Why do we condemn you, sweet leaf?
I love pot. I feel so disillusioned by this world which has condemned it. And why? Really, think about it, why? No deaths, no side effects, no provable long term damage. There are always propagandized rumours floating around. However, the real studies, the ones that prove the safety and benefit of marijuana, are repressed by the government. Except while doing actual research, the general public never hears about them.
I think xenophobia is the reason marijuana is outlawed in this culture. Post-colonial society grew into something very tame. Everyone has mental images of the 50's, 40's, 30's etc, being very tame and closed minded to a lot of things. At the time of prohibition, the repressed and pacified public would have looked at someone intoxicated on pot, giggling, philosophizing and having a great time, and thought the substance turned him into a madman. They were probably superstitious enough to think it transformed people into something not human. The fear spawned propaganda. The propaganda reinforced the fear and resulted in this 'war' that's been declared on drugs. Some drugs, are worth a war being declared on. But the majority of the effort is placed on the most harmless one of all. They've declared war, not only on a plant, but the most popular plant on the planet in all of history, and throughout all of history.
Truth is, they were a society trying to deny ancient wisdom. Trying to call ancient wisdom uncivilized, even heathen. We still are a society like that - such as the way some people only trust pharmaceutical medicine and place no thought to natural remedies - but we've changed a lot. I think multiculturalism has done a lot for that, as well as the separation of church and state. We're not so afraid of new people, or new ideas.
But still, we condemn ancient medicine. We ignore the world's #1 fibre, which was in massive use just until the last century. Now, instead we make paper from trees, which is a resource much more difficult to renew. Instead, we get our fuel from fossils which are completely impossible to renew. Instead, we synthesize our medicine, which is much more unnatural and MUCH more harmful to the body. Sure it's a high number of capsules of tylenol you'd have to take to actually die, but think about it, you're still putting a potentially fatal substance in your body. Coffee can kill you, and alcohol. All legal. Why do we condemn marijuana?
I think xenophobia is the reason marijuana is outlawed in this culture. Post-colonial society grew into something very tame. Everyone has mental images of the 50's, 40's, 30's etc, being very tame and closed minded to a lot of things. At the time of prohibition, the repressed and pacified public would have looked at someone intoxicated on pot, giggling, philosophizing and having a great time, and thought the substance turned him into a madman. They were probably superstitious enough to think it transformed people into something not human. The fear spawned propaganda. The propaganda reinforced the fear and resulted in this 'war' that's been declared on drugs. Some drugs, are worth a war being declared on. But the majority of the effort is placed on the most harmless one of all. They've declared war, not only on a plant, but the most popular plant on the planet in all of history, and throughout all of history.
Truth is, they were a society trying to deny ancient wisdom. Trying to call ancient wisdom uncivilized, even heathen. We still are a society like that - such as the way some people only trust pharmaceutical medicine and place no thought to natural remedies - but we've changed a lot. I think multiculturalism has done a lot for that, as well as the separation of church and state. We're not so afraid of new people, or new ideas.
But still, we condemn ancient medicine. We ignore the world's #1 fibre, which was in massive use just until the last century. Now, instead we make paper from trees, which is a resource much more difficult to renew. Instead, we get our fuel from fossils which are completely impossible to renew. Instead, we synthesize our medicine, which is much more unnatural and MUCH more harmful to the body. Sure it's a high number of capsules of tylenol you'd have to take to actually die, but think about it, you're still putting a potentially fatal substance in your body. Coffee can kill you, and alcohol. All legal. Why do we condemn marijuana?