Pubdate: Thu, 09 Feb 2012
Source: Almaguin News (CN ON)
Copyright: Almaguin News 2012
Contact:  http://www.almaguinnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3732
Author: Wayne Phillips
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n096/a09.html

HOW DID MARIJUANA BECOME ILLEGAL?

RE: Almaguin News, Feb. 2, Page 4, "Right promise to legalize
marijuana"

I'd like to congratulate and thank Dan Mulligan for his efforts as a
new member and Parry Sound - Muskoka delegate. But mostly, I applaud
his efforts for attempting to revisit the origins of marijuana
prohibition.

While Mulligan's explanation goes toward explaining why cannabis was
initially criminalized - a means to grant the RCMP wide-ranging search
and seizure authorities - it does not explain how "there is a new drug
in the schedule," which was the only reference to something being
added (to the schedule) mysteriously and became "cannabis indica" -
or, on the other hand, maybe it does.

The Peter Pot Prayer presents the most clarity on the origins of
marijuana prohibition. In fact, the Peter Pot Prayer by Peter John
Curran (Liberal) tells us that: "in a private conversation with the
Honourable Mr. Leon Ladner (one of the surviving members of the 1923
legislature), held on May 14, 1977, Mr. Ladner, now 94 years old, but
exceptionally alert and competent, said he could not recall ever
hearing the words "marijuana," "Indian Hemp," "cannabis Indica," or
"Hasheesh" mentioned in The House of Commons. Mr. Ladner said he was
not aware that he was one of the legislators that originally
incorporated marijuana into the Canadian narcotic laws."

Wayne Phillips

Hamilton
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.