Word: marijuana
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Current attempts to stamp out Colombia's drugs still seem to be mere stopgaps, however, ineffectual against the tide of American demand for, and tolerance of, marijuana and cocaine. Says Bensinger: "Our efforts are so uphill that it is more than a challenge. The public attitude must change about drugs so the profitability for traffickers will decrease." On this point, Colombian President Turbay agrees: "Colombians are not corrupting Americans. You are corrupting us. If you abandon illegal drugs, the traffic will disappear...
...used as an aphrodisiac, but Indian monks take it to repress physical desires. Caribbean laborers use it by day as an "energizer," but by night as a sedative. Marijuana is a paradox...
...15th century B.C., when it was used in China as an anesthetic, a ritual potion, a condiment and an intoxicant. As it moved on to India and beyond, it was applied to all manner of miseries: allergies, rheumatism, falling hair, tapeworm, leprosy, gonorrhea, failing memory and dandruff. Today marijuana is being considered as a treatment to reduce eyeball pressure in glaucoma patients and to reduce vomiting by cancer patients receiving drug therapy...
Systematic scientific studies of marijuana's benefits or dangers began with the isolation and synthesis in 1965 of the plant's principal psychoactive ingredient-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. But that is only one of more than 100 chemical substances in marijuana, some of which exert their own characteristic effects. Further hampering marijuana studies is the difficulty of screening out such other factors as environmental or genetic influences, and deciding what constitutes long-term use or heavy use. To date, most results have been based on studies of laboratory animals or small groups of healthy young men. Thus little...
About the only findings so far that have widespread support are the drug's effects on the heart and the lungs. Marijuana accelerates the rate at which the heart contracts and may temporarily weaken the strength of the contractions, making it potentially dangerous for people with certain cardiac conditions. Smoking pot irritates the lungs and throat and can result in "joint cough." Long-term use may impair the lungs. Other tentative findings...