@Drowning82 - I'll just echo what others have said.
You're talking about schedule 1 and the government. I'm simply saying that marijuana is a drug. Drug is a neutral concept. It's not "ooh, the big bad drug and the government is trying to keep this oregano away from the public"...just, it's a drug.
A drug (per medicine) is anything that can be ingested in any form (eaten, swallowed, absorbed, inhaled, injected), that is intended to in any way affect (treat, cure, mitigate, alter, diagnose) disorder or disease.
Drugs (as in, just say no to) are generally considered to be controlled substances that a government has labeled as illegal for unregulated consumption or sale.
Your links (here, I'll be helpful) are about why cannabis is not a capital-D-Drug, or should not be regulated as such.
Link Removed
Cannabis is NOT a Drug
I have actual proof that Cannabis in it's natural form is NOT a drug,
Whether it's a plant with roots in the ground, or a plant that has been dried,
cannabis is a small-d-drug. It is ingested (in various forms) with the intention to affect (treat, mitigate, etc) disorder or disease (pain disorders, cancer, mental illness, epilepsy, and more).
Separately, it can be ingested to alter one's physical and mental state, recreationally. Many drugs work this way, both those that are most effective in organic (plant, mineral) form, or those that are synthesized in a lab. Cannabis is one that had been grouped together with other Drugs, where it might not have belonged. Hence, the movement towards legalization, that was - PS -
entirely made possible in the US by the recognition of cannabis as a drug (small d), for medicine, and not just a Drug (big D), for recreation via mind-altering.
I'm really not sure why you would want to call it not-a-drug. Many, many people with PTSD get some relief by using it, and their ability to use it as medicine is (I'd say) nothing but a good thing.
Is it chemically addictive? Sorry, science says, "unknown". Science is still trying to understand the endocannabinoid system (ES) in the human body. Why do we have the same stuff in us that plants have? That some plants have been known to have for a very, very long time? Still, mystery. They are getting good at understanding all the functions the ES participates in, and connecting those to the known cannabinoids (they probably haven't labelled then all, yet) in cannabis.
I like
this article in Leafly for a nice, pro-cannabis overview of the concept of addiction in cannabis use. It's from 2015, but covers the basics well. A quote from that article, a statement given by a professor of social work - so, this is the psychological take on addiction:
The language of addiction, dependence, and disorders is one thing when you talk to scientists and it’s another when you talk to the public...Addiction results from a combination of biological and psychological factors that contribute to conditioned behavioral patterns that are very difficult to stop or resist.
So, yes, it's possible. Addiction is not understood as the automatic progression, in cannabis use. I think that the medical community would agree that opiods, for example, are almost inevitably addictive. Cannabis, like benzos, can be used in a way that does not allow it to turn into addiction. Or, it
can turn into addiction. With benzos, they understand the mechanism of action for that addiction, and it can be described scientifically. With cannabis, because it's entire mechanism of action is still being discovered, it's not possible to give a complete scientific rationale for addiction. The jury is still out on that one.
Repeat: this isn't a debate about whether cannabis is a "bad Drug" or an innocent herb. Medically speaking, it's a drug, that's a fine thing to accept - and looking at it that way is nothing to do with the US war on schedule 1 drugs anymore, really. Now that it's been embraced by and fought for in the scientific community, it's only a matter of time before the rest of it sorts itself out.
And there is no denying that it is a powerful substance. That's my real concern with not accepting it's status as a small-d-drug...one can get the impression that it is as innocuous as, caffeine, say. It's not. It is a psychotropic, and it can break your brain. Does it? Not often, no. Can it? Yes, 100%. I think many people know this anecdotally, but there is also science to back it up. Not government-funded science designed to label cannabis as "evil"...international science, looking to further understand the biomechanics of the brain, the endocannabinoid system, and the intersection with various mental illnesses.
