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The History of Marijuana and Medical Marijuana

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The history of marijuana and medical benefits

Dona Rudd

COM/172

March 20, 2012
Russell Murphy

The history of marijuana and medical benefits

Although possessing marijuana is a federal offense pending, some states allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, generating revenue for the states. There are 16 states’ and Washington DC, in which marijuana is being, used for medicinal purposes and not break any laws. Eighteen states’ are pending Legislation to legalize medical marijuana. There are documents stating that the Chinese used marijuana for paper, the process consisted of hemp around 2000 BC. According to Guither, P. Drug Warrant (2006), “America’s first marijuana law was enacted at Jamestown Colony, Virginia in 1619. It was a law “ordering” all of the farmers to grow Indian hempseed. There were several other “must grow” laws over the next 200 years. A person could be jailed for not growing hemp during times of shortage in Virginia between 1763 and 1767, and during most of that time, hemp was legal tender a person could even pay their taxes with hemp and try that today. Hemp was such a critical crop for a number of purposes including essential war requirements and rope, excreta. That the government went out of its way to encourage growth” Guither, P. ( 2006) (para 6).
The history of marijuana Marijuana has many different names, Hemp, Ma, and Marihuana are just a few of the names in which marijuana is called. Marijuana and hemp are the same plant but they have different uses. According to Cannabis MD (2008), “during the early days of the American colonies, industrial hemp products became indispensable to the world trade; hemp was a government-mandated crop” (para 26). Two of the United States past Presidents, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson had “repeatedly extolled the many virtues of hemp” (para 31). The

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