How I Came to Conclude We Are an Insane Society

We are an insane society. I have to conclude this when I see the example of marijuana. Either we won’t look at the evidence at all (limiting a rational approach right there), or we cling to whatever shred of doubt we can muster that there’s something wrong with it – in enough numbers that it is not freely used in our society for all the many benefits it has shown in the search for detriments.

I am particularly amused by those factions out there that can say, in the same breath, that there is zero evidence that heavy, life-long smokers of marijuana live any shorter a life than anyone else, but that some of the phases of the smoke, when applied to a system have shown carcinogenic tendency in that system. What are THEY up to?, I wonder.

I mean… If smoking it is not a health threat based on longevity, why worry about some short-lived phases in the process from ignition to lung? It clearly is not of concern.

I guess by making this hacked-out piece of the process the focus, one gives those shreds of doubt that keep enough of the masses voting to keep this herb illegal, keep this alive as a debate at all. But why would one want to keep this herb illegal? Really?

Is it in the generally observed behavior of the smoking (using) populace that a danger is seen? That should be the first question to ask, I would think. The stereotype of the “pothead” seems to be more of a younger and inexperienced user, but the fact is that the vastly greater number of people using marijuana function quite well in their lives, sometimes while using copious quantities.

Even in driving tests, experienced users are a wee bit ahead of the “sober” ones tested.

If you ask a policeman if he expects just marijuana to be involved in a domestic call…he’ll tell you that he does not. Alcohol, high probability; marijuana alone, nil. So obviously, the herb itself is, statistically, having no negative social impact – in fact, the evidence suggests a high correlation between a willingness to be calm and the use of marijuana. That’s a major selling point in my book.

There is no correlation between its use and deviant behavior – and by deviant behavior I include anything that is done sexually or brutally against another’s will – or such a correlation would be all over the news. Though I know of no study on this, I would wager that one finds less of it. Marijuana opens awareness of others, as a rule, lowering the likelihood of any such thought becoming action.

Interestingly, crime is a low probability scenario in the trade of marijuana on the black market. Well, unless you count the crime we have tagged onto the trade of marijuana. Though there are rough kids that might steal to buy a ten sack, most marijuana is purchased with funds earned. Stealing usually indicates crack or other coc aine products.

And then there’s that long list of benefits. Strong evidence, robust evidence for so many good things coming from it. They say that teens using it show some vague issues, but the subjects in the study were suspect and few. More shreds of doubt to cling to. Meanwhile, I hear glaucoma can be stopped if you use it. Alzheimer’s, nausea, anorexia, depression, and cancer (to name a few) can be treated. And that biggest one, that major cause of illness itself: stress. Marijuana treats stress!

All this with no debilitating side effects and zero deaths attributed to its use. In emergencies, an experienced user will respond appropriately if they know what’s appropriate to begin with.

And so… Here I look at our society and seeing great amounts of money being spent to spread shreds of doubt against an enormous body of evidence that we would be far better a society if we just let go of this, I scratch my head. I mean, as issues go in a society, we are causing far more in terms of money spent and lives shattered than the use of the herb even remotely causes. The difference is astronomical.

Therefore, I have to suspect our sanity. Why would we trust all these nebulous shreds of doubt against the evidence clearly defined?

There’s also the question of the sanity in choosing to outlaw a weed – an herb of great benefit notwithstanding – and one that grows virtually everywhere on the planet. But that’s just a gravy insanity on the meat of persistence in using marijuana to flail society rather than embracing the herb gratefully.

And who is it that benefits from the effort to rile us against marijuana in the first place? Ah. Yes. Corporations. Pharmaceutical companies. The prison industrial complex. Alcohol sellers. Drug Lords (a form of corporation…). Are we going to let this continue? Are we going to continue to flail our society’s back – or back off and behave rationally?

Right on! I couldn't agree more. We are absolutely crazy, like people holding our hands over our eyes and ears not wanting to hear or understand the evidence. All the problems they tell us weed causes are actually caused by it being illegal!!

Sure, some people shouldn't smoke it. But i know plenty of people that shouldn't drink.

I mean, in some US states it was illegal NOT to grow it, until the damn people at the top of the pyramid decided to push their agenda to make it illegal so that their timber and petrochemicals companies took over.

* All schoolbooks were made from hemp or flax paper until the 1880s; Hemp Paper Reconsidered, Jack Frazier, 1974.

* It was LEGAL TO PAY TAXES WITH HEMP in America from 1631 until the early 1800s; LA Times, Aug. 12, 1981.

* REFUSING TO GROW HEMP in America during the 17th and 18th Centuries WAS AGAINST THE LAW! You could be jailed in Virginia for refusing to grow hemp from 1763 to 1769; Hemp in Colonial Virginia, G. M. Herdon.

* George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers GREW HEMP; Washington and Jefferson Diaries. Jefferson smuggled hemp seeds from China to France then to America.

* Benjamin Franklin owned one of the first paper mills in America and it processed hemp. Also, the War of 1812 was fought over hemp. Napoleon wanted to cut off Moscow's export to England; Emperor Wears No Clothes, Jack Herer.

* For thousands of years, 90% of all ships' sails and rope were made from hemp. The word 'canvas' is Dutch for cannabis; Webster's New World Dictionary.

* 80% of all textiles, fabrics, clothes, linen, drapes, bed sheets, etc. were made from hemp until the 1820s with the introduction of the cotton gin.

* The first Bibles, maps, charts, Betsy Ross's flag, the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were made from hemp; U.S. Government Archives.

* The first crop grown in many states was hemp. 1850 was a peak year for Kentucky producing 40,000 tons. Hemp was the largest cash crop until the 20th Century; State Archives.

* Oldest known records of hemp farming go back 5000 years in China, although hemp industrialization probably goes back to ancient Egypt.

* Rembrants, Gainsboroughs, Van Goghs as well as most early canvas paintings were principally painted on hemp linen.

* In 1916, the U.S. Government predicted that by the 1940s all paper would come from hemp and that no more trees need to be cut down. Government studies report that 1 acre of hemp equals 4.1 acres of trees. Plans were in the works to implement such programs; Department of Agriculture

* Quality paints and varnishes were made from hemp seed oil until 1937. 58,000 tons of hemp seeds were used in America for paint products in 1935; Sherman Williams Paint Co. testimony before Congress against the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act.

* Henry Ford's first Model-T was built to run on hemp gasoline and the CAR ITSELF WAS CONTRUCTED FROM HEMP! On his large estate, Ford was photographed among his hemp fields. The car, 'grown from the soil,' had hemp plastic panels whose impact strength was 10 times stronger than steel; Popular Mechanics, 1941.

* Hemp called 'Billion Dollar Crop.' It was the first time a cash crop had a business potential to exceed a billion dollars; Popular Mechanics, Feb., 1938.

* Mechanical Engineering Magazine (Feb. 1938) published an article entitled 'The Most Profitable and Desirable Crop that Can be Grown.' It stated that if hemp was cultivated using 20th Century technology, it would be the single largest agricultural crop in the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Source

We are absolutely INSANE to not be pushing for hemp to come back, as a clothing, for oil, for rope, even gasoline!!!! An easy growing weed that would solve majority or the worlds problems in one go.

reply to post by Nammu


Thank you for the list of hemp facts. [smile]

I just sit back and wonder whether sanity will ever take over.

reply to post by Amaterasu


Here's a link to a new thread about an apauling ruling in the Connecticut Supreme Court: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Apparently, this guy uses marijuana to help his bi-polar disorder and is now being prosecuted for possesion of 8 pounds of it, meanwhile being forced to take psychotropic medication so he can stand trial. What people conveniently don't know is that one of the cannabanoids in marijuana is cannabidiol, a substance that has proven to have anxiolytic as well as anti-psychotic properties. Here's the link to a wikipedia articel about it: en.wikipedia.org...

If it was California, the guy wouldn't of even had this problem and would be buying medical supplies legally. It's a sad situation indeed.

The whole marijuana issue to me is a sham because the whole corporate influence. Psychotropic meds are far more damaging and dangerous to a person that marijuana will ever be. It's just another thing to keep people buying into a fake med system...

reply to post by Amaterasu


Marijuana kills brain cells and dumbs down out motor skills, why the fuk would we want this in our society, how are we supposed to grow as a people if we have dumb people who smoke marijuana slowing down the process of evolution. Same with tobacco, destroys your lungs and does wonders for the person sitting next to you.

gtfo

reply to post by Amaterasu


HA I am alwaystoo lazy after using to perform much action at all, so there you are correct sir, or ma'am...lol.
Some do perform fine on it though I find it makes me lazy and tired, and just all out a lump of doughy fat jabba the hutt feeling. It's like I feel like bricks are around my ankles. I don't like the way it makes me feel at all, hence why I only use when I am already lazy, and or drunk. And once in every three blue moons lol.

Originally posted by iamAccnrh
reply to post by Amaterasu

 

Marijuana kills brain cells and dumbs down out motor skills, why the fuk would we want this in our society, how are we supposed to grow as a people if we have dumb people who smoke marijuana slowing down the process of evolution. Same with tobacco, destroys your lungs and does wonders for the person sitting next to you.

gtfo

Wow. You don't really know much about the studies, do you. In fact, it has been shown that, though all other drugs of "abuse" (alcohol included) damage brain cells, marijuana alone has been shown to promote neurogenesis (building brain cells, as opposed to destrying them).

Why the f# would we want the billions a year spent to keep people from using a benign and beneficial substance? Why the f# would we want to rip functional citizens from their homes, break up families, cause fear of cops in general, and have all the problems associated with prohibition we saw with alcohol and (wisely) therefore chose to repeal the (constitutional, legal) prohibition.

I think you need a lot of education on the matter. (Oh, and in 50 years of testing pure tobacco - not the chemical-sodden, fiberglass filtered, radioactively fertilized stuff they sell us - there has been NO sign of added cancer in cancer-prone rodents. The idea that it causes cancer is a lie told to cover up why we all are getting cancer: radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing. Please, educate yourself.)

Originally posted by ldyserenity
reply to post by Amaterasu

 

HA I am alwaystoo lazy after using to perform much action at all, so there you are correct sir, or ma'am...lol.
Some do perform fine on it though I find it makes me lazy and tired, and just all out a lump of doughy fat jabba the hutt feeling. It's like I feel like bricks are around my ankles. I don't like the way it makes me feel at all, hence why I only use when I am already lazy, and or drunk. And once in every three blue moons lol.

But... If you do your stuff and THEN relax and smoke... Is there a problem? Well... I guess if you are unfond of the effects... But that's just you. And I might point out that some strains do that, others don't. Depends.

Being a long time user of the herb, I have noticed one thing in particular. Some get really lethargic, and lazy, their minds become dull, and un-responsive. And for others, including myself, it opens the mind to all possibilities, and dilates the connection to Higher Knowledge and Council. I am able to speak clearly, and with forethought on most any subject matter, and am able to draw on resources not seen by the common man. If marijuana does in fact become legal to use for personal enjoyment, and I advocate for this, some will not be able to use it and do things like drive cars and operate machinery. Others will be able to do these things easily while on the herb's influence. Much scientific research and study is needed here, and an end to the fake drug war that sucks billions of dollars from the American taxpayer. The States could all make millions, Social Security and Medicare would be refunded, and we could stop using plastic for everything, and paper for all documents. It takes a forest of trees every few days just to provide for our government's business. Hemp could save America, if we use our old American ingenuity, and our ability to adapt and get the job done.

you know at one point in time hemp was called the billion dollar plant... why? because it had so many uses. pot could single handedly bring us out of this recession.. point blank period end of discussion. Pot quite honestly is a miracle plant.

Originally posted by iamAccnrh
reply to post by Amaterasu

 

Marijuana kills brain cells and dumbs down out motor skills, why the fuk would we want this in our society, how are we supposed to grow as a people if we have dumb people who smoke marijuana slowing down the process of evolution. Same with tobacco, destroys your lungs and does wonders for the person sitting next to you.

gtfo

Bad troll. Go back to your brain cell killing, motor skill dumbing alcohol and pharmaceuticals.

reply to post by Amaterasu


Really?? Marijuana is what made you decide this is a crazy society?

It helped me, also. But, I smoked it to come to that realization

reply to post by autowrench


You summed it up perfectly..

Originally posted by autowrench
Being a long time user of the herb, I have noticed one thing in particular. Some get really lethargic, and lazy, their minds become dull, and un-responsive. And for others, including myself, it opens the mind to all possibilities, and dilates the connection to Higher Knowledge and Council. I am able to speak clearly, and with forethought on most any subject matter, and am able to draw on resources not seen by the common man. If marijuana does in fact become legal to use for personal enjoyment, and I advocate for this, some will not be able to use it and do things like drive cars and operate machinery. Others will be able to do these things easily while on the herb's influence. Much scientific research and study is needed here, and an end to the fake drug war that sucks billions of dollars from the American taxpayer. The States could all make millions, Social Security and Medicare would be refunded, and we could stop using plastic for everything, and paper for all documents. It takes a forest of trees every few days just to provide for our government's business. Hemp could save America, if we use our old American ingenuity, and our ability to adapt and get the job done.

I might point out that there is a big difference between the effects on a novice user and the effects on an experienced user. Novice users tend to be less in control, but once they have had some number of experiences on the herb, they "reorient," learning what to expect and how to maintain control.

Therefore, novice users should not drive. Expereinced users who drive to begin with can drive (tests show) slightly, if not statistically significantly better than "sober" drivers.

Originally posted by squirelnutz
reply to post by Amaterasu

 

Really?? Marijuana is what made you decide this is a crazy society?

It helped me, also. But, I smoked it to come to that realization

LOL! No... The fact that we persist in calling it "illegal," and therefore spend billions annually to hunt, sting, arrest, try and incarcerate individuals who use and/or sell it. THAT is insane, my friend.

Since when has inhaling ANY smoke been a good idea people die from smoke inhalation and why would I want to do that to my lungs. Lung tissue isn't suppose to deal with smoke. So again why do permanent damage to my lungs we only get the one set.

Originally posted by Xiamara
Since when has inhaling ANY smoke been a good idea people die from smoke inhalation and why would I want to do that to my lungs. Lung tissue isn't suppose to deal with smoke. So again why do permanent damage to my lungs we only get the one set.

And yet... None of the studies have shown any lung deterioration, even in heavy, lifetime smokers of the herb.

So why would you want to believe that it causes damage with zero evidence to that effect, and plenty for the opposite?

reply to post by Amaterasu


You inhaling particle smoke. Depriving your body of oxygen the lungs are not meant to inhale particulate matter. I'm sorry but I'm a singer and yes it does do damage there's a reason professional, being true classically trained, singers don't smoke very often. Its damaging. There is no evidence to convince me otherwise the only substance that is harmful I use is alcohol, and I'll keep it that way because its the LEAST harmful to my own body.

reply to post by Amaterasu


We are an insane society without a doubt, although I can’t imagine why the example of marijuana has led you to conclude this when marijuana is way down the list of observable symptoms. Let’s see…war, greed, poverty, abuse, religion, violence, hate, corruption…there is a lot of stuff indicative of the human condition…all more readily and easily observable than the issue of marijuana. In fact the list is endless. In the face of all this, the marijuana conspiracy pales into insignificance…don’t you think?