The Union: The Business Behind Getting High Page #13

that are preventing the

pharmaceutical world

from accepting

marijuana as a viable medicine,

then they better start paying

more attention

to the products they've

been marketing for years.

Every year,

prescription medicines kill

over 100,000 people.

( Tod )

The pharmaceutical industry

has been excellent

at convincing the public

that they need their potions.

If you watch any kind of

commercial for drugs,

they're always

using the third person.

For example, "Where does

a headache come from ?

It comes from

out there somewhere."

Don't sell the steak,

sell the sizzle.

How many people

in this country alone

are addicted to

antidepressants ?

How many people who are on

antidepressants

really have imbalances,

and how many of them

just got off a bad relationship

and they're depressed ?

( John )

It seems to be acceptable

to give people something

as long as you're wearing

a white smock

or you're giving

them a legal prescription.

It doesn't matter how deadly

the particular drug might be

in terms of side effects.

( Paul )

What we call modern medicine

is actually alternative medicine

because it's highly

experimental.

It's often

dangerous, often toxic,

and it kills a lot of people.

To me, it's crazy.

There's a lot of stuff

out there that will affect you

in different ways.

Look at aspirin, heroin,

both invented by Bayer.

( host )

I thought heroin came

from opium seeds and was--

Just natural,

effective opium ?

You keep making it more

and more concentrated ?

No, you have to add certain

chemicals to it

and tweak it a certain way.

It doesn't just

come from opium itself.

What was heroin made for ?

As a cure for

morphine addiction and coughs.

"Heroin, the sedative

for coughs."

Pseudoephedrine.

That's the main ingredient

in methamphetamine,

is to cure

the cough, the cold.

You get a cold, "Oh, I think

I'll do some meth."

When you look at it from a large

perspective, like, what's weed ?

Even Francis Young,

the DEA's own judge,

who took medical testimony

for over two weeks,

made this statement--

"Marijuana, in its natural form,

is one of the safest

"therapeutically active

substances known to man.

"Yet, despite this and the

ever-mounting number

"of real-world

patient success stories,

"cannabis remains listed as

a Schedule I narcotic.

"Under that category,

marijuana is classified

as having no known

medical value."

I-I have...

m-m-multip-ple

sclerosis.

When we first met Greg,

his shaking was so severe,

he informed us that he would

need a few puffs of marijuana

in order to participate

in the interview.

The difference

was night and day.

( host )

What do you say to those

that say marijuana

needs to be tested

and regulated and have

the high taken out

for pharmaceutical

companies to consider it

a valuable medicine ?

Huh.

That's a pretty,

and I only mean this

as a measurement...

as to how much...

it is actually

a pathetic...

thing to say.

I mean, just look at me.

Is it not

blatantly obvious

that I have just enjoyed

however many tokes...

I look happy.

Greg has been using

marijuana for years

and stated to us

that he's never experienced

any negative effects.

I'm never--

( fake panting )

"I need,

I need my marijuana !"

That's... stupid.

It... takes away

my discomfort,

let's call it.

It does enhance

my very being.

Where do think you'd be if

you didn't get to smoke it,

like, dealing with

your pain ?

Huh.

I would have found a way.

( host )

How does the training

and education

of medical doctors today

work against the acceptance

of prescribing marijuana

as medicine ?

Well, it works against

them because they're brought,

right from the beginning,

right into the fold

of the

pharmaceutical industry.

Reading journals, reading

these advertisements,

or they're

reading papers on drugs

that were financed by

the drug companies,

or they're being

seduced by the companies.

Fancy dinners, a trip

for a weekend.

"Would you like to

have 18 rounds of golf ?"

And some of them get outright

money from the drug companies.

( Rielle )

I've met doctors

who said when they first

came out of medical school,

they didn't know what to do.

It was really overwhelming.

They had live patients in front

of them who needed help.

They were very happy

to have representatives

tell them what medicines would

be best for their patients.

( Lester )

So doctors have a bias

toward the products of

pharmaceutical industries.

They do not readily

accept the idea

that a simple plant

or herb may be useful.

I don't know if they think

it's hocus-pocus.

I just think

that they don't feel that

there's the kind of testing

that they're used to.

( James )

That's the problem we have.

What I try to impress

upon these people

is we're trying to

put the science into it,

and yet some people are

very resistant

to even attempts to do that.

All of the funding is coming

directly or indirectly

from the drug companies,

and these people, obviously,

for obvious reasons, are

determining the agendas.

( Paul )

Now, think of

the lobbying potential

behind the most profitable

industry in the United States.

Think of the power, and do

they get their way ?

Why can't we explore

its medicinal potential ?

Why can't we use it to

make more products ?

To myself and people

involved in this business,

it stopped making sense

a long time ago.

The common response is really

that medical marijuana

is a stalking horse

for legalizing it.

And so what ?

What do they want ?

We should be making use

of this plant,

and really,

that's all I can say.

The restriction,

the Prohibition is all,

in my mind, just stupidity,

and I don't condone stupidity.

And that's a problem--

how do politicians,

after years of promoting claims

of marijuana's harms,

pushing for larger

drug-war budgets,

constructing political platforms

based on a stance

that vilifies marijuana,

and being lobbied

by Big Business,

how do these same politicians

now reverse their stance ?

What politician can come before

their constituents today

and say marijuana

should be decriminalized

when yesterday they said it was

evil and dangerous ?

Their constituents

are gonna wanna know

why you changed your mind.

Were you lying to us,

or were you stupid ?

Either way, you're not getting

elected next time.

( Lester )

Whoops, we made a mistake.

You 17 million people should not

have been arrested,

some of you jailed,

some of you fined,

some of you lost the handle

on your career.

One way to bypass this problem,

in the face of ever-growing

empirical evidence,

is to divert attention.

Add a word--

"medicinal."

Put the word "medicinal"

in front of marijuana,

and you are now talking about

something completely different

if you're a politician.

Why is there a perception

that healthy people

are affected differently

and unable to fend off

the detrimental consequences,

whereas a person with a lowered

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