The words toxic and intoxicated were derived from the Greek word toxon, which refers to a bow and arrow that featured arrowheads dipped in poison. The poison was sufficient in most cases to kill a soldier on the battlefield, even if the arrow missed a vital organ. An infected wound by itself could be lethal. Only 45 percent of people given medical treatments survived severe infections brought on by wounds or surgical procedures like amputations. It was a time when the average lifespan was 26 years. Just four-percent of the population made it past age fifty. A thorough knowledge and ability to identify medicines and poisons was critical to survival.
Hippocrates, Galen, Celsus, and other medical practitioners were skilled enough to know that a substance that could kill a person could also treat them for pain or cure an illness. It was just a matter of dosage and balancing different medical objectives. Examples included opium and hemlock. Hemlock, the poison used in 399 BCE by anti-intellectuals to execute the anti-authoritarian philosopher Socrates, the alleged corruptor of little Greek children’s respect for authority, fell into this category. Hemlock’s active neurotoxin, coniine, is a sedative and anti-spasmodic. It can also treat arthritis and joint pain. However, its effective dose is so close to its lethal dose that it isn’t practical for medical use.
Absent from the pharmacopeia of dangerously toxic substances was cannabis. Dipping an arrowhead into hash oil didn’t do anything in terms of harming the enemy. Hashish didn’t kill anyone who consumed it, including Socrates or the physicians Galen or Hippocrates. It’s even possible it could benefit a wounded recipient. Modern research indicates THC and CBD possess anti-microbial activities that can affect bacterial membranes and interfere with virulent infections. Lacking any harmful side effects, the early Greeks and Romans never considered hashish or marijuana to be a toxin or toxic, something that interferes with the reproduction of human cells.
Marijuana’s nontoxicity challenges the belief that the herb fits the category defined as intoxicating in the same sense as alcohol, opioids, or Cupid’s arrow. Religious groups such as Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Mormonism, Christian Science, and the Baháʼí Faith base their rejections of cannabis on presumptions that it intoxicates. If cannabis fails in the literal sense of the word to be lethal in large enough dosages, then how does it intoxicate?
Users know marijuana’s effects are different from anything else listed in Schedule I or Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). It clearly deserves its own unique classification, as well as unique subcategories for its useful components. The CSA itself could use a complete makeover. Its five categories are too few to cover the full spectrum of different drug effects it encompasses. Potentially fatal chemical compounds end up being misclassified together along with non-toxic substances.
The confusion comes as no surprise. The CSA was signed into law on October 27, 1970, by President Richard M. Nixon, making it the fruit of a poisonous tree that resulted in a new type of drug war and added to the systemic social inequalities among different races and cultures.
Other substances miscataloged in Schedule I due to politics or hysteria include psychedelics like psilocybin, MDMA, ibogaine, DMT, mescaline, and LSD. These compounds are often rejected because they are seen as challenging the boundaries of mind-body duality. Certain religious groups still maintain that matter possesses two distinct forms, living and non-living, and that the distinction is absolute. In theology it’s called vitalism. Vitalism asserts that an inert or non-living substance cannot affect the mind, the soul, or the élan vital without an intermediary spiritual force being present. The spiritual force is always presumed to be satanic. Thus, these substances are still viewed by some as demonic, as poisonous to the soul.
The vitalist theological controversy was resolved in 1828 when a talented and famous young German chemist named Dr. Friedrich Wöhler discovered how to make urea, the organic chemical found in urine, a “living chemical,” using only non-living chemicals. His discovery meant living and non-living chemicals were essentially the same thing, that both are chemicals. Wöhler is considered to be the father of organic or carbon-based chemistry. Vitalism has since been discarded as a pseudoscience.
If anything can be said to be toxic, it’s the drug war. Since 1970, the drug war’s failure to stem addictions and drug-related accidents has resulted in estimates of 1.1 million deaths from overdoses. Drug cartels and drug enforcement activities have added to the mortality. In fifty years, the U.S. has spent at least $1 trillion dollars on enforcement, much of it related to incarceration costs. The global cocaine supply has since increased by 400-percent. Marijuana is well on its way to becoming a staple commodity in free countries throughout the world. The intoxicating lure of drug enforcement funding still attracts thousands of grifters addicted to the drug war in ways that seek to capitalize on it or weaponize it in some political or tribal fashion. In terms of actual toxicity, America’s drug war needs to be put on the CSA’s Schedule I because it fits the three primary Schedule I criteria: It possesses a greater potential for abuse than drugs, it has no accepted medical use, and it is unsafe.
Speaking of Socrates, I wonder if you have seen the video “Socrates versus Freedom” by Filthy Heretic?
I checked out the Filthy Heretic and Socrates versus Freedom. He’s good at heresy and he covers more material than I do. I didn’t find too much related to drugs beyond the psychedelic graphics. I did find some people on the web who had invented a cocktail called the Filthy Heretic…take two parts vodka, one part tart cherry juice, one part simple syrup, one part fresh lemon juice, one-half part chambord. Shake with ice and pour into a martini glass.
Researchers are investigating psychedelics and sex. Participation in future research is provided through an updated survey available to anyone interested in joining.
The Journal of Sex Research: Link
Cannabis given to Australian patients who do not respond to conventional medical treatments resulted in health related improvements:
The ACP weighs in on cannabis:
CBD reduces autism (ASD) symptoms in children:
Speaking of autism and what causes it:
A functional wiring diagram of the brain has been revealed that will aid in future brain research focusing on brain pathways related to addiction.
From the paper:…For many patients, evidence suggests that the known harms of cannabis outweigh the (potentially small degree of benefit to ease chonic noncancer pain.)…
My experience has been different. I benefit from daily cannabis use for chronic noncancer pain. So much so that I was able to replace 5 prescriptions (polypharmacy) with cannabis.
Morphine, gabapentin, ibuprofen, soma, and a tricyclic antidepressant Elavil.
Here’s an AI overview: Polypharmacy, or taking multiple medications at once carries significant risks including increased adverse drug reactions, cognitive impairment, falls, and even mortality. — These dangers are amplified in older adults and individuals with multiple chronic conditions.
The cannabis harms pale in comparison to polypharmacy. Everyone has different results with medicine and perhaps I’m just lucky to be prescription-free for the last 11 years thanks to cannabis.
The paper talks about harm from addiction and harm from impairment. Both legitimate concerns. However, my cannabis use has remined steady for decades. I use 1/2-to-3/4 of a gram per day. I’m not worried about addiction. In regard to impairment in driving? I’m totally fine to drive after a few tokes. The one time I wasn’t several years ago I simply stayed home.
I’m a highly-educated cannabis consumer and my benefits are real. If this wasn’t the case I’d still be taking prescriptions and doing polypharmacy. Cannabis reduces suffering better than prescriptions.
Not having to wait on oral medicine is a huge bonus for osteoarthritis and/or neuropathy.
So, if you can, rule-out cannabis before prescriptions if your conditions permit it. Things like diabetes and cardiac issues are best served with prescription medications.
But, if your issues are arthritis or neuropathy? Weed might be the best chioce.
Psychedelic control of the fear response examined:
A single psilocybin treatment lasts for weeks:
Latent psychotic disorders (HPPD) associated with psychedelics are investigated in research volunteers in London and San Francisco: