Hello, my name is Mark and I have a confession to make: I have a drug addiction. When I go a day without my fix, I develop withdrawal headaches and find myself wholly unable to function. There are times when I have become so dependent on it that I have gone on binges, after which I end up feeling ill and strung out.
I am not alone in this; my drug of choice is the most frequently used and abused psychoactive substance in the world. According to Canadian dietician George Malkmus, 80 percent of North Americans consume it on a daily basis. I am not talking about cocaine, adderall or methamphetamines. The drug I am addicted to is caffeine.
Let us briefly consider the chemical reaction of caffeine in the brain.
Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant. It is structurally similar to adenosine, the chemical that is responsible for making you tired and regulating your sleep cycle. When caffeine is released into the central nervous system, it binds to the adenosine receptors and acts as an inhibitor.
By blocking the receptors, it counteracts the natural effects of the adenosine. In other words, the substance does not actually make users more energetic; it tricks their bodies into forgetting that they are tired.
Moderate amounts of caffeine are able to increase someone’s mental and physical stamina and make him more productive. However, a tolerance is able to develop extremely quickly. In order to compensate for the adenosine receptors inhibited by the caffeine, your brain will create more receptors.
As a result of the increased adenosine picked up by your brain, you will begin to feel more fatigued than you would have had you never consumed any caffeine in the first place. Consequently, the amount of caffeine that would have once made you feel energetic is now necessary in order for your brain to function normally.
Caffeine withdrawal is characterized by headaches, fatigue, nausea and even depression in some cases.
Aside from dependence, it is also possible to overdose on caffeine. In high enough doses, caffeine causes irritability, muscle spasms, insomnia and loss of inhibitions. In some extreme cases, caffeine overdose can even lead to death. (This is almost impossible with the amount of caffeine contained in coffee, but caffeine pills have had deaths associated with them.) From this, my point is clear that caffeine is a fairly dangerous and addictive drug.
Contrast caffeine with marijuana. The primary psychoactive substance in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol, otherwise known as THC.
Throughout the brain there are cannabinoid receptors and neurotransmitters. What this suggests is that THC actually affects the brain in the same way a naturally occurring chemical does, so it does not physically alter one’s brain chemistry as most psychoactive drugs do.
A version of this article appeared in the Mar 2 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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I did a study of the averaged cost of cannabis prohibition to each American citizen. The resultant cost is $800.00/yr per person. But, prohibition itself skews this number due to the profit margin generated by cannabis being illicit in the first place. The actual cost if it was legal for adults to use it & the taxes were imposed at 10% per tare weight would mean a reduced net cost of $80.00/yr per family member. The NIDA home page oddly shows each of the legal recreational drugs (alcohol & tobacco) to have almost exactly the same cost/yr per person as cannabis. This is due to the extremely high taxes placed on them by federal, state, & local govts combined. Considering that over-taxation has the same effect , due to bootlegging & smuggling , as prohibition does of inviting criminal trafficking, I found the govt policy of prohibition or over-taxation actually if to blame for the high cost to each American. So, alcohol, tobacco, & cannabis sales fairly taxed would reduce the cost to each American by 90%. Imagine how that 90% of misdirected man-made inflation could be applied to paying down the national & states debt & we see that the war on cannabis users & the wallets of legal recreational drugs really is taking a major bite out of a family of four's budget.
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So, the next time a cannabis law reform advocate says, "regulate it, legalize it & tax the H*ll out of it", please, explain how this actually encourages criminal organization to re-enter the trafficking of cannabis. Have you noticed the pattern that every time medical marijuana or possession laws are reformed the prohibitionists immediate produce on demand medical studies that show cannabis can cause psychosis, gynamascostia, cancer, or some such nonsense. The 6 year study just happened to be released as N.J. medical marijuana law is about to take effect. Yet, the study admits it shows now proven connection to cannabis & is useless when taken in it's entirety. But, as usual, the MSM took only the bullet points it found to be the most inflammatory. Crying, "marijuana may increase chance of psychosis". Echoes of 'Marijuana Madness' have reverberated in headlines like that every year since the erroneously named 'Marihuana Tax Stamp Act of 1937' was enacted via deception. What your article actually comes down to is that cannabis was made illicit via all manner of demonetization & deception & it's been kept illegal by way of deceptive prohibition hit piece articles ever since. Prohibition created demand for cannabis when it was turned into the 'forbidden fruit'. Thusly, demand for cannabis has increased 5000% since president Nixon declared the war on (some) drugs (& users).
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Regulation via legalization employing reasonable taxation is the only answer to the evils prohibition itself creates. The president could simply announce that the fact that cannabis was only to be temporarily made a class I CSA drug & wasn't ever properly classified. That, henceforth, the federal govt had finally decided to treat & regulate cannabis the same as we already do the legal recreational drugs, alcohol & tobacco. Americans know these regulations & would quickly understand that cannabis sales were going to be regulated & taxed. This system is the 'demon we know' & would be reassuring & reasonable to most Americans. How simple & elegant a solution to the current unwinnable conundrum of cannabis prohibition we find ourselves in. The alternative is to see cannabis prohibition entirely play out the hard way, like the Volstead act did. It's interesting that the NIDA doesn't recognize their own figures for the high cost in dollars to society for cannabis actually shows how ubiquitous it has become. So, how is prohibition even slowing the increase in cannabis use when it's widely & readily available on a nationwide basis? I contend that millions of Americans have found & are finding that cannabis is not as dangerous as & is preferable to the use of alcohol. Excellent article, thank you for your good work.
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