The sheer number present on the day, estimated at half a million, points to organisational acumen and bodes well for developing the movement, says DIANE ABBOTT
Blindly legalising cannabis would be a mistake – but there’s plenty we can get out of it
A packed fringe meeting at the National Education Union conference heard from Iranian teachers, campaigners and journalists
CLAUDIA WEBBE says the US is tightening the noose to destroy Cuban socialism — the need for immediate, international solidarity is urgent
MAT COWARD recommends a crop that keeps growing well under drought conditions
Cypriot lawyer and former central committee member of the Progressive Working People’s Party (Akel) TOUMAZOS TSIELEPIS discusses the case for expelling the British military from Cyprus
US aggression has plunged us into an energy price crisis that will spark steep inflation across the board — and the shock will be much worse than in the 1970s, warns MICHAEL BURKE
WHILE cannabis’s potential for harm has been well-documented and numerous studies show some therapeutic benefits of medicines synthesised from the drug, the British government is reviewing the law on medicinal use of cannabis.
Man’s relationship with marijuana goes back millennia. Most ancient cultures were acquainted with the drug and hemp crops were first grown over 10,000 years ago. The Chinese used cannabis for medicinal purposes 5,000 years ago, followed by other ancient civilisations including the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and medieval Arabs who also used the drug to treat a wide array of ailments.
Cannabis has been associated with both love and war — the legendary Arabian Nights folk tales note the narcotic’s aphrodisiac properties, while the Hashshashin (“hashish smoking”) warriors, a 11th-13th-century Shi’ite sect based in Persia, from which the English word assassin mistakenly derives, were given cannabis to induce a hypnotic state and eliminate the fear of death. More recently, during World War II US scientists found a potent extract of marijuana that could be used as a truth serum.
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