Almost all of the reefer madness pioneers smoked cigarettes while demonizing cannabis, claiming that tobacco smoking was medicinal. For centuries, tobacco was thought to have medicinal properties and was used to treat various ailments. In the 16th century, doctors even prescribed it for conditions such as colds, headaches, and toothaches.

This same crowd compared cannabis smoking to inhaling the smells of Hell brought to you by the Devil himself, yet cigarette smoking was widely accepted. As a kid in the ‘70s, we marveled at the Marlboro Man who was so cool in all those ads, but most don't know he eventually died of lung cancer after battles with COPD. It wasn't until the early 20th century that the harmful effects of certain tobacco products began to be understood. Today, we know that tobacco product use is a leading cause of cancer, heart disease, and respiratory illnesses.

None of this means the tobacco plant has no medicinal value, but it hasn't been utilized that way yet as a pharmaceutical. Which brings us to the topic of individual freedoms in the realm of medicating. There's no reason for cannabis to stay in the danger zone of prohibited Schedule I status as having no medicinal value. That’s why millions are advocating daily to end the prohibition of the plant. At the same time, harmful tobacco products continue to be rapidly sold on corners nationwide and worldwide.

How can this be? The simple answer is regulations, and that same answer allows the creators of synthetics to kick back in their armchairs and watch us all play the game our nation's leaders have created. While we prove cannabis is an essential medicine online and off, many corporations already in the know and armed with billion-dollar bank accounts are watching and waiting. Meanwhile, their scientists are in the labs creating and duplicating. 

Researchers have known for quite some time that both tobacco and cannabis act in a neuroprotective way with certain life-threatening disorders. Nicotine is known to 'stop the seizures' at clinical doses - especially those that originate in the frontal lobe. Many are no longer fond of cigarettes, but some of what's inside of them has been researched and found to have anticonvulsant properties.

Epidemiological studies indicate about 50 percent lower incidence of Parkinson's disease in tobacco smokers vs. non-smokers. P.E.T. imaging of the brain shows decreased levels of an enzyme that degrades dopamine, the neurotransmitter that is always heavily deficient in Parkinson's patients and is known to cause symptoms that are not only life-altering, but eventually life-ending. By Stage 5 of Parkinson's disease, people need round-the-clock care and have a limited life expectancy. 

Interestingly, just last month, after a century of tobacco-related illness and deaths, the F.D.A. announced it suddenly wants to regulate tobacco products - specifically nicotine levels. Why? Synthetic nicotine has finally arrived. 

The governmental entity that's been beyond difficult when it comes to gaining nationwide access to cannabinoid medicine users always has a plan. Last year, synthetic nicotine was approved for the first time for the creation of pharmaceuticals, making this year's announcement of the desire to regulate seem far more than coincidental; it's on the heels of the pharmaceutical industry's research and development to create new drugs. 

Plants are medicine, even ones our government wants you to think are the worst for us. What they don’t want you to know is that the medicine factor is all a matter of harnessing nature instead of duplicating it with synthetic substances. Tobacco farmers have, in the past, been given significant subsidies to let their fields sit, funded not to grow the crop, while cannabis growers jump through hoops to get their crop grown and sold. 

Most people within the cannabis industry are aware of the many different medical applications of cannabis and the tens of thousands of research studies done, while numerous more get completed daily. However, the same crowd is unaware that extracts from the tobacco plant have a medicinal value that is comparable in the arena of neurology. 

Different forms of natural medicines are on the market, such as Ayurvedic, Unani, homeopathic, and allopathic. In fact, many pharmaceutical companies will use raw plant materials to formulate different drugs. Upon finding efficacy in such, synthesizing it in order to scale up for mass distribution and continuity is the name of the game for corporations in that arena.

This practice is one reason why many next-level formulators in the cannabis arena are not sharing how or what exactly they make; they simply list the product's name and its ingredients. Regulations that force cannabis entities to be more transparent in what they provide also give the pharmaceutical world, one that's very naive with the plant, a way to gain formulation knowledge in the interest of creating synthetics. The F.DA., after all, is exceptionally picky about what they'll approve. 

Just like the natural tobacco plant user has given the world of medicine something to look at with synthetic nicotine now on the table, people that provide themselves with natural cannabis medicines are also allowing researchers to peer into a world they want to copy. 

As companies tout new ratios on their cannabis products, patients also come up with new potions, lotions, and weed concoctions made from various extraction techniques. There's no way to hide all of this from the world, nor do most want to, but we must be aware that the corporate giants with the need for greed are on our doorstep, awaiting the next move. 

While patients and consumers just wanting to smoke some weed continue to buy what they can and fuel the continued growth of the cannabis industry, we find pride in the fact that everyday people have proven to Big Government that our plant is medicine. There's no way to continue prohibition for much longer, because the corporate folks want in and the tax revenue is deemed necessary for our nation. 

So, to sum it up, the U.S. government, by way of the F.D.A. and working with the pharmaceutical industry, is expounding on the knowledge that a plant can save and change lives. Unfortunately, demonizing tobacco smoke and capping the maximum nicotine level in tobacco products ultimately minimizes human freedoms. 

It can't matter what type of smoke or plant one prefers; anytime we see regulation that limits freedom, like a cap on the amount of a legal substance, we should take note and push back. Within the cannabis industry, states regulate THC similarly, capping the maximum amount a person can have. But, at the same time, there's no capping of R&D on potent synthetic cannabinoid compounds - maybe that's to come?

The F.D.A. will impose its new tobacco regulations in May 2023. 

Cannabis is medicine, and, with these recent bold moves from our government, it's evident that tobacco is too. Plants have powered humankind since our inception; it's no surprise that another one that's heavily marginalized (though legalized) will be used to create next-level medications for people who have Parkinson's. Plants are, and always will be, an aid for healing.