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CANNABIS IN ASIA.
By admin | October 29, 2004
By Christian Lloyd Bell
From Cannabis Digest Fall 2004 (Issue #4).
Marijuana is indigenous to and originates from Taiwan and Korea. Pharmacist and emperor Shen Nung used it as an anesthetic 5,000 years ago in China.
His medical book is called Pen-ts’ao Ching. In 2,700 BCE that same emperor said it helped female weakness, gout, rheumatism, malaria, beri-beri (disease in China caused by vitamin B deficiency), constipation, and absentmindedness.
Cannabis has been used in Asia for millennia. It is ironic that now cannabis has received a disappointing reception in the medical community and that no medical cannabis suppliers can be found in East Asia, albeit my investigations are from Canada. Perhaps not surprising, the hegemonic American drug regime has had its way with the traditional medical complex in China and most of Asia. Cannabis is illegal even though most herbs are used for medicinal purpose. Cannabis and its constituent parts are pretty much non-existent as an herbal medicine- though much literature is written about medicinal cannabis, both the seeds and male plants. Contact us if you know about any medical cannabis providers in Asia as the drug laws in Asia appear to be harsh enough to stop cold any establishment of medical cannabis clubs.
The Japanese Association for Medical Marijuana (JAMM) is a non-profit group that campaigns to make marijuana a legal medicine. Ogasawara Kenji is one of the founders of the JAMM. He is a 34-year-old Tokyo businessman who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis five years ago. “I experience recurring problems with balance and bladder control and get very severe pins and needles, often so bad that I lose the feeling in my hands and feet,” explains Ogasawara. Medicine prescribed by his doctors bring some relief from his condition but the steroids cause weight gain, weakening of the bones leading to frequent fracturing, and, very commonly, extreme depression. “I started to feel an improvement very quickly. I arrived in Hawaii in a wheelchair and three weeks later left walking with a cane.”
Kenji is a brave Samaria considering the stiff penalties one faces in Japan for marijuana possession or trafficking. The possession, supply and use of hemp was outlawed in the 1948 Hemp Control Law by the colonialist American administration (rewrote the Japanese constitution in 1945), and the law has not been struck down since. Possession of marijuana carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. Production and trafficking would carry stiffer jail time.
Koichi Maeda, owner of a hemp restaurant, a hemp shop and writer of several books about hemp, is another founding member of JAMM and says “The Ministry of Health says that marijuana is a very dangerous drug,” he notes, “but it has never conducted research into the physical and mental effects of marijuana.� These two Japanese represent the front line resistance against the American lead war on drugs Please support all medical cannabis suppliers in your region.
Topics: Articles, CD-4th, Fall 2004 | Comments Off
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