A couple of weeks ago this blog reported on a flurry of excitement in cannabis law reform circles caused by the issue of a DVD entitled “What if cannabis cured cancer?”. The press announcement from October 2010 sounded interesting, promising
the 60 minute documentary presents highly convincing evidence that this forbidden herb has healing properties beyond any other plant on the planet
So the order was placed and last week the DVD arrived, so does it match the hype? The answer is most certainly yes, but of course there are a few reservations.
The first thing to say is not meant as a criticism; this is a low budget independent production not made by a major production company and some of the production techniques show that. The programme relies a lot on snippets taken from programmes made by the BBC and other broadcasters, some of which have been described previously on this blog.
What is also patently true is this DVD is setting out to promote the medical benefits of cannabis, it is not an investigative documentary which looks at claims and counter claims. That said it does at least back its claims up with reference to actual research and facts which are well documented. It is in many respects the antithesis of the Daily Mail’s approach to cannabis reporting and is probably closer to the truth than the tabloid media would normally dare to tread.
Perhaps most importantly it doesn’t treat the viewer like a moron with the attention span of an ant, there no annoying “yoof” presentation, no stupid camera techniques, this is an intelligent presentation.
The DVD is divided into five sections: Introduction, The new frontier, The pioneers, The chemistry and The future
Introduction
It makes a refreshing change to watch a programme that doesn’t start by telling the viewer what they’re about to see as most trash documentaries these days seem to do especially on BBC 3. Instead this programme starts with a little speculation: We are reminded that cannabis is nothing new to human civilisation – marijuana may have been the first crop cultivated by people and may have been the inspiration for early cave art. Beyond this conjecture though what we do know is that cannabis is still inspiring new discoveries and a deeper understanding of health and disease. Then we get the programme proper with an outline of all the things cannabis can treat without the unwanted side effects of pharmaceutical drugs. Interestingly we are told that the anointing oils used in biblical times contained cannabis oils – something reported on in today’s Guardian as it happens
“There can be little doubt about a role for cannabis in Judaic religion,” Carl Ruck, professor of classical mythology at Boston University said.
We are reminded of the long tradition cannabis had as a medicine and in Victorian times was prescribed for a huge range of conditions including ( perhaps unwisely) to stop cranky babies form crying. Queen Victoria herself used cannabis to treat her menstrual cramps.
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