First, I'd like to declare I am not in the medical profession nor in the legal profession (anymore). Everything I comment is based pure on my own opinion and facts gathered from certain online websites. The conclusion is up for you to decide.

Cannabis is a first scheduled drug according to singapore's Misuse of drug act and possession/consumption of a certain amount leads to the death penalty. We were taught from secondary school that cannabis is dangerous and could lead to addiction and bodily harm.

But now, debates in the US are threatening to render everything we learnt about cannabis for the past 30 to 40 years invalid.

First, let's talk about addictivity. According to several pro-cannabis website and testimonies in America, Cannabis is non-addictive but possibly habitual. The chemical compound in Cannabis called delta 9 tetrahydro cannabinol is the cause of the "high" feeling when someone smoke/consume cannabis. However, this chemical compound does not cause physical dependency unlike tobacco and alcohol. Long story short, cannabis is less addictive compared to tobacco and alcohol.

http://recoveryguy.hubpages.com/hub/Is-Marijuana-Addictive

Next, let's talk about the harmful nature of cannabis. According to the CNB website, consumption of cannabis could cause the following syntoms.

Inability to concentrate.

Slow reaction.

Distorted thinking and perception.

Poor balance and coordination.

Extreme anxiety, depression and paranoia.

Decrease in motivation and drive in long term use.

The above syntoms are the exact same syntoms as if someone were to consume alcohol. But in Singapore, though heavily taxed, alcohol remain legal.

Also, there have been no recorded death from cannabis consumption alone aside from accidents. The cannabinol compounds is not toxic in humans in small amounts. There are theories that the lethal amount of Cannabis is if someone were to smoke 3x their body weight, average 210kg, of Cannabis in a 15min period.

Research into if Cannabis destroy brain cells shows surprising results. It turns out if taken in the correct amount, the compounds in Cannabis actually repairs nerve cells.

http://www.selectsmart.com/DISCUSS/read.php?16,693724

Next, the claim that Cannabis is a "gateway drug" and it induces a Cannabis user to try harder drugs. This is actually a flawed claim. There are currently thousands of Cannabis users in America that never even try harder drugs.

The arguement is that Cannabis users tried harder drugs simply because the illegality of Cannabis causes users to get their supply from black market which also sells harder drugs.

So the theory is, if cannabis is not illegal and is sold in the open market, Cannabis users will not be exposed to the black market and harder drugs.

So, we already established that Cannabis is less addictive than alcohol and tobacco and also less toxic. You may not advocate the use of intoxicant and I respect that, but there is a reason why you should look at Cannabis.

Recent studies in the west shows that the chemical compound in cannabis actually have anti tumor and cancer fighting properties.

http://www.nowpublic.com/thc_marijuana_hel...s_harvard_study

http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist...lls_the_mun.php

The delta 9 THC and CBD compounds in Cannabis have the properties to induce the cancer cells to commit suicide while leaving healthy cells untouch, according to these articles.

Also, there is currently only one company in the world that is actively researching on using cannabis for medical purposes.

http://www.cannabisscience.com

One of their latest news shows positive results in their cancer/cannabis treatment research.

http://www.cannabisscience.com/news-a-medi...ncer-cells.html

A POT (Patients out of Time) conference was held in Arizona, America on 29 Apr 2012 at 0027 HKT. Speakers of the conference are qualified medical doctors and researchers in cannabis.

The video of the conference was recorded on live stream and was later uploaded to YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/NORMLnet

Speakers of the conference touch on topics on addictivity of cannabis and it's medical uses in HIV, neuropathic, cancer, alzymer's disease and many more.

One of the video to take note of is Cannabinol and Cancer care, presented by Donald Abrams, MD. Qualifications: [url="http://medicine.ucsf.edu/hemonc/faculty/donald_abrams.html"]http://medicine.ucsf.edu/hemonc/faculty/donald_abrams.html[/url]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8KW_j2KGUA

Claims made:

Cannabis via vapor inhalant induces appetites in HIV patients who suffers from anorexia and body degradation.

Cannabis helps in pain management in peripheral neuropathy patients who suffers from HIV, cancer and those undergoing chemotherapy. Cannabis causes anti inflammatory effects and studies shown to be more effective than opiates like morphine and neuropathic drug like pregabalin.

Studies also shown that usage of vaporized cannabis are safe for patients use together with oral opiate drugs.

Note: Dr Donald Abrams mentions that it is important that the word "cure" is not used as it shows bad image for the research and may sound like quackery. However he admits that studies has shown that Cannabis could be used as an effective complimentary treatment together with conventional treatment.

It is also important to not ignore conventional treatment

I do not condone the use of cannabis in Singapore as it is illegal and it carries the death penalty.

But this question must be raised. If all the claims turns out to be true. If Cannabis turns out to be less dangerous and addictive compared to alcohol and tobacco. And that it has medicinal properties that could help in cancer treatment. Why are we hanging people for it? Why is it still illegal?