In this article, Mike
Zappy transcribes the contents of a talk on cannabis and how it's going
to change 'life as we know it' that he had intended to deliver at a Tedx
event in Boca Raton. The text was approved by the organizers and Zappy
was scheduled into the event but a few days later he received an email
from the same organizers cancelling his talk. They said that 'Boca Raton
was not ready for a talk about cannabis'.
Zappy wants to take a stand against what he believes is the hypocrisy of
Tedx, an event that is supposed to break barriers, and is publishing
his talk in full here.
I'm here today to explain to you "How Cannabis is Going to Change Life as We Know It," and why you don't need to be afraid.
What I'm speaking to you about is somewhat controversial, but also
inevitable so what I'd like to do is help get everyone over their fear
of what cannabis is and what it isn't.
For the last 25 years I have wanted to be in the cannabis business,
but never really wanted to go to jail so I just waited. I always knew
there was something positive about it beyond its psychoactive effect;
something intuitively told me that there was a healing component to it.
Unfortunately there was nothing concrete for me to point to; the plant
was made illegal back in the 1930s so there have been no major
scientific studies done to back this up.
I've seen the amazing healing power of this plant in my own life a
friend of mine had a daughter who was severely brain damaged during
child birth, the family spent every moment of their life tending to her
trying to give her joy, but it was unclear how much their efforts were
really doing. The family was desperate and decided to break the law and
try giving her cannabis oil, the results were shocking, within seconds
of taking the cannabis oil her seizures stopped and she was able to
enjoy life at a whole new level. The question is how can something that
sounds that amazing be unavailable and even illegal?
I knew that to understand the answers to these questions I needed to
start by studying the cannabis plant itself, and here's what I found.
Cannabis Sativa comes in two varieties, one is the traditional
marijuana plant that is smoked, vaporized, and eaten for its
psychoactive effect. The other is called industrial hemp, which is used
worldwide as a food ingredient and to make products like rope and
clothing.
What is virtually unknown is that there are over 70 different
elements in the plant including a group referred to as Cannabinoids.
What makes this really interesting is that each one of us has an
endocannabanoid system in our bodies that allows us to interact with
these different elements. The question is why would we have this
system inside our bodies unless we were supposed to be interacting with
this plant?
This chart shows just a few of these elements found in the cannabis
plant there's THC that produces the feeling of being high, but that
has also been known to alleviate nausea and stimulates appetite, which
is why it has been recommended to patients going through chemotherapy.
Then there are the also the Cannabinoids with their different names and
abbreviations. Most widely known today is Cannabidiol or "CBD", this is
the one that has caught peoples attention with its ability to
potentially heal seizures in children like my friend's daughter. It
turns out that the natural ability of CBD to reduce inflammation is why
it has shown to be effective at eliminating lesions on the brain that
cause the seizures. This natural inflammatory can also be effective
against the pain associated with diseases like diabetes, which is
painful specifically because of the inflammation in the body.
What wasn't realized until recently is that the Industrial Hemp
variety that is non-psychoactive, has naturally high levels of CBD,
higher than are found in the typical marijuana plant. Industrial hemp
characteristically has less than 1% THC and high levels of CBD. The
evidence is showing that these Cannabinoids are not specifically a cure
for epilepsy, colitis, diabetes, or cancer, but what they're doing is
helping boost your own immune system so you can naturally fight off
whatever it is that's ailing you.
A friend of mine who was the chief science officer for a major
vitamins company, began studying CBDs a year and a half ago. After
studying it for about a year he felt he knew enough about CBDs to test
it on himself to help combat the intestinal colitis which had been
ruining his life. He began taking the CBDs and within a couple of weeks
all of his symptoms disappeared and it has now been 6 months and he has
not had a single episode.
Companies are beginning to create specific formulations to replace
the current slate of pharmaceutical drugs, like Prozac, Oxycodon, and
Ambien. As an example, many cannabis smokers have realized that after
leaving their cannabis unused for a long period of time, once consumed,
get the psychoactive effect but they will become very tired, this is
because the THC has turned into CBN, which acts as a natural sleep aid.
This is how an Ambien replacement will be derived - it will be all
natural and have no side effects
So how can something this amazing not be available? As usual, with
any conspiracy, it's important to follow the money. At one time in
United States history, hemp was the number one crop because it is so
incredibly strong and cheap to grow. Some of the many uses of hemp were
rope, clothing, building materials, sails in ships, and as a bio-fuel.
Not to mention the Constitution of the United States is written on hemp
paper. There were also some very powerful industries and individuals
that played a huge role in the prohibition surrounding hemp. The Dupont
family controlled the cotton industry, which saw hemp as an obvious
threat. William Randolf Hearst's newspapers were printed on paper and he
owned significant timber reserves. These powerful families wrote the
very legislation that outlawed hemp and funded the propaganda campaign
known as "Reefer Madness" where they predicted that marijuana would make
people go insane and destabilize society. Many industries since then
have also been threatened by cannabis and have fought hard to keep it
illegal. The pharmaceutical industry fears it because they can't patent
and own it, and the alcohol industry sees it as a natural enemy. Our own
government, it is said, has kept it illegal for the reason that they
don't need everyone walking around freethinking, asking questions like
"Why am I paying taxes? Why are we in so many wars?"
Einstein is famous for saying, "You can't solve any problem with the
same consciousness that got you into the situation." This means to me
that if we want to solve the big issues in society like violence,
anxiety and addiction, we need to change people's consciousness. Nature
knows that people are highly stressed and is trying to bring this plant
out to change people's collective consciousness and bring about healing
to our most menacing diseases.
Prohibition is being lifted after more than 70 years and every
application will play a critical role in your life. Hemp is going to
once again become the number one crop in the United States and will
again be used in a wide spectrum of applications that add value to our
everyday lives. Because of the natural strength of its fibers, it has
the potential to be the base material in most 3d printers. Scientist
recently became excited about a material called graphene, which has
incredible conductivity and is touted as the material that will allow us
to have a computer that folds up like a newspaper. The graphene mining
stocks are all of 10x or more. Interestingly enough, it turns out that
hemp is actually a better conductor than graphene and it doesn't need to
be mined. It grows quickly and is very cost effective.
Recently the government allowed the growing of industrial hemp,
leaving it up to the states to regulate the growing. Unfortunately, the
law currently says that the plant needs to stay in the state that it is
grown in, which is why most of the hemp being sold today in the US is
produced in Europe and Canada.
Everyone here today owes it to this plant to make sure that it
becomes available as soon as possible by petitioning their government
officials and getting out to vote for cannabis related issues. Even
today Marijuana is designated as a "Schedule 1" drug in the United
States. The definition of a Schedule 1 drug is that it is highly
addictive and has no medical benefit. How can it still be claimed to
have no medical benefit? Because we have allowed a handful of special
interest groups control our access to the future we deserve!
When future civilizations look back, they will see that the
suppression of this plant was one of the biggest human atrocities to
ever take place, so let's make sure that they see our generation as the
one that took a stand and righted this wrong.
Biography
Mike
"Zappy" Zapolin is the CEO of Zappy, Inc. a vertically
integrated cannabis company focused on the medical and consumer
applications of the product, projected to be $49 billion in the next
few years.
Zappy is the
visionary behind such Internet brands
as PrescriptionDrugs.com, Etc.
Zappy has been featured
multiple times on NBC's "Today Show," on TV networks ABC,
CBS, CNBC, and CNN, and is the creator of the Harvard Business School
elective "eBusiness,
Zappy began his career at
Drexel Burnham Lambert, later becoming one of the youngest Vice
Presidents in the 100-year history of investment bank Bear Stearns.
Along with Deepak Chopra,
he is producing a documentary film titled "The Reality Of Truth"
www.TheRealityOfTruth.com which
advocates using ancient wisdom for modern problems.
