Steven Brauth on Marihuana

Marihuana—Deceptive Weed By Gabriel G. Nahas Raven Press, 334 pp., $12.50 Gabriel Nahas might well have titled his new book “Marihuana—Inscrutable Weed,” for as the work unfolds, the subtle and truly insidious qualities of the drug emerge to intrigue the reader like an oriental puzzle. Known for nearly 4,000 years, largely in China and India, cannabis has been used as a medicine, a sedative, an anesthetic, and as a powerful psychoactive substance renowned for its mystical aura. Generally banned today throughout the world, the countries with the greatest historical experience with this weed oppose its use most vigorously.

This may represent wisdom on their part, for Nahas’ book presents disturbing facts. Today most serious people who favor legalization cite a variety of studies that seem to prove that marihuana is a mild intoxicant with no serious psychological or social consequences. Now evidence has accumulated that casts doubt upon this theory and upon the adequacy of the data used to justify it.

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Steven Brauth

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Marihuana—Deceptive Weed By Gabriel G. Nahas Raven Press, 334 pp., $12.50 Gabriel Nahas might well have titled his new book “Marihuana—Inscrutable Weed,” for as the work unfolds, the subtle and truly insidious qualities of the drug emerge to intrigue the reader like an oriental puzzle. Known for nearly 4,000 years, largely in China and India, cannabis has been used as a medicine, a sedative, an anesthetic, and as a powerful psychoactive substance renowned for its mystical aura. Generally banned today throughout the world, the countries with the greatest historical experience with this weed oppose its use most vigorously.

This may represent wisdom on their part, for Nahas’ book presents disturbing facts. Today most serious people who favor legalization cite a variety of studies that seem to prove that marihuana is a mild intoxicant with no serious psychological or social consequences. Now evidence has accumulated that casts doubt upon this theory and upon the adequacy of the data used to justify it.