As outlined in the previous chapters, the American Medical Association (AMA) and drug companies testified against the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act because cannabis was known to have so much medical potential and had never caused any observable addictions or death by overdose.

    The possibility existed, they argued, that once the active ingredients in cannabis (such as THC Delta-9) were isolated and correct dosages established, cannabis could become a miracle drug.

    Research revealed positive indications when using cannabis for asthma, glaucoma, nausea from chemotherapy, anorexia, and tumors, as well as a general use antibiotic; epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, migraines, etc.—all these merited further clinical studies.

    Twenty-nine years would pass, however, before American scientists could begin to even look into cannabis medicine again.

    THC Delta-9 was isolated by Dr. Raphael Mechoulam at the University of Tel Aviv in 1964. His work confirmed that of Professor Taylor of Princeton, who had lead the research and identification of natural THC Delta-9 precursors in the 1930s. Kahn, Adams, and Loewe also worked with the structure of cannabis’ active ingredients in 1944.

    Since 1964, more than 400 separate compounds have been isolated in cannabis from more than a thousand suspected compounds. At least 60 of the isolated compounds are therapeutic. The United States, however, forbade this type of research through the bureaucratic authority of Harry Anslinger until 1962, when he was forced to retire. (Omni magazine, Sept., 1982.)

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