Profits And Benefits Of Cannabis

Ilustrasi (Ilham Amin / VOI)

In the past week, we have discussed various issues regarding marijuana and efforts to use it in the country. In the previous article, "Cannabis and Religion", we even explored how marijuana is from a religious perspective. Through this article, we weigh the pros and cons of using cannabis, the final article of the VOI series, "Don't Panic It's Organic".

Not a few people use horse glasses when looking at the cannabis plant. The five-toed plant is only considered a haram thing that brings bad effects. Saklek. In fact, if we want to look at marijuana objectively, a myriad of uses can be used for the needs of many people.

In fact, Law No. 35 of 2009 includes marijuana as the most prohibited drug from circulation. Indonesian law equates marijuana with other types of psychotopic substances, such as heroin, cocaine, morphine, and opium.

The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) constantly considers marijuana to be a source of problems in society. As stated by the Head of the Public Relations and Protocol Bureau of the BNN, Sulistyo Pudjo Hartono. According to him, if marijuana is legalized "then immoral acts will occur a lot," he told VOI some time ago.

Hartono's remarks are not without foundation. He has discussed this issue with law enforcement authorities in New Zealand. In that discussion, the National Narcotics Agency found many criminal cases that occurred in the aftermath of using marijuana. Problems that also occur in America.

"This means that there are a lot of criminal incidents caused by consuming marijuana so that the person concerned has decreased his morality, perceptions of space and time, and others," explained Hartono.

The same view was expressed by Member of Commission VI DPR RI from the Gerindra Party faction, Andre Rosiade. He said the abuse of marijuana in society was quite large. Therefore he does not agree that marijuana should be legalized.

"If we open that space (legalizing marijuana) in Indonesia, the potential for its abuse is extraordinary," said Andre.

Both Hartono and Andre address marijuana from a morality perspective. In another context, marijuana is said to also have bad effects on health if used blindly.

According to Samuel T. Wilkinson in a paper entitled More Reasons States Should Not Legalize Marijuana: Medical and Recreational Marijuana: Commentary and Review of the Literature published in the journal Missouri Medicine (2013) explains, marijuana has been shown to cause the risk of mental illness schizophrenia and psychotic disorders. other.

According to him, the negative effect is more pronounced in adolescents. "The risk of psychotic disorders was more pronounced when marijuana was used at an earlier age," wrote.

Cannabis medical benefits

In the eyes of the law, all narcotics in class one, including marijuana, cannot be used for anything. In fact, there are still benefits contained in marijuana. One of them is for medical. Marijuana may be said to have two sides of a sword.

It can become negative if used excessively. However, the fact is that we cannot turn a blind eye on the medical benefits of marijuana. As is known, marijuana contains a cannabidiol (CBD) compound which is effective for curing diseases. One of them is epilepsy.

According to Western Washington University marijuana researcher Joshua Kaplan as quoted by HowStuffWorks explained, CBD works to activate serotonin receptors which play an important role in treating anxiety.

Interestingly, CBD is identical to endocannabinoid, a chemical compound that is naturally produced in the human brain. Endocannabinoids have a major influence in controlling a person's motor, cognition, emotions, and behavior.

In Indonesia, one of the people who managed to prove that marijuana contains health benefits is Fidelis. He is taking care of his wife, Yeni Riawati who is suffering from a spinal cord disease (syringomyelia).

Because of her illness, Yeni is in a very poor condition. He had trouble sleeping, and had problems with bowel movements until his stomach was enlarged.

Apart from that, Yeni also had difficulty eating. Whatever food is swallowed, it will be regurgitated. Yeni also suffered wounds on the middle back of the waist. The wound was deep enough to reveal Yeni's bone.

Marijuana changes that. Since being treated with cannabis extract, Yeni has fallen asleep. In addition, Yeni's appetite has increased. He no longer vomits up his food. Yeni's digestion has also improved. Urinate or defecate smoothly again.

Even more miraculously, the holes in Yeni's wounds closed with the growth of new flesh on Yeni's body. Since the marijuana treatment, Yeni has begun to communicate again and even sing.

However, efforts to care for Yeni had to be interrupted because the husband who took care of her, Fidelis, was arrested by the National Narcotics Agency after she was caught growing marijuana in her house. A few weeks after Fidelis' arrest, March 25 2017, Yeni died.

The economic benefits of cannabis

The person who has proven the benefits of marijuana is the son of reggae singer Bob Marley, Damian Marley. Seeing these benefits, he opened a legal marijuana business for medical purposes. He turned 77,000 square feet of former prison land in California into a cannabis plantation.

The cannabis plantation opened up jobs for inmates who were jailed for cases of growing and selling marijuana. Damian Marley not only succeeded in bringing economic benefits, but also came up with medicine to help Californians who suffer from various ailments.

In addition, Damian also has a stake in the Israeli medical marijuana testing company Stony Hill Corp. The company started a line of cannabidiol (CBD) products made from cannabis called Stony Hill CBD. CBD is more accessible than other cannabis-derived products.

The price is cheap even though the health and welfare benefits are practically the same. WHO itself states that CBD does not show an effect that indicates abuse or potential dependence. CBD has been shown to be an effective epilepsy treatment in several clinical trials.

Apart from Damian, world boxing legend, Mike Tyson is also in the marijuana management business. The scale of the business is no joke. The man nicknamed 'Iron Mike' opened a cannabis field covering 420 hectares. The cannabis business is known as 'Tyson Ranch'.

From this profit business, Tyson made a big profit. Within a month he can earn up to 500 US dollars or around Rp7, 1 billion. When the cannabis farm opened in El Segundo, California, Tyson Ranch offered luxury hotels, retail stores, an amphitheater for music festivals, and other luxury camping facilities.

In addition, the cannabis field area is said to be built at Tyson University, a university that will prepare aspiring cannabis farmers to properly grow marijuana on their own land.

In Indonesia, the discourse of exporting cannabis is being challenged. No surprise. Since long time ago, the government's political intention to empower marijuana for the country has never changed. Never mind making utilization policies. Research efforts that have been proposed by Lingkar Ganja Nusantara (LGN) - a non-profit organization that focuses on research on the culture of Indonesian cannabis - together with the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) have never actually been running.

In fact, knowledge is very important to determine policy direction. Without knowledge, what is expected? "To export these finished goods, we actually need the cannabis plant in Aceh to manage this. Obviously, a strategy is needed. If we want to provide foreign exchange for the country," said Dhira Narayana, Head of LGN, contacted by VOI some time ago.

Who benefits from the illegalization of marijuana

Dhira Narayana, Chairman of the LGN questioned the premise of why the authorities in Indonesia are so anti to the discourse on the use of marijuana. Never mind legalizing. Doing research any anti authority. In fact, according to Dhira, there is no reason for Indonesia to stick to the outdated Law 35/2009. Because, in fact, the UN convention provides flexibility for each country to regulate the management of their own cannabis plant.

This is what developed countries then do. They are aware that the most important point of legalizing marijuana is to transfer the power of circulation of marijuana from the black market to the state. Uruguay, for example. Since July 2017 Uruguay has officially become the first country in the world to fully legalize marijuana. In Uruguay, marijuana consumption is shrouded in various standard rules regarding who and how the consumption of marijuana is legally permitted. There, marijuana users must legally register with the government. Even when buying marijuana.

Everyone should do a fingerprint scan. This is done to control the amount of quota for marijuana purchases by individuals. The figure set by the Uruguayan government is 40 grams per month. Eduardo Blasina, founder of the Montevideo Cannabis Museum, called this a step forward as well as a big responsibility for the country.

However, there was no other choice. Apart from income cases, legalizing marijuana is a way for the government to suppress the domination of drug cartels and mafia in the black market. "The big responsibility we have in Uruguay is to show the world that a system of freedom with this rule works better than a ban," Eduardo was quoted as saying by the New York Times.

Like Uruguay. Indonesia has a dark record regarding the involvement of legal authorities in the black market. During the conflict in Aceh, the cannabis trade flow from Aceh was very massive. Not only is the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group using marijuana as their source of funding, the report released by the Transnational Institute also notes the involvement of police and soldiers in the illegal marijuana trade.

A report reveals a case in which a police helicopter pilot was arrested after flying with 40 kilograms of marijuana which he admitted was going to the police chief in Aceh Besar district. Another, in 2002, an army truck was intercepted after passing through Binjai, North Sumatra with a load of 1,350 kilograms of marijuana. The interception sparked a shootout between the police and the military, in which six policemen and one soldier were killed.

So, which one is good?

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