Cannabis is safer

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 * Share links: safer - safer cannabis - safercannabis. See: Drug war causes high U.S. incarceration rate. And: Republican-led drug war. And: Register and vote.

Click the images below to enlarge them, and for info. 10 marijuana myths exposed.
 * Marijuana Legalization in Washington State: One-Year Status Report. July 6, 2015. By Drug Policy Alliance. "New Report Finds Major Fiscal Benefits, Decrease in Violent Crime, No Increase in Youth Marijuana Use or Traffic Fatalities – And Massive Drop in Marijuana Arrests."
 * House Republicans say no to allowing federal studies of medical marijuana. . July 9, 2015.
 * Video. The Difference Between Getting Drunk and Getting High. . ATTN.
 * See also: Marijuana Is Safer.org.

Tobacco: One in nine deaths globally
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6.4 million deaths attributed to smoking tobacco in 2015.. Out of 56.6 million deaths worldwide in 2015.. That is one out of nine deaths actually, not one out of ten.


 * The number of deaths from smoking has gotten worse instead of better. By Quentin Fottrell. June 3, 2017. MarketWatch. From the article ( emphasis  added):


 * The Lancet: The war on tobacco: Latest estimates show need for 'renewed and sustained' efforts on control policies. April 5, 2017. EurekAlert! Science News.
 * Smoking prevalence and attributable disease burden in 195 countries and territories, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. April 2017. The Lancet.

Tobacco: One in five deaths in USA
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480,000 deaths attributed to tobacco smoking in the USA yearly. Out of 2.6 million deaths yearly in the USA. That is almost one in five deaths in the USA.

E-cigarettes
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Harm reduction taking hold concerning tobacco.


 * Smoking numbers hit new low as Britons turn to vaping to help quit cigarettes. By Sarah Boseley. 7 March 2017. The Guardian. And: E-cigarettes should be offered to smokers, say doctors - BBC News. . By Michelle Roberts. 28 April 2016. BBC News.

Tobacco versus cannabis
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New Study: Cigarettes Tied To Increased Stroke Risk But Not Marijuana. January 2, 2017. And: Cannabis is less harmful than tobacco and the world is waking up to it. June 27, 2016 article. "A report from Bloomberg.com published in June 2015 stated that 29 percent of U.S. life insurers with official policies in place for cannabis users now class them as non-smokers."

 Worth repeating: marijuana decreases risk of lung cancer.  By David Downs on June 9, 2015. And it does not cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Cannabis does not have the hundreds of synthetic additives found in cigarettes.

[https://web.archive.org/web/20160121165220/http://www.tricountycessation.org/tobaccofacts/Cigarette-Ingredients.html '''Cigarette Ingredients - Chemicals in Cigarettes. Tri-County Cessation Center''']. "The list of 599 additives approved by the US Government for use in the manufacture of cigarettes is something every smoker should see. Submitted by the five major American cigarette companies to the Dept. of Health and Human Services in April of 1994, this list of ingredients had long been kept a secret. ... While these ingredients are approved as additives for foods, they were not tested by burning them, and it is the burning of many of these substances which changes their properties, often for the worse. Over 4000 chemical compounds are created by burning a cigarette – 69 of those chemicals are known to cause cancer." See: Tobacco harm reduction. See Marijuana habit not linked to lung cancer : IMNG Oncology Report: "The difference in risk is likely related to chemical additives in commercial cigarettes that aren’t present in most methods of inhaling marijuana smoke." See: List of additives in cigarettes. See: Health problems associated with tobacco smoking. See also: Pot Smoking Not Linked To Breathing Problems; May Help Lungs. By Steve Elliott on March 6, 2013.

"In October 2008 the American Association of Public Health Physicians (AAPHP) became the first medical organization in the U.S. to officially endorse tobacco harm reduction as a viable strategy to reduce the death toll related to cigarette smoking." Joel Nitzkin: "So if we can figure that the nicotine in the e-cigarettes is basically a generic version of the same nicotine that is in prescription products, we have every reason to believe that the hazard posed by e-cigarettes would be much lower than one percent, probably lower than one tenth of one percent of the hazard posed by regular cigarettes." 
 * }

Diet and cannabis
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This chart shows the annual death rate from sugary drinks per million adults in selected countries. Sugary Drinks Kill 24,000 Mexicans Every Year. By Niall McCarthy, Jul 15, 2015.

World Health Organization report on CBD
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 Cannabidiol (CBD).

Some articles covering the 2017 report:
 * World Health Group: Pot's CBD Has Health Benefits. By Kathleen Doheny. Dec. 15, 2017. WebMD. "The experts produced the report in November, while the WHO announced its conclusions this week. In May, the committee will study cannabis and cannabis-related substances more fully."
 * Medical Marijuana's Main Ingredient Isn't Dangerous or Addictive, World Health Organization Report Says. By Melina Delkic. Dec. 14, 2017. Newsweek.
 * CBD Has No Health Risks Claims World Health Organization. By Terry Hacienda. Dec 16, 2017. The Fresh Toast.

The full report:
 * CANNABIDIOL (CBD) Pre-Review Report. Agenda Item 5.2. Expert Committee on Drug Dependence. Thirty-ninth Meeting. Geneva, 6-10 November 2017. World Health Organization.

Store cannabis long term in rubber-sealed jars
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As with any herb any rubber-sealed jar will work. Store in a cool location out of the light. The sealed jar maintains the humidity level. It also prevents the essential oils from evaporating away.


 * What Happens to Marijuana After Five Years of Storage? By Allie Beckett on July 28th, 2017. Marijuana.com
 * How To Store Cannabis So It Lasts Longer. HERB | Cannabis News, Culture And Information.
 * Best Way to Store Your Medical Cannabis. Harborside: California Medical Cannabis Dispensary.

Make your cannabis last longer
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'Put a flat lighter on top of your small pipe bowl after taking a puff. Let no smoke be wasted.' Buy a flat lighter, not a round one. Use a small pipe that you can sit down without it rolling over. Put in a very small amount of cannabis. Puff without letting any smoke escape at all. Take in some side air while you do it so you don't cough and waste smoke. Immediately put the lighter on top of the bowl to stop any smoke from escaping, and to stop the burning fast due to no oxygen. Lighter will heat up very little due to how fast the fire goes out in the bowl. Hold in the smoke as long as possible. No need to take in more than a few puffs if good pot. And be patient. Wait 5 minutes for it to kick in before deciding if you need more. Set the pipe aside since it will no longer be lit, and since you don't have to worry about it tipping over. This method will easily cut your cannabis use in half. Usually much more if absolutely no smoke escapes. Don't breathe out the smoke all at once. Breathe out a little, and then breathe in some more air to allow you to hold in the remaining smoke even longer. Keep letting out only a little air, and breathing in air to replenish the oxygen in your lungs. People who try to cough and blow out huge clouds of smoke usually do so to impress their friends. They are ignorant, and/or have too much money to burn. Literally, going up in smoke.

Other ideas:
 * 10 life hacks to make your weed last longer and save you a bunch of money. By Steve Elliott. 18 December 2017.

1 in 6 US adults binge drinks 4 times a month
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 * CDC - Fact Sheets-Binge Drinking - Alcohol. From Centers for Disease Control. "One in six US adults binge drinks about four times a month, consuming about eight drinks per binge."
 * 'It's a public health crisis': 1 in 8 Americans are now alcoholics amid a huge rise in binge-drinking among women, elderly people and ethnic minorities. By Abigail Miller. 9 August 2017. Daily Mail Online.

Alcohol versus cannabis
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It has not been proven that anybody has died solely from the health effects of cannabis use. See: Cannabis (drug).

1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults
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[http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/07/alcohol-remains-a-leading-killer '''USA. 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults are alcohol-related.''' ] (disease, overdose, car crashes, falls, violence, and more). 87,798 per year from 2006 to 2010. . From the Washington Post article linked just above the chart: "Last year [2014], more than 30,700 Americans died from alcohol-induced causes, including alcohol poisoning and cirrhosis, which is primarily caused by alcohol use. ... This tally of alcohol-induced fatalities excludes deaths from drunk driving, other accidents, and homicides committed under the influence of alcohol. If those numbers were included the annual toll of deaths directly or indirectly caused by alcohol would be closer to 90,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
 * Since marijuana legalization, highway fatalities in Colorado are at near-historic lows. By Radley Balko, August 5, 2014. The Washington Post..
 * Americans are drinking themselves to death at record rates. By Christopher Ingraham, December 22, 2015. Washington Post. Chart below is from the article.

Teen drivers have 3 times more fatal crashes
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'''[http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/teen_drivers/teendrivers_factsheet.html Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens. Teen drivers have 3 times more fatal crashes per mile driven]. Drinking and driving (2700 yearly), and texting while driving (3000 yearly),''' are the leading causes. Scary video.. Graduated driver licensing has been shown to greatly reduce teen accidents. . Maybe we should consider graduated drinking licenses for alcohol modeled on customs in France, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy, etc..

Oct. 2014 article: In California full marijuana decriminalization went into effect on Jan. 1, 2011, the report finds that "marijuana decriminalization in California has not resulted in harmful consequences for teenagers, such as increased crime, drug overdose, driving under the influence, or school dropout. In fact, California teenagers showed improvements in all risk areas after reform."

Teens and cannabis
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States that have legalized have no increase in fatal car crashes
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Guessing that it could possibly be due to the fact that some people are substituting marijuana for alcohol. So, though both can cause fatal car crashes, cannabis (by itself) causes far fewer than alcohol.


 * Marijuana legalization doesn't lead to more fatal car crashes, finds Texas doctor. By Fernando Ramirez. Houston Chronicle. June 23, 2017. From the article:

Alcohol 10 Times More Deadly Than Cannabis on the Road
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 * Study Finds Alcohol 10 Times More Deadly Than Cannabis on the Road. By Bruce Barcott. November 17, 2017. Leafly. From the article:

Other drugs versus cannabis
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USA. Tobacco deaths are now 480,000 a year. . CDC: "In 2012, of the 41,502 drug overdose deaths in the United States, 22,114 (53%) were related to pharmaceuticals. In 2012, 33,175 (79.9%) of the 41,502 drug overdose deaths in the United States were unintentional, 5,465 (13.2%) were of suicidal intent, 80 (0.2%) were homicides, and 2,782 (6.7%) were of undetermined intent." . 16,238 homicides in 2011. . Aspirin number is actually for NSAIDs (take with milk or antacid ). Peanut allergy deaths is more like 10. Stat sources (all deaths):.


 * 100 Die From Tylenol Overdose Each Year. Marijuana = Zero. By Steve Elliott. February 15, 2012. #1 story on Digg.



Chart just below is from here: The First Count of Fentanyl Deaths in 2016: Up 540% in Three Years. By Josh Katz. Sept. 2, 2017. New York Times.



Above chart found in these two articles:
 * These Are the Drugs That Cause the Most Overdose Deaths. January 1, 2017.
 * Fentanyl Rises as Cause of Drug Overdose Deaths. Dec. 20, 2016.

Pot versus pills
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 * How medical marijuana could help curb the opioid crisis. January 13, 2017. CBC Radio. "using marijuana as a replacement for other substances — including alcohol and both illicit and prescription drugs."
 * Could pot help solve the U.S. opioid epidemic? By Greg Miller. Nov. 3, 2016. Science Magazine. "they found a significant difference in the number of prescriptions for several conditions, including anxiety and nausea, in states with medical marijuana."



Pot versus opioids
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 * See also the yellow box of links at the top of the page.


 * Medical Pot Is Our Best Hope to Fight the Opioid Epidemic. By Amanda Chicago Lewis. Dec. 8, 2017. Rolling Stone.
 * UNM Study: Medical Marijuana an Alternative for Opioids. November 28, 2017. The Associated Press. "The results indicate a strong correlation between enrollment in New Mexico’s medical marijuana program and cessation or reduction of opioid use."
 * Addiction Specialists Ponder a Potential Aid: Pot. By Matt Richtel, March 27, 2017,  New York Times.
 * Best Way To Kick Opiates: Use Cannabis!, Says Addiction Expert. By Steve Elliott, Jan 2, 2017.
 * The Surprising Way Aging Pain Patients Can Get Off Opiates. By Phillip Smith, AlterNet, November 3, 2016.
 * Pot Vs. Pills: Can Marijuana Help Cure The Opiate Crisis? By Aaron Payne, Ohio Valley ReSource, July 18, 2016.


 * More current and former Canadian cops are using medical marijuana. Veterans too. By Rachel Browne. July 13, 2016. Vice News.
 * 'Pot Over Pills’ Protesters Camp Out For Veterans Day. By Philip Lewis. Nov 12, 2015. Huffington Post.
 * See also: United States military veteran suicide.

Opioid overdose epidemic
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 * See also:  Opioid overdose. And:   Opioid epidemic.

Big Pharma at work: How Big Tobacco-style marketing propels U.S. opioid crisis — and powers $400 billion pharma industry. June 24, 2017. From the article:


 * Drug firms poured 780 million painkillers into West Virginia amid rise of overdoses. Dec 17, 2016. Charleston Gazette-Mail.

Source for image below:
 * "Fentanyl Is Now The Leading Cause Of US Overdose Deaths. Deaths from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids killed more than 20,000 people in 2016, doubling the previous year's rate, CDC data show." - October 12, 2017 article from BuzzFeed. By Dan Vergano.

Chart just below is from here: Overdose Death Rates | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). US yearly overdose deaths, and some of the drugs involved. Among the more than 64,000 drug overdose deaths estimated in 2016, the sharpest increase occurred among deaths related to  fentanyl  and fentanyl analogs ( synthetic opioids in the chart below) with over 20,000 deaths.



Chart below is from:
 * Finding a Fix. By Julie Lurie. Dec. 19, 2017 online. Mother Jones. From the article (emphasis added):



See gallery below, and more charts in this article:  Opioid overdose.

     





US maps of drug overdose deaths
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See  Opioid epidemic.

There were 52,898 overdose deaths in the USA in 2015 according to a chart from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From the source page for the map: "Opioids—prescription and illicit—are the main driver of drug overdose deaths. Opioids were involved in 33,091 deaths in 2015, and opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999. In 2015, the five states with the highest rates of death due to drug overdose were West Virginia (41.5 per 100,000), New Hampshire (34.3 per 100,000), Kentucky (29.9 per 100,000), Ohio (29.9 per 100,000), and Rhode Island (28.2 per 100,000)."

See state by state list of data here: Drug Overdose Death Data | Drug Overdose | CDC Injury Center. The numbers are in the data tables below the maps.



Map below of 2014 rates of drug overdose deaths per 100,000 by U.S. state. See state by state list of data here: Drug Overdose Death Data | Drug Overdose | CDC Injury Center. The numbers are in the data tables below the maps.

"During 2014, 47,055 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States. Since 2000, the age-adjusted drug overdose death rate has more than doubled, from 6.2 per 100,000 persons in 2000 to 14.7 per 100,000 in 2014." - Increases in Drug and Opioid Overdose Deaths — United States, 2000–2014. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. January 1, 2016 article.



Opioids are particularly deadly when combined with other drugs
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See  Drug overdose. See the "Causes" section for a list of the various drugs. More than one drug is often involved in an overdose death.





FDA-approved drugs later banned
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 * 35 FDA-Approved Prescription Drugs Later Pulled from the Market.

Big Pharma and academic journals
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 * FTC Halts the Deceptive Practices of Academic Journal Publishers. November 22, 2017. Federal Trade Commission.


 * Big Pharma Is America’s New Mafia. By Daniela Drake. Feb. 15, 2105. The Daily Beast. From the article (emphasis added):


 * Marcia Angell (January 15, 2009). Drug Companies & Doctors: A Story of Corruption . The New York Review of Books. From the article (emphasis added)::


 * See also: WP:MEDRS is based on a sham. WP:MEDRS stands for Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources (medicine).

Crack cocaine and cannabis
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 * Cannabis may help wean people off crack, study finds. By Mike Hager. The Globe and Mail. May 16, 2017.

Institute of Medicine
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Quotes in the image to the left (and in the text below) are from the U.S. government's landmark 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. The full text of the report is available for free online at the above link, and is searchable. The table of contents by chapter is on the sidebar. The report is also available as a free PDF download. Quotes below are followed by their references.  Emphasis  added.

Page 109: "Indeed, epidemiological data indicate that in the general population  marijuana use is not associated with increased mortality . 138"
 * - 138. Sidney S, Beck JE, Tekawa IS, Quesenberry CP Jr, Friedman GD. 1997a. Marijuana use and mortality. American Journal of Public Health 87:585—590.

Page 107: "When heavy marijuana use accompanies these symptoms [amotivation], the drug is often cited as the cause, but no convincing data demonstrate a causal relationship between marijuana smoking and these behavior characteristics. 23"
 * - 23. Chait LD, Pierri J. 1992. Effects of smoked marijuana on human performance: A critical review. In: L Murphy and A Bartke, Editors, Marijuana/Cannabinoids: Neurobiology and Neurophysiology. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Pp. 387—424.

Page 119: " There is no conclusive evidence that marijuana causes cancer in humans , including cancers usually related to tobacco use."

Cannabis. Peer-reviewed studies, etc.
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 * WHO Report: No Evidence of CBD-Related Public Health Problems. By TG Branfalt. Dec. 13, 2017.
 * Health Effects of Marijuana and Cannabis-Derived Products Presented in New Report. Jan. 12, 2017. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The ebook needs to be given away free instead of costing $65. Someone offer them a significant amount of money to make it free.
 * 60 Peer-Reviewed Studies on Medical Marijuana. Medical Studies Involving Cannabis and Cannabis Extracts (1990 - 2014). Article by ProCon.org.
 * Review Identifies 140 Controlled Clinical Trials Related to Cannabis. By Paul Armentano. June 4, 2017. From the article: "A pair of German researchers identified 140 clinical trials involving an estimated 8,000 participants. ... A 2014 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that new drugs typically gain FDA approval on the basis of one or two pivotal clinical trials."
 * THE LIST – Granny Storm Crow's List.

Cannabis and athletic performance
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 * Tanner Hall and the Athlete’s Case for Cannabis. By Charles Bethea. March 18, 2016. New Yorker.
 * Maryland: Baltimore Ravens Tackle Gives $10K To Marijuana Research, Asks Players To Contribute. By Derrick Stanley. March 15, 2016. Hemp News.

Microdosing and cannabis
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Why Microdosing Is Taking Over Medical Marijuana. April 20, 2017. Rolling Stone. From the article:

Cannabis stores mean safer neighborhoods
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Philly420: Bombastic opposition to Mt. Airy cannabis dispensary is unjustified. By Chris Goldstein. August 22, 2017. From the article:


 * A 2011 study by UCLA found that more than 1,000 semi-regulated medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles were not associated with an increased density of violent crime or property crime in their neighborhoods.
 * A June 2017 article in the Harvard Business Review reviewed a massive set of data addressing dispensaries in “mixed-use” areas. Marijuana dispensaries and restaurants appear to help keep crime down when they are open for business.

The Devastating Effects of Marijuana Legalization
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Reefer Madness
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 * Why Is Marijuana Banned? The Real Reasons Are Worse Than You Think. By Johann Hari. 11 Feb 2016. Many of the comments are informative too.

SAFER. Marijuana is safer than alcohol
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 * Category: Cannabis is safer.
 * Category: Marijuana is safer than alcohol.
 * Category: Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER).
 * MarijuanaIsSafer.org

Right-click images below for image info and larger sizes.


 * Facebook: Marijuana is Safer. Book by Steve Fox, Paul Armentano, and Mason Tvert.

2005. Denver legalizes cannabis
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See:
 * Denver, Colorado . 2005 section about Denver legalizing cannabis.

Featured group:

Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER)
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 * saferchoice.org
 * Denver, Colorado, USA.
 * Facebook: Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER)
 * Facebook: Causes on Facebook. SAFER
 * saferdenver.saferchoice.org
 * twitter.com/SAFERchoice
 * myspace.com/saferchoice
 * think.mtv.com/profile/SAFER
 * youtube.com/user/SaferChoice
 * Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation - Wikipedia.








 * Rethinking Marijuana. It’s less harmful than alcohol and time to treat it that way. Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.

Much safer than tobacco smoking
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See:
 * Tobacco packaging warning messages.
 * List of additives in cigarettes.
 * Health effects of tobacco.
 * Tobacco harm reduction.
 * Commons: Category:Cigarette packet warning signs.

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Presidents' views concerning cannabis
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See: Reagan's war on cannabis. And: Holy War on Drugs, Republican-led mass incarceration.

Presidents alone can not reschedule it
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USA. Republican war on cannabis
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Remove Republicans in 2018 US elections
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Categories
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