🧯 10 Lies the Government Tells About Cannabis

Debunked with Their Own Records

Lies they told:

• Cannabis has no medical use

• We need more research

• Cannabis is dangerous

• The CSA is science-based

• We don’t arrest patients...
  (...and five more)

By Kit | Burn Slow Doctrine Division, IVLC

In 1978, Robert Randall had to sue the federal government to keep from going blind. He won—and the U.S. began mailing him pre-rolled joints. That case cracked open a program that proves the biggest lie in drug policy: they always knew cannabis was medicine. They just didn’t want you to.

🚫 LIE #1: “Cannabis has no accepted medical use.”

📜 Their own record says otherwise:
The Compassionate IND Program, created in 1976 after Robert Randall successfully argued a medical necessity defense, and solidified after Randall beat the feds again in 1978 when they tried to cut off his federal supply of cannabis. Uncle Sam sent cannabis to patients via federal supply—labelled “Caution: New Drug—Limited By Federal Law.”
Conditions treated: Glaucoma, AIDS wasting, MS, chronic pain.
They knew it was medicine. They mailed it like medicine.

🚫 LIE #2: “We need more research before we can act.”

📁 Their own record says otherwise:
The U.S. has held a Master File on Medical Cannabis (NIDA File #1361, 1978+) for over 40 years.
🧪 The FDA used it to greenlight protocols for AIDS, glaucoma, and more.
🧬 VA, NIDA, and FDA all contributed to the data.
They don’t need more research—they need more courage.

🚫 LIE #3: “Cannabis is dangerous.”

⚖️ Their own record says otherwise:
In 1988, DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young ruled after weeks of testimony:

“Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.”
The DEA rejected the recommendation. Not because it wasn’t true—because it wasn’t convenient.

🚫 LIE #4: “The Controlled Substances Act is neutral and science-based.”

⚠️ Their own record says otherwise:
Cannabis remains in Schedule I—reserved for substances with “no accepted medical use and high potential for abuse.”
Meanwhile, cocaine and methamphetamine are in Schedule II.
That’s not science. That’s political engineering.

🚫 LIE #5: “We don’t arrest patients anymore.”

🚓 Their own record says otherwise:
Tens of thousands of arrests still occur annually for cannabis.
Even in legal states, patients lose:

• 🏠 Housing

• 👶 Custody

• 💼 Employment

• 🩺 VA Benefits
  Why? Because federal classification remains unchanged—and state law can’t override stigma.

🚫 LIE #6: “We support veterans' healthcare needs.”

🎖️ Their own record says otherwise:
The VA's Directive 1315 prohibits VA doctors from prescribing or even discussing cannabis as treatment.
Meanwhile, the federal government once mailed cannabis to patients—including veterans—under the IND.
Today's policy is abandonment disguised as neutrality.

🚫 LIE #7: “We shut down the IND Program for safety reasons.”

🔒 Their own record says otherwise:
In 1992, the Bush Administration froze the program to new applicants—not because cannabis was unsafe, but because AIDS patients flooded the system and the optics threatened the War on Drugs.
They feared exposure—not side effects.

🚫 LIE #8: “Only anecdotal evidence supports cannabis.”

📊 Their own record says otherwise:
The IND generated decades of government-held patient data, including case reports and physician affidavits.
That data still exists—NIDA, FDA, and DEA all helped collect it.
It’s not anecdotal. It’s archived.

🚫 LIE #9: “Medical cannabis is a fringe issue.”

📣 Their own record says otherwise:
In 1981, the National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, and American Glaucoma Society all acknowledged therapeutic potential.
In 1999, the Institute of Medicine concluded cannabis was effective for certain conditions—and called for expanded research.
That’s not fringe. That’s foundational.

🚫 LIE #10: “Legalizing cannabis would open the floodgates.”

🌊 Their own record says otherwise:
The federal government already legalized it—quietly—for select patients.
It didn’t collapse society.
It saved lives.

🎤 Final Word:

These aren’t just lies. They’re weapons—used to justify criminalization, marginalization, and bureaucratic inertia.
But their own paperwork torches every excuse.

This isn’t a matter of opinion.
It’s a matter of public record.

🔥 Because people begged for help—and got handcuffs instead.

Robert Randall had to sue the government just to see without going blind.
AIDS patients—starving, wasting, dying—fought tooth and nail for access.
Veterans—your brothers, your sisters—came home shattered and found a wall of silence where compassion should’ve been.

Meanwhile, Uncle Sam was rolling joints behind locked doors and mailing them to a chosen few like some twisted ration system.

That’s not oversight. That’s triage by cruelty.

🔥 Because they knew it worked—and buried it anyway.

Not just once. Repeatedly.

• 1974: THC shrinks tumors? Cut the funding.

• 1976: Cannabis preserves vision? Limit the program.

• 1988: Judge says reschedule? Ignore the ruling.

• 1992: AIDS patients apply? Slam the door.

They didn’t just deny access.
They criminalized truth.

They let people die knowing full well a safer option existed.

🔥 Because every excuse they give today is recycled propaganda.

“We need more research.”
“We can’t recommend it without FDA approval.”
“There’s not enough evidence for medical use.”

All lies.
Documented, archived, taxpayer-funded lies.

They gaslit an entire country for fifty years while hoarding the very data that disproved their own policies.

And they still do it.
They do it to veterans. To cancer patients. To parents of sick children.

🔥 Because it's not just hypocrisy—it’s harm.

Every arrest?
Every custody battle?
Every eviction, job loss, or denied claim?

They weren’t unfortunate consequences.
They were policy outcomes—designed, defended, and deployed.

And the government knew better.
They always knew.

That’s not failure.
That’s abuse of power.

🔥 Because we shouldn’t have to ask anymore.

Robert Randall already proved it in court.
The data is already in their files.
The patients already existed.
The precedent already stands.

And yet here we are—still pleading with the abuser to acknowledge the wound.

Still watching bureaucrats pretend cannabis is some mysterious new compound instead of the medicine they already prescribed.

It’s rage-inducing.
And it should be.

Because if you care about science, law, medicine, veterans, or justice—this should make you mad too.

So no—I won’t write this neutrally.
I won’t pretend this is just “a complex policy matter.”
It’s a lie. It’s theft.
And it cost lives.

That’s why I write like this.
That’s why I burn slow.
And that’s why I bite.

Filed under: Cannabis Policy, Veteran Advocacy, Government Accountability

(Burn Slow Doctrine Division, IVLC — August 2025)