You have to hand it to the U.S. Government. Without the money, might, and monotony of this monolith, it would have been impossible to suppress and distort the truth about cannabis – a plant used beneficially by humans for the last 5,000 to 10,000 years.

But that’s in the past, because the truth — like a plant — has the habit of coming to the surface no matter how many times it’s stepped on.

Thanks to the Internet, the greatest information sharing and publishing facility in history, we now have access to a wealth of historical records, medical research, and user experiences about cannabis. The net result of all this information is that everyday people, not just people involved in the medical marijuana community, are starting to learn the truth. So this series of articles is a way for you to counter “official” lies, propaganda and misinformation with the kind of hard-hitting facts that just might change some minds, and perhaps save some lives in the process…maybe yours, or that of someone you care about.

Myth: Medical Marijuana is just a sneaky way for activists to get marijuana legalized for everyone.

In the 2010 vote on California’s Proposition 19, which would have legalized marijuana for everyone, one of the largest and most vocal groups against the proposal was medical marijuana dispensary owners. Even though they were perhaps potentially the ones with the most to gain (since they actually do have experience selling cannabis legally, as well as a source of supply), they reasoned that the specific wording of Prop. 19 would pave the way for corporate takeover of medical marijuana in the state, as well as new and harsher regulations that would destroy the medicinal value of the cannabis to be sold and be more of a burden on medical patients.

While it’s true that many medical marijuana patients become politically active once they see the extent of government hypocrisy about marijuana in general, it’s also true that many patients never used marijuana before becoming patients.

Plenty of ordinary people take Vicodin for pain and would be highly insulted if anyone compared them to heroin junkies, even though they’re using similar drugs (essentially based on opium, and certainly capable of causing addiction). Similarly, millions of people use marijuana for various ailments every day with no intention or expectation of using it recreationally.