"Why should Christians support legalizing marijuana?"
By Jim Atto, Jr.
 

Because it's morally wrong to arrest and punish good people who haven't harmed anyone simply because they use marijuana; for the Bible teaches that people are only to be punished if they harm others, not for what they choose to take into their own bodies.

For God said, "I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of the whole earth," (Genesis 1:29-31) And Jesus said, "There is nothing that enters a man from outside him, which can defile him." (Mark 7:15) "Therefore," Paul said, "No one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink..." (See Colossians 2:16-23, Romans 14, and Titus 1:15)

For the Scriptures teach that people are only to be punished when they wrong others, "For all the Law is fulfilled in this one statement, "You're to love your neighbor as yourself." (Gal 5:14) "For since love does no wrong to a neighbor; love fulfills the law." (Rom 13:10) So how we treat others determines whether we're a good or bad person, not what we take into our bodies. For "The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of the evil treasure of his heart produces evil," (Luke 6:45) So if someone hasn't wronged anyone they're innocent in God's sight. (It's that simple!) Therefore, if we wrong those who haven't wronged us, we're the ones who are guilty of sin in God's sight, not them.

Because of these truths I was shocked in 2002, when Attorney General John Ashcroft (who claims to be Christian) began launching raids on medical marijuana patients and their State approved grow oops. (For God never told us to put a Prohibition on any of the plants He created.)

Then I was even more shocked as I followed the news reports of the arrest and trial of Ed Rosenthal, Ed had been commissioned by the 'City of Oakland' to grow medical marijuana for them, to be distribute to State approved medical patients in their city, in full compliance with State Law. Nevertheless the Feds raided his legal grow operation and arrested him like a common criminal. But the Feds didn't stop there, they wanted to send Ed to prison for 20 years for his part in helping the City of Oakland implement the State's Medical Marijuana Law, which voters passed in 1996.

So in his trial the Federal judge wouldn't even allow him to mention 'medical marijuana,' nor to explain to the jury that he was growing it for the City of Oakland in full accordance with State Law, nor were Council-members or physicians allowed to testify on Ed's behalf. Yet the prosecution was allowed to paint Ed like a big time drug lord, who was manufacturing marijuana on an industrial scale.

So on the basis of this misinformation the jury found Ed guilty as charged. But after the trial, when the jury learned the truth, they were horrified when they realized that they had convicted an innocent man. "I'm sorry' doesn't begin to cover it," one juror told the New York Times. And the jury foreman said, "It's the most horrible mistake I've ever made in my entire life." (Read the news clippings for yourself, http://geocities.com/jimatto/Injustice.htm)

As I followed these news reports, I was shocked and saddened that such a grave injustice could happen here in the United States of America, for you'd expect something like this to happen in the old USSR, but not here in the USA.

(This explains why there are currently 100,000 nonviolent marijuana users behind bares, whose only crime was being caught with marijuana -- but it's cruel and unusual punishment to sent people who haven't harmed anyone to prison where they can be beaten, raped, and even killed -- just for growing a few plants or having a few ounces or pounds of dried leaves in their private homes.)

Shirley Dorsey, age 56, was facing criminal prosecution for the cultivation of medical marijuana. Shirley had used cannabis to help control her crippling back pain. The prosecutor wanted her to testify against her 70-year-old boyfriend, Byron Stamate, who had been arrested for growing marijuana for her medicine. Under the relentless attacks of this ambitious prosecutor Shirley became depressed about the very real possibility of being left impoverished and homeless, due to the forfeiture proceedings on their property. (For the Government can steal the property of those who have marijuana on their property.)

Tragically Shirley Dorsey's story ended on April 1, 1991. Shirley's suicide note read: "They want to take our property, security and herbal medicine from us, even though we have not caused harm to anyone... "It is not fair or in the best interest of the people of society..."I will never testify against you or our right to our home. I will not live in the streets without security and a place to sleep..."I am old, tired and ill, and I see no end to the harassment and pressures until they destroy us."

Samuel R. Caldwell, age 58, was the first person arrested under Federal law for selling marijuana. Caldwell was arrested on Oct. 2, 1937, the same day the federal 'Marijuana Tax Act of 1937' went into effect. (The Feds didn't waste any time or show any mercy.) Caldwell was arrested in for selling 2 joints to Moses Baca, age 26. And for selling these 2 joints Caldwell was sentenced to 4 years of hard labour in Leavenworth Penitentiary. And for buying 2 joints Baca received 18 months incarceration. (Both men served every day of their sentence.)

Since 1937 we have destroyed millions of lives, millions of innocent people have spent time in prison, others have had their homes stolen from them, loving parents have had their children taken from them, others have lost their jobs or been denied government jobs and student loans just because they have a marijuana conviction on their record. -- Isn't it about time that we brought this madness and injustice to an end?

For as William F Buckley Jr., the editor of 'The National Review' said in his article 'Free Weeds' on June 29, 2004, "Laws aren't exactly indefensible, because practically nothing is...If all our laws were paradigmatic, imagine what we would do to anyone caught lighting a cigarette, or drinking a beer... Send them all to Guantanamo?... There are approximately 700,000 marijuana-related arrests made every year... in Alabama, if you are convicted three times of marijuana possession, they'll lock you up for 15 years to life... National Review, estimates at 100,000 the number of Americans currently behind bars for one or another marijuana offense... the government should treat marijuana more or less the same way it treats alcohol: It should regulate it, control it, tax it, and make it illegal only for children."

(Read more of Samuel R. Caldwell's story at: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6684 And meet more of these dangerous criminals, or should I say victims? At cannabisconsumers.org, hr95.org and november.org)

Because of these and many more gross injustices I read about, I felt God wanted me to write a letter to John Ashcroft and to President Bush; for Jesus always defended those who were beings unjustly condemned. But first I felt I needed to learn a little more about the medical value of marijuana, and what I discovered truly amazed me.

"MEDICAL MARIJUANA?"

I discovered that the medical use of marijuana is nothing new: For over 3000 years marijuana and cannabis extracts were the most widely-used medicines in the world. In fact, Cannabis was America's number one pain reliever before the discovery of aspirin. And because it is such a powerful pain killer Queen Victoria's personal physician prescribed it to her for her menstrual cramps. And because of its remarkable medical benefits from 1842 to 1937 cannabis was one of the active ingredients in ruffle half of all medicines produced in the United States. In fact, it was even one of the active ingredients in child's cough syrup. Therefore from 1850 to 1937, the US Pharmacopoeia listed cannabis as the primary medicine for more than 100 separate illnesses and diseases. And as you will see, recent studies have confirmed its amazing medical benefits.

But the term medical marijuana really took on dramatic new meaning in February, 2000 when researchers in Madrid, Spain announced they had destroyed incurable brain tumors in rats by injecting them with THC, the most psychoactive active ingredient in marijuana. But this was not the first time that tumors had been dissolved by using Cannabis. In 1974, researchers at the Medical College of Virginia, who had been funded by the National Institute of Health to find evidence that marijuana damages the immune system, found instead that THC slowed the growth of three kinds of cancer in mice -- lung and breast cancer, and virus-induced leukemia. (But following this remarkably positive discovery, the DEA immediately halted all further cannabis/tumor research in the US: So millions of Americans who might be alive today are dead because of these and other DEA orders.)

"Two of these mice were treated with medical marijuana, one was not." (If you or someone you loved had cancer wouldn't you want to have the freedom to choose to use medical marijuana?) Download the following file and give it to your physician, it explains in precise detail how cannabis kills tumors, cuts off their blood supply, and protects healthy cells. (Download PDF http://americanmarijuana.org/Guzman-Cancer.pdf) "Breaking News" 8/15/04 'BBC News' release, 'Cannabis' brain tumor drug hope' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3561686.stm

And what did the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences have to say about the medical value of marijuana in their 1999 report to the federal government, 'Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base' ?

"Although most scientists who study cannabinoids agree that the pathways to cannabinoid drug development are clearly marked, there is no guarantee that the fruits of scientific research will be made available to the public for medical use." (p. 4) So "we concluded that there are some limited circumstances in which we recommend smoking marijuana for medical uses." (Dr. John Benson's opening remarks at the Institute of Medicine's 3/17/99 news conference.) For "except for the harms associated with smoking, the adverse effects of marijuana use are within the range of effects tolerated for other medications." (p. 5) But "it will likely be many years before a safe and effective cannabinoid delivery system, such as an inhaler, is available for patients. In the meantime there are patients with debilitating symptoms for whom smoked marijuana might provide relief." (p. 7) "For patients such as those with AIDS or who are undergoing chemotherapy and who suffer simultaneously from severe pain, nausea, and appetite loss, cannabinoid drugs might offer broad-spectrum relief not found in any other single medication." (p. 177) "The high associated with marijuana is not generally claimed to be integral to its therapeutic value. But mood enhancement, anxiety reduction, and mild sedation can be desirable qualities in medications -- particularly for patients suffering pain and anxiety. Thus, although the psychological effects of marijuana are merely side effects in the treatment of some symptoms, they might contribute directly to relief of other symptoms." (p. 84) Therefore "The critical issue is not whether marijuana or cannabinoid drugs might be superior to the new drugs, but whether some group of patients might obtain added or better relief from marijuana or cannabinoid drugs." (p. 153)

Migraines: "There is clearly a need for improved migraine medications. Sumatriptan (Imitrex) is the best available medication for migraine headaches, but it fails to abolish migraine symptoms in about 30% of migraine patents. ...However, a possible link between cannabinoids and migraine is suggested by the abundance of cannabinoid receptors in the periaqueductal gray (PAG) region of the brain. The PAG region is part of the neural system that suppresses pain and is thought to be involved in the generation of migraine headaches." (p. 143, 144) Also, Cannabis dilates (opens) arteries, and since migraine headaches are the result of artery spasms, the vascular changes cannabis causes usually make migraines disappear.

Glaucoma: "High intraocular pressure (IOP) is a known risk factor for glaucoma and can, indeed, be reduced by cannabinoids and marijuana." (p. 177) Since 14% of all blindness in America is from glaucoma. Eating or smoking Cannabis would benefit 90% of our 2.5 million glaucoma victims, and is 2 to 3 times as effective as any current medicines for reducing ocular pressure. Yet Cannabis has no toxic side effects to the liver and kidneys; nor is there any danger of the occasional sudden death syndromes associated with the legal pharmaceutical glaucoma drugs. 

But it doesn't stop there, it seems that almost monthly scientists discover or rediscover some amazing medical benefit of marijuana. ('Reuters' 10/26/05, 'Smoking Pot Not A Major Cancer Risk' http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21233.shtml) ('Anderson Valley Advertiser' 7/6/05, 'Marijuana Smoking Does Not Cause Lung Cancer' http://www.mapinc.org/norml/v05/n1106/a09.htm) ('BBC News' 8/15/04, 'Cannabis' brain tumor drug hope' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3561686.stm ) ('Forbes Magazine' 10/13/05, 'Marijuana Compound Spurs Brain Cell Growth' http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21185.shtml) ('Fox News' 2/24/05, 'Marijuana Ingredient May Help Alzheimer's' http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,148518,00.html) ('BBC' 6/9/04, 'Cannabis Drug Cuts Arthritis Pain' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3790227.stm) ('Associated Press' 4/6/05, 'Marijuana Ingredient Fights Hardened Arteries' http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,152653,00.html) Etc, etc, etc.

But even though marijuana is such an amazing and powerful medicine, yet it's so safe that even expectant mothers can use it: For according to the Institute of Medicine's 1999 report, "Jamaican women who use marijuana rarely smoke it, but instead prepare it as tea. In a study of neonates born to Jamaican women who did or did not ingest marijuana during pregnancy, there was no difference in neurobehavioral assessments made at three days after birth and at one month." (p. 124) So children born to women who drink marijuana tea during pregnancy are born perfectly normal.

And according to the Institute of Medicine, Marijuana Does Not Lead to Harder Drug Use: "There is no evidence that marijuana serves as a stepping stone on the basis of its particular physiological effect... Instead, the legal status of marijuana makes it a gateway drug." (p. 99) For since marijuana is illegal, people must buy it from an illegal drug dealer who wants to get them addicted to other drugs. (So the drug dealer is the gateway, not marijuana.) So by keeping marijuana illegal we are keeping the illegal drug deals in business and helping them get more people addicted to harder drugs.

"Why can't patients use the synthetic THC drug 'Marinol' instead of marijuana?" According to the Institute of Medicine, "The poor solubility of Marinol in aqueous solutions and its high first-pass metabolism in the liver account for its poor bioavailability; only 10-20% of an oral dose reaches the systemic circulation. The onset of action is slow; peak plasma concentrations are not attained until two to four hours after dosing. In contrast, inhaled marijuana is rapidly absorbed." (p. 203) (For more on the Institute of Medicine's findings please read their 1999 report, 'Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base' http://www.mpp.org/science.html)

Plus a month's supply of 'Marinol' costs around $600. to $800. Which explains why the Pharmaceutical Industry lobbies against marijuana reform, for if marijuana were legal some patients would be able grow safer and more effective medicine for free, and so the Pharmaceutical Industry would loose money. (Yet according to the 'United States Bureau of Mortality Statistics' pharmaceutical drugs are far more dangerous then marijuana, for ruffle 20,000 Americans die from PRESCRIPTION DRUGS use each year, and another 500 from ASPIRIN, yet NO ONE has ever died from MARIJUANA. So why should patients be forced to take dangerous pharmaceutical drugs, if they and their doctor feel that something more natural is better?)

So in 1988, after being presented with the scientific evidence of marijuana's remarkable medical benefits and amazing safety, Judge Francis L. Young, the Drug Enforcement Administration's own top administrative law judge, dismissed the DEA's false claims about marijuana being a dangerous drug and ruled instead, "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man."

And recently 7000 doctors petitioned the Government asking that they be allowed to prescribe marijuana to their patients.(http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread19619.shtml) Yet the DEA continues to insist that marijuana is a dangerous drug with no medical value.
So who is telling the truth the Institute of medicine or the DEA? -- But why would the Institute of Medicine lie? -- So who is out of touch with reality here?

Yet the DEA continues to threaten Medical Doctors and Patients: For Scott Burns speaking for the DEA on a multiple-city tour in Montana, said concerning "Ballot Initiative 148" (Which the polls showed voters were going to pass on Nov. 2, 2004) "There is no safe harbor. If this initiative passes, the (Drug Enforcement Agency) is not going away. It is still illegal in the U.S. to possess marijuana." http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/10/12/build/state/30-pot.inc)

But what ever happened to "Government by the people, and for the people"? -- For with this statement the DEA made it clear that it does not believe in "Government by the people," and they plan to continue their unjust war on the innocent, the sick, and the dying regardless of what voters say. -- So it's time for Americans to speak up, and it's time for us to dismantle the DEA! For we do not want nor do we need a dictorship and a police state!

So what Dr. George Robins (President of the Oregon Medical Association), said at an October 19, 1995 news conference, appears to be an absolute truth. For when asked if marijuana was more dangerous than aspirin, Dr. Robins said, "I don't believe that it is. The only thing dangerous about marijuana is that it is illegal." -- And because of these facts, as Dr. David L. Edwards said, "It is hard to understand how my government and profession can be so deceitful and inhumane as to deny suffering patients their safe and effective medicine. Nor how otherwise law-abiding adults can be punished for using a drug less harmful than alcohol or tobacco." (See, cannabisconsumers.org)

The more I learned about the amazing safety and medical benefits of marijuana, the more I wondered why something so good had ever became illegal? So I decided to do some more research, and again I was amazed by what I learned.
 

In the early 1900's a very powerful and very bigoted man by the name of William Randolph Hearst (who hated Asian, African, and Hispanic Americans with a passion), had 800,000 acres of his prime timber lands in Mexico seized by the Mexican Revolutionary Poncho Villa. But since Hearst was an extremely powerful lumber, paper, and newspaper tycoon, Hearst turned the power of his printing presses against "the marijuana smoking army of Poncho Villa." And since marijuana was popular among Mexicans and Blacks living in the South, Hearst decided to also use it against them. So he printed inflammatory articles about lazy Mexicans and Blacks peddling a "Killer Weed" from Mexico, which he claimed made Blacks behave disrespectfully toward white people, such as looking a white person directly in the eye, or stepping on a white person's shadow; he also claimed that marijuana could drive people insane, turn them into sex-crazed rapists and homicidal killers, and eventually brain dead vegetables (Basically, whenever something bad happened, if that person had ever smoked marijuana he blamed their actions on marijuana). Hearst wrote with such passion and alarm that he created a state of panic in the South. And Southern States began outlawing marijuana, and thousands of innocent Mexicans and Blacks were hauled off to prison.

People believed Hearst's propaganda simply because they read it month after month, year after year in their local newspapers. But what started out as one man's propaganda campaign quickly turned into a media blitz as others began to cash in on the fear and hysteria Hearst had created. So bazaar horror novels and newspaper articles were written about the imagined evils of marijuana, and in 1936 a movie was even produced called 'Reefer Madness'.' (The movie depicts a man going insane from smoking marijuana, and then killing his entire family with an ax.) But it was all lies, but the public didn't know that.

Among Hearst's most devote followers was Harry J. Anslinger. (Anslinger became the head of the new 'Federal Narcotics Bureau,' now known as the 'Drug Enforcement Administration' in 1930, serving as America's 1st and only Drug Czar until 1962.)

Then in the mid-1930's, acting on his own without any Congressional or Presidential mandate, Anslinger launched a massive campaign to outlaw marijuana nationwide: First compiling a dossier of Hearst's sensational tabloid articles which supposedly linked marijuana to violent crimes (these clippings came to be known as "The Gore Files"); Then with his newly fabricated evidence in hand, Anslinger aggressively contacted state and local governments, as well civic and church groups to enlist their help in "the extinction of this lethal weed." (Anslinger's 1935 FBN Annual Report.)

The following is most infamous of Anslinger's"gore files," inspiring the movie "Reefer Madness." (Quote taken from Duane Grindstaff's article, "The War on Drugs is Un-Christian" http://www.olywa.net/when/bible02.html & http://www.olywa.net/when/bible03.html)

But when Anslinger testified before Congress in 1937, "Marijuana is the most violence causing drug in the history of mankind." Congress believed him, because everyone thought he was an expert on marijuana and that Hearst's articles were true.

Yet honest men of Science like Assistant US Surgeon General Walter Treadway tried to calm this unwarranted hysteria, by testifying in 1937, "It [Marijuana] may be taken for a relatively long time without social or emotional breakdown. Marihuana is habit-forming. . . in the same sense as. . . sugar or coffee." Yet the voices of those who believed Hearst's propaganda prevailed for the media virtually ignored the comments of Assistant US Surgeon General Walter Treadway and those of other physicians and scientists like him, choosing instead to quote Anslinger and Hearst; for their claims were much more sensational and sold more newspapers.

Another man of science, Dr. William C. Woodward, chief counsel to the American Medical Association, testified on behalf of the medical groups, "The American Medical Association knows of no evidence that marijuana is a dangerous drug."

So Woodward asked the congressional committee, "Why this bill should have been prepared in secret for two years without any intimation, even to the profession, that it was being prepared." But he was quickly denounced by Anslinger and the entire congressional committee, and curtly excused. So the bill quickly sailed through Congress and went on to the President to be signed into law, for everyone considered Anslinger to be an expert on marijuana.

So because of Hearst's and Anslinger's propaganda campaign most of those who grow up in the 30's, 40's, and 50's came to believe that marijuana was an extremely dangerous and violence causing drug. So it wasn't until the 60's and 70's, when people once again began to experiment with marijuana that they discovered that marijuana wasn't the violence causing drug the government had warned them about, but the exact opposite was true.

But since Anslinger was allowed to remain as the head of the DEA for over 30 years, he was able completely corrupt his agency with his propaganda, promoting to highest levels of leadership only those who would embrace his irrational campaign against marijuana, which explains why even today the DEA's primary focus is on marijuana.

But because President Nixon and those in Congress believed the DEA's propaganda to be the truth, a special Presidential Commission was formed to study the effects of marijuana use, to determine if harsher laws should be enacted to discourage marijuana use. (This commission was known as the 'National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse.')

Then in 1972, the Commission released the findings of the most comprehensive study ever done by the federal government on marijuana. (A compilation of 50 separate research projects, which looked at marijuana and its impact on society from every possible angle.) But the Commission's findings shocked everyone, including Congress and the President, for instead of confirming their fears -- it completely refuted Hearst's, Anslinger's, and the DEA's lies and propaganda.

(The following are some quotes from the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse' report
"Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding" Washington, DC, U.S. Govt. Print. Off, 1972)

"The weight of the evidence is that marihuana does not cause violent or aggressive behavior; if anything marihuana serves to inhibit the expression of such behavior." (p. 73) For unlike alcohol which can cause some people to become violent, marijuana can put that same person in a happy and contended mood, thus reducing violent tendencies. "Most users, young and old, demonstrate an average or above-average degree of social functioning, academic achievement, and job performance." (p. 96) "No significant physical, biochemical, or mental abnormalities could be attributed solely to their marihuana smoking." (p. 61) "No reliable evidence exists indicating that marihuana causes genetic defects in man." (p. 84) "Recent research has not yet proven that marihuana use significantly impairs driving ability or performance." (p. 79) Now recent studies have proven that marijuana does not significantly impair driving ability, but actually seems to cause drivers to drive more cautiously. (See 'Marijuana and Driving' http://norml.com/index.cfm?Group_ID=5450) Therefore, "Neither the marihuana user nor the drug itself can be said to constitute a danger to public safety." (p. 78) "Marihuana's relative potential for harm to the vast majority of individual users and its actual impact on society does not justify a social policy designed to seek out and firmly punish those who use it." (p. 130)

But like so many politicians before and after him, Nixon chose to ignore the facts and chose instead to believe his own preconceived ideas and to launched an "ALL OUT WAR" on marijuana users. For in a recorded conversation on March 21, the day before the Commission publicly released its report, Nixon said, "We need, and I use the word 'all out war,'... we have to attack on all fronts." Nixon said he wanted a "Goddamn strong statement about marijuana ... that just tears the ass out of them!" So in 1973 NIDA was formed to twist the fact to fit Nixon's beliefs and to justify his new "War on Drugs."

(Please visit the following information links, for there is so much more you should know: Like the real reason marijuana became illegal, for there was more on Hearst's mind then just revenge. But I don't want to deal with that here, for I just want to deal with facts that are beyond question. So please visit the following links for they will truly open your eyes to the truth: 'The Untold Story' http://www.cannabis.com/untoldstory/ 'The Emperor Wears No Clothes' http://www.jackherer.com/chapters.html 'The Timeline of Misinformation' http://www.hemp-sisters.com/Information/misinformation.htm 'The History of Hemp' http://www.onlinepot.org/reefermadness/hemphistory.htm  'The History of Marijuana as Medicine - 2737 BC - Present' http://www.medicalmarijuanaprocon.org/pop/hist.htm 'Drug War History' http://www.drugactionnetwork.com/history/?content=drugwar 'Nixon's 'War on Drugs' http://www.csdp.org/news/news/nixon.htm)

But thanks to Nixon's 'War on Drugs' we have destroyed millions of lives in the last 30 years, yet their only crime was growing, consuming, or selling a plant. Yet in spite of all the innocent casualties this unjust war has caused, politicians continue to ignore the facts and continue to escalate this war, while they try to justify it with the same old lies.

For example: To justify their new wave of attacks on marijuana users the DEA recently said, "Since 1992 there has been a 152% increase in the number of teens admitted to drug rehabilitation centers for marijuana addiction. This has happened because the potency of marijuana is much higher today, and as these figures prove, it's also more addictive." (Trying to make it sound like marijuana is the most addictive drug on the planet.) -- But what do the facts say? -- According to the Institute of Medicine's 1999 report on marijuana, "Although FEW marijuana users develop dependence, some do. But they appear to be LESS LIKELY to do so than users of other drugs (including alcohol and nicotine), and marijuana dependence appears to be LESS SEVERE than dependence on other drugs." For as former Assistant US Surgeon General Walter Treadway testified in 1937, refuting the same lie, "Marihuana is habit-forming in the same sense as. . . sugar or coffee." (So marijuana is actually one of the least addictive drugs on the planet.) But the DEA will never compare marijuana with common substances like sugar, coffee, or beer; because if they did, everyone would realize that marijuana is safer then all of these. So they always isolate marijuana in a category by itself, and then distort the fact.

"So why the increase in teens being admitted rehab centers?"
Simply because the government is arresting more people today then it did in 1992.

According to FBI records, in 1992, ruffle 340,000 people were arrested for marijuana possession; but in 2002, that number jumped to ruffle 700,000 people. (So that alone accounts for more than 100% of the increase.) Add to that the government's NEW MANDATORY SENTENCING LAWS, which send minor drug offenders through MANDATORY rehabilitation programs, and that accounts for the rest of the increase. So it's the DEA that has become more dangerous, not marijuana! For the DEA seeks to enact even harsher laws, while they continue to deny the sick and dying their medicine, and send otherwise law abiding citizens to prison where they can be beaten and raped, while also giving our teens criminal records. So they have done more harm to society in the last 30 years, then marijuana ever could: For as Dr. Robins said, "The only thing dangerous about marijuana is that it is illegal." (Please read the 'NORML Truth Report' for it exposes more of the DEA's lies. http://norml.com/pdf_files/NORML_Truth_Report_2005.pdf)

So why does the DEA so vehemently oppose marijuana reform? Because once the truth of marijuana's amazing benefits and its remarkable safety becomes widely known, it will destroy their agency. (For they will no longer be able to justify all the lives they have destroyed and all the property they have stolen.) So like a criminal they lie to cover their sins and to keep their high paying jobs and plush offices. (So the DEA alone bares the blame for all that has happened! For the President, Congress, and the America people counted on them to tell us the truth, but instead they have lied to all of us! So they are the ones who should be sent to prison.)

But their lies can never change the truth, for as the 'Canadian 'Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs' said in 2002, after completing their comprehensive 2 year study 'CANNABIS: OUR POSITION FOR A CANADIAN PUBLIC POLICY', "Scientific evidence OVERWHELMINGLY indicates that cannabis is SUBSTANTIALLY less harmful than alcohol ...hence our preference for legalization over decriminalization," said Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, Chair of the Special Committee. (View their 55 page "Senate Summary Report" at http://www.medicalmarihuana.ca/pdfiles/senatesummary.pdf)
 

Prohibition is unbiblical -- For God NEVER told us to punish others for what they choose to take into their own bodies or to put a prohibition on any of the plants He created. So Prohibition, like Slavery, is something no Christian should support: For Prohibition goes beyond what is written in the Bible and in the Constitution and condemns people for things that are neither sins against God nor crimes against humanity. (1 Corinthians 4:6)

For as Abraham Lincoln said, "Prohibition... goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded."

For God gave people the freedom to consume anything they want, as long as their choice doesn't violate another person's free will. As our Founding Fathers declared, "We the people of the United States of America...hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." So the right to make personal choices belongs to the individual, not the State!

For as Paul said, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." (1 Corinthians 6:12) So though some things like alcohol and cigarettes may not be the best choice, yet each person has the God given freedom to choose for themselves. "Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink..." (See Colossians 2:16-23) For God is more concerned with what's in your heart, then he is with what enters your mouth. (See, Mark 7:18-23, Titus 1:15, & Luke 6:45) Therefore we're not to pass laws or enforce laws that deny people their God given right to grow and consume any plant they want, for God said, "I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed." (Genesis 1:29-31) So we're not to nullify the Word of God or to condemn others just because their personal convictions don't agree with our own. (See Romans chapters 14 & 15)

So please, "Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy." (Proverbs 31:8-9)

How can you help? Let people know that you support reforming these unjust laws. Write your Congressman, state, and local officials to let them know that they do not gain your vote or support by enacting or enforcing these unjust laws. And ask your Congressman to introduce legislation that would move marijuana from a 'Schedule 1 drug' to a 'Schedule 3 drug,' in the same category as other prescription drugs.

For as long as marijuana remains a 'Schedule 1 drug' in the same category as heroin, people will continue to be tried on Federal felony charges and sent to prison for simple possession.

But as a 'Schedule 3 drug' doctors would be allowed to prescribe it, and people without a prescription would only be charged with a minor crime rather then a felony and possibly years in prison, and States would be allowed to regulate it like other prescription drugs, and scientists would be allowed to do research on its medical benefits. (For right now the DEA only allows scientists who state they are trying to prove marijuana is harmful to have access to marijuana for research -- So the government only rewards scientists who will give them the ammunition they want, while they hinder all other research -- This isn't true science, this is hiring propagandists to distort the facts.)

So please, "Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy." (Proverbs 31:8-9) And copy this letter and share it with others.

For smoking marijuana doesn't make someone a bad person. Yet I understand that people who have never tried marijuana are naturally scared of it because of all the propaganda they have heard over the years. But since they think marijuana is somehow evil, they also seem to assume that those who use it must be somewhat demented, and so there is no public outrage when otherwise law abiding citizens are unjustly punished. Yet this stigma against marijuana users is like any other prejudice - it's based upon ignorance and fear,  rather then upon truth and justice.

I know because in the 70's I was one of these despised people, and that's probably why the Lord has called me to speak out for them. Yet the only reason I gave it up was because I didn't want people who thought it was evil, to reject my testimony of Christ because of it. For in Romans chapters 14 & 15, Paul basically says, not to let what is a good thing for you be spoken of as evil, for Paul said he wouldn't even eat meat or drink wine if it offended someone else; not because it was wrong, but because someone else assumed it was wrong. So too, there's nothing evil or immoral about marijuana: For all it does is it just puts you in a calm, reflective, and happy mood -- Where you seem to hear your conscience more clearly and appreciate the simple beauties of life more. Sometimes I'd smoke a joint with someone as I told them of the Creator's love, and they'd listen and ponder those things. Sometimes I'd smoke a joint in my private devotional time with the Lord, because it helped me to shut out other things and focus on the things God was speaking to my heart in prayer and in His word. Yet I never once felt God condemn me for it -- Nevertheless, for the sake of Christ, for the sake of the consciences of the weak, I gave it up.

So for the next 27 years I didn't smoke marijuana or even talk about it; but in 2002, as I watched these Federal raids on State-approved medical marijuana gardens in California, and watched these sick and dying people being hauled off to jail, I suddenly realized that I had been wrong: For Jesus wasn't concerned about his own reputation, he ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners, and when the Pharisees wanted to condemn them for things that the Bible didn't call sin He defended them. For Jesus wasn't afraid to be associated with the social outcasts of His day, or to be known as their friend, because He cared about them. And because of that, their hearts were open to receive the gospel He preached, though they had rejected the gospel of the Pharisees.

And the Lord spoke this verse to my heart, "Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy." (Proverbs 31:8-9), and I knew what I was to do.

But it's been a hard road, for some of my brothers and sisters have turned against me, but I know that God wants these innocent people in our prisons and jails and this entire subculture to know that 'God is not against them, nor are all Christians', so I must continue. But like one of the first sent into a battle, I'm taking a lot of fire, and sometimes I get hit, and it hurts; but hopefully it will not be in vain, but make it easier for those who come after me: For I hope this turns into a movement -- for most of those who use cannabis are good and carrying people, and that is why they like the peaceful high marijuana gives them. (See, letfreedomgrow.org, cannabisconsumers.org & saferchoice.org)

And I also believe that many of these people would respond to the gospel if they were to see 'Christians as their friends, rather then their enemies'. So as Chuck Smith (the founder of the 'Calvary Chapel' fellowships) took the Gospel to the Hippies in the 70's and let them know that God didn't care about their long hair and music (though much of the Church did at the time), so too I want to say to this subculture, "God doesn't care about your pot, He loves you and just wants your heart." For this whole subject would be a none issue with God, if it weren't for the fact that so many innocent people are being punished for something that isn't even a sin.

Sincerely,

Jim
 

PS
If you don't know God and want to find out more about Him, or if you want to share the 'Good News' with others: Please download a free copy my 'Good News' pamphlet; for it explains the gospel in a clear and understandable way, so that people can have faith to believe. Plus it presents the gospel from God's perspective, as Jesus did in the story of the "Prodigal Son." For God is a loving Heavenly Father who longs for our relationship with Him to be restored -- This is the 'Message' God wants the world to hear. -- So please feel free to reproduce it and share it with others. (You can download it at:  http://geocities.com/jimatto/GoodNews.pdf)

(But if you can, please send a financial gift to help get the word out to others, for I want to send this letter out to every pastor in Oregon, and then to every pastor in the US, city by city, state by state.) Write me at: Jim Atto, Jr. 2625 Avenue A, White City, OR 97503, or email me:jimatto@mail.com, or call: 541 826-7973)