Marijuana Commission report

Early in this century, much concern about use of marijuana was aroused in the Panama Canal area. The Army s investigative body came to the same conclusions as the 1894 Indian Hemp Commission that Cannabis is comparatively innocuous, that it s not addictive, etc. Another commission established soon after in New Orleans produced the same findings. The most famous of all these investigative bodies, the LaGuardia Commission, reported in 1943 on the use of marijuana in New York City with the same results. 

Several influential reports have appeared on the use of marijuana and its effects, including the 1894 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report and the 1944 LaGuardia Commission Report. Such reports have tended to find that marijuana use overall is not particularly harmful to society at large. 

Ellinwood, E.H., Jr. Amphetamine and stimulant drugs. In Drug Use in America Problem in Perspective. Seeond report of the National Commission on Marijuana and Dmg Abuse, Vol. I. Washington, DC ... 

Widely used in India and the Middle East, marijuana was viewed as an innocuous social drug by many British and other foreign observers. In 1894, the Indian Hemp Commission issued a voluminous report that concluded ... 

A voluminous report from the Indian Hemp Commission concludes that hemp (marijuana), when used moderately, does not lead to excess and causes no more injury than moderate use of alcohol. 

Laws about marijuana have been the subject of controversy for many years. When marijuana use spread to the middle class in the 1960s and 1970s, public attitudes toward it softened. In 1970, President Richard Nixon created the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse. In 1972, the Commission issued its report, "Marijuana A Signal of Misunderstanding." This report recommended the elimination of criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana.,—... 

After the enactment of the CSA there followed a period of uncertainty as the use of illicit drugs increased. Because of conflicts between the philosophy of enforcement and that of treatment or toleration, a presidential National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse (NCMDA) was established in 1972. Its task was to report within a year on marijuana, its highest priority, and within 2 years on drug abuse in general. The committee s first report recommended that possession of small amounts of marijuana should be decriminalized (i.e., a finable offense not subject to incarceration). The final report appeared in March 1973 and reconfirmed its original recommendation. Despite these recommendations, President Nixon remained opposed to decriminalization. 

When he took office as the country s Drug Czar in 1996, Barry McCaffrey insisted there was not a shred of scientific evidence that smoking marijuana was useful or necessary. Nevertheless, McCaffrey commissioned yet another report to evaluate the scientific validity of marijuana for patients. The National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine undertook an 18-month study of all available scientific evidence on medical marijuana. The 1999 report s authors found that the active components in marijuana appear to be helpful in treating pain, nausea, AIDS-related weight loss,... 

The report of the Indian Hemp Drags Commission has been widely praised for its thoroughness and impartiality. "The most complete and systematic study of marijuana undertaken to date," one critic has said. Another has described the report as "by far the most complete collection of information on marijuana in existence."... 

Probably the most comprehensive of later studies on marijuana is the First Report of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, appropriately titled "Marihuana —... 

Kaplan, J. (1969) Marijuana. Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893-1894. Thomas Jefferson Publishing Co., Silver Spring, MD. 

In response to the new laws, McCaffrey began an effort to defeat medical marijuana legislation in other states. Despite his efforts, seven other states went ahead and legalized medical marijuana. In looking for a way to slow the building momentum of the medical marijuana movement, McCaffrey commissioned a report from the lOM, which he felt sure would support his position. 

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