Cut the shit Mr. President. End the War on Drugs NOW, sir

As our country's founding papers declare in no uncertain terms, Mr. President, We the People of these United States have the right to do what we feel is best for ourselves, as long as we harm no one else. Such liberties are not negotiable [Free Means Free].


The war on drugs is a brutal, cruel and economically devastating military operation supported by a nearly eighty-year propaganda campaign that would make Mad Men weep [Lights Camera Cannabis!]. In the mix; a diabolical scheme to hold back mainstream research on a green suite of psychoactive plants [Schedule 1] and a stunningly successful campaign to keep cannabis and hemp out of business [The Cannabis Trades].


In America our epidemic overuse of alcohol and pills is a direct result of our limited choices.


To be sure, societies have been celebrating safely (and not) with alcohol and other drugs since the dawn of civilization. Hathor, for example, was (is) the Egyptian goddess of love and many other things, including joy, music, dance, beauty, culture and drunkenness. While using alcohol to excess clearly isn't new, legal, social and religious restrictions on choices didn't begin in earnest until the rise of the Romans a mere two thousand years ago.


In ancient times people understood plant medicines and inebriates as gifts of nature. They also knew at a cultural level what plants to avoid. In the Americas they used psychoactive mushrooms, peyote and ayahuasca, particularly for religious and shamanic purposes. Scandinavians seem to have favored the curiously Santa-colored amanita muscaria mushrooms, which just as curiously can make shrooming reindeer dance, prance and leap.


Cannabis sativa was an early choice for medicine in China and in India, and arrived (along with hemp) in Egypt by way of ancient trade routes [Seshat's Secret] The ancient Egyptians, who knew how to party, also adored their fabled Nile blue lotus and the mandrake--both of which figure prominently in their erotic art and love poetry [see Sacred Sexuality in Ancient Egypt by Ruth Schumann-Antelme and Stephane Rossini].


In the 'modern' world the prescribed choice for addiction is typically sobriety, except of course for the pills taken for depression and related ailments. My mom, a delightful giving woman brimming with creative talent, struggled for decades to maintain her sanity in a tragic, heart-breaking last-century existence defined by restrictive drug choices. In the late 70s my attempt to switch her to cannabis failed because a well-born eastern Yankee such as herself could not--dared not-- step that far out of line [Baking with Mom].


In cannabis country we don't buy into that crap anymore. As adults in America we are free to make our own choices and explore our own remedies. As parents in America we have the right to make mature and rational decisions in the best interests of our children. And naturally we are free to make our own cannabis medicine, share those remedies with others, and tell the truth to our kids [Shona's Secret].


End this terrible war, Mr. President. If you don't your successor will surely have to.

In the waning years of prohibition...

As Lee Fang’s article int The Nation (Guess Who’s Profiting from Pot Prohibition?/July 21) describes, cannabis legalization poses a clear and present danger to entrenched, last-century corporations ‘who’ grew up under assumption like they were special and cannabis would forever be contained as a competitive threat. Big government seems no less stunned by the quickening pace of liberty, and by their inability to control the message in the age of the internet.

To be sure, restoring the right of Americans to choose something other than pills, butts and booze is going to hit those industries hard, particularly because THC is proving to be a safe and effective drug for treating pill and alcohol dependency. As tincture and oil, cannabis is quietly working wonders across a wide range of ailments, including seizures, migraines, Crohn’s, fibromyalgia, chemo relief, ADHD, PTSD, and even cancer.

Don’t believe it? Search Mykayla, Charlotte Paige, Shona Banda, or think about the sort of leaders who would let billions suffer while quietly placing bets on medicinal uses. In 2003 Health and Human Services filed patent # 6,630,507 entitled, Cannabinoids as Antioxidants and Neuroprotectants). What say you, SAM?

When Americans wake up and see what cannabis really is and what it can do for their families, they’ll rise up and demand the quick restoration of rights they barely knew were missing.

Top ten CULTURAL reasons cannabis freedom is rising

1.  The rise of advocacy groups which by their very names challenge the prevailing cultural order and prohibition-era stereotypes built up over generations.  Examples: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)...  Blueblood Yankees On Cannabis (they’d sooner die).

2.  Moms for Marijuana.  Watch out!  When the moms of America finally wake up and see what cannabis really is and what it can do for their family…Washington is gonna get so nailed for lying, and the drug war will be grounded. Forever. Nuff said.

3.  Countries like Uruguay, Portugal and Switzerland are taking the lead on crafting modern drug-use strategies, and proving once again that the freedom to choose works.  

4.  Cannabis is horticulturally, historically, medicinally, economically, artistically, and socially significant, and way cool.  It’s our very own ancient, healing, best exotic, fragrant, sweet, silly, sticky, sexy weed.

5.  Mainstream Americans, still the most influential cultural group in the world, are discovering the medicinal truth about cannabis in large numbers by way of their ailments, and internet testimonials by brave patient pioneers like Shona Banda and David Triplett.

6.  Alcohol and pill abuse is rampant in our culture, and cannabis is proving to be a useful exit drug for patients wrapped up in those costly, toxic, and often tragic addictions. [Myth-busting research study by Amanda Reiman: http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/6/1/35] 

7.  Doctors, particularly in free states, have begun to assert their sacred oath by insisting on treating patients in the privacy of their own practices—with cannabis if that works.

8.  Long-lasting, stealthy cannabis edibles and extracts are starting to make the party scene; 420 revelers typically drink less and feel better in the morning.  Evidence: Drunken driving fatalities decline in states that give their citizens the right to choose cannabis [see Maia Szalavitz piece for Time Magazine: http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/02/why-medical-marijuana-laws-reduce-traffic-deaths/].

9.  Cannabis festivals are all the rage: fun, safe, friendly, and often held on private land, these vibrant transitory marketplaces expand the support base, provide income for sellers of everything from goat soap to edibles, and serve as a key meeting place for local and regional growers, patients, ganjapreneurs, advocates and aficionados.

10.  To the utter frustration of the prohibitionists in power, the internet has fallen into the hands of the people.  The convenient medicinal and economic truth about cannabis is now appearing on screens large and small, all over the world.

Related works:
My new tune in celebration of cannabis freedom. http://cannatv.org/video/173/Free-To-Choose
Baking with Mom  http://cannabisrising.blogspot.com/2012/09/baking-with-mom.html

Lights, Camera, Cannabis! http://cannabisrising.blogspot.com/2012/07/lights-camera-cannabis.html

 

Stoners! Unite Us! Unite the Fans!

Recreational cannabis fans listen up.  There’s a war on in case you haven’t noticed, and thanks to the internet we're the first generation of cannabis consumers with the power to end the insanity and restore our right to choose.  How?  By using that device in your hand to quietly search for, discover, and share the medicinal truth.

Start the search with names like Shona Banda, David Trippett, Cashy Hyde, and Rick Simpson.  Every fan of the world’s favorite forbidden flower ought to be familiar with the work of these patients and pioneers, and be able to share those stories of cannabis healing with friends and family members who are ready to hear it.  On the political front, these names can be used to politely reveal, on camera, that our leaders are either full of shit like Obama, or taken in by the system like Romney.  

On the economic front, cannabis represents a clear and present danger to the bottom lines of some of the most powerful industries on earth, including energy, liquor, textiles, drugs, chemicals, paper, prisons, and Federal agencies.  After a reign of nearly eighty years, prohibitionists are well-practiced in the art of deception and delay.  Many of them still believe they can keep cannabis—from medicine to enterprise—out of the mainstream or at least under strict control.

This week, for example, our government is pretending to review cannabis for reclassification.  It’s a cruel sham, much like when Nixon asked for the report and then tore up the report.  Even if they do decide to reschedule (while claiming to be shocked that pot might be medicine), you can bet they’ll fight tooth and nail to hold back the flood of research and reveals that will surely follow.  

The whole charade is exposed by a seven digit number; patent 6,630,507, filed in 2003 and owned by OUR government.  It’s entitled Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants.  Nuff said.  On the faith front, the lie runs so deep that Christians obediently ignore the Words of their Father.  Genesis 1:29. Cannabis is ours. God said.

Caught by surprise by favorable patient-use studies coming out of free states, the communication revolution, and by the rise of stealthy home cultivation for personal use, industrialists, with mighty assistance from Washington, are now scrambling as quietly as possible to deal themselves in and claim their share.  As usual, their share will be as much as they get using every means at their disposal, including our military.

It’s the freedom fight of the century, and we’re up against a regime that has managed to convince the world, with guns at the ready and big media on their side, that we smoke with tobacco, party with booze, and heal with pills.  Not in cannabis country we don’t.  Not all the time, anyway.

420 fans!  Closet tokers!  Marijuana moms!  Stiletto stoners!  Join the revolution, and by all means stick to the shadows.  Search, explore and share the medicinal truth in the privacy of your own lives.  And name names.  Because as the truth comes out, the walls come down.   

Free the weed

Last summer Congressmen Ron Paul and Barney Frank introduced HR 2306, a bill that would give states the right to establish their own medicinal cannabis policies.  The measure was of course deemed dead on arrival as is usual with cannabis law reform initiatives, but Obama's decision to escalate the conflict next month by sending in Federal troops to close California dispensaries could ironically spark the beginning of the end of cannabis prohibition.

The truth is out about this safe and effective garden medicine that rarely harms and never kills, and that's bad news for the forces of an Industrial Age that sought to make shoppers of us all.  Patients who choose cannabis typically drink less and use fewer manufactured drugs.  This outlawed flower comes without a set of instructions, but with no danger of a lethal overdose or physical addiction, patients become pioneers, investigators and experimenters who treat themselves and bravely share their discoveries online.

Although the number of cannabis consumers in the US is probably less than ten percent of the total population, most Americans support the right of their fellow citizens to use cannabis for medicine.  Small-scale home cultivation for private use is taking off.  Seeds, clones and medicinal formulations are being shared through a peaceful, cautious and nurturing underground community straight out of Bradbury's visionary tale Fahrenheit 451.
 
Aided by wise healers with medicinal plant knowledge going back thousands of years, an increasing number of patients are using manufactured medicines as a last resort, and turning to their doctors for diagnoses and when needed, surgery. They rightly believe that making medicinal use of intelligently selected plants is not a radical practice any more than hoisting water from a clean well is a radical alternative to buying bottles at the store.

If mainstream Americans were to spend a week's worth of their TV time online investigating cannabis, they would discover a shocking and most convenient truth; our freedom to decide what we use for medicine, fun and stimulation was taken away not for the good of society or for our own protection.  The twisted reality of the Western healthcare model is that without laws, propaganda and military force to 'discourage' free choice and personal exploration, their monopoly power would evaporate.

The inevitable restoration of the right to choose cannabis will mark the beginning of a slow and painful decline of Americanized medicine.  Many will lose their jobs as last-century businesses fail, and as government agencies charged with drug enforcement and control are downsized or eliminated.  Not a pleasant prospect in the midst of possibly the worst recession in history, but staying the course is no longer possible in an age of instant communications, border-less social networks, and a rising populous cry for smaller, less intrusive government.

Now that the internet is brimming with cannabis testimonials from regular, honest and genuinely surprised survivors like Emily Sander (cancer) and Shona Banda (Crohn's), the big question is how many more US Administrations will be allowed to duck, dodge, bully, stammer and squirm away from the truth in service to a moralistic, commercialized, media-supported framework that from cannabis country looks like a Mel Brooks tollbooth?

Early on Obama pledged to leave medicinal cannabis decisions to the states.  This month he's threatening to spend more of our money to violently disrupt the lives of peaceful state-legal cannabis patients and entrepreneurs in California.  With activists already in the streets across America standing up against abuse and greed in general, this President may unintentionally spark a unified movement with the power to insist that America finally restore our basic human right to choose and responsibly use cannabis.

Occam 101

The chasm of belief about the nature of cannabis is now so vast that it begs the question; who is more likely to be right?  On one side are mostly well-meaning authority figures raised on Nancy's Kool-Aid; your police chief, your pastor, your coach, and if you live in New Hampshire, your Governor and your newest Senator.  They all just say no to cannabis; it'll make you lazy and useless; you'll be a drain on society.  On the other side of this millennial divide are cannabis minions--tireless and driven patients, advocates and researchers like Shona Banda, Rick Simpson and Dr. Melamede.  They seem to think about nothing else, as if they have discovered a wondrous truth that must be shared with the rest of humanity before it's too late.  As if.