hearst’s newspapers regarding minorities, especially Hispanics and the negative terms used such as “weed” to describe hemp are still alive and well today. (it’s an herb, not a weed; two different types of plant classifications. if you are unsure of what exactly plants are, I have enclosed detailed information about the classification of plants taken directly from the Federal government’s own website. Interestingly enough, the webpage refers to cannabis as “marijuana” which in reality it’s more common name is/was and should be, “hemp”, not the racist slang term slandered by Hearst. This just further shows the government’s prejudice which exists to this very day. I’m glad African-Americans are no longer, at least not as brazenly, referred to as Niggers by the government.) Needless to say, Hearst was extremely instrumental in publicizing and orchestrating an oil-and-timber-industry-led media campaign to discredit hemp (although it was an inexpensive petroleum and paper substitute), which led to the plant being outlawed in the United States within months. After the ban of hemp, Hearst reaped untold fortunes from his involvement in the pulp-and-paper business.

When Rudolph Diesel produced his famous engine in 1896, he assumed it would be powered by a “variety of fuels, especially vegetable and seed oils.” Like most engineers, Diesel realized that vegetable fuels, especially hemp, are superior to petroleum. The promise that hemp held for the rest of the world was quickly perceived as a threat by a small core of powerful people in the elite special-interest oligarchy dominated by the DuPont petrochemical company and its major financial backer and key political ally, Andrew Mellon. Hearst was not alone in his scheme to destroy hemp production by any means. In fact, Hearst and Lammont DuPont had a multi-million dollar deal in the works for joint papermaking. So these two moguls, together with DuPont’s banker, Andrew Mellon, boldly joined forces to fight off the bite of their inevitable bankruptcy at the hands of hemp. In 1931, Andrew Mellon, serving as President Hoover’s Secretary of the Treasury, appoints his nephew-in-law Harry J. Anslinger to Commissioner of the (not-so-suspiciously) newly created Federal Bureau of Narcotics. This nepotism, along with Hearst’s yellow journalism campaign (termed “yellow” because the paper developed through his and DuPont’s methods aged prematurely) successfully started the wheels towards stamping out the threat of hemp production.

By 1934, Anslinger was still learning the ropes of being a newly appointed head of a Federal Bureau of the United States of America. He was “attacked” by U.S. Senator Joseph Guffey of Pennsylvania after Anslinger made references to “ginger-colored niggers” on Federal Bureau of Narcotics stationary in letters circulated to department heads. Anslinger eventually cleans up his act, learning when and where was the right time to use his verbal racist assaults towards blacks… like in front of Congress convincing them to outlaw cannabis.

“Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” - Harry J. Anslinger, 1929
(one year before he was appointed Commissioner of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Narcotics)

Henry J. Anslinger was Commissioner of the new Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), later called Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), from its inception in 1931 for the next 31 years. Anslinger was forced into retirement in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy after he tried to censor the publications Professor Alfred Lindsmith (which criticized the “War on Drugs”). Friends and associates of Kennedy stated he used cannabis for back pain and planned to legalize it during his second term. But before that had a chance to happen, just months after JFK fired Anslinger, Kennedy was assassinated. Coincidence? The truth had always been there; just no one had told you where to look. Here’s a hint: look into who the Vice Prez (who just had to be sworn in with a bloody Jackie O at his side, which always made me feel uneasy watching those old films, and now I know why…) assigned to investigate the President’s assassination. You know what they say, “With friends like these, who needs COINTELPRO?” Also, look into what George H.W. Bush was doing on that day. He says he “doesn’t remember”, but history shows he was there. (Do you remember where you were at around 9:40 AM on 9/11/01…) George H.W. also says he wasn’t in the C.I.A. (an organization which Anslinger, who Kennedy just fired, was a member of). And let’s not forget Bush’s request to, “Read my lips…” so you know his honesty level isn’t too high. But, I digress, this topic requires more time than I have, so I have enclosed a little information to help on your quest for knowledge and the truth. History doesn’t change. Don’t take my word for it though; do a little research and you’ll see... TEXAS is the reason.

Nineteen hundred and thirty seven would be the year everything changed, despite the attempts of noble persons such as Walter Treadway, Assistant U.S. Surgeon General, who tells the Cannabis Advisory Subcommittee of the League of Nations that extended use of cannabis derivatives is benign, both socially and emotionally, and that marijuana is habit forming...in the same sense...as sugar or coffee. Our nation would dismiss these findings and turn a deaf ear to science and medicine for the allure of profit and greed. During “secret testimony” with Congress, DuPont assures them that synthetic petro-chemical oils can replace hemp seed oil in paints, varnishes, and other products (and I’m sure he mentions the fact that, unlike hemp, this source can be publicly subsidized and privately profitable… which means money for everyone at the top; capitalism at it’s finest). For the next 50 years, these petro-chemical manufacturing processes for making plastics, as well as pollution-heavy sulfate/sulfite processes for producing wood pulp, are responsible for 80% of DuPont’s industrial output. Shortly after meeting with Congress, the DuPont Co. issues its Annual Report to stockholders, which states and anticipates “radical changes”; and the conversion of the Federal government’s revenue raising power “into an instrument for forcing acceptance of sudden new ideas of industrial and social reorganization.” In other words, the government would no longer tax citizens solely to raise money, but to enforce the implementation (or extinction) of selected social ‘norms’. On April 14, 1937, The Marijuana Tax Law is introduced to the House Ways and Means Committee of Congress, chaired by Robert L. Doughton, a Congressional “ally” of DuPont. Dr. James Woodward, representing the American Medical Association, testifies that the law could deny the world a potential medicine:

“Cannabis was already prescribed for dozens of common ailments, and medical researchers were just beginning to explore the therapeutic benefits of the numerous active ingredients in marijuana…AMA doctors were wholly unaware that the ‘killer weed from Mexico’ was actually cannabis. We cannot understand yet, Mr. Chairman, why this bill should have been prepared in secret for two years without any intimation, even to the profession, that it was being prepared.”

Anslinger quickly denounces Woodward and the AMA, which already had an adversarial relationship with the Roosevelt administration, and asked to leave. Ralph Lorenz, head of the general council of the National Oil Seeds Institute (which represents the interests of high quality machine lubrication producers and paint manufacturers) also lobbies against the proposed legislation, eloquently citing the vast importance of the hemp plant to American industry and reviewing the thousands of years of benign use of hemp by millions of people world-wide. Still, to no avail. However, after receiving testimony from Anslinger and hearing a false, dishonest, and intentionally misleading report from the Ways and Means Committee that the AMA is in “complete agreement” with the proposed marijuana legislation, the Marijuana Tax Act is adopted by Congress.

It’s no secret that this country was (and sadly still is) founded, built, settled, and run by racism. From Christopher Columbus the racist Imperialist, to slavery, Jim Crow, to the Pentagon; which is world’s largest office building, the headquarters of our Department of Defense, has twice as many rest rooms than necessary (284) because it was formerly divided into “whites only” and “blacks only”. So while it’s disheartening, it’s not surprising that it was outrageous, untrue, racist claims such as these, made by Anslinger to Congress in 1937, which got his Marijuana Tax Law passed:

“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others....the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”

“ Marijuana is taken by ...musicians. And I’m not speaking about good musicians, but the jazz type...”

“Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”

In December 1937, The Marijuana Tax Act is signed into law, initiating nearly 70 years of cannabis prohibition and annihilating a multi-billion dollar industry. DuPont and other synthetic materials manufacturers reap infinite profits by filling the void conveniently left by the criminalization of hemp. Hypothetically speaking: someone is convicted of a crime and sent to prison for life. The trial is based solely on flimsy circumstantial evidence and eyewitness testimony. At the time, the eyewitness is believed to be credible so the conviction is not questioned. However, years down the road, new extensive DNA analysis and fancy forensic research shows that this person did not commit this crime. Also, it is discovered that this eyewitness was bribed to commit perjury intentionally, as well as having a personal vendetta. Would we allow an innocent person to sit and rot in jail for something they didn’t commit, knowing through irrefutable evidence that all claims were false? I don’t see how this is any different. Cannabis deserves to be exonerated of all charges! How long will we let unjust laws which were funded, backed, and perpetrated by racists and criminals dictate whether or not people like me who are living with constant physical and mental pains go treated or untreated?

Adjusting (without choice or reason) to living with this newly-passed law, America continues on. However, some weren’t so quick to give up without a fight. In a February 1938, Popular Mechanics describes hemp as the new “billion dollar crop”. The article was actually written in the spring of 1937, before cannabis was criminalized. At the same time, Mechanical Engineering calls hemp “the most profitable and desirable crop that can be grown”. Popular Mechanics then introduces Henry Ford’s plastic car, manufactured from and fueled by cannabis, in hopes of freeing his company from the grasp of the petroleum industry. Ford illegally grew cannabis for years after the federal ban. The “LaGuardia Marijuana Report”, compiled between 1938 and 1944 by the New York Academy of Medicine at the request of Mayor of New York City, Fiorella LaGuardia, is released to refute Anslinger’s negative claims about marijuana. It reports that marijuana use has caused no violence at all and cites numerous instances of beneficial effects. Anslinger denounces the Mayor, the report, and the Academy; proclaiming that the involved doctors shall never again do marijuana research without his personal permission, or be sent to jail! His own research continues however, when he is appointed to a top-secret committee called the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); which tested a cannabis-derived form of hashish oil as a truth serum, and in later years, investigated the applications of psychedelic drugs for mind control purposes. Flexing his new muscle, Anslinger orders all Federal Bureau of Narcotics agents to conduct surveillance and keep files on marijuana crimes by jazz and swing musicians. However, Anslinger orders his agents not to bust them immediately. His plan is to have a gigantic nationwide bust of all pot-smoking jazz and swing musicians, simultaneously. FBN agents keep constant surveillance on various “low life” such as: Thelonius Monk, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and many more. To Anslinger’s dismay, his dream-bust never goes down: his overzealous superior at the Treasury Department, Assistant Secretary Foley, hears of the plan and writes to Anslinger; Assistant Secretary Foley disapproves of Anslinger’s oncoming debacle and calls it off!

In order to keep the country blissfully ignorant to his biased, non-factual, claims which prohibited hemp, Anslinger managed to stop virtually all official research into marijuana. Stagnant minds need very little nourishment, which is why when he blackmailed the American Medical Association (AMA) into discrediting the New York Academy of Medicine and its doctors for the research they had done, the American took no notice and once again bought into the lies. But how did he get them to change their tune? Anslinger’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics was responsible for prosecuting doctors who prescribed narcotic drugs for what he, Anslinger, deemed “illegal purposes”. The FBN, from it’s inception up to 1939, had prosecuted more than 3,000 AMA doctors for illegal prescriptions. In 1939, after the LaGuardia Report contradicted his statements, Anslinger had no other choice but to do what any good politician does when he wants people to believe his side. He bribed/blackmailed the AMA to side with him, and in exchange, he would turn a blind-eye to their doctors. Like the Don, Anslinger made the AMA ‘an offer they couldn’t refuse’. The official results of this smear campaign: using biased techniques which predetermined the outcome of the research, this prejudicial study, conducted with enlisted Army men, concluded that “34 Negro males who smoked marijuana were disrespectful of white soldiers and officers”. Good job AMA! In exchange for their riveting findings, only three (yes, 3) AMA doctors were prosecuted for “illegal drugs” of any sort from 1939 to 1949. I would say that’s a little bit of a decline from 3,000 the previous decade. Now knowing the truth about this fiasco along with the The Warren Commission, you can’t possibly believe what was written in the 9/11 Commission was true... are you really that naïve? I can’t possibly explain all that now, so I’ll save that for another time, another day; but I’ll leave you with this in closing…

A Final Plea

What do you do when you have “every disorder in the book” (as a close friend of mine once described me), you are in constant physical pain, and yet the government rejects your claims for SSI, etc? You end up 23 years old still living with your parents. But what happens when your only chance to live your life without pain is demolished by government-created stigma, which is bought into by your so-called Christian parents. You try to state your case to your Church and it’s Pastor, but he tells you that you are lying in the name of God and are damned to Hell. On top of all this, the tension at home has become so great, your verbally abusive alcoholic father, who calls you a “demon” (all because you want to live life without pain keep in mind), demands you out of his house by October 31^st, 2004 (Halloween, because that’s when all the rest of the demons will be running wild in the streets he says). Sadly, your poor mother is so confused and tired of being trapped in the middle; she has given up her unwavering support of you. How can this tear a family apart? I wish I could be making all this up. I wish this wasn’t really my life, but it is, and I know that God never gives anyone more than they can handle so I know I will make it through, somehow... I know it sounds completely unbelievable, like a made for TV movie. The harsh reality is I’ll soon be living in the streets unless the government decides to approve my claim for some type of support; whether it is SSI, disability, anything. Being unable to work because of your disabilities means being unable to afford a place to live or buy food or basically do anything besides exist, which too will become a problem with zero income, no place to live, and no family support whatsoever…

But, let’s pretend for a moment, that the once life-threatening physical problems you have, which require you to carry a “disabled person” ID and another special card which states “has metal hardware in place which may set off detectors” (in case you start making places beep), plus the post-traumatic arthritis pain, which makes it difficult to stand or walk without Gump-like leg braces, really aren’t so bad. Now pretend that you don’t have a debilitating sleep disorder which makes it difficult for you to stay awake for 8 hours consecutively or consistently, and the chronic migraines that at times get so bad you had to be sent to the E.R. And we won’t pretend you don’t have manic depression and a mood disorder, because there’s no getting around that, you’re just nuts! But let’s assume all of these problems could be treated with the right medication, and then you could get a job and earn a living and not be a burden on your parents for 23 more years… what do you do when the only medication which has worked for you over the three hardest years any human being could imagine, was made illegal 65 years ago by the hate, myth, muscle, and etiquette of racists and murderers for no other reason than their own financial gain and greed? Well, then I guess you spend your days writing desperate pleas to anyone who will read them. Praying someone will listen and finally see the truth. How long do I have to live in pain because of this racist law, which is a direct violation of the basic civil, human, and religious rights that this country was founded on!

Unfortunately I don’t live in California or one of the states which has taken the initiative to partially do away with this racist law. I am a 23 year old kid, yes I still consider myself just a kid, mainly because I was only 19 when I almost died and unfortunately I haven’t gotten an opportunity to go out and live my life yet due to this law which is keeping me from the pursuit of happiness. God did not spare my life on June 2^nd, 2001 just for me to not live. This system needs to be reformed. No one wants to live in pain, and I shouldn’t have to! Isn’t that my right? Contrary to what Anslinger, Hearst, and DuPont may have thought, I am not just some “marijuana-crazed nigger looking for white women to rape.” I hope I am not being too truthful. It’s been proven throughout history that those who see through the lies are quickly gagged and bound. I hope this isn’t my last correspondence with this George Orwell-ian world, because I’ve still got a lot of work to do. The last census indicates there are billions more people I haven’t yet irritated. One of them has got to be able to listen to reason. Mark Twain once said, “What you know that isn’t true will cause you more harm than what you don’t know at all.” I agree wholeheartedly. What Mr. Clemens failed to say, is that knowing the truth yet screaming at brick walls in hopes that someone will hear you, can be just as detrimental to one’s self. Hopefully you are finally that person I’ve been seeking who is willing to listen to reason and our voices together can be heard.