Friday, August 13, 2004

The Illegality of Pot Is Criminal

By Tracy McLellan

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  1. Hugs on The Recovery, T. What do you think about our focusing on the Hemp issue and/or the Gay Marriage issue --to pick just two out of the air-- in lieu of setting time priorities elsewhere?  I ask this in light of the fact of our having limitations.  For instance (to invoke a period you’re fond of invoking too), what would you think of those two issues being brought up onto Center Stage during Nazi Germany’s time?  Today, both issues are, unquestionably important in and of themselves and in terms of their relationship to other issues, but...can we afford to deal with so many issues simultaneously?  Do we or do we not have to set priorities?  Isn’t there a difference between saying “Do whatever you want to do as long as it moves ‘some’ progressive issue along” and taking the stance that we need to focus on a few top priorities...first...right now...OR at least work primarily on issues that’ll address more fundamental concerns?  Do such animals exist?  Respectfully, Hempox

    Posted by Hempox from  on  08/13  at  11:43 AM

  2. Nice one, Tracy.  However, I wouldn’t be quite so optimistic about the psychoactive effects. As a long-term user I speak with a little authority.

    You use the expression ‘anticipation of happiness’. Have you never experienced the apprehension of chaos? A bad trip, man!

    Also, ‘I’m a better reader, writer and thinker for getting high’. We think we’re better writers, etc. That’s the illusion. There’s no joy without pain, even with weed.

    Posted by Ed Strong from  on  08/13  at  04:26 PM

  3. I agree Richard that this might not be an issue that should take center stage at this time because of the towering ominousness of other issues - nuclear proliferation every where you look to name just one, and loose nukes.  The US occupation of Iraq to name another.  Everywhere I look politically is cause for despair from the Supreme Court stealing the election in 2000 for Bush, right through every rotten event in his administration - which leaves alone for now the same in the Clinton, Bush I, and Reagan administrations, ad nauseum.  To take another isolated issue, US attempts with taxpayer monies to intervene in the Chavez recall in Venezuala courtesy of the National Endowment of Democracy.  Were foreign agents similarly to attempt to influence US elections they would be met with universal condemnation.  All these issues and the rest of them, equally as bleak, lurk in my world like warclouds on the horizon, and I, to borrow a Yes lyric, “live by [them] by day.” But I wanted to breach the issue of marijuana prohibition because it’s an issue that affects me closely too day by day, and hits me in the pocketbook so to speak. 

    Anyone who knows the history of marijuana’s prohibition knows it is a piece of capitalist imperialism.  The most fundamental reason hemp is illegal is that duPont bought Congress to illegalize it in 1937 when it had just patented the petroleum derived nylon fiber.  Hemp was a superior fiber which would have bested it in head-to-head competition - especially in light of a just-patented invention which retted the fiber from the hemp plant making it economical and efficient.

    Thanks for your comment Ed.  I would respond that it’s not a matter of being “optimistic about the psychoactive effects,” but rather an acknowledgement and adherence to the fact that they are beneficial to me.  They expand my consciousness, put me into a meditative state of mind, relieve stress and make me more sensitive.  They quicken intuition, and alleviate the paralysis I often experience in their absence when I keep myself informed of the political issues of the day, which are so bleak.  Like water off a ducks back, I am able to shirk the burden of knowledge off, along with the despair, focus on the task at end with blinders on, so to say, and probe further in my studying and writing.  Moreover, where the reading and writing are often a chore straight (God it’s hard to admit this fact and use this terminology), they are at least exhilirating, if not fun, for taking a puff or two.  Again I’d like to stress what miniscule amounts I’m talking about here.

    I’ve not really experienced the “apprehension of chaos...a bad trip, man” on pot.  Again, I think the high’s a beautiful thing.  At a harvest fest one time an old hippie asked me if I don’t get paranoid when I smoked.  I hesitated trying to find the right answer, because I don’t really.  He interrupted…

    Posted by Tracy McLellan from  on  08/13  at  09:41 PM

  4. From an eco-perspective, non-THC hemp offers huge benefits for the transition to an environmentally friendly society. Stop cutting the trees, start growing hemp and kenaf. There was a book about this, I forget the author, he is famous for fighting the battle for hemp to save the planet.

    Posted by Rhino Rick from Tokyo, Japan  on  08/14  at  12:06 AM

  5. Tracy, You’re right about the points you make. Can I expand my terse comments above?

    I stopped the booze when I started smoking. You don’t need both. Drink fogs the brain. Weed seems to clear it.

    The first rush from smoking a joint is pure adrenaline. But I’ve found it to be either exciting or scary. As I’ve found more euphoria, there’s always anxiety lurking in the shadows. That’s part of the thrill.

    Weed enhances/exaggerates your state of mind, your personality. Many people like to eat when high. I need to talk, hold forth, be opinionated. Both are forms of oral gratification.

    I learnt a long time ago that a stoner airing her views is as boring as a drunk airing his pissed vision.

    It comes down to perception - self & others. The most interesting person in the world is me to myself. Weed reinforces this. One can’t expect others to agree. Love, Ed

    Posted by Ed Strong from  on  08/14  at  04:44 AM

  6. Rhino Rick, the book is “The Emperor Wears No Clothes,” by Jack Herer, a fascinating study of the incredible number of diverse ways the hemp plant can be used, along with a history of its prohibition.  Marijuana has been used for centuries as a medicinal agent, and was available over-the-counter in many preparations in the US until the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914.  Herer’s book was criticized in some quarters as being snake-oil salesmanship.  I have my reservations, but even if it was I would forgive Herer for on the other side, making the valid argument of the so many legitimate uses, such as clothing and paper.  Just as I would accept, even with surreptitious motives, medical marijuana as a good first step toward legalization/decrim, I would accept your argument of non-THC industrial applications, but with reservations and forebodings.

    Ed I empathize with your anxiety.  Ultimately on this issue I am concerned with me.  It is a fundamental issue of freedom and harmless to others.  Because I don’t want to sound self-absorbed, I won’t admit that smoking makes me verbose also, and more confident in my convictions and willing to speak out for them - nuclear disarmament, grossly reducing Pentagon spending, anti-US capitalist imperialism, environmentalism, critique of the two-party duopoly, ad infinitum.  Indeed, often prohibited from its use, I am withdrawn and depressed at the state of the world, and effectively silenced.

    Posted by Tracy McLellan from  on  08/14  at  12:52 PM

  7. Thanks, Tracy, for the dialogue. Perhaps the difference between us is cultural.

    I come from “Old Europe’. We tend to be more disillusioned/cynical about human motivation.

    There’s pure & impure reasons for everything. A lot of Europeans see the impure first. Why are we doing this? A need for attention, self-aggrandizement, imposing our opinions on others.

    Americans seem to be more idealistic. They believe in themselves and the American Dream - progress, liberty, the common good.

    There I go, off on a tangent. It’s the killer weed! I’m sure we’ll cross paths again. I’ll think of you next time I’m in Amsterdam.

    Posted by Ed Strong from  on  08/16  at  05:54 AM
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