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| Image: David Potter / Oxford University Press |
Previous research had claimed that the ancients of the area only grew hemp for clothing and rope but this recent discovery casts doubt on the singular use of the plant. The ancient people of the Gobi people did not use hemp for industrial purposes, they were getting high on marijuana either through eating it or smoking it, however no smoking utensils were found in the tomb.
Since it is believed that the people of what is now Turpan, China were not smoking the cannabis, it's highly likely that they regarded marijuana as a medicinal herb which they consumed orally that they used to treat many different ailments. Here are a few of the health benefits of cannabis that recent research has proven:
- 10 Cannabis Studies The Government Wishes It Never Funded
- Cannabis Prevents Cancer From Spreading
- Using Cannabis Oil To Cure Leukemia
See even more cannabis health benefits here.
Maybe the ancients were on to something, with all the health benefits that are now associated with the cannabis wonder plant, it's no wonder they were buried with it.
This brings us back to why the cannabis plant is illegal. According to republicreport.org, these are the top 5 contributors to keeping marijuana illegal:
1.) Police Unions: Police departments across the country have become dependent on federal drug war grants to finance their budget. In March, we published a story revealing that a police union lobbyist in California coordinated the effort to defeat Prop 19, a ballot measure in 2010 to legalize marijuana, while helping his police department clients collect tens of millions in federal marijuana-eradication grants. And it’s not just in California. Federal lobbying disclosures show that other police union lobbyists have pushed for stiffer penalties for marijuana-related crimes nationwide.
2.) Private Prisons Corporations: Private prison corporations make millions by incarcerating people who have been imprisoned for drug crimes, including marijuana. As Republic Report’s Matt Stoller noted last year, Corrections Corporation of America, one of the largest for-profit prison companies, revealed in a regulatory filing that continuing the drug war is part in parcel to their business strategy. Prison companies have spent millions bankrolling pro-drug war politicians and have used secretive front groups, like the American Legislative Exchange Council, to pass harsh sentencing requirements for drug crimes.
3.) Alcohol and Beer Companies: Fearing competition for the dollars Americans spend on leisure, alcohol and tobacco interests have lobbied to keep marijuana out of reach. For instance, the California Beer & Beverage Distributors contributed campaign contributions to a committee set up to prevent marijuana from being legalized and taxed.
4.) Pharmaceutical Corporations: Like the sin industries listed above, pharmaceutical interests would like to keep marijuana illegal so American don’t have the option of cheap medical alternatives to their products. Howard Wooldridge, a retired police officer who now lobbies the government to relax marijuana prohibition laws, told Republic Report that next to police unions, the “second biggest opponent on Capitol Hill is big PhRMA” because marijuana can replace “everything from Advil to Vicodin and other expensive pills.”
5.) Prison Guard Unions: Prison guard unions have a vested interest in keeping people behind bars just like for-profit prison companies. In 2008, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association spent a whopping $1 million to defeat a measure that would have “reduced sentences and parole times for nonviolent drug offenders while emphasizing drug treatment over prison.”
(Source: republicreport.org)It seems that the tide is turning in the marijuana debate, however. After Sanjay Gupta's recent flip-flop on marijuana, and the public polling now strongly favoring legalization, even the political establishment is starting to have to relax it's arrogant stance on marijuana policy. Whole states and cities are now voting to be legal pot sanctuaries as the old anti-marijuana propaganda that has been in full effect since the 1930's falls to the wayside of real science.
