J-is for ‘Joint’: how cannabis is linked to cancer, coronovirus and Harry Potter.
Hardcore Harry Potter fans (or ‘Potter-heads’ as they are called) might be surprised to learn that a ‘muggle’ was not an invention of J.K Rowling to describe those not acquainted with the ways of wizardry, but rather a slang term for cannabis. It’s likely to be a contraction of ‘smuggle’ rather than anything to do with a ‘mug’ or gullible person, which was presumably what JK Rowling had in mind.
Other slang words for cannabis also probably stem from the New Orleans port area of the 1930’s. ‘Reefer’ for example may be a slang term for a coat worn by a sailor or a refrigerator on a boat, both of which could easily be used to smuggle muggles.
The use of the term ‘joint’ is also attested to come from the late 1930’s but its origin is unclear. It may go back to a term for a separate room (as in ‘adjoined’) for opium smoking or it may derive from being ‘out of joint’ when something is out of order or confused.
Slang terms aside, the word used for the genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae (Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis) is important as it can reveal an underlying belief about the potential harm of the plant in society. The word ‘Marijuana’ has wide currency and is often viewed as just another term for cannabis. It is especially used in the United States where it is used in many laws and regulations including the Controlled Substances Act, but the truth is more murky.
It seems clear that the legendary US government official Harry Jacob Anslinger who served as the first commissioner in the US Federal Bureau of Narcotics under five presidents wanted to use a term that felt distinctly ‘foreign’ to him. ‘Marijuana’ fitted the bill as it clearly made a link to the Latino community. Whilst the entomology is disputed, various forms of the word are found in Mexican Spanish. Some commentators see this as a clearly racist move, something that would not have bothered Anslinger who is often seen as a notorious bigot who supported the victimisation of African Americans.
First appointed in 1930 at the tail end of the prohibition era he initially took the view that that the illegal drug trade, such as it was, represented mainly a missed opportunity for taxation. He has been quoted as saying that "There is probably no more absurd fallacy" than the idea that marijuana makes people violent. Within a few years however he had completely changed his tune, describing it as “...the deadly, dreadful poison that racks and tears not only the body, but the very heart and soul of every human being who once becomes a slave to it in any of its cruel and devastating forms...”.
Some believe that the change in his approach was because he wanted to retain his standing in government once alcohol prohibition came to an end. Others think he was in the pocket of synthetic fibre manufacturers who wanted to remove rival manufacturers who processed hemp from cannabis plants.
As part of his campaigns he collected together lurid stories to use in press articles, often falsely attributing the root cause to cannabis. A typical example concerned an episode that occurred in Florida where an entire family was murdered by a ‘youthful addict’. When officers arrived... “they found the youth staggering about in a human slaughterhouse. With an axe he had killed his father, mother, two brothers, and a sister. He seemed to be in a daze ... He had no recollection of having committed the multiple crimes. The officers knew him ordinarily as a sane, rather quiet young man; now he was pitifully crazed. They sought the reason. The boy said that he had been in the habit of smoking something which youthful friends called "muggles," a childish name for marijuana.”
The incessant propaganda purveyed by the bureau under Anslinger’s moral crusade has been darkly mirrored in some ways by the propaganda of the pro-cannabis movement in more recent years. On the one hand the use of cannabis for medicines derived from cannabis have undeniable benefits for some patients. You Tube footage of Parkinsonian tremors or epileptic fits being quelled has provided irrefutable proof of cannabis’ value for many, despite a certain haziness in the medical evidence.
On the other some have gone much further and claimed its use can cure a myriad of conditions including cancer, ebola, coronovirus or just plain old anxiety issues.
The idea that cannabis prevented covid-19 or was a remedy for it spread rapidly online in the early months of 2020. The claim that cannabis can counter viral infections is clearly false one, flying full in the face of current science. In fact cannabis which is smoked may significantly compromise respiratory functions.
We have been here before. Paris in December 1848 was in the throws of the “blue death”, or cholera. Convinced that cannabis in the form of hashish could excite the nervous system into action against the damaging effects of the disease, doctors across Paris hurriedly began to prescribe a tincture (drink) containing cannabis. It didn’t work. By the end of the following year nearly 20,000 people in Paris, or about 50 percent of those who became infected has passed away.
Situations like this where a proposed cure is not only ineffective but ends up exacerbating the original problem have a special term applied to them…the “cobra effect”. The term probably originates from an attempt by the British rulers of Delhi, India to rid the city of the eponymous snake. A bounty was offered for every dead cobra duly delivered. It wasn’t long before some of the locals worked out they could breed cobras for profit. When the reward program was scrapped the now worthless snakes were released, causing even more of a problem.
An argument can be made that the demonisation of cannabis by US federal bureau of narcotics under Anslinger meant that the undoubted potential of medicines derived from cannabis were sidelined until more recent times. In comparison opioid pain medication, despite its significant problems, has slowly but legally developed over the same period alongside the illicit market in opioid products such as heroin.
New products based on cannabis are now however appearing. Cancer patients have found that cannabis can be useful in reducing pain, restoring appetite and reducing certain forms of inflammation, especially following chemotherapy treatments.
The American National Cancer Institute points out that only one human study has ever returned evidence that shows cannabis may have potentially therapeutic effects against cancer. That single study indicated a few compounds extracted from cannabis may have biological effects that could be useful in reducing the growth rate of certain tumor cells. It’s certainly not a cure for cancer, despite many claims to the contrary found on the internet. Patients suffering a range of ailments including Alzheimer's disease, Crohn’s disease, Glaucoma, Epilepsy and Multiple sclerosis may in time benefit even more than they do now.
Cannabis contains two main natural compounds: THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol). Only THC achieves the ‘high’ in users. Many of the cannabis-based pharmcuetically produced products tend to utilise CBD rather than THC. They may contain very low levels of THC, or none. What is more unclear at the moment is whether the use of cannabis or CBD oils are as effective as the pharmaceutical products based on cannabis.
A recent report from the EMCDDA (The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction) noted the number of cannabis-based medical and health-orientated products has expanded recently, making the picture increasingly complicated. These products may be manufactured to pharmaceutical quality standards, but the potential exists for consumers to confuse them with forms of cannabis available on the illicit drug market.
Cannabis products with very low levels of THC have also appeared on the market. These might be sold as foodstuffs, healthcare products or cosmetics. CBD oils have recently been marketed as ‘food’ supplements and these oils may also contain THC, even if it is in a low concentration. Such products pose difficulties for legislators, rather than ‘pure’ CBD products which are completely legal.
We have moved on significantly from the heavy-handed puritanism evident in such cult-classic films as ‘Reefer madness’ (1936) that tried to scare filmgoers against using cannabis on the basis of absurd racist and sexist stereotypes. Some countries have already substantially legalised cannabis in all its forms. Others who do not wish to go that far will be faced with a complex task of regulating a fast changing and dynamic cannabis marketplace.
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Tel: 091 48 00 44 Email: info@wrdatf.ie
