A “twtpoll” has been circulating Twitter the last month asking tweeters, “Do You Support the Legalization of Marijuana in the United States?”, the poll is now in it’s final days. Scheduled to close voting on June 1st, this poll was set to allow unique votes only to ensure nobody used the poll to promote their own personal agenda. You may be surprised to learn, some 96% of Twitter users are in favor of legalizing the “demon weed” in one form or another.
Now before you start thinking this poll was only circulated in stoner circles, you should know hundreds of users tweeted this poll. Some of these retweeters have tens of thousands of followers such as @Zaibatsu and @BuzzEdition, so it is safe to say this is a healthy representation of the twitter collective mind on the subject.
During the course of this poll, a few people commented to me this isn’t an accurate representation of twitter users because only those in favor of legalization were likely to respond to the poll. I concede the results indicate the overwhelming response came from those in support of legalization, but what does that say about those that oppose? Like any election or poll, abstinence from voting sends a message also. It says you aren’t passionate about this issue one way or another. While you can’t put a number on Twitter users in this camp, it’s obvious by the results of the poll – those that oppose legalization are losing the will to fight about it.
That’s good news for patients around the country who are desperately hoping marijuana is legalized in their area, at least for medicinal use. It is also good news for states and the federal government as they increasingly look for new revenue streams to continue funding public projects and even to simply pay their staff. Those states debating the marijuana issue should find results like this encouraging, it’s no longer the political suicide it used to be.
Thanks to technologies which have developed extensively in the past few years–like blogs and YouTube; I have the privilege of passing along interesting and even useful links such as the one below.
Along with good general information for anyone looking to take advantage of wind energy, there is also a link to the following video:
“It’s About Time“
Seven years ago, I graduated from a well-respected state school with a B.S. in engineering. My goal had originally been to design cars, but after reading Lee Iacocca’s autobiography and studying the methods of the “big three” versus their competitors…I decided that green energy would be a much better option.
The problem was, none of the various emerging technologies looked all that promising. Solar and wind had too many downsides; biofuels seemed to be using at least the same amount of energy that was created, and the forests destroyed to make this possible were not even taken into account.
Nuclear is hugely expensive, absurdly dangerous and produces tons of extremely toxic waste which we have no way to reasonably dispose of. And I’m sorry, but hiding it inside a mountain while praying that nothing happens is not a responsible solution. It is a slap in the face–or possibly an ugly death sentence–to our future generations.
My point is that things looked pretty bleak at first. However, as time progressed and my ability to access high-value information increased I began to notice that there are actually groundbreaking technologies creeping up from all corners of the globe.
The false perceptions due to the fading influence of old power structures (i.e., corporate media giants) will inevitably be overtaken by the social and information revolutions currently under way.So, as I’m sure lots of people have said: “it’s about time.”
Long before the days of blogging, news feeds and the like; my personal god was the daily newspaper. Growing up, my parents always had a newspaper on the table in the mornings. Reading that paper every day got me in the habit of wanting to keep up on the news. Although I did my best to avoid reading anything of literary value or required for school, I became obsessed with the ‘news.’
(It is also worth noting that I delivered said newspaper to 160 houses every morning, even during the long and cold Montana winters…And if you still think that what FOX and CNN broadcast is actually news, look up the word Infotainment.)
If this had happened ten years ago (and I’m not saying it didn’t), there is almost no chance I would have heard one word about it. At least not while legislation is still pending. I also would not have the following quote, taken from the above article:
“Americans know that they have a responsibility to live within their means and pay what they owe,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday. “But they also have a right to not get ripped off by the sudden rate hikes, unfair penalties and hidden fees that have become all too common.”
What’s touted as a “credit cardholder’s Bill of Rights” is now being discussed in Washington and, according to another related article:
Sadly, the proposed legislation does little to combat the overall problems. A few of the unfair penalties and sudden rate hikes are addressed, as are a number of other blatant abuses; but there is still nothing to stop them from charging 30% or more interest on balances accrued under much lower rates, like 10, 5 or 0% APR. So, then what about the President’s complaint and request of Congress which I mentioned at the beginning?
Either we have somehow elected a lame-duck president, or Congress feels beholden to other interests–which do not appear to be in line with the welfare of the citizens who elected them.
Crazy Is as Crazy Does
The famed inventor, Nikola Tesla once said: “The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.” Part of the general thesis of this paper is that practically all of us frequently exhibit insane behavior. Often we have no idea it is happening because we have been brought up to view this as acceptable behavior; but it is happening nonetheless.
According to the history which I was taught in school, Mr. Tesla’s biggest contribution to society was the Tesla coil and he was most likely insane when he died broke at the age of 86. But I was also lucky enough to have a physics teacher with a personal interest in Tesla’s inventions, which likely contributed to my interest in him many years later.
What my public schooling neglected to mention was that Dr. Tesla also invented the AC motor, radio and television transmission; even wireless power. He is rumored to have displayed the use of wireless power in the 1930s by powering a car–with an electric motor and no battery–at speeds up to 90 mph. The reporters reportedly (?) accused him of black magic and made a farce of the event.
Despite his great hopes for a world powered by wireless–and therefore extremely efficient–energy, he eventually gave up and shut down the demonstration. According to what has now become an underground legend, he died before completing his research or publishing any further papers. Thanks to the now infamous excuse of a ‘threat to national security,’ our government seized all of Tesla’s research and documents upon his death.
They eventually released what was claimed to be everything, however ‘they’ also like to pretend the ionospheric heater in Alaska (HAARP) is a benign research tool for scientists–instead of being part of the strangest and most secretive branch of our ever-expanding military industrial complex ever to be exposed widely in public circles.
And therein lies the crux of the problem: It has now become glaringly apparent to anyone who is paying attention that our government and major media outlets are lying about and/or ignoring the ugly facts which our tax dollars have helped to create.
Luckily, these major institutions of a failed 20th century pseudo-empire will soon be forced to capitulate to reason–and, perhaps more so, to technology.
“No More Lies“
With a newly elected president calling for greater transparency in government, there has never been a better time to hold our leaders accountable for the promises they make.
Transparency and our government have sadly not gotten along very well in the past. However, thanks largely to technologies pioneered by Nikola Tesla, we now have the ability to hold our elected officials and “news” outlets accountable for their actions. The internet has come to save us from ourselves, but only if we are willing to take a good look in the mirror.
In the past decade, marijuana use has roughly doubled according to some estimates. Despite our best efforts, we cannot stop the flow of drugs–we can arrest traffickers and kill growers, but the demand requires that someone always take their place. Yet, what if we no longer needed to traffic marijuana or other plant-based ‘drugs’? Better still, what if it was no longer such a profitable business because people could easily grow their own? Well, whether anyone approves or not, those days are finally here.
Thanks to technologies such as LEDs and aeroponics, anyone with a bit of capital can grow any plant they want, anywhere they want. And with almost no chance of getting caught (if for some reason the plant you choose to grow is currently illegal…)
The movie, “Rat Race” is a comedy about how far people will go and what they will do when a large amount of money is at stake. Many of the antics appear over the top–but when compared to the real stories which regularly make the news, they are conservative and lame. Bernie Madoff, Jack Abromoff, Enron, Fannie, Freddy, Lehman Brothers and a growing list of other examples prove how easily greed can undermine progress. Yet their crimes are still somehow pale in comparison to those of ‘terrorists’ and others who benefit from the current black market.
In our current society, there is little doubt (in my mind anyway) that money is seen as an all-powerful god. And we are the countless minions begging for its sweet, blissful mercy. We are taught to want what the elite have, even as we bemoan the system which they have built on our willing backs.
In many of our own minds, success is still judged on the false criteria implanted by these tragic fools. Individuals who are obsessed with accumulating money and power are mentally ill, which is ironically something that their high-priced psychiatrist may have already told many of them. This is not to say that all successful people are mentally ill, which is clearly not the case; but it’s usually pretty easy to spot the ones who are addicted to power.
For instance, does anyone really think that Dick Cheney is happy and lives a full, rewarding life? And yet, this bitter old man–who happens to be guilty of many war crimes and heavily invested in the prison industry–is widely seen as a pillar of success.
Our new President is also not immune to this lust for money. He recently declared that “The United States is the Saudi Arabia of coal, although we have our own home-grown problems in terms of dealing with a cheap energy source that creates a bit carbon footprint.” Therefore, his only issues are the money it brings in and the best way to tax it; just like a typical politician.
Once again, where is the change we were promised? And how do we actually hold our leaders accountable for said promises? Perhaps most importantly, how long can we afford to wait–or is that even a reasonable question anymore?
With the ongoing economic meltdown threatening to turn into a full blown depression (whatever that means), many people are beginning to reconsider their long-term investments and future security. Gas prices are low today, but could easily be skyrocketing in the coming months–or as soon those setting the price feel we can endure the rising cost without breaking the entire system (yet again.)
Food is still readily available for most at a (somewhat) reasonable rate, but there is rising concern that a global famine is imminent. All, or at least most, of the systems around us which have been established to supply our everyday needs rely on unstable resources (including oil, degrading soil and extremely cheap, inhumane labor.) This all may sound frightening, but it is also the perfect opportunity for a truly positive and profound change. As John Lennon once said: “there are no problems, only solutions.”
It has also been stated that 3% of the population grows all the food for the other 97% of people living in the United States. On average, the food we consume travels 1700 miles “from farm to fork.” Most of our produce comes from California and Florida while corn and grains are harvested throughout the midwestern plains, but recently more and more of our produce, grains and even meats are coming from South America or Africa. It is easy to attribute much of this to the ( hideous) push for E85, but there are many other contributing factors such as the Acai berry from Brazil which is currently all the rage in health circles.
We are very effective consumers, just as we have been groomed to be; but our appetite is now destroying what’s left of the rain forests–which function as the planet’s lungs, our best pharmacy and much more. Not only are we cutting down the rain forests, we are mismanaging and destroying forests throughout the continental United States. Lumber has been crucial to most ‘western’ construction for hundreds of years, but never have we figured out a way to make it sustainable–or even terribly profitable for all but a few.
Unfortunately, the loss of forests to croplands and ever-increasing world population are not the extent of our problems being created by our current methods. Much of the deforested land starts off fertile, yet will be worthless after less than a decade of typical use. Our current methods of commercial farming are unsustainable (and therefore suicidal), but sadly they pale in comparison to so-called ‘meat production.’ Which, incidentally, is now being blamed for the spread of so-called swine flu.
“The problem, he and other critics of CAFO pollutants stress, is not just normal pig waste, but waste combined with staggering volumes of antibiotics and toxic chemicals used by Smithfield Foods and similar industrial CAFO operations to maximize ‘efficiency.’
Tietz notes, ‘A lot of pig shit is one thing; a lot of highly toxic pig shit is another. The excrement of Smithfield hogs is hardly even pig shit: On a continuum of pollutants, it is probably closer to radioactive waste than to organic manure. The reason it is so toxic is Smithfield’s efficiency. The company produces 6 billion pounds of packaged pork each year. That’s a remarkable achievement, a prolificacy unimagined only two decades ago, and the only way to do it is to raise pigs in astonishing, unprecedented concentrations.’11
The degrees of concentration in the Smithfield Foods vertically integrated pig meat concentrations have little to do with traditional hog farming. In facilities now spread around the world, Smithfield’s pigs live by the hundreds or thousands in warehouse-like barns, in rows of wall-to-wall pens. Sows are artificially inseminated and fed and delivered of their piglets in cages so small they cannot turn around.
As Tietz notes, ‘Forty fully grown 250-pound male hogs often occupy a pen the size of a tiny apartment. They trample each other to death. There is no sunlight, straw, fresh air or earth. The floors are slatted to allow excrement to fall into a catchment pit under the pens, but many things besides excrement can wind up in the pits: afterbirths, piglets accidentally crushed by their mothers, old batteries, broken bottles of insecticide, antibiotic syringes, stillborn pigs — anything small enough to fit through the foot-wide pipes that drain the pits. The pipes remain closed until enough sewage accumulates in the pits to create good expulsion pressure; then the pipes are opened and everything bursts out into a large holding pond.’12″
But, as this article hopefully demonstrates, our culture is undergoing fundamental technological changes which are bound to have a much wider and more beneficial impact than expected. For a perfect example, consider the rumors of a new approach to drug education and abuse treatment.
Here is what the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy concluded last year after more than a year of discussions among 17 former and present Latin American leaders: “Toward a Paradigm Shift“
And if you want to see what happens when an FBI Director is forced to display his ignorance of reality, check out the following clip:
For more information and tools for activism, please visit www.SchoolsNotPrisons.com
The legendary Alan Watts explains the riddles of life and what it means to open your mind. An incredible lecture which ought to be heard by everyone and taught in our schools. Far more effective than 90% of pharmaceutical drugs…
In the short film below, it is explained that one of the principal reasons bee colonies have been failing lately is because penny-pinching corporations are not feeding the bees correctly–using corn syrup instead of honey. Another potential reason is also linked to typical corporate practices: pushing their workers, in this case the bees, so hard they eventually give up or die. Is any of this sounding familiar?
According to the highly recommended article found here, “The credit crunch may actually be good for business…” The author, Douglas Rushkoff, makes a strong case to back up the surprising claim that small businesses and individuals who invest their time and money wisely have nothing to fear from the demise of Wall Street or Federal Reserve Notes. Below is a short excerpt:
“Once we accept the fact that the money and banks we have grown accustomed to using are not the only ways to generate capital, we liberate ourselves and our businesses from a finance industry that has enjoyed a monopoly over our commerce for much too long. They have not only abused our trust through corrupt self-dealing, but abused their privilege through systemic usury. Businesses are only obligated to support their employees, owners, and customers — not an entire finance industry.
The financial meltdown will help many businesses realize that their priorities have been artificially skewed towards making bankers and investors happy — and their own communities less so. As we start to finance locally or from our own non-local communities, our services will become more finely tuned towards them as well. We will get better at what we do, rather than obsessed with growth (to pay back lenders) or financing (to achieve that growth through acquisition)…”
Beyond offering valuable insight, Rushkoff points to real world examples in proving that what’s bad for the international bankers is in many ways good for the people and society. There is no doubt that times are tough; but, like it or not, agitation often cleanses. Or, as it has the saying goes, ‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease.’
The banksters, as they are commonly known, have displayed their squalid behavior for all to see. They hopelessly try to prop up their failed and corrupt system by putting all of us further into debt, but the international community has grown wise to their games. Additionally, despite a propaganda machine that puts China to shame, the American public has become notably more aware of the charade being played at their expense. Among the gigabytes of disinformation, the truth is getting out:
“..In other words, our government was created by and for “sovereigns” — the free citizens who were deemed the highest authority. Only the People can be sovereign — remember that. Government cannot be sovereign. We can also look to the Declaration of Independence, where we read: “government is subject to the consent of the governed” — that’s supposed to be us, the sovereigns. Do you feel like a sovereign nowadays? I don’t.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a constitutional historian to figure out that this is not what is happening in our country today. Government in these times is NOT subject to the consent of the governed. Rather, the governed are subject to the whim and greed of the corporation, which has stretched its tentacles beyond the ten-mile-square parcel of land known as the District of Columbia — encroaching into every state of the Republic. Mind you, the corporation has NO jurisdiction outside of the District of Columbia. THEY just want you to think it does…”
The full article is well worth reading, and brings to light information which to me seems vitally important, as it has completely changed the way that I view this nation and it’s government.
For a much different and thoroughly engrossing account of what’s been going on behind the scenes for the past several decades, check out John Perkins’ The Secret History of the American Empire. His story is vital to understanding how and why this world has been so thoroughly ravaged in the past. His efforts also provide a great role model for our children and set an important example for others to follow.
According to Laura Sayre at Mother Earth News, “The rising global demand for meat and poultry is putting human health at risk.”
“You may be familiar with many of the problems associated with concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. These “factory farm” operations are often criticized for the smell and water pollution caused by all that concentrated manure; the unnatural, grain-heavy diets the animals consume; and the stressful, unhealthy conditions in which the animals live. You may not be aware, however, of the threat such facilities hold for you and your family’s health — even if you never buy any of the meat produced in this manner.
Factory farms are breeding grounds for virulent disease, which can then spread to the wider community via many routes — not just in food, but also in water, the air, and the bodies of farmers, farm workers and their families. Once those microbes become widespread in the environment, it’s very difficult to get rid of them…”
“Another one of the overhyped stereotypes around marijuana users has just bitten the dust. For years people assumed that getting ’stoned’ made you either lazy or careless. The bleary-eyed stoner getting into mishaps is the stuff of much comedy. But what if marijuana use actually made you more careful and less likely to screw up and hurt yourself?
A new Swiss study published at Bio-Med Central concludes exactly that: marijuana can protect you from injury. The study, titled “Alcohol and cannabis use as risk factors for injury – a case-crossover analysis in a Swiss hospital emergency department” compared the injuries that required hospitalization. The authors’ conclusions were surprising: marijuana use is not only NOT associated with increased risk of injury – marijuana users actually get injured less than sober people: “The results for cannabis use were quite surprising. […] The present study in fact indicated a ‘protective effect’ of cannabis use in a dose-response relationship.”"
Public outrage against the current drug war (specifically cannabis prohibition) continues to be felt by Kellogg Co. after the Michael Phelps scandal, and the press has taken notice. And many, it would seem, have finally sided with the far more progressive public sentiment. Try typing “Phelps marijuana” into Google’s news search engine if you are skeptical, or check out the following article:
Phelps has once again shown that cannabis users can be healthy and successful, becoming a catalyst for a movement already well underway. Our economic crisis has already provided plenty of fuel for those advocating change (unfortunately unlike our new Pres.) The overwhelming support of Phelps and condemnation of Kellogg Co. has been like icing on the cake, but will it finally be enough to put an end to this atrocity? Or is our current government even capable of such a fundamental shift away from its bedrock of corruption? Let’s hope not.
On Feb. 4 of this year, a professor of political science and international affairs at the George Washington University testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. Cynthia McClintock, who is also a Foreign Policy in Focus contributor, had the following to say about the subject of drug control:
“U.S. drug-control policy has failed. Despite recent annual expenditure of about $20 billion on domestic law enforcement and supply reduction, U.S. drug use hasn’t declined significantly since the early 1990s and the price of cocaine has fallen. In part due to draconian drug laws, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Under the program Plan Colombia, more than $6 billion was spent with the stated goal of cutting coca cultivation in Colombia (the major producer) by 50% from 2000 to 2006, but in fact coca cultivation rose slightly. In the Andean region as a whole, coca cultivation in 2007 was at a 20-year high. Not only has U.S. policy failed to achieve its objectives, but the methods used to try to reduce supply — in particular, aerial fumigation — endangers and alienates nearby communities.
What should be done? Top Democratic Party analysts agree on several important recommendations, including this one: the United States should try to stop arms smuggling from this country to the region. About 2,000 guns cross the border every day and they constitute roughly 90% of the guns used by Mexico’s drug traffickers. In particular, the United States should ratify both the UN protocol against illegal firearms and the Inter-American convention against firearms. There is also consensus that chronic use should be considered a public health, not a criminal, problem, and that drug courts and drug treatment programs should be expanded. (The cost of incarceration for one year is about $34,000, versus $3,300 for one year of substance abuse treatment.)”
With over 7,000 drug war-related deaths in Mexico since January 2007, it’s no surprise that our failed drug prohibition is the subject of foreign policy discussions. What may seem shocking to many is the following statement: “There is also a consensus that chronic use should be considered a public health, not a criminal problem…” These are the top Democratic Party analysts we’re talking about, and the amount of money which could be saved is staggering–meaning they have a whole lot of incentive to implement change.
Since 2002, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (www.leap.cc) has been advocating precisely the message that drugs should be a health concern, not a crime. Thankfully, that message has finally gotten to those who have the power to do something about it–and through a source that they cannot simply ignore. Sadly, Mexico’s Drug War has already become such a vast topic that the Los Angeles Times has devoted an entire web page to its coverage: ‘Mexico Under Seige’.
Currently on the site there is speculation that Mexico has become a ‘failed state’, an article about a man who claims to have dissolved over 300 people and, along with a database full of bad news, a headline named “Phoenix, kidnap-for-ransom capital.” However, the only logical and rational solution to this growing crisis–ending prohibition in the U.S. and abroad–is a topic seldom broached by the L.A. Times or most other major publications. Even as three former Latin American leaders have formed a commission which asking Obama to end the hideous war, most media outlets continue to ignore reality.
There are a substantial number of widely distributed and reputable newspapers which have published editorials declaring that the War on Drugs has failed. Demanding accountability from our elected officials has, sadly, been a very different story. Despite countless studies which have proven cannabis safer than either alcohol or tobacco, there is a deeply ingrained (and heavily reinforced) stigma which makes an open, honest debate nearly impossible. Or maybe it’s just that people are naturally afraid of change, even when they’ve proven to themselves that it’s beneficial.
Could it be that our Senators, Representatives and newly-elected President are simply afraid to take their medicine–or rather, smoke it?! Obama is certainly not the only elected official ever to partake, but why are they so afraid to send the message to their children that it’s better to learn from your mistakes than to ignore or exacerbate them? Why in the world would you want to teach children that heroin is anything like cannabis? Are you deliberately trying to create a “gateway drug” out of one of the safest medicines known to man? (yes, cannabis; despite the official lies we all know so well.)
When so many of your friends and constituents are employed by this (failed) system, it might be tough to see things this way–and, therein lies the heart of our problem. Eisenhower warned us about the dangers of a Military-industrial complex in the sixties, as did the author Aldous Huxley and many others. Noam Chomsky now offers the proof that this insidious creature is an ever-growing reality, which has also spawned and helped to nurture our wonderful new Prison-industrial complex. Instead of investing in renewable energy or domestic manufacturing, we continually dump billions upon billions into a system well all know does not work.
If Obama and friends want to get us out of this mess then they should concentrate on fixing the problems we already have, instead of creating more by printing money for their biggest supporters. But if the media corporations are also tied to those supporters then how do “we, the people” demand accountability? And if we can’t trust the government or media to tell us what’s going on, then how do we figure it out?
What if drugs are not necessarily evil?
It’s been well over a decade since Terence McKenna published his theory that magic mushrooms played a part in the history (and future) of human evolution. He gave thousands of lectures, published a handful of books and captivated an audience which continues growing to this day. Thanks to the internet his ideas have spread like wildfire, but to this author’s knowledge (please correct me if I”m wrong) no one attached to the government has attempted to prove his theories incorrect. Like endless studies proving that cannabis and other naturally occurring entheogens are far safer and more useful than pharmaceutical concoctions, the questions and theories proposed by McKenna have simply been ignored. A study at Johns Hopkins University concluded in 2006 with extremely positive results and earned limited press attention, but discussion of what this means about our laws or our gods was not exactly encouraged by the L.A. Times and the Drug Czar.
There are now rumors that Obama will appoint the Seattle Police Chief as the next Drug Czar, leading to speculation that marijuana prohibition may actually end–but does this mean that our elected officials are now willing to listen to what scientific researchers have documented? Dr. Rick Strassman conducted research on dimethaltriptamine (DMT) in the nineties, performing the first government-approved clinical testing of a schedule I drug in decades. Thanks in no small part to his efforts, this field of research is now in full swing. Strassman has recently published his second book, in which he and his well-respected co-authors discuss Inner Paths to Outer Space: Journeys to Alien Worlds through Psychedelics and Other Spiritual Technologies.
Our new president said in his inaugural address that he wants to”restore science to its rightful place and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost.” Given the huge potential that ayahuasca tea has in addiction therapy, would it not be in our collective best interest to help this research in any way possible? That is precisely the goal being championed by the Cottonwood Research Foundation (founded in part by Dr. Strassman). But when the good doctor explains to our elected officials that the DMT-containing tea grants one access to a new dimension, how will they react? Given our current education system, how could they express anything other than shock and disbelief? Yet, in many professional circles these mind-boggling facts are well established. Frankly, I’d be quite interested to hear what any government official (or anybody else, for that matter) has to say about the below excerpt from a website called the gaian mind:
“Now, why it is that when we dose ourselves with a human neurotransmitter like DMT, why we then encounter armies of elves teaching us a perfected form of communication, this is a very difficult question. When you go to traditional cultures, shamanistic cultures in the Amazon and put this question to them, they answer without hesitation when you ask about these small entities, they say “Oh, yes, those are the ancestors, those are the ancestor spirits with which we work all of our magic.” This is worldwide and traditionally the answer that you would get from shamans if you were to ask them how they do their magic – it’s through the intercession of the helping spirit who is a creature in another dimension. Well, we may have imagined many different scenarios, a future technological and social innovation, but I think very few of us have imagined the possibility that the real programme of shamanism would have to be taken seriously, and that shamans are actually people who have learned to penetrate into another dimension, a dimension where, for want of a better word, we would have to say the souls of the ancestors are somehow present. It isn’t, you see, as though we penetrate into the realm of the dead, it’s more as though we discover that this world is the realm of the dead and that there is a kind of higher-dimensional world with greater degrees of freedom, with a greater sense of spontaneity and a lesser dependency on the entropic world of matter, and that that other universe is attempting to impinge into our own, perhaps to rescue us from our historical dilemma, we don’t know – perhaps shamans have always had commerce with these magical invisible worlds and it’s only the sad fate of Western human beings to have lost touch and awareness with this domain to the point where it comes to us as a kind of a revelation. You see, I believe that the whole fall into history, the whole rise of male dominance and patriarchy really can be traced to a broken connection with the living world of the Gaian mind, and there’s nothing airy-fairy about this notion; the living world of the Gaian mind is what shamans access through psychoactive plants, and without psychoactive plants that access comes as an unconfirmable rumour.” –Terence McKenna
There is little doubt among scholars that humans have been using psychoactive plants for spiritual purposes for a very long time, but in western society we have convinced ourselves that this is uncivilized. Meth junkies, crack fiends and alcoholics are an accepted part of life while a tangible form of spirituality is deemed evil. If we are to have any chance of creating a sustainable society and regaining our self-respect, ackowledging that drug prohibition does not work is essential. The watershed effect this will have may even help catapult us to new heights previously undreamed of. The alternative, however, is a growing number of crises with the same underlying cause–and no American Hemp Industry to save us.
“Drugs policy experts expressed concern at the stalemate. “It is troubling that, despite clear global evidence of the effectiveness of harm reduction in reducing HIV and its acceptance in every other UN body, that the US is still resisting its inclusion,” said Mike Trace, chair of the International Drug Policy Consortium and former UK deputy drugs tsar. “We are sure the incoming administration will take a different view but they will have to move fast or this will be the position for the next 10 years.”
Ten more years of our failed drug war is beyond comprehension, and not just for those living near the U.S.-Mexico border. Every facet of our society is affected by the racially-motivated and morally corrupt drug laws of the twentieth century. The sooner that Congress and the Obama Administration embrace this, the beffer off we will all be. Please do your own research and come to your own conclusions on this subject, and if you want change then take the time to Write Your Representative or call your local news provider.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of groups advocating for federal drug policy reform along with a growing number of lawmakers, economists, engineers, scientists, researchers, paper manufacturers and farmers who have spoken out on their own. A blog recently posted at StoptheDrugWar.org explains the situation nicely and provides some surprisingly hopeful news:
“Much has been made of the fact that a marijuana legalization question was ranked #1 when President-elect Obama opened his Change.gov website up to questions from the public. In an open vote, the public spoke loudly and clearly that marijuana reform was the very first issue that the new President should address…
As frustrating and insulting as it is to witness an important matter brushed casually to the side without explanation, Obama’s answer actually says a lot. It says that he couldn’t think of even one sentence to explain his position. Within the vast framework of totally paranoid anti-pot propaganda, Obama couldn’t find a single argument he wanted to associate himself with. That’s why he simply said “No. Next question.”
All of this highlights the well-known fact that Obama agrees that our marijuana laws are deeply flawed. He‘s said so, and has back-pedaled recently for purely political reasons…”
The best thing about this article is that it got a number of responses, many of which did in fact provide good ideas and hope for the future. But this article is not alone, the remarkable amount of coverage our failed drug war has been getting in the press lately has been greeted by an overwhelming response from a public which has grown tired of the charade.
When NBC News finally decided to report on Obama’s failure to address the drug war (by providing a link to the original article at Raw Story), only two comments out of thirty attempted to defend our shameful War on Drugs (that’s about six percent.) The response has been similar for other ‘news’ agencies which have done things like tell their readers that users are responsible for the bloody war in Mexico which our drug policies, tax dollars and weapons manufacturers have fascilitated. It might almost be funny, if the topic at hand was not so unspeakably heinous.
Since it is quite obvious that the public is waaayyy ahead of the media on this and our president-elect is aware that the internet exists, it would appear that the days of prohibition are numbered. If that is true, then what actually happens when the laws are stricken down? What will we do with all the DEA agents and empty prisons? Will our weapons manufacturers have to declare bankruptcy? Will Albert Hoffman post humorously receive the Nobel Prize he was unfairly denied? What will the CIA do for extra cash? Are there soon to be Ayahuasca tea houses popping up in the northwest? Will Obama use a bit of iboga root to overcome his nicotine addiction? Can I pay my taxes in hemp (again)?
There are a million questions that come to mind, but given our economic situation the last question seems relevant and worthy of a legitimate answer. At one point in this country it was legal to pay your taxes using hemp, since it was/is useful in so many ways. Hemp grows well in all fifty states (wild in quite a few already), and the industrial fiber always commands a high price on today’s global market.
According to the North American Industrial Hemp Council, yields range from 3-8 tons of dry fiber per acre, about four times the material harvested from an acre of forest. As Henry Ford well knew, hemp will provide the backbone for America’s automotive and other various manufacturing industries. Marijuana is the nation’s biggest cash crop right now, but that number will surely be dwarfed in the near future by hemp. The plant that Popular Mechanics once called the “Billion Dollar Crop” is now rumored to be worth trillions.
Hemp will replace all petroleum products (especially plastic, gas and oil), tree products, fiberglass and even some mined ores. Vertical farms utilizing aeroponic (soil-less growing) and LED technologies that are already being built could easily be used to profitably grow the plant. Local and industrial farms will no longer have to dump tons of expensive (and disastrous) chemical fertilizers or pesticides on their crops, and will be using far less water. For perhaps the first time ever, the trade deficit will begin to decline as our farmers help to build a sustainable economy from the ground up.
From an energy and economic perspective, hemp should far outweigh the $44 Billion saved by ending the War on Drugs (according to a study by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.) But the cost of human suffering that our failed attempt at prohibition continues to produce is beyond comprehension. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition advocates for policies based on science and health concerns instead of cheap fear tactics, where all chemical addictions are treated equally and the rights guaranteed in our Constitution are finally upheld.
Obama, Congress, the Supreme Court, the United Nations and the mainstream press all easily have the power to end this atrocity, which is what the public clearly demands. Luckily for their children, these people cannot hold out forever. Prohibition will be repealed once again, and we will all be better for it. Third-world countries, ‘terrorists’, children and informed citizens will find far fewer reasons to loathe our federal government. Police can spend their time prosecuting the white-collar crooks that have obviously run amok. And Obama will be able to face himself in the mirror.
But will I finally be able to pay my taxes with hemp?
If you are still curious as to what the big deal is, here are just a few of the prominent groups currently advocating for federal drug policy reform:
