Marijuana: Fight the Power

Table of contents :
Preface
Divergent Opinions
A Scientific Genius
Introduction
Cannabis and Music
Indoor Grower
Off on Tangents
Thailand
Smoking Pot at the White House
The Bottom line
Chapter One - A Little History
Way Back
Chapter 2 - A New Prohibition
The Perceived Scourge of marijuana addiction
Fast Forward
Chapter 3 - A Burmese Border Marijuana Misadventure
The strip at Mae Sai, 2013
Chapter 4 - The Good Old Days
A Thailand Marijuana Misadventure
Chapter 5 - The Present and the Future
50 Successful Marijuana Users Who Prove The Person Matters More Than The Plant
Synthetic Marijuana
Synthetic Marijuana - Easy to Buy as Candy
The Technical ABC's of Cannabis - Marijuana
Cannabis Sativa
Difference between Indica and Sativa
Genome
The Shafer Commission -1972
The Jazz Era (The Roaring 1920's) and Marijuana
New York
The Assassins of America
Marihuana and the Law
Seducing the Young
Marihuana as a Plot Device
Janey Canuck
The International Debate
Reefer Madness in Louisiana
Evidence and Facts
Another View
Marijuana in Malaysia
Law and International policy
Cultivation of cannabis in Malaysia
History of cannabis in Malaysia
Legalization of cannabis in Malaysia
Purchasing and using Cannabis in Malaysia
Dr. Lester Grinspoon Powers of Enhancement
Switzerland: A War on Cannabis Consumers
Switzerland in backwards motion since 2005
Cannabis seed banks support European consumers
Chapter 7 - Medicinal Marijuana - The Miracle Herb Cannabis as a Treatment for ADD/ADHD
What is ADD/ADHD?
The Role of the Endocannabinoid System in ADHD
The Genetic Basis for ADHD
The Importance of Anandamide Uptake Inhibitors
Where does Dopaminergic Signaling come into this picture?
ADHD and the use of Cannabis
Cannabis and the Aging Process
Brain Ageing and the Endocannabinoid System
Research into normal brain ageing and Cannabis
Pathological brain ageing and the ECS
Ageing of Skin and the Endocannabinoid System
Senescence, Cell Death and the Endocannabinoid System
Other ways that Cannabis can help a patient
Could cannabis sometimes speed the rate of ageing?
Marijuana and Cognition
Acute cognitive effects of Cannabis
Research into the acute cognitive effects of Cannabis
Residual and permanent cognitive effects of chronic Cannabis use
Effect of abstinence on cognition in chronic users of Cannabis
Cognitive effects in former Cannabis users
Cannabis, cognition and Mental Illness
Cannabis and Cognition in Adolescents
Cannabis and Eating Disorders
Research into Cannabis for Eating Disorders
Cannabis as an Appetite Stimulant
The EC system and regulation of food intake
Could a dysfunctional EC system cause Anorexia?
Cannabis use by Anorexia Sufferers
Marijuana and Autism Spectrum
The EC system is fundamentally linked to autism spectrum disorders
The role of the CB2-receptors in ASDs
The role of acetaminophen/paracetam ol in the development of Autism
Could the MMR controversy actually be related to Paracetamol use?
The possible role of the Dopamine Signaling System in ASDs
What part does Genetics have to play in the development of ASDs?
So how could ASDs be helped by this?
Cannabis and Menopause
What is the menopause?
Symptoms of the Perimenopause
Menopause and the Endocannabinoid System
How genetic variations to the EC system affect Menopause
How can Cannabis help Menopausal women?
Weight gain
Insomnia
Insulin resistance
Pain
Anxiety
Loss of libido
Heart Palpitations
Marijuana and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
What is Myalgic Encephalopathy?
What causes Myalgic Encephalopathy?
Which ME symptoms are most improved by Cannabis?
Relationship between ME and Fibromyalgia
The Endocannabinoid System and ME
Research into Inflammation, the Immune System, and ME
Comments:
Chapter 8 - Marijuana and the author in Thailand
The Bangkok Train Station
Chapter 9 - Changing Lives for the Better -Testimonials
Experiencing Highs to Deepen Understanding: by Wendy from Australia
A Journey into Creativity by "Bill"
Cannabis and Music -Anonymous
Cannabis and PTSD by Michael McKenna
Cannabis, Depression, and the Auditory Experience
Chronic Pain from Hell by Jana Christian
Marijuana Stimulates Creativity and Enriches Experience by John Black, MD
Mr. X - by Carl Sagan
On Treating Anxiety and Other Matters by H. Jenkins
Restoration of the Body by Anonymous
What Marijuana has Done for Me by Steven
A Scientist Reports on the Contribution of Cannabis to his Work by Anonymous
Marijuana and College by Anonymous
Cannabis and Aspergers Syndrome, My Experience
Recipe for a Low-dose, Olive Oil Cannabis High by Boris
Cannabis as a Philosophic Sacrament by Donald
A Way of Life by "Emancipated"
Cross-Cultural Discovery by Tucker Clark
Arthur's Story
A School Teacher's Confession by George Smith
Botanical Epiphany By Mark
Cannabis and Planetary Surfaces
Four Leaf Clovers by Jeremy
Cannabis and the Legend of the Sand Dollar by Annie Hicks
Miraculous Marijuana by Paul
Chapter 10 - Growing Tricks
Chapter 11 - The Strain Debate - Cannabis Ruderalis
Genetics - Origin of Cannabis
Chapter 12 - A Good Night’s Sleep
1. Easier Falling Asleep
2. Longer Sleep
3. More Deep Sleep
4. Shorter REM Sleep
5. Better Breathing
Chapter 13 - The Miracle of Cannabidiol - CBD
Cannabidiol (CBD)
A Parent's Testimonial
Conclusion

Citation preview

Marijuana - Fight The Power! "Sowed hemp in a muddy hole by a swamp." George Washington's Diary -May 12, 1765 Table of Contents Preface..................................................................................................................................................7 Divergent Opinions..........................................................................................................................9 A Scientific Genius..........................................................................................................................9 Introduction........................................................................................................................................10 Cannabis and Music.......................................................................................................................11 Indoor Grower................................................................................................................................12 Off on Tangents..............................................................................................................................12 Thailand.........................................................................................................................................13 Smoking Pot at the White House...................................................................................................13 The Bottom line.............................................................................................................................13 Chapter One - A Little History...........................................................................................................14 Way Back.......................................................................................................................................14 Chapter 2 - A New Prohibition...........................................................................................................15 The Perceived Scourge of marijuana addiction.............................................................................15 Fast Forward..................................................................................................................................17 Chapter 3 - A Burmese Border Marijuana Misadventure...................................................................17 The strip at Mae Sai, 2013.............................................................................................................18 Chapter 4 - The Good Old Days.........................................................................................................21 A Thailand Marijuana Misadventure.............................................................................................21 Chapter 5 - The Present and the Future..............................................................................................25 50 Successful Marijuana Users Who Prove The Person Matters More Than The Plant...............25 Synthetic Marijuana.......................................................................................................................31 Synthetic Marijuana - Easy to Buy as Candy................................................................................32 The Technical ABC's of Cannabis - Marijuana..............................................................................33 1/160

Cannabis Sativa..............................................................................................................................33 Difference between Indica and Sativa...........................................................................................35 Genome..........................................................................................................................................35 The Shafer Commission -1972......................................................................................................35 The Jazz Era (The Roaring 1920's) and Marijuana........................................................................40 New York.......................................................................................................................................43 The Assassins of America..............................................................................................................46 Marihuana and the Law.................................................................................................................47 Seducing the Young.......................................................................................................................48 Marihuana as a Plot Device...........................................................................................................50 Janey Canuck.................................................................................................................................52 The International Debate...............................................................................................................54 Reefer Madness in Louisiana.........................................................................................................55 Evidence and Facts........................................................................................................................56 Another View.................................................................................................................................67 Marijuana in Malaysia...................................................................................................................68 Law and International policy.........................................................................................................68 Cultivation of cannabis in Malaysia..............................................................................................69 History of cannabis in Malaysia....................................................................................................70 Legalization of cannabis in Malaysia............................................................................................71 Purchasing and using Cannabis in Malaysia..................................................................................71 Dr. Lester Grinspoon Powers of Enhancement..............................................................................72 Switzerland: A War on Cannabis Consumers................................................................................75 Switzerland in backwards motion since 2005................................................................................76 Cannabis seed banks support European consumers.......................................................................76 Chapter 7 - Medicinal Marijuana - The Miracle Herb Cannabis as a Treatment for ADD/ADHD....77 What is ADD/ADHD?...................................................................................................................77 The Role of the Endocannabinoid System in ADHD....................................................................77 The Genetic Basis for ADHD........................................................................................................78 The Importance of Anandamide Uptake Inhibitors.......................................................................78 2/160

Where does Dopaminergic Signaling come into this picture?.......................................................78 ADHD and the use of Cannabis.....................................................................................................79 Cannabis and the Aging Process....................................................................................................79 Brain Ageing and the Endocannabinoid System............................................................................79 Research into normal brain ageing and Cannabis..........................................................................80 Pathological brain ageing and the ECS..........................................................................................80 Ageing of Skin and the Endocannabinoid System.........................................................................80 Senescence, Cell Death and the Endocannabinoid System...........................................................81 Other ways that Cannabis can help a patient.................................................................................81 Could cannabis sometimes speed the rate of ageing?....................................................................82 Marijuana and Cognition...............................................................................................................82 Acute cognitive effects of Cannabis..............................................................................................82 Research into the acute cognitive effects of Cannabis...................................................................82 Residual and permanent cognitive effects of chronic Cannabis use..............................................83 Effect of abstinence on cognition in chronic users of Cannabis....................................................83 Cognitive effects in former Cannabis users...................................................................................84 Cannabis, cognition and Mental Illness.........................................................................................84 Cannabis and Cognition in Adolescents........................................................................................85 Cannabis and Eating Disorders......................................................................................................85 Research into Cannabis for Eating Disorders................................................................................86 Cannabis as an Appetite Stimulant................................................................................................86 The EC system and regulation of food intake................................................................................86 Could a dysfunctional EC system cause Anorexia?.......................................................................87 Cannabis use by Anorexia Sufferers..............................................................................................87 Marijuana and Autism Spectrum...................................................................................................88 The EC system is fundamentally linked to autism spectrum disorders....................................88 The role of the CB2-receptors in ASDs....................................................................................89 The role of acetaminophen/paracetam ol in the development of Autism..................................89 Could the MMR controversy actually be related to Paracetamol use?.....................................89 The possible role of the Dopamine Signaling System in ASDs................................................90 3/160

What part does Genetics have to play in the development of ASDs?.......................................90 So how could ASDs be helped by this?....................................................................................90 Cannabis and Menopause..............................................................................................................91 What is the menopause?............................................................................................................91 Symptoms of the Perimenopause..............................................................................................91 Menopause and the Endocannabinoid System..........................................................................92 How genetic variations to the EC system affect Menopause....................................................92 How can Cannabis help Menopausal women?..........................................................................92 Weight gain...............................................................................................................................93 Insomnia....................................................................................................................................93 Insulin resistance.......................................................................................................................93 Pain............................................................................................................................................94 Anxiety......................................................................................................................................94 Loss of libido............................................................................................................................94 Heart Palpitations......................................................................................................................94 Marijuana and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome....................................................................................95 What is Myalgic Encephalopathy?............................................................................................95 What causes Myalgic Encephalopathy?....................................................................................95 Which ME symptoms are most improved by Cannabis?..........................................................96 Relationship between ME and Fibromyalgia............................................................................96 The Endocannabinoid System and ME.....................................................................................97 Research into Inflammation, the Immune System, and ME.....................................................97 Comments:.....................................................................................................................................98 Chapter 8 - Marijuana and the author in Thailand..............................................................................98 The Bangkok Train Station............................................................................................................98 Chapter 9 - Changing Lives for the Better -Testimonials.................................................................101 Experiencing Highs to Deepen Understanding: by Wendy from Australia.................................101 A Journey into Creativity by "Bill"..............................................................................................102 Cannabis and Music -Anonymous...............................................................................................103 Cannabis and PTSD by Michael McKenna.................................................................................105 4/160

Cannabis, Depression, and the Auditory Experience...................................................................107 Chronic Pain from Hell by Jana Christian...................................................................................109 Marijuana Stimulates Creativity and Enriches Experience by John Black, MD.........................111 Mr. X - by Carl Sagan..................................................................................................................112 On Treating Anxiety and Other Matters by H. Jenkins................................................................116 Restoration of the Body by Anonymous......................................................................................118 What Marijuana has Done for Me by Steven..............................................................................120 A Scientist Reports on the Contribution of Cannabis to his Work by Anonymous.....................121 Marijuana and College by Anonymous.......................................................................................122 Cannabis and Aspergers Syndrome, My Experience...................................................................122 Recipe for a Low-dose, Olive Oil Cannabis High by Boris........................................................123 Cannabis as a Philosophic Sacrament by Donald........................................................................124 A Way of Life by "Emancipated"................................................................................................129 Cross-Cultural Discovery by Tucker Clark.................................................................................131 Arthur's Story...............................................................................................................................133 A School Teacher's Confession by George Smith........................................................................141 Botanical Epiphany By Mark......................................................................................................143 Cannabis and Planetary Surfaces.................................................................................................146 Four Leaf Clovers by Jeremy.......................................................................................................147 Cannabis and the Legend of the Sand Dollar by Annie Hicks.....................................................148 Miraculous Marijuana by Paul.....................................................................................................149 Chapter 10 - Growing Tricks............................................................................................................152 Chapter 11 - The Strain Debate - Cannabis Ruderalis......................................................................154 Genetics - Origin of Cannabis.....................................................................................................154 Chapter 12 - A Good Night’s Sleep..................................................................................................155 1. Easier Falling Asleep...............................................................................................................155 2. Longer Sleep............................................................................................................................155 3. More Deep Sleep.....................................................................................................................155 4. Shorter REM Sleep..................................................................................................................156 5. Better Breathing.......................................................................................................................156 5/160

Chapter 13 - The Miracle of Cannabidiol - CBD.............................................................................156 Cannabidiol (CBD)......................................................................................................................156 A Parent's Testimonial..................................................................................................................158 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................159

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Preface "You gotta go for what you know, Make everybody see - in order to fight the powers that be, Lemme hear you say - Fight the Power!" Public Enemy, 1989 Although marijuana is still demonized in many quarters of society, the substance is ironically proving to be very beneficial in the medical community. The author has used marijuana since 1973. As a tradesperson, a woodwork and special-needs teacher with two university degrees (and a fantastic wife from South-East Asia), partaking of the substance has not rendered the author compromised in any way, shape or form - and all things in moderation! Most people have heard of a chemical called THC, the active substance in marijuana that gets users high. But more recently, attention has shifted to another compound in marijuana called CBD - and for good reason. Because while many doctors can't seem to look past certain side effects of THC, CBD doesn't present the problem of getting the user "high." Moreover, evidence of CBD's vast medicinal benefits continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Whatever one's perception of the world and hence their reality, medical marijuana can help you if you suffer from anger, anxiety, anorexia, arthritis, asthma, chronic pain, fatigue, insomnia, Graves disease, MS (Multiple Sclerosis), PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) or loss of appetite - to name but a few chronic diseases and potentially debilitating issues. Marijuana has been proven to lesson nasty symptoms, improve and even cure many of these conditions. Not only that, marijuana's veritable plethora of promising medical attributes include treating cancer patients (facilitating permanent remission), ADHD, sexual disorders, fibromyalgia, insulin resistance, osteoporosis, menopause and anorexia to name but a few more. Cannabis has also proven to be a miracle drug in terms of the aging process - by making millions look and feel much younger than their biological age. That's because they are. I wouldn't presume to be so stupid, arrogant and ignorant as to attempt to espouse that everyone should use marijuana. That will never be the case, despite the fact there's a myriad of proven medicinal benefits that are derived from the two main types, Cannabis Sativa and Cannabis Indica. The argument isn't just about self-medicating with THC - by a country mile. The intrinsic medicinal benefits of CBD will be the key to educating the anti-marijuana lobby! Inherently flawed anti-cannabis dogma needs to be turned on its proverbial ear - but a one hundred and eighty degree paradigm- shift will take time. Many people will never experience the benefits of the herb's intrinsic enlightenment qualities. However, when the substance has improved as many lives as it has proven to have done (with concomitant scientific testing) -many (otherwise intelligent) naysayers are left with slippery-sloped arguments, to justify denying access to those who could benefit from CBD the most. The erstwhile anti-marijuana lobby is alive and well. Many smart people are part of that lobby, but they're now tantamount to the "Luddites" of the Industrial Revolution in Britain - or the 1970's "Big Money Tobacco Lobby" that refused to admit that smoking cigarettes caused lung cancer (when millions of neophytes were cognizant of that fact), until scientists had to prove to the naysayers beyond a shadow of a doubt with years of scientific, double-blind tests. Meanwhile, millions of additional people died of lung cancer in the interim, the direct result of cigarette smoking and concomitant second-hand smoke. All Big Money cared about was the shareholder's bottom line, not the victims at the hands of their deadly products.

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As society will be dragged, kicking and screaming out of the "Age of Big Oil" and start to support renewable, green technology before it's too late, the anti-marijuana lobby will soon go the way of the flat earth proponents and the Dodo bird. Obdurate but intelligent minds ruling the roost, in the ongoing demonization of marijuana will accept scientific proof of CBD's benefits or not - but the proof is in the pudding. In any case, they'll eventually all pass on, and others will continue to discover additional medicinal benefits of the (much-maligned) natural substance. The days of infamy for marijuana are coming to an ignominious end with the dullest of thuds, as false allegations to sustain infamous myths are rebuked, like labeling marijuana an objective gateway drug to heroin by default. The first person to die of a marijuana overdose has yet to be recorded -this as millions of alcoholics succumb to liver disease annually, and millions of cigarette smokers die of lung cancer. How ironic that these two legal drugs are among the very worst ones, when a relatively benign "miracle" plant like marijuana is often shed in the worst possible light. That dubious honor should be reserved for alcohol and tobacco. No one said life was fair, but some wrongs should be righted and the marijuana -CBD issue is a battle well worth fighting for. After all, improving and saving lives is what it's all about. For my part, I endured a working career of thirty-seven years, self-medicating myself with marijuana many a morning before going into the muddy trenches of construction as a Carpenter, then as a Woodwork and Special Education teacher in the toxic Education system - working with severely behavior-challenged students on their third strike. In between, I was a peace officer for eight years; suffice to say I kept my marijuana "habit" well away from co-workers. Taking night school for twelve years while working days, the herb often helped me get through the seven pm classes. I spend several months a year in Thailand, birthplace of my wife. Proactive stealth is always key in my books when using marijuana, and especially when in places like Thailand - one of the most vehement, antimarijuana countries around. There are plenty of smokers (I vaporize it) in the Kingdom. As my wife is from the south where the plant flourishes in abundance, I sourced out a reliable local and befriended him (by paying him handsomely). These days a Thai relative grows marijuana, so risk is now at minimum. In Canada I've grown my own cannabis in small quantities since 1973. Thailand has harsh, outdated marijuana laws - with up to five years for simple possession of a joint still on the books. Most times you can pay your way out with a bribe, but it's a gamble - eating rats on the inside of a Thai jail for a nutritional supplement (to the abysmal standard fare) isn't on most folk's agenda; Thailand has some of the most overcrowded, brutal jail systems in the world. I never got caught out as a cannabis user while working as a teacher - well almost never. One day I went out at lunch time on a Friday to "refresh" myself with a pipe full, bracing myself for the dreaded last two periods of the day. The Alternate students had a propensity to go to the corner store at lunch and consume copious amounts of pop, sugary snacks and other sundry junk food, rendering them doublehyper all afternoon long. Yummy stuff indeed, except to the hapless teacher like me, earnestly counting down the minutes to 3:15 and the bell - to signal the end of another classic day in the trenches. After getting a dose of cure-all in the form of a little high grade cannabis, I came back to the high school about 30 minutes later feeling much better, until an at-risk student in the hallway blurted out to me, "sir, you smell like pot!" - this despite the fact that I'd proactively wore a disposable latex glove, stopped at a gas station washroom to brush my teeth, washed my hands and used hand lotion to further reduce any residual odor. As you can tell, I'm a proactive person in regards to not getting caught but some the at-risk students I worked with were damned street smart. 8/160

In an effort to throw my grade eight adversary off the slightly odoriferous herbal-trail that evidently had wafted behind me, I lied and spouted some nonsense to the boy of how I went out at lunch to go to Subway and picked up some random hitchhiker en route -who just happened to literally reek of weed. The street-smart kid nodded an affirmation and exclaimed, "must have been good stuff." I made a mental note of this at-risk student, and told myself I'd be sure to greet him kindly going forward, in light of the at-risk teacher status that I now wore by damned default. Next time I saw him in the hallway a month later he was wearing one of those T shirts with "FCUK" written on the back in big, bold letters. I mentioned that he may want to learn how to spell that word correctly; he chuckled and we related well enough after that. He never ratted on me anyway. When a student would ask me if I ever used marijuana I only told half the truth. I admitted I used to use it, but it made me tired and have a propensity to eat junk food. I would lie because in the main, at-risk youth should steer clear of self-medicating with marijuana. Also, the truth could have gotten me fired.

Divergent Opinions American President Ronald Reagan said in 1986 that marijuana was inherently evil. Conversely, President Jimmy Carter had more progressive ideas on the much-maligned substance, as did President Richard Nixon. Jimmy's wayward brother Billy smoked a joint on the roof of the White House - and drank a whole lot of "Billy Beer." President Barrack Obama admitted smoking marijuana. President Bill Clinton said he tried marijuana but didn't inhale it - but Clinton also said he "didn't have sex with that woman (Monica)." However, his wife Hillary probably has a divergent opinion on the inherent subjectivity of that allegation.

A Scientific Genius "I don't consider myself a religious person in the usual sense, but there is a religious aspect to some marijuana highs. The heightened sensitivity in all areas gives me a feeling of communion with my surroundings, both animate and inanimate. Sometimes a kind of existential perception of the absurd comes over me and I see with awful certainty the hypocrisy and posturing of myself and my fellow men. And at other times, there is a different sense of the absurd, a playful and whimsical awareness. Both of these senses of the absurd can be communicated, and some of the most rewarding highs I've had have been in sharing talk, perceptions and humor. Cannabis brings us an awareness that we spend a lifetime being trained to overlook, forget and put out of our minds." Carl Sagan When one understands and can relate to what scientific genius Carl Sagan knew in terms of the enlightenment factor of marijuana, then one may begin to understand why the gigantic gulf between users and non-users, prohibitionists and abolitionists is still as wide as the Grand Canyon. To be cognizant of the reasons behind the rather bovine schism is a main key to understanding the totality of the issue -that both sides have an agenda, one to eliminate its use, the other to propagate the medicinal benefits of THC and CBD. On one side, we say that the herb is a miracle drug. That's our agenda and let the facts stand. Marijuana is a miracle substance, able to clothe, heal and nourish the body, mind and soul. On the other side, the entrenched, obdurate opposition steadfastly says no to the full legalization of marijuana. Indelibly stuck in the paradigm of 1930's "Reefer Madness," they are little different than the "Luddites" of the Industrial Revolution, who protested against the onslaught of superior 9/160

technology in the British textile industry. As the marijuana lobby has its detractors, science and time will render only some of the new Luddites cognizant of the error of their ways. Mostly they'll just die off. In the end, the two philosophies are like oil and water and will be until education and science prove that marijuana is a miracle substance. Millions already know that. I'll not rail on about the negative consequences of legal drugs like alcohol, tobacco and prescription painkillers much, and how they kill millions of people, and marijuana kills no one. It's "high time" (no pun intended) that the long-standing infamy of marijuana was refuted. After all, there's scientific proof (with concomitant double-blind tests) that concedes marijuana has many fine medicinal attributes. No one in their right mind is advocating giving marijuana to children, or even adolescents. "Excessive use of marijuana can affect the young brain in permanently damaging ways." I'm certain that in some instances that could very well be the case. Once the human brain is established however, cannabis is much more than a benign recreational soft drug of choice for the masses, for it intrinsically has more potential enlightenment and positive medical uses than a zebra has stripes. Take that to the bank. It's a given however, that for some people the stigma of the herb is too great an obstacle for them to overcome, brainwashed and bias as they are - hence the purposeful choice and powerful political benefits of the herb. Marijuana is an emotionally-ridden subject, both in regards to advocates and those that perpetuate the demonization of the herb. Like prolifers and pro-choice advocates, the demarcation line in the sand is deep, the gulf often wider than the Grand Canyon. However, with additional knowledge and the benefit of time, some people change their view on the much-maligned substance. Dr. Lester Grinspoon is Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Now one of the most respected and outspoken proponents of cannabis, Dr. Grinspoon originally set out to prove that marijuana was a harmful drug. In 1967, he began research to scientifically define the dangers of marijuana. His studies led him to a surprising conclusion, the exact opposite of his hypothesis! Lo and behold, Cannabis wasn't the dangerous drug that he and the general public had been led to believe.

Introduction "When you use the herb, it reveals you to yourself." Bob Marley A friend with weed is a friend indeed. Way back in 1968, my father got a job for NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), so we moved to a place called Soignies, just south of Brussels Belgium, for four years. At the time I had a juvenile crush on a grade six girl named Karen Black, who ended up marrying a Hell's Angel. Before I left Canada in 1968 there was only scant rumor of marijuana use in my little circle of friends, but I never saw it. It was viewed as something very bad indeed, and our parents told us so. In 1972 I returned to Canada and had an epiphany, not that I knew what that meant at the time. Now in Grade 10, most of my friends from Grade 6 had now grown their hair long, some down to their shoulders - and many of them were smoking the dreaded marijuana! I had been inundated with the notion that marijuana was a very bad drug so I avoided it for several months, despite being constantly pestered by my more unsavory friends to try it. 10/160

But by the time the "Summer of 72" was over, I had drank the Kool Aid, so to speak -1 tried marijuana for the first time. About ten minutes later I had a panic attack, almost freaked out and learned all about a new word -paranoid. In 1972, it was the default label for new pot smokers that suffered a bad initial experience with the herb. I was stoned on pot for the first time, and all I wanted to do was go home and tell my parents that I had done a very bad thing! For my two older Grade ten friends had just introduced me to a joint of Mexican weed. We smoked it behind the YMCA building on Canada Way in Burnaby, British Columbia. The two erstwhile potsmoking veterans tried to calm me down, ensuring me that being paranoid was normal for a beginner, much like getting sick when you smoked your first cigarette. Tobacco was plenty bad enough I recalled ruefully, the day at age ten when I stealthily borrowed one of my Granddad's old pipes and stole away into the bushes to inhale a toxic mix of golden tobacco, only to come back sick as a mangy dog and plenty dizzy too. Tobacco only smelled good when unlit. Larry Roberto and Lome Bell had been pestering me to try marijuana all summer, and now that I had just inhaled about four tokes of what would today be called very poor-grade weed I felt like the world was coming to an end. As I reeled in semi-agony from the initial paranoia of my very first "high," they found great humor in the matter. Lome gleefully exclaimed that he could get stoned on one toke! That was impressive, even in my altered state. This was the epiphany to me, as was the strange and very uncomfortable feeling of being high on dope. An hour later I felt almost normal enough to go home and not feel like my parents would know I had gotten stoned by default. In those days, weed was definitely demonized pretty much from all quarters. By 1973 some friends and I started germinating cannabis sativa seeds on top of the fridge, wrapped in moist, multi-layered toilet tissue on a small plate (at my more liberal-minded friend's house whose parents weren't teachers like mine, and therefore so strict). The seeds were from Mexican commercial weed - low to medium grade stuff by today's standards but it was decent for us back then, and chock full of seeds. Sometimes there was almost as much seed as weed. You'd put the cannabis on a comic book or newspaper, curl and raise the comic book with one hand whilst simultaneously removing seeds by force of gravity - using the paper flap of your rolling papers with the other hand. There were lots of stems too. I used to see people throwing away the seeds and even the "roach" (the small part of a leftover joint, perhaps an inch long at most). I kept both. We'd go into the bushes, behind the high school away from eyes and ears, then proceed to stand in a circle and "toke up." Those that took a large toke and coughed excessively were called "bogarts." They made a song called "Don't Bogart That Joint, My Friend," by sixties psychedelic countryrockers "The Fraternity of Man."

Cannabis and Music There was ultra drugged-out Ozzie Osborne (Black Sabbath) with a song called "Sweet Leaf." Rastafarian Peter Tosh wrote "Legalize It," while colleague Bob Marley and The Wailers had "Kaya." Fats Waller (a 1930's Depression-era pianist and songwriter) wrote "You're a Viper." The jazz piano innovator and singer was burning fatties when Bob Marley was still a seed in his Daddy's mind. In "You're a Viper," Waller dreams of "smoking a reefer five feet long," and feeds his concomitant munchies with peppermint candy. The "Viper" means "stoner" in marijuana lexicon.

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Indoor Grower I started growing indoors in 1986. I'm a green-thumb, small time grower and I only use a single 1,000 Watt grow (in a 32 square foot room) and flowering light-system to harvest 14 to 16 ounces of prime-quality bud every three months. I watch the PH of the plants like a hawk and give them plenty of C02 additive in the form of sugar, yeast and water. It's a perfect symbiosis of plant and human as we exhale CO 2 and the plants breathe it in, releasing 02 for good measure to enrich our environment and bless our physical and spiritual lives. I'll reveal the tricks of the growing trade in Chapter 13 - to provide good fortune to the small-time personal grower.

Off on Tangents I did the "wake and bake" this morning but it's not the norm per se. Usually I prefer to wait an hour or two for reasons of moderation, before an appropriate herbal dose of personal cognitive behavior therapy (administered in lieu of accessing the local mental health department as required for generalized anxiety, brought on in part by Graves Disease in 2006) renders my mind capable of envisioning and doing many great things, even if I never actually fulfill many of them. I'm cognizant that much greater minds than mine never partake of the herb and are inherently against its use, each to their own with dignity and inherent respect. It's one hundred times better to live by the Golden Rule, and us marijuana users are cool with that. In contrast to the Golden Rule however, "Tit for Tat" and "Eye for an Eye, Tooth for a Tooth" is the misery and lot of too many humans on this planet. Hundreds of millions of decent people believe that marijuana is a miracle substance; science is proving that marijuana is indeed a miracle plant. The facts speak for themselves. On the other hand, millions of decent people believe that marijuana is a detriment to society. It's not an "us versus them" scenario, rather one of science and fact; marijuana has been unfairly demonized, but those days are ending with the positive light of medical evidence to back the marijuana lobby for complete de-criminalization -everywhere. In the last eight years I stopped using marijuana for a year, then nine months twice - to challenge and prove to myself that I was not "addicted." My mind was still creative when "straight," but not to the level that marijuana infuses in my brain - and millions of other advocates. Now that my wife understands that the herb benefits many people in many ways, I don't feel the need to quit anymore. She comes from a country (Thailand -hence there are some stories in the book about my marijuana adventures in "The Land of Smiles") that demonizes marijuana, however her innocently-acquired, culturally-infused bias against the herb was broken down by knowledge, not experience in terms of personally using the substance. She's a person that's already so naturally happy and content that I don't think she needs much but love and God. However, most of us occasionally require something more when tired, stressed or celebrating but I don't drink alcohol, coffee or smoke cigarettes for relief. Many people that demonize the herb destress and ply themselves with alcohol on general principle. That's all well and good, but it's not everyone's "cup of tea."

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"Pick your poison" comes to mind when legal, albeit lethal drugs like alcohol and tobacco are available to any 21 year old, when ironically a few hundred thousand marijuana (a superior substance in a myriad of medicinal ways) users are behind bars as repeat offenders in the USA, a country that has 25% of the world inmate population with a mere 4.4% of the world's population. That severe dichotomy is exacerbated by arcane, outdated cannabis laws rooted in ignominy, greed and often willful ignorance. Waking and baking with the herb at 7 am today, myriad thoughts of grandeur raced through my awakened mind's-eye. Suddenly filled with a sublime spontaneity of concepts and notions, the herb allowed me to zone in to the epicenter of the creative part of the brain, therefore I instantly surmised how to finish this book and simultaneously how to start Volume 3 in a series of tourist safety books, helping naive young travelers to avoid getting killed on their holidays and subsequently coming home in a black body bag, grieving parents in tow.

Thailand A little morbid perhaps, but proactive in lieu of the fact that my go-to place Thailand has the highest rate of motor bike deaths on the planet, six times the world rate for motorcycle fatalities, ("Thailand Ranks Worst in the World for Motorcycle Casualties." March 1, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.thebigchilli.com), has some of world's most deadly roadways (Fisher, Max. June 7, 2013. "Thailand's Roads are the second most dangerous in the world." The Washington Post.) and is especially dangerous for Australian nationals ("Thailand is the deadliest destination for Australians." February 1, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.pattayadailynews.com). I have a pickup truck in Thailand kept at a sister-in-laws and drive very cautiously yet assertively. I've driven all around the country and stop every 3 or four hours to vaporize some herb when on a long haul trip.

Smoking Pot at the White House In addition to Billy Carter, Jed Bush smoked marijuana on the roof of the White House in 2003, while brother George Bush was busy waging war in Iraq.

The Bottom line In 2013, the price for a pound of top-grade marijuana on the west coast of Canada went down to $800 CDN - or rock bottom. By October 2015 the price was $1,600 a pound for the good stuff. Why the big jump? Because it went way down in 2013, a result of the anticipation of cheaper prices when Washington and Colorado State went legal, plus an issue with Canadian Federal versus Provincial jurisdictions regarding legal grow operations north of the 49'th parallel. Trouble is, greed is everywhere. With many inherent layers of tax upon tax -newly legal pot in the U.S. (Colorado and Washington State) is priced to the roof. As a result, our high-quality Canadian grown Marijuana is in demand like never before - hence the ironic and dramatic price increase. Besides Cannabis history, medicinal qualities of the herb and the author's sundry marijuana misadventures, the book will outline the author's fly-under-the-radar, do-it-yourself guide to growing some of the finest marijuana on the planet. In an eight month grow cycle a year in Canada, the author gets 2.5 to 3 pounds of prime grade herb from a 32 square foot space, using only one 1,000 Watt grow light! The cost to grow 2.5 pounds of the prime stuff the author produces annually is negligible, perhaps two hundred dollars at tops -but 13/160

the wholesale price is over three thousand dollars if sold by the pound. If sold at $10-15 USD per gram (a low to average price for high-quality marijuana at the legal U.S. outlets), it becomes financially crystal-clear why us inveterate green thumb gardeners are out in force north of the 49'th parallel. The other four months of the year is spent in Thailand where the author enjoys the herb in secretive stealth because the commodity is heavily stigmatized. That's still the case in Canada albeit to a lesser degree; at least there's no death penalty on the books for marijuana possession like in Malaysia. In Europe, Holland always has been a little ahead of North America in terms of their intrinsic marijuana maturity. Switzerland? - not so much.

Chapter One - A Little History In the 1700's , early American farmers could pay their federal taxes in hemp. They harvested the hemp fiber (which has an inherently very low level of THC) to make essential products from the now-demonized herb. The word "canvas" comes from the root word cannabis. Cannabis is one of the 50 main herbs of Chinese medicine, prescribed for a myriad of illness and ailments. Cannabis seeds were brought to North America with Christopher Columbus on the Mayflower. By 1629, hemp was being cultivated in New England. All early American colonies were required by law to cultivate hemp, such was the intrinsic importance put on the product. From hemp came many indispensible items such as sails and rigging rope for ships, gunny sacks, clothing and paper. The American Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper, and the first flag of the United States was made of hemp, by one Betsy Ross. America's very first battleship was called the U.S.S. Constitution, lovingly called "Old Ironsides." Over 120,000 pounds of hemp fiber was used in the rigging for that first U.S. Navy ship.

Way Back Ancient texts from India indicate that marijuana was used for a variety of medical purposes, such as pain in childbirth, general pain, insomnia, headaches and stomach problems, to name a few. Unlike today, the (indispensible) herb's inherent psychoactive and psychotropic properties were fully understood. Africa and the Middle East also had a centuries-long tradition of cultivating the herb. Bronze vessels of Scythian culture (now the Ukraine and Southern Russia) contained still-viable hemp seeds. Scythians cultivated and used the plant; their culture was also cognizant of its psychoactive properties. Fast forward to 1857, when Fitz Hugh Ludlow published an autobiography called "The Hasheesh Eater," and the public got a glimpse into his world. He wrote, "my pen glanced presently like lightening, in the effort to keep neck and neck with my ideas. At last, my thoughts ran with such terrific speed that I could no longer write at all." Fitz Hugh Ludlow was describing an altered state of consciousness, and it seemed to boost his creativity in a big way. As the twentieth century came upon the world, jazz musicians adapted marijuana in a big way. It apparently didn't dull the senses like alcohol - in fact the herb allegedly made you more creative in your imagination and artistic endeavors. In the 1920's, marijuana was a veritable revelation to many artists and musicians, black and white. But in many parts of the world, the essential herb was about to get demonized for no good reason, taken into the back alley and summarily beaten to within an inch of its life. At the same time (as the 14/160

herb relieves many ailments), there's conclusive proof that high usage of marijuana by those under the age of seventeen or eighteen (there's no magic cut-off line) can potentially implement negative consequences in terms of ultimate brain development. Although marijuana is a creativity-enhancer of the highest order, it should be used with care in relative moderation. I always say less is more - of the good stuff. Cannabis use remained on the fringes until the 1950's - when Beat music groups began using the herb followed by the Hippies, that strange, new "animal" of the 1960's. Rejecting the social status quo of their parents (and the concomitant stultifying establishment), marijuana was the alleged facilitator to higher consciousness, imagination, spontaneity and a new order in society.

Chapter 2 - A New Prohibition "The Scythians take cannabis seed bracts and throw them onto blazing-hot stones - they produce smoke and give off a vapor such as no steam bath in Hellas could produce. The Scythians howl awed and elated by the vapor." Herodotus, Ancient Greek Philosopher

The Perceived Scourge of marijuana addiction In 1926, The New Orleans Morning Tribune published a number of articles on the "growing menace" of cannabis. Initially, it was a change in the laws rather than a change in the drug, or in human nature that stimulated the large-scale marketing of marijuana for recreational use in the United States. Not until the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act of 1920 raised the price of alcoholic beverages and made them less convenient to secure (and inferior in quality), did a substantial commercial trade in marijuana for recreational use spring up. Evidence for such a trade comes from New York City, where marijuana "tea pads" were established about 1920. They resembled opium dens or speakeasies except, that prices were very low; a man could get high for a quarter on marijuana smoked in the pad, or for even less if he bought the marijuana at the door and took it away to smoke. Most of the marijuana, it was said, was harvested from supplies growing wild on Staten Island or in New Jersey and other nearby states; marijuana and hashish imported from North Africa were more potent and cost more. These tea pads were tolerated by the city, much as alcohol speakeasies were tolerated. By the 1930s there were said to be 500 of them in New York City alone. In 1926 the "New Orleans Item" and the "Morning Tribune," two newspapers under common ownership, published highly sensational exposes of the "menace" of marijuana. They reported that it was coming into New Orleans from Havana, Tampico, and Vera Cruz in large quantities, plus smaller amounts from Texas. "In one day, ten sailors were followed from the time they left their ships until they delivered their respective packages of the drug to a particular block in the Vieux Carre." The sailors, it was said, bought marijuana in the Mexican ports for $10 to $12 USD per kilogram (2.2 pounds) and sold it in the Vieux Carre for $35 to $50. This was far more profitable than smuggling a comparable weight of whiskey. Much of the smuggled marijuana was smoked in New Orleans; but some, it was said, was shipped up the Mississippi and found its way as far north as Cleveland, Ohio, where a well-known physician said it was smoked in one of the exclusive men's clubs." 15/160

In New Orleans, reporters in 1926 laid particular stress on the smoking of marijuana by children. "It was definitely ascertained that school children of 44 schools (only a few of these were high schools) were smoking 'mootas.' Verifications came in by the hundreds from harassed parents, teachers, neighborhood pastors, priests, welfare workers and club women. The Waifs Home, at this time, was reputedly full of children, both white and colored, who had been brought in under the influence of the drug. Marijuana cigarettes could be bought almost as readily as sandwiches. Their cost was two for a quarter. The children solved the problem of cost by pooling pennies among the members of a group and then passing the cigarettes from one to another, all the puffs being carefully counted." A Louisiana law passed in 1927, after the newspaper expose, provided a maximum penalty of a $500 fine or six months imprisonment for possession or sale of marijuana. There followed a wholesale arrest of more than 150 people. Approximately one hundred underworld dives, soft drink establishments, night clubs, grocery stores, and private homes were searched in the police raids. Addicts, hardened criminals, gangsters, women of the streets, sailors of all nationalities, bootleggers, boys and girls— many flashily dressed in silks and furs, others in working clothes were all rounded up in the net which Captain Smith and his squad had set. The penalties were to include thirty years at hard labor, or the death sentence for sale of marijuana to anyone under twenty-one years of age (first offense). There is no known record, however, of the actual imposition of the death sentence in a United States marijuana case. That it was on the books speaks volumes. The newspaper investigation, the new law, and the heavily publicized police roundups did not accomplish their purpose. On the contrary, according to Commissioner of Public Safety Frank Gomila, as during the next few years New Orleans "experienced a crime wave which unquestionably was greatly aggravated by the influence of this drug habit. Payroll and bank guards were doubled, but this did not prevent some of the most spectacular hold-ups in the history of the city. Youngsters known to be 'muggle-heads' fortified themselves with the narcotic and proceeded to shoot down police, bank clerks and casual bystanders. Mr. Eugene Stanley, at that time District Attorney, declared that many of the crimes in New Orleans and the South were thus committed by criminals who relied on the marijuana drug to give them a false courage and freedom from restraint. Dr. George Roeling, Coroner, reported that of 450 prisoners investigated, 125 were confirmed users of marihuana. Mr. W. B. Graham, State Narcotic Officer, declared in 1936 that 60 percent of the crimes committed in New Orleans were by marihuana users." Intensive patrolling of the New Orleans harbor tended to curb imports; but Louisianans were little inconvenienced by the smuggling curbs. They simply began to grow their own marijuana. "The first large growing crop in the city was found in 1930, and its value was estimated at $35,000 to $50,000. In 1936 about 1,200 pounds of bulk weed were seized along with considerable quantities of cigarettes. On one farm, 5.5 tons of weed were destroyed. One resident of the city was found growing 100 large plants in his backyard. The net effect of eleven years of vigorous law enforcement was summed up by Commissioner Gomila in 1938: "Marihuana cigarettes are hard to get and are selling at 30 to 40 cents apiece, which is a relatively high price and a particularly good indication of the effectiveness of the present control." Marijuana smoking, in short, had become endemic in New Orleans, and remains endemic today. What years of law enforcement had accomplished was to raise the price from two for 25 cents to 30 or 40 cents apiece.

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In Colorado, the Denver News launched a similar series of sensational marijuana exposes following the pattern set in New Orleans. Mexican laborers imported to till the Colorado beet-sugar fields, it seems, had found Prohibition alcohol very expensive - and so had resorted instead to marijuana, bringing their supplies north with them. A Colorado law against marijuana was duly passed in 1929. These sensational newspaper accounts and early efforts to outlaw marijuana should not, however, be taken as evidence that marijuana smoking was in fact widespread. In 1931 the United States Treasury Department, then responsible for enforcing both the federal antinarcotics and the federal anti-alcohol laws, indicated that the marijuana exposes in the newspapers were quite possibly exaggerated.i

Fast Forward As a former special needs teacher who worked with highly at-risk youth extensively, I wouldn't advocate marijuana use for young people in general. Medically speaking however - no person, no matter how young the age - should be denied the good medicine inherent in marijuana. Nine year old Lily Roland's family was compelled to escape the hard-line confines of the doomsayers and troglodytes in her home State, to move to pot-friendly Colorado (which voted to legalize marijuana in 2012), so the understandably weak, frail girl could access doses of an oil derived chiefly from Cannabidiol (CBD), a nonpsychoactive ingredient in the herb. Before she had access to CBD she suffered and endured hundreds of seizures, with concomitant violent convulsions - daily! Once the Rowland family took the (usually infamous) geographical cure, Lily started a daily regimen of CBD. Now she's often seizure free - or suffers one or two per day on a bad day. ii 2 Marijuana has shown to greatly help patients with seizures, and a veritable myriad of other debilitating health conditions. Once a young person is around eighteen to twenty years old or so, their brain is sufficiently developed to overcome any significant marijuana use in general. There are exceptions, as different personality types emanate towards marijuana use or not. The point is that marijuana is not a destructive substance by nature.

Chapter 3 - A Burmese Border Marijuana Misadventure "When the Fox hears the Rabbit scream he comes a-running, but not to help." Thomas Harris - The Silence of the Lambs Several years ago I was diagnosed with Graves Disease, and have fatigue, irritability and anxiety as a result. Consequently, I went to a specialist doctor in Canada and have a prescription for growing and using marijuana. The demonized herb always helped relax me. My wonderful wife is from Thailand. My marijuana prescription isn't valid there but nevertheless -1 still use the herb in the country with proactive caution, a plan as it were. One must exercise some care in Thailand with regards to obtaining marijuana, never mind using it (also called pot, weed, herb, ganga, whacky tabaccee, cure-all, etc.), as laws against the herb are draconian, but not as bad as Malaysia. One proactive thing I do in the name of stealth when partaking of marijuana in Thailand is use a vaporizer; it creates a minimal smell, is healthier than smoking and you can reuse the product again. The sleek device looks like a large Bic lighter, emanates less odor than a joint, and is thus quite discrete if you are on the move. A good quality vaporizer is also a hell of a lot better for your lungs than smoking, although not completely benign. On the road I use a portable Pax Ploom-I brought two new ones with me to Thailand a few years ago, two different colors of course. 17/160

At home I like the old plug-in Vapor Brothers unit. With vaporizers, many folks don't realize that you can smoke the vaporized weed afterwards or make marijuana oil, which is a bonus. Vaporized weed is only heated to about 300 - 325 degrees Celsius, so the resultant residue isn't rendered into ash like with a traditional joint. The residue still contains plenty of THC. I found out the hard way. Making marijuana oil out of the residue several years ago, I doubted its veracity, so I foolishly drank two tablespoons (instead of the advised one) of the finished product, using olive oil (use unsalted butter as an alternative - avoid salted butter like the plague) as the medium. I drank it at about 4 pm. By 7 am the next morning, I was yet to fall asleep, although I had been lying in bed since 11 pm. For a few hours, I wondered if I would drive myself to emergency, only a few kilometers away, or call 9-11.1 was that fucked up. Thankfully for me, the worst of the THC overdose left me be-fuddled, but away from that nightmare. I know how strong that stuff is. Like usual I learned the hard way - in this case that vaporizing good-quality weed renders a potent THC-laden product even it has been used. You can therefore use an ounce and re-use an ounce of residue - that's two ounces for the price of one. In 2013, my Thai wife and I drove almost the entire length of Thailand in a Toyota Hilux pickup truck, south to north and back down again. We started in Phuket, went to Chiang Rai and beyond to Pai. My wife doesn't exactly approve of marijuana – mainly because of the smell, and the negative stigma associated with the herb. Mostly though, it's the smell (thank goodness), for Thais are pragmatic people, and are to be applauded for this wonderful trait. We had driven from Phuket to Chiang Rai (1,320 km as the bird flies) to visit a niece, who was just starting her first semester at Mae Fah Luang University.

The strip at Mae Sai, 2013 On a Sunday we took our niece to Mae Sai, to do a little sightseeing and shopping. I also wanted to get a passport stamped, killing two birds with one stone as it were. I had foolishly neglected to get an extended tourist Visa in Canada, so I only had 30 days in Thailand by default, but needed more. We would fly to Singapore in a week, but I needed extra time right away, as the Visa was running out in a few days. As a Thai national, my wife could stay in the Kingdom as long as she wished, alas not myself. I left my wife and niece to shop along the strip, and crossed into Burma to get my passport stamped for an additional 30 days in the Kingdom. The plan was to just go into Burma (now called Myanmar), get the passport stamped and come right back. I had been to this particular Border Crossing a few years previous, and had dipped my big toe into Burma briefly, if you can call the market straddling the border that. On that occasion, a plethora of eager Burmese sellers had persistently tried to persuade me to purchase cigarettes, condoms and erectile dysfunction medication, all things of which I had little use of. After all, I didn't smoke cigarettes. As for E.D. meds, I already had a few of my own at home if required, which meant over four beer had been consumed prior to the fumbling, bumbling act. However, I did purchase a few cow bells of alleged ancient vintage, one of A or C key on the piano. I'll check on that one. As I walked through Thai customs and into Burma a free man, I was now utterly committed to the military-run country (as of May 22, 2014, Thailand is ironically also run by the military). I suddenly patted my pockets to impulsively check for my wallet. In doing this somewhat involuntary act I immediately felt a lump in my tightened throat, the sorry result of feeling two familiar, unwanted lumps in my left pocket. Feeling a slight panic rising up in me, I realized with a little shock and 18/160

dismay that the two inconvenient, slightly bulging lumps in my pocket were a vaporizer packed with Thai marijuana - which is to say it had the potency of Thai sticks of the 1980's, or Cambodian not quite up to par with what we grow in Canada these days. The offending herb was in an old photo film container, half full of the very illegal substance, perhaps 3 or 4 grams. This wasn't good at all, not one iota. "You fucking idiot," I thought to myself. "You forgot to take the stuff out of your pocket and leave it in the damned truck." Well, you're either pregnant or you're not; there are no grey areas. Moreover, you're either carrying drugs in a dangerous country or you're not. Guilty as charged your honor. My mind raced - then somewhat baffled, I turned around about twenty meters into Burma, half-way across that bridge over the little river, turned around and headed straight back to Thailand. It was another idiotic move. If I was thinking straight, I would have been cognizant that I had to get my passport stamped in Burma BEFORE going back to Thailand. The lineup to get back into Thailand was long, and it was hot; it was a good fifteen minute cue of tourists and locals, all happily engaged in conversations of every sort, oblivious to my dilemma. I wasn't happy at all, especially when I saw several WARNING posters that screamed out in bold type: "BRINGING DRUGS INTO THE KINGDOM OF THAILAND WILL RESULT IN THE DEATH PENALTY - NO EXCEPTIONS." Now if that won't scare the shit out of you at least a little bit, what would? I had considered dumping the vaporizer and container somewhere, but where? There was no garbage bin or washroom in sight. Cameras were everywhere - in plain sight and hidden. I had to leave the shit in my pocket. Just then a very attractive Thai woman walked the other way, going into Burma. We briefly made eye-contact. She smiled. It was painful. I considered how in normal circumstances she would've been a pleasant sight for sore eyes; she had a sexy, gorgeous figure and a friendly face, however that default realization did little to brighten my gloomy predicament, ever-worsening by the second. Suddenly my cell phone rang. Trying to look calm, cool and collected for the video cameras I couldn't see, I answered the phone. My wife's voice said in her somewhat broken English, "where you at honey? We wait you long time, all finished shopping." I gulped and replied, "Honey, there's a really long lineup here, I'll be through as soon as I can. I love you. See you soon." I heard her voice say, "I love you too. See you soon." Click. I was doing okay emotionally - there were now only 3 or 4 people ahead of me in the queue. I told myself there was nothing I could do but be calm, look calm and if I get through this, I better be more careful going forward -MUCH more careful! As more semi-torturous minutes passed, scores of happy, smiling, animated faces passed in the other direction, all on their way to Burma to relax and have fun! I tried to existentially put myself in their shoes, then quickly abandoned that frustrating exercise in futility. Once again I looked askance at the signage, promising death to losers like me. This was indeed a major league bummer, at least it could turn out to be that and more. I tried to think like a Thai and slough it all off, with a "my bpen rai" (never mind) attitude, but "som nom naa" (serves you right) was persistently nagging me back to my present reality. I was stuck in a line-up at the 19/160

Burmese -Thai border, a few kilometers from the vaunted Golden Triangle of Opium and Heroin (there's an excellent Opium Museum on site in 2007), with drugs and drug paraphernalia in my damned pocket. Minutes later I was finally next in line. The Asian man in front of me had several questions of some sort, so the Thai Border Guard had to doublecheck something or another. Steady on man, I thought, looking as calm as I could. Finally I heard the "thump-thump" of the stamp, and the Thai official gave the passport back to the fellow. The Asian man shuffled his papers for several more seconds, put them in a tan briefcase and slowly shuffled on. I waited a second or two, then assertively approached the window, made eye contact with the middle-aged, balding Thai Border Immigration Officer and offered a semi-enthusiastic "Sawadee khrap" (hello) to the stern-looking official. He curtly nodded and asked for my passport. I handed it to him through a five inch circular opening in the protective glass, and waited several seconds while he flipped through the passport pages. He scratched his head, looked me in the eye and uttered the words in broken English I did not want to hear. "You need go back Burma sir, no have Burma stamp." I smiled wanly and took the proffered passport back, slightly stunned that I had to repeat the process all over again. So back I went over the border again, across the bridge over the small river. As I crossed the bridge I wistfully looked over the railing at the flowing waters below, a free entity flowing southwards. I wished I'd done the procedure correctly the first time or better yet, not had illegal drugs in my pocket, albeit only marijuana! I was relieved that alarm bells didn't go off with the officer that sent me back, and a minute later I somewhat anxiously headed into the Burmese Border Office. On the Burmese side there was no lineup at that moment, thank god. Long Border lineups are a killer on the nerves when you have highly illegal drugs on your person. The overweight Burmese Officer looked at me and asked if I was going to Burma, or just getting a stamp. "I'm just getting a stamp sir," I said in my best English. He nodded, took my 500 Baht ( $15 CDN), stamped the passport and I was on my way. Not quite though. I was not out of the woods just yet -1 still had to get in another long line-up to go back into Thailand, keenly aware what was in the pocket of my standard brown tourist khakis, while anxiously pondering a real-life nightmare. Twenty very long minutes later, and another call from my wife wondering what the hell was taking so long, I successfully passed through the Thai Border and into freedom back in Thailand. As I walked out into the small area outside the border crossing, there stood my lovely wife and niece. In reality, if caught I probably would have gotten away with paying the Thai police about 100,000 Baht ( $3,000 CDN) if things went well, which was like rolling dice. If one cannot pay their way out before it goes to court, it's five years minimum in Thailand for simple possession of a few grams of marijuana, in some of the worst prisons on the planet. Rats are a delicacy. To be proactive, I have an English-speaking Thai lawyer in the country, university trained in Canada. He did some paperwork for me when I got married in 2008, but who knows if he could have been of any assistance if I had been nabbed at the border, say by drug-sniffing dogs like they have at most airports these days. After a brief explanation of the huge line-up to get back across the border in one piece, the women wanted to eat again and purchase more sundry items at the border town, so we agreed to meet up in a little while. I wandered down a side soi (a small side-street) and removed the small black vaporizer out of my left pocket.

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Funny enough, the loaded vaporizer was no longer the pariah it had been only scant minutes earlier. A marvelous tool actually, a stealthy delivery device for THC, it was like an over-sized lighter, or a microscopic cell phone. I turned the marijuana delivery device on and wandered down the soi. Less than a minute later, a tiny green light came on, indicating the device was heated to exactly 300 degrees Celsius. Ensuring the light was against my palm, although it was daylight, I puffed on the mouthpiece. The marijuana isn't burned, so the resultant smell is nowhere near as obvious as smoking a joint, therefore it isn't nearly as noticeable to the public from that perspective. The soi was practically empty, save for a few sputtering motorbikes zipping by. The random drivers mostly ignored me; one threw a scant glance in my general direction. As usual, I acted as an inconspicuous farang (foreigner) in Thailand, making my tentative way from one block to another. The vaporizer holds about half a joint, and at the medium temperature setting on this particular device, a person gets six or so quality pulls, then the taste tells you the ride is over. The whole process is over in three minutes maximum. I slowed my steady walking gait to ostensibly look at a wrecked van parked on the side of the road, stuffed full of junk. I took a last draw, then went back to meet my Thai wife and relatives, happily stuffing their cake-holes with another round of tasty Siamese treats. Walking over the Burmese border with forbidden narcotics in my pocket was very foolish of me, sheer lunacy; unless I'm insane it will never happen again. Still, I would remain a staunch marijuana advocate, even if I had disappeared into a holding cell at the Thai-Burmese border.

Chapter 4 - The Good Old Days "The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world." Carl Sagan In 1973 I bought nickel bags (about 3.5 grams) for five dollars, then bought lids (about 7 grams) for 10 dollars. It was Mexican Cannabis. When Columbian Gold came along around 1978 ( a higher grade Cannabis), we jumped for joy. In the early 1980's Cambodian and Thai stick was prominent on the west Coast of Canada. It was decent stuff, much like the grade of marijuana one may access when in Thailand today. Whenever I smell Thai weed (it's always compressed for stealth and ease of movement) when in Thailand I'm always pleasantly taken back to the early 1980's, the good parts that is. After being paranoid the first time I got high in 1972,1 felt dependent on the substance as a construction worker ten years later. The herb made the tough environment of the job site much more pleasant. Some would call it a crutch, but I made a conscious decision to choose cannabis over cigarettes when age 25, old enough to know that the former was a million times better for your mind, body and soul. It took another quarter century for me to figure out that vaporizing marijuana is much more benign to the body, as the residue left over has not been burned. The residue still has much THC left, so I give it away or use it to make oil.

A Thailand Marijuana Misadventure "I went to Vietnam, and I was there for a long time. Using Marijuana made the difference between staying human or becoming a beast." Oliver Stone 21/160

I love Thai women and married a fantastic one. But before I met her, I dated a few lovely Thai women, and one Thai lady that, well - turned out to be a member of the third sex - a ladyboy. Many Thai ladyboys, or kathoey get a full blown vagina in a sex-change operation, and the best operations are almost impossible to tell apart from a woman - a guy with a vagina. Thai expats generally conclude that a foreign man that has sex with a kathoey (also known as a ladyboy) on purpose is not really gay. I'll leave that up to the good reader to ascertain, but I would guess there's a certain grain of truth to the allegation. I sure didn't feel gay as she looked like a lady and had what turned out to be an artificial vagina. Many farang like me - that got fooled, are 100% heterosexual. At any rate, labels are for jam jars. I had a good Thai friend in Pattaya, a volunteer policeman for the Pattaya police Department and his (real) name was Eddie. He was street-smart guy. He told me that even he couldn't identify a Thai woman from a Thai Ladyboy one hundred percent of the time -there was just no way to bat a thousand in this regard! "Some of the best-looking Thai ladyboys are even more beautiful than the women." That's a quote from many absolutely beautiful-looking Thai women! I've heard it many times. In addition to being a policeman, my Thai friend Eddie and his brother ran a small tourist kiosk near the long Pattaya wharf, organizing tours to the small islands offshore. What a great guy, but he's gone now. Eddie didn't know me well, but he helped me a lot, especially very late one memorable (albeit terrible) night in Pattaya, when I was near the fringes of semi-lunacy. Don't ever let anyone tell you there aren't wonderful Thai people out there like Eddie. Many of them will give you the shirt off their backs. There's a lot more great Thai people where Eddie came from. There's a certain garden variety of kathoey out there - that wish to fool farang into thinking they are real women, sporting a vagina or otherwise. These ladyboys often give themselves away with a husky voice, or large feet and hands, but that's about it. The best-looking ladyboys retain virtually all of a normal woman's features; many of them are small by nature. Others are veritable amazons, especially visible in Bangkok near Central World - they often prefer to work in the clothing industry. A certain percentage of Thai males look feminine to start with. Many budding kathoey (about 1% of Thai males become kathoey - and this has been a static number over many centuries) take female hormones for over a decade, starting in their early teens - in an attempt to perfect a Thai woman's look. Sometimes they allegedly exceed it. It was a typically hot, sultry late afternoon in Pattaya with nary a cloud in the heat-baked sky; occasional birds were flittering overhead, some landing on the spaghetti-like over-head wires, a cluster of ultimate confusion Thai-style. A baby girl cried out to its mother; she rushed to console the child. Over there a black cat scratched its way across a hot tin roof, exacerbating the heat of the day, by dint of its corrugated metal alloy. I really needed to get some marijuana to lighten my mood, but had no idea how to acquire it in this place. I had just spent an hour-plus walking back to Jomtien Beach along the extended Pattaya Beach walkway -sweaty and mainly brooding, selfconsciously berating myself - all the while darkly mulling over last night's breakup with my first Thai girlfriend Arun. It was a double-edged sword, bitter sweet as I was sorry to see her go, yet happy for the opportunity to move on. Arun was a suitably attractive, 33 year old educated Thai woman, but I had to bow out - and right now I felt way too hot, and was also a bit depressed. I was semi-satisfied to let her go, as she admitted she had two more farang suitors chasing her. Actually, she dumped me, as I did a dumb, 22/160

dumb thing. I got the phone number of a Thai massage lady in Aran's presence, and she was finished with me after that. Well, not quite, but we'll keep it short and sweet. We had been quarreling about stupid things for a few days, and I was still too new to Thailand to understand that many inherent cultural differences between us (I would soon understand) were at the heart of our issues. Suffice to say I messed it up good, but declined to try to grovel back into her good graces for a third time, in lieu of the fact she had two other farang suitors in hot pursuit - pulling up the rear as it were. With me out of the equine equation, it thus became a two horse race. I never heard from her again, as she changed her email address. I suspect she chose the Norwegian over the Scottish guy. Nevertheless, there was a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach, a vain acknowledgement to myself that flying half way around the world to meet Arun had been a colossal waste of effort. As I nurtured my emotional wounds in bovine mode I suddenly saw an attractive, sultry-looking Thai woman sitting at an outdoor cafe, black hair down to her shapely bum. She wistfully gazed in my direction, and I assertively walked up to her table. The first thing that came out of my mouth was, "you aren't a ladyboy are you?" They say stupid is as stupid does, so I foolishly believed her when she said "I no ladyboy.. I lady you want sexy lady for boom-boom?" A sucker often believes what suits their purposes at the moment, and I wanted to get laid - to try to forget about my recent romantic trials and tribulations with Arun. I did however, suspect rather strongly in the back of my mind that she may be a ladyboy, but I was certainly hoping not. In any case, my big horny brain had effectively ceased functioning about 20 minutes prior. A plethora of signs that indicated the ladyboy was lying about her gender became quite obvious in the next several hours - but I was only thinking with my little head at that point. Sometimes it takes a significant event to shake someone back to reality, and that event was quickly approaching! Little did I know that within a few hours, I would be viciously confronted by a drug-crazed (yaa bar) ladyboy maniac wielding a six inch knife. I got away safely from the dangerous situation, but not entirely unscathed. I'll spare some of the intimate details, the damage already done in the admission. Suffice to say this attractive ladyboy had a relatively poorly manufactured vagina; "she" still preferred sex the other way, from the rearend. I would not recommend you do this good reader. Thai condoms frequently break - despite the fact I brought better quality condoms from Canada, it was still foolish. Stick to Thai women if you must purchase sex, as the chances of contracting H.I.V. are minimal as compared to a Kathoey. By 1:30 the next morning, I was nervously waiting outside the hotel with my knapsack and emotional baggage intact, anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Thai policeman friend Eddie to come and rescue me. This is what happened in the preceding little while leading up to my escape from the freelancer kathoey - high on yaa bar, and looking to enthusiastically poke a hole or two in my torso with a knife. After we established a price for sex, I took "her" to the hotel where I was staying, "Rich Man Poor Man," at Jomtien Beach. I don't know if the Chef from New York city still runs it. At that time, his Thai wife had just taken off on him, and he was on an extended alcoholic bender of mega proportions. At this point I was still quite hopeful that the ladyboy was a woman, albeit with an increasing, nagging awareness that I was paying to have sex with a man! - this in a place where there were hundreds of beautiful women for sale. As doubts crept in, clues started showing 23/160

themselves that the later was indeed the case. Ladyboys love to preen and get their picture taken, and "she" posed in many different positions on the bed (Ladyboy clue number one), with over-thetop gestures of every sort. The flair "she" showed in our little photo op was clue number two. The kathoey had slightly larger hands and feet than what would be expected (clue number three). By this time, I was totally messed up. Back home I needed my marijuana, and the kathoey had some of that! I rolled and smoked half a joint; I was nervous though, knowing how harsh the drug laws were in Thailand. As a result of my little episode of minor paranoia, I didn't really like the cannabis high, being so used to my high-grade Indica back home in peace and quiet. I was also drinking a couple of Heinekin beer, strongly suspected the ladyboy had spiked my drink because it felt like I was in another fucking world - a rather unpleasant, bizarre one at that! Clue number four - the kathoey had a vagina, but somehow it was a little "off," in an odd way I won't try to describe in too much detail, to save you some grief. For one thing, a strangely shaped vagina is not an odd thing on a woman, but the ladyboy's pussy took misshaped to a whole new level. At some point in the next 30 minutes the kathoey went into the bathroom, and stayed in there for about twenty minutes. I assumed right away the ladyboy was doing a drug, like yaa bar (the crazy drug) in the bathroom, and I was correct in that assumption. She came out of the bathroom and tried to get me to partake - but no fucking way. The kathoey went back into the bathroom and locked the door. This was way too much bullshit. I decided to get the hell out of there. I'd just gotten my money and passport out of the room safe when suddenly the person came bursting of the bathroom, wild-eyed, yelling in battlemode with eyes literally blazing. I quickly grabbed my small back pack containing a few clothes, books and semi-valuables, but the ladyboy clutched and grabbed at the strap. He got a grip, and started pulling the knapsack towards himself. We had a short tug of war, with the kathoey screaming like a fucking banshee monkey. Determined not to lose, I violently twisted the backpack out of his hands, and quickly turned to leave the room. At this point the bastard produced a four inch knife and started waving it wildly, trying to stab me in the torso. That got my attention all right! The ladyboy took a lunge at me, so I shoved the back pack in between us. As a result he stabbed the back pack once instead of me; I was lucky there were some clothes and a couple of books in there. In complete fight-mode now, I violently twisted the knapsack free again, all the while carefully eying the knife in his right hand. He lunged at me again, but I side-stepped him, and shoved the kathoey down hard. The peace officer self-defense training came in handy right then. I also played a lot of hockey and can still bench-press 315 pounds on a good day, so I was luckily much stronger than my enraged adversary. With the drugged, somewhat baffled-looking ladyboy momentarily grounded I took the opportunity get the hell away and ran down the hallway, down the two flights of stairs (there are no elevators at the Rich Man Poor Man Hotel), and out onto the sidewalk of Soi 8. The kathoey never followed me so I walked a couple blocks to a 7-11 and called my Thai friend, Eddie. Twenty minutes later he picked me up in front of the 7-11 store. The wait seemed like an eternity though, as I didn't relish Round Two with that crazy, fucked-up kathoey. Eddie took me to another 24/160

hotel in Pattaya, about a 10 minute drive from the Rich Man Poor Man Hotel, and I slept the last half of the night like a baby. The next morning I met Eddie for breakfast and paid him 3,000 Baht (about $90 USD) for his troubles. I asked him if he could get me some ganga (that's what they call marijuana in Thailand); he got on his motorcycle and returned five minutes later with a quarter ounce. It cost me 2,000 Baht ( $60 USD). After we got high we visited a Buddhist Temple and put a few hundred 50 satang coins into special bowls for each day of the year, as alms for the living and the dead. Eddie told me I was now officially cleansed and cured of the vicious ladyboy incident. Then he started teaching me the basic precepts of Buddhism, according to his unique perception. All I knew is that I wouldn't be pulling that stunt ever again. There will be no more ladyboy misadventures for this foreigner in Thailand just Ganga ones.

Chapter 5 - The Present and the Future "Is marijuana addictive? Yes, in the sense that most of the really pleasant things in life are worth endlessly repeating."

50 Successful Marijuana Users Who Prove The Person Matters More Than The Plant These successful people just blew pothead stereotypes up in smoke. Though marijuana opponents have long pointed fingers - suggesting that weed is tied to a lack of motivation, a sampling of successful people who have admitted using the drug suggests otherwise. Pot policy reform group Marijuana Policy Project has released a list and it's impressive. The list contains Politicians, Supreme Court Justices, entertainers, entrepreneurs and a certain leader of the free world (President Obama), who smoked joints as a teen in Hawaii. Some admitted only to trying the drug once or twice, while others, like Maya Angelou smoked marijuana with abandon. "The goal here is to dispel the myth that marijuana users are inveterate 'losers' who lack motivation, and highlight the fact that they are typically productive and oftentimes quite successful," said Mason Tvert, Director of Communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, in a release. "As this list demonstrates, many of our nation's most successful citizens have used marijuana. iii "I have used Cannabis all over the world." Rick Steves She has been spotted over the past few days puffing on a suspicious looking cigarette during her Hawaiian holiday. Rihanna appeared to clear up exactly what she has been smoking by quoting some lyrics from rapper Drake's song Up All Night on her Twitter page. She tweeted: "Kush rolled, glass full. I prefer the better things!" Kush refers to a type of cannabis found mainly in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.iv In 2008, a ballot was passed in Hawaii which made possession of marijuana the lowest priority for law enforcement. This means that under this county code, adults over the age of 21 are allowed to possess up to 24 plants or 24 ounces of marijuana on private property. In public, the possession of less than one ounce of marijuana is classed as a misdemeanor offence, which can be punished by a fine of up to $1,000 and 30 days in jail. "Smoking marijuana helps put me in touch with the realm of the senses." Hugh Hefner Robert Downey Jr. claims he started smoking marijuana at age 8. In 1975, Basketball coach Phil Jackson wrote "Maverick," a memoir about his days playing in the NBA. Among other things, Jackson spoke frankly about his marijuana use. 25/160

"I can't claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled." Sarah Palin "The first time I smoked was at home with my mother and stepfather." Matt Damon "Never give up the Ganga." Morgan Freeman "I went through one period where I smoked a surprising amount of grass almost every night." David Letterman "I enjoy it once in a while. Everything in moderation." Jennifer Aniston CNN anchor Gwen Scott claimed it is common knowledge that Ted Turner sits in his office and smokes pot. "I smoke a lot of pot when I write music." Lady Gaga " You bet I smoked pot, and I enjoyed it." Michael Bloomberg The owner of a cannabis cafe said told reporters that George Clooney was no stranger there. " I wouldn't be able to make it through hundreds of shows if it weren't for the benefits of marijuana." Rush Limbaugh Lebron James revealed that he and teammates smoked marijuana one night in Akron. Doctor Sanjay Gupta of CNN has tried it, and now speaks highly of marijuana's potential. "When I was President, I wouldn't answer the marijuana question. You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried." George W. Bush "Marijuana was the pharmaceutical of choice." Bill Gates " Look, I have never made a secret of the fact that I have tried marijuana -about 50,000 times." Bill Maher John Kerry has admitted using marijuana. The White House confirmed that Judge Clarence Thomas, President Bush's Supreme Court Nominee, had smoked marijuana in College. "I experimented with marijuana - a time or two." Bill Clinton Oprah Winfrey and President Obama have smoked marijuana, so what's the big deal? Psychiatrist Lester Grinspoon Smoked Pot with Carl Sagan - A Lot Carl Edward Sagan, (November 9,1934 - December 20,1996) was an American astronomer, cosmologist. astrophysicist, biologist, author and science communicator in astronomy and other natural sciences. His contributions were central to the discovery of the high surface temperatures of Venus. However, he is best known for his contributions to the scientific research of extraterrestrial life, including experimental demonstration of the production of amino acids from basic chemicals by radiation. Sagan assembled the first physical messages that were sent into space: the Pioneer plaque and the Voyager Golden Record, universal messages that could potentially be understood by any extraterrestrial intelligence that might find them. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, coauthor or editor of more than 20 books. Sagan is known for many of his popular science books, such as The Dragons of Eden. Broca's Brain and Pale Blue Dot, and for the award-winning 1980 television series "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage." which he narrated and co-wrote. The most widely-watched series in the history of American public television. Cosmos has been seen by at least 500 million people 26/160

across 60 different countries. The book Cosmos was published to accompany the series. He also wrote the science fiction novel "Contact." the basis for a 1997 film of the same name. Sagan always advocated scientific skeptical inquiry and the scientific method, pioneered exobiology and promoted the "Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence" (SETI). He spent most of his career as a Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University. where he directed the Laboratory for Planetary Studies. Sagan and his works received numerous awards and honors, including the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal. the National Academy of Sciences Public Welfare Medal. the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for his book "The Dragons of Eden," and, regarding "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage," two Emmy Awards. the Peabody Award and the Hugo Award. He married three times and had five children. After suffering from a rare disease, Sagan died of pneumonia at the age of 62 on December 20,1996. v Dr. Lester Grinspoon's interest in marijuana dates back to 1967, the year he decided to research the subject sufficiently enough to convince his best friend who just happened to be Carl Sagan, and a few other associates to stop smoking the stuff. While the internationally renowned astronomer never publicly acknowledged his use of cannabis, the bestselling author and host of "Cosmos" did partake frequently and enthusiastically in private, invariably encouraging his straight-laced companion Lester to join in. Instead, Dr. Lester Grinspoon began to visit the Harvard Medical School library, prepared to spend as much time as necessary putting together a well-referenced argument against grass, one that would demonstrate a medical and scientific basis for the plant's prohibition. Instead of finding the hard data he'd expected, however, Grinspoon had an epiphany - he'd been brainwashed about marijuana, as had just about every other citizen in the United States. Four years later, despite facing pressure at Harvard not to touch the subject, Grinspoon published Marihuana Reconsidered (1971) to document his findings. The bestselling book described, among other things, a decades-long government propaganda campaign undertaken to keep marijuana illegal at all costs. In addition to an authoritative, scientific refutation of the many myths then commonly accepted about cannabis, the book included an essay from a man in his mid-30s identified only as Mr. X. Writing under a pseudonym, Carl Sagan explained that his support for ending marijuana prohibition was not just political, but also deeply personal: "I do not consider myself a religious person in the usual sense, but there is a religious aspect to some highs. The heightened sensitivity in all areas gives me a feeling of communion with my surroundings, both animate and inanimate. Sometimes a kind of existential perception of the absurd comes over me and I see with awful certainty the hypocrisy and posturing of myself and my fellow men. And at other times, there is a different sense of the absurd, a playful and whimsical awareness. Both of these senses of the absurd can be communicated, and some of the most rewarding highs I've had have been in sharing talk and perceptions and humor. Cannabis brings us an awareness that we spend a lifetime being trained to overlook, forget and put out of our minds." Sagan also praised marijuana as a means of cerebral expansion. He described making a breakthrough in understanding "the origins and invalidities of racism in terms of Gaussian distribution curves" while "taking a shower with my wife while high." He then vigorously defended the validity of such pot-fueled epiphanies: "There is a myth about such highs: the user has an illusion of great insight, but it does not survive scrutiny in the morning. I am convinced that this is an error, and that the devastating insights achieved when high are real insights; the main problem is putting these insights in a form acceptable to the quite different self that we are when we're down the next day. Some of the hardest 27/160

work I've ever done has been to put such insights down on tape or in writing. The problem is that ten even more interesting ideas or images have to be lost in the effort of recording one." Toward the end of his life, without disclosing his own use, Sagan started advocating for medical marijuana. Three years after Sagan's death, Dr. Grinspoon decided to posthumously reveal the identity of Mr. X in interviews with William Poundstone for the latter's Carl Sagan: "A Life in the Cosmos" (1999). Grinspoon's decision was based on the world famous scientist's oft expressed wish to aid the movement to end marijuana prohibition. Grinspoon, meanwhile, has dedicated much of his life and work as a physician, professor, author, advocate, and activist to investigating cannabis's amazing medical properties, and fighting for the kind of historic marijuana legalization that's currently taking root in Colorado and Washington. He spoke from his home in Massachusetts. Do you remember the first time you met Carl Sagan? Grinspoon: I sure do. I had a professor at Harvard Medical School who lived alone in a big house with his own chef. He was kind of an intellectual lighthouse—very actively involved in liberal, progressive political movements. And his Friday night dinners were legendary. Usually a group of about 30 people representing not just the medical school, but ah the different departments at Harvard. At one of these dinners in 1965, we got into discussing the Vietnam War, which was beginning to escalate. Well, everybody at this big party supported US involvement, except for Carl Sagan and myself. Pretty soon, Carl and I were virtually backed into a corner. So afterward, we introduced ourselves and in a very short time became close friends, which we remained until the day he died. I was best man at his wedding. Carl, by the way, stayed extremely active in opposing the war. He possibly didn't get tenure at Harvard because of his outspokenness. When did you discover that he enjoyed smoking pot? My wife Betsy and I went to a party with Carl not long after we met, and it quickly became clear that marijuana was a regular feature of social life within his little circle in Cambridge. As a physician, I saw all that smoking going on, and I was really concerned about it. I suffered from a kind of arrogance that sometimes afflicts physicians. Doctors are supposed to automatically be experts on drugs, and so I found myself spieling off the stuff that the government was saying, telling this wonderful group of people that I was concerned about marijuana's detrimental effect on their health. Because I truly believed pot was a very harmful drug. I actually succeeded in getting two or three of them to at least temporarily reconsider. But whenever I'd say as much to Carl, he'd wave the joint in front of me, and reply, "Oh Lester, have a puff, it's not going to hurt you a bit and you'll love it." DOCTORS ARE SUPPOSED TO AUTOMATICALLY BE EXPERTS ON DRUGS, AND SO I FOUND MYSELF SPIELING OFF THE STUFF THAT THE GOVERNMENT WAS SAYING... BUT WHENEVER I'D SAY AS MUCH TO CARL, HED WAVE THE JOINT IN FRONT OF ME, AND REPLY, "OH LESTER, HAVE A PUFF, IT'S NOT GOING TO HURT YOU A BIT AND YOU'LL LOVE IT." Did he have a scientific basis for thinking marijuana was relatively safe? 28/160

No, he was just instinctually distrustful of the government's claims when compared to his own observations. How did he react when you wrote a book proving him right? Carl and I used to review each other's manuscripts before they were published. When he read "Marihuana Reconsidered," he said, “"That's a wonderful book, but you made one big mistake. You said in the last chapter that marijuana prohibition will end within ten years. But it's going to be gone in two years. It just can't survive any longer than that!" Was he high when he made that prediction? I don't think so [laughs]. Anyway, he stuck with that time table for awhile. We actually discussed it once, many years later, when I began to fear that I'd never see legalization in my own lifetime. How long did it take him to get you to try cannabis for yourself? As I researched and wrote about marijuana, I knew I wanted to have this experience, but I also knew that if the book was successful, I'd be called upon to appear before committees and testify in court, and I didn't want to compromise my position. In other words, I didn't want this to become a N-of-1 study. I wanted to be as objective as possible. So I waited. Then, about a year and a half after the book came out, I had to testify before a state senate committee in Massachusetts. And one of the senators, who was clearly hostile to my position, asked, "Have you, Dr. Grinspoon, ever used marijuana yourself?" To which, without planning it, I replied, "Senator, I'll be glad to answer that question if you can tell me whether if I answer in the affirmative, that would make me a more or less credible witness." Well, the senator stood up on the dais, pointed an accusing finger at me and declared, "Sir, you are being impertinent." Then he stormed off. So I went home to my wife and said, "Betsy, the time has come. We're going to smoke." Ever since Marihuana Reconsidered came out people had been asking me: "Wait, you wrote a book about marijuana and you've never tried it?" And I'd reply, "Well, I wrote a book about schizophrenia too, and I haven't tried that!" But then that very night, we went to a party and smoked until everyone else in the circle, including Carl, waved it off. They were all apparently stoned, while Betsy and I felt nothing. At which point, I began to get very anxious - could I have written a book about a grand placebo? When I got home, I couldn't sleep. Betsy had to remind me that my own research revealed many people don't get high the first time they smoke. Carl, in his Mr. X essay, said he'd had to try something like six times to experience a high. So the next weekend we smoked again, and it still didn't work. But then the third time, I remember after the joint Betsy and I were standing around with another couple in the kitchen, eating a napoleon - the four of us passing it around. And you know that viscous material between the layers? It kept sliding back and forth threatening to fall on the floor. We were having a hilarious time! So Betsy asked, "Where did you get this napoleon, it's unbelievably good. We've never had anything like it." And when they named the bakery, we were surprised to discover we'd eaten their napoleons before!

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Meanwhile, "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was on the hi-fi, a record I'd actually heard before many times. My son David would put it on and say, "Dad, you ought to get your head out of the Baroque and listen to the Beatles." But I didn't see the appeal. Until that night, under the influence of marijuana, when I heard the Beatles for the first time. And it was like an auditory implosion. I couldn't believe it! What was Carl Sagan like when high? He was the same wonderful person, only definitely more relaxed. He had a great sense of humor, which really came out. He loved to smoke a joint before we went out to dinner, to stimulate his appetite. And he was always eloquent—could speak spontaneously like no other person I've ever known. We always had fun when we got stoned, and we had such wonderful discussions. It was exciting to smoke with Carl. He was also the hardest working individual I've ever met. When people try to say that marijuana will make you less productive, or lazy, and so forth, I always think of him. He was constantly working, in a sense. Using marijuana as a creative stimulant. He felt he got more ideas while stoned, and also understood that you have to reevaluate them when you're not stoned. I observed him using that method a lot. One time, Carl and his wife were visiting us on Cape Cod. I was taking their son out fishing, and Carl wanted to stay behind and walk around a lonely beach at low tide. Well, I could see from the boat that he was having a smoke, and then he just started pacing along talking into his brand new voice recorder. Before that, he used to jot a note on the back of an envelope. Anything to get his stoned thoughts down, so he could review them at a later time. That he found cannabis so very useful in his work was really a lesson to me. In time, I learned to use it the same way. Especially when I could get my hands on the good stuff. I would get these gifts of marijuana occasionally from California, always completely anonymously. Some kind souls would put a dozen joints or a baggie of weed in a small cardboard box, then stuff it with newspaper and add a stone to give it weight. One night my wife and I were going to meet Carl and his wife for dinner, and I brought along two joints of some brand new stuff I'd gotten called sinsemillia. Well, Carl just loved it. At the end of the night, he knew I'd brought two joints and we'd only smoked one of them, so he said, "Lester, I hate to do this, but could I ask you to give me that second joint? I have to finish writing a chapter tomorrow, and I'd love to have that." So naturally I gave it to him. That was the moment I began to realize that in addition to medicine and recreation, cannabis can benefit people through enhancement of certain human potentials. Was all this pot smoking sort of an open secret? Not at all. This was a very small group of people. Carl would never light up unless he knew everybody in the room. As much as he loved marijuana, he was always very concerned about people finding out. For instance, one of the early pieces I wrote on the subject appeared in The New York Times Magazine, and in it I said something to the effect, "People have the idea that only these hirsute young hippie kids use marijuana, but in fact a lot of ordinary and even extraordinary people smoke it, including professionals." Then I mentioned doctors, lawyers, etc. Well, in that list I included astronomers. 30/160

And when that came out, it was the only time Carl ever expressed any anger towards me. Because he thought mentioning astronomers would give him away based on our friendship. Another time, we went on a cruise to the South Pacific to see Halley's Comet. I smuggled about an ounce of marijuana on board, and we had a wonderful time. Carl had the top cabin on the ship, including a deck where we could sit and smoke and talk and eat for hours on end - while watching the beautiful cloud formations over the Pacific. When the cruise was over, we still had some marijuana left. I didn't want to go through Customs with it, so I told Carl that I was going to toss it down a companionway I had noticed was marked "Crew Only," trusting that it would be enjoyed among the mates. But he asked me not to, because we might somehow be found out. So we weighed the baggie down with one of those old glass ashtrays, and tossed it overboard. I hated to let this precious stuff go down to the bottom of the sea, and didn't really see how we could ever have gotten caught passing it along, but I had to respect Carl's objection. Really, it was very important that he not get in trouble. He was testifying before NASA and Congressional committees all the time. In fact, I miss him so much right now not just personally, but also because I'm so worried about global climate change, and I think, "Boy, if Carl were around, this would be his issue. He could get people together and help them understand what a tremendous threat we face." How did the bud in the 1970's compare to what's around now? Oh, well, the stuff that's available now -we'd have loved to have some of that way back when. Carl especially would have enjoyed Dr. Grinspoon. the strain named after me, because it's a very heady high (25 percent THC). Which is just the kind he liked.vi

Synthetic Marijuana What you see in the above picture is a jar of synthetic marijuana -1 purchased two of them at a gas station of all places, strictly for experimentation purposes. I never opened it though - honest. Perhaps I can write it off. They're one fucking gram each. Total cost? $40 USD. That's $20 for less than a dime bag, people. When you're talking a 500 percent markup, eventually crack just starts to make more sense from an economic standpoint, but we still don't go there ladies and gentlemen. I'm just saying, this shit is pricey. One John Huffman was conducting research on cannabinoids for the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse. The compound he came up with was called JWH -018, because JWH are John William Huffman's initials. He says this about his substance, a mainstay of synthetic marijuana, "These compounds were not meant for human consumption. Their effects in humans have not been studied and they could very well have toxic effects. They absolutely should not be used as recreational drugs." Fucking lovely eh? That's a standard disclaimer for synthetic drugs developed by actual scientists - and should be a big red flag! Stick to the natural stuff people. Since JWH-018 started making the rounds, reports have been popping up left and right about the health risks associated with synthetic marijuana. Like the three teens in Texas who showed up at a Dallas emergency room with heart attack symptoms, for example. If potential teenage heart attacks don't rattle cages, there's also the mother of two in Indiana who just straight up died. Partly as a result of that tragedy, JWH-018 was banned along with its chemical brother JWH-073. Strangely, that's when things got even more bizarre. Chemical compounds that mimic THC are many, and they 31/160

all suck. Take one off the streets and there's another one waiting to step in as an immediate replacement, and that's what happened. When JWH-018 was officially outlawed in 2009, companies wasted no time in filling the void. These days, the only thing resembling an ingredients list on a package of fake weed is a promise that it "contains no illegal substances." That's like looking at the nutrition information at Burger King and finding that it says "no cat meat used in our fish burgers." It's good news, but not really enough information to base a decision on. So what's in the gas station weed you can still buy these days? I honestly don't have a clue, but it isn't pretty. Maybe outlawing JWH-018 was intended to make synthetic weed harder to get, but it didn't. You can buy the shit everywhere, but you really have no way of knowing what you're smoking. It's not JWH-018, and it sure as hell isn't actual marijuana. Consider the following article from the New York Post:

Synthetic Marijuana - Easy to Buy as Candy September 28, 2014: Legal loopholes make synthetic marijuana as easy to get as buying a candy bar, according to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer - who urged the federal government Sunday to crack down on the dangerous product. With names like "K2","Spice" and "Skunk," the cannabis alternative has flooded the drug market because manufacturers are able to use legal ingredients. "Synthetic marijuana, which is more dangerous than regular marijuana, and unlike regular marijuana is perfectly legal, teenagers can buy this synthetic and dangerous marijuana as easily as they can buy a Kit Kat bar," Senator Schumer said. "Reports have shown that synthetic drugs can lead to dangerous, erratic and even deadly behavior. They're more dangerous than marijuana. They're being sold and marketed to young people right here in New York City, Long Island and the northern suburbs." Schumer urged the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to act quickly and add hundreds of chemicals to its list of banned controlled substances. He also pushed for new legislation that would make it easier to crack down on even newer synthetic chemical compounds that are likely to emerge in coming years. According to Schumer, the U.S. has banned only 20 of the 300 chemical substances used in synthetic drugs, leaving drug makers several steps ahead in what he called a game of "whack-amole." The result has been an upswing in synthetic drug use and trips to emergency rooms. In a letter to D.E.A. Administrator Michele Leonhart, Schumer said that in the past year, there has been a 220 percent increase in emergency room visits because of synthetic marijuana. Schumer's letter said, "The federal government must do what it can to keep these harmful compounds off the street and out of the hands of our citizens."vii These days, synthetic drug makers, their sycophants and lackeys generally follow "Cockroach Theory." It's the default process for new, ever-changing chemicals and compounds in synthetic drugs and marijuana. The problem is, when you ban one bad substance like JWH-018, it's rather like stepping on a cockroach and squashing it, only to find ten new ones scurrying about in all directions. It's the nature of the beast you see, and the beast wants your money honey. Don't bite, stick with natural substances and you'll be just fine and dandy. Enough said about this nefarious garbage.

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The Technical ABC's of Cannabis - Marijuana Cannabis strains are either pure or hybrid varieties of Cannabis. typically Cannabis Sativa or Cannabis Indica. These days, varieties are developed to intensify specific characteristics of the plant, or to differentiate the strain for the purposes of marketing it more effectively as a medicine. Variety names are typically chosen by their growers, and often reflect properties of the plant such as taste, color, smell and the origin of the variety. Cannabis strains commonly refer to those varieties with recreational and medicinal use. These varieties have been cultivated to contain a high percentage of cannabinoids. Several varieties of Cannabis, known as hemp. have a very low cannabinoid content, and are instead grown for their fiber and seed. I personally prefer Cannabis Indica, as do most in my sphere of influence. My preference is to vaporize it and occasionally make oil for use in baking products. I never smoke it anymore. Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of at least 85 active cannabinoids identified in cannabis. It is a major phytocannabinoid. accounting for up to 40% of the plant's extract. CBD is considered to have a wider scope of medical applications than tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). An orally-administered liquid containing CBD has received orphan drug status in the United States, for use as a treatment for Dravet Syndrome, under the brand name Epidiolex. Cannabinoids are a class of diverse chemical compounds that act on cannabinoid receptors in cells that repress neurotransmitter release in the brain. Ligands for these receptor proteins include the endocannabinoids (produced naturally in the body by humans and animals), the phytocannabinoids (found in cannabis and some other plants), and synthetic cannabinoids (manufactured artificially). The most notable cannabinoid is the phytocannabinoid tetrahydrocannabin ol (THC), the primary psvchoactive compound of cannabis. Cannabidiol (CBD) is another major constituent of the plant. There are at least 85 different cannabinoids isolated from cannabis, exhibiting varied effects. Synthetic cannabinoids encompass a variety of distinct chemical classes: the classical cannabinoids structurally related to THC, the non classical cannabinoids (cannabimimetics) including the aminoalkylindoles. 1.5-diarvlpyrazoles. quinolines. and arvlsulfonamides. as well aseicosanpids related to the endocannabinoids.

Cannabis Sativa Cannabis sativa is an annual herbaceous plant in the Cannabis genus, a species of the Cannabaceae family. People have cultivated Cannabis Sativa throughout recorded history as a source of industrial fiber, seed oil, food, medicine and recreation. Each part of the plant is harvested differently, depending on the purpose of its use. The species was first classified by Carolus Linnaeus in 1753. Cannabis Sativa is the weed we used to get (coming from Mexico) exclusively when I was in high school in the seventies. The quality was not great in those days, but we sure thought it was okay back then. There was "commercial" grade, which was quite poor, but "Columbian Gold" kicked ass! Some folks derisively called Mexican commercial marijuana "ditch weed." Unlike today's weedfree strains, there were seeds galore in those days. I still have some of them in a glass relish jar. Sativa seeds are chiefly used to make hempseed oil which can be used for cooking, lamps, lacquers, or paints. They can also be used as caged-bird feed, as they provide a moderate source of nutrients for most birds. The flowers (and to a lesser extent the leaves, stems, and seeds) contain psvchoactive chemical compounds known as cannabinoids that are consumed for recreational, medicinal, and spiritual purposes. When so used, preparations of flowers (marijuana) and leaves and 33/160

preparations derived from the resinous extract (hashish) are consumed by smoking, vaporizing and oral ingestion. Historically, tinctures, teas. and ointments have also been common preparations. In traditional medicine of India in particular, Cannabis Sativa has been used as hallucinogenic, hypnotic, sedative, analgesic, and antiinflammatory agent. The flowers of the female plant are arranged in racemes and can produce hundreds of seeds. Male plants shed their pollen and die several weeks prior to seed ripening on the female plants. Although genetic factors dispose a plant to become male or female, environmental factors including the diurnal light cycle can alter sexual expression. Naturally occurring monoecious plants, with both male and female parts, are either sterile or fertile but artificially induced "hermaphrodites" (a commonly used misnomer) can have fully functional reproductive organs. "Feminized" seed sold by many commercial seed suppliers are derived from artificially "hermaphroditic" females that lack the male gene, or by treating the plants with hormones or silver thiosulfate. In the case of production related to recreational use of Cannabis, the process of "cloning" provides the grower with DNA identical female plants eliminating the need of seeds for the growing process. I've been cloning marijuana since 1986. Before that, clones were starting to be heard of in Canada but until I learned how to do it myself, I paid $50 per clone. Back then I was using four - 400 watt lights. Prices were astronomical for clones in the early days. A Cannabis plant in the vegetative growth phase of its life requires 18 hours of light per day to stay vegetative. Flowering occurs when light is reduced to 12 hours per day, with a flowering light bulb. The flowering cycle can last anywhere between six to ten weeks (wew Indica strains flower in as little as 6 weeks but beware - many of them are sub-par, so do your homework.), depending on the strain and environmental conditions. In soil, the optimum pH for the plant is 6.3 to 6.8. In hydroponic growing, the nutrient solution is best at 5.2 to 5.8, making Cannabis well-suited to hydroponics because this pH range is hostile to most bacteria and fungi. I have always used soil, but that doesn't make it the best; it's just what most growers I know use, 100% of them. Cannabis Indica, formally known as Cannabis Sativa Forma Indica, is an annual plant in the Cannabaceae family, a putative species of the genus Cannabis. In 1785, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck published a description of a second species of Cannabis, which he named Cannabis Indica. God bless this man. Lamarck based his description of the newly named species on plant specimens collected in India. Richard Evans Schultes described Cannabis Indica as relatively short, conical, and densely branched, whereas Cannabis Sativa was described as tall and laxly branched. Loran C. Anderson described Indica plants as having short, broad leaflets whereas those Sativa were characterized as relatively long and narrow. Cannabis Indica plants conforming to Schultes's and Anderson's descriptions may have originated from the Hindu Kush mountain range. Because of the often harsh and variable (extremely cold winters, and warm summers) climate of those parts, Cannabis Indica is very well-suited for cultivation in temperate climates. I usually grow a purple or pink Indica Kush, all the rage the last few years with inherent high THC content and dense buds. Broad-leafed Cannabis Indica plants in India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan are traditionally cultivated for the production of hashish. Pharmacologically, Indica landraces tend to have a higher THC and a lower cannabidiol (CBD) content than Sativa strains. Most commercially available Indica strains have been selected for low levels of CBD, with some users reporting more of a "stoned" feeling and less of a "high" from Indica when compared to Sativa. Personally, I disagree, but each to their own. The Cannabis Indica high is often referred to as a "body buzz" and has beneficial properties such as pain relief in addition to being an effective 34/160

treatment for insomnia and an anxiolytic, as opposed to Sativa's more common reports of a "spacey" and mental inebriation, and even, albeit rarely, comprising hallucinations. Differences in the terpenoid content of the essential oil may account for some of these differences in effect. Common Indica strain for recreational or medicinal use include Kush and Northern Lights.viii

Difference between Indica and Sativa There are several key differences between Cannabis Indica and Cannabis Sativa. These include height and stature, internodal length, leaf size and structure, buds size and density, flowering time, odor, smoke and effects. Indica plants tend to grow shorter and bushier than the sativa plants. The leaves of Indica strains tend to have wide, short leaves with short wide blades, whereas sativa strains have long leaves with thin long blades. The buds of Indica strains tend to be wide, dense and bulk, while sativa strains are likely to be long, sausage shaped flowers. Cannabis Indica has a higher ratio of THC:CBD compared to Cannabis sativa. hence my preference for it. Cannabis strains with relatively high CBD:THC ratios are less likely to induce anxiety than vice versa. This may be due to CBD's antagonistic effects at the cannabinoid receptors, compared to THC's partial agonist effect. CBD is also a 5-HT1A receptor (serotonin) agonist, which may also contribute to an anxiolytic-content effect. The effects of Sativa are well known for its cerebral high. Users can expect a more vivid and uplifting high, while Indica is well known for its sedative effects which some prefer for night time use. Indica possesses a more calming, soothing, and numbing experience in which can be used to relax or relieve pain. Both types are used as medical cannabis. During the 1970s, Cannabis Indica strains from Afghanistan and Hindu Kush were brought to the United States, where the first hybrids with Cannabis sativa plants from equatorial areas were developed, widely spreading marijuana cultivation throughout the United States. The name Indica originally referred to the geographical area in which the plant was grown. Whether Sativa and Indica are separate species is still a matter of debate. However, investigation into chemotaxonomic differences support a two-species hypothesis.ix

Genome In 2011, a team of Canadian researchers announced that they had sequenced a draft genome of the Purple Kush variety of Cannabis Indica Tetrahdrocannabinol (THC) is the main psychoactive ingredient constituent (or cannabinoid) of cannabis. It was first isolated in 1964 by Israeli scientists. x

The Shafer Commission -1972 Shafer Commission Report on Marijuana and Drugs, Issued 40 Years Ago Today, Was Ahead of its Time March 21, 2013: Forty years ago on March 22,1973, the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse (also known as the Shafer Commission, after its Chair, Raymond P. Shafer, former Republican Governor of Pennsylvania. Governor Shafer and eight other members of the Commission were appointed by President Richard Nixon. The other four members of the Commission were Senators and Members of Congress appointed by the Congressional leadership, 35/160

for a total of 13 members.) said in its final report: "A coherent social policy requires a fundamental alteration of social attitudes toward drug use, and a willingness to embark on new courses when previous actions have failed." It employed a staff of 76. It commissioned numerous reports and technical papers, totaling over 3700 pages, published in four volumes of appendices. Social attitudes toward marijuana use seem to be fundamentally altered from the 1970's and 1980's, with substantial majorities voting in 2014 to legalize marijuana in Washington and Colorado, and with state legislatures passing medical marijuana and marijuana decriminalization laws almost routinely. But the controversial but foresighted recommendation of the Commission in 1972 to decriminalize marijuana overshadowed the later, more comprehensive, 480-page final report, "Drug Use in America: Problem in Perspective," issued 40 years ago today. That final report, which addressed broader drug issues was called "a sound battle plan for a more intelligent attack on this nation's drug scourge" by the editors of the New York Times. Looking at policy changes in Europe and Latin America, it's clear that many other countries have had a greater willingness to abandon failed drug policies than we have (the U.S.A.). With the perspective of forty years, the final report was remarkably wise, balanced and should be widely-read today. It even predicted the failure of drug policy that has afflicted the nation since President Nixon declared a "war on drugs" in 1971. The Commission warned in 1973 that with, "the inherent emotionalism surrounding the topic of drugs, all levels of government have been pressured into action with little time for planning. The political pressures involved in this governmental effort have resulted in a concentration on the most immediate aspects of drug use and a reaction along the paths of least political resistance..the creation of ever-larger bureaucracies, ever-increasing expenditures of monies and an outpouring of publicity - so that the public will know that 'something' is being done." This is an almost perfect description of how I (Raymond P. Shafer) saw Congress behave during the nine years I was counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, especially in the summer of 1986 after Len Bias died from a cocaine overdose. It is a behavior regularly repeated by Congress since. That hasty Legislation has led to hundreds of thousands of long mandatory minimum drug sentences for marijuana, a swelling of the federal prison population from 36,000 then to over 218,000 now - and a shocking racial disparity in federal drug enforcement. The Commission's critical observation that, "Perhaps the major consequence (of Anti-Drug Legislation) has been the creation at the Federal, State and Community levels, of a vested interest in the perpetuation of the problem among those dispensing and receiving funds. Dominant among the opponents of marijuana policy change who testify before legislative panels are the recipients of public funds - Police Chiefs, Prosecutors and Drug Abuse Experts - funded by government contracts and grants." The Commission saw that a key flaw in our American policy was that it defines the problem singularly as "drug use," and not the specific behaviors resulting from certain kinds of drug use. For generations, Federal and State policy makers have ignored the important distinctions among different kinds of drug use and insisted, contrary to logic and the evidence, that all use of drugs is "drug abuse." Another key observation of the Commission is that many of the risks of drug use are the result of drug policy -rather than from the drugs themselves!

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The Commission believes that the contemporary American drug problem has emerged in part from our institutional response to drug use. We have failed miserably as a society to weave policy into the fabric of social institutions. We see this failure play out most clearly in families and schools. Consider that for almost forty years, roughly half of America's high school graduates have tried marijuana at least once. Yet this drug use takes place outside honest conversation between young people and their parents, teachers, coaches, etc. (many of whom probably also used marijuana in high school or college). Drug policy has prevented the creation of a vocabulary for honest, nonemotional conversations with teenagers about use of marijuana and other drugs. The default "institutional response" prevents teachers and counselors from listening to students discuss their drug use, or speaking to them in balanced terms about the scientific, medical or social aspects of drug use without being accused of "condoning" drug use. Young people are denied accurate information from the authorities they otherwise trust. No wonder teenage drug use remains widespread and their behavior so often seems stupid and based on ignorance. Teenagers want to know the facts, but they know they won't get them at school and rarely at home. The Commission presciently warned, "Unless present social policy is redirected, we will perpetuate the same problems, tolerate the same social costs, and find ourselves as we do now, no further along the road to a more rational legal and social approach than we were in 1914." Forty years on we didn't redirect policy, but the problem is hardly the same - it's much worse! Drug overdose death rates are more than three times greater than they were when President Reagan kicked off his own " just say no" war on drugs in 1982. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been killed in drug prohibition-related violence in the U.S., Mexico, Colombia, Jamaica, Central America, Africa and Asia. Hundreds of thousands of people have died worldwide from HIV-AIDS from needle sharing - due to their inability to get sterile syringes as a result of the "institutional response." Reviewing the institutional responses to the serial popularity of cocaine, crack, ecstasy, methamphetamine, Oxycontin, Salvia, synthetic cannabinoids, Bath Salts, etc., the agencies with vested political and budgetary interests have focused on each drug in turn and its terrible consequences. They have never sought to understand those who use these drugs and why, or how to best meet their needs for accurate information and the services to protect themselves. The laws they enacted were never designed to protect the health and safety of drug users, but instead to "crack down" on them. The bean counters never analyzed the economics of the criminal drug trade to understand how to control those markets but always adopted policies that made dangerous drugs more profitable to the criminals who sold them. These have been the emotional and political responses of "the vested interests" the Commission foresaw as doomed to fail. The Commission noted the high cost of crimes committed, criminal justice costs from heroin, and an even greater cost from alcoholism. But they never contemplated how enormous the cost might be if the nation failed to follow its recommendations. The expenditures for punishment and imprisonment have staggered state budgets around the nation. No one foresaw how profound the impact of seven million drug felony convictions would be upon the workforce, family stability and structure, and the national and local economies. When millions of men can't work because of their drug conviction their families break up, and society breaks down. And the impact on our consumer driven economy of this lost productivity and earning capacity is almost incalculable. Whether you invest in Wal-Mart, Amazon.com or General Motors, you can be sure your stocks are less profitable than they could be because customers whose earnings are slashed after their drug conviction can't 37/160

buy what their families need, from shoes to cars to groceries. The impact on the development and opportunities of their children will depress profits ten and twenty years from now, and further weaken our economy. Given forty years of escalation of the war on drugs in the U.S. and around the world, the global consensus that the policy is a deadly and costly failure, and that policies that hurt our fragile economies must be fixed, we need a new Shafer Commission to develop and recommend a drug policy that saves lives, rebuilds families and society, and will strengthen the whole economy, not just the criminal justice system and its contractors.xi The Secret Nixon Tapes against Marijuana Once-Secret "Nixon Tapes" Show Why the U.S. Outlawed Pot Lumping marijuana, homosexuality, Jews and Commies into one grand conspiracy, a paranoid Richard Nixon launched America's "war on pot" in 1972. Here are the tapes to prove it. March 20, 2002: Thirty years ago today the United States came to a critical juncture in the Drug War. A Nixon-appointed presidential commission had recommended that marijuana use not be a criminal offense under state or federal law. But Nixon himself, based on his zealous personal preferences, overruled the commission's research and doomed marijuana to its current illegal status (Alcohol was Nixon's drug of choice - a lot) This newly revealed information comes from declassified tapes of Oval Office conversations from 1971 and 1972, which show Nixon's aggressive anti-drug stance putting him directly at odds against many of his close advisors. Transcripts of the tape, and a report based on them, are available at www.csdp.org The American Congress, when it passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, temporarily labeled marijuana a "Schedule I substance" - a flatly illegal drug with no approved medical purposes. But Congress acknowledged that it did not know enough about marijuana to permanently relegate it to Schedule I, and so they created a Presidential Commission to review the research and recommend a long-term strategy. President Nixon got to appoint the bulk of the commissioners. Not surprisingly, he loaded it with drug warriors. Nixon appointed Raymond Shafer, former Republican Governor of Pennsylvania, as Chairman. As a former prosecutor, Shafer had a "law and order," drug-warrior reputation, just the man for the job. Nixon also appointed nine Commissioners, including the Dean of a Law School, the Head of a Mental Health Hospital and a retired Chicago Police Captain, ironically all steadfast anti-marijuana people. Along with the Nixon appointees, two Senators and two Congressmen from each party served on the Commission. The Shafer Commission - officially known as the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse took its job very seriously. They launched fifty research projects, polled the public and members of the criminal justice community, and took thousands of pages of testimony. Their work is still the most comprehensive review of marijuana ever conducted by the American Federal Government. After reviewing all the evidence, the Nixon-appointed drug-warriors were forced to come to a different conclusion than they had at first expected. Rather than harshly condemning marijuana, they started talking about legalization. When Nixon heard such talk, he was enraged and went ballistic. He quickly denounced the Commission - several months before it issued its report. As a result of Nixon's private outrage and public rebuke, Shafer met with the President. The Commission was upset, and the purpose of the meeting was to reassure them. But Nixon didn't budge. Instead, he warned Shafer to get control of his commission and avoid looking like a "bunch of do-gooders" who are "soft on marijuana." He warned Shafer that the Commission would "look 38/160

bad as hell" if it came out with recommendations different from the direction of Congress and the President. During their meeting, Shafer reassured the President that he would not support "legalization," even though there were some on the Commission who did. He told Nixon they were looking for a unanimous recommendation. Nixon warned Shafer that he "had very strong negative feelings" on marijuana. Nixon and Shafer also discussed Shafer's potential appointment to a Federal Judgeship. But in the end, the Shafer Commission issued a report that tried to correct the "extensive degree of misinformation," to "de-mythologize" and "de-symbolize" marijuana. They reported finding that marijuana did not cause crime or aggression, lead to harder drug use or create significant biochemical, mental or physical abnormalities. They concluded: "Marijuana's relative potential for harm to the vast majority of individual users and its actual impact on society does not justify a social policy designed to seek out and firmly punish those who use it." The most important recommendation of the Commission was the decriminalization of possession or non-profit transfer of marijuana. Decriminalization meant there would be no punishment, criminal or civil, under state or federal law. The recommendation was ignored. Nixon reacted strongly to the report. In a recorded conversation on March 21, 1972 (the day before the Commission released its report), Nixon said, "We need, and I use the word 'all out war,' on all fronts. We have to attack on all fronts." Nixon and his advisors went on to plan a speech about why he opposed marijuana legalization, and proposed that he do "a drug thing every week" during the 1972 presidential election year. Nixon wanted a "god-damned strong statement about marijuana that just tears the ass out of them." Needless to say, Shafer was never appointed to the federal court. Nixon's private comments about marijuana showed he was the epitome of misinformation and prejudice. He believed marijuana led to hard drugs, despite the evidence to the contrary. He saw marijuana as tied to "radical demonstrators." He believed that "the Jews," especially "Jewish psychiatrists" were behind advocacy for legalization, asking advisor Robert (Bob) Haldeman, "What the Christ is the matter with the Jews, Bob?" Nixon made a bizarre distinction between marijuana and alcohol, saying people use marijuana "to get high," while "a person drinks to have fun." Richard Nixon also saw marijuana as part of the culture war that was destroying the United States, and claimed that Communists were using it as a weapon. "Homosexuality, dope, immorality in general," Nixon fumed.. "These are the enemies of strong societies. That's why the Communists and the left-wingers are pushing the stuff; they're trying to destroy us." His approach on drug education was just as simplistic: "Enforce the law. You've got to scare them." Unfortunately, Nixon did more than just "scare them," whoever they were. His marijuana war rhetoric led to a dramatic increase in arrests. One year after his "all out war" comments, marijuana arrests jumped to 420,700 a year - a full 128,000 more than the year before. Since then, nearly 15 million people have been arrested for marijuana offenses in the United States. Since 1972, the United States has taken the path of Nixon's prejudice and ignored the experts. We now have the largest prison population in world history, and drug problems are no closer to being solved - in fact it's worse than ever. There's a veritable plethora of evidence indicating that drug-related problems are worse than ever. It did not have to be this way. At the same time that the Shafer Commission issued its report, the Bain Commission in Holland issued a report that made similar findings and recommendations. In 39/160

Holland, they followed the advice of their experts. Thirty years later Holland has half the per-capita marijuana use as the U.S., far fewer drug-related problems and spends much less on drug enforcement. With statistics like that, it's no wonder that most of Europe is going Dutch. Just last week a British Commission issued a Shafer-like report, indicating that the U.K. is moving in the Dutch direction. It is not too late for the U.S. to move to a more sensible path. We are approaching three quarters of a million marijuana arrests annually. Every year that the U.S. fails to adopt a marijuana policy based on research, science and facts we destroy millions of lives, and tear apart millions of families. Where will we be in another thirty years if we don't change course and make peace in the marijuana war? Now that we know succinctly that the war on marijuana is rotten - and after we've lived through the decades of damage and failure it has produced we should face the facts. The thirty year old (now 43 years and counting -editor) recommendations of the Shafer Commission are a good place to start.xii Not all U.S. Presidents are zealously opposed to marijuana. Jimmy Carter did more than farm peanuts, frame houses and look after his beer-swilling, foul-mouthed brother Billy (who allegedly smoked a fat joint on the roof of the White House during his brother's Presidency). In the eighties, Jimmy Carter took the time to throw in his two cents on the controversial marijuana subject: "Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marijuana in private for personal use. Therefore, I support legislation amending Federal law to eliminate all Federal criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce (28 grams) of marijuana. President Jimmy Carter Jimmy has wavered back and forth a little bit on the demonized herb. In March, 2013 he said, "There should be no advertising for marijuana in any circumstances and no driving under the influence. We need to avoid the use of marijuana, particularly among young people." One thing is clear: Jimmy Carter has long favored the decriminalization of marijuana. That level headedness alone makes up for his blunders during the 1979 Iranian Crisis ; prior to getting the boot in 1979, he called for the herb's decriminalization. His office echoed that position in a statement to POLITICO in December, 2014.

The Jazz Era (The Roaring 1920's) and Marijuana Around the turn of the century, New Orleans became the Marseilles of America, a cosmopolitan port filled with sailors, traders, gamblers, prostitutes, thieves, con- men and gangsters of every nationality. Although every major city in America had its own red-light district, New Orleans's Story Ville was the best known of all the nation's bawdy houses, for not only were the customers entertained by exotic ladies of the night, they were also treated to the strains of a new kind of music called jazz, played exclusively in these whorehouses by black musicians. It was in these Bordellos, where music provided the background and not the primary focus of attention, that marihuana (as it was spelled in those days) became an integral part of the jazz era. Unlike booze, which dulled and incapacitated, marihuana enabled musicians whose job required them to play long into the night to forget their exhaustion. Moreover, the drug seemed to make their

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music sound more imaginative and unique, at least to those who played and listened to it while under its sensorial influence. Jazz musicians in New Orleans's whorehouses were not the only ones smoking marihuana. "Moota," as the drug was known in the city, was popular throughout the red-light district, and eventually its association with this part of town came to the attention of the city's moral crusaders who began to warn of its dangers to the community as a whole. The alarm was first sounded in 1920 by Dr. Oscar Dowling, President of the Louisiana State Board of Health, after learning of the conviction of a musician who had been caught forging a doctor's signature on a prescription to obtain some marihuana. Marihuana, he warned Louisiana's governor John M. Parker, "is a powerful narcotic, causing exhilaration, intoxication, delirious hallucinations, and its subsequent action, drowsiness and stupor.." Dr. Dowling urged that something be done about the threat to the city. At the same time, he dashed off a plea to the Surgeon General of the United States asking that action be taken to control traffic in marijuana on a national level. The surgeon general, Dr. Hugh Cummings, replied that he fully agreed with Dowling's assessment of the dangers associated with marihuana, but no further action was taken. Prohibition Commissioner John F. Kramer likewise took no action after receiving a letter from Governor Parker late in November, 1920 informing him that, "two people had been killed a few days ago by the smoking of this drug, which seems to make them go crazy and wild." While sympathetic, federal authorities were far too busy enforcing the ban on Morphine to think about widening the sphere of proscribed drugs they would have to deal with. A Revelation: It was not long before the newspapers began to realize that the marihuana issue could boost circulation, and in 1926 the "New Orleans Morning Tribune" ran a series of articles ballyhooing the growing menace of the drug. Mostly sensationalistic in tone, the headlines blared revelations to the effect that "SCHOOL CHILDREN FOUND IN GRIP OF MARIJUANA HABIT BY INVESTIGATORS," "WORKMEN OF CITY LURED BY MUGGLES," "WELFARE WORKERS ARE POWERLESS TO COPE WITH SINISTER TRAFFIC." One article claimed that schoolchildren were buying marihuana from "unscrupulous peddlers who openly sell the drugs to boys of tender age who appear on streets under its influence." An interview with sixty children, all under age fifteen, revealed that all of them knew what marihuana was, where it could be published, and that all had used it. The reporter failed to mention that the children were Mexican or Black, and that marihuana was something not very new or out of the ordinary to them. When the marihuana peddlers were reported to be working out of saloons and pool halls, large-scale raids were carried out. Most of the 150 people caught in the roundup were from the poorer, lower classes, and the underworld. Satisfied that at last something was being done, Dowling repeated his "warning to parents, guardians and teachers of children against this horrific menace." Always on the lookout for moral decay in America, the Women's Christian Temperance Union began attacking "soft drink" stands and corner drug stores which have taken the place of the saloon as a social meeting place. Here is where marihuana and liquors can sometimes be bought.

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The alleged marihuana menace in New Orleans was subsequently forgotten for about five years. Then, as happened in the southwest, an antimarihuana campaign followed in the footsteps of the Depression. To carry on where his colleague Dr. Dowling had left off was a hellfire-and-brimstone physician, Dr. A. E. Fossier, who resurrected all the old myths including that of the Assassins, to ensure that his message would not be lost on his listeners: "During the time of the Crusades, the Assassins resorted to every kind of violence. Their utter disregard for death and the ruthlessness of their atrocities presented a formidable obstacle to the arms of the Christians, because under the influence of hashish those fanatics would madly rush at their enemies, and ruthlessly massacre everyone within their grasp." Having set the proper mood, Fossier then lashed out at the contemporary problem as he saw it: "The underworld was quick to realize that marihuana was an ideal drug to quickly cut out the inhibition, especially in the light of inadequate personality. Under the influence of cannabis Indica, these human derelicts are quickly subjugated by the will of the master mind. The moral principles or training initiated in the mind from infancy deter one from committing willful theft, murder or rape, but his inhibition from crime may be destroyed by the addiction to marihuana. Dr. F. F. Young, who was in the audience when Fossier delivered his views on cannabis, urged a note of caution regarding marihuana's link with crime. All the marihuana users he had seen, he said, "were defective in the brain and nervous structure BEFORE they began smoking this weed. These marijuana smokers were inveterate criminals before they become addicted to the weed." In any case, law officers dismissed opinions such as Young's without a second thought. Eugene Stanley, District Attorney for New Orleans, for example, relied heavily on Fossier's description of the dangers of marihuana in an article he wrote for the "American Journal of Police Science" in 1931: "It has been the experience of Police and Prosecuting Officials in the South, that immediately before the commission of many crimes the use of marihuana cigarettes has been indulged in by criminals, so as to relieve themselves from the natural restraint which might deter them from the commission of criminal acts, and to give them the fake courage necessary to commit the contemplated crimes." Stanley then called upon the Federal government to help eradicate the menace: "In as much as the harmful effects of the use of marihuana are daily becoming more widely known, and since it has been classified as a dangerous narcotic by the statutory laws of seventeen American States..the United States Government, will unquestionably be compelled to adopt a consistent attitude towards it, and include it in the Harrison Anti-Narcotic Law, so as to give Federal aid to the States in their effort to suppress a traffic as deadly and as destructive to society as that in the other forms of narcotics now prohibited by this act." Dr. Frank Gomila (New Orleans's Public Safety Commissioner) felt that the main difficulty in eliminating the marihuana vice in the city was that the drug's effects were too well known, "especially among the Negro population. Practically every Negro in the city can give a recognizable description of the drug's effects." According to Gomila, tons of marihuana were processed and sold in warehouses and storerooms throughout the city. To what extent the New Orleans campaign against marihuana was racially motivated is difficult to judge. From Gomila's remarks, it is clear that he, at least, was motivated by racial prejudice. Fossier, perhaps the most influential of the anti-marihuana demagogues, also revealed his inherent bias stating : "The debasing and baneful influence of hashish and opium is not restricted to individuals but has manifested itself in nations and races as well. The dominant race and most enlightened countries are 42/160

alcoholic, whilst the races and nations addicted to hemp and opium, some of which once attained to heights of culture and civilization, have deteriorated both mentally and physically." Dr. Fossier Which "races" Fossier had in mind he never stated, the Chinese perhaps? He could not have meant the Mexicans since by 1930 there were only 991 Mexicans in all of New Orleans, a mere two-tenths of 1 per cent of all the people in the city. Although Gomila indicted the blacks, 25 percent of the Negro population across the state had moved north by this time. Moreover, arrest figures for the city argued against his racial theory of drug-inspired deterioration. In 1928, for instance, 75 percent of all those arrested for violation of Louisiana's 1924 law against sale or possession of marihuana were American-born whites. Nevertheless, Negros had the worst criminal records in the city partly due to racism, and Fossier was probably of the same mind as Gomila in his indictment of "races addicted to hemp." Interestingly, Fossier, Stanley, and Gomila each enjoyed greater credibility in other parts of the country than in his own state or city. In 1933, Stanley's article was cited in "Utah vs. Navaro," as proof that marihuana provoked crime and insanity, and in 1937 it was again cited during the congressional hearings on federal prohibition of marihuana, along with Fossier's article. In New Orleans itself, and throughout Louisiana, the populace could not have cared less. Blacks were no economic threat, most whites had no idea what all the fuss was about.

New York The next major American city in which marihuana was allegedly epidemic was New York. While Mexican immigrants had been pouring into the south and mid-west, New York's Harlem was the scene of a vast influx of Negroes from the West Indies and the southern United States. By 1930, New York's black population numbered over 300,000. More blacks lived in New York than in Birmingham, Memphis, and St. Louis combined. Some of these newcomers eventually became prominent Business and Civic leaders in the community; most found opportunities as limited as they had been back home. Unable to better their condition, they sought ways of making the intolerable tolerable. Some resorted to music with its "charms to soothe the savage beast." Others resorted to drugs such as heroin and especially marihuana, a drug that was no stranger to the West Indian. On July 30,1914, the New Yor Times had commented that "devotees of hashish are now hardly numerous enough here to count." By January 11,1923, it proclaimed that marihuana had become the city's "latest habit forming drug". Even Scientific American noted an increase in the use of marijuana in the city. By 1932, the Bureau of Narcotics also felt that it was widespread enough in the city to warrant at least passing mention in its annual report on "Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs for the Year Ended December 1931": "The abuse of the drug is noted among the Latin-American or Spanishspeaking population. The sale of cannabis cigarettes occurs to a considerable degree in States along the Mexican border and in cities of the Southwest and West, as well as in New York, and, in fact, wherever there are settlements of Latin Americans." Most of the marihuana users in the city lived around 110th Street and Fifth Avenue, with some spillover into the Broadway area above 42nd Street. Hundreds of marihuana dens were said to be flourishing in Harlem. Some estimated that there were more "tea pads" than there had been liquor speakeasies at the height of Prohibition. Most of the cannabis drug in Harlem was distributed either through independent peddlers or in the "tea pads." By the 1940s, three different grades were available. The cheapest, known as "sass-fras" was made from American-grown plants and was rather weak in THC content. Connoisseurs would 43/160

resort to it only if nothing else were available - since a lot of it had to be smoked before a good "high" could be reached. The second, and more potent variety, was called "mezzrole" or "messrole". Moderately priced, it was the favorite variety of Harlem's marihuana users. Its country of origin was usually somewhere in Central or South America, and it was sold by the "Baron Munchausen of Jazz", Milton "Mezz" Mezzrow. Mezzrow was a white musician who called himself a "voluntary Negro". He moved to New York from Chicago in 1929 and soon began selling marihuana on the streets of Harlem. "Overnight I was the most popular man in Harlem," he says in his autobiography," Really Blues.” Milton Mezzrow, in fact, became a fixture in Harlem known as the "White Mayor of Harlem", the "Link Between the Races", and the "Man that Hipped the World". A new word for marihuana was coined after his name -"mezz." A "mezzrole" was a fat, well-packed marihuana cigarette. Eventually, "mezz" transcended its literal meaning and came to mean anything genuine or superior in "Harlem lingo." The third and most potent grade of marihuana came from Africa. Called "gungeon," it was the most expensive variety of the three and only those whose incomes were above average could afford the luxury of smoking such a high grade of drug. The "tea pads" were rooms or apartments located throughout Harlem. These were the speakeasies or social clubs of the marihuana aficionado, places where one could relax and talk with strangers or friends, over a "reefer," sanctuaries wherein one could escape the realities of the outside world for a moment. The ambience was always one of peace and tranquility. Any sign of belligerence was squelched immediately; the patron either relaxed or he was forcibly ejected. Each "tea pad" was furnished in line with the clientele it served. Usually there was a radio, a record player or a jukebox to entertain the customers. The furniture was comfortable and soft, the lighting dim. Burning incense mingled and flirted with marihuana smoke. The walls were typically covered with lewd pictures, but rarely was sex offered on the premises. For those who preferred to buy their marihuana from independent peddlers on the street, the favorite places to smoke the drug were dance halls, where both musicians and those who listened to their music lit up. In the 1930s, "reefer" songs were the rage of the jazz world. Distinctive and characteristic, it was music written and played by black musicians for black audiences. The music had a special feeling. It was a tangible medium through which minority experiences could be shared by large numbers of people dispersed throughout the country. It gave musicians and their audiences a sense of solidarity. Among the tunes that topped the black hit list of the era were Louis Armstrong's "Muggles," Cab Calloway's "That Funny Reefer Man, "Fats Waller's "Viper's Drag" and many more by lesser known artists, like "Viper's Moan," "Texas Tea Party," "Smokin' Reefers," "Mary Jane" and the "Mary Jane Polka," recorded by studios like Columbia, Victor and Brunswick. Even Benny Goodman got into the act with "Sweet Marihuana Brown." In 1932, a musical number "Smokin' Reefers" opened in a review on Broadway starring "Mr. Belvedere," Clifton Webb. Lyrics from the song called marihuana "the stuff that dreams are made of," a line later used by Humphrey Bogart in reference to the Maltese Falcon. Another line from the show acknowledged marihuana as "the thing that white folks are afraid of." It was not an idle statement. White folks were becoming concerned over what marihuana might do to blacks. To emphasize the menace to white society, American Mercury carried an article by A. Parry entitled "The Menace of Marihuana," in which the author cited an incident calculated to 44/160

arouse white readers. As described by Parry, a Negro man was arrested and brought to a New York hospital after threatening two white women in the street. His actions were attributed to a marihuanainduced dream in which he saw "a bunch of naked women, some of 'em in bed, black an' white together, like they was expectin' men." The relationship between marihuana and jazz reached across the Atlantic to England, where it began to alarm the white music establishment. On February 22,1936, the English music periodical "Melody Maker" carried a full-page expose on the use of marihuana by British musicians. In an ominous tone, the article reported that: "The time has come for light to be thrown on an astonishing situation which is likely to become a serious menace to the jazz world on two continents. This concerns the "reefer" or dope habit, which is spreading rapidly amongst musicians, and has been going on in comparative secrecy for a number of years." The magazine traced the spread of the marihuana habit from Mexico to New Orleans and from there to Chicago, quoting as its source a Clarinetist who, it said, "is now in an insane asylum in Louisiana." According to the Melody Maker, the marihuana traffic in New York was run by "a celebrated hot Clarinetist," who "has sent supplies to colored musicians touring Europe." Later that year, when the senior surgeon of the U.S. Public Health Department visited the Bureau of Narcotics to obtain information about the dangers of marihuana, Commissioner Harry Anslinger produced this issue of the Melody Maker from the Bureau's files - to prove that the dangers of this drug had not been exaggerated. Although marihuana had found a home in Harlem, the rest of New York's Boroughs were relatively free of the drug. The police, in fact, had had such little contact with it that they had to be given special classes and training - to enable them to recognize it if they came across it growing in vacant lots. After these classes New York's finest discovered an estimated three million dollars worth of the drug in Brooklyn and set it ablaze. Commissioner Valentine, who supervised the conflagration, stated that "this is an extremely dangerous weed, for it causes temporary insanity. It is a great menace to our young people and we'll do everything in our power to stamp it out." Elsewhere throughout the country, various newspapers and magazines also began heralding the spread of marihuana to other cities. Gary, Indiana, Kansas City, Kansas, and Chicago were all allegedly infested by the weed. Sensationalistic news items became the order of the day. Typical was the following from the October 24, 1926, issue of the Chicago Herald-Examiner: A Kansas hashish eater thinks he is a white elephant. Six months ago they found him strolling along the road, a few miles out of Topeka. He was naked, his clothes strewn along the highway for a mile. He was not violently insane, but crazy - said he was an elephant and acted as much like one as his limited physique would let him. Marihuana did it. In 1925, shortly after Mexico (the country from which most of the marihuana that entered the United States originated) officially outlawed the cultivation of marihuana, the correspondent for the Associated Press who covered the story reported that "scientists say its effects are perhaps more terrible than those of any other drug."

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The Assassins of America "It really puzzles me to see marijuana connected with narcotics, dope and all that crap. It's a thousand times better than whiskey - it's an assistant, a friend." Louis Armstrong For more than a century after its publication, Joseph von Hammer-Pugstall's book on the Assassins remained the standard reference on the murderous gang of cutthroats who allegedly used hashish before going out on their errands of mayhem. During the early twentieth century, anyone calling for the prohibition of marihuana merely had to cite the connection between hashish and the Assassins to get across the point that marihuana - the American counterpart of hashish - was capable of inciting uncontrollable violence in users. One of the earliest American writers to arouse the public concerning the perils of marihuana was a physician, Dr. Victor Robinson. Robinson's sensationalistic account of the Assassins, published in the 1912 Medical Review of Reviews, set the tone for all subsequent treatments of the subject in the American press: When a Devoted One was selected to commit murder, he was first stupefied with hashish, and while in this state was brought into the magnificent gardens of the sheikh. All the sensual and stimulating female pleasures of the erotic Orient surrounded the excited youth, and exalted by the delicious opiate he had taken, the hot-blooded fanatic felt that the gates of heaven were already ajar; in fact he heard them swing open on their golden hinges. When the effect of the drug disappeared and the Devoted One was reduced to his normal condition, he was informed that through the generosity of his superior he had been permitted to foretaste the delights of Paradise. The Devoted One believed this readily enough - Disciples are always credulous - and therefore was eager to die or to kill at a word from his master. From these hashish-eaters, the Arabian name of which is "hashashin" - was derived the term "assassin." In this lurid account, Robinson is generally true to Marco Polo's original story. The Assassins do not kill while under the influence of hashish but only after they have savored the delights of Paradise as revealed to them by the drug. The murders they commit are not the acts of frenzied psychotic butchers, but the cool, calculating, premeditated deeds of a loyal and devoted gang of trained killers. Fifteen years later, Robert Kingman further developed the theme of the hashish-crazed killer for readers of the Medical Journal and Record. Although not suggesting that the Assassins killed while under the influence of hashish, Kingman wrote that the drug was given to assuage any doubts the killer might have concerning the morality of his mission. By the 1930s, however, hashish itself had become the instigator of the Assassins' murders: Dr. A. E. Fossier, New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal (1931): "Under the influence of hashish those fanatics would madly rush at their enemies, and ruthlessly massacre everyone within their bloody grasp." William Wolf, Popular Science magazine (1936): "Assassin" has two explanations, but neither demonstrates the menace of Indian hemp. According to one version, members of a band of Persian terrorists committed their worst atrocities while under the influence of hashish. In the other version, Saracens, who opposed the Crusaders were said to employ the services of hashish addicts to secure secret murders of the leaders of the Crusades. In both versions, the murderers were known as "haschischin." 46/160

In 1937, readers of "American Magazine" were aroused by yet another hysteria-rousing version, this time written by the Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Harry Anslinger: In the year 1090, there was founded in Persia the religious and military order of the Assassins, whose history is one of cruelty, barbarity, and murder, and for good reason. The members were confirmed users of hashish, or marihuana, and it is from the Arabs, "hashashin" that we have the English word "assassin." The more often the story of the Assassins was told, the more ludicrous it became. The image of the demented, marijuana or hashish-induced, knife-wielding, half-crazed user running senseless through the streets, slashing at anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path became part of the American nightmare of lawlessness. As a nation raised on violence, Americans soaked up these tales of mayhem like a sponge. Mutation, dismemberment, uncontrollable passion, fanaticism - in short, anything that evoked ultimate terror came to be associated with hashish through the embellishment of the Assassin story. Although frequently denounced in the Western world as an inciter of violence, there is, however, virtually no mention of disorderly conduct on the part of hashish users in any Arab writings for the past thousand years. How ironic! Modern scholars have concluded that the identification of hashish as the mysterious potion referred to by Marco Polo cannot be proven. Nor is there any historical basis between the connection between hashish and the murderous activities of the Assassins. The Assassins may have indeed used hashish, but probably not before they took anyone's life. To do so could have compromised their mission. Nevertheless, hashish, murder, and treachery became inextricably interwoven in cannabis folklore. For example, even as late as 1962, although he clearly acknowledged that "we do not know of any objective study showing a direct or causative relationship between marihuana and violent crime in a significant number of cases," Victor Vogel, Chief Medical Officer of the Narcotics Treatment Center in Lexington, Kentucky, still offered the etymological premise that the words "assassin" and "hashish" are connected to argue in favor of such a relationship. Vogel stated: "Any remarks concerning the relationship of marihuana to crime should be prefaced with the note that marihuana is a form of hashish, a most dangerous drug in its unadulterated form. We get the word assassin from the Italian "assassina, which in turn is derived from the Arabic "Hashshashin,” meaning one who uses hashish; this etymology reflects rather accurately the cultural pedigree of the drug, which has been known for centuries to release impulses toward violence.

Marihuana and the Law Between 1926 and 1936, eight major cases came before State Courts in which marihuana was an issue. The decisions rendered in these cases are noteworthy for the fact that typically the judgments relied on mythology and opinion - rather than on any scientific evidence of the dangers of marihuana. So what's new? In 1931, for example, a Louisiana court quoted the story of the Assassins to support its finding that marihuana posed a threat to the community ( vs. Bonoa). In a 1933 decision in the Utah courts ( State vs. Navarro), an article by a Wichita detective was cited as evidence for the "criminogenic" properties of the drug. Their findings included: "Assuming marihuana causes crime and insanity, and assuming popular opinion crystallized on the question - it would have favored further suppression of a drug with such evil effects." 47/160

What these decisions also show was that the lurid sensationalistic copy of the day was read by the nation's lawmakers and the courts, and that these carried a certain amount of weight insofar as general policy toward marijuana was concerned.

Seducing the Young By far the most emotional issue surrounding marihuana was the contention that schoolchildren were being seduced into using it by drug pushers who, more often than not, were identified as foreigners, Mexicans, or Blacks. Nowhere was the seduction issue ballyhooed more loudly than in New Orleans, where the I and the Morning Tribune ran a series of sensationalistic articles describing marihuana's infiltration into the city's schools. According to Dr. Frank Gomilla, Commissioner of Public Safety for the city, the marihuana wholesalers in New Orleans were "made up mostly of Mexicans, Italians, SpanishAmericans and drifters from ships." The inference was obviously that American children were being seduced by foreigners. Other newspapers were soon running similar stories. The September 10, 1929, issue of the Tulsa Tribune described the arrest of a Mexican "hot-tamale salesman" who, the paper claimed, had been selling marihuana to girls and boys in school. Two years later, a Tulsa attorney got so caught up in the marihuana scare that, in his opinion, "the general use of this drug among young people is making it imperative that the state or the government of the United States take immediate steps to cope with this deadly drug, the dope which is used by murderers." As early as 1928, the Kansas Star had begun publishing reports of boys and girls using marihuana. By 1933, Detective L. E. Bowery of the Wichita Police Department claimed that: "No denial can be made of the fact that marihuana smoking is at present a common practice among the young people of the city, and that it is constantly becoming more prevalent. Due to its relatively recent introduction into this territory, habitual smoking is at present almost exclusively confined to young people among the white population. It is interesting to note that the habit has recently spread among the Negroes, and that they are known to be trafficking in it." In Gary, Indiana, 25 percent of the Mexican population were said to be smoking marihuana, and of these, many were said to be earning their livings by peddling the drug. On June 22,1929, the Chicago Examiner reported on the anti-marihuana crusade of the local United States attorney, who had moved against storehouses in the city from which marihuana was being "sold to school pupils and other youthful thrill-seekers." Of the nine men arrested, "most of them were Mexicans." The Chicago Tribune also took up the issue. The marihuana habit, it said on June 3,1927, had been introduced into the city by Mexicans and "has become widespread among American youths, even among school children." In September 1934, a New York Times correspondent described the widespread use of marihuana in Colorado and quoted "some authorities" to the effect that "it is being peddled to school children." In 1935, the New York Times quoted a Sacramento crusader who claimed that "Mexican peddlers have been caught distributing sample marihuana cigarettes to school children." In 1936, in an article on marihuana ominously prefaced: "Public Health Enemy Number 1," author C. M. Weber reviewed the alleged dangers of the drug to Americans and repeated previous news reports that about two hundred New Orleans school children were "demanding their reefers." 48/160

In Detroit, an "American woman" was said to be peddling marihuana for local Mexicans. "She gives the reefers to her own children to sell to their schoolmates." "A few years ago," declared an anonymous writer, "the startling discovery was made in St. Louis that scores of youngsters of high school age had been victims of the weed." Quoting an unnamed marihuana peddler, the writer added, "the worst thing about that loco weed is the way these kids get. Most of them, boys and girls, are just punks - and when they get high on the stuff you can write your own ticket." The writer added that one of the effects of marihuana is that it unleashes uncontrollable passions in the young, backing this up with what to him was a horrible turn of events. "A boy and a girl who had lost their senses so completely after smoking marihuana," he said, actually "eloped and were married." Feeling that the elopement may not have been shocking enough, the writer dropped his final bombshell: "While it cannot be proved, the increasing number of suicides by jumping from tall buildings may have in fact resulted from the use of cannabis. Once started, a marihuana addict may be led to commit all of the previously mentioned crimes and the end may be the gallows, as has been so often the case in recent years." In Richmond, Virginia, readers of the Times-Dispatch were told that "school children were being induced to become addicts of marihuana cigarettes and that the weed was being cultivated in and near the city on a wide scale. A youth who said he was a former addict of the drug testified before the Council that inhalation of one of the marihuana cigarettes would produce a "cheap drunk of several days duration." In "Here's to Crime," author Courtney R. Cooper, who collaborated with Anslinger on at least one antimarihuana article, charged that: "There is only one end for the confirmed marihuana smoker, and that is insanity. Therefore, it might be of interest to know that one of the main selling places of marihuana in the United States is in the vicinity of high schools. The use of marihuana has spread within the last few years so rapidly as to constitute a menace which should receive the attention of every thinking parent in America." After describing the dangers of marihuana, Cooper next indicted every apartment building owner in the United States: "Apartments are run by ghoul-minded women; in such apartments high school students gather on the promise that reefersmoking will put music in their souls and a release from all moral restrain; nothing is said about eventual insanity." Cooper then introduced the sexual promiscuity theme: "Then suddenly a girl wanted to dance. Immediately everyone wanted to dance. The movements were sensuous in nature. After a time, girls began to pull off their clothes. Men weaved naked over them; soon the entire room was one of the wildest sexuality. Ordinary intercourse and several forms of perversion were going on at once, girl to girl, man to man, woman to woman. This is one of the great reasons why girls who are little more than children are now being placed in whorehouses by members of prostitution syndicates, why young boys of otherwise straight habits suddenly join up with dangerous gangs, why there are constantly more murders committed by youth." It was gutsy but ironic stuff. Although the zealous Cooper meant to scare readers away from marihuana, Cooper's prose probably pricked the curious to try the drug for themselves more than it frightened anyone.

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An article by Dr. Arthur La Roe, president of the American Narcotic Defense Association, in the American Weekly (1940), is deserving of recognition as possibly the most ludicrous of the marihuana seduction literature. The article, entitled "Growth of the Marihuana Habit Among Our Youth," shows a posed photograph of a "slick," as Dr. La Roe calls him, loitering outside a school waiting for the students to leave. This "slick" is described as "dapper" and "suave," and is shown wearing a sport jacket and tie. He is, however, only a decoy for the seedy marihuana pusher. It's the "slick's" job to lure students to the pusher -who is waiting at a nearby table for his naive prey. Once seated at the table, the "slick" and the pusher then smoke the reefers; inhalation of the smoke in the room pre-conditions the guests, so that moral resistance is lowered. Another popular example of the unsuspecting youth and diabolical pusher motifs appeared in On Trail of Marihuana, the Weed of Madness, a short, hysterical anti-marihuana polemic written by Earle Albert Rowell and his son Robert. According to this father and son duo, "one of the methods used in making marihuana users is for the peddler, with an unlighted marihuana cigarette in his hand, to step up to a high-school boy or girl who is smoking a tobacco cigarette and say, 'Give me a light, I haven't a match.'" Having caught the unsuspecting student's attention, the pusher then makes his pitch. Forthwith the peddler extends a hand filled with marihuana, and says persuasively, "Here, try one of my special cigarettes. They are new special kind - got a real kick in 'em too. You'll like 'em; take two or three." In all fairness to the Rowell's, they were not racially motivated when they spoke out against marihuana. Rowell senior was an active campaigner against all vices. He had started out as northwestern organizer and lecturer for the White Cross and National Anti-Narcotics Society. Later he took up the post of state organizer and lecturer for the California branch of the White Cross. While vehemently an antinarcotics group, the White Cross differed from most other institutions, however, in that it supported local treatment of addicts in narcotic clinics rather than sending them to prison. The group was rather influential during the 1920's and 1930's, but it disappeared after World War II. It was while he worked for the White Cross that Rowell paraded up and down the southwest lecturing against marihuana. But although he claimed that he had been "on the trail of marihuana" since 1925, and had given more than 4,000 lectures in forty states, and had personally uprooted and burned many thriving marihuana fields. In an earlier book titled "Battling the Wolves of Society," published in 1929, Rowell included only one paragraph on marihuana and most of that was a quote from De Quincey's "Confessions of an Opium Eater." While Rowell may have gotten carried away on the extent of his evangelistic stomping throughout the southwest, he and those like him who crusaded against marihuana were no doubt responsible for the mounting pressure to place legal restrictions on the drug.

Marihuana as a Plot Device Newspapers and news magazines were not the only media to exploit and sensationalize the marihuana issue. Having exhausted the drug diaries and confessions of the hashish user genre that had been so Popular among the French, inventive novelists and pulp magazine writers saw that they could still use marihuana to sell their works - anything for money you see. In 1900, James Lane Allen's Reign of Law "dealt with the history of the Kentucky hemp fields, but the book had nothing to say about marihuana. The first of the modem marihuana horror stories 50/160

appeared in 1915, in what in retrospect is an amusing story entitled "The Poison Ship," published in Harper's Magazine. The author, Morgan Robertson, had heard that the hemp plant had narcotic-like effects when smoked, but he knew little else. To him, all hemp was Cannabis Sativa, and in the story people were "burning jute (New Zealand hemp), giving off the soporific fumes of hashish, which produces drowsiness, then wild dreams and waking ecstasy." In Robertson's imaginative story, a passenger ship carrying jute in its hold catches fire and the fumes overwhelm and intoxicate the passengers. First, they become excited and talkative, but soon they are thrown into a stupefying frenzy. The crew is likewise rendered senseless and unable to function. Most of those on board perish, but a few are rescued. A 1917 thriller by Carl Moore appeared in "Spicy-Adventure Stories, and is just as patently ridiculous. Set in London, it has a Scotland Yard detective surreptitiously getting a murder suspect to take some hashish. Overcome by the drug, the suspect loses consciousness, convulses, and subsequently reenacts the crime he has been arrested for (rape and murder). Convicted by the evidence, he is later hanged. Sax Rohmer, the well-known author of the "Fu Manchu"mysteries, also used hashish to heighten the excitement of Dope (1919), one of books in which the Chinese (but not Fu Manchu) are the villains. Although about opium and its effects, Rohmer intimates that hashish is far more evil. In a scene in which Mrs. Sin is entertaining Mollie, Mollie says she just read Hector France's "Musk Hashish, and "Blood" (published in 1900): "Hashish!" said Mrs. Sin, and laughed harshly. "One night you shall eat the hashish, and then.." "Oh really? Is that a promise?" asked Morne eagerly. "No, no," answered Mrs. Sin. "It's a threat!" Other writers also tried to add mystery to their characters by having them use hashish. Carl Van Vechten's "Peter Whiffle" (1925) was an avid experimenter with mind-expanding drugs, among which was hashish. Whiffle had been told that hashish causes uncontrollable laughter, but his reaction is only one of melancholy and despair. The experience so upsets him that his "nerves revolved under the strain," and he is forced to remain in bed for four days to recover. Thomas Burke's "Tai and "Pansy Greers”presents another sordid picture of hashish. Capitalizing on the anti-Chinese sentiment in Britain so well exploited by Sax Rohmer, Burke's Tai Fu is depicted as a repulsive Chinese denizen of London's underworld who has many vices, among them hashish. Algernon Blackwood's Psychic Invasion" gives hashish black magic veneer. In this story, hashish is a drug which, "has partially opened another world to you by increasing your rate of psychical vibration, and thus rendering you abnormally sensitive to the spirit world," the main character informs his client, who has come to him because he's become disturbed by strange things that go bump in the night. He has been sensitized to these poltergeists as a result of taking hashish. The "Dope Adventures of David Dare" marks the high or low point in this genre, take your pick. Written by Earle Albert Rowell, the novel is set in middle America amid a quintessential allAmerican-boy-next-door, apple-pie mom-and-motherhood setting. David Dare exposes the marihuana menace in his hometown and is rewarded by being made an honorary police officer. While the impact of these naive stories was less than minimal, they show that during the early decades of the nineteenth century familiarity with marihuana, even on the part of those who wrote about the drug was negligible - and the attitudes toward the drug were all negative. 51/160

The movies also capitalized on the marihuana-evil sentiment. In 1927,"Notch Number One" appeared on the silver screen starring Ben Wilson as a ranch foreman, intent on keeping his cowhands from falling victim to marihuana's heinous spell. As the audience watched the drama unfold, Wilson holds a marihuana cigarette out for a headstrong cow-puncher to inspect, cautioning the stubborn cowboy that he is holding., "a devilish narcotic in his hand, which if smoked, will send him to the bughouse, make him go loco, and will make him want to raise hell in general." The ranch-hand does not take the fatherly advice, however, and tries it out. Sure enough, he goes utterly berserk.

Janey Canuck Across the forty-ninth Parallel in the Dominion of Canada, marihuana was virtually unknown, although hemp was a fiber crop across the country until the days of the Depression. Up until 1908, in fact, there were no national restrictions against any drugs. But an economic crisis and antiChinese sentiment in the province of British Columbia on the west coast stirred racist fires. Stories of white women and children being lured into opium dens, rumors of huge profits in opium, and moral indignation over drug abuse in general, eventually caused Deputy Minister of Labor (who would later become Prime Minister) William Lyon Mackenzie King to recommend to the House of Commons suppression of opium traffic in Canada. There was little opposition to such a proposal, and in 1908 it became illegal in Canada to import, manufacture, sell, or possess for sale opiates for nonmedical use. As in the United States, however, possession for personal use was not outlawed, since Canadians were not as yet ready to make criminals out of drug users. In 1908, Canada also passed the Patent and Proprietary Medicine Act. Like the American Pure Food and Drug Law of 1906, the Canadian law required the labeling of certain ingredients in medicines. Although the presence of opiates had to be indicated, the amount of alcohol limited and cocaine banned outright, no restrictions were placed on cannabis. In 1909, Canada participated in the international conference on opium in Shanghai. As a result of his previous activities in the outlawing of opiate traffic in Canada, Mackenzie King was included in the Canadian Delegation. The fact that Canada did not support the American and Italian initiatives to include cannabis in the list of proscribed drugs being considered by the delegates likewise indicates how little importance Canada attached to marihuana during these early years. In 1911, Canada passed the Opium and Drug Act. The new law broadened the ban against opium by adding morphine, cocaine, and their derivatives to the list of proscribed drugs. Again, cannabis was not mentioned. In Canada, marihuana continued to be ignored in the 1910's, and would have remained so in the 1920's had it not been for a Canadian crusading feminist who wrote under the pen name of "Janey Canuck." Janey's real name was Mrs. Emily F. Murphy. She was a tough-minded woman who had the persistence and aggressiveness to overcome the barriers placed against women in her time. As a feminist she fought for the right for women to be tried in court by other women and before female judges, and for her efforts, in 1916 she was appointed the first female judge in the British Empire. In 1920, the Canadian government indicated that it was once again about to amend its drug laws, and Maclean's magazine asked Judge Murphy if she would be willing to write some pieces on the drug problem in Canada. Murphy was more than willing. Although sincerely interested in helping many of those who appeared before her, Murphy had no sympathy for drug sellers or users. Writing 52/160

under the name of "Janey Canuck," her indictment of these "dregs of humanity," as she called them, was pure racism. These people, she told her readers, were mostly non-white (Chinese and Negroes) and non-Christians, who, next to drugs, craved nothing better than the seduction of Canadian women. Behind these outcasts, she maintained, was an international conspiracy of yellow and black drug pushers whose ultimate goal was the domination of the "bright-browed races of the world." Among her recommendations for dealing with these drug fiends were long prison sentences, whippings, and deportations if the offenders were aliens. If anything, Janey was consistent. She was against all drugs associated with minorities, even marihuana, a drug that was totally unknown in Canada. Quoting American authorities, she said that marihuana drove its users completely insane: "The marihuana addict loses all sense of moral responsibility. Addicts to this drug, while under its influence, are immune to pain. While in this condition they become raving maniacs and are liable to kill or indulge in any form of violence to other persons, using the most savage methods of cruelty without, as said before, any sense of moral responsibility.- So sensational and popular were Janey's writings on the drug evil in Canada that they were eventually collected into a book, Black Candle (1922). More significantly, Janey singlehandedly succeeded in altering Canadian views of drugs and drug users. Hitherto, drug users had been merely been regarded as moral degenerates. After Janey's expose, they became public enemies, bent on the destruction of the White Race. And whereas Canadians had never heard of marihuana before Murphy, after reading about marihuana in Maclean's and The Black Candle, Canadian lawmakers were quick to add it to the list of regulated substances in the Opium and Narcotics Drug Act of 1929. According to a 1934 editorial in the "Canadian Medical Association Journal," the first indication that marihuana had entered the country occurred in 1931. By 1932, the drug had worked its way to Ottawa, Ontario, the nation's capital. In Windsor, across the border from Detroit, "it was learned that some thirty young people in that city were addicted to marihuana." These cigarettes, the editorial noted, "were peddled in dance halls," and were being brought in from across the border in Detroit. By 1933, the drug had spread to Montreal, and by 1934 it had even worked its way to Toronto, "the good city." In assessing marihuana's inroads into Canada, the editorial warned that: "The menace is a serious one, for the experience of all countries is that the hashish habit has a special appeal to the young, not, necessarily, that they crave for the drug, at least at first, but they use it with the desire to appear smart. Then comes the urge for more, and a dangerous habit is created." There were also reports on the international scene of marihuana's inroads into Canada. In 1933, the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs of the League of Nations noted in its annual report that "a smuggling trade in cigarettes containing Indian hemp (marijuana cigarettes) appears to have sprung up between the USA, where it grows as a wild plant freely, and Canada." Despite Janey Canuck's dire warnings and the marihuana "menace" uncovered by the Canadian Medical Association and League of Nations, there were only twenty-five convictions in Canada for marihuana possession between 1930 and 1946. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Canada's counterpart to the FBI) noted that, "Prior to 1962, isolated cases of cannabis use were encountered, but generally in connection with entertainers and visitors from the United States. Although marihuana arrests were effected sporadically in the middle 1940's, its use on a more frequent basis appeared in Montreal only in 1962, in Toronto in 1963 and in Vancouver in 1965."

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Although cannabis could no longer be legally grown in Canada without a permit after 1938, it was still dispensed in pharmacies as an over-the-counter medicinal until 1939 - and was used in prescriptions until 1954. In 1961, cannabis was included in the Narcotic Control Act and stringent penalties were applied for possession. In 1970, the law was amended and sentences were considerably softened. By 1972, revisions in the Canadian Criminal Code fixed the penalty for simple possession at a minimal fine.

The International Debate The United States was not the only country to become overly concerned with marihuana during the early decades of the twentieth century. The government of South Africa was also concerned lest drugs turn its black population into an unruly mob. "Dagga" was a popular intoxicant with natives throughout Africa, and the government of South Africa felt that it posed a tangible danger to the white minority. Accordingly, when the Advisory Committee of the League of Nations met in 1923, the South African Delegation urged that the League classify cannabis as a habit-forming narcotic, and recommended that international traffic in the drug be brought under the control of The Hague Convention. Anxious that such a measure might affect England's cannabis revenues in India, the British Delegate managed to block adoption of such a measure by urging that more information be obtained on such a motion and that the issue be taken up again at the next meeting of the Second Geneva Opium Conference, scheduled for 1925. Owing to some maneuvering by England, the matter was not even included in the agenda in 1925, but nevertheless the issue was introduced by M. E. Guindry, who headed the Egyptian Delegation. Like the South African government, Egypt was also concerned about the social impact of cannabis on its people. Steven Porter, the head of the American delegation, likewise spoke on behalf of a resolution to ban international traffic in cannabis, but his support was given mainly in the spirit of "reciprocity," as he put it, for the support the other nations had given the United States in its crusade against opium. If the United States had a cannabis problem, Porter was not aware of it. Next came the turn of countries opposed to such a policy. The delegation from India pointed out that cannabis held a unique place in Indian life and emphasized that "there are social and religious customs which naturally have to be considered, and there is doubt whether the total prohibition of drugs easily prepared from a wild-growing plant could in practice be made effective." Sir Malcolm Delevigne took a different tack. He protested that the delegates had not been prepared for any discussion regarding cannabis, and consequently they had not been given any instructions on how to vote on such an issue by their governments. Bourgeois, the French Delegate, concurred with Delevigne on the inappropriateness of adopting such a measure without first having time to consider it in detail. Furthermore, he contended that while it might be possible to outlaw the use of cannabis in France, it would be impossible to do so in the French Congo where there were "several tribes of savages and even cannibals among whom the habit is very prevalent. It would therefore be hypocritical on my part," he told the gathering, "to sign a Convention laying down strict measures in this respect." The issue was ultimately referred to a subcommittee which later reported certain major problems associated with placing sanctions on cannabis: "It should be remembered that all derivatives of 54/160

hemp are capable of providing, in addition to products injurious to public health, fibers which can be used in industry (cloth, cordage, matting, etc.), and that the oil from the seeds may also be employed for domestic purposes. That being the case, it would not appear to be any easy matter to limit the amount grown." After due consideration was given to these various problems, a recommendation was offered whereby export of cannabis resin would be prohibited to any country - unless the recipient signed a special import certificate stating that such importation was to be used exclusively for medical or scientific purposes. The recommendation was voted on and approved but the proposal was not signed by all the delegate nations, thereby making international control unworkable. Among the nations not signing the proposal were the United States and Egypt, ironically which had brought the problem up in the first place. Go figure.xiii

Reefer Madness in Louisiana The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs by Edward M. Brecher and the Editors of Consumer Reports Magazine, 1972: "In 1926 the New Orleans Item and Morning Tribune, two newspapers under common ownership, published highly sensational exposes of the "menace" of marijuana. They reported that it was coming into New Orleans from Havana, Tampico, and Vera Cruz in large quantities. In New Orleans, the reporters in 1926 laid particular stress on the smoking of marijuana by children. "It was definitely ascertained that school children of 44 schools (only a few of these were high schools) were smoking 'mootas.' Verifications came in by the hundreds from harassed parents, teachers, neighborhood pastors, priests, welfare workers and club women. The "Waifs Home," at this time, was reputedly full of children, both white and colored, who had been brought in under the influence of the drug. Marijuana cigarettes could be bought almost as readily as sandwiches. Their cost was two for a quarter. The children solved the problem of cost by pooling pennies among the members of a group, and then passing the cigarettes from one to another, all the puffs being carefully counted."xiv FROM: THE NEW ORLEANS TRIBUNE, Oct. 18,1926, Page 1 "MARIJUANA INDUSTRY IS THRIVING IN THE CITY, CHILDREN ARE ADDICTS!" - Reporters of "The Morning Tribune" Relate Observations After Three Weeks Association With Peddlers and Users Prelude: Marijuana is one of the chief industries of the New Orleans underworld. Scores seem to make their living by selling cigarettes drugged with it to thousands who smoke them. Crimes have been attributed by police to its influence on youthful gangsters. Its use is spreading among children. They have little or no difficulty in getting it - if they can pay the price. Two Morning Tribune reporters report their observations on the "marijuana trafficking" in a series of stories. Here they are: By Tribune Staff Reporters ! "Three weeks of close association with peddlers and users of marijuana in New Orleans showed us conditions that the average citizen would say could not possibly exist. We saw children, some of them not more than 12 years old, under the influence of the drug; we overheard two marijuana-smokers planning a crime; we saw large cars loaded with the sons and daughters of wealthy and prominent New Orleans families parked in dark streets in the Vieux Carre and through 55/160

the windows of the cars. We saw these young men and woman smoking marijuana, some of them were already stupefied by the drug; we could buy the cigarettes everywhere, in saloons, restaurants, pool-rooms on street corners, in parks, cabarets and dance halls.

Evidence and Facts Gathered: In our investigation we gathered evidence to answer certain questions. Is marijuana easy to buy? Who sells it? Who controls the traffic? How does it get into the city? Do children use it? Is the habit spreading among children? Is the habit more general in one class of society than another? Following is a summary of the results of our investigation giving the answers to these questions. Marijuana cigarettes can be bought in New Orleans with almost the same ease that that one can buy a sandwich. The number of addicts is impossible to estimate. The number who make their living in the marijuana traffic is also indefinite. It includes many operators of pool rooms, cabarets, restaurants and saloons, the loungers about these places; petty criminals and agents; men who live on fallen women; and the sailors and waiters on passenger boats who smuggle the drug into the port. Seafaring men make large profits from marijuana smuggling. Children can and do buy marijuana freely. At least 200 children of school age in New Orleans smoke marijuana. The use of marijuana cigarettes is not restricted to any particular class. They are smoked by the scarlet woman downtown, and the society belle uptown. The use of the marijuana cigarettes is very common among working men. Investigators found peddlers selling around large industrial plants. The use is also very common in the Negro settlements. New Orleans is a distribution point for marijuana. Hundreds of kilograms are smuggled into the port monthly. Part of this huge amount is sent on to other cities in the South. The marijuana traffic is controlled by a small group of men who have their headquarters in one small block - the Vieux Carre. Marijuana cigarettes are known curiously in New Orleans as "muggles," "marl," and "moota." Marijuana is a relative of hashish or Indian hemp, a dangerous Oriental drug prohibited under the Harrison Narcotics act. This act, however makes no mention of marijuana. Therefore, the only fear the marijuana peddler has is of the maximum six-month jail sentence and fine provided by state and city law. For this and other reasons police say it is almost impossible to check the traffic. Marijuana resembles a weed. It is usually shipped in its natural form. Seeds are sometimes removed by the grower and sometimes by the wholesale peddler, his form is known as "manicured marijuana," and brings a higher price on the market. The wholesale peddler usually retails it in Kilograms (Approximately two pounds). He grinds the leaves and rolls them into small cigarettes. These cigarettes are usually sold two for 25 cents. The influence of the drug is one of a strange detachment. It also has a strong hypnotic effect, the mind finding it difficult to remove itself from one channel of thought, no matter how trivial. Smuggled In: We found that most of the marijuana smoked in New Orleans comes from Vera Cruz, Tampico and Havana. It is smuggled in by seamen in small coastal freighters, many of them going out to sea merely for the profits they are able make in this terrible enterprise. A large amount is also brought in by waiters on passenger vessels running to these ports. We followed a score of sailors to 56/160

one little block in the quarter. We also traced many small peddlers to this block. In this block are wholesalers, who act as middlemen between the peddlers and the smugglers. Marijuana is a great industry in New Orleans, and it is growing greater every day. We encountered little difficulty anywhere in buying it. In some places, where we were not known, the peddler was careful and we were refused. But when we returned later and pretended to be inebriated under the influence of marijuana - the cigarettes were sold to us. "THIRTY WILL FACE MUGGLES CHARGE FOLLOWING RAID": Affidavits Will Be Filed In Criminal District Court, Oct. 18,1926, Page 1 Affidavits charging them with having in their possession and offering for sale marijuana cigarettes will be filed in criminal district court Monday against at least 30 persons, according to Superintendent of Police Thomas Healy, who Saturday night ordered city-wide raids on places suspected of trafficking in marijuana, in an effort to clean the sordid city of the demonic drug. Filing of affidavits will follow a conference between Superintendent Healy and the district attorney Monday morning when a final check of the result of the raids will be made, Superintendent Healy announced. Five persons were found in actual possession of marijuana, which amounted to several packages of cigarettes, and evidence was uncovered in several soft drink establishments and restaurants to lead police to believe that these places were known to marijuana smokers as centers of supply. Those found in possession of marijuana were Joseph Paracino, proprietor of a soft drink saloon at 1901 Poydras Street, from whom police confiscated a large quantity of marijuana. Frank and Helen Mckenzie, both residing at 620 North Rampart Street. Vincent Carpo, 2339 Tchoupitoulas Street. Richard Stevens, 1239 Decatur Street, who was arrested by police from a soft drink establishment at 1028 Dumaine Street. Until late last night, several squads of Detectives, under the direction of Chief of Detectives Edward Smith and Captain of Detectives George Reyer, visited soft drink establishments and restaurants, concentrating on night-life haunts in the Third Precinct, and in sections of the Fourth Precinct. The Radio Cafe, at Toulouse and Decatur Streets was the only cabaret to be raided after midnight Saturday, but police reported finding no marijuana at that location. "Seminary Said to Be User of Marijuana" Oct. 18,1926, Page 1 That Matthew Seminary - who is accused of strolling into a street car early Friday morning and shooting down his former sweet-heart Lillian Hardin, 19, and her new love Ralph Sturdy, was under the influence of marijuana is the option of Detective William Bell. Bell declares that he met Seminary on the street a few hours before the tragedy. He seemed wobbly. Bell questioned him and he said he had been smoking marijuana. "I told him to go home," Constable Bell says. Seminary was almost a constant user of marijuana, his friends say. NEW ORLEANS TRIBUNE, Oct. 19,1926, Page 1 "SMUGGLERS BRING CITY’S SUPPLY OF MARIJUANA - TRIBUNE SURVEY SHOWS" 57/160

Drug Is Not Grown in Louisiana, But Imported Illicitly From Central American Ports. MANY SAILORS GO TO SEA ONLY TO BUY "MOOTA" Profits Large: This is the second of a series of articles by members of the staff of the Morning Tribune describing the traffic in Marijuana in New Orleans. The third will appear tomorrow. (By Morning Tribune Staff Reporters) Where does marijuana come from? How does it get into the city? Is it raised in Louisiana, or along the Gulf coast whence it may easily be brought to New Orleans? These were the questions we were determined to have answered in the outset of our investigation. Our evidence now shows that most of the marijuana used here comes from Havana, Tampico and Vera Cruz, although some comes from Texas, via the smugglers route across the border near El Paso. Almost all of the vile drug is smuggled into New Orleans by sailors on fruit ships, oil tankers and freighters running to Central America and Mexican ports, and by Negro waiters and the seamen on passenger vessels running to Havana and other Gulf ports. No marijuana is raised in Louisiana. They Spy On The Docks: We spent days along the docks where the fruit ships bring in their nefarious cargos. We spent nights with sailors in their frolics with sundry prostitutes and imitation whisky, in the ugly dives that cater especially to these types. Few of these sailors admitted to us that they smuggled "weed" when they were sober. But into their cups they would go into greater detail, especially when we bought the drinks, and lots of them too. They would tell of buying the drug from Mexicans on the waterfront in Vera Cruz and Tampico at twelve dollars per kilo. In New Orleans they sell each kilo for 30 or more dollars, a tidy profit indeed. Louis, an able-bodied seaman of Latin-American ancestry on banana boats running to Central America, told as much. When he told his story he was absolutely sober. He talked freely, because he thought we were engaged in the same business, and he wanted to show how he excelled to get the stuff in. Never Given a "Real Frisk": "Getting it ashore is a simple matter," Louis told us. "When I'm down there I go to the forest and ditch the stuff. Of course it may seem to be a lot of trouble, if customs should give us a good search they would never find it. In port here though I just walk off with the stuff in my pockets. Customs never give us a real frisk. Sometimes I have to make two or three tries, but I always get it ashore." Louis said his stuff had only been found once. That was when he was careless as to hide it under the seat of the car. "But the custom men couldn't find the owner of the car, and nothing was done about it." Louis told us he went to sea only to smuggle marijuana. He seldom does more than two trips on one boat. "Staying on one boat will make you known to the custom men," he claimed. Louis goes on tankers, freighters and banana boats. After Louis' next trip back from the tropics, I followed him when he first left the ship. He went directly to that little block in the Vieux Carre, where I believe is the center of the marijuana traffic in New Orleans. First Call Ashore: 58/160

Louis is not the only sailor we followed there. There were ten others I talked to who admitted that they brought in a "little stuff' now and again. All of them would go to Vieux Carre their first day in port. Three waiters from one passenger and I went to this little block all within one hour of one another and a few hours after their ship docked. Naturally we discounted anything that we were told by drunken sailors. But they furnished us information that could be checked. For example, we were told that on a certain day, a vessel docked a sailor taking four kilos ashore. We were there when the vessel docked and we followed the sailor, who carried a small bag to that little block. Later we went on a 'party' with this sailor. He spent money in the way only drunken sailors are credited with spending it. As the evening progressed, our new sailor friend proposed a toast to "moota." We did not wonder why. Now during our investigation we heard many rumors that marijuana was being raised in Louisiana of all places. Some placed it near Baton Rouge. Some claimed it was grown near Bay St. Louis. NEW ORLEANS TRIBUNE, Oct. 20,1926, Page 1 "SCHOOL CHILDREN FOUND IN GRIP OF MARIJUANA HABIT BY INVESTIGATORS" Unscrupulous Peddlers Openly Sell Drug to Boys Of Tender Age Who Appear On Streets Under Its Influence WELFARE WORKERS ARE POWERLESS TO COPE WITH SINISTER TRAFFIC Practice So Prevalent That Police Have Become Hardened to Sight of 12 Year Olds "Muggled Up" This is the third of a series of articles by members of the staff of The Morning Tribune describing the traffic in Marijuana in New Orleans. The fourth will appear tomorrow. (By Morning Tribune Staff Reporters) We had only mingled with the marijuana peddlers and users a few days when we began to notice children, who seemingly bought and smoked the drug with the greatest freedom. We watched several of them go into poolrooms and come out smoking a muggle. We saw many on the streets quite obviously under the influence of the drug. As we went deeper and deeper into the traffic we were shocked by the large number of boys of school age we encountered who smoked mootamuggle constantly. Curious to see if the peddlers were really so unscrupulous to sell to young boys, we tried to arrange with several peddlers to have the marijuana cigarettes purchased by children. We told the peddler in the saloon on Saratoga and Poydras streets that we wanted two dollars worth. He only had 12 cigarettes, worth $1.50. "Will it be all right to send a boy for the rest,?" we asked, when he told us he would have the additional cigarettes in one hour. We followed the peddler to that one little block in the heart of the Vieux Carre where, according to the evidence we have gathered, is the headquarters of the marijuana traffic. Sold to Office Boy: At the specified time we sent a copy boy for The Item-Tribune to the saloon. The boy while 15, does not look to be more than 10 or 12. We stood across the street from the saloon and through the open doors we watched the peddler hand the boy four cigarettes in exchange for 50 cents. There were no questions. The same thing was tried on two other peddlers.

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In the quarter, among the loungers and hangers-on around poolrooms and saloons, the stories of the "cock-eyed" boy who acted as a messenger for past noted characters of the underworld are still told. The boy started when he was eight years old. He is 15 now and as tough as any of the thugs and crooks in the past. He smokes marijuana constantly, he is found of whisky straight up and he also has had women. The General Situation: Of course his case is unusual and is only cited to show that the underworld is not in the least opposed to teaching a "good kid" the sordid ways of the world. To show the situation, here is an excerpt from a report of the Children's Bureau, the Society for the Prevention of cruelty to Children: "We are now working with a group of boys none over 12 years of age, who stay out every Saturday night and gamble until daylight. A number of them smoke doped Mexican cigarettes called muggles, and are really dope fiends." A child welfare worker told us: The marijuana situation among children is really appalling. I know there are at least 200 boys of school age who smoke marijuana, some of them continually whenever they can. They smoke the cigarettes more to prove that they are really "tough." The children in the city are aroused but are almost powerless to stop the traffic because of the utter lack of a common sense among the men who sell drugs, by using their cunning and stealth. Children under 14 are Addicted: All the children we talked to were children of the poorer families. Many were of foreign parentage living in the destitute sections of the city. These children, their parents too tired from the labor of gaining a daily existence for them, had little supervision. They played in the streets, went where they pleased and without question. Some may argue that these children would naturally become educated in marijuana as in any other vice. But it was not their mere knowledge of the being of such a thing as muggles, but the fact that most of them admitted having smoked them and knowing where they could be bought. Almost all the children showed the results of their street training. They were hard, tough, sophisticated. They were also very suspicious. Some of them believed we were "high-hats," (Reformers), "sky-pilots," (Ministers), or police. But most of them were willing to admit that they had smoked marijuana and knew where it could be bought. Some of them said it in the way of a boast. A few, who we convinced that we were "all right" and were looking for a supply, told us where to buy it. In fact we were first led to the Dixie Saloon, on Dumaine near Rampart street by a 14-year-old boy. NEW ORLEANS TRIBUNE, Oct. 21,1926, Page 1 "WORKMEN OF CITY LURED BY MUGGLES" Investigation Shows Great Demand Among Certain Classes PEDDLERS BUSY THROUGHOUT CITY Can Always Be Found Where Wares Are Wanted Most This is the fourth of a series of articles by members of the staff of The Morning Tribune describing the traffic in Marijuana in New Orleans. The fifth will appear tomorrow. (By Morning Tribune Staff Reporters) 60/160

Wherever there is a demand for marijuana there you will find the peddlers. They are entirely lacking in ethics or honor and no matter the hardships the drug will cause those who buy it, they are around ready and eager to sell. We found peddlers on the docks selling to the Negro stevedores. We found them on the banana docks catering to the Latin-Americans and Negroes who unload the fruit boats. We found a peddler at the gates of the Jahncke Ship Building company at seven o'clock in the morning, selling to those in going in for a hard day's work. We found a peddler at the Canal street entrance to the Algiers ferry. He was selling to the workmen coming across the river for their daily labor. We found the peddlers everywhere -wherever there was a demand. A Special Lure for the Negro: Marijuana seems to have a special lure to the Latin and Negro workman - a lure that is not felt by the less imaginative Nordics. The Latin and the Negro seemingly smoke marijuana to secure the hypnotic effect and the mental detachment the drug gives. Therefore the mundane, stifling routine of their work is lessened and the day passes more quickly and more pleasantly. We were at the entrance of the Jahncke company at 6 AM, having learned in a pool room that a certain Negro peddler was always there in the early morning. It was his post, we were told, and the underworld code prohibited anyone else "working it." Although we were not dressed as workmen, the Negro, who was known as Sam, sold to us without question. We saw him at the gates and he answered the description that had been given us of him, "Give us tow," we ordered and handed him a quarter. He gave us the cigarettes. We went through the gates and returned a few moments later. From a point of vantage across the street we watched the Negro sell to workman after workman as they passed through the gates. Most of his customers, we noted, were other Negroes or men who were obviously of Latin blood. Lot of Them Smoke It At Work: "Sure a lot of them smoke it at work," he told us. "They got to be careful though, for if they get caught it's the air for them. You can't smoke anything on the job, or so the Big Boss man say." NEW ORLEANS TRIBUNE, Oct. 22,1926, Page 1 "MARIJUANA FOUND EASY TO PURCHASE" Peddlers Always Hanging About Saloons And Poolrooms LITTLE FEAR SHOWN IN MAKING SALES Doped Cigarettes Are Brought On Courthouse Grounds This is the fifth of a series of articles by members of the Staff of the Morning Tribune describing the traffic in Marijuana in New Orleans. The sixth will appear tomorrow. (By Morning Tribune Staff Reporters) In a soft drink saloon at Dauphine and Toulouse Streets we bought two marijuana cigarettes from a Mr. Harry Webb. Mr. Webb, at first, did not wish to sell but after we had pleaded he consented. "You see," he explained, "I got to be sort of careful. The cop on this beat has a hunch I'm peddlin', but he can't catch me and I'll guarantee that he doesn't.

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Sure, if you want anything more just come back and ask for me." We were unable to discover whether Mr. Webb was connected with the saloon or merely a lounger about it. This we found true of many places. It is much more simple to have the peddling done outside the bar. Then, if anything happens, there is no reflection on the place. For example there is the pool room at Chartres and Madison streets where Frank does business. His last name we don't know, and it probably doesn’t matter. He no doubt has several of them. Three Different Peddlers: The man in charge of this poolroom at times knows nothing of marijuana. At other times he calls Frank. We visited the place on several occasions and each time we bought the cigarettes from Frank, but never from anyone else. We encountered an entirely different situation in the Plus Ultra pool room on Chartres street. There we bought marijuana three different times and each time from a different peddler. None of them apparently had any connection with the operators of the establishment. They seemed merely loungers. At Canal and Claiborne Streets we bought two cigarettes from a Negro who called himself Dick Nien, who was lounging in front of the candy factory there. We asked Dick if he sold much in the factory. He shrugged his shoulders, but did not answer. "I’m always around," he said, "Come back anytime you run short." In the saloon at Decatur and Governor Nicholls streets we found good old Louis again. Louis introduced himself while we were hanging over the bar arguing with the bartender. The bartender didn't want to have anything to do with us. We didn't look right, we didn't act right and he didn't want to take a chance. Manager Is Reticent: "Aw hell," said Louie. "Can't you tell they're all right?” And he took to the street where he produced two cigarettes and took our quarter. We experienced some little diffidently in the pool room at Chartres and Dumaine Street. The manager, while admitting that he knew of marijuana, declared quite earnestly that the peddler who had once sold in the place was gone. He didn't know where they could be purchased. In fact he had long since lost all interest in the matter. But we stayed around, watering the lazy bastards at the tables and talking to those who sat around, all seemingly intent upon the games. Finally a youth, no more than 19, motioned us outside. "You looking for motta,?" he asked? "How many do you want?" He threw the cigarettes on our table and took 50 cents for them - bar prices. Tomorrow we shall tell of the children in New Orleans who find it very easy to buy marijuana. NEW ORLEANS TRIBUNE, Oct. 23,1926, Page 1 "MARIJUANA PURCHASED WITH EASE" Negro Innocently Reveals Many Places Where Drug Is Sold PEDDLERS WAIT ON STREET CORNERS Dealer Disciplines Sailor For Smuggling In "Bad Stuff'

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This is the sixth of a series of articles by members of the staff of The Morning Tribune describing the traffic in Marijuana in New Orleans. The seventh will appear Monday. (By Morning Tribune Staff Reporter) Let us call the Negro we met on Villere street Jim, rather than by his real name. He was innocent of giving us information to be used later against the peddlers of marijuana. He thought we were users looking for a supply. But the peddlers might not understand this and Jim might suffer the penalty of the underworld for a "squealer." Jim knows much about marijuana. He is one of the best rollers in the city and is in demand among the wholesale peddlers. But in spite of his talent he has profited but little. Rolling the little cigarettes gives one the desire to smoke them and smoking them isn't an aid in "getting along in the world, "as Jim himself says. We noticed Jim a block away lounging on the corner. We thought he would probably know something. But he knew nothing when we first approached him "Nah suh, Cap'n," he declared. "Ah don't even know what moota is." One of us lighted a moota butt and Jim eyed it hungrily. We moved on knowing that he would follow, and he did. Very Popular with Negroes: Around the corner he stopped us. "Ah don't know who you is." He conversed very frankly. But you look all right and I'm dyin' for a muggie. I'll tell you where you can buy if you give me one. We agreed and Jim took us to Villere street and pointed to a saloon on the uptown lake corner. "Two" was the order and a quarter was dropped on the bar. Without a word the clerk took the coin, reached under and threw out two marijuana cigarettes. Outside, we told Jim the "muggles" were unsatisfactory and we wanted more than two. Jim was all apologies. He took us to North Robertson and Dasaine Streets to a saloon and poolroom on the downtown lake corner. There we bought four more marijuana cigarettes from an Italian who was called Tony. Jim walked with us down the railroad tracks toward Basin street. He talked of the popularity of marijuana among Negroes, although we already knew of that. We had walked through the Negro districts and seen men and women sitting on doorsteps smoking the cigarettes, we had seen children too. We had bought them from peddlers who even had their stands on street corners. Ships Waiter Smuggles it in: But when Jim began to tell of his experiences as a high roller we were all attention. Jim told of one of his former employers who had a place on Dumaine near Royal Street, before the police caught him red-handed and sent to him to jail for a few months. Jim also told us of a Negro waiter working on a passenger vessel running to Havana. The waiter had been smuggling marijuana for several years. Several trips ago he brought in some "bum stuff' and sold it to his regular wholesaler. The wholesaler was angry and decided to refuse to purchase the Negro's marijuana for five voyages as punishment. Jim said he had just seen the Negro who had a Kilo he was trying to sell for $5. The regular price is $35 or $40. We finally left Jim and went to Rampart Street, where Jim had told us all that was necessary was to lounge on the corner and wail for the peddler. We waited and finally a well dressed individual took up his place near us. We decided he was the seller. "Do you know where we can buy moota,?" we asked. 63/160

"Naw," he answered briefly, eyeing us up and down. "But we only have a small butt left." We protested and displayed the butt. "How many do you want?" And on the street corner, in broad daylight we were handed two marijuana cigarettes in exchange for 25 cents. He told us he was Fred, and that anytime we wanted anything else he could always be found on the corner during the evening. NEW ORLEANS TRIBUNE: Oct. 27,1926, Page 1 "MARIJUANA DEALERS VIE FOR TRADE" Competition Keen Among Peddlers of Drug In New Orleans ONE DISPLAYS HUGE BANK ROLL Investigator Runs Into Morphine Addicts This is the tenth of a series of articles by members of the staff of the Morning Tribune describing the traffic in marijuana in New Orleans. The eleventh will appear Friday. (By a Morning Tribune Staff Reporter) In Lee Circle, with the rush of evening traffic sweeping by we bought two moota cigarettes from a man, whose name we could not ascertain. We were directed to him by a young boy to whom we had propounded the formula question "Where can we get some moota?" The boy, who had just descended the library steps with a copy of Horatio Alger's "Phil the Fiddler" under one arm, took us to the little circle and pointed out the man to us. "He's there every evening after school," he told us. A little farther uptown, a Negro directed us to a wizened old white man who sold us two cigarettes at the entrance to the Oyster Saloon. The price was the usual, twenty five cents. "Just ask for Jack," we were told. I'm always around.' At Magazine and Jackson Streets we made another purchase, this time from a young fellow not over 10 years of age who gave his name as Freddie. The cigarettes we purchased from him cost the usual twenty five cents. Freddie Displays a Bank Roll: Freddie was quite anxious for our future business, promising to "treat us right." I said to him, "there must be a lot of competition. Every peddler I ever bought from has told us the same thing. What's the matter? Are things slow?" Freddie, with a look of toleration, reached into his trousers pocket and dragged forth a large roll of green cash. "Does that look slow?" We admitted that it appeared to be a long way from slow. And then we tried something that we had tried several times before, namely, to get one peddler to tell us where we could find another. "I couldn't tell you brother. I know there's plenty of them around. But I don't know where." This confirmed us in our belief that to protect himself no one peddler would furnish the name or address of another, fearing that the customer might be better off with the other's wares. Sold Near School:

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At seven o'clock in the evening, following directions obtained from a messenger boy, we found Fred Jackson in front of the Sophie Wright High School on Napoleon Avenue, near Charles Street. Unlike most of the street peddlers, Fred did not carry the drug on his person, but had his supply concealed somewhere near the school steps on Napoleon Avenue. Next day at Dumaine and Bourbon, we made a purchase from a young foreigner who appeared to be of Mexican blood. Morphine Fiends: At Chartres and Dumaine, and at Royal and St. Phillip we later made "two for a quarter" purchases. At the latter corner the sale was made by a Negro, Henry Ross, in a colored pool room. We also noticed several morphine addicts hanging around this corner. They thought I was "looking to make a buy." I tried to start a conversation with one of these morphine fiends. I hauled forth a sack of Durham tobacco. We had found this to be a valuable aid in getting to those of the underworld. These addicts, usually financially broke except for the price of a "shot," are always "mooching" a smoke. All one has to do is be "bummed" is to exhibit a package of cigarettes. If the cigarettes are what are known as "tailor- made," that is, factory-made, the beggar helps himself without giving you a chance to talk to him. If however you offer him a sack of tobacco, it takes him a minute or two, he rolls his smoke, lights it and returns the makings. In that time, brief as it is -you can usually get him to talking. Waiting for "Earl": We had each rolled a cigarette and were ready to restore the tobacco to pockets when a shifty-eyed, pasty-faced individual approached us with the expected request for a smoke. As he rolled the cigarette with trembling fingers, he yawned continuously and perspiration stood out on his brow. "Pretty sick,?" we inquired, recognizing the symptoms as those of a man sick "with the habit." He regarded us cautiously for a moment. Seemingly satisfied that we were "real folks" he nodded affirmation. We talked with him for several minutes. During the course of our talk we asked him if he ever had smoked muggles. "Naw," he responded. "I ain't never chippied with that stuff. It'll drive yuh nuts. We talked for a few more minutes. Soon a "gutter type" sauntered over, and introduced himself as "Earl." This was a marijuana peddler for certain. The grim-looking, pasty-faced man was soon elated, as he handed over the money to Earl - and received his allotment and fix of two marijuana cigarettes for 25 cents. End Wow. Harry Anslinger didn't even get into power until the year 1930. Without question, New Orleans is the HOME of THE REEFER MADNESS CAMPAIGN. Thus all good old Harry had to do was to pick it up and keep it going.xv A Plant out of Place September 4, 2015, BANGKOK: Speakers at last weekend's public forum on legalizing marijuana in Thailand - and the young man parading around a "Free Weed" banner - were basically "preaching to the converted." Everyone present for the discussion at the Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre agreed that ganja - as it is most commonly known here - has been unfairly demonized for far too long. And that included the representatives of law enforcement on hand. Interestingly, the suggestion was made that the military-led government invoke the interim constitution's draconian Article 44 to pull pot off the banned-substances list. It gives the junta sweeping discretionary power. But the notion got little traction among participants. 65/160

Hopes and expectations buoyed by the legalization of cannabis in recent years in the Netherlands, Uruguay and the American states Colorado, Oregon, Alaska and Washington, more than 450 people turned out for the forum, "Where is the freedom for marijuana?" organized by iLaw, a nongovernmental organization founded by Jon Ungpakorn that addresses judicial and rights issues. It was the second such public discussion on marijuana in Thailand, whose subtropical heat and humidity comprise perfect conditions for growing ganja, whether for pleasure or profit, for medical use or, cultivated without the psychoactive ingredients, as hemp to be turned into rope and livestock feed. "The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime - UNODC - has made a demon out of cannabis," noted Veeraphan Ngamee of the Ozone Foundation, who admitted to occasionally indulging in the illegal drug. "Smoking marijuana, it says on its website, can harm the user in several ways, including brain damage and sexual dysfunction. Come on, UNODC - smoking a joint will hurt your sex life? I totally disagree! In fact cigarettes and whiskey are far worse than cannabis in terms of the harm caused by abuse, and yet these drugs of a sort are legally sold commercially." In contrast to tobacco and hard spirits, he pointed out, cannabis offers health benefits if consumed responsibly. Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy can avoid the characteristic nausea and vomiting by smoking or ingesting small amounts. While people in the Middle East and South Asia have long relied on the hashish resin from female cannabis plants as a relaxant, Thais have been using the leaves of the pot plant for centuries for the same purpose. In the kitchen, a few dried cannabis buds enliven the flavor of chicken curry, and many food vendors in the city streets commonly add ganja to their beef noodles - with the tacit or overt approval of their customers. Songs-for-life Band Carabao has a tune about marijuana's psychoactive effects, and there's even a band named Marijuana that's also quite popular. As ingrained in the culture as cannabis is, however, the plant's medicinal merits rather than recreational (or culinary) use have been the focus of legalization efforts around the world. Current Thai law, though, keeps the door to research closed, blocking the scientific approach to reform that is steadily prompting more U.S. states to cautiously legalize the drug. Thailand's Narcotic Drug Act of 1979 lists cannabis in Category 5 alongside the leaves of the Mitragyna plant, widely available as krathom (also spelled kratom), which has similar psychoactive effects. Cannabis cannot be cultivated here even for medical research, in contrast to the U.S. government's formal permission granted to the University of Mississippi to conduct studies. If Thai pharmacologists need to know more about the potential of cannabis to ease the symptoms of disease, they can only consult the medical journals. Assistant Professor Niyada Kiatying went as far as to call the benefits of cannabis "a mythical thing" when it comes to the field of pharmacology. "We might hear about medical marijuana through word of mouth," she said at the forum, "but we don't have any research to confirm the claims, so the whole area remains uncertain." With clinical studies of this avenue of alternative medicine barred by law, Thai society hears only tales of toxic poisoning and hallucinations. "After a few puffs I sort of feel like I'm a bird," said an occasional smoker, an Indian woman. "Once I actually floated out of my home to pick up my kid from kindergarten." Mother and child were able to walk home without incident, but the danger was clear to others at the forum - had she been driving her car, she could have "floated" into oncoming traffic. Few disagree that there are some hazards to cannabis use, requiring a level of personal responsibility, if not state control. 66/160

"My brother is a medical student and he's often told me about the successes there has been with medical marijuana," a Chulalongkorn University engineering student said. "For example, a small amount of marijuana relieves chronic nerve pain due to injury as well as the side effects of chemotherapy. What I am trying to say is that cannabis holds great interest for medical science. Unfortunately, the laws in Thailand and the threat of drug busts leave no chance for researchers. We should help pass a new law to legalize cannabis - at least for medical studies. Nothing should stop us from claiming our right to access knowledge." Serious legal issues aside, any discussion about marijuana is bound to produce some giggles. The college student wielding the "Free Weed" banner proudly announced that he'd even waved it on the public bus on his way to the forum from Nonthaburi. "And I had a few puffs in the toilet before the forum started," he admitted. A social researcher was not amused by the young man's approach, however. Advocates won't get the law changed by waving banners or staging a "smoke-in" in front of Government House, she said. They have to behave reputably to gain the public's trust. Otherwise their opponents can claim that the real objective of legalizing pot for medical use is to make it easier for people to obtain it for recreation. Another speaker described a medical use for ganja less dire than those involving cancer and other chronic ailments, but equally sound. "I grew up in a family where everyone was always fighting and yelling," said the man in his 30's. "It drove me crazy, but smoking marijuana calmed me down. It probably saved me from a lifetime anxiety disorder." The discussion ranged through various aspects of the issue - such as how many plants might be grown and still be legally considered "for personal use?" Several ideas were reviewed for revamping the law, including the deployment of Article 44. But no concrete proposals emerged. Everyone seemed to agree that marijuana must be decriminalized, yet no one was sure where to begin. "I agree with every idea that's been mentioned - except using Article 44," Jon Ungpakorn said in his closing remarks. "I think we should try to get 10,000 people to sign a petition to draft a new cannabis law, and I believe we could get more than 10,000 people."xvi

Another View The alcohol and cigarette lobby -industry is rich and powerful. Legalization of marijuana would severely eat into their profits. I understand why alcohol is legal and weed isn't, but surely it should be the other way round if anything. Alcohol and cigarettes are directly or indirectly responsible for untold misery to millions of people worldwide. If alcohol wasn't taxed it would have a Class 1 Drug classification. The war on personal freedom will rage on I'm sure for many years to come, until the time comes to dismantle the great profit machine for the criminals. And the real destroyer of lives and families, the heavy custodial sentences handed down by the judicial systems for simple marijuana possession can be finally reformed. As for the police, I guess they can be left to deal with the huge numbers of unemployed criminals with much less to do having the golden ticket of marijuana prohibition removed. The real evil of marijuana lies in the structures created for prohibition, and the criminal enterprises which cause the most damage to 67/160

individuals and nation states. Consumption in itself is the least damaging part of this sad state of affairs; much of the negative is all from the attempts to prohibit the demonized herb. The history of why marijuana and a whole lot of harder drugs are illegal in Thailand and many other countries is rooted in the U.S. Department of Narcotics. Most people have never heard of Harry Anslinger - yet he had more influence over the general population of the world in regards to the prohibition of marijuana than almost any other person. His punitive actions ironically helped set up the drug cartels and the corruption surrounding the supply of all banned drugs. Thailand and many other countries were threatened with being cut off from U.S. foreign aid if they did not adopt U.S. drug policy. Initially Thailand refused to ban opium smoking, stating that it was a long standing tradition and less harmful than prohibition. Another tactic was to tell countries which didn't want to adopt U.S. drug policies that they would not be allowed to sell their goods in the U.S. I would recommend you read "Chasing the Scream," the first and last days of the war on drugs by Johann Hari. This book is well researched and a real eye opener as to the truth behind why a lot of drugs are banned in the world. I found this book a difficult read because the truth can sometimes be overwhelming.

Marijuana in Malaysia Malaysia has among the world’s harshest drug laws, with hundreds currently on death row although few have been executed in recent years Malaysia has some of the most draconian drug laws on the planet, and drug offenders are routinely sentenced to death, even when their crimes involve cannabis alone. Despite this, and due to its proximity to the Golden Triangle of heroin production in South-East Asia, Malaysia experiences significant illicit trafficking.

Law and International policy Malaysia, which was part of British Malaya from 1874 to 1946, has drug laws based on the 1912 "Hague Convention," the "Geneva Conventions" of 1925 and 1931 as well as a 1934 "Bangkok Treaty" that imposed restrictions on opium. In 1943, the British outlawed unauthorized use of opium, and in 1952, the High Commissioner of the British Empire in Malaysia implemented the "Dangerous Drugs Ordinance." By the 1980's, Malaysia had developed significant levels of opium and heroin use, and the government decreed the problem to be a national threat. A task force was established, along with a new set of stricter laws, including mandatory death sentences and compulsory "cold-turkey" addiction treatment. The total abstinence approach to addiction treatment appears to be softening in favor of medicine-based treatment, but there are few signs that an overall approach to drug policy is following suit. Possession of up to 50 grams of cannabis is punishable by up to five years imprisonment and a fine of up to 20,000 ringgit (around €4,700); for possession of 20 grams and above, three to nine lashes may also be imposed. If found in possession of 50-200 grams of cannabis, a custodial sentence of at least five years is issued, along with up to ten lashes in some cases. Cultivation of cannabis is punishable by life imprisonment and no less than six lashes.

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Individuals arrested in possession of 200 grams or more of cannabis (or 40 grams of cocaine or 15 grams of heroin or morphine) are presumed to be trafficking in drugs and are subject to a mandatory death penalty, which is conducted by hanging. Cannabis arrests and Death Sentences in Malaysia "Of course I know how to roll a joint." Martha Stewart Death sentences in Malaysia are carried out by hanging; on average, one execution has been performed per year since 2007. There are far too many cases of cannabis possession resulting in imposition of the death penalty to list every single one here. Over 900 individuals are currently on death row in Malaysia, and around 700 are there for drug offences; Over fifty of these individuals are there for cannabis trafficking, in 2013, two executions were carried out for possession of marijuana, and there was at least one execution per year between 2007 and 2011. In 2009, 25-year-old Sharahrul Izani Suparman was sentenced to death for allegedly being in possession of 622 grams of cannabis with intent to supply. He had spent six years in prison while fighting the charges, and was only 19 years old at the time of arrest. In 2013, three men were sentenced to death for allegedly attempting to sell 4.9 kilograms of cannabis in a hospital car park in Kelantan providence, in the Malaysian Upper Peninsula. Two of the men had originally been acquitted, while one had been sentenced to twelve years imprisonment in a 2010 ruling, which the prosecution later successfully overturned in favor of the death penalty. In June 2014, 27-year-old farm worker Naim Muhammad Zaki was sentenced to death by the high court in Alor Setar for the alleged crime of trafficking just under 2 kilograms of cannabis. In July 2014, 37-year-old Nigerian student Uchechukwu Nelson Ohaechesi was sentenced to death in Kuala Lumpur for allegedly trafficking 26.5 kilograms of cannabis, after the defense failed to establish reasonable doubt. It is not clear when the sentence will be carried out.

Cultivation of cannabis in Malaysia Although cultivation of cannabis is punishable by life imprisonment in Malaysia, there are some who are brave, desperate or foolish enough to attempt it - usually for personal use, although at least one instance of possible commercial cultivation has been recorded. In 2007, two men aged 22 and 28 were arrested in Sarawak, Borneo for cultivating three cannabis plants in their back yards. In March 2000, an 18 year old man, Mohamed Naziff Ahmad was sentenced to life imprisonment and six lashes in southern Johor state for cultivation of a single cannabis plant. In February 2014, it was reported that three Malaysian men, one Indonesian woman and one French woman were arrested in Eastern Sabah state in Malaysian Borneo for the alleged cultivation of thirty-six cannabis plants and possession of half a kilogram of processed cannabis. It was believed to be the first time cannabis had been cultivated in an apartment block in Malaysia, or at least the first time one was busted. The woman and one man were charged with cultivation, while one of the men was charged with trafficking.

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History of cannabis in Malaysia Around the turn of the 20th century, an opium market began to thrive in Malaysia, with cannabis use following soon after. Cannabis use among the native populations of South-East Asia, including Malaysia, is likely to have existed for centuries. There is very little research available into the cultural practices of ancient Malay peoples, and what little traditional use did exist has probably died out in the course of successive restrictive governments, both colonial and modern. However, it has been observed that cannabis was traditionally used for relief of asthma by indigenous natives in rural Malaysia, and that cannabis is known to have been used by Arab traders in Malaysia since as early as the 8th century. It appears that cannabis use in the modern era was introduced in the late 19th century, at a time when international shipping had become more prevalent and the supply of commodities such as heroin and cannabis had begun to take off in earnest. Indian plantation workers and dockworkers are specifically credited with popularizing the habit in Malaysia, which gradually increased in popularity from then on - although cannabis use has never reached the problematic levels seen as with heroin. In the 1960s and 1970s, a combination of the consequences of the Vietnam War and the rise of the "Hippie" movement saw renewed interest in cannabis in Malaysian culture, which was heavily influenced by the many backpackers and soldiers who would pass through the country, or even stay for prolonged periods. A small culture of cannabis use became established, and although Malaysia's drug laws have tightened since then, a culture of use clearly still exists and persists. The present-day cannabis trade in Malaysia Cannabis is a valuable commodity in Malaysia, despite the severity of its laws. After the American withdrawal from Vietnam, demand for cannabis and heroin reduced significantly, and drug trafficking networks were forced to expand their operations. Malaysia became a transit country for trafficking of cannabis, heroin and various other illicit drugs, and is to some degree a destination country, but is not thought to produce any significant quantities of illicit drugs within the country. Despite the harsh penalties, entrenched poverty in Malaysia drives many to become involved in narcotics trafficking. Despite concerted efforts to reduce poverty in Malaysia, up to sixty percent of the population is at or below the poverty line, and struggling to buy basic necessities such as food. Drug trafficking can be highly lucrative in Malaysia, and is usually conducted by organized criminal gangs, often attracting poverty-stricken youths desperate to find a route out of deprivation, no matter the risks. Heroin, cannabis and other drugs are smuggled into Malaysia almost exclusively from the Golden Triangle, Thailand and Cambodia; despite concerted efforts to stop trafficking into Malaysia, there are signs that the trade is intensifying. Although a small culture of cannabis use does exist in present-day Malaysia, its use is demonized in society and by the media, and has become associated with criminality, poverty and low-income immigrant populations. Despite the risks associated with its sale and possession, cannabis is in high demand in areas frequented by foreign backpackers and young urban Malaysians, such as hostels and college campuses.

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Legalization of cannabis in Malaysia As well as a small culture of cannabis use, Malaysia now has its own cannabis legalization movement in the form of an organization known as Gerakan Edukasi Ganja Malaysia (GENGGAM), which aims to educate the public and raise awareness of the potential health benefits of cannabis. The group also seeks to promote government research, and their immediate goal is abolition of the death penalty for cannabis offences; however, its members must be careful to avoid negative attention. In a Parliamentary session in October 2010, the MP for Bayan Baru constituency requested of the Minister of Home Affairs that the Malaysian government conduct studies and reschedule cannabis due to its less harmful nature, although it does not appear that this request was granted. The head of the Malaysian AIDS Council, Zaman Khan, has also stated that his support for decriminalization of personal possession.

Purchasing and using Cannabis in Malaysia In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, it is possible to source cannabis but generally not advisable due to risk of arrest. It is strongly advisable to refrain from attempting to purchase cannabis in Malaysia, as the risk of arrest is high in many areas where cannabis is likely to be found, and police are thought to regularly liaise with street dealers in order to identify drug buyers and solicit bribes. If one is detained on suspicion of attempting to purchase small quantities of cannabis, it is possible that bribes will prevent further action, but it is not advisable to take this risk. Usually, tourists are not subject to much police scrutiny, but will be apprehended if behaving in an overtly suspicious manner. Certain urban areas are frequented by street dealers, and areas with bars, tourist amenities and hostels are more likely hotspots. If fortunate enough to make friends with locals in such areas, it may be possible to find a trusted supplier; however, do not approach anyone without introduction, as undercover police activity is high in such areas. The price for cannabis in Malaysia ranges from 440 - 840 ringgit for an ounce, and quality ranges from low-grade brick weed to higher-quality sensemillia, and occasionally hashish. There are also worrying anecdotal reports of deliberate contamination of "brick-weed" mixed with other illicit drugs or chemicals, apparently including heroin, methamphetamine, and ketamine, among others. According to these reports, tourists purchasing contaminated cannabis have suffered adverse effects including unconsciousness. Despite some signs that attitudes towards cannabis are shifting and the enactment of the death penalty is becoming less frequent, laws remain draconian and the situation remains dire. Travelers visiting to Malaysia are advised to exercise utmost caution, and avoid any situation involving illicit drugs unless it is absolutely certain that there is no risk of arrest or physical harm. We are currently working to compile up-to-date information on cannabis use and legislation in every country throughout the world. Seshata, August 25th 2014 http://sensiseeds.com/en/blog/cannabis-malaysia/ It's disturbing to find that marijuana laws are so strict in Malaysia.

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Moreover, the quality of cannabis is often low. A reform of marijuana laws is badly needed. Poverty is rampant all over the country and this plant could be a cash crop for many farmers. It not only provides medicine, but also food, clothing and even fuel. Overreaction to the demonization of the herb has caused it to be looked on as a dangerous drug, but it isn't even remotely dangerous. The most dangerous thing about the plant is getting caught with it.

Dr. Lester Grinspoon Powers of Enhancement Dr. Lester Grinspoon is among the more than 70 million Americans who have used cannabis - and possibly among the more than ten million who use it regularly. We know that people smoke marijuana not because they are driven by uncontrollable "Reefer Madness" craving, as some propaganda would lead us to believe, but because they have learned its value from experience. Yet almost all of the research, writing, political activity, and legislation devoted to marijuana has been concerned only with the question of whether it is harmful and how much harm it does. The only exception is the growing medical marijuana movement, but as encouraging as that movement is, it represents only one category of marijuana use. The rest are sometimes grouped under the general heading of "recreational," but that is hardly an adequate description of, say, marijuana's capacity to catalyze ideas and insights, heighten the appreciation of music and art, or deepen emotional and sexual intimacy. These kinds of marijuana experiences, which Dr. Grinspoon likes to call "enhancement," are often misunderstood and under-appreciated - not only by non-users, but even by some users, especially young people who are interested mainly in promoting sociability and fun. Most of marijuana's powers of enhancement are not as immediately available as its capacity to lift mood or improve appetite and the taste of food. Some learning may be required, and one way to learn is through other people's experience. Dr. Grinspoon is on the faculty (emeritus) of the Harvard Medical School in the Department of Psychiatry. He has been studying cannabis since 1967 and has published two books on the subject. In 1971 Marihuana Reconsidered was published by Harvard University Press. Marihuana, the Forbidden Medicine, coauthored with James B. Bakalar, was published in 1993 by Yale University Press; then the revised and expanded edition appeared in 1997. Other books include "The Speed Culture: The Use and Abuse of Amphetamines in America," "Cocaine: A Drug and its Social Evolution," "Psychedelic Drugs Reconsidered," and "Psychedelic Reflections." From Dr. Grinspoon: "Every age has its peculiar folly, and if Charles Mackay, the author of the mid-19th century classic, "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds," were alive today he would surely see "cannabis phobia" as a popular delusion along with "witch hunts" of earlier ages. I believe that we are now at the cusp of this particular popular delusion which to date has been responsible for the arrest of about 20 million US citizens. I also believe that future historians will look at this epic and recognize it as another instance of the "madness of crowds." Millions of marijuana users have already arrived at this understanding. For a short period of time in the 1970's it was possible to believe that this "popular delusion" was beginning to lose it deeply embedded grip. Whatever the cultural conditions that made it possible, there was no doubt that the discussion about marijuana was becoming more sensible. We were gradually becoming conscious of the irrationality of classifying this drug as one with a high abuse potential and no value. It seemed to me that if that trend had continued, it was likely that within another decade marijuana would be sold and regulated in the United States in much the same way as alcohol. 72/160

We had reason to be optimistic at that time. In 1971 the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, appointed by President Nixon, had recommended the elimination of penalties for possession of marijuana for personal use and casual non-profit transfers of small amounts. In 1973 Oregon had become the first state to decriminalize marijuana, making possession of less than an ounce a civil offense accompanied by a small fine. In 1975 Alaska had eliminated all penalties for private possession and cultivation of less than 4 ounces. President Carter had endorsed decriminalization, as had the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Bar Association, and the National Council of Churches. By 1977 most states had reduced simple possession to a misdemeanor, and by 1980, eleven states had actually decriminalized possession. Unfortunately, this trend did not continue and the marijuana reform movement peaked in the late 1970's. In 1978 Dr. Peter Bourne, the White House drug advisor who helped President Carter move toward reform, resigned and was replaced by Lee Dogoloff, a hardliner. Under President Reagan the government instituted a program of "zero tolerance." By 1983 it was spraying the dangerous insecticide Paraquat on domestic marihuana crops and using military methods to uproot cannabis plants and arrest growers in northern California. In 1987 Supreme Court nominee Douglas Ginsburg had to withdraw under pressure because he had smoked marijuana as a law professor. In 1989 under President George H.W. Bush, the federal government began "Operation Green Merchant." The Government confiscated lists of people who had ordered indoor plant-growing equipment and raided their homes. The first Bush administration also worked hard to persuade Alaska to recriminalize marihuana possession and succeeded in 1990. That same year Congress passed a bill calling for federal transportation funds to be withheld from states refusing to enact a six-month suspension of the automobile licenses of people convicted of marijuana possession. It is important to remember that these increasingly harsh government measures (and the growing hysteria of anti-marijuana citizens' groups) did not reflect any new knowledge about the dangers of this drug. The more than a third of a century since the publication of the first edition of" Reconsidered" has produced remarkably little laboratory, sociological, or epidemiological evidence of serious health or social problems caused by marijuana. The present attitude of the government and anti-marijuana crusaders bears the same relationship to reality that the film "Reefer Madness"bore in 1936. But the dissonance is even more striking now, because we know so much more. Since 1971 millions of dollars have been spent by the National Institute of Drug Abuse to study the dangers of cannabis. This vast research enterprise has completely failed to provide a scientific basis for prohibition. Although evidence against the alleged toxicity continues to accumulate, the federal government persists in escalating its war on marijuana use, and to justify this policy it continues to distort, stretch and truncate research findings to an extent worthy of Procrustes**. One of the prices of the present level of enforcement is the growing number of annual marijuana arrests (872,000 in 2007), with enormous collateral costs. ** NOTE: In Greek Mythology, Procrustes was a host who adjusted his guests to their bed. Procrustes, whose name means "he who stretches," was arguably the most interesting of Theseus' challenges on the way to becoming a hero. He kept a house by the side of the road where he offered hospitality to passing strangers, who were invited in for a pleasant meal and a night's rest in his very special bed.

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Procrustes described it as having the unique property that its length exactly matched whomsoever lay down upon it. What Procrustes didn't volunteer was the method by which this "one-size-fits-all" was achieved, namely as soon as the guest lay down Procrustes went to work upon him, stretching him on the rack if he was too short for the bed and chopping off his legs if he was too long. Theseus turned the tables on Procrustes - fatally adjusting him to fit his own bed. Hence you make your bed and you sleep in it. In 19711 pointed out in Marihuana Reconsidered that since cannabis had been used by so many people all over the world for thousands of years with so little evidence of significant toxic effects, the discovery of some previously unknown serious health hazard was unlikely. I suggested that the emphasis in cannabis research should be shifted to its potential both as a medicine and as a tool to advance our understanding of brain function. Although few government resources have been committed to either of these fields, there have been compelling developments in both. In 1990 researchers discovered the first of two receptors in the brain stimulated by tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This exciting discovery implied that the body produces its own version of cannabinoids for one or more useful purposes. The first of the cannabinod-like neurotransmitters was identified in 1992 and named anandamide (ananda is the Sanskrit word for bliss). Cannabinod receptor sites occur not only in the lower brain but also in the cerebral cortex, where higher thinking takes place, and in the hippocampus, which is a locus of memory. These discoveries raise some interesting questions. Could the distribution of anandamide receptor sites in the higher brain explain why so many marijuana users claim that the drug enhances some mental activities, including insight, creativity and fluidity of associations? Do these receptor sites play a role in marijuana's capacity to alter the subjective experience of time? What about the subtle enhancement of perception and the capacity to experience the physical world with some of the freshness and excitement of childhood? Today there is a large research enterprise focusing on what is now called the endocannabinoid (ECS) system, promoting an increased understanding of how the brain functions and the remarkable diversity of mental and physical capacities catalyzed by cannabis. When I first began to study marijuana in 1967,1 naively believed that its only use was as a recreational drug. I soon came to understand that it also had a second important utility, as a medicine, and I published (along with James B. Bakalar)" Ma, Forbidden Medicine." Just as penicillin, after its discovery as an antibiotic in 1941, was soon hailed as a wonder drug because of its limited toxicity, its versatility in treating a number of different kinds of symptoms and syndromes, and its limited cost, we believe that marijuana, for the same three reasons, will eventually be hailed as a wonder medicine. Over the last decade and a half I have come to believe that there is a third category of marijuana use -enhancement. The three categories are to some degree overlapping. The use of cannabis as a recreational drug is well known. Recognition of its usefulness as medicine has been growing rapidly over the last decade and a half, so much so that pharmaceutical companies are now investing large sums of money in their attempts to develop patentable cannabinoid-analogs that they hope will compete profitably with herbal marihuana (presently the medicinal cannabis gold standard), which, as a plant, cannot be patented. Because most of marijuana's powers of enhancement are not as immediately available as its capacities for fun and medicine, this third category is the least recognized and most 74/160

underappreciated. While some facets of this capacity, like the lifting of mood and the enhancement of appetite and sexual experience are obvious to almost everyone who has succeeded in getting high, its more portentous expressions may provide deep insights which have led to significant lifechanging personal growth. Locating and exploring this category of the usefulness of marijuana requires more familiarity with the cannabis psychoactive experience than casual use provides, and some learning may be required. The learning involves exploring one's own stoned mental possibilities and capacities, and knowing something of what other people have achieved. As with the other two major categories of cannabis experience, there appears to be, as evidenced by these essays, a great variety of cannabis catalyzed enhancement experiences. Some are so subtle that it is understandable that some nonusers may be skeptical or consider these claims illusionary, just as many continue to believe the same about the medical claims and demand "double-blind controlled" studies to prove the countless anecdote-driven claims of the many medicinal uses of cannabis. And just as the patient with multiple sclerosis, for example, who gets better relief for muscle spasm and pain will not wait for controlled studies to affirm his or her experience that marijuana is more useful and safer than the conventional medicines used to treat these symptoms, users who find cannabis useful to their creative capacities, for example, will not wait for some sort of good housekeeping seal of approval. Conveying the fullness of the concept of this kind of enhancement and the richness of its potential is the next step."xvii February 11th, 2010, Lester Grinspoon. M.D.

Switzerland: A War on Cannabis Consumers The Swiss cannabis landscape has been under scrutiny lately. Since January 2015, consumers of the plant residing in Switzerland have been targeted by the government, with the help of Customs personnel as well as of police forces. Swiss media confirm that several hundreds of cannabis enthusiasts have been reported by Customs personnel over the last months. The common denominator? These Swiss citizens have been ordering cannabis seeds online. Many cannabis consumers turn to growing their own cannabis plants in order to provide for their personal needs; this is especially true for medicinal cannabis users, that see in home growing the most cost-effective, practical way to obtain easy access to the medicine. It also allows them to apply a certain level of quality control incomparable to measures taken - if any - by growers feeding the black market of cannabis products. From a legal standpoint, many countries within the European Union authorize individuals to own, purchase or sell cannabis seeds, including Switzerland. Yet, starting in the early millennium, a decline in tolerance to cannabis consumers started to show, with an apotheosis of sorts registered by the media from beginning of 2015. This is why cannabis activists from all over Europe were quick to express their outrage at this newfound tactic aiming to out cannabis growers. And with reason: as long as a citizen purchases their cannabis seeds from an authorized cannabis seed shop, and as long

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as their country of residence allows the trade of seeds, the practice of ordering cannabis seeds online is legal. Yet, hundreds and hundreds of these "offenders" have been denounced by Customs to police as well as judicial authorities. As reported by the concerned parties, in most cases, their orders were held at the border, resulting in their homes being searched. And predictably, a very large majority of these searches turned out to unveil non-professional, small growing installations. Plants, seeds as well as equipment were seized and disposed of. As pointed out by Sven Schendekehl, from association "Legalize It." not only is this seeming "witch-hunt" conducted by the government on the verge of legality, it is absurdly pointless, and that is without mentioning the funds used to mobilize police forces on the task of harassing these online shoppers.

Switzerland in backwards motion since 2005 During the 1990's, Switzerland was somewhat of a quiet haven for cannabis consumers, offering for instance many options in terms of hemp-related items; clothing and hygiene products. Large metropolises especially, were riddled with shops selling these types of articles. In 2005, the owner of such a shop was arrested, prosecuted and condemned for the sale of cannabis products. This was the beginning of a new era in the country, and since then, many other hemp shop owners have suffered the same fate. In 2007 and 2012, penalty guidelines in regards to drugs were revised to include fines for possession, consumption and trade, and one to three years of imprisonment in case of possession of more than 4 kilograms of cannabis. While the Swiss and European cannabis activist scene has intensified its efforts to counter this policy, on the other hand, it seems 2015 shows a major shift in police behavior in regards to casual cannabis consumption. So far, Swiss citizens have not been very supportive of their government’s actions. Back in February 2015, a survey showed that 80% of their readership was favorable to cannabis legalization

Cannabis seed banks support European consumers Sensi Seeds is based in the Netherlands. The trade of cannabis seeds is the core of their activity, and they are especially concerned by this alarming situation. Safety and discretion have always been their priorities when shipping seeds to customers. This is why the company has elected not to send cannabis seeds to Switzerland anymore upon reading about the current situation. Unsurprisingly, identical measures have been taken by many other cannabis seed banks. As judiciously pointed out by Sven Schendekehl, prosecuting individuals while attempting to randomly link them to the likes of traffickers is "inappropriate, "not to mention fruitless. Despite the efforts of the Swiss establishment, cannabis culture is raging, keeping the country present in cannabis-related news. And as always, there should be advocates for a science-based, inclusive legislation that will keep the average cannabis consumer as well as the medicinal user out of the realm of illegality.xviii

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Chapter 7 - Medicinal Marijuana - The Miracle Herb Cannabis as a Treatment for ADD/ADHD September 4, 2015: Attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD) is a neurological disorder characterized by impulsiveness, inattention and hyperactivity. ADD/ADHD is one of a group of neuropsychiatric conditions (that also includes schizophrenia and autism) now linked to a dysfunctional endocannabinoid system.

What is ADD/ADHD? ADD is the previous term for what has since 1987 been almost exclusively known as ADHD. ADHD is a complex disorder that manifests in childhood (typically between the ages of six and twelve) and is three times more likely to be diagnosed in boys (although it has been suggested that symptoms manifest differently in girls, and thus is often missed). Children diagnosed with ADHD exhibit several atypical social behaviors, such as incessant talking, inability to read social cues, fidgeting, and inability to focus on quiet tasks. ADHD-diagnosed individuals may also be impatient and prone to interruptions or inappropriate behavior. It is thought that ADHD is caused by a combination of environmental, genetic and potentially viral or bacterial factors. Twin studies suggest that up to 75% of ADHD cases are genetic in origin, and various studies have shown that the many genes implicated in ADHD are mostly involved in dopaminergic signaling - which is now known to be modulated in part by compounds related to the endocannabinoid system, such as anandamide. There has also been at least one study indicating that infection or trauma to the brain can later lead to development of ADHD.

The Role of the Endocannabinoid System in ADHD It appears that prenatal disruption of the endocannabinoid system may be an underlying cause of ADHD. Correct functioning of the endocannabinoids anandamide and 2-AG, along with the cannabinoid receptors themselves, have been repeatedly demonstrated to play a fundamental role in the normal cognitive and psychomotor development of developing infants, not just in humans but also in various animal models. The balance between novelty-seeking behavior and the development of risk-averse behavioral inhibition is fundamental to normal psychomotor development, and it is known that the endocannabinoid system has an integral role to play in the management of this important balance. Excessive novelty-seeking coupled with reduced behavioral inhibition is a key feature of ADHD. A study investigating two types of mice bred to lack CBD-receptors either in the glutaminergic or the GABAergic neurons (brain cells that produce glutamine and gamma-Aminobutyric acid respectively) found that glutaminergic CBD-deficient mice exhibited reduced novelty-seeking while those lacking in GABAergic neurons exhibited reduced behavioral inhibitions. Thus, activation of the CBD-receptors exerts opposite functions on novelty-seeking and behavioral inhibition depending on the type of neuron in question. This demonstrates that the correct functioning of the ECS in relation to impulsive behaviors is a finely-tuned and complex system, and that disorders such as ADHD can result if the balance is disrupted.

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The Genetic Basis for ADHD It is well-known that there is a strong genetic basis for ADHD, and it may also prove to be the case that genetically-derived differences in endocannabinoid function alter the individual response to cannabinoids. In a recent study (Pandolfo et al. 2009). the synthetic CB-receptor agonist WIN55,212-2 was administered to two distinct genetic lineages of study animal, Wistar and SHR rats. The SHR strain of rats is well-known to exhibit ADHD-like symptoms. It was demonstrated that in the SHR rats, administration of WIN55,212-2 caused conditioned place preference in both adolescent and adult rats, while in Wistar rats, WIN55,212-2 caused place aversion in adult rats only. The contrasting effects found in the two different lineages suggest that genetic makeup is responsible, and the difference between adolescent and adult SHR rats indicates that age-related genetic expression also has a part to play.

The Importance of Anandamide Uptake Inhibitors http://sensiseeds.com/en/blog/cannabis -as-a-treatment-for-addadhd/ Compounds that inhibit the uptake of anandamide (either directly or by inhibiting the release of the anandamide-degrading enzyme, fatty acid amide hydrolase or FAAH) cause levels of naturally-produced anandamide to increase in the bloodstream, and are increasingly being found to exert a range of important effects. Anandamide is fundamentally important to countless developmental processes necessary for normal cognitive and psychomotor performance. It has been repeatedly shown that anandamide has a role to play at every stage of the reproductive process, from influencing parental fertility, to overseeing embryonic implantation into the uterus, to guiding the development of the brain and central nervous system in the fetus. Due to this growing awareness of the importance of anandamide, serious consideration is now being given to the hypothesis that prenatal disturbances to the endocannabinoid system underlie the later development of a range of neuropsychiatric conditions including autism, schizophrenia and ADHD. An Italian study (Viggiano et al. 2008) investigated the relationship between anandamide and ADHD by administering the anandamide reuptake inhibitor AM404 to pregnant rats from the Naples High Excitability (NHE) lineage, which is well-known to exhibit hyperactivity and other ADHD-like symptoms. The researchers found that NHE rats administered with AM404 exhibited reduced hyperactivity and increased attention spans compared to NHE rats given placebo. These data suggest that reduced anandamide levels in pregnant NHE rats may underlie ADHDsymptoms, and that elevating anandamide levels are likely to have therapeutic potential in human ADHD.

Where does Dopaminergic Signaling come into this picture? A typical dopamine signaling in the striatum (an area of the brain related to fine-motor function and social interactions) plays a fundamental role in ADHD, and is also known to modulate the activity of the endocannabinoid system. A study (Castelli et al. 2011) investigating CBD-receptor function in mice bred to exhibit symptoms of ADHD via a mutation in the dopamine transporter (DAT) gene found that DAT-deficient mice also lacked the usual ability of the CBD-receptor to control important synaptic functions in the striatum. Another study (Tzavara et al. 2006) investigating DAT78/160

deficient mice found significantly-reduced levels of anandamide in the striatum, and also found that three indirect endocannabinoid agonists (compounds that indirectly increase levels of direct agonists such as anandamide, and via this mechanism activate the CB-receptors), AM404, VDM11, and AA5HT reduced spontaneous hyper locomotion (excessive movements such as fidgeting or uncontrollable running). However, the effects of AM404, VDM11, and AA5HT were also found to be significantly reduced when capsazepine, a TRPV1 antagonist, was co-administered—but not when the selective CBDreceptor antagonist AM251 was co-administered. This indicates that dysfunctional endocannabinoid signaling in the striatum is associated with increased dopamine levels, and that the TRPV1 receptors are the primary modulators of this effect. Thus, therapies that activate the TRPV1 receptors may be a promising area of research for ADHD and other disorders characterized by hyperactivity.

ADHD and the use of Cannabis It has been estimated that 17% to 45% of ADHD-diagnosed adults abuse or are dependent on alcohol, and 9% to 30% abuse or are dependent on drugs other than alcohol. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a significant proportion of ADHD sufferers use cannabis to self-medicate, and report that their symptoms are reduced and their feelings of "internal restlessness" calmed. The existing evidence suggests a potential ability of CBD-receptor agonists such as THC, anandamide and WIN55,212-2 to mediate some of the effects of ADHD, as CBD-knockout mice demonstrated reduced novelty-seeking behavior; however, as mice lacking CBD-receptors in the GABAergic neurons displayed reduced behavioral inhibition, the beneficial effect is compromised. Further research will no doubt elucidate the complex relationship between the ECS, impulsive behavior and disorders such as ADHD.xix

Cannabis and the Aging Process There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that the endocannaboid system has a fundamental role to play in various aspects of the aging process, both mental and somatic. Furthermore, regular use of cannabis itself may assist in slowing down this process, although the precise mechanism of action has not been ascertained.

Brain Ageing and the Endocannabinoid System The ageing of the brain, and the resultant neuro-degeneration associated with it, cause increasing levels of debilitation and cognitive decline as they progress. Common features of typical age-related neurodegeneration include memory loss, difficulty with orientation, and difficulty paying attention (although research suggests that the latter may be more closely related to impairment of hearing and vision rather than directly due to cognitive decline). Cannabis may slow or even reverse some of the signs of ageing (Tommerton 2010) Abnormal brain ageing is also a significant concern to health authorities worldwide -increasingly so, as the global population ages and age-related health problems become more prevalent. Conditions that cause the brain to age or decline prematurely or too rapidly include Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). There have been various studies 79/160

into the potential for cannabis and cannabinoid therapies to slow or even reverse the symptoms of neurodegeneration in diseases such as Alzheimer's, as well as a significant amount of research into the possibility that normal brain ageing could be slowed by cannabis use.

Research into normal brain ageing and Cannabis The ageing process is determined by the balance between detrimental and defensive biological processes, such as oxidative stress and antioxidation; the bulk of research suggests that the endocannabinoid system (ECS) is more closely associated with the latter camp than the former. Neuro-degeneration such as that seen in Alzheimer’s may be slowed or even reversed by cannabis. In terms of general, non-pathological ageing, it has been demonstrated that on a molecular level, cannabinoids regulate mitochondrial activity, act as antioxidants (via a mechanism that appears to be independent of the principal cannabinoid receptors), and modulate processes that remove harmful macromolecules from brain and CNS tissue. On a cellular level, the ECS regulates expression of the important neurotransmitter, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (for example, chronic exposure to THC induces upregulation of BDNF in rats), an important protein responsible for the development and maintenance of healthy neurons, which underlies its ability to assist in neurogenesis (growth of new neurons).

Pathological brain ageing and the ECS In terms of ageing that is non-typical or pathological (i.e. that caused by disease), the ECS has been widely implicated in the suppression of neuro inflammation (for example, mice bred to lack CBDreceptors exhibit significantly higher levels of neuro inflammation), which can lead to the development of neurodegenerative diseases and early-onset age-related cognitive decline. Thus, it is clear that the ECS (particularly with regards to the CBD-receptors and their agonists) has a vital role in the onset and progression of the ageing process. The two best-known endogenous cannabinoids, anandamide and 2-AG, are both agonists of the CBD-receptor; it is not known with certainty which of the two is more deeply involved in the antiageing process. However, preliminary research indicates that low levels of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH; the enzyme responsible for the degradation of anandamide) are associated with delayed brain ageing, suggesting that high levels of anandamide are likely to have a beneficial effect. Thus, FAAH inhibitors would make an ideal candidate for further research.

Ageing of Skin and the Endocannabinoid System As the skin ages, it loses elasticity and the thickness of the dermal layer decreases. The other major aspect of ageing aside from the mental is obviously the physical, and this aspect is primarily characterized by changes to the epidermis, dermis and hypodermis (the layer of fat, fibroblasts, and macrophage cells that lies just beneath the dermis). Exposure to UVA and UVB rays causes thinning of the dermal layer, meaning that as skin ages, it becomes less elastic and begins to sag, causing the epidermis to droop and become wrinkled. The skin also becomes prone to blemishes such as liver spots, which are thought to arise due to an

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accumulation of aged basal cells that can no longer be removed by the body’s natural waste-clearing mechanisms. It is now known that the endocannabinoid system is involved in the maintenance of healthy skin in various ways, and that dysfunction of the ECS could be behind various neurodegenerative diseases. A 2012 study published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging observed that in mice bred to lack CBD-receptors, not only did the subject animals exhibit early onset of neurodegeneration. they also demonstrated histological changes in skin elasticity resembling those found in typical ageing. However, the researchers noted that no other signs of ageing were seen to be associated with the deletion of the CBD-receptors. Furthermore, a 2010 study demonstrated that anandamide was integral to the processes of basal cell proliferation and death. Basal cells are the primary constituent of the epidermis, making up approximately 90% of all cells present, and it is well-known that maintenance of healthy skin requires their effective proliferation, growth and eventual death.

Senescence, Cell Death and the Endocannabinoid System The process of programmed cell death is involved in the process of ageing in various key ways, and there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that the ECS has an integral role to play. While there have been no studies specifically investigating the role of the ECS in cell death related to the normal ageing process, there are abundant studies documenting the ability of both CBD and THC to cause it in general terms. For example, it has been shown that that leukaemia and glioma (a tumor of the glial tissue of the brain) cells are sensitive to cannabidiol-induced apoptosis (apoptosis is a primary form of programmed cell death), but that primary monocytes and glial cells are relatively insensitive. THC has been shown to induce apoptosis in human prostate cancer cells, although it is thought that this effect may be mediated by some other means that via the cannabinoid receptors, as other agonists such as WIN55,212-2 had no effect. A 2008 study also showed that the cannabinoid acid and precursor to THC, THCA. is responsible for the regulation of cell death in the leaves of cannabis plants. The study showed that THCA is injected into leaf tissues, where it causes mitochondrial dysfunction within leaf tissues, and ultimately leads to necrosis (another important type of cell death).

Other ways that Cannabis can help a patient As well as anandamide, THC, and CBD, there are other phyto- and endocannabinoids that may have a role to play in the maintenance of healthy skin. For example, the endogenous CB2-receptor agonist n-palmitovlethanolamine has been shown to reduce pruritus (itching of the skin) reported in patients with atopic dermatitis and related diseases; although pruritus can affect individuals of any age, its occurrence becomes far more prevalent with age. Furthermore, the unique combination of omega-3 and omega-6 oils found in hemp seed may also have distinct benefits on the process of skin ageing. A 2012 study on mice concluded that the sample group administered with hemp oil demonstrated significant improvements in dermal thickness, along with improved collagen fiber texture, and increased numbers of hair follicles (reduction in hair follicle count leading to balding is another common sign of ageing).

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Could cannabis sometimes speed the rate of ageing? Although cannabis use generally slows the ageing process, smoking any substance may speed it up. Although it seems that cannabis use is generally advantageous in terms of delaying the ageing process, there may be certain circumstances in which it can have a deleterious effect. Smoking as a delivery method may negate the potential benefits of cannabinoids as an anti-ageing treatment, and may even contribute to accelerated skin ageing. This is due to the fact that cannabis smoke contains many of the same hydrocarbons as tobacco smoke. Despite evidence suggesting that these hydrocarbons (although considered to be pro-carcinogenic) are not associated with cancer in cannabis smokers, there is evidence to suggest that they do nonetheless cause damage on a cellular level, in ways that may be dependent on genetic makeup. Overall, it appears that the likelihood of cannabis use speeding the process of ageing is small, and that regular use (although preferably via a means other than smoking) could in fact slow or even reverse clinical signs of ageing seen in the brain and the tissues of the epidermis and dermis.xx

Marijuana and Cognition As a psychoactive substance, cannabis has various cognitive effects at the point of use, which generally fade within a few hours. With heavy, longterm use, more permanent cognitive effects may result, although the consensus on this within the scientific community is shaky.

Acute cognitive effects of Cannabis The acute cognitive effects of cannabis are numerous and vary widely from person to person according to several factors including genetic makeup, age, gender, and individual tolerance. It is believed that the phytocannabinoid A9-THC is primarily responsible for the cognitive effects of cannabis, as it the only compound contained within cannabis that is known to have a psychoactive effect; however, it is thought that various other cannabinoids including CBD work in synergy with THC to mediate its cognitive effects, dependent on ratio and dose. The best-known acute cognitive effects associated with cannabis are generally related to memory, learning, and higher executive function. In practical terms, this can mean that while under the influence of cannabis, an individual’s ability to plan, make decisions, maintain attention, solve problems, retain information, and cope with unexpected situations may be compromised to some extent.

Research into the acute cognitive effects of Cannabis An important review of the existing literature published in 2012 notes that researchers first began investigating the acute cognitive effects (those experienced from 0-6 hours after consumption) of cannabis use in the 1970's, and have found consistent evidence of alterations to learning and memory function. However, results of research into cannabis' effects on higher executive function have been less conclusive. The effect of cannabis on attention is controversial, and appear to depend greatly on individual tolerance. A 2001 study (Hart et al.) found that neither high or low doses of THC impaired response 82/160

to attention tasks compared to placebo in chronic cannabis users, and that high doses of THC actually significantly improved performance on a visual tracking task. Conversely, a 2009 study (Morrison et al.) found that infrequent cannabis users experienced significant impairment in attention and concentration in the THC-using group compared to controls. The acute effect of cannabis on decision-making and risk-taking is also somewhat controversial, and appears to depend on dose. A 2005 study (Lane et al.) compared the effect of either high or low doses of THC compared to placebo, and found that subjects exposed to high doses exhibited significantly greater risktaking compared to the low-dose or placebo groups. Conversely, a 2006 study (Raemakers et al.) concluded that the effect of THC on risk-taking was negligible, although it significantly lengthened the time taken to make decisions, and increased the rate of incorrect responses in the tests taken by subjects. Memory is impaired by acute cannabis intoxication, and has been demonstrated to do so on multiple occasions, in research papers spanning decades. An early study (Miller et al. 1977) concluded that overall ability to recall information was reduced in subjects exposed to cannabis, and that visual recall was inferior to verbal; more recently, the aforementioned 2001 (Hart et al.) study demonstrated that memory was impaired in a dose-dependent manner in subjects exposed to THC.

Residual and permanent cognitive effects of chronic Cannabis use Long-term users of cannabis may be at a somewhat elevated risk of certain cognitive impairments that persist beyond the cessation of intoxication. These impairments may be residual (occurring not long after cessation of intoxication, and related to lingering traces of the active compound in the system) or permanent (persisting after all traces of the substance have left the system); however, existing research has thus far yielded inconsistent and occasionally contradictory results. Cannabis has long been known to exert a significant effect on memory and learning. A 2002 US study (Solowij et al.) found that long-term users of cannabis demonstrated significant impairment in memory and learning tasks compared with short-term users or non-users. Conversely, a more recent study (Tait et al. 2011) found that although baseline results indicated significant differences between cannabis-using and non-using groups, when these results were controlled for gender and educational level, these differences all but disappeared. However, after adjustment it was found that former heavy users of cannabis performed better on one of four cognitive tests (specifically, one related to verbal learning) than current heavy users, indicating that some degree of cognitive impairment exists in heavy, long-term users (but also that such impairments improved in former users). Clearly, the extent of cannabis use plays a role in the potential development of long-term cognitive impairment. A 2006 study (Jager et al.) concluded that although cognitive effects may occur in heavy long-term users, moderate users displayed no deficits in memory or learning, although they did exhibit altered activity in the left superior parietal cortex of the brain during working memory processing.

Effect of abstinence on cognition in chronic users of Cannabis As previously mentioned, the 2001 (Hart et aZ.)study showed that chronic cannabis users performed less well on attention tasks when abstinent compared to performance after ingestion of 83/160

THC. This phenomenon has been observed repeatedly: a 2004 study (Kelleher et ak) compared heavy, chronic cannabis users with noncannabis using controls, and found that abstinent users exhibited significantly slower informationprocessing speed, which normalized after smoking cannabis. The study authors observe that this may imply that former cannabis users are at risk of resuming cannabis use in an attempt to regain optimal information-processing abilities. There have been several other studies indicating that abstinent regular users continue to experience cognitive impairments for some time subsequent to cessation of use, but it does appear that abstinent chronic users may expect to regain optimal cognitive function with time.

Cognitive effects in former Cannabis users A 2002 review of the existing research concludes that while cognitive impairment is apparent at days 0,1 and 7 in heavy users, by day 28 most studies found that any residual impairment was negligible. As a 2003 review of the literature also observes: “Our results indicate that there might be decrements in the ability to learn and remember new information in chronic users, whereas other cognitive abilities are unaffected. However, from a neurocognitive standpoint, the small magnitude of these effect sizes suggests that if cannabis compounds are found to have therapeutic value, they may have an acceptable margin of safety under the more limited conditions of exposure that would likely obtain in a medical setting.” However, a more recent study (Bolla et al, 2005) found that chronic cannabis users that had been abstinent for 25 days exhibited significant neurocognitive impairment compared to non-cannabis using controls, as well as demonstrating altered brain activity —abstinent users showed increased activity in the left cerebellum and decreased activity in the right lateral or bitofrontal cortex and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This effect was also shown to be dose-dependent, as it was more pronounced in the ‘heavy use’ group compared to the ‘moderate use’ group when results were further subdivided. Furthermore, the moderate group differed only slightly from the control group, leading the authors to speculate that cognitive impairment in chronic users is dependent on a threshold-dose effect. Thus, it appears that further research is needed to ascertain the precise nature of the effect.

Cannabis, cognition and Mental Illness The potential effects of cannabis use for individuals susceptible to or already suffering from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia is a vast area of research that is impossible to comprehensively summarize without overlooking a huge amount of detail. However, the mainstream media consistently disregards this fact and supplies incomplete (and often entirely inaccurate) information to the general public. For the last few years, much has been made of the apparent link between cannabis use and onset of psychosis (an abnormal mental state that can lead to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or various other psychiatric conditions—or can resolve without causing long-term problems). It is certainly the case that individuals suffering from schizophrenia are far more likely to use cannabis than the general public; however, it appears that this cannabis use is likely to ameliorate symptoms rather than contribute to them. 84/160

A 2010 meta-analvsis of the existing research found that schizophrenics that used cannabis actually exhibited superior cognitive and neuropsychological functioning compared to non-cannabis using schizophrenics, and demonstrated only selective impairments while nonusers demonstrated impairments across the board. Cannabis users performed better on working memory, visual memory and executive function; furthermore, individuals who began using cannabis earlier in life performed better on tests than those that began use later in life. These findings strongly suggest that, rather than triggering the disease, cannabis use in prodromal schizophrenics (i.e. individuals in the very early stages of schizophrenia) in fact confers a neuroprotective effect.

Cannabis and Cognition in Adolescents Although it appears that cannabis use early in life is not responsible for the onset of psychosis or schizophrenia, there remains widespread concern that adolescents who use cannabis are subjecting themselves to various cognitive and psychological effects. Indeed, a 2014 review of the literature observed that "evidence is building to suggest that regular cannabis use during the teenage or emerging adult years (typically ages 15-25 years) is associated with cognitive deficits." Some Schizophrenics appear to derive significant benefit from use of cannabis. The vast majority of the studies reviewed reported cannabis-related cognitive deficits including impaired processing speed, verbal memory, executive function and complex attention, along with an increased propensity for risky behavior. Studies investigating the effect of abstinence on adolescent users found that impaired processing speed, verbal memory, sustained attention and sequencing ability persisted at one month’s abstinence, but markedly improved at four months. However, this particular review made no mention of the methodology used to find and categorize the studies it analyzed. It is important to note that many of the existing studies into the cognitive effects of cannabis are methodologically weak, and the existence of apparently-conflicting results may in many cases be due to a lack of differentiation on the basis of age, gender or other confounding factors. In future, as the weight of research grows, it will be increasingly possible to identify flaws in study design and thus ascertain with far greater accuracy the likely effects of cannabis on the individual cognitive response, and how individual makeup can affect the severity and duration of cognitive impairment. Furthermore, most of the existing research focuses solely on THC, but as our understanding of the synergistic effects of combining phytocannabinoids in specific ratios increases, we are likely to identify myriad cognitive effects—such as the fact that combining CBD with THC entirely negates the memory-impairing effect.xxi

Cannabis and Eating Disorders Cannabis has been known for millennia as a means to stimulate appetite and encourage consumption of food, and has long been used as a treatment for anorexia and related eating disorders. Now, modern research is finding that the link between the endocannabinoid system and diseases like anorexia is far deeper than ever suspected.

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Research into Cannabis for Eating Disorders Although cannabis has been investigated as a potential treatment for anorexia and related eating disorders for decades, results have not always been positive. An early doubleblind crossover study published in 1983 compared the effect of THC compared to an active placebo, diazepam, on the appetites of anorexia nervosa sufferers, and found that administration of THC did not lead to an increase in caloric intake or overall weight gain, and in fact caused "significant psychic disturbance" in several patients. However, a more recent double-blind crossover study found that the synthetic THC analogue dronabinol led to "small but significant" weight gain in female sufferers of anorexia nervosa compared to placebo, and with no significant adverse psychotropic effects. Several studies investigating animal models of anorexia have also found that administration of THC or other cannabinoid receptor agonists led to weight gain and improved appetite in their test subjects. One study found that in mice with induced activity-based anorexia, daily administration of 0.5mg THC “decreased survival” in the test group, but increased feeding rates in the survivors. Daily administration of a synthetic anandamide analogue, OMDM-2 (3 mg/kg), increased feeding rates without affecting overall survival rates, but not sufficiently to reverse weight loss.

Cannabis as an Appetite Stimulant Although few studies exist that specifically investigate the effect of cannabis on the appetites of anorexia nervosa sufferers, there are multiple studies into the effect of cannabis and cannabinoids on the form of anorexia that can affect individuals suffering from certain debilitating illnesses such as cancer, AIDS or hepatitis. A1994 phase-II study of the effect of THC on the appetites of cancer patients found that of eighteen subjects, thirteen reported an improvement in appetite following use of THC, and with no significant ill-effects. On that basis, cannabis was deemed an effective and safe appetite stimulant for cancer patients. However, a more recent double-blind, placebo-cOntrolled clinical trial conducted in 2006 found no significant differences in quality of life for either cannabis extract or THC compared to placebo. While the various studies out there may differ greatly in results, it is clear that the endocannabinoid system has an important role to play in the management of appetite and feeding. These past studies have enabled scientists to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the endocannabinoid system, and the extensive role that it has to play in the regulation of essential biological processes such as appetite, food intake and satiety.

The EC system and regulation of food intake As our understanding of the endocannabinoid system advances, the role it has to play in the development and management of diseases such as anorexia is beginning to emerge. A study published in 2005 fOund that in individuals suffering from anorexia nervosa and bingeeating disorder, blood levels of the endogenous cannabinoid anandamide were significantly heightened, although they remained normal in patients diagnosed with bulimia nervosa. The researchers also found that anandamide levels were inversely associated with levels of ghrelin, another molecule that is deeply involved in the regulation of appetite and food intake.

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The relationship between ghrelin signalling and the endocannabinoid system has been studied extensively, and it has been observed that THC can effectively act as a substitute for ghrelin in cancer sufferers receiving chemotherapy. The role of ghrelin is to stimulate the peripheral nervous system and ultimately the brain, in order to produce sensations of hunger when the stomach is empty. If ghrelin is absent for some reason (in chemotherapy patients, certain drugs inhibit the release of ghrelin), no sensations of hunger manifest even if the stomach is empty, and the patient can become anorexic. Given that anandamide fulfills many of the same biological functions as THC, it is understandable that in patients with binge-eating disorder, a flood of anandamide would encourage excessive eating. It is unclear why patients with anorexia nervosa experience a similar flood of anandamide yet do not experience (or are able to resist) the desire to eat.

Could a dysfunctional EC system cause Anorexia? Not only is the endocannabinoid system fundamental to the regulation of appetite and food intake, it is now thought that anorexia nervosa and related disorders could in fact be caused by underlying imbalances that could potentially be corrected by targeted cannabinoid therapies. In a recent study, researchers studied the brains of anorexic, bulimic and healthy women using positron emission topography (PET). They found that sufferers of anorexia nervosa exhibited a significant overall increase in CBD-receptor density in the cortical and sub cortical regions of the brain, while both bulimic and anorexic subjects exhibited significantly higher CBD-receptor density in a particular region of the brain known as the insular cortex. Levels of naturally-occurring endocannabinoids were also found to be significantly lower in both bulimics and anorexics, particularly in the insular cortex. The researchers suggested that in anorexia sufferers, the overall increase in CBD-receptor density could be a compensatory mechanism for an underactive endocannabinoid system. They also noted that the increase in CBD-receptor density in the insular cortex seen in both bulimics and anorexics is likely to be associated with the underlying dysfunction of the pleasure-reward system, as the insular cortex is known to be fundamentally involved in these processes. There have also been several studies investigating the possibility that mutations in genes related to the endocannabinoid system may render bearers more susceptible to eating disorders such as anorexia. A study published in 2009 concluded that a single nucleotide polymorphism in the CNR1 gene that encodes for the expression of the cannabinoid receptor type I, as well as a second polymorphism in a gene controlling production of the anandamide-degradation molecule FAAH, may contribute to a biological sensitivity to anorexia and bulimia nervosa.

Cannabis use by Anorexia Sufferers Anorexic women are more likely to use cannabis, alcohol and tobacco than the general population There are several studies that have assessed the rate of substance use and misuse in individuals suffering from eating disorders and have found it to be higher-than-average for cannabis, although this is also true of alcohol, tobacco and many other substances. Cannabis is the most commonlyreported illicit drug used by sufferers of eating disorders, although this is unsurprising given that it is the most commonly-used illicit drug across the board.

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There have been no studies into the possibility that cannabis use could cause anorexia or facilitate sufferers in their commitment to starving themselves, but there are indications that cannabis can cause appetite suppression in certain circumstances. Indeed, in China, cannabis has been used as an appetite suppressant for centuries. However, research indicates that this effect depends on the presence of high levels of CBD or THCV, two cannabinoids that have been found to have appetite-dulling properties. Research conducted by British cannabinoid science company GW Pharmaceuticals, creators of the oromucosal cannabinoid spray Sativex, demonstrated that the two cannabinoids exerted a appetitesuppressing effect when administered to mice. The effect is derived from the fact that the compounds are an antagonist and an inverse agonist of the cannabinoid receptors, and block the appetite-stimulating effects of agonists such as anandamide or THC. GW Pharmaceuticals applied for a patent in 2008 for a new appetitesuppressant drug based on the two molecules, but it is not clear if the drug has been developed yet. In any case, anorexics who use cannabis are unlikely to be using cannabis that contains higher levels of CBD or THCV than THC, as such varieties are likely to be hemp. However, if the hypothesis is borne out that a dysfunctional endocannabinoid system is the underlying cause of anorexia, use of THC-rich cannabis may bring heightened subjective reward to those lacking in or unable to effectively utilize anandamide, THC’s endogenous analogue. Plenty of research remains to be done before our understanding of the endocannabinoid system is complete enough to allow us a full understanding of its relationship to the development and management of diseases like anorexia nervosa. However, it is clear that its role is fundamental, and that deeper understanding will enable us to develop targeted therapies for anorexia, bulimia and various related disorders.xxii

Marijuana and Autism Spectrum Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterized by difficulty with social interaction, repetitive behavior and limited empathy with peers. Some forms of autism also lead to cognitive and linguistic impairment, although Asperger's syndrome is an exception to this. So what role does the endocannabinoid system have to play?

The EC system is fundamentally linked to autism spectrum disorders In recent years, a significant body of research has accumulated exploring the link between the endocannabinoid system and ASDs. It has been demonstrated that CBl-receptors are most concentrated in areas in the brain thought to be dysfunctional in cases of autism, namely the cerebellum, hippocampus, and the basal ganglia (Bauman and Kemper 2005. Courchesne et al. 2007). As the human foetus develops, CBl-receptors and their associated endocannabinoids play an integral role in neuron differentiation and axonal migration (Fride et al. 20091. processes that are essential for normal neurological development. Furthermore, recent studies suggest that CBlreceptors are responsible for defining the positioning of the synapses themselves (Harkanv et al. 2008). It is therefore suggested that activation of CBl-receptors in infancy could trigger ASDs by interrupting normal brain development.

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The role of the CB2-receptors in ASDs The CB2-receptors also have a possible role to play in autism, however. It has been shown that CB2-receptor agonists decrease the rate at which certain important immune cells known as monocytes migrate across the endothelium—the thin layer of cells that separate the circulatory system from the tissues and organs (Rajesh et al. 20071. Monocytes are one of the key cell types related to the immune system, and disruption to their deveopment and function has been implicated in the development of ASDs on several occasions (Jyonouchi et al. 2014.Entstrom et al. 2010). A fairly recent study (Siniscalo et al. 20131 demonstrated that in children with autism, levels of CB2-receptors in the monocytes were increased, while levels of CBD-receptors and the anandamide-degrading molecule fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) were unchanged.

The role of acetaminophen/paracetam ol in the development of Autism There is evidence to suggest that ASDs could actually be triggered in children by use of paracetamol (acetaminophen), which is believed to exert its analgesic effects by acting on the cannabinoid receptors. Acetaminophen is deacetylated in the central nervous system to the compound p-aminophenol, which in turn reacts with arachidonic acid (catalysed by FAAH). This reaction produces the compound N-arachidonoylphenolamine (AM404), which inhibits the cellular uptake of anandamide. As a result, anandamide levels increase and produce an analgesic effect. The endocannabinoid system is essential for the correct development of neural networks, and if disrupted can cause neurological disorders such as ASD Furthermore, it has been shown that blocking the CBD-receptors with antagonists completely prevents the analgesic effect of acetaminophen. Thus, it is now known that acetaminophen exerts its effects through degradation to AM404 and activation of the CBD-receptors, although at least one study has indicated that AM404 exerts its effects via the CBD. CB2. and TRPV1 receptors together. It has been suggested that use of acetaminophen in early childhood may lead to the development of autism by disrupting normal immunological development (Torres 2003). Children who are less able to metabolize acetaminophen may therefore be at increased risk of developing autism, as higher levels of the compound will remain present in the blood for longer periods.

Could the MMR controversy actually be related to Paracetamol use? Paracetamol is an over-the-counter pain reliever. Indeed, there is substantial evidence indicating that children experiencing fever exhibit fewer and less severe symptoms of autism than in normal times (Curran et al. 20071. Furthermore, activation of the CBl-receptors causes a decrease in body temperature, as well as providing an analgesic effect (Fraga et al. Interestingly, as the MMR vaccine is known to cause mild fever in some children it is administered to, it has been suggested (Schultz 2010) that a trigger for the development of autism is in fact the acetaminophen commonly used to treat the fever symptoms, rather than the vaccine itself. Indeed, experiencing fever may be useful to the normal immunological development of a child, and disrupting this process with CBl-receptor agonists may prove to increase the risk of autism developing. However, this hypothesis has not been tested to date.

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The possible role of the Dopamine Signaling System in ASDs One case study (Dratcu et al. 2007) reports the story of a middle-aged man previously been diagnosed with schizophrenia due to his psychotic symptoms being admitted to an acute psychiatric unit, where for the first time in his life a diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome was pronounced. Schizophrenia and Asperger's have many features in common, and the two are often confused due to this. After treatment with the antipsychotic drug aripiprazole, the symptoms of Asperger’s significantly improved. Aripiprazole is a partial agonist at the dopamine D2-receptors, and there is substantial evidence to demonstrate that both schizophrenia and Asperger’s fundamentally involve dopamine dysfunction. It appears that anandamide may have a part to play in this process. Anandamide is known to play a role in dopaminergic signalling, although the exact mechanism has not been precisely elucidated; however, existing studies (listed in the extensive review, (Beltramo et al. 2000) indicate that one of the many functions of anandamide within the CNS may be to modulate psychomotor and social activity primary facilitated by the dopamine D2-receptor.

What part does Genetics have to play in the development of ASDs? It was previously believed that the proportion of autism cases attributable to genetic factors was as high as 90%. It is now thought that this was an overestimate due to poorly-designed twin studies, and that the actual heritability of autism is around 30%. One form of autism, fragile-X syndrome, is the most common monogenic (i.e. caused by a mutation to a single gene or chromosome) cause of inherited autism, and is caused by the inactivation of the FMR1 gene, which is responsible for the production of the FMR protein. It it well-known that the endocannabinoid system is implicated in the regulation of cognitive function, anxiety, perception of pain, susceptibility to seizures, and synaptic plasticity (the ability for synapses to strengthen or weaken depending on their level of activity), all of which are affected in fragile-X. A study (Busquets-Garcia et al. 2013) investigating the role of the EC system in male mice bred to lack the FMR1 gene found that blocking the CBD-receptors normalized cognitive damage, sensitivity to pain, and susceptibility to seizures, while blocking the CB2-receptors normalized anxiety levels.

So how could ASDs be helped by this? In recent weeks, much has been made of the recent decision by the Michigan Medical Marijuana Review panel to approve the use of cannabis for ASDs -although the final decision now lies with the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, which must issue its judgment by late October. There are various anecdotal examples of children whose autism symptoms are improved with use of medical cannabis - for example, a 9-year-old, severely-autistic boy named Kalel Santiago was recently reported to have spoken his first words after treatment with CBD-rich hemp extract. Just as with epilepsy, it appears that the majority of parents administering cannabis to their autistic children are utilizing CBD-rich oils, apparently with positive results. If activation of the cannabinoid receptors during the child’s development is an underlying cause of ASDs, it stands to reason that administration of antagonists such as CBD would negate this effect.

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However, there is also at least one report of autistic children experiencing more significant relief from symptoms when using THC and CBD together. From the existing reports, children who appear to benefit from higher THC ratios are those who suffer from both epilepsy and ASD. There is also one case study of a six-year-old autistic boy whose symptoms were markedly improved by treatment with the synthetic THC analogue dronabinol. It is important to stress that these are anecdotal results not borne out by rigorous empirical testing to ensure that no other factors are responsible for the apparent effect, and thus it is insufficient for most doctors to comfortably recommend THC-rich medical cannabis products to children, particularly when concerns remain over the effect of THC on the developing brain. Furthermore, the various different types of autism may respond differently to administration of THC, and more research is required to determine exactly what those responses could be. As research into this particular area of neuroscience intensifies, we will no doubt see the development of targeted therapies to treat the symptoms of ASD in developing children, in an attempt to prevent the disease from intensifying in severity and possibly even to reverse existing neurological damage; it is also likely that we will be able to develop targeted therapies allowing adults diagnosed with ASD to live normal or at least greatly improved lives.xxiii

Cannabis and Menopause The endocannabinoid system has a fundamental role to play in all aspects of female fertility, from initial fecundity, to implantation of the developing embryo into the endometrium, to delivery of endocannabinoids via breast milk. As well as all this, the EC system also has a vital role in the cessation of fertility.

What is the menopause? The menopause is the term for the stage of life wherein a human female ceases to menstruate, and permanently loses the ability to have children. Strictly, menopause refers to the point at which a woman has not experienced a menstrual period for twelve months; the years of biological disturbances either side of this point are known as the "perimenopause." Prior to the perimenopause, during a phase known as the pre menopause, women typically begin to experience irregularities to their menstrual cycle, and levels of hormones begin to fluctuate. The premenopausal stage can last several years before the onset of perimenopause, and may begin to affect an individual as early as age thirty-five. During post menopause (the years after menopause), women experience overall lower levels of reproductive hormones, along with an increased propensity for urinary tract infections, weight gain, and various other health complications.

Symptoms of the Perimenopause During the perimenopause, which typically occurs between 45 and 55 years of age, various unpleasant and occasionally debilitating symptoms occur. These symptoms can be roughly divided into three types: vaginal/uterine; other physical; and psychological. Vaginal/uterine symptoms include vaginal dryness, pain during intercourse, and atrophic vaginitis (a condition whereby the mucous membranes of the vagina, vulva and related tissues become thinner and lose elasticity). 91/160

Other physical symptoms include night sweats, heart palpitations, dizziness, headaches, stiffness, back pain, breast pain, urinary incontinence, night sweats, insomnia, and hot flashes. Psychological symptoms include anxiety, depression, lack of focus, memory problems, mood swings, and loss of libido.

Menopause and the Endocannabinoid System There is a relative abundance of research into the complex role the endocannabinoid system plays in female fertility in general, including in the onset of menopause. Existing research has demonstrated that various fundamental changes to the endocannabinoid system and related biological systems occur during the menopause transition. Menopause carries with it an increased risk of osteoporosis, which is itself thought to be related to changes in EC-system function in the skeletal system. A 2011 study found that in the osteoclasts (cells responsible for absorbing bone) of postmenopausal women diagnosed with osteoporosis. an over expression of CB2-receptors caused osteoclast over activity, causing bone to be reabsorbed too quickly. Menopause also affects the body’s sensitivity to insulin, and is known to cause insulin resistance (which can in turn lead to the development of diabetes type II) in a large proportion of postmenopausal women. Furthermore, a 2013 Canadian study found that in obese postmenopausal women, those that exhibited insulin resistance also demonstrated higher circulating levels of the endocannabinoid 2-AG in the blood, lower levels of anandamide, and elevated levels of CBDreceptor activity compared with subjects who exhibited insulin sensitivity. The link between the endocannabinoid system, the menopause transition and the risk of weight gain deserves further investigation. An earlier study, conducted in 2005 in Germany, found that in postmenopausal women, obese subjects exhibited a significant increase in both anandamide and 2AG compared with non-obese subjects. A corresponding reduction in levels of the endocannabinoid-degrading enzyme FAAH was also observed in obese women.

How genetic variations to the EC system affect Menopause There are also genetic elements controlling the function of the endocannabinoid system at key points in the female reproductive life cycle; research has demonstrated that individuals in possession of certain single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) differ in their physical response to menopause, in ways determined by the function of the EC system. A 2010 study into postmenopausal women in Poland found that those in possession of a specific SNP, A3813G, of the gene encoding for expression of cannabinoid receptor type I rendered individuals more likely to experience increased android (central torso) fat deposits. A 2011 study by the same Polish research team found that a different SNP, RS2023239, of the CNR1 gene may be associated with an increased "free androgen index" in postmenopausal women in possession of it. Increased levels of free androgens (male reproductive hormones such as testosterone) may in turn be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

How can Cannabis help Menopausal women? Osteoporosis In osteoporosis, over activity of CB-receptors in the osteoclasts leads to excessive bone loss

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The CB2-receptors of the osteoclasts are fundamentally involved with the development of osteoporosis, and it has been shown that SNPs in the CNR2 gene encoding for expression of CB2receptors are strongly associated with the development of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. As well as this, it is also now known that CBD-receptors also have a role to play in the development of osteoporosis: a 2005 study on mice with inactivated CBD-receptors exhibited increased bone mass and were protected from ovariectomy-induced bone loss. Several studies have also shown that antagonists of the CB2-receptors decrease bone loss; thus, inactivation of the CB-receptors appears to be key to reducing the excessive rate of bone mass-reduction that causes osteoporosis.

Weight gain While limited research into the altered EC-system function in obese postmenopausal women does exist, there are apparently no specific studies into the ability of cannabinoids to control or reverse weight gain in such cases. However, in general terms, it appears that CB-receptor blockers are also key to managing this symptom. Several studies have demonstrated that the synthetic selective inverse agonist of the CBD-receptor, rimonabant, is capable of causing weight loss in humans, but the drug has been withdrawn from the market due to the potential for serious psychiatric side-effects including suicide ideation. However, prevalence of obesity in cannabis users is much lower than in the general population, a fact potentially attributable to a synergistic effect of THC combined with CBD: thus, non-synthetic medical cannabis may prove equally if not more effective than any synthetic cannabinoid, and presents far fewer potential side-effects.

Insomnia Sleep apnea is characterized by disrupted breathing during sleep, and has been linked to a number of serious conditions, including diabetes and heart problems. Research on marijuana and sleep shows that marijuana's main ingredient, THC, can significantly reduce the time it takes for both insomniacs and healthy people to fall asleep. Unfortunately, the vast majority of sleep apnea sufferers remain undiagnosed and untreated. What's more, experts believe that the most damaging effects of sleep deprivation result from a lack of slow-wave sleep. Moreover, research has shown that reduced slow-wave sleep can be a strong predictor of high blood pressure in older men. The good news is, studies show that THC can increase the amount of slowwave sleep, also known as deep sleep that a user experiences during their slumber. Insomnia is a common symptom during menopause that can be alleviated with cannabis Again, no specific studies into the ability of cannabis to ameliorate insomnia in menopausal women exist, but there are several studies attesting to the ability of various cannabinoids and synthetic cannabinoids including anandamide and the THC analogue Marinol to speed onset of sleep, improve restfulness of sleep and reduce likelihood of awaking midsleep, as outlined in a 2007 review.

Insulin resistance There have been several studies into the relationship between the endocannabinoid system, insulin resistance, and the development of diabetes. It appears that blockers of the CB-receptors are key to 93/160

managing insulin resistance, as CB2-knockout mice exhibit reduced insulin resistance, and CBDreceptor blockers have been repeatedly shown to mediate diet-induced insulin resistance.

Pain Again, countless studies into the ability of cannabis and cannabinoids to manage pain have been published over the decades, with the general consensus appearing to be that CB-receptors agonists are more useful than blockers in the management of pain. Both CBD-receptor agonists such as anandamide and CB2-receptor agonists such as the synthetic AM1241 have been shown to exert an anti-nociceptive effect in cases of chronic pain.

Anxiety The precise role of the EC system in mediating anxiety remains somewhat controversial, and appears to be dose-dependent. Low doses of CB-receptor agonists appear to induce a anxiolytic effect, while high doses exert the opposite effect. Furthermore, CBD-receptor inactivation or deletion appears to induce anxiogenic effects.

Loss of libido The CBD-receptor inverse agonist AM251 has been shown to increase sexual motivation, proceptivitv and receptivity in female rats, suggesting a possible role for CBD-receptor blockers in the treatment of loss of libido in human females. Could cannabis worsen any of the symptoms of menopause? Membrane Dryness Cannabis is certainly associated with xerostomia (dryness of the mouth); it has also been widely linked in the popular press to vaginal dryness, although it appears that there is in fact no basis for this claim. A 2009 study entitled "Cannabis and Sexual Health" appears to be the basis, but on closer inspection it is apparent that the association between cannabis use and vaginal dryness was in fact too weak to reach statistical significance. Furthermore, the mechanism underlying vaginal lubrication differs in fundamental ways to salivation. Indeed, there is evidence that cannabis can in fact enhance sexual arousal. which is more likely to have a beneficial than detrimental effect on the natural processes of vaginal lubrication.

Heart Palpitations Although the consensus on this is shaky, it does appear that cannabis can trigger acute cardiovascular events in susceptible individuals. It appears that agonists such as THC are more likely to be implicated in such events, and thus it may be advisable to avoid THC if suffering from heart palpitations, particularly if at risk from any preexisting condition. In general, it appears that CB-receptor blockers are more useful for the management of menopauserelated disorders including osteoporosis, weight gain and loss of libido, whereas agonists such as THC are more useful in the management of pain, anxiety and insomnia.xxiv Comment: I am a 58 year old women. I started to smoke pot in 1969 have smoked it steady since 1973 or '74. It has helped me more than anything. Prozac was not for me; it turned me upside down, but pot helped with anxiety, depression and the mood swings. I've done gone through menopause and if it 94/160

weren't for pot I would not have any friends, family or social life cause I was a disaster, a complete mess. I would not give up my pot license for all the money in the world. Valium made me crazy too, so I love the demonized herb!

Marijuana and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Myalgic encephalopathy (ME) is a complex and controversial disorder characterized by chronic symptoms of fatigue that have no apparent cause and are not relived by rest. Although there is very little empirical research into the potential for cannabis to treat ME, countless sufferers report feeling subjective relief.

What is Myalgic Encephalopathy? Myalgic encepalopathy (ME) has been known by various names in the decades since it was first described, including myalgic encephalomyelitis, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), chronic EpsteinBarr virus (due to the belief that the condition was caused by the Epstein-Barr virus), post-viral fatigue syndrome, and systemic exertion intolerance disease. As well as feelings of intense, unrelenting physical and mental fatigue and post extertional (postexercise) malaise, ME may also cause those affected to experience headaches, muscle and joint pain, sore throat, digestive disturbances, swollen lymph nodes, impaired memory and concentration, and depression. Symptoms vary in severity according to the individual, and in some cases can seriously detract from the patient’s quality of life. Physiologically, ME is strongly associated with inflammation of the brain and spinal cord; this is reflected in the term "encephalomyelitis," although this term is gradually being replaced by "encephalopathy" to reflect generalized dysfunction of the central nervous system. A 2014 study found that patients with ME/CFS exhibited markers of inflammation in certain brain regions that were 45-199% higher than in healthy controls.

What causes Myalgic Encephalopathy? The underlying cause of ME is still unknown, and it is generally thought that a combination of genetic, environmental, infectious and psychological factors may be involved. The possibility that viral infections play a role has not been discounted, although it appears that the previous belief that the Epstein-Barr virus (which is known to cause mononucleosis or glandular fever) was the underlying cause was in fact erroneous, as it is not present in all sufferers of the condition (now, the chronic fatigue experienced due to the virus is specifically termed Epstein-Barr chronic fatigue). As well as this, chronic stress (lasting for six months or more) is believed to play a significant role. Women make up the majority of ME cases, and there appears to be a slightly higher prevalence among Native Americans and African Americans than among white Americans; as well as this, family studies have demonstrated that blood relatives of sufferers are at increased risk of acquiring the disease, indicating that there is indeed a genetic element to its development. Does Cannabis use improve symptoms of ME? Although there are apparently no empirical studies or clinical trials specifically investigating the ability of cannabis to ameliorate symptoms of ME, there are numerous existing patients in U.S. medical states who report experiencing subjective relief from symptoms. 95/160

Typically, patients report experiencing relief from disturbed or un refreshing sleep, joint and muscle pain, depression, and emotional imbalance. Some patients also report that cannabis use actually improves the primary symptom of fatigue, with many of these reports stating that sativa-dominant strains are more effective than Indica dominant ones. Again, while no specific studies into cannabis’ ability to improve the symptoms of ME, there are abundant studies investigating symptoms common in but not limited to the condition, such as disturbed sleep, chronic pain, energy regulation, immune function, and cognitive and emotional disturbances.

Which ME symptoms are most improved by Cannabis? The potential of cannabis to improve poor sleep is relatively well-established; various studies have demonstrated that while REM sleep is reduced, deep sleep is increased on cannabis, which may lead to overall greater levels of refreshment in the subject. Chronic pain is also well-known to be improved with cannabis use, and it has been demonstrated that this is the case both for neuropathic (caused by an injury or dysfunction of the nerve itself) and nociceptive (caused by a factor other than injury to the nerve itself, such as a wound or inflammation in neighboring tissue) pain. The potential role of cannabinoids in the treatment of depression and cognitive impairment is controversial, but there are studies that imply that a positive effect could be gained by some patients, and that this positive effect is likely to depend on dose, regularity and history of use, and genetic and environmental factors. Depression is thought to respond well to low doses and poorly to high doses of cannabinoidreceptor agonists such as THC, while memory has been shown to be improved with administration of rimonabant. a synthetic CBD-receptor antagonist that last year lost market approval as a weightloss drug due to serious safety concerns.

Relationship between ME and Fibromyalgia There is such a high degree of co morbidity and so many shared symptoms between ME and fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) that many believe it to be the same disease manifesting in slightly different ways between patients. 50-70% of patients diagnosed with FMS also fit the criteria for ME, and it is thought that the difference in diagnosis stems from physicians classing their patients’ symptoms either as disorders of the muscles and joints (FMS), or of the immune system and due to either external (e.g. viral) or autoimmune causes (ME/CFS). FMS is a condition characterized by chronic pain in specific areas of the body, and heightened sensitivity to touch and pressure; sufferers also commonly experience chronic fatigue, muscle and joint pain, cognitive dysfunction, sleep disturbances, and depression. If the two conditions are one and the same, it could be said that FMS is the subtype in which pain is the primary symptom, and that fatigue is the primary symptom in the subtype currently known as ME or CFS. While there has been a relative paucity of research specifically on ME and cannabis, there are a far greater number of studies into FMS and cannabis, many of which have found that cannabis can provide significant subjective relief of various symptoms, including muscle and joint pain, digestive dysfunction, and sleep disturbances.

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The Endocannabinoid System and ME There have been a small number of studies investigating the role of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in the development and progression of ME, and several studies investigating its role in stress and generalized fatigue, and post-viral fatigue conditions. As well as this, there are relatively abundant studies on the ECS and related conditions such as FMS, chronic stress, and multiple sclerosis (which also numbers chronic fatigue among its primary symptoms, and is in many ways similar to ME itself). Fibromyalgia and ME are closely-related conditions, with the former characterized more by pain and the latter by fatigue Essentially, it seems that the common thread underlying ME and chronic stress is inflammation within the brain and the tissues of the central and peripheral nervous system; furthermore, although inflammation is not generally thought to be a symptom of FMS, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that the reverse may in fact be true, and that inflammation of the fasciae (the sheet of connective tissue that surrounds and encloses muscles and organs within the body) may have a central role to play. In multiple sclerosis, inflammation and destruction of the myelin sheaths surrounding the neurons of the brain and central nervous system is the underlying cause. It has been firmly established that the ECS has a fundamental role to play in the occurrence and management of inflammation, and its involvement in FMS is also well-known. Furthermore, the fact that chronic stress is a major cause of inflammation in the central and peripheral nervous system is also now becoming well understood.

Research into Inflammation, the Immune System, and ME An important 2012 study investigated the effect of exercise on gene expression in MS patients and ME patients compared with healthy controls. The study found that genes involved in the expression of metabolite-detecting and adrenergic receptors were increased in ME sufferers, while only certain adrenergic receptors were found to be increased in MS patients. One adrenergic receptor found to be increased in ME patients was the TRPVl-receptor, which is not strictly part of the endocannabinoid system, although it has been demonstrated on various occasions that its biological mechanisms may be affected by ECS-related activity, and it is known that the endogenous cannabinoid anandamide is capable of activating it. The relationship between anandamide, the TRPV-1 receptor and muscle fatigue deserves further investigation. Interestingly, a study conducted in 2010 investigated the potential benefits of regular consumption of high-cocoa, polyphenol-rich chocolate for individuals suffering from CFS, and found that symptoms were improved across the board for the high-cocoa group compared to controls. Cocoa-rich chocolate is known to contain compounds that are almost identical to anandamide, and it is thought that their mechanism of action (in supplying subjective feelings of wellbeing and relaxation) is effected via the TRPV-1 receptor. Clearly, there is a great deal of work still to be done before our understanding of the relationship between the endocannabinoid system and conditions such as ME is complete. However, it is certain that the role of the ECS is fundamental to such conditions.xxv

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Comments: "The underlying cause of ME is still unknown, and it is generally thought that a combination of genetic, environmental, infectious and psychological factors may be involved." NO. No, it is NOT generally thought that any psychological factors are involved in this disease. That has been solidly disproven, and we who are ill are extraordinarily sick of being told that psychology therapy is a treatment. It is not. The best that can be hoped for with psychotherapy treatments is a patient being better able to accept their disability. The Rituximab drug trials are showing that ME is an autoimmune disease. B cell depletion resulted in full cures for some people, once the antibodies are cleared from their system. The inflammation is clearly caused by antibodies attacking our own body in some fashion. Those of us who have ME are often sensitive to certain drugs, or have abnormal reactions to them. Cannabis is not an exception. (This drug makes me inexplicably angry, though passive, and completely unable to focus - not a pleasant experience. And there's no telling which components caused which effects). We need a cure, not highly dubious palliative treatments. Your writing skills are better used campaigning for more research funding for this condition, because it remains underfunded and discriminated against. Donna

Chapter 8 - Marijuana and the author in Thailand The Bangkok Train Station Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food." Genesis 1:29 I have a friend that works as a taxi driver - a Muslim man, and he sources marijuana for me in Bangkok. As the crow flies, the distance from the Bangkok Train Station to our destination, the Krung Kasem Srikrung Hotel was about one hundred and fifty meters. In a metered yellow taxi however, it was at least a fifteen minute drive, especially in prime-time Friday evening Bangkok rush-hour traffic, which it was. A baby could have crawled there way faster, or a wounded Thai red stinging-ant. In all fairness to the passive Buddhist Bangkok taxi driver, the only route was in a very roundabout way, effectively negotiating a quasi-circle. The driver pulled over to the side of Krung Kasem Road to let us off. He handed me a small packet of ganja and I gave him 2,000 Baht ( $60 CDN). It was about 15 grams of the good stuff, grown in the south. I gave him a fifty baht tip and he was smilingly on his way, to tentatively shoe-horn the bright yellow taxi back into the nightmarish early evening Bangkok traffic jam. This part of Bangkok is on the edge of the vast hardware store area; the location always reminds me of when I worked in house-building for several years. Shovels, nails, wheelbarrows, concretefinishing tools, you name it construction-wise were on display. Accordion-style, fancy one hundred year-old or more wrought-iron security gates were tucked tightly away in their housings, and all stores were open for business. I issued forth a slightly over-enthusiastic sawadee khrap (hello) to the bent, almost toothless old Thai lady who was also there two years prior on my last visit, sitting on that same old rickety 98/160

wooden stool; she acknowledged me with a tired but sincere smile and a gap-toothed, raspyvoiced "sawadee kha." What few teeth she did possess were stained almost black as coal, from chewing betel nuts. So she must have been from the north. Just as a solitary smallish grey rat scurried out from under a broken plant container, searching for its next juicy tidbit, we walked into the familiar surroundings and accoutrements of the dimly-lit hotel lobby. The Krung Kasem Srikrung is a throwback to a long gone era, when the Kingdom was much closer to Siam than today's fare; the Hotel was much more in its prime when "The King and I" was showing to rave reviews. Mainly for Thai guests and Thai owned, it's much less expensive than similarly foreign-owned establishments of like quality. Bare-bones, it works. It has an obligatory restaurant attached on the side, a familiar appendage with good quality local Thai cuisine. The inexpensive price is magnified when a Thai person (like my wife) shows the hotel clerk her Thai identity card. Without a Thai benefactor, a farang like me would pay at least half-again to sleep in that hotel, in the ever-present two-tiered pricing system for Thais and foreigners. Even with a two year plus absence, the dutiful, bald-headed hotel clerk on duty at the hotel looked exactly the same to me, in fact even more so, if that's remotely possible. In just 700 days or so, his Thai features seemed to have morphed into a slightly more exaggerated caricature of his good self. I think I was just happy to be on holidays. With his standard conservative, green hotel-employee attire had not changed a wit, nor had anything in the hotel, really. It was like being in a delicious time-warp. I could've just done two years less a day in the joint for armed robbery, and come back here like it was yesterday. It's nice when nothing ever changes much, or at least when the illusion of that delusion takes place in one's over-stimulated mind. While the erstwhile hotel clerk took a copy of my Canadian passport, I wistfully but warily glanced over at the latent drink cooler. It stood at rapt attention in the lobby by the stairs, and was still half full of Leo beer on the top shelf, with a few Singha and obligatory Changs on the next level. Just try saying the Hotel's name - The "Krung Kasem Srikrung" after about three large Chang beers; it's pretty tough. Chang beer is quite unforgiving to any newbie in the Kingdom, eager to party as they frequently are. The large Chang (Chang is the Thai word for elephant) beer were of particular concern to me. I eyeballed them with dubious intent, and plenty of suspicion. Marketed at a reported 6.5%, many bottles of Chang contain up to 8% alcohol, unscientifically confirmed from my own excellent research over three full years, until I "wisely" switched to Leo, which is perhaps even worse beer. I involuntarily shuddered, as I ruefully recalled drinking several large Chang beers one night in Chiang Mai, like 7 or 8, and had a hangover the next morning that made me feel like an elephant had just stomped on my sorry carcass, or at least defecated on it repeatedly and often. After trial, error and ten bumbled trips to Thailand, I "discovered" Tiger Beer -that golden-pale lager from Singapore, thanks to a heads-up from an old Phuket expat. Thanks Rod, or I think so anyway, wherever you may be. And thanks for convincing me that 4 beers a day is plenty - I took the advice to the extreme and now drink zero beer a day.

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The next morning I rolled out of bed and looked out the window onto (but) a microscopic portion of a sublime, panoramic vista which is Bangkok, a mega-city of about eighteen million people. After a shower I got out my vaporizer, filled it with herb and went out on the balcony to have a few puffs and be inspired by the sublime view. The "City of Angels" almost defies the imagination, and a proper description apt enough to give the chaotic metropolis justice would be done at great length, but not by an author of my minimal talents, and total time spent in the Thai capital. Though blown away by the exquisite view at hand, suffice to say I was only looking at the back of a drab and decrepit old Bangkok apartment building - the small balconies were encased in iron bars for security, like a jail. Still, if one appreciates all parts of Bangkok in a Klong Toei sort of way, it's all beautiful by degrees. In the distance I spotted some old Sino-Portuguese-type architecture on display, as a cacophony of various sounds rented the air. This was the gritty working-class part of the city. I went outside, and scrutinized how dangerously low the balcony railings were. The air conditioner blades whirred and hummed on the unit, which took up a quarter of the tiny space. I tentatively peered over the edge, and spit down onto a hot corrugated tin roof, exactly eight floors below. The roof covered a garbage-strewn car-park behind the hotel. On the roof were several decades of cigarette butts, many thrown down from this very balcony, from foreigners much less sober than I. They were every shade of white, tan, brown and grey; there was a crumpled Leo beer can or two, and a haphazard pile of discarded, mostly twisted and waned mahogany two by fours, in shades of red and brown, in various lengths up to three meters, with long rusty nails sticking straight out, or half-bent. Some of the darker mahogany looked dense, heavy like the stuff I used to work with, and hard as hell on saw blades. Looking again through the binoculars, I saw two men playing chess on a concrete picnic table, the kind you see almost everywhere in Thailand. Someone had crudely laid out the sixty-four squares in pink chalk - it was a peaceful, almost surreal scene. Another Thai man sidled up to the duo, sat down and patiently observed the game being played out at 7 am. That made at least two of us watching, if not participating in our mind's eye. Changing perspective once again, with some degree of unknown subtle pleasure, I noticed a nice-looking Thai woman on the rooftop hanging up clothes, sporting a loose-fitting half-unbuttoned clean white shirt and tight jeans, and sharing plenty of space with a rooftop garden. There were a variety of plants up there, from multi-colored Bougainvillea to a lone papaya tree, awkwardly wedged up against a crooked drain pipe. What a veritable juxtaposition, as I compared that view to the "depressed" atmosphere of much of this rather seedy area of Bangkok. It was still beautiful though, in a Darwinian type of way. There were many wonderful things to see scattered among the buildings; they just took time to appreciate, and I had plenty of it. I decided to fill the vaporizer again, doing a double-dose to get rid of nasty jet lag. The marijuana smell from the Pax vaporizer I use is about one tenth that of a joint, so I felt very good about not spreading the smell into latently sinister nostrils. Jet lag vanished, a kaleidoscope and cornucopia of textures and colors that would render most Bangkok postcards superfluous and obsolete (but I'm biased), this tiny part of the Bangkok skyline, mundane as it was in parts and duly festooned with spaghetti-type wiring hanging a meter from the ground in the alleyway - just wasn't a view to be missed by any sober farang (foreigner) like myself.

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Over there was another Hotel; from this vantage point on the eighth floor, it looked like a sailing ship hovering majestically over the aged apartment complex, complete with a sailing mast, topped majestically by twin red lights on the tip to ward off unwary aircraft, or flying saucers? Meanwhile seven stories below, other Thai acts were dutifully playing themselves out. Two phantom limbs suddenly appeared, with a large pizza pan-like aluminum tray, chock full of hot red and green chilies. With the precision of many similar efforts, twin brown limbs placed the circular pan onto a flat corrugated tin roof to dry; and then, a rather Siamese-looking cat crawled under the eaves about ten meters away, walking like it owned the world, which it obviously did. Looking back up one final time, I saw that the erstwhile youngish Thai washing lady had almost finished her task - her lovely long black hair curling slightly at the ends, falling to just below her waist, a sight more rarely seen in the west than in this part of South-east Asia. But it was time to go to the Book Store at the Bangkok Train station, one of my favorite places. Walking from the hotel to the Bangkok train station takes about 5 minutes on this route, past a couple of cheap hotels with sex-trade workers "eagerly" beckoning one inside, tricolored bougainvillea by the canal, the everpresent old man hawking Buddha paraphernalia, a lonely looking fruit vendor, and the still-partially wasted hookers and transvestites - tentatively making their way back home to their hovels, from last night's alcohol-drug debauchery, and other various depravities of mankind. This is a seedy area of Bangkok, especially late at night; by 11pm, it's bad enough already. The area is frequented late at night by Thai junkies of the lowest possible common denominator; kathoey, freelancers - in short, all the colorful characters that one would expect in an area such as this are present in numbers. In the morning you see the aftermath - and various deposits on the sidewalk. My wife and I stay in the area because it's relatively central, easy to get to the Baiyoke Sky Hotel area and Central World, or to either airport. The fact that the price is around 600 Baht per night helps too. Around the corner from the hotel, in the opposite direction of the Train Station are various Thai brothels, with cheap prostitutes costing 300 Baht or so. Having seen enough of the sublime Bangkok skyline for the moment I went back into the hotel room, cleaned out the vaporizer with a pipe cleaner dipped in rubbing alcohol and went down to the Hotel restaurant for a Thai-style breakfast with my wife, as hungry as a wolf.

Chapter 9 - Changing Lives for the Better -Testimonials Experiencing Highs to Deepen Understanding: by Wendy from Australia I have been teaching in secondary schools in Australia for 19 years. I have spent much of that time as the head teacher, often undertaking the principal's role. The head teacher in our school system deals with difficult students when the regular classroom teacher has not been able to cope. Regular evening use of marijuana has helped me consider human beings more deeply and look at various reasons why people act as they do. I have witnessed parents and teachers lacking compassion and understanding, yelling at children, pointing fingers at them and acting in a confrontational manner. I believe that, because I regularly relax with a pipe with a small bud, I understand more about the children I teach. I can see the other side to every argument. My mind is not a closed vault anymore. I have noticed that when I enjoy 101/160

my evening departure from tension, I am able to think deeply and fairly, and develop a truly human approach to my teaching job. During the school day, I remember the evening musings and I am able to deal well with tense situations. I am able to ask insightful questions of teachers and students which helps to ease confrontational situations very quickly, and I encourage individuals to consider each other’s position in the manner they generally have not tried before. As far as my health is concerned, as I have been one of those unfortunate ones who have had to deal with pain on a regular basis and have suffered side effects from prescription medication, the delicate green leaf has given me constant relief. I will continue to enjoy the highs with knowledge that my memory and awareness of life are only heightened by its use.

A Journey into Creativity by "Bill" "Bill" is a 20-year-old junior at Michigan State University where he is studying Social Science. Echoing the recurrent themes of new-found appreciation for music and nature, as well as the stimulation of creative processes frequently observed by our contributors, he suggests that the relaxation of conditioned thought underlies such positive aspects of usage. Marijuana the killer herb. Marijuana makes you go crazy. Marijuana makes you lazy. Marijuana is none of those things. I have to laugh when I hear all these afflictions that marijuana supposedly causes. I've never experienced any of them, either personally or in any of my friends or acquaintances. True, I haven't been smoking it for very long, about two years. But I smoke pretty regularly, and have had no adverse effects. In fact, marijuana has changed my life for the better. It's changed my views on a great many subjects, from music to spirituality to everyday things. It has helped me challenge long-held beliefs and to think in new ways. One good example of how marijuana can help me think in different ways is when I'm high and listening to music. I notice that in these instances, my thoughts take on the nature of the music. Suppose I am listening to Dave Matthews Band, a favorite of mine. Some songs move fast, some move slowly, some are long, others, not so long. And the tempo varies, of course, between songs and even within the same song. So my thoughts, which are often moving through uncharted territory, move like the song. At first, there are some more or less "normal" thoughts, where I'm considering some problem or idea, but as the song moves into instrumentals, away from the organized pattern of verse-chorus-verse, so do my thoughts. They flow like a river as the music itself flows like a river, and here I have had some very unique, creative insights. As the song speeds up, so does my thinking; as it slows, my thoughts ease off. Then, as the song ends, so too does the thought pattern. Sometimes I lose my train of thought, and there is a moment of sadness, a feeling of loss. Sometimes I don't lose it and as the next song starts my thoughts move elsewhere. Music, then, can greatly facilitate and enhance certain kinds of thinking while high. There have been times when I was stoned and listening to music that I have had multiple insights in this way, sometimes at the level of a personal epiphany. Because of these experiences, I now almost never get high without having some music playing, and I almost invariably choose some sort of "jam" band. The long, loping instrumentals fit perfectly with the kind of free-flow thinking that marijuana induces. Classic rock bands like the Allman Brothers Band or Pink Floyd are also favorites; however, I may also note that marijuana has enhanced my appreciation of music of a much wider variety. Music I had before never liked or understood suddenly "clicked," and I found myself

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listening to folk, classical, techno, and hip hop. In fact, I find I am better able to enjoy music in general since I started smoking; whether I'm high or not, I love music so much more these days. There have, however, been times that I have not had music on while high. One time I happened across an old roach and decided to spark it up. It was around noon on a sunny, blue-sky day, and even though I hadn't smoked much, I experienced a very unique high, unique, at least, from what I am used to. I generally smoke in the evenings, and in fact up to that point I had never been high in the middle of the day. So smoking that day was totally new to me. My eyes were opened to what "blue" really was, for one thing, and I could not take my sight away from that beautiful bowl of electric-blue sky. The sound of the wind in the trees and the birds singing was amazing in and of itself, which was why I didn't play any music. Listening to nature gave me a totally different experience from listening to music. I sat down, my body tingling with joy, and wrote several poems about random things that I saw out my window. There is no lie in saying that marijuana can increase creativity. I love to write poetry, or sometimes even short stories while I'm high. It flows in a very different way from when I'm sober. Not necessarily better, just different. I suppose that's all that creativity is: different modes of thinking. That is the beauty of marijuana, and why it is such a shame that this herb has been maligned for so long. Marijuana opens the mind to new pathways of thought. In daily (read: sober) life, our thoughts fall into the same old, preconditioned patterns we learned when we were young. There is nothing wrong with this in general, but it is rather limiting. We get stuck in the same thought patterns and that stifles creativity. Smoking marijuana can relax our preconceived notions of "rational" thought and free us to explore new avenues, delving into courses of thought that we would otherwise consider silly, illogical, or just plain stupid. Of course, not all of these new conclusions hold up the next day. Sometimes, the critical nature of sobriety reveals our ideas to be silly and wrong, or sometimes we realize that whatever it is we thought up while high is a very obvious notion when examined with a sober mind. But there have been many times where I have come up with new ideas, solutions to problems that do hold up in the light of sober day. The stereotype of stoners either forgetting all their insights or only thinking of totally ridiculous things is not accurate, at least in my experience. The fact is that marijuana has added much to my life. I have always loved nature, but now it's a deeper appreciation, because I feel more connected with it. This in turn has added to my ongoing spiritual journey. I've gone from Catholic to atheist to some sort of undefined spiritual seeker in the last four years. Marijuana helped me see that there may be more to the world than what we can normally see. I look forward to using marijuana in the years to come to further expand my viewpoints on things. I can only hope that America will come to its senses and legalize this wonderful herb, so that we may all enjoy its benefits without worrying about jail time. If ever there were a tragic set of laws, it's our drug laws. Maybe everyone out there just needs to smoke a bowl to figure it out.

Cannabis and Music -Anonymous Appreciation of music is frequently cited as a beneficial effect of moderate use. In preparing a PhD theses on cannabis and music, Anonymous offers a detailed view on the influence of its effects on aural perception, evolving from his early encounters with musicians and their improvisations: In my little hometown there was a tiny old house that always had some jazzy music coming out of it. It sounded as though the musicians were improvising because I didn't recognize a real song or a chord line. Some jazz does involve a fixed chord line, like a jazz standard or a popular song on 103/160

which you improvise. But you can improvise on a modal tune without a fixed chord line, just creating a groove or rhythmical sound pattern or short melody and then experiencing what happens when you expand it. That is what they were doing in the house. For both kinds of improvising you need to listen very closely to what the other musicians are playing to fit your ideas into the web of sounds. One day a musician came out of the house, and I asked him if I could join in for a jam session. The next evening I went there with my guitar. I was 16 and these guys were much older. The owner was an organ player with a weird, unusual technique. He was also a painter, and his psychedelic drawings and light installations created an ambience of fantasy and delight. They offered me some marijuana and I played stoned for the first time in my life. The music seemed more intense, and I discovered that my playing was better when I just closed my eyes and let go. They seemed to like my playing too, and eventually I joined the band. We used to tape our sessions and listened to them afterward. It was strange to listen to a piece of music you improvised the night before. Sometimes you felt as though there was something coming out of the Nordic night. Somehow, to listen to it properly, it had to be louder, and of course you had to be stoned with closed eyes. It was real "stoner's music." As my musical interests developed, I began to use echo chambers, reverb, and modulation effects, trying to create rooms and space in the emerging sound. When I was improvising stoned, I had a better sense of the correlation between the notes. It was as though I was looking into the space between them. I sensed them as a blurred harmonic structure behind the groove of the bass and drums, but I did not feel as though there were "too many notes." I discovered that the quality of my playing was better when I tried to let myself go, while at the same time getting a sense of upcoming changes in the sounds played by the others. It was especially exciting at moments when we all changed at the same time. Most of the time I looked at my instrument and led my hands according to my musical ideas; sometimes I just closed my eyes and tried to let my hands do the music by themselves. I was even writing and singing spontaneous lyrics that way. I put words and images together without thinking whether they had a coherent sense, and when I read them the next day, most of them did. Some had strong personal meanings that I discovered years later. Cannabis allowed me to trust my fingers and my ears. When you use cannabis, ideas and changes come out of your hands as if they are waiting to be played. Your fingers are running over the frets, hitting the right notes, and your soul integrates them into a structure. If you are in a certain mood, that mood is expressed just as if it was waiting to be played in that way. I didn’t need to control the music and its harmonic and rhythmic structure. I didn’t need to decide what to play. It was like making a journey with friends. During sequences of intense playing, I would open my eyes and look into the faces of my fellow musicians. Sometimes this gave me a strange feeling of reading their minds and gestures, their joy and excitement. We had some really good black Nepalese hash that we used to smoke with a little tobacco in a water pipe before jamming. It became a kind of ritual, cleaning up our minds before playing. One day when I had smoked this hash, I closed my eyes and saw Oriental mosaic patterns and figures rushing through my head. When we started jamming, I suddenly felt one of the paintings in the room becoming very vivid and changing in size. The fantasy creature in the picture started talking to me, and it seemed as though the painter understood me and was talking through the music and his pictures. It was like being in telepathic contact. Then I heard a strange voice, and I was surprised to realize that it was my distortion guitar. It was a powerful psychedelic experience that reminded me of the Doors' song, "Break on Through." 104/160

That experience changed my perspective on life and became the basis of a decision to go deeper into the mystery of music. I decided not to be just a musician. I studied psychology, social science, and musicology. I worked in a physiology department and learned how to handle measuring apparatus like the EEG. Today I am in my thirties, working in the music department of a European university to help therapists and clinicians find scientific literature relevant to their problems. I am also writing a Ph.D. thesis on cannabis and the perception of music, relating my cannabis experiences to scientific experiments on auditory perception and other musical topics. Under the influence of cannabis, time is stretched and so is rhythm, providing more free space within and more room to be filled. It is much easier to catch the basic beat and the pulse, to get into the groove of a phrase or a melody. As any jazz, rock, or folk musician will tell you, cannabis intoxication provides a wonderful basis for musical improvisation by expanding time perception, changing body image, enhancing sensitivity to movement patterns, and evoking auditory and visual cross-modal relationships, heightened association patterns, and vivid imagery. Other features of stoned music are an attraction to higher frequencies and expanded metric units of frequency intensity ranges, as well as enhanced three-dimensional perspectives on the sources of sound. All of this is relevant to the mixing of sound in modern studios. (Cannabis is not used so much for recording complicated musical structures or for performing.) I have found that when we listen to music while stoned, an area in the rear of the brain that processes auditory and visual information becomes especially active, indicating a physically relaxed but aware receptive state. The brain wave patterns also suggest synergylike effects. The activity of the right hemisphere increases, and the experience thus becomes more interesting from an informational point of view. Because of the changes in time perception, more things and events are experienced as being present at the same time. As the space between the normal information processing patterns is opened, you "see" information that is normally censored or "useless." This may explain why we hear music differently when stoned, and why some stoners make music that creates a rhythmical trance-like sound scenario. This is just a brief insight into the possible dimensions of the subject. I think there is a lot more work to be done, and I hope I will find some funding to go deeper into these questions. Meanwhile, I pursue the adventure of learning more about the mystery of improvised music. I still listen to the tape of the session that was my breakthrough, and I still play improvised music on stage and in the recording studio while working with people who use it to heal.

Cannabis and PTSD by Michael McKenna Michael McKenna is a Vietnam veteran who suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder. He reports his descent into a profound addiction to heroin, and his use of cannabis as a singular medicine for becoming human and being alive today. My name is Michael McKenna. I'm 46 years old, and I've been using marihuana on and off since 1970. I've gone without it for long periods, but I use it today and probably will for the rest of my life. I have no choice. I went to Vietnam right after my 18th birthday. When I had been there for two weeks, our company lost the first men that I knew. Back at base camp, I sat in the dark by myself wondering what the hell had happened. I asked myself where these souls went, and was there a heaven for men who died the way they did. As I stared into the darkness I heard a voice behind me say, "Man, you shouldn't be out here by yourself thinking about this shit or you'll go nuts." I couldn't look him in the face and didn't even look up for fear that he would see the tears in my eyes. He told me I needed to get drunk to forget it and go on, or I would die there. I told him I didn't drink, and he said he would be right back. When he returned he had a big joint and asked if I had 105/160

tried pot before. I told him that I had, a couple of times. He said this shit was about 100 times stronger than anything in the States and I should only smoke a little. Then he left. That night alone in the dark, I smoked the whole thing, and I've never regretted it. He had given me my mental survival tool. It did not make me forget, just allowed me to digest the pain and fear peacefully and respectfully with dignity. I'm sure you've heard before that over there we had Jesus freaks, straights, potheads, and diesel freaks (drinkers). While the diesel freaks made up the majority, pot smoking became more and more open. The straights became potheads by the drove. My job over there meant I had to deal not only with our dead but their dead also, along with murders, suicides and heroin overdoses. I did not allow my crew to get high on the job, but when we hit camp we all smoked. There was not one drinker in my crew, because we had to move on a moment's notice, and you could not trust the drunks to be ready or sometimes even able. The potheads came through like champs, always ready, always able. When I returned home, I was hit by the same crap that most other vets got: unemployable, hate, prejudice, called all of the names I'm sure you've heard. All you had was family and close friends, and that didn't last, because in your head they knew that you were the murdering, rapist scum that they had been reading about and seeing on the news. So I threw away all the people who knew me and loved me and turned to vets and then threw them away too, just as some had thrown me away because they knew the scum that I was. Soon no one I was seeing even knew I had even been in the Army, and I wasn't talking. My way to cope was heavy drugs and booze. About this time my father (a combat vet from WWII) told me in a loving way that something was wrong with me, that I wasn't adjusting. He saw death in my eyes, and knew that I was killing myself. He and my Mom begged me to get help before it was too late, or my rage and anger would kill me or someone else. So with my Dad almost holding my hand, we went to the V.A. hospital in St. Louis. They told me there that I didn’t really have a nervous problem, and in time I would adjust like everyone else who had served in combat. They gave me Valium and told me to come back in 90 days. When I went back and told them the Valium wasn’t working, they said there was nothing else they could do, and I had to live with it. I began to hit the drugs even harder, running all over the country from my demons. Eventually I got strung out on heroin, a $500 a day habit. When I found myself thinking about robbing places because I could no longer support my habit, I decided to quit so I wouldn’t hurt my family any more. All the people I knew who took methadone in the morning were still doing heroin at night, so I decided to quit cold turkey. I called my father to come and get me. All I told him was that I need his help. He never asked why, and I never told him until later, but he knew anyway. He put me in a camper on his property not too far from their home, and then the hell began. He watched me from time to time, puking, screaming, not able to sleep or even stay in the trailer. I would build campfires to sleep by, if I slept at all. If the fire went out, he would keep it going when I didn’t even know he was there. On the third day, while I was rolling on the ground screaming in pain and puke, a yellow convertible pulled in and a barefoot guy with waist-long hair and no shirt got out. He said my father had sent him to help me. Seeing my confusion, he said, "Just call me Dr. Jim, and you're going to sleep tonight." He had a bag of pot and a gallon of whiskey. I told him to take his stuff and get out. Pot wasn't going to do shit, and the whiskey would probably kill me. But he said getting drunk would help me sleep, and the pot would make the withdrawal less violent and help with the puking. I stayed drunk and high for a week. When I finally went to my Dad's to take a shower, he came over and hugged me, as nasty and disgusting as I was, with tears in his eyes. He told me that I had been through enough, that he would 106/160

have gone through the withdrawal for me if he could have, but that I still had a long way to go. He said that he was never so proud of me as he was when he realized that I wasn't going to turn back to heroin instead of continuing the withdrawal. He suggested that I quit the booze, but maybe the pot wasn't a bad thing. Well, I drifted away from the other drugs, but continued to drink and smoke pot. my own treatment. Pot WHS no longer just a party high for me but a survival tool, i used it to cope with everyday things that others seemed to do on their own, going out, seeing friends, working. I was just another bombed-out crazy vet, useless, suicidal, and violent. I've had a lot of women in my life who liked me but could not stand the mood swings, the striking out and fighting, and the depression. After a while they all would learn the same thing: that when I had pot, I was nicer and more romantic and didn't get into fights. So they made sure I had pot even if they had to buy it for me. I'm in my third marriage, and my wife has mixed feelings about pot because it's illegal. I've bought my first home, and she's afraid we will lose it if I get busted. So she's scared, but she sees that pot helps me. Since 1990 I've been in therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I've been in the Stress Recovery Unit at Bay Pines V.A. hospital in Florida four times. My doctors there have tried me on different medications for depression and anxiety such as Valium, Prozac, Trazodone, Cetrizine, and Serzone. All of my doctors know I self-medicate with pot, because I never hid this from any of them. Most of them don't really discuss it with me, but some have, and have even told me that the only problem is that they can't control the dose. They ask me not to smoke while I'm adjusting to their drugs, but I always go back to the pot because it is what works for me. I still use Trazodone to help me get to sleep and short-circuit the nightmares, but pot is my daytime drug. I've had a lot of pain in my lower back for many years. During one of my stays at the V.A., they told me I had a spondylopathy there that they could not operate on, and that I would probably end up in wheelchair. While pot does not stop the pain, it sure makes it a lot easier to live with at bad moments. My pain pills don't stop the pain and are addictive. I think it is important for you to know that I’m not a "Cheech and Chong" wake and bake type. I've been a deputy sheriff as well as a police chief and a private investigator, but the PTSD always made me crash and burn. I've lost everything several times, and for the last few years I have been rebuilding again. My doctors have told me to retire and try to maintain as normal a life as possible. Yes, I'm still in a lot of pain mentally and physically, but I am still alive, and I know that I would not be if it weren't for the pot and my family. And as I said earlier, without the pot I would not have maintained my family. I'm sorry I've been going on longer than I thought I would, but I guess I had to defend my continued use. I hope I can help others who have guilty feelings because the stuff is illegal. We must make choices, and mine is to continue to smoke and tell others about the benefits that I got. Thank you for helping me vent.

Cannabis, Depression, and the Auditory Experience The author of this essay is a seventeen-year-old student and practicing musician from Massachusetts. In his essay, he describes the profound positive impact that marijuana has had on his mental health, musical expression, and social life. For the majority of my life, I have struggled with depression. I consistently try to determine what is amiss in my life that makes me feel this way, but my inability to blame it on any singular cause can 107/160

be frustrating. However, I had not actually begun to consider the possibility that I was depressed until a few months ago, when I first tried marijuana. Despite the fact that I was hardly aware I might be depressed at the time, I believe that it was the way I felt that first drew me to marijuana, rather than any desire to be "cool" or otherwise socially accepted. I was aware that I had been lied to about the dangers of pot while growing up, and my opinionated and passionate personality had led me to develop an acute understanding of the injustices imposed upon recreational marijuana users by our own government and society at large. I only tried marijuana because I knew from my own research that the risks were minimal. Since then, I have been possessed by an unstoppable drive to advocate for a radical change in our country’s policies regarding the use of marijuana. My first hit of weed was the catalyst that led me to adopt a cause I plan to fight tooth-and-nail for now and in the future. Weed gave me a cause to rally behind, a cause to believe in. It seems that many of my peers are drawn to weed because they like to "get messed up" and party. I, on the other hand, see more merit in the introspective and contemplative thought that comes along with the high, as well as the heightened appreciation of music and aesthetics. Smoking pot socially is always fun, and it's undeniable that pot brings people together in special ways. The stoner subculture is one of peace, acceptance, tolerance, and understanding. But the intellectual and spiritual aspects of the high are what kept me coming back. I began smoking pot alone every now and again and using the time to think deeply about what I do and do not know about myself, why I feel the way I do, my personal relationships, and how I can better myself as a human being. I've spent time contemplating human nature and why we behave the way we do, which has led me towards an interest in psychology. But most importantly, I came to several conclusions about the nature of my own depression. I realized that I shouldn't feel the way I do, that my lackluster effort in school was the result of the way I felt every day, and that I needed to take the initiative to bring my depression to an end. Simply remedying it with medication was not enough for me, and I dismissed the possibility of going on antidepressants. Being high was an instant fix for several hours in and of itself, but after some time, everyday sober life had taken on a renewed glamour and sense of excitement as well. I was not cured, but I had taken my first step towards beating my depression. I knew something was wrong, and I was going to make it right. Social interaction while stoned is a unique experience. I can have a conversation with the same level of depth and clarity as I could while sober, but I pick up on things that normally slip past me; I can psychoanalyze people on a rudimentary level while carrying on with an everyday conversation. I believe that the insights I've had thus far about human nature have been spot-on, as my experience with people while stoned has reinforced these very ideas rather conclusively. Marijuana has enhanced my appreciation of aesthetics, as well. After further experimentation, I began to appreciate aspects of everyday life that I had otherwise ignored or been blind to. Even while sober, the world seemed more beautiful. Not quite as stunning as it was through the looking-glass of a cannabis high, but there was still a renewed sense of beauty and wonder in the outside world, even when I was completely sober. I believe that there is an aspect of existence that we are unable to comprehend with our senses, in the same way that bees are aware of colors we cannot see. And I believe that marijuana (as well as other psychedelics) temporarily expands that margin, allowing us to become privy to sights, sounds, emotions, and ideas that we cannot or would not normally experience. And when these experiences come to an end, we are left with a taste of the things we witnessed, and we can project them back onto our everyday lives to experience common things in a new and more vibrant light. 108/160

Music is perhaps the most important aspect of the marijuana experience for me. When I am high, music takes on a transcendent beauty, richness, and complexity that is often too immense in scope to put into words. I am a practicing musician myself, playing guitar, bass guitar, and drums, so I listen to music a bit differently than non-musicians. While I can appreciate a piece of music as a single, cohesive work of art, I also take great pleasure in singling out specific instruments and appreciating the ways in which they contribute to the song as a whole. When stoned, certain instruments that are sometimes difficult to hear in the mix (bass guitar, I'm thinking of you) come to the forefront, and this increased clarity allows me to hear and appreciate bass runs and drum fills that had otherwise slipped right by me while sober. It can be difficult to explain the way music sounds when high to someone who has never experienced it themselves; allow me to remedy this with an admittedly stolen analogy from somewhere on the internet. For me, "the difference between listening to music sober and listening to music high is comparable to the difference between listening to music on a cheap radio and listening to music in a grand concert hall." The other side of the musical coin -playing, rather than listening - has been polished by marijuana as well. While I was always confident in my compositions, and I'm very aware that I don't need marijuana to write interesting music, I feel that my playing takes on a new dimension when I am high. Instead of concerning myself with the intricacies of classical theory and proper technique, I simply play what I feel, and the end product is always satisfactory. When I worry too much about whether what I just wrote or played is classically acceptable, my music takes on a sterile and overly-polished quality. But when I play and write music stoned, more raw emotion and random experimentation seeps into my work, and I believe that is what truly matters. My technical skills are also executed more cleanly when I am high. I have tested myself on complex guitar pieces and such while sober and then while stoned, and I can say without any amount of doubt that my playing is tighter and more refined while I am high. It does not have any negative impact on my coordination whatsoever. All in all, I am more creative, confident, and technically skilled at my instruments when high. I believe that cannabis has extraordinary potential as a tool for recreation, as a tool for social interaction, as a tool for psychological insight, and as a tool for artistic expression. I have come to life-altering conclusions as a result of my marijuana use, and I feel they have changed my life only for the better. I feel as if victory over depression is just around the bend, and I wouldn’t be remotely as close to that as I am today without having experimented with marijuana. It may not be a cure-all, but neither is Prozac; my goal is not to need either, but to finally develop a philosophy about life that will help me manage my depression. And marijuana has exhibited extraordinary potential in helping me achieve this end.

Chronic Pain from Hell by Jana Christian Self-medication for the treatment of addiction or chronic pain is often reported. In a graphic encounter, Ms. Christian and her husband discover that the suffering from spinal injuries can, in some cases, be ameliorated. I'm a 57-year-old woman disabled through chronic pain. My husband and I live with identical injuries in our necks and lumbar spines, and as a result, Chronic Pain from Hell. My husband and I were just discussing marijuana again, a subject near and dear to both of our hearts. Recently we just existed for over a week with NO marijuana. As we use it for Chronic Pain, a week and a half is an eternity to people like us.

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We've both noticed there's a pattern for us. We start trying to talk ourselves into the fact that it’s okay to be out of pot, that we’ll be fine. Maybe we’ll even give it up and save money. But it's all that we use for pain relief. We start sniping a little at each other. In the past, we would substitute alcohol. Alcohol may cut us off from the pain momentarily, but we will be at each other's throats in a matter of hours, there's just no question. And that exacerbates stress, and stress begets more pain through clenching of bodies in response to the stress. I've decided that the properties of marijuana have not been touted nearly enough, because how do you put such things into words? I’m a writer, but words to describe the feeling of having marijuana under our roof when we live in so much pain just have not been invented yet. That's how strongly we feel about it. But let me feebly attempt to try. Pot is the best muscle relaxer known to man. Everything relaxes. With agony like ours (nerve/spine pain), the perfect antidote for clenching your body clearly is marijuana. I watch my husband’s facial muscles relax. He becomes a completely different person, someone I love to be around. I see him want to stretch his muscles, where prior to smoking marijuana, just is not happening. He's lucky to shuffle across the room to some new position. I see his smile re-appear after long droughts of pot. He gets involved with people and things he used to care about. He gets creative, I mean REALLY creative. His lyrics could rival Bob Dylan, he's THAT good. His food could blow Emeril's away. And his photography, never seen any better. Our minds are expanded to such a degree and that gives us a good day. We constantly smile, though we’re still in the midst of pain. Just to feel human for ANY length of time is a blessing I just can't quite describe. Sometimes you'll notice you haven't had any pain for say, like, an hour. You scream "hallelujah" as if it’s a National holiday. It's that noticeable. Time away from our pain killer of choice is cause for much depression, and not because we're in withdrawal from marijuana's effects. It's because we start clenching our bodies again against every wave of pain. Our muscles get frozen in nasty positions. We are again UNABLE TO SLEEP. And IF you are lucky enough to sleep without the aid of pot, the fact that your neck remains in any position for too long means you're screwed when you do wake up. You know the two worse times of the day are when you wake up and when you go to bed. Both are agony. So you go into mini-hock because the Feds tell you that what you choose for pain is illegal. Where is the research on that? And you can’t buy that new bed you need desperately for relief, because your pain medicine (marijuana) is so expensive, you have to choose. And maybe IF you had medical insurance besides Medicare you would have to give in to the conventional and harmful medications of choice, narcotics, but in your heart, you know that your particular brain chemistry responds well and BEST to pot. But no one believes your story. You start to envision yourself in an asylum. Because you know your pain is so real it's SURREAL, yet your medication is illegal. But you need your medication, or suicide is sure to follow. (I know the three S’s of Chronic Pain: sleeplessness, sorrow and suffering. I now add suicide, unless an intervention is made. And you live like second-class citizens because the powers that be don't bother to get to know herb. Well, I'm here to shout about it. The truth about marijuana is this: It DOES allow a person who withdraws from life through pain to live a daily existence with some dignity (quality of life, HELL; I’d settle for existence at this point). It allows the person dying from auto-immune disorders and body-decaying cancer to at least enjoy their last days eating the foods they once loved with an appetite produced by you-guessed-it, smoking marijuana. It brings out long-suppressed creativity. Creativity once stunted maybe by 110/160

coming from dysfunctional families who expressed NOTHING. Creativity stuffed further down by the shame of coming from these hideous places by picking up any animate object that momentarily changed who you were (but that was at least something to feel - anything different from who you truly were). I started to empathize with people who cut themselves to release the emotional pain. And what a relief that could be. Marijuana has served as a sort of truth serum for me. It has allowed me to relax to the point of being me. And not hiding behind masks. And that's a lot. All I wish is for someone to hear me, someone who can direct us to pain relief once and for all. Someone who can direct me to the person with the most influence RE: legalizing medical marijuana. I will continue to write my senators and congresswomen.

Marijuana Stimulates Creativity and Enriches Experience by John Black, MD Dr. Black has, on and off, explored the role of cannabis in enhancing consciousness and enriching experience since his late teenage years. After attending a top five medical school, he came to San Francisco to undergo residency training at UCSF and currently lives and practices medicine in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a successful part-time researcher, he has published in prominent journals and has frequently presented his work at national meetings. (John Black is a pseudonym). "Marijuana unlocks the ability of my mind to think in new and creative ways, takes me to new heights of ecstasy in the appreciation of music and art, and provides a catalyst for the exploration and deepening of my relationships with others. When marijuana prohibition is ended and the experience of marijuana becomes more free and open, I believe that our culture and society will benefit more from the creative ways of thinking and the more intimate ways of interacting with others that are encouraged by the use of marijuana." I have used marijuana occasionally since my late teenage years. I have never been a frequent user, typically getting high perhaps 4-6 times a year, and sometimes going for as long as a couple of years at a time without using marijuana. This is mainly because marijuana is illicit and hence difficult to acquire, and I tend not to put much effort into getting a hold of it. However, from time to time I do hear that a friend of mine has access to it, and I acquire some for personal use. Having experienced the world of medicine in several different regions of the country, I have learned that the sphere of physicians is no exception to the rule that marijuana use is pervasive in American society. Those who have used the plant for various reasons prior to entering medical school often continue to reap the benefits of marijuana during and beyond their medical training, and of course some are "turned on" by friends and colleagues after becoming a physician. The degree of secrecy regarding marijuana use by physicians varies by the intensity with which the war on drug users is conducted in one’s area of the country. In the San Francisco Bay area, it is quite refreshing to see how things are relatively open. Rather than being a closely held secret, as it might be for a physician in Alabama, physician friends and colleagues often open up to one another relatively easily regarding the fact that they use marijuana. This fairly relaxed and open attitude towards marijuana pervades much of society in this region. I have noticed however, that openness regarding one’s marijuana use tends to respect the medical hierarchy, as do many other social interactions among physicians. Physicians are typically more willing to discuss personal marijuana use with others of similar rank; and are more likely to consider the subject taboo when speaking with those obviously higher or lower than oneself in the medical hierarchy.

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I personally use marijuana for a number of reasons. Marijuana unlocks and opens up parts of my mind and psychology that I otherwise would not be aware of, and encourages me to think in new and untested ways. Sensory stimulation, in the form of music, food, sex, and the like, becomes more vivid and pleasurable. The combination of new patterns of thought with more vivid sensory stimulation leads to an enhanced appreciation of art. I sometimes get high and spend my time simply enjoying the experience of listening to music or browsing a collection of artistic works. Friendships and relationships, especially those involving sexual and romantic intimacy, can be developed and deepened by the use of marijuana with others. Marijuana tends to cause introspection, and by altering one's habits of thought, yields new perspectives on who one is and how one works psychologically. Hence, marijuana serves as an effective catalyst for understanding oneself and others, and discussing and developing one’s relationships with other people. The pleasure and wonder of sexual intimacy is increased, and as a result the bond between lovers can be strengthened. Marijuana enhances both the physical and psychological aspects of sexual activity. As one becomes more aware of and sensitive to deeper aspects of one’s psychological self, these can be brought out during lovemaking and used to enhance intimacy, understanding, and ecstasy. I most frequently use marijuana alone, and under such conditions it often stimulates me to develop ideas, particularly about religious, sexual, and political issues. When high, I often sit at my computer, typing my ideas and thoughts into a word processing file, and I browse the web regarding ideas that interest me. Each file is interesting to read afterwards, showing what I was thinking about and how my thoughts progressed during the high. The state of being high involves a large increase in the spontaneous generation of new ideas and concepts, and the appreciation of associations that one would not ordinarily have noticed. This occurs both as a result of altered patterns of thought, as well as due to the heightened appreciation of sensory stimulation that marijuana offers. Marijuana inebriation has both pluses and minuses when it comes to creative productivity. During the actual high, my short term memory is lessened compared to when I am sober, and the productivity of my high can be impaired by "association overload," whereby I am flooded with new ideas and associations, driving out the old ones, before the old ones can be effectively processed and developed. I think the most productive way of using marijuana involves occasionally getting high, perhaps once a month or so, recording one’s thoughts and ideas while high, then working through them later when sober. The sober self has the focused purpose as well as the concentration, memory, and discipline to work through the new ideas and associations and make them into something substantial. As Edison said, genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. I believe marijuana is fantastic for the inspiration part, but for me, much of the perspiration part will take place while sober. Overall, I believe that the use of marijuana has contributed to my life in a number of ways. Marijuana unlocks the ability of my mind to think in new and creative ways, takes me to new heights of ecstasy in the appreciation of music and art, and provides a catalyst for the exploration and deepening of my relationships with others. When marijuana prohibition is ended and the experience of marijuana becomes more free and open, I believe that our culture and society will benefit more from the creative ways of thinking and the more intimate ways of interacting with others that are encouraged by the use of marijuana.

Mr. X - by Carl Sagan This account was written in 1969 for publication in Marihuana Reconsidered (1971). Sagan was in his mid-thirties at that time. He continued to use cannabis for the rest of his life. 112/160

It all began about ten years ago. I had reached a considerably more relaxed period in my life - a time when I had come to feel that there was more to living than science, a time of awakening of my social consciousness and amiability, a time when I was open to new experiences. I had become friendly with a group of people who occasionally smoked cannabis, irregularly, but with evident pleasure. Initially I was unwilling to partake, but the apparent euphoria that cannabis produced and the fact that there was no physiological addiction to the plant eventually persuaded me to try. My initial experiences were entirely disappointing; there was no effect at all, and I began to entertain a variety of hypotheses about cannabis being a placebo which worked by expectation and hyperventilation rather than by chemistry. After about five or six unsuccessful attempts, however, it happened. I was lying on my back in a friend’s living room idly examining the pattern of shadows on the ceiling cast by a potted plant (not cannabis!). I suddenly realized that I was examining an intricately detailed miniature Volkswagen, distinctly outlined by the shadows. I was very skeptical at this perception, and tried to find inconsistencies between Volkswagens and what I viewed on the ceiling. But it was all there, down to hubcaps, license plate, chrome, and even the small handle used for opening the trunk. When I closed my eyes, I was stunned to find that there was a movie going on the inside of my eyelids. Flash... a simple country scene with red farmhouse, a blue sky, white clouds, yellow path meandering over green hills to the horizon... Flash ... same scene, orange house, brown sky, red clouds, yellow path, violet fields ... Flash ... Flash ... Flash. The flashes came about once a heartbeat. Each flash brought the same simple scene into view, but each time with a different set of colors ... exquisitely deep hues, and astonishingly harmonious in their juxtaposition. Since then I have smoked occasionally and enjoyed it thoroughly. It amplifies torpid sensibilities and produces what to me are even more interesting effects, as I will explain shortly. I can remember another early visual experience with cannabis, in which I viewed a candle flame and discovered in the heart of the flame, standing with magnificent indifference, the black hatwearing and cloaked Spanish gentleman who appears on the label of the Sandeman sherry bottle. Looking at fires when high, by the way, especially through one of those prism kaleidoscopes which image their surroundings, is an extraordinarily moving and beautiful experience. I want to explain that at no time did I think these things "really" were out there. I knew there was no Volkswagen on the ceiling and there was no Sandeman salamander man in the flame. I don’t feel any contradiction in these experiences. There’s a part of me making, creating the perceptions which in everyday life would be bizarre; there’s another part of me which is a kind of observer. About half of the pleasure comes from the observer-part appreciating the work of the creator-part. I smile, or sometimes even laugh out loud at the pictures on the insides of my eyelids. In this sense, I suppose cannabis is psychotomimetic, but I find none of the panic or terror that accompanies some psychoses. Possibly this is because I know it's my own trip, and that I can come down rapidly any time I want to. While my early perceptions were all visual, and curiously lacking in images of human beings, both of these items have changed over the intervening years. I find that today a single joint is enough to get me high. I test whether I'm high by closing my eyes and looking for the flashes. They come long before there are any alterations in my visual or other perceptions. I would guess this is a signal-tonoise problem, the visual noise level being very low with my eyes closed. Another interesting information-theoretical aspects is the prevalence - at least in my flashed images - of cartoons: just the outlines of figures, caricatures, not photographs. I think this is simply a matter of information compression; it would be impossible to grasp the total content of an image with the information content of an ordinary photograph, say 108 bits, in the fraction of a second which a flash occupies. And the flash experience is designed, if I may use that word, for instant appreciation. The artist and 113/160

viewer are one. This is not to say that the images are not marvelously detailed and complex. I recently had an image in which two people were talking, and the words they were saying would form and disappear in yellow above their heads, at about a sentence per heartbeat. In this way it was possible to follow the conversation. At the same time an occasional word would appear in red letters among the yellows above their heads, perfectly in context with the conversation; but if one remembered these red words, they would enunciate a quite different set of statements, penetratingly critical of the conversation. The entire image set which I've outlined here, with I would say at least 100 yellow words and something like 10 red words, occurred in something under a minute. The cannabis experience has greatly improved my appreciation for art, a subject which I had never much appreciated before. The understanding of the intent of the artist which I can achieve when high sometimes carries over to when I’m down. This is one of many human frontiers which cannabis has helped me traverse. There also have been some art-related insights -1 don’t know whether they are true or false, but they were fun to formulate. For example, I have spent some time high looking at the work of the Belgian surrealist Yves Tanguey. Some years later, I emerged from a long swim in the Caribbean and sank exhausted onto a beach formed from the erosion of a nearby coral reef. In idly examining the sublime pastel-colored coral fragments which made up the beach, I saw before me a vast Tanguey painting. Perhaps Tanguey visited such a beach in his childhood. A very similar improvement in my appreciation of music has occurred with cannabis. For the first time I have been able to hear the separate parts of a three-part harmony and the richness of the counterpoint. I have since discovered that professional musicians can quite easily keep many separate parts going simultaneously in their heads, but this was the first time for me. Again, the learning experience when high has at least to some extent carried over when I’m down. The enjoyment of food is amplified; tastes and aromas emerge that for some reason we ordinarily seem to be too busy to notice. I am able to give my full attention to the sensation. A potato will have a texture, a body, and taste like that of other potatoes, but much more so. Cannabis also enhances the enjoyment of sex - on the one hand it gives an exquisite sensitivity, but on the other hand it postpones orgasm: in part by distracting me with the profusion of image passing before my eyes. The actual duration of orgasm seems to lengthen greatly, but this may be the usual experience of time expansion which comes with cannabis smoking. I do not consider myself a religious person in the usual sense, but there is a religious aspect to some highs. The heightened sensitivity in all areas gives me a feeling of communion with my surroundings, both animate and inanimate. Sometimes a kind of existential perception of the absurd comes over me and I see with awful certainty the hypocrisies and posturing of myself and my fellow men. And at other times, there is a different sense of the absurd, a playful and whimsical awareness. Both of these senses of the absurd can be communicated, and some of the most rewarding highs I've had have been in sharing talk and perceptions and humor. Cannabis brings us an awareness that we spend a lifetime being trained to overlook and forget and put out of our minds. A sense of what the world is really like can be maddening; cannabis has brought me some feelings for what it is like to be crazy, and how we use that word "crazy" to avoid thinking about things that are too painful for us. In the Soviet Union political dissidents are routinely placed in insane asylums. The same kind of thing, a little more subtle perhaps, occurs here: "did you hear what Lenny Bruce said yesterday? He must be crazy." When high on cannabis I discovered that there’s somebody inside in those people we call mad.

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When I'm high I can penetrate into the past, recall childhood memories, friends, relatives, playthings, streets, smells, sounds, and tastes from a vanished era. I can reconstruct the actual occurrences in childhood events only half understood at the time. Many but not all my cannabis trips have somewhere in them a symbolism significant to me which I won’t attempt to describe here, a kind of mandala embossed on the high. Free-associating to this mandala, both visually and as plays on words, has produced a very rich array of insights. There is a myth about such highs: the user has an illusion of great insight, but it does not survive scrutiny in the morning. I am convinced that this is an error, and that the devastating insights achieved when high are real insights; the main problem is putting these insights in a form acceptable to the quite different self that we are when we're down the next day. Some of the hardest work I've ever done has been to put such insights down on tape or in writing. The problem is that ten even more interesting ideas or images have to be lost in the effort of recording one. It is easy to understand why someone might think it's a waste of effort going to all that trouble to set the thought down, a kind of intrusion of the Protestant Ethic. But since I live almost all my life down I've made the effort -successfully, I think. Incidentally, I find that reasonably good insights can be remembered the next day, but only if some effort has been made to set them down another way. If I write the insight down or tell it to someone, then I can remember it with no assistance the following morning; but if I merely say to myself that I must make an effort to remember, I never do. I find that most of the insights I achieve when high are into social issues, an area of creative scholarship very different from the one I am generally known for. I can remember one occasion, taking a shower with my wife while high, in which I had an idea on the origins and invalidities of racism in terms of Gaussian distribution curves. It was a point obvious in a way, but rarely talked about. I drew the curves in soap on the shower wall, and went to write the idea down. One idea led to another, and at the end of about an hour of extremely hard work I found I had written eleven short essays on a wide range of social, political, philosophical, and human biological topics. Because of problems of space, I can’t go into the details of these essays, but from all external signs, such as public reactions and expert commentary, they seem to contain valid insights. I have used them in university commencement addresses, public lectures, and in my books. But let me try to at least give the flavor of such an insight and its accompaniments. One night, high on cannabis, I was delving into my childhood, a little self-analysis, and making what seemed to me to be very good progress. I then paused and thought how extraordinary it was that Sigmund Freud, with no assistance from drugs, had been able to achieve his own remarkable self-analysis. But then it hit me like a thunderclap that this was wrong, that Freud had spent the decade before his selfanalysis as an experimenter with and a proselytizer for cocaine; and it seemed to me very apparent that the genuine psychological insights that Freud brought to the world were at least in part derived from his drug experience. I have no idea whether this is in fact true, or whether the historians of Freud would agree with this interpretation, or even if such an idea has been published in the past, but it is an interesting hypothesis and one which passes first scrutiny in the world of the downs. I can remember the night that I suddenly realized what it was like to be crazy, or nights when my feelings and perceptions were of a religious nature. I had a very accurate sense that these feelings and perceptions, written down casually, would not stand the usual critical scrutiny that is my stock in trade as a scientist. If I find in the morning a message from myself the night before informing me that there is a world around us which we barely sense, or that we can become one with the universe, or even that certain politicians are desperately frightened men, I may tend to disbelieve; but when I’m high I know about this disbelief. And so I have a tape in which I exhort myself to take such

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remarks seriously. I say "Listen closely, you son of a bitch of the morning! This stuff is real!" I try to show that my mind is working clearly; I recall the name of a high school acquaintance I have not thought of in thirty years; I describe the color, typography, and format of a book in another room and these memories do pass critical scrutiny in the morning. I am convinced that there are genuine and valid levels of perception available with cannabis (and probably with other drugs) which are, through the defects of our society and our educational system, unavailable to us without such drugs. Such a remark applies not only to self-awareness and to intellectual pursuits, but also to perceptions of real people, a vastly enhanced sensitivity to facial expression, intonations, and choice of words which sometimes yields a rapport so close it’s as if two people are reading each other's minds. Cannabis enables non musicians to know a little about what it is like to be a musician, and non artists to grasp the joys of art. But I am neither an artist nor a musician. What about my own scientific work? While I find a curious disinclination to think of my professional concerns when high - the attractive intellectual adventures always seem to be in every other area -1 have made a conscious effort to think of a few particularly difficult current problems in my field when high. It works, at least to a degree. I find I can bring to bear, for example, a range of relevant experimental facts which appear to be mutually inconsistent. So far, so good. At least the recall works. Then in trying to conceive of a way of reconciling the disparate facts, I was able to come up with a very bizarre possibility, one that I'm sure I would never have thought of down. I’ve written a paper which mentions this idea in passing. I think it’s very unlikely to be true, but it has consequences which are experimentally testable, which is the hallmark of an acceptable theory. I have mentioned that in the cannabis experience there is a part of your mind that remains a dispassionate observer, who is able to take you down in a hurry if need be. I have on a few occasions been forced to drive in heavy traffic when high. I’ve negotiated it with no difficult at all, though I did have some thoughts about the marvelous cherry-red color of traffic lights. I find that after the drive I’m not high at all. There are no flashes on the insides of my eyelids. If you're high and your child is calling, you can respond about as capably as you usually do. I don’t advocate driving when high on cannabis, but I can tell you from personal experience that it certainly can be done. My high is always reflective, peaceable, intellectually exciting, and sociable, unlike most alcohol highs, and there is never a hangover. Through the years I find that slightly smaller amounts of cannabis suffice to produce the same degree of high, and in one movie theater recently I found I could get high just by inhaling the cannabis smoke which permeated the theater. There is a very nice aspect to cannabis. Each puff is a very small dose; the time lag between inhaling a puff and sensing its effect is small; and there is no desire for more after the high is there. I think the ratio, R, of the time to sense the dose taken to the time required to take an excessive dose is an important quantity. R is very large for LSD (which I’ve never taken) and reasonably short for cannabis. Small values of R should be one measure of the safety of psychedelic drugs. When cannabis is legalized, I hope to see this ratio as one of the parameters printed on the pack. I hope that time isn't too distant; the illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.

On Treating Anxiety and Other Matters by H. Jenkins Background: I am a 38 year old male who works as an administrator in an office environment on the east coast of Canada. I was very anti-cannabis in my youth, the very model result of the

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government' s disinformation campaign on marijuana. Life circumstances have changed my perspective. Shortly after my father died (when I was 35) I began to experience anxiety attacks. Episodes of slight nervousness gradually progressed to occasional fullblown debilitation. A couple of episodes were severe enough that I found I had to lie down because of the feeling of impending doom. Although I had occasionally enjoyed cannabis since my mid-twenties, I started to use marijuana on a more regular basis as I found it helped to ease the occurrence and severity of my anxiety symptoms. Not strictly for the immediate "high" effect, but as much for the residual benefits that seem to keep me "protected" as long as I "top up my tank" by consuming marijuana every once in a while. It is apparent to me that marijuana has a lingering effect, in that periods of prolonged abstinence result in the anxious symptoms gradually re-appearing. I have not suffered another anxiety episode since I began regular use. Research tells me that marijuana has been as effective as could be expected from a successful course of conventional pharmaceutical treatment, minus any of the very-real (and sometimes dangerous) side effects that accompany virtually any "conventional" treatment: weight gain, "blunted" emotions, not to mention the rare but occasional compelling need to end one's own existence. Noting that this is factually one of the most safe substances one can consume, negative "sideeffects" (for me) consist of an occasional (transitory) increase in anxiety when consuming too much. This is easily avoided by paying attention to the amount I consume, and is to me, a small price to pay in light of the overall benefit. Episodes where I have "over-indulged" and have become slightly uncomfortable are usually followed by an extra-mellow rebound effect, and the "anxietythreshold" seems to be reset to a higher level the next time. Some of the physical changes that I have experienced since I began using cannabis are that I have been able to quit smoking, am eating a healthier diet and exercise regularly. As a result, I have lost approximately 30 pounds. My blood pressure and lipid profiles are the best they have been since my teenage years. In short, I am approaching the best shape of my life. Another benefit is that as with many people raised in our alcohol-tolerant (promoting?) society, I used to drink to excess. Now 3 drinks is a big night for me -1 no longer enjoy (nor seek) that "trashed" feeling. Spiritually, I find that cannabis helps to reveal things as they really are, and sometimes allows you to see things from a different perspective. Mulling something over after a toke is almost like consulting with a more imaginative version of yourself! I never "need" cannabis and have never experience a "craving," like I used to for a cigarette. Basically, I have found that it is like a nice craft beer or a rich piece chocolate - a virtually harmless pleasure put on earth for us to use and enjoy. Like many enthusiasts, I have also found that it is a great "enhancer" for virtually any activity (with the possible exception of solving mathematical problems - do not toke and triangulate!). Writing is easier. Inspirational sometimes arrives faster than you can record them. Contemplative powers are enhanced.

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A largely un discussed benefit is an increased capacity for feelings of empathy towards other humans and creatures, as well as an openness to ideas and philosophies that may have once been dismissed out-of-hand. It is almost impossible to engage in violent or excessively aggressive thoughts or behavior while under the influence, and there is a definite carryover into "sober" periods of life. Sleep is more restful, comes more quickly and is devoid of nightmares. I realize that this runs counter a lot of information presented as fact in the usually hysterical portrayal of this substance by our government and that it may make a non-user question whether the deleterious effects have degraded my mental functioning. Not so. What makes me so passionate on this issue? The nagging feeling that it is hypocritical to give tacit approval (by remaining silent) while cannabis and those who enjoy it are persecuted for choosing to use a substance which does not cause them harm, helps to relieve many conditions, and generally leaves the user a better person for having experienced it. Meanwhile, the puritanical roots of our present-day society have promoted tobacco and alcohol use as the "acceptable" vices. This paradox has resulted in more death and misery than is possible to quantify or comprehend, but it would not be much of a stretch to say that these two substances have killed as many people as have been killed in the history of warfare. Yet marijuana is ironically shunned and criminalized. Future generations will judge us harshly for perpetuating this cruel hoax. I refuse to be complicit.

Restoration of the Body by Anonymous The contributor of the following article is a 30-year-old attorney living in Massachusetts who loves all team sports, jazz, blues, camping, and hiking. He first experimented with cannabis when he was eighteen, near the end of his freshman year at a small liberal arts college. We are instructed on stretching our bodies, and our minds. I awake on Sunday morning, and I feel fine, until I try to roll onto my side. My entire body aches, forcing me to stretch the process of standing up into a two- or three-minute process. All of my large muscle groups are inflamed and so tight that it feels as if they might snap free from my bones. My rib cage is tender, so that coughing and laughing are painful. It is difficult to avoid excruciating leg cramps as I move to a standing position. Yesterday had been the first day I had played rugby since the prior year’s alumni game, and despite my efforts to tune up my aging frame during the previous months, I could not have prepared myself for the contact and the intensely physical nature of the sport. Although I had faithfully administered a healthy dose of ale at the party which immediately followed the game in an effort to reduce the pain and inflammation, this strategy only served to provide a brief hiatus from the groaning complaints of my aching muscles. The hangover and accompanying headache were now extracting their payment for the respite for which I had bargained. I walk slowly to the refrigerator and drink a quart of water. I then hobble into the backyard with a roach I have poached from my host's ashtray. I ease myself onto the grass, and I take just one or two long puffs. Almost instantly, my head stops pounding. I begin to appreciate the rhythmic sounds of nature, and I focus on breathing deeply. At this point, the only thing I want to do is to loosen up my

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aching body, each part of which is clamoring for individualized attention. All other concerns fall away from me. I draw myself up to a yoga-like position with straight back and feet drawn in, and this prompts me to take stock of my physical state. While I continue to be so sore that standing up would be a major chore, I now am certain that I will be able to find my way out of this extreme discomfort through a careful stretching routine. I begin to sort out those areas which were most traumatized from those which are simply tight. My perceptive powers are enhanced, allowing me to clearly address the pain experienced by each limb. I take inventory, noticing bruises for the first time. I piece together which particular tackle or scrum-down caused the more severe aches and pains. The stiff neck is from the whiplash I experienced when I was sandwiched between two burly forwards. The tender rib cage is from when I ended up on the bottom of the pile made up of ten 200-pound players. Just a moment before, I was moving as gingerly as possible, trying to avoid moving and stressing my muscles. It is now deeply satisfying to stretch out each large muscle group in turn. I reach far into each stretch, beyond the pain. There are moments when fluorescent colors push into the periphery of my vision as I hold a stretch. I lose awareness of my surroundings as I listen to the blood coursing through my arteries. I am able to intuit when and how to stretch each muscle group, and after perhaps twenty minutes, I gradually move out to the finer muscles of the hands and feet. I massage my hands and feet, my neck and jaw, and a wave of pleasure washes over me as I recognize my body as a unit again instead of as a mob of warring factions. While before my "wake and bake" I had been unable to even begin a stretching motion, I was now limber. I would not be able to play rugby today, but some Frisbee, volleyball or hiking would certainly be in order. Without the herbaceous assistance, even croquet would have been out of the question. Prior to my stretching routine, I was able to think of very little save the pain I was experiencing. The prospects for the day seemed dim, as my goal was minimizing and avoiding pain rather than enjoying life. Now, the oppression of my body has been lifting, and my mind flits easily to anticipate the tasks and pleasures of the day. I feel very spiritual and in tune with my body and the earth, and I give thanks that I am able to appreciate the day despite the harm which I inflicted upon myself (with the assistance of my fifteen opponents) the day before. When they arise, my friends are slightly annoyed at my chipper outlook, which only reminds them of their own hung-over state. Those among them who have been socialized to believe that the kindest herb is for evening or afternoon consumption only will have a much more prolonged state of discomfort than I experienced. I am certain that this form of self-medication drastically reduces the amount of recovery time which is required before normal activity may be resumed after over-exerting the body. I tend to "overdo it" regularly, whether on the basketball court, ski slopes, or touch football field, and I have been the unhappy subject of numerous "control" experiments wherein I was forced to cope with severe muscle strain without the benefit of cannabis. Whether the cause was due to a failure in the supply lines or the result of some misdirected, self-imposed period of prohibition, my recovery period was always longer, grumpier, more painful, and more sedentary than it needed to be. I am very wary of beginning the simplest stretch due to the pain I am experiencing. I simply cannot get past the feeling that, if my body is protesting so vehemently I may do damage to it if I try to push it past the pain. No amount of hot showers or Advil can begin to loosen the muscles like a few puffs. Even a trained masseuse would have difficulty untangling my knotted muscles - selfmassage is advantageous because of the immediate feedback I get, as well as the sensation of each muscle calling out for the manipulation which will allow it to peaceably co-exist with its neighboring muscles, tendons, and joints. 119/160

I should point out that on the second morning after the overexertion, I again awake to extreme soreness and tightness, even if I have gone through the ideal routine as set forth above. While I believe that a couple more puffs would be the most effective means of approaching the day, I may forego these if, for example, a Monday morning meeting looms. In this case, I am able to go through a stretching routine which returns my body to a functioning unit. This stretching process is clearly facilitated by the time I have spent the previous morning. If I had neglected my body by not smoking the previous day I would be every bit as sore as I was the previous morning, and equally unlikely to make it past the pain to get into an effective stretching routine.

What Marijuana has Done for Me by Steven Steven is a 19-year-old computer programmer who has lived most of his life in northeastern Oklahoma. He uncovers the life of the mind, tolerance for others, and the gracious memory of honeysuckles. The first time I smoked pot, I felt nothing peculiar or foreign. I wasn’t really disappointed because I knew almost nothing of what to expect so I just thought "so what’s the big deal about pot?" I tried it a second time several months afterwards and I felt a little relaxed but that was the extent of my intoxication. Several months later I tried it a third time, whoa! I wasn't sure if I just had to warm up to it or if the stuff I had used prior to that encounter was just poor quality but what I was sure of was that this gear was indeed potent. The time on the digital clock seemed to fly by but the basic sense of time created by the environment around me (moving my arms, walking, watching the sun set, trying to cook ramen noodles [believe me no easy task], watching people talk, hearing myself talk) almost halted to a standstill. I exhibited all the classic physical signs of intoxication: Red eyes; a serious case of the giggles (note to first time users: DO NOT watch South Park the movie if it is your first time to smoke pot, you will end up feeling like you have done 40,000 sit-ups by the time the show is over, trust me, I know from experience). But besides that, I just plain liked the way it made me feel: Relaxed; introspective; ebullient. There was a creative ease about the concomitant euphoria that I found irresistible. Music that I absolutely thought I would have no business listening to (rap, punk rock, and jazz) suddenly just made sense to me, almost as if I could tell where the artist was coming from. I lost all my stereotypes, all my judgmental attitudes toward certain minorities and individuals. It truly was an awakening. I had a new appreciation and respect for things that I once irrationally dismissed as "beneath" me. Memories seemed to force themselves upon me, very vivid but very gentle. I started to remember things in my childhood that made me truly happy and joyful. Things I had either forgotten or just simply didn't give the time of day to. I remembered raising my hands up as a signal for my mother that I wanted to be carried and the utter joy I felt when she would reach down and pull me up to her chest. I realized how much she really did, in fact, love me when I remembered how I longed for her goodnight kisses, of which never ran dry. I remembered the very simple joys of my very simple existence and marijuana helped me relive them all over again. Playing cowboys and Indians with my cousins at our grandpa's, walking with my grandpa through the pastures behind his house where he would stop and reach up into a persimmon tree to pick one of the luscious fruit for me to indulge myself on, how my sister, my brother, and I would spend hours at the honey suckle bushes extracting that oh-so-prized drop of nectar that we couldn’t seem to get enough of while avoiding the "mean" bumble bees.

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The list goes on and on but the point is, this plant made me realize that there is something to live for; the day to day simple pleasures of life that our society has ignored, neglected, trampled under its feet, raped and basically destroyed. It made me realize that life isn't all about being number one, acceptable to the majority’s point of view, being the sexiest, smartest, richest or what have you. Now, sometimes I just sit there and open and close my fingers and think, "Isn’t that amazing? My fingers are moving just because my brain is telling them to." Some people may think, "Man! He's just been smoking way too much pot," but they're probably just envious of the fact that I can genuinely and honestly appreciate the intricacies of life. I never thought I would genuinely and honestly ever find solace in anything but when it happened, believe me, I almost cried. Cannabis has had a profound impact on my life to the point where I no longer walk down the street and see a guy with a green Mohawk and think to myself, "fucking punk, I bet he don’t even have a job," or see a man sitting on the curb with a cup full of change sitting in front of him and think "get a job, you dirty, worthless bastard." Yeah, I know it sounds bad, and that is why I am so glad to be rid of that mentality. It motivated me to learn more about how I can help people that want to be helped and how to live in peace and total acceptance of those that don't. It motivated me to study philosophy, algebra, chemistry, and history on my OWN time. And as I stated before, the list goes on and on. But most of all, take it or leave it, it serves as a means of enlightenment. I am much more open-minded and unbiased. And I'm not going to deny it, getting high makes me feel good, and isn't that what life is all about?

A Scientist Reports on the Contribution of Cannabis to his Work by Anonymous As a scientist I have spent years training the analytical side of my mind. I have learned to be suspicious of my data, to look for ways to test the reasonableness of my results and arrive at the same conclusions by alternative means. It is an active process of mental discipline: idealizing physical situations, making assumptions to formulate a soluble problem, and applying logic to determine the outcome. What I have sometimes neglected is an awareness of the wider significance of my work and the sense of wonder that led me into the field to begin with. Often I have been unable to see an answer that lies before me. Part of the blame lies in the very training that enables me to do complicated analytical work. To concentrate on the aspects of a problem that I have included in my model, I ignore apparent distractions that sometimes hold the key to a solution. This happens especially when I work with computers, which can do nothing with the mere suggestion or hint that something important has been left out. It is a human habit to go over old ground repeatedly, seeing what you believe to be there rather than what is actually there (the reason people cannot proofread their own writing). I get high for short periods to remedy this problem. It allows me to turn off the rational side of my mind and think creatively (and randomly). It temporarily cancels the limiting effects of my training and allows me to see my work in a different light. It would be inefficient to follow up these new ideas while high, because I am too easily distracted and my analytical capacity is impaired. Instead I enjoy the relaxation and keep notebooks recording my thoughts in lists and outlines. Both the relaxation and the observation of otherwise overlooked details have been valuable contributions to my work.

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Marijuana and College by Anonymous Despite what many people say, marijuana is NOT a harmful drug. I have been a regular smoker for only five months, but it feels much longer. When I was in high school, I did not hesitate to use other illegal drugs, prescription or otherwise. Obviously, these drugs were much more harmful. At the same time, I was wary of smoking pot because I had always been told that because of my depression (I am also on anti depressants); I would go "crazy" from smoking and ruin my precarious mental state. This mentality continued until I went away to college, where I embraced the culture wholeheartedly. Smoking pot did not make me mentally unstable; in fact it did just the opposite. I became more relaxed, less tense, and my always looming anxiety about nearly everything dissipated. The people I met and the close friendships I forged through becoming a pot smoker I value dearly. These people, unlike my previous "friends" who thought nothing of screwing me over for their own purposes, accepted me and become some of my best friends. I have found that pot smokers are generally a very tolerant and sympathetic group of people. This is not even mentioning the beyond wonderful times I had with them at school smoking. Due to a bad experience early in the school year, my depression worsened. I had little desire to do anything, least of all attend classes. My days consisted of sleeping and nights were tinged with insomnia. In January, during possibly one of the lowest period of my life, I met a group of people who changed my life. I began to smoke pot on a regular basis with them, first socially in the evenings, and soon I started in the mornings before classes. I noticed that I could pay rapt attention in classes that normally caused my mind to wonder. I took all of my finals extremely high, and the ideas that flowed from my pen were astounding. I wrote many school papers after smoking; I liked to do this. Connections between ideas suddenly became clear to me; it was amazing. Philosophy, a class that I had previously struggled with, I now understood clearly. Reading philosophers dissertations was a mind blowing experience, as I could really understand the ideas presented whereas before I was completely lost. I have gained a newfound appreciation for life through smoking. It is not a destructive drug, as alcohol and others have been for me. I have never once craved pot, or done anything drastically stupid under its influence. The main reason I enjoy smoking is because I know that even though I am high, I will not do anything to embarrass myself or get into dangerous situations. I can maintain total control, emotionally and otherwise. Unfortunately, I now live at home with my mother for the summer, and she is adamantly against use of any kind of mind altering substances. I attribute this to ignorance and misinformation. Pot is just the opposite of a destructive drug; I wholeheartedly believe that smoking expands one’s consciousness and allows people to gain a better knowledge of themselves and those around them. I hope that more people begin to realize this and help themselves as I did.

Cannabis and Aspergers Syndrome, My Experience I am an 18 year old with Asperger's syndrome. Throughout High School I had flirted with Cannabis, trying it a couple of times, but I had never really gotten much out of it. I was unable to feel 122/160

emotionally connected to people, unable to realize that other people had emotions, unable to show my emotions, and completely unable to escape my own head. I was an extremely unlikeable person, who because of the Asperger's, was just always looking down on and insulting anyone, simply because I could not grasp that other people were capable of having emotions and being insecure. I was unlikeable, and I was too stuck in my head to even understand that. I was miserable in high school because I did not understand why I was unlikeable, I didn’t understand that my actions had consequences; I couldn’t put my behavior into context. Over the course of the last semester, I began to very frequently use cannabis, as it helped to alleviate the social anxiety I constantly had to live with. Since I've begun to use Cannabis, I have been able to think about my behavior and its context for the first time. I've been able to learn to read body language and social cues on a scale I’ve never been able to before. I’ve been able to converse with people without constantly thinking and analyzing and worrying about everything I say and do. Most of all, I've learned to feel empathy. I've learned that being emotional isn’t a weakness. I've learned that my behavior has consequences on both me and the people around me. I've learned to value relationships, family, and humanity. I've learned that I don’t need to be so angry and cruel all the time. I've learned that I don’t always need to try to make everyone as miserable as me. Every single emotional breakthrough and behavioral realization has been made while on cannabis. Every single one of them. I've cried from happiness more in the past month as I’ve gotten to this point than I have at any point in my life.

Recipe for a Low-dose, Olive Oil Cannabis High by Boris I am 46, I work part-time as a baker and live in an east coast city as an intentional neighbor on the margin between two distinct residential areas, one low-income, the other, high-income. My wife, who does not use marijuana, is open-minded about my little adventure. She works as an education professor and brings in the primary household income. I make meals emphasizing seasonal, local and garden fresh ingredients. We have no children. Being "childless" due to infertility was at first a grievous shock. Now, child-free by choice, we feel acceptance. My educational background includes a Masters degree in social work, a Masters in theological studies with a concentration in New Testament, and a certificate in the history of spirituality. Although none of my education has added up to a career path, I work daily in my areas of interest both informally and in writing creative non-fiction. One-eighth ounce of bud 500-milliliters of olive oil Chop bud into a fine powder. Mix with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Cook in microwave in several 20-second intervals until marijuana is browned. Funnel mixture into the bottle with the rest of the oil and shake. Makes 500 milliliters. Serve with a dropper. Serving size may vary according to the quality of the bud and sensitivity of the user. I use about three to six drops. That is all! After twenty years of abstinence from marijuana, I got stoned at several parties when a pipe was passed around. I found I really liked getting high, but I had limited tolerance for the smoke, the short-term memory loss, and the party atmosphere. So, I bought a little bud from a friend, and in the comfort of my own home, began experimentation with the subtle effects of very low doses. The onset of a low-dose high is barely perceptible. But at some point I always notice the usual benefits: heightened appreciation of sights and sounds, reduced anxiety, increased attentiveness, more enjoyment of the present moment, and more willingness to do routine chores. I have also

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noticed, when I take it before bed, my dreams are more colorful, sensual and richly symbolic. The high is strongest after about an hour and lingers for four hours or more. With such low doses, I have not noticed memory loss. In fact, I was surprised to find that, in at least one setting, my short-term memory was noticeably improved. In the bakery, I struggled with an ongoing tendency to forget the quantities. I had to go back to check the recipe repeatedly. But on a low-dose high, my concentration was right on task. The numbers stuck in my mind the first time with ease. When high, I tend to like being sociable. But often, after the initial high is over, I have a burst of creative energy and enjoy prolonged periods of intense focused solitude. Some of my best creative writing comes to me during the post-high phase. My sensitivity to low doses may have to do with regular yoga meditation practice, and except for moderate use of alcohol, avoidance of all other intoxicants. For best results in sensing the subtle effects, I do not use cannabis and alcohol together. This contribution was written while high, and revised post-high.

Cannabis as a Philosophic Sacrament by Donald "Donald" is a pseudonym. The 40-year-old author is a philosophy professor at a distinguished liberal arts college. His ritualized use involves refection and solitude, note-taking during periods of intensified pleasure in thinking, and the awareness of the interaction between his disciplined "Apollonian" daily work and his liberated "Dionysian" hours. In this reflection on moderate use by a professional, we follow him into the rebirth of wonder. Reading what others have had to say about cannabis has reassured me that despite the absurd lengths to which our society has gone to tell us otherwise, cannabis can be a positive force in human lives. Yet even well-meaning folks who wouldn’t mind seeing it legalized often view cannabis as a more or less harmless means of inducing temporary silliness and stupidity in its users. Hardly the stuff of sacrament! In what follows I don’t mean to deny (since I myself enjoy) the purely recreational virtues of drugs like cannabis and alcohol. Yet it may be a more useful contribution to the larger conversation about the uses of cannabis if I say something about how cannabis contributes to what I regard as some of my better hours. I am a forty-year-old man who teaches philosophy at a distinguished liberal arts college on the East coast. Besides being a devoted reader and writer, I am happily married and enjoy the company of a circle of family and friends. An athlete in college, I remain fit, running and practicing yoga regularly. The first time I got high was in college (after a chemistry final, fittingly enough). I immediately liked it more than alcohol. During college, I smoked cannabis occasionally, sometimes going months without it. It wasn't until graduate school that getting high grew into a habit or, as I prefer, ritual. I usually get high by myself, except on those occasions when my wife and I smoke a little before bed. Getting high is solitary both from inclination and circumstance. At the present time, there is to my knowledge no one in my immediate circle who uses cannabis. "To my knowledge" being the crucial phrase. For of course I have colleagues and neighbors who use cannabis; but the community in which I live and work is conservative, and the drug of choice is alcohol. I suppose if I were eager to have friends to get high with, I would find them. But as it happens I prefer the solitude and have long associated the ritual of getting high with the sweetest moments of solitary reflection. I find that other people tend to divert my attention from what I most enjoy about 124/160

cannabis - the enthusiasm of the senses it sparks, and the related intensification of my pleasure in thinking. That said, I have two far-flung friends whose disposition towards the drug is much like mine, and I relish those rare occasions when we get high together. During the past couple years I find myself using cannabis more regularly than ever before, about two days a week or so. Some weeks not at all, either because we’re traveling or because my work is so pressing that I do not make time for it. Going for weeks without getting high is usually a sign that I am overly busy and stressed. I called using cannabis a ritual for me. It goes like this. During the academic year, I leave my Wednesday evenings free from all obligations. I work in my study until 4:30 or 5pm. (My work on these afternoons often goes very well, driven perhaps by the pleasure of anticipation and by the knowledge that, unlike many other days, I will not be working late into the evening.) When I've finished my work, I prepare some cannabis for my Tulip vaporizer, sit back in my reading chair by the window, and await the reliable lifting of fatigue and the rebirth of wonder. Dogs are tuned profoundly to ritual (especially rituals that involve their happiness!), and my dog associates the scent of cannabis with long, leisurely walks. He stands, stretches, comes over to me, bright-eyed and wagging his tail. Soon I get up, gather a small notebook and pen that I keep handy by the door, and then we set off outdoors. I won't say much here about the experience of the outer world when I'm high - plenty has been said by others more poetic than myself. I'll simply corroborate that I find the objects of my senses more vivid and striking and generally pleasing than when I’m straight. Why? It feels as though my mood has shifted and released the psychic energy necessary to pay proper attention to my surroundings. Since I spend most of my waking hours engaged in reading, conversation, study, and writing, I have always been grateful for this power of cannabis to bring me back to my senses. Walking outdoors, I feel the day's accumulated trivia and obsessions begin to disperse, and with them the wearisome selfabsorption that in my own case seems an inescapable part of caring for my works ("works" understood in the broadest sense, to include all those matters to which one devotes sustained energy). This turn from interior to exterior is invariably revitalizing. It relieves me from my cares and heightens my enthusiasm for what the senses are revealing, and this in turn lifts my spirits. And for what it's worth, it is a fact attested by neuroscience (one may always rely on scientists to point out the obvious!) that we think better and more energetically when we feel good. Aristotle observed that philosophy has its origins in wonder, and the single greatest gift of cannabis is reliable occasions for wondering anew about what is before me: a magnificent tree or the aging clouded eyes of my beloved dog; a book I’m reading or an idea I'm meditating on; a fugue of Bach’s or the melody and rhythm of a song I'm singing; the conversation of my wife as she speaks her mind or the feel of her body as we make love. Being high is not the only time I appreciate such things, but what’s powerful about this drug is that it reliably produces a shift in consciousness that heightens my wonder and enthusiasm. (Inclined as I am to melancholy, I've often wondered exactly how this bears on my responsiveness to cannabis. If I took antidepressants, would the shift I describe be so pronounced?) But while philosophy begins in wonder, it naturally leads to investigation and finally to knowledge of that thing that got us thinking in the first place. For me this means that a thoughtful life requires many sober, disciplined Apollonian hours for every Dionysian hour liberated through cannabis. Back to the ritual. Since my deepest passion is thinking about and writing philosophy, this naturally tends to be the focus of the time I spend high. By the time I return from our walk I usually have a few pages of scribbled notes - more or less important and incisive ideas, either about what I 125/160

observed on the walk or about some topic I'm meditating on in my work, reading, or personal life. I make no effort to think about anything in particular while I'm out walking. The pen and paper is merely a net for catching those flighty thoughts, should they occur to me. It matters enormously to the liberating quality of the ritual that I have no agenda and no expectations. In this respect, my mood is receptive rather than active. Usually I return again to my study and use a little more herb. Not too much, though. I distinguish a moderate "high" from being intensely "stoned." Ordinarily I prefer being high, since I find myself more able to enjoy thinking; but if I have chosen to spend the time being in my body primarily - for example, having sex - being stoned can be wonderful. Then I usually sit down at my desk to work out at greater length, in writing, the thoughts I had jotted down. (Or, if the day finds me over-tired, I may find myself listening to music and practicing yoga instead; after all, the ritual is not meant to extend my work day but to be a counterpoint to it!) Needless to say, during the enchanting hour or two that pass many more thoughts come rushing in, each called forth by the last. These hours spent reflecting are the best and most satisfying ones I spend high. They never feel like work, though afterwards I feel pleasantly exhausted. For the record, I find that if I use cannabis later in the evening I often feel a little dull in the morning, whereas I recover completely if I leave off by 7pm or so. I am a light sleeper, and since cannabis stimulates my mind, it can interfere with the quality of my sleep. Whence the dullness. Let me say a bit more about the character of contemplation that being high encourages in my own case. As I said, I do not set agendas for whether, much less what, I'll contemplate; that is the nature of morning, or Apollonian, work. Instead I give my mind over to free play. Liberated, it makes many associations I am unlikely to have considered. In the morning light, some turn out to be more trivial than they appeared while high, while others turn out to be very suggestive and helpful indeed. My well-trained, sober mind possesses many habits and views that lead it away from apparently implausible paths and connections. While high, those habits of mind and viewpoints are set aside: My grip eased, I find myself entertaining a subject from a fresh perspective, one that often sets it off in bold relief, facilitating comparison with the tissue of thoughts surrounding it. Or I find myself making a connection I hadn't noticed before. These thoughts seem encouraged in part by what the abbreviation of memory makes possible: a kind of imaginative clearing in which what is familiar becomes fresh and original once more, because it has been temporarily isolated from all the habitual thoughts my memory ordinarily connects to it. That these musings often yield substantial insights is beyond doubt, seconded as they are by that Apollonian self who patiently reviews and edits (and, yes, occasionally winces at the sometimes childish enthusiasms I've recorded) the prior evening's reflections. By the way, subjecting one’s musings to that discriminating morning light does help keep one honest about their actual quality and worth. This is the more important, given how easy it is to imagine when we’re high that the pleasure a thought gives is a measure of its substance! In general, two points stand out about the effects of cannabis. First, getting high excites my senses and my brain and thereby kindles my pleasure in thinking through whatever comes to mind. Even when I imagine I’m too dull and careworn by the day's events to entertain a single thought, it usually happens that after I’m high I find myself enchanted and engaged with a swarm of them. This transformation strikes me as little short of miraculous, until I remember that it costs me something, that it cannot be sustained day after day. On those occasions when I use cannabis two or three days in a row, I find it less likely that my mind is concentrated to good effect, both while I’m high and when I’m straight. Being high is still pleasant, but my mind feels a little ragged and diffuse. Discovering this has limited how often I use cannabis. The second point has to do with cannabis' effect on my mind's operations. In brief, ideas tend to have more texture: their differences and hierarchical relations to one another grow clearer to me. I 126/160

see how completely unprofitable is a line of thought I've been pursuing so studiously; or I see that an idea I had thought was peripheral actually belongs closer to the center of my thoughts. So much of thinking well rests on the ability to see which questions are worth asking, and to distinguish essential thoughts from accidental ones, crucial insights from trivial ones. Cannabis can be enormously helpful in these efforts. In my own experience, the very sophistications of Apollonian thinking - achieved through the desire for great learning and perfect lucidity and ruthless selfcriticism - can make it harder to see these matters clearly. Professorial souls may have a hard time making the simplest observations clear and compelling, in part because that sophistication can lead us to qualify an insight to death by belaboring details, exceptions, doubts, and the like. We become obsessed with analysis and detail and forget to look up from time to time and take our bearings from the larger landscape, which is always where significance appears. One further bit of speculation about how cannabis affects thinking. Synthetic thought - adding things up and seeing things whole - comes easily, but its counterpart, analysis, seems harder to engage. This may be because analysis, as the etymology of the word suggests, involves breaking things down into their parts, and this places a premium on memory. For it requires keeping an extensive body of knowledge actively in view in order to make the right distinctions and keep track of where one is in an analysis, or argument. Thus analysis calls on the very power that cannabis “compromises”, namely memory. On the other hand, this same compromise serves to heighten synthetic powers, insofar as the abbreviation of memory promotes the capacity to make connections we might not consider otherwise. So cannabis can aid insight, which is the quintessential achievement of synthetic thought; but it is less useful when straightforward analysis is wanted. We may have good thoughts about the fundamental theorem of the calculus when high, but we’re less likely to find ourselves digging into intricate proofs concerning it. How pleasurable and uplifting these hours spent in solitary meditation! They are usually among the best moments of my week. And being a Protestant, I sometimes wonder if that’s not a problem. Wouldn’t it be better if such moments and hours were attained without drugs? In a qualified sense, my own answer to this question is, yes. But one qualification many cannabis users probably agree about is this: the frenetic pace of life and work in our culture argues against the very cast of mind cannabis can help invoke. So, until that day I leave it all behind - my rewarding but demanding work and my crowded schedule filled with the cares I’ve chosen for myself - until I escape to my Walden, I shall in all likelihood continue to enjoy cannabis as a welcome counterpoint to the cares of my workaday world. It may be a shortcut, and my limited experience with spiritual practices such as meditation leaves no doubt there are natural approaches to the same prospect. But for the time being I have made my peace with a busier life, which is to say a more communal and therefore more conventional life. Here cannabis is a sacrament I use periodically to fling off and rise above the world-weariness and tedium native to such a way of life, good as it is in other respects. I think those who call cannabis harmless do it an injustice: anything that has so much power can be harmful. For myself, I question whether the greatest harm my use of cannabis might do is diminish my power to enjoy the world when I’m straight. Many afternoon walks with my dog feel terrifically dull; the contrast when I'm high is so striking that of course I'm tempted to get high more often. Why not maximize my power of enjoyment? But as I said earlier, I find that getting high too often diminishes the excellence of the high, and this suggests that the pleasure of being high depends in part on the contrast with being straight. After all, if I got high all the time, against what would I measure those heights? So, in answer to my own question, it may be that by getting high regularly I do somewhat diminish my capacity for joy when I'm straight; but in return I enjoy regular and greater high points in my life than I would otherwise. 127/160

Besides, there are many things I can only do well when straight: Write essays and lectures, converse with colleagues, friends and students, follow another thinker’s intricate argument, commit new things to memory, go on a long run, to name a few. So I live for both the Apollonian and Dionysian moments, and I try to be vigilant that the desire to be high doesn’t interfere with these other goods in my life. Since I think of cannabis as a powerful sacrament in my life, I work to preserve its place and not profane it by making it too common. Now it may be that all this talk of "work" merely rationalizes my Protestant worries about being on the contrast with being straight. After all, if I got high all the time, against what would I measure those heights? So, in answer to my own question, it may be that by getting high regularly I do somewhat diminish my capacity for joy when I'm straight; but in return I enjoy regular and greater high points in my life than I would otherwise. Besides, there are many things I can only do well when straight: Write essays and lectures, converse with colleagues, friends and students, follow another thinker’s intricate argument, commit new things to memory, go on a long run, to name a few. So I live for both the Apollonian and Dionysian moments, and I try to be vigilant that the desire to be high doesn’t interfere with these other goods in my life. Since I think of cannabis as a powerful sacrament in my life, I work to preserve its place and not profane it by making it too common. Now it may be that all this talk of "work" merely rationalizes my Protestant worries about being seduced into an idle, muddled life. Yet I can see how the virtues of cannabis I’ve described have a downside if used too often. I might become impatient with the humbler discipline of those less ecstatic morning hours in which I labor towards understanding things. Instead of engaging in that careful discursive work, I occasionally imagine leaping over it and enjoying being in the know all the time. But I like the Apollonian hours so well as not to be tempted to "wake and bake." The likelier and more insidious prospect is diluting my mornings by indulging too often at other times. I worry when any of my actions (including novel reading and late nights talking with friends) intrude on my ability to engage energetically and lucidly in morning work, whatever that work may be. After a morning spent writing this, I got high and, while out walking, had the following thoughts: Since I don't much like moralizing talk from others, why say anything at all about the dangers cannabis might pose? God knows the public square is full of righteous people speaking to that point. Why not just describe my own experience and leave it at that? Of course, I thought, we do need serious reflections from people who actually know something about cannabis, who use it and like it! Then Aristotle came to mind again, in particular his definition of human flourishing as the activity of the soul in accordance with virtue. And I saw that it is because I agree so profoundly with his conception of the good human life as an active one that I find myself returning to Apollonian virtues in an essay on Dionysian ones. Ever since we were thrown out of Eden, thinking and acting well have been fragile goods achieved only through serious effort: unlike our metabolism, a good life doesn't just happen for us. This reminded me of Tarantino's film "Jackie Brown," in which Samuel L. Jackson's character tells his girlfriend that if she doesn't stop smoking so much pot it will rob her of her ambition. Her reply: Not if my ambition is to get high and watch TV. Admittedly, watching TV is an activity that just happens, but it's hardly the stuff of our best hours. For those who have the head for it (and many do not), I think cannabis can contribute to flourishing. But it may also dim our prospects if used in such a way as to make us less capable of thinking and acting well.

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A Way of Life by "Emancipated" I am a 26 year old male living in Ontario, Canada. I am a university graduate with a B.A. in political science and a diploma in human resources management. Currently I am working within the communications industry and am constantly searching for my dream job anywhere else! I have been happily married for just over one year to my high school sweetheart whom I have had the privilege of having in my life for 8 years now. My story details my personal use of marijuana as treatment for chronic anxiety and depression and the psychological as well as (somewhat surprising) physical benefits I have reaped from this truly amazing and natural substance. To me, marijuana is not a "party drug" but more like a daily vitamin and by sharing my own experiences I hope to show others that this is not some harmful illicit substance but rather a natural miracle that has allowed me to take control of myself and start living life. In the past year I have become extremely interested in the use of marijuana as a daily medication. Based upon my own personal experiences and the experiences of a close associate I have come to formulate a number of theories as to how marijuana can be used not simply as a recreational "party" drug but as what I like to refer to as a way of life. Simply, for me, it has become such and I feel my story helps to bust many of the current marijuana myths while at the same time promoting the many benefits of its use. This is my story: In January of 2001 1 sought treatment for social anxiety disorder. I was in my third year of university studies (I have since graduate with my B.A. in Political Science) and I was suffering daily from terrible social anxiety. I had been plagued since my early teens with devastating anxiety that caused me to create false illnesses in order to avoid going to school. I simply could not function in society. Unfortunately, I had no idea what was wrong with me. In public situations my muscles would become tense, I would become shy, sweaty, nervous, and I would need to remove myself from the environment. As the years went on, this condition went through various stages but eventually worsened during my university years. Although I had a steady girlfriend (she is now my wife), was doing well in school, had terrific parents, and had jobs to earn money for tuition, I simply could not shake my constant state of anxiety. It got to the point where I stopped going to classes, avoided malls, restaurants, and secluded myself in my room. I could not function in the world. I finally decided to seek treatment and was placed on Paxil. Unfortunately the side-effects forced me off of the drug and I was prescribed Effexor XR at doses of 225mg per day. The drug helped but I still suffered from anxiety, occasional depression, and I still struggled, not as often as before, but still more than I wanted to live a "normal" life. I tried marijuana for the first time in my life in December 2002 at the age of 23.1 had never tried any recreational drugs, hard or soft, before in my life. My first experience was nothing special and I didn't try it again for a while. However, in 20041 began to experiment more with marijuana. At first it was typically social and I was using it as a party drug. But as my use increased I began to notice a number of changes, mainly psychological but also physical. However, to appreciate the positive aspects of my experience I must explain why I began using heavily from the summer of 2004, increasing my daily intake until I became a regular (daily) user who smokes a minimum of one joint per day but on average probably smokes between 3 and 6. In 20041 became engaged to my girlfriend of 6 years. Her family is very religious and I was always trying to get in their "good books" as I am not religious at all and they felt that I shouldn't be with their daughter. Combining the stress of my marriage, issues with in-laws, and a number of career 129/160

related issues that seemed very negative at the time I probably would have cracked under the pressure had I not been using marijuana. However, I began to notice that by simply smoking a minimum of once a day or even just a few times a week I was able to, in a sense, put the brakes on my mind and stop it from snowballing all of the issues in my life. I was able to sit back, relax without anxiety, and simply analyze my life and the events occurring in it and come up with a plan of how to approach any and all issues. Following my marriage in January of 2005 my in-laws became rather intrusive and were attempting to control aspects of my life. They felt it was their right as parents of my wife. In the past I would have felt fear and guilt and would have altered my personality and beliefs to accommodate those of others. But by using marijuana and taking advantage of the ability to sit, think, and analyze I had learned a lot about my own beliefs and was more comfortable with myself than ever before. This self-acceptance led to an increase in self-esteem and I was and have been able to stand up for what I believe in and approach life with confidence and enthusiasm. To gain these traits after being in a depressed anxiety ridden state for so long was quite liberating. From this experience, I began to examine how else marijuana use had changed my life. Watching and listening to others as I progress through life I have learned that very few people are happy. Most people seem to be unsatisfied with life in one way or another whether it is their relationships that aren't right or they aren’t happy with their career choice or they simply just cannot find anything to be happy about. For me, however, I approach everyday with renewed enthusiasm and I can honestly say I am happy every day of my life. Why? I simply do not worry about every little issue that may or may not confront me. I have slowed down my mind (not in a negative way) and I have learned to use what seems like a heightened analytical ability to make sense of daily issues that cause some people to withdraw from life itself. I feel that marijuana has changed my mind for the better and has opened my eyes to the reality that is life. Since I don’t have a better example I will use the Cave Analogy as presented in Plato's Republic. Simply, through marijuana use it is like I have been allowed to leave the cave and experience reality instead of staring at the shadows on the wall. Simply, marijuana use has allowed me to gain a higher understanding and I have become enlightened. Marijuana has become a way of life for me and I simply believe that by using it on a regular basis I am psychologically better for it. I love life and simply have an understanding of...well....life itself that seems so advanced that I feel my mind has experienced an evolution of sorts. At first when I used marijuana I felt the side effects pleasurable but I was simply not used to experiencing the world through an altered perception. I honestly believe that in order to achieve truly magnificent results with marijuana one must use it on a regular or at least semi-regular basis in order to become used to the effects. In the beginning the side-effects can be somewhat distracting and it may be difficult to think, remember, and in general act in a manner that one would consider "normal." However, regular use allows one to adjust to this altered state of mind and you simply get used to it. It is in this state I find that you peak and now have complete control over this altered state of mind. It is at this time when one can begin to explore all of the creative possibilities because the mind seems to be working at an increased level. I find, at least for me, by smoking one joint I am able to tap into a different part of my mind, and problems which seemed to have no solution before now have endless solutions. It is like turning on the rest of my brain. For me it has become a way of life. Since I began smoking regularly in late 2004 and have continued to do so up to the present day, I have not experienced any illnesses. I used to suffer from nasty head and/or chest colds every fall, winter, and even into late spring. Sometimes I would get sick and it would take a month to really clear up entirely. However, since I began smoking I have not had a single true illness. I have felt the 130/160

occasional cold begin to creep into my body, but my physical symptoms have been nothing more than a scratchy throat and maybe a minor cough, which disappears with the rest of the symptoms within a day or two. Simply, the sickness never fully develops. This information conflicts with supposed marijuana facts that state many users suffer from respiratory illnesses. I simply cannot verify if this is true or not since my close associates and I have not suffered any major illnesses since we began using marijuana on a regular basis. One associate suffered from a bug and had flu symptoms; however, it lasted only one day. Other members of her family suffered from the same symptoms at the same time for a week and did not feel normal for well over a week. We have discussed this case and like the common colds that we have basically avoided the symptoms were not as severe and the duration was quite minimal. To summarize, I have simply had nothing but positive experiences with marijuana and I must say that it has become a way of life for me. I don’t do it to get high like people who drink to get drunk, I simply do it because I am amazed that after suffering for years from anxiety and always worrying about how I appeared in the eyes of others I have been able to liberate myself from a life that was really not much joy to live. I wish that people, especially government and law-enforcement officials could overcome their own propaganda and misinformed brainwashing to realize that there is a medication out there that really does work and could probably resolve a number of psychological issues ranging from depression to anxiety to anger without the adverse side-effects that are common with many prescribed anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medications.

Cross-Cultural Discovery by Tucker Clark A cross-cultural discovery of a medicinal cure that also opened the Peace Corps volunteer to its spiritual-based usage. With a charming account of an ancient herbal remedy, we share a very human moment with holy men and elders in the remote villages of the Himalayas. It was the winter of 1968.1 had freshly graduated from college at the University of North Carolina to become a volunteer with the Peace Corps, doing agriculture work in Nepal. Peace Corps Nepal had received a scare when over-zealous visiting US congressmen had tried to have several of the new volunteers drafted to fight in Vietnam rather than serve as volunteers in our 2 year PCV jobs Their rationale was that Nepal was just a haven for dope smoking draft dodgers and they were going to yank us out and make an example of us, despite the thousands of dollars they had spent training us and getting us over there. A countrywide Peace Corps protest stopped them, but all of the volunteers were made to feel paranoid about any consumption of marijuana, no matter how remote the setting. I was stationed in my small agricultural community at the foothills of the Himalayas in the Terai, where the village landlord had given me lodging in his Pukkha cement front room. Since I was a cow eater from the West and impure by Brahmin standards, I was not permitted to go into the innards of the house nor eat with them. In every other way I was the village novelty, was on permanent exhibition, and was enjoying my post despite the strangeness. I had prided myself on my iron stomach, eating what villagers ate, the dhal bhat tarkari (sometimes called paste and pepper or rice and lentils depending on your preferences) twice a day and lots of tea, and became increasingly bold in my cavalier attitude about local water. The negative forces soon had their field day when I got bacillary and amoebic dysentery, Giardia, malaria, and whatever else was the common experience of Peace Corps workers. We were famous for sending our shit in the mail to have it diagnosed by Peace Corps doctors but we had a quart of anti-diarrhea medicine in our first aid kit, and a supposed wonder drug called Lomotil to take as we awaited their findings. For a very long 131/160

four days, I was pissing, puking and shitting substances from every orifice and was so weak I couldn’t make it to the fields. Kathmandu Peace Corps headquarters had sent me an anti-Giardia medicine and were contemplating taking me by helicopter me to the hospital if I didn’t improve. Giardia, the roommate disorder, as we laughingly called it, made one fart for minutes at a time and some of the constantly gazing, sometimes empathetic villagers found my trumpeting still very amusing. The spirited Brahmin priest landlord who, much to his credit, was getting me a dispensation in the caste bound village (he had worked it out that American cows weren’t their cows and therefore I wasn’t as heathen as the outcasts and Muslims who took of the burger), came to me in my misery, leading a Hindu holy man, a Saddhu, with him. He was a mendicant I had not seen before. I would have remembered him, with his dreadlocks, ash-covered face, Shiva trident on his forehead and loincloth; begging bowl and walking stick his only accoutrements. He came and squatted down in front of me and stared, something I had gotten used to as the odd Sahib in this remote area. He soon started touching my belly, felt my pulse and looked at me with his ebony-pooled, mystical eyes. With a great deal of embarrassment, I released one of my 30 second farts, accompanied by villagekid laughter. The solemn Saddhu, with his eyes piercing through me, gave me the most empathetic smile, and reached for his begging bowl and pulled some ganja buds from it. The Brahmin who had been keeping a running monologue about me, was silent and responding to a nod from the Saddhu, went to the landlord's kitchen and came back with cloves, powdered ginger and other spices and a pulverizing rock. The Saddhu spread the herbs out in front of him, proceeded to pound them together and without any ceremony, wrapped them in a betel leaf and gave it to me, motioning me to eat it like the common, bazaar-bought concoction that everybody chewed called Pan. The Brahmin silently said for me to eat it (the universal cupped hand to the mouth sign), and made motions about my disorders and used his big, dark, hands to push them off into the horizon. Believe me I was at the end of my rope and a bit fearful that I had contracted something potentially fatal. Enough so that the landlord, seeing my condition and worried, too, for my health, had alerted the Gurka military camp on the Indian border that I would need a flight out to Kathmandu. To my amazement, the concoction was very tasty and on my empty stomach it was quickly absorbed. I had made several protests in different villages about smoking ganja in their chillums with the wise men and Saddhus so that my Peace Corps image would not be tarnished, but in this case I made no acknowledgment of the ganja. That was until my piercing headache just vanished like a cloud and I became very light-headed, something the Brahmin saw; he made motions to the effect that I must be feeling it, to the villager's amusement. To my amazement, after a week of western medicines, cure-alls, etc. I was feeling the immediate medicinal effect of marijuana and almost as a giant send-off to my malady, the final fart lasting a good minute blasted out of me. I suddenly felt healthy and happy to be alive. I sat on the landlord's porch, while half the village scrutinized the Saddhu's handiwork, and actually clapped at my relieving blast. I couldn’t believe how good I felt, physically and mentally. I "namasted" the holy man, gallivanted around the village, as they clapped about my relief from a disorder all of them had experienced and all had some degree of fear about. That night, I wandered the dirt paths in my village and came to the mango grove, next to my fish pond project. Around a rice chaff and cow dung fire the Saddhu and a bunch of old men were passing the chillum and regaling each other about the beauty of Kali, and the power of Shiva, singing and smoking in the mystical light of dusk. When they all saw me, they motioned for me to come over. They extended the chillum, and motioned for me to partake. I realized that this marvelous substance had literally saved me, and there was no way - even with Peace Corps drug 132/160

prohibitions being what they were - that I would turn down the gracious offer to join my village wise men in their ritual peace pipe. The demon drug was certainly not that, and it amuses me and saddens me today to see how we have infected the world with our drug wars’ prohibitions, economies and mentalities. Whenever I think of marijuana I think of the saintly old Saddhu, offering me the lifesaving concoction that all of the western solutions and remedies had failed to equal in its curative wonder. Comment: It is as if the western powers are jealous of anything that may discredit them. They want to be the authority, so they put down any other authorities. A collection of egos into a big national ego, that imagines itself the biggest and best. And cannabis does not submit well, so it must be put down, forced into submission. Nations are like jealous lovers who fear their citizens' abandonment. What can we do but be loving anyway, and invite them to expand their acceptance of powers, perceptions and things presently beyond them.

Arthur's Story Arthur (a pseudonym) is a 31-year-old computer technician at a West Coast university, where he was previously a doctoral student in the humanities. He dropped out several years ago, like many doctoral students in the humanities, once he realized he was being trained for a job that in all likelihood he would never get and probably wouldn’t enjoy if he did. Contrasting the range of effects from caffeine, alcohol, and antidepressant use in this broad retrospective, he tells of his recovery from alcoholism, using cannabis as a therapeutic adjunct rather than a drug substitution, and thereby discovers his own humanity. My present work suits me well — it's great fun, really — and pays a decent wage. I forwent the honorific initials behind my name, not worth the trouble for their own sake, along with the possible satisfactions of an academic career; but I also lead a much more pleasant and less stressful life than any of the junior faculty I know. I like having time to read, write, think my own thoughts, enjoy my wife’s company, and play the piano. I'm glad I can support my wife and myself in relative comfort, and still live near my favorite campus. For all my adult life I've been a regular, often a daily marijuana user, subject to availability. I'm not what I’d call a heavy user, just a regular one. At the most basic level marijuana functions rather like an antidepressant for me - it's a consistently effective mood brightener - though its mechanism of action is of course completely different from that of a prescription antidepressant, and I use it differently: its fleeting effects are more psychological and subjective, less obscurely neuro chemical, and a lot more interesting than Prozac's, say -plus I can get it without a prescription. My use of marijuana also has much in common with the after-work cocktail some people take to relax. But I believe marijuana offers me a great deal more than a lift in spirits on demand, and that compared to marijuana alcohol is a fairly graceless blunt instrument. People call alcohol a "social" drug; but this is so only because alcohol is deeply integrated into our culture, and because its antiinhibitory effects, at low doses, promote social interaction among people who never learned to interact socially. Marijuana is no less a social drug - in fact it’s much less apt to encourage antisocial behavior than alcohol - and only its illegality requires the present rituals of furtive, solitary use. If marijuana were legal, and a naturalized American drug, we'd see the same fascinating variety of forms, flavors, and potencies we see with alcohol, the same convivial social institutions, and the marijuana connoisseur might be no less well regarded than the connoisseur of 133/160

fine wine. To state absolutely that marijuana is better than alcohol is foolish, and what’s more pointless - all drugs have their uses and their adherents - but it is an awful lot less toxic, and it has certainly proven more beneficial to me personally. I'll add that I’m not any more addicted to marijuana than a patient might be addicted to his prescription antidepressant - perhaps less so in terms of "physical" addiction, that is, the relative probability of a withdrawal syndrome upon cessation of use, and no more so in terms of "psychological" addiction or dependence. Deterministic theories of addiction, on the model of biological or genetic disease, are currently very popular (and are certainly nothing new); I have little use for these theories, and understand addiction in strictly behavioral terms, allowing that individuals can have a predisposition to addictive behavior about which I prefer to make no moral or medical judgments. Marijuana, as I use it, is among other things a palliative - a fair term to describe the medical use of almost any psychoactive drug - but I feel no need to call my use "medical." And marijuana, having been used by humans for millennia without mishap, is proven safe and efficacious; compared to it prescription antidepressants are practically untested and poorly understood. Call me conservative, but if I'm going to use a drug regularly, I prefer to self-administer one I know to be very safe, and with which I have an evidently happy and productive relationship; avoiding the meshes of psychiatric medicine, for which I have little respect, also means a great deal to me. (Forgive an aside - but how can one take seriously, or regard with anything save dismay, a so-called scientific (that is, medical) discipline whose diagnostic bible has at one time or another in the recent past declared whole classes of normal human behavior and states of being - from homosexuality to short attention spans - to be "pathological" and hence subject to invasive "treatment" regimes, like drugs or electricity?) Marijuana, particularly if smoked, is not very long-acting. But the psychological boost attendant on a few puffs at the end of a long day stays with me after the drug effects have worn off. Marijuana for me is a euphoria provider and a mind-expander (although it has not always been thus). Its presence in my life is stabilizing and enriching. To what extent, then, am I addicted to marijuana? I use it almost every day, and when I'm without it for extended periods of time I notice that I'm slightly more restless and irritable, that the ordinary frustrations of daily existence feel somewhat more unremitting. I do not believe - though I cannot of course offer any proof that the moderate agitation I describe is owing to withdrawal from marijuana. (Tolerance and withdrawal are uncommon among marijuana users, but do become something of an issue with regular use at very high dose levels. With marijuana, for most people, there isn't an incessant craving to take more, or any marked tendency for dose levels to creep upward.) My baseline state, from early childhood when I was easily bored, seems to have been a little nervous and edgy; and I take this nervous energy to be an asset, since it drives me to creative invention. But it can be hard to live with day after day. I dealt with my restlessness poorly in the past, and even now I'm probably too quick to suppress it. But I'm also quite happy and calm most of the time, even when I’m not under the influence, and attribute this peace of mind, in part, to my marijuana use. I cannot detect any negative effects from my drug use, and no one around me who has observed my behavior reports any either. (With one possible exception: while under the influence of marijuana a person's short-term memory can be seriously impaired. People who are not stoned become understandably annoyed with interlocutors who are, and who therefore continually ask, "What were we just talking about?" This deficit is easily covered for, however, and disappears completely when the drug has worn off.) While I would say I’m an addict in the broadest sense of the term, so is just about everyone else in this country; and unlike many (drug and non-drug) 134/160

addictions in our culture, I think mine is functional -that's to say, it’s adaptive, and more of a help than a problem in my life. A useful drug of reference, perhaps, is caffeine, to which a great many Americans are addicted, and which a great many Americans (especially women and older people) have intentionally stopped using: caffeine is not only more dangerous than marijuana (because of how it affects the cardiovascular system), but also, for those who suddenly discontinue use, much more likely to produce uncomfortable symptoms of withdrawal. And most folks barely recognize that caffeine is a drug. Kids use it all the time. Aside from the dangers to one’s health (which marijuana doesn’t share) caffeine use is seldom a serious problem - overdose psychosis is possible, as with most stimulant drugs, but rare - and no one has seriously suggested that its use be proscribed (in modern times). Whether or not to use caffeine, and whether or not to use it regularly, is a matter for individual choice. I should note, lest I appear unaware of marijuana’s profound psychic effects compared to those of caffeine, that experienced marijuana users are almost always able to function more or less like their straight selves, if they wish, when under the influence, and marijuana's effects are very dose-dependent - a moderate dose, in other words, needn’t be all that overwhelming even for a naive user. There is, of course, a down side to habituation of any kind that I'll talk more about later. Having compared marijuana to prescription antidepressants, I should say something about the latter. Psychiatric drugs (the less objectionable ones) are designed, or stumbled upon, with a hope to normalize the abnormal brain -whether they succeed is a difficult question to answer empirically, because any definition of "normal," which implies a set of criteria for judging normality, is going to be arbitrarily narrow, or else immeasurable, and nobody knows why these drugs work anyway. They're often prescribed as if to be taken forever, like a diabetic's insulin, on the assumption that they correct a deficiency or imbalance of some kind. In a significant number of cases they have nasty side effects, eventually cease to be effective, and are best regarded as experimental. A number of people believe themselves to have benefited from these drugs, the well-marketed products of heavy investment in psychopharmacological research, and that belief in my opinion is enough to establish their worth. Some people feel like they've been rescued by them. But still more people take antidepressants because they're vaguely unhappy - because they know something is amiss in their lives that they want fixed - and physicians often prescribe these drugs as if they were a cure, when there is no disease of the mind or body, just like their predecessors prescribed tranquilizers in the 1960's. These drugs probably do help people cope in a world that seems to be growing unhappier every day; and to the extent they treat neurochemical anomalies, I'd suggest they’re often treating symptoms of life in the late twentieth century. (If I’m putting mind before brain, perhaps I’m not putting the cart before the horse: environmental stress of various kinds, for example, is often correlated with, and prior to, episodic depression. A causal link seems likely to say the least.) In a simpler, less imbalanced world, depression might become almost unknown, and euphoria might become normal. Such a world is unimaginable now, and so drugs are here to help us cope. Coping is different from escaping, of course: I'm not talking about sedation, and to the extent a drug encourages us to withdraw, to disengage from the world and the people around us, it is harmful and its use is maladaptive. My first exposure to marijuana was 16 years ago, in the company of some older friends. At the time I lived in a small town in West Tennessee, and my ambition was to become a concert pianist, or failing that, a composer. I was pretty serious about music then, and had won several performance and composition contests at the state level, but by the time I was fifteen I’d become thoroughly 135/160

disenchanted with my life circumstances and fell into a gloomy state of mind that persisted for some ten years. I augmented and abetted my gloom with precocious quantities of alcohol, and was a fairly devoted alcoholic by age seventeen. I mention this unhappy detail because my past use of other drugs, such as alcohol, is all of a piece with my present use of marijuana, and informs much of what I have to say here, though I no longer drink alcohol at all. From those very first hits, in the early 1980's, on a green ceramic water pipe, I recognized that marijuana was something special, and that I liked it a lot. I knew precious little about the actual drug, however, and what I did "know" was mostly wrong. That Nancy Reagan said marijuana was bad was proof enough for me that it must have some value. Nor was I immune to the mystique that had grown up around the drug in conjunction with 1960s counterculture. Its illegality was never a positive attraction for me; but neither did I scruple to break a law that I thought was simply wrong, and misguided in the extreme. Almost 50 years of virulent government propaganda affected my classmates more than me: I didn’t know anyone my age who smoked pot, and given the goody-goody circles I moved in at my high school, I kept my alcohol and drug use more or less a secret from everyone around me. I did grow my hair anachronistically long - this was in the Reagan years, and I was living in the still backwards rural South - and no doubt my odd look announced me as a "pothead" to some ignorant observers, who only accidentally got me right. In those days my drug use partook somewhat of hopelessness. What did I care if marijuana killed brain cells, or lowered my sperm count, or reduced me to indolence? With this kind of mental set, encouraged by the vast ignorance around me - not to mention the danger of being caught by parents, other adults, or police - no wonder I often felt paranoid or panicked when using marijuana (especially when I wasn't also drinking). No one informed me that cannabis has never killed a human - except in the form of a rope -so my racing heart, for all I knew then, was carrying me lickety-split right up to death’s door. The wonder is that I continued to use marijuana. I must have gotten something good out of it. Like with sex, maybe, my early experiences were intense and ambiguously enjoyable. Now the intensity may be less, but the pleasure is much deeper, and unmixed with pain or confusion. For the past 7 years, of the 10 I've lived in California, I've been fortunate to have a reliable supply of not always high quality marijuana. Sometimes I can find Sinsemillia, and sometimes I can even afford it. But in the preceding years, I often went without, and often drank to fill the gap. The only problems marijuana has ever presented me with have been (1) lack of availability (or quality) and (2) cost. I agree with the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers — that "dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope" - so consider problem (1) to be the more serious. But black market inflation is scandalous too: there’s no reason - cannabis grows like a weed, after all - high quality marijuana shouldn't be on sale at the corner drugstore for pennies per ounce. Then I could send all my hard-earned money straight along to my creditors, like God intended. Where I now live I seriously doubt anyone, the police included, would interfere with my discreetly using marijuana: I'm white, overeducated, and I live within the precincts of an affluent community. In my late teens, though, living near one of Memphis' poorest black enclaves, I and a black friend once made a drug run into a rough area, and after he purchased a dime bag of probably worthless shake (for $12), we were greeted by the vice squad (guns and everything!). This was my first encounter with the American equivalent of Turkish prison guards, and it made a lasting impression. I was only verbally abused and threatened for about 20 minutes. My friend went to jail for several weeks. If I were black, I've no doubt whatever I'd have joined him. I was perplexed at the time that 136/160

we were assailed by cops, while the dealer we’d bought from was evidently left alone. I now imagine that these particular cops were simply enjoying their idea of fun, and possibly meeting some kind of quota, by waiting outside a dope peddler's house and nabbing anyone who emerged from it. If they arrested the dealer right away - and he must have been "cooperating" with the police - the party would end too soon. I recognized very early on that the Drug War is a sham, a transparent and brutal instrument of social control, that it is first of all an assault on the poor, and that much anti-drug propaganda depends for its effectiveness on fear of the poor and racial "minorities" - because, being oppressed, they are potentially disruptive forces - a fear that is deeply embedded in mainstream, white American culture. Our society - black and white, rich and poor - also maintains a deep fear of drugs: drugs can induce euphoria, for example (a serious mental derangement), or spark insight (dangerous to social order), or possibly enslave an erstwhile upstanding citizen, who then becomes no better than, say, a poor person in the ghetto, or a still poorer person in the gutter (drugs thus become demonic in the popular imagination). In general, then, white (affluent) people who abuse drugs have a problem; nonwhite (poor) people who abuse drugs are a problem. For the one we have "treatment," for the other we have prison - the former, I might add, too often being only marginally better than the latter in terms of promoting "recovery." Drug War rhetoric entirely conflates drug use and abuse: to use drugs is to abuse them. Here, since I’m characterizing liberal Drug Warrior attitudes, I use the term "abuse" in its all-inclusive sense. Hard line Drug Warriors are known for making statements like "drug users should be taken out and shot," and are no better than Nazis. When I quit drinking - delirium tremens at age 24-1 admitted myself to a fairly elite treatment program. I needed help coming to terms with sobriety, and I got it. During the final stages of this program I began using marijuana on a daily basis, which was of course a big no-no, so I just didn't talk about it. At the time I felt a little guilty about my sneaky behavior, and to make matters worse, there was a man in my therapy group who was "recovering" from a marijuana "addiction." I know a lot more about drugs and drug use now than I did then, and I've developed many strong opinions. But even back then, while I thought this fellow certainly had problems, it struck me that his marijuana use, which wasn't excessive best I could tell, sounded more like a source of joy than a source of trouble in his life. I think he wanted to quit mostly because his marijuana use frightened his wife - not because of anything he did, mind you, but because, like most of us, she'd been taught to fear marijuana. Apparently marijuana even helped him in his work, which was of an intellectual nature. It was very hard for me not to say to him, "My friend, your problem is the people in your life, not the drugs. Please get out of here and go deal with the real problem!" Compared to alcohol, tobacco, opiates, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, amphetamines, cocaine (especially smoked), etc, etc, marijuana is pretty innocuous. For that matter, it's innocuous compared to aspirin or caffeine (with regard to potential physical harm from overuse). I’d never say it's impossible for someone to have a catastrophic relationship to marijuana - but it'd be mighty difficult. There is probably no human behavior someone isn't "addicted" to, and drugs are not particularly exceptional in the amount of damage they cause in addicts’ lives. Some people will overdo anything, to the point of harming themselves and others, including smoking pot. What constitutes excess, by the way, is highly variable among individuals. In AA meetings you'll sometimes hear alcoholics ruefully describe the years they spent on the "marijuana maintenance program," that is, using marijuana, usually on a daily basis, instead of alcohol, and not observing total abstinence (traditionally from all psychoactive drugs except caffeine, nicotine, and, under special circumstances, prescription pharmaceuticals). It's true that for 137/160

some recovering alcoholics even marijuana use might perpetuate so many undesirable behaviors and attitudes that they couldn't take it to their real benefit. Continued drug use of any kind might also amount to an avoidance of problems the alcoholic needs to deal with, and must deal with sooner or later in order to develop as a person. A dysfunctional addiction, which alcoholism usually is, often halts personal development: just as an addiction can provide structure or routine to an addict's life, it can also bind that life to an eternal status quo (or worse). But "marijuana maintenance," if incorporated into an alcoholic's 12-step or other recovery program, could easily prove adaptive and even helpful. Total abstinence from all psychoactive drugs is not in fact necessary (except in AA culture, because of AA dogma), and might amount to a needless hardship. William James said somewhere that the only cure for dipsomania is religiomania. He was partly right (that's to say, strike "only"). In my view AA itself, in effect, replaces one addiction, a chemical one, with another that is based in ritual and dogma - an addiction, if you will, to AA meetings, a kind of religiomania. It works. But successful AA members don't seem to understand that what they're often really doing is replacing one addiction with another less harmful one. If you can accept an analogy with attending AA meetings, marijuana maintenance doesn't look so hazardous or threatening, at least to the extent that it can be integrated with some kind of program of self-improvement. As AA members say in their better moments: "progress, not perfection." It isn't necessary or even possible in an imperfect world for all addicts to become drug-free bodhisattvas. I don't want to suggest that drug substitution is the right way to deal with dysfunctional, maladaptive addictions. It is, however, one way, and ought to be a viable alternative in many cases to abstinence from drugs. Methadone maintenance is the only drug substitution strategy commonly employed in this country, and it isn't an especially good model in my view. Substituting a longer acting opiate that isn’t much fun to use for a shorter acting opiate that is accomplishes little beyond appeasing moral qualms about pleasure-seeking drug use. As an alternative to substitution, improving the circumstances of present drug use - by stopping the War on Drugs, among other means - would also make a great positive difference. As for any devotee of illegal drugs, the street junkie's biggest problems are the high cost and irregular availability of opiates (and, alas, a lack of clean needles). A number of physicians, for example -1 suspect a great many more than is generally acknowledged - have remained highly functioning junkies for decades, given their ready access to pure drugs. Opiates are much less damaging to the body, much less toxic than alcohol, although (like alcohol) they tend with regular heavy use to disconnect the addict from life and other people, and to impose a routine dominated by the avoidance of physical withdrawal. In my case it seemed - and still seems -best to abstain from alcohol completely: its use brought me close to death, and closer to madness. I have no wish ever to use it again. But I would not have been able to stop drinking simply by smoking more marijuana. For one thing, marijuana is mighty subtle compared to alcohol. If one is accustomed to drinking himself into oblivion, marijuana simply won’t go the distance. Hard work, perseverance, and the support of other recovering alcoholics were absolutely essential to my developing the habit of abstinence. It was not easy. Marijuana, that sovereign anodyne, has simply kept me safely away from the states of mind in which alcohol might again entice me. I’m not helpless. But if I were cut off from my supply of cannabis for a very long time, I think it would become harder not to drink. (Alcohol would never be my first choice of drug; but it might be the only available one.) For whatever reason, and I prefer not to view myself in pathological terms, I'm one of those people who feel a greater than average need to alter their minds 138/160

on a regular basis. If a diagnosis must be had, I suppose you’d call me depressive; but on the flip side, more significantly, you’d have to call me creative or imaginative, and drugs can be food for the imagination. I do not believe that my drug use is any more a sign of "maladjustment," or unresolved personal "issues," than an African village shaman's ecstatic trance is a sign of insanity. Drug use, both by happenstance and conscious design, has played a significant role in creating the person I am today, has been integral to my development and to the formation of my particular worldview. I'm pleased with the results. Some drugs tend more to expand consciousness (marijuana, LSD), and some more to restrict it (alcohol, Thorazine). Think of Huxley's reducing valve. Opium and a few other drugs are in a funny sort of middle ground, and any drug can have a wide variety of different effects depending on circumstances and style of use. Drugs I would call mind-expanding have benefited me the most, far and away. They are nearly all classed as "Schedule I" by the American DEA, and regarded the world round by most ordinary folks as horrifying and dangerous: testimony, if anything, to their power - not to mention decades of well-funded disinformation campaigns and widespread legal penalties. Our cultural attitudes toward drugs tend to emphasize what I've called their restrictive aspect. Until the advent of the newer antidepressants, physicians prescribed psychoactive drugs almost exclusively to suppress something, like pain, anxiety, or hallucinations - even stimulants in the recent past were usually prescribed to suppress appetite (not so much anymore). People who take psychoactive drugs on a regular basis often have similar goals - they're in effect self-medicating, suppressing symptoms - and to the extent they seek enhancement, it's usually a narrow, discrete sort of enhancement: increased vigor or sociability, for example, or a better night's sleep. (Compare the use of steroids to enhance physical strength or appearance.) "Smart drugs" are a new wrinkle - till the FDA takes them all off the shelves - but folks are still mostly looking for a magic solution, in a bottle or a pill, to their problems or perceived deficiencies. For most of us drugs are not very like a religious sacrament: they're utensils, interventions, in the grand curative tradition of leeches and lobotomy — or else, perhaps even more mundanely, recreational distractions. Marijuana is the subtlest and most widely used of mind-expanding drugs, and is just as illegal as the rest. It also has a pronounced tendency to be all things to all people, at least among those who like it: speaking for myself, I've found marijuana on some occasions to be sedative, on others to be excitatory; sometimes it shuts me up, and other times I can't stop talking; sometimes I feel anxious (rare now, common when I was younger), sometimes euphoric. The drug can be positively protean; and it's an oversimplification to say it merely amplifies whatever one already happens to be feeling. (I must note: this variability of effect can be a direct result in part of differing ratios, in different batches of marijuana, among several psychoactive cannabinoids.) For that matter, marijuana isn’t always subtle: extreme panic reactions among naive users are notoriously common, for example. I've seen them myself. Marijuana also works very well in combination with other drugs, and given its negligible toxicity, seldom synergizes with them in any dangerous way. Throughout my varied drug career, marijuana has been the one constant. It's my favorite drug, and I really do think of it as an ally. I don't pine after it like I once pined after alcohol. It's a better friend, and my relationship to it is a healthy one, I think. In so many ways I can't name them all marijuana has improved my quality of life and enlivened my imagination. Just to take a single case, my improvisations at the piano are noticeably more interesting, and flow much better, when I’m stoned. It's no accident that marijuana is beloved among musicians, and its contribution to music is no trivial thing, in my own life and generally. Ideas and insights that occur to me under the influence are typically as good as anything I think up straight, if not better, for all their being less obvious; and there is immeasurable value in looking at a single problem or idea from the vantage of two 139/160

different states of mind (straight and stoned). Stupid things that nettle me, but which really don’t matter, don’t nettle me anymore after a few welcome tokes. Anger melts away. Laughter returns which is a fine thing! One can use the drug day after day, without ever increasing the dose, and enjoy the same delightful effects. One can stop using the drug suddenly (as I must do on my occasional visits to Singapore) and experience no withdrawal syndrome. Marijuana can deepen a person's sense of connection with other people – and indeed with all life. Marijuana and other psychedelic drugs have thus played a very significant, and maybe a leading role in the still evolving "ecological revolution." It's not a particularly martial drug (I've always been suspicious of the supposed etymology of "assassin") and tends to encourage most people to become more easygoing and less argumentative - one of the reasons, I think, our warlike society fears its feminizing influence. The popular association of marijuana with pacifism is appropriate, even beyond the accidents of recent history. In my own life marijuana has improved my relations with other people in a variety of ways, especially by checking my tendencies to irritability, and clarifying my understanding of others' minds and motivations (it can heighten empathic feeling, in other words). Some writers on the subject have remarked that marijuana is barely a drug: its effects on consciousness can be so diffuse, so subliminal, that many first-time users feel no effects at all. One learns to appreciate the drug. Experienced users often don't need to take much to achieve the desired high. On many occasions my wife has noticed that she can get pleasantly high from my use, without taking any herself. This is not always a result of second-hand smoke: the most profound instances, in fact, have occurred when I've eaten the drug. As an added bonus for sexual relationships, marijuana is a substantial aphrodisiac. Unless one's principles or family require otherwise, there's no absolute reason not to use marijuana (moderately) every day over the course of an entire lifetime, if one finds such use to be beneficial: long-term smoking might lead to bronchitis, but there is no evidence that marijuana smoke contributes greatly to the epidemiology of emphysema or lung cancer. Marijuana is conveniently eaten, but the contours of the experience are different than when smoked - there's a much slower onset of effects, and once arrived, the effects last much longer. A friend of mine, who uses marijuana specifically to help in the invention of ideas, and who has emphysema owing to a now abandoned tobacco habit, eats a simple paste of powdered cannabis cooked in olive oil several times a week. It works very well for his purposes - better than smoking, which isn't an option for him anyway. I'm also persuaded, if marijuana were legal, that safer routes of administration would be developed by enterprising researchers: a cannabis aerosol inhaler, for example. There are good people who maintain that spiritual development simply isn't possible while using drugs of any kind, especially on a regular basis; and for them, usually, the pursuit of enlightenment is the sine qua non of a happy and fulfilling life. Since I make no claims to spiritual enlightenment myself, or to its pursuit, I'm in no position to argue. But my intuition is that there are many paths. Furthermore, not everyone is obliged to seek enlightenment, however we define it: to the extent that drug use might ease suffering on earth - and tolerance of others’ drug use would also help! - so far as I'm concerned it's all to the good. My attitude is essentially pragmatic, and my counsel is tolerance. Good enough will do. We all benefit from individual efforts toward self-improvement, which efforts can be aided, as well as derailed, by drug use. If more people knew how to use drugs productively -like with any dangerous sport, the proper use of psychoactive drugs requires practice and training - drugs would cause a great deal less harm in the world. To a much greater extent than drug use, which appears to be a "natural" and, among most populations, inevitable human behavior, the fantastically unjust distribution of power in our world promotes human misery. 140/160

Drug use is not evidence of failure in life any more than it's a necessary concomitant or cause of failure. To practice meditative and contemplative arts requires that one be fed and sheltered, with one's dependents likewise cared for: just like money and power, the time, and the resources, and the inclination to develop spiritually are not equally distributed among all people. Some folks want merely to get by, and that's okay. In my opinion it's far better to tolerate others' foolishness (which to them might not be foolishness at all, but a strategy for survival) than to presume to dictate other's good. We can in this way avoid many destructive errors in our interpersonal dealings. I also believe it's better to focus our social attentions on others physical rather than their spiritual or moral wellbeing, since we have it more in our power to affect circumstances on the material plane: too often heaven has been the reward promised by the rich to the poor for their suffering and subservience on earth. I have said I would talk about the "down side of habituation." Regular drug use, which term implies only a periodicity of consumption, does not necessarily entail addiction: regular use falls along a continuum of behavior, toward the extreme end of which we find addiction in its various forms. A rough and ready way to distinguish addiction from, say, an habitual tic, is to ask, "to what extent does this behavior dominate an individual's life?" But even regular use, simply for its being regular, arguably cheapens the often repeated behavior. If one regards a drug as a sacrament, and invests its use with the power and paraphernalia of ritual, better not to use it too often, or the divine might sink into the mundane - and yet, many people take drugs precisely to experience the exalted quality in everyday things. If a person uses marijuana daily, then, how can the experience remain special? A ritual, no matter how small, and a certain mental "set" (that is, a set of attitudes and expectations) can make any familiar experience special. Time off (a period of abstinence) also helps break up a routine. Yet another way to increase the impact of a drug experience is to increase the dose - not a wise course with some drugs, but safe enough with marijuana. Abstinence is an experiment I've tried. After two weeks in Singapore, my first marijuana trip back home is always potent - exactly as if I'd taken a double dose. I'll seldom actually smoke a double dose because of the consequent irritation to my throat. It's not possible to increase the dose if one is already taking the maximum (that is, as much as one can stand, since there's no lethal dose of marijuana): this fact alone argues moderation. I should quantify my own habit: on average I take seven bong hits twice in an evening, about the equivalent of a joint a day. Sometimes I take more, though I'm likelier to increase frequency than quantity. I try to avoid compulsive (automatic) use - that is, drug-taking triggered by some internal or external stimulus like craving or a particular activity (like sex). I don’t always succeed. I've reached my own conclusions independently, based on personal experience, self-analysis, and wide reading. I do not write as an expert; I don't have the credentials. I think of this lack as a real advantage: I am beholden to no one, my brain isn't filled with nonsense from textbooks, I have no reputation to guard, no senior colleagues to impress. In turn, I have very little respect for "drug experts" who lack personal experience with the psychoactive drugs they prattle about. In a world where Barry McCaffrey is recognized as a "drug expert" -Harvard Medical School, whose motives I can only guess must have involved extreme venality, not long ago presented him with a career achievement award named after Norman Zinberg, which act would have been hilarious if it weren't also kind of scary - the label "drug expert" is clearly meaningless. If in the course of my musings I've seemed to contradict myself, or to offer opinion as fact, I plead nolo contendere -1 am a member of the laity.

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George Smith is a pseudonym for a 59-year-old former middle school science teacher who is now an assistant professor at a large Midwestern university. Moving beyond his youthful initiation into the recreational aspects of cannabis, he finds that periodic use provides insights into the educational process. His reflection on instruction leads not only to changes in his methods of teaching and the curricula, but also to a more balanced perspective in drug education classes. When I first smoked marijuana, I was a first year science teacher. The year was 1968 and the word was sort of filtering around through society that marijuana was actually not only benign, but fun. Eventually, I prevailed upon a teacher friend to turn me on, which she and her boyfriend did. But I had an unpleasant experience that time, asking over and over if I was high, claiming I wasn’t feeling anything, and then getting sort of lost trying to drive home later. That made me somewhat scared and paranoid. It has only happened to me a few times since, and I am now aware that it is, in fact, a possible side effect, and that helps keep things in perspective. For a few years, while "everyone" was trying it, part of the enjoyment of smoking grass was turning someone new onto it. The sensations - the way time changed, etc. - became enormously entertaining. Of course most users of marijuana are aware of the association between being stoned and laughter. It was a recreational drug in the strictest meaning of the term. At the same time, another aspect of the experience, I discovered, was the occasional sense that something one said or thought or wrote was truly brilliant or insightful. And, as it turned out, this belief often turned out to be accurate. It happened with such regularity that it became clear that this was a drug that could be used to my advantage in addition to its recreational value. It became fairly common for me to get stoned on a Saturday afternoon. That was the day I usually spent grading papers and making lesson plans. One particularly important moment in my teaching career came one of those early Saturdays as I was making up some activities for my students for the following week. (Here, I will have to use a little science teacher language. It won’t be hard, and it will be important.) I was trying to redesign a unit on Density, a standard topic included in middle school physical science courses. Now, to a 7th or 8th grade student, density can probably begin to have some meaning, but the concept is extremely difficult to really comprehend and master. I had, in fact, been able to get students to solve quite complex problems having to do with density, which requires some fairly sophisticated algebraic thinking. But frequently, only a few students could figure out how to even use the simplest relevant formulas to work the problems. As I sat there trying to come up with yet another activity to help teach the topic, I realized that the concept of density is extremely abstract. In fact, it is ONLY abstract and not at all concrete. The word "density" refers to a relationship: the relationship of the mass of an object or item to its volume. That, by definition is not a thing. It is a concept formed by two or more things. It cannot be measured directly - only calculated, or, at best, indicated by the response of a hygrometer. Suddenly I saw that it was almost an impossibility to expect young children to grasp this particular notion. At least, in the practical, real life sense, I would have to work weeks and weeks (as I often did) with students in order for the majority to get close to being conversant with the terms, and still, most would not be able to articulate even in their own language the basic truth about density - that it is a relationship between two dimensions of matter. Suddenly, a flash of the legendary insight: I just won't teach density. Not at all. Never again. Now, as first year teachers learn, you teach what they tell you to teach. But as some teachers soon learn, you can teach what you like if everything you do works. I had been pretty successful in all the other areas of science I was teaching, and I realized that I would be doing everyone a favor if I unilaterally declared that piece of the pie dispensable, which I did, and I’m sure that no one ever missed it. 142/160

This event was terribly important to me in my 33 years as a science teacher. I learned from that moment the power that teachers really have in shaping what happens to their students, and it empowered me to continually examine what I was doing as a teacher. In true testimonial fashion, I must say that I’m convinced that my being high facilitated that particular insight that afternoon. It is also that type and level of reflection on instruction that I try to ardently engage my education students to consider (I am now a professor of education in a nearby university.) It is one of many truly important things I learned about teaching while under the influence. As my career progressed, Saturdays continued to be the day that I ruminated on my teaching, wrote curriculum and made plans. And I can say without reservation, much of my best curriculum writing was done while I was stoned. It is challenging and creative material. I sometimes laugh to myself when something I've designed has gone over well with the students. They would be amazed at the conditions under which the ideas were hatched. I cannot enumerate the insights and understandings I've arrived at, either by myself, or in conversation with others, while being advantaged by the killer weed. Many times, under the influence while discussing something with friends or colleagues, my mind racing or wandering, I've been driven to jump up, grab a piece of paper and jot down some new ideas that had never surfaced in similar conversations. Often, these jottings, when developed, resulted in some excellent teaching on my part, or some very worthwhile and well-designed assignments that I made for my students. That there are some very positive cognitive aspects of cannabis intoxication is patently clear to me. In fact, I should go so far as to confess that when discussing drugs with students - a requirement of science curriculum in those grades -1 have presented to the students the positives as well as the negatives of marijuana use, including "reports" that people often feel more creative and insightful, and that people smoke it because it's fun. This is an important part of the drug education piece that is always omitted: telling kids why people use drugs. Often, the "reason" people use drugs, in the view of the drug educators, is to be popular, escape, etc. But they never tell kids why people use drugs to do those things. I have had many students also report to me that they appreciated the balanced view I presented, and said it was more meaningful and believable than all the anti-drug education they had experienced in earlier grades. (I'm sure I gained credibility with at least a few students because of parallels with their own experience. And that, no doubt, enhanced my reputation as being honest and fair in what I had told them).

Botanical Epiphany By Mark The author has been using Cannabis recreationally for over thirty years. Due to the highly toxic and corruptive forces of this intoxicant, he has "suffered" dearly. After obtaining degrees from N.Y.U. and R.I.T. with honors, he was instrumental in the continued prosperity of his family's commercial printing corporation in NYC. Servicing multi-national corporations and prolific artists like Andy Warhol, the company's success allowed him to retire at a early age. He now lives in the Sangre De Christo Mountains of New Mexico, skiing, mountain biking, rehabilitating abandoned dogs and hybridizing various strains of Cannabis. He believes others should be as unfortunate to suffer such a squandered life from the ill effects of this plant. It was a cool sunny late September New York afternoon in 1977. A lone plant about 12 inches in height sat motionless in front of my friend and I. We pondered it. After all it was a joke.

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I planted the lone seed in a tiny container 3 months passed with no understanding or premonitions as to what to expect. My friend replied, "let's smoke it." "Are you nuts?" I answered. For sure, this plant, although the product of a Cannabis seed I had planted, could not actually be the real thing. It could not possibly be that easy. He clipped the strange unrecognizable bud from the top of the plant, brought it into the house and placed it in the toaster oven. It dried quite quickly under the wafflecooking like conditions. He then crumbled it into the bowl of my beautiful 2 foot high glass bong, lit the lighter, and began what would turn into a lifelong odyssey for me. A botanical epiphany had occurred. I was 16 years old and I had unknowingly stumbled into what would be my "Botany of Desire." Like the co-star of Michael Pollan's book, Cannabis and I would begin a symbiotic relationship for the next 32 years. My parents had never used Cannabis, however, my father owned a printing corporation in NYC and he was familiar with its social use by his high profile artist clientele. My parents liberal backgrounds and life-long ultra health conscience awareness would set the table for me. My voracious appetite for understanding this strange herb would be both bridled and encouraged by them. This balance, like the Hydrogen and Oxygen of our planet and all the universal balances that allow life to prosper, allowed me to prosper in life and in all of my endeavors. That next spring I made my first conscious effort to cultivate Cannabis. I procured some seeds from some exotic Hawaiian Marijuana. Luckily, I grew up in the affluent social circles of a NYC private high school, I had access to such fine strains of pot and I was not relegated to using the seeds from the commercial Mexican and Columbian Marijuana's of the day. Nevertheless, luck turned into fate and fate spelled doom for my first agronomical attempt. You see, I had a crude word-of-mouth education about growing. I understood about male and female plants and even understood that sensemillia (without seeds) was actually sen semillias (my paying attention in Spanish class was paying off), but no one had enlightened me about light. It seemed this simple weed actually had some complexities in its genetic code and its life cycles were dictated by the length of the growing period. Needless to say, my tropical Hawaiian seeds grew into 7 ft. behemoths and I recall the 3rd week in October when the plants just began to show flowers, a prolonged and formidable frost sealed their fate -ground up, cooked down into terrible tasting somewhat impotent brownies. My first crop was a utter failure. Rather than give up, I decided to research this subject and quickly I found myself engrossed in the reading of "The Marijuana Grower's Guide" by Frank and Rosenthal. This literature became my Bible and I still retain the haggard copy I first acquired some 32 years ago. Even today as I compare notes and philosophies with Cannabis botanists from UC Berkeley, to the Netherlands to Vancouver, BC, I find this book to be as informative and complete today as it was 3 decades ago. It revealed to me the secrets of the plants life cycles and how the three different strains of Cannabis: Sativa, Indica and Ruderalis were each equipped to prosper in different environmental conditions. I then searched out the Afghan Indica Marijuana seeds I would need to be a successful grower in the Northeast U.S. climate. My trusted NYC high end reefer dealers were more than happy to take my cash as a retainer to keep and hold any of the rare seeds they might encounter from their exotic Asian varieties they were selling at the time. Selling seeds was hardly chic at this point in time and as far as they were concerned I was paying them for something they would usually just throw off the balcony. For the next thirty plus years I would continually hybridize and experiment with different strains of Cannabis - a never ending pursuit for the most potent, the prettiest, the most fragrant, the most enlightening, the most body numbing, the most creativity inspiring karmic beautiful energy 144/160

producing specimens I could create. It became a passion but never a occupation. I enjoy supplying my friends. They supply me with the critical feedback I need to keep improving my product and I supply them with the medicinal therapy they need to maintain sanity living in the world's most stressful metropolis. My compensation is sometimes a 1990 Chateau Margaux or dinner at Peter Lugar, but these materialistic gestures although appreciated, pale in comparison to the most rewarding experience. Childhood friends sitting around smoking my latest creation and hearing their praises and admiration. My relationship with Cannabis has been "highly" influenced by my being a producer, like the relationship a vintner has with his wine. I take pride that I use the earth’s universal light source "the sun" and simple compost (actually it is a bat guano based Carbon/Nitrogen mix it took six books to perfect). Yet, this use of mother nature with a little aid from the extra ultra violet light present at my 7,000 foot elevation, allow me to compete with the very best botanists in Amsterdam and Vancouver. Although these hydroponic gardeners have led the way in creating today's woefully powerful strains like "Super Silver Haze" which I gratefully employ in my genetic soup, their powerful indoor gardens use ghastly amounts of precious electricity, jeopardizing the sustainability of our planet. Still, I am not condemning these growers, but rather the governments which force them indoors. I have a tendency to obsess over the aesthetics and effectiveness of my product but I will now digress to explore the plant itself, how it has affected my life and why I feel it is important for all concerned citizens to let their voices be heard so this senseless prohibition may cease. I have many fond memories of events which were decidedly influenced by my or our being under the influence. Like Carl Sagan and many others, I am always pondering whether Cannabis use makes things better or just seem better. Let's see. One day on board a Holland America ship somewhere off the Yucatan coast my ten year old son and I were searching for my wife. Unsuccessful in our search we were returning to our cabin. As we entered the final hallway I was immediately struck with the intense and pungent smell of fine Cannabis. Oh boy I muttered to myself -1 knew who the culprit was. I knocked on the door of my parents suite and eventually over the typical elderly television sound level, our pounding was recognized and the door was opened. Inside this lavish suite, kept at a temperature which had us label it "the cryogenic zone" the lights were dim but the spirits were high. My son asked his grandfather, "Have you seen my mom and grandma?" After a short pause my father replied, "how could I see your mom, it’s dark in here." This was followed by a laughing fit that left my 78 year old father writhing on the floor in hysteria. Like any ten year old, my son did not need any intoxicants to follow suit, and they both rolled around the floor in hysterics. I just stood and stared, the levity escaped me, but the precious moment of bonding between them put a smile on my face. My father passed last year at the age of 83 after a 10 year battle with prostate cancer. A man who was subject to a childhood in the depression and the horrors of WWII in the South Pacific - he became a captain of industry, self educated, athletic and a health nut. He first began using Cannabis to alleviate the effects of chemotherapy. In the last few months of his life, with the myriad of morphine and pharmaceuticals at his disposal, it was Cannabis that gave him the only glimmer of light and helped him muster any thought of nourishment. It saddened me and the wonderful hospice people, there are so many other brave and beautiful people in this world who are not privy to this tiny morsel of pleasure (Cannabis) during one of life's darkest moments. It is universally accepted (if you live in the right universe) that Cannabis accentuates things. Funny things become utterly hysterical, interesting things become fascinating, and all things pleasurable, well, they become more pleasurable. The down side is... well, I'm not sure, what the down side is? 145/160

Like anything used in extreme excess it's bad for you but so is vitamin C allegedly. So, we as a people have decided to condemn something because it "makes things seem better." Seems crazy to me, and if I take a puff or two, even that crazy "seems" crazier.

Cannabis and Planetary Surfaces Another scientist who has found cannabis useful tells his story. He awakens a special skill that continues after his marijuana epiphany, thus joining the numerous users who report cognitive benefits persisting into the normal state. I am a forty-year-old geologist who studies the surfaces of planets and moons at a National Aeronautics and Space Administration research center. I began smoking marihuana in high school, partly out of curiosity and partly in response to peer pressure, after observing no ill effects on my friends who used it regularly. Since then I have used it for self-exploration, for religious experiences, and, of course, for pleasure, including enhanced appreciation of sex, music, art, and conversation. But cannabis has done more than that for me; it has actually helped me to acquire a professionally useful skill. To analyze the underlying structures and history of geological change on a planet or moon, planetary geologists rely on images of landforms and surface markings radioed back from spacecraft. Landforms cannot be understood unless they are perceived in three dimensions by means of stereo images - paired photographs taken from slightly different angles to mimic depth perception. Most people use mechanical devices -stereo-optics of one sort or another - to judge depth from stereo photos. The machinery needed to view stereo images of planetary surfaces is particularly awkward and time-consuming to use. A few fortunate people can see three dimensions in stereo photographs without mechanical aids - a skill every planetary geologist would like to have. When I was an undergraduate, a friend tried for months without success to teach me this skill, and I became convinced that people who said they possessed it were deluding themselves. But one evening we smoked some especially potent marihuana, purely for pleasure. I amused myself by looking at a pair of stereo photographs that had been left in the room. Suddenly the two pictures merged into a single three-dimensional view. It was like a gift from God. Overjoyed, I looked at other stereo pairs and discovered that I could perceive depth in them as well. I spent the rest of the evening gazing at stereo pairs. The next day, when the immediate marihuana effects had passed, I found that I retained the ability. The skill has saved me a great deal of time in consulting and analyzing stereo photos of geological field sites. I believe my experience illustrates how marihuana can overcome deep conditioning, initiated immediately after birth, which locks us into perceiving reality in very narrow and formulaically defined ways. Marihuana shares with its stronger psychedelic brethren the power to cleanse the doors of perception and make the world seem as new. Its help in catalyzing the acquisition of a skill useful in my work is only one of the many blessings and insights it has provided.

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Four Leaf Clovers by Jeremy Jeremy Wells is currently a 23 year-old undergraduate student (senior) studying history at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio. Remembering how children dance, he spreads his arms and celebrates life, and takes just a moment to commune with squirrels. Hi, my name is Jeremy and I smoke marijuana. I'd like to tell you why, but first, if you’ll bear with me, I want to tell you about something that happened to me. Recently I was visiting with a relative who has a two-year-old baby girl, and we were looking for four leaf clovers. So here I was, a twenty four-year-old man on my hands and knees, combing through the grass and screaming "over here I found one." Actually we found several and I think we were probably more excited than the kid. See children have a way of doing that to you. Through them you can vicariously relive your childhood. In the name of "playing with the kids" you can shed your inhibitions and do the things you used to take for granted. You look at the world through a different set of eyes. It alters your worldview. In the course of reflecting on my four leaf clover (of course I kept one) I began to think of all the things I used to do as a kid, and how everything holds wonder and magic for children. I remember when I was a kid I used to dance, not some choreographed number, or something meant to make me look cool in front of the ladies, but life affirming, from the soul, "thank you God I'm just happy to be alive" dancing. It probably wasn't very pretty or graceful, but I'm sure it was a beautiful thing to see and experience. I know it made me feel good. I also used to sing, long and loud. If I didn't know the words I’d make them up, or I'd "la la la, mmm mmm mmm" through it. I didn't care about sounding pretty, it was just about the music and the joy it evoked in me and the overwhelming need to let some of it out for fear that I would overfill with joy and burst otherwise. It was that burst of creative energy that needed an outlet, and that I experience now when I write or smear paper with charcoal and pastel. These were joyful, spiritual, things I felt. Something else about childhood is that sense of wonder and mystery you feel. It's the whole "wow, look at the four leaf clover, cool" kind of thing. I remember lying on my stomach in the grass and watching ants parade past. I used to play in the creek, and catch crawdads and minnows with little dip nets just so I could look at them, then let them go. I used to yell at my dad to stop the car, so I could look at deer. I remember him teaching me to "talk" to squirrels, too, mimicking their raspy bark to evoke an answer from the bushy tailed acrobats as they peered out from behind trees. Somewhere along the line, though, something terrible happened. I grew up. I became too cool to sing and dance, because I wasn't good at it. I started saying to my little sisters, "yeah, it's a deer, so what, we see them all the time," and I even quit playing in the creek and talking to the squirrels. Now you may wonder what this little indulgence of nostalgia has to do with marijuana. Well, you see, my friend and I were stoned when we were looking for those four leaf clovers, and his daughter was with her mom. While we were waiting for them to get home, we were playing. Maybe not in the same way we would have if we were still children, but under the influence of this drug, we had dropped our adult reservations and our cynicism long enough to feel the wonder and the mystery once again. People also speak of the ability of this plant to help enhance their enjoyment of everything from food to music. If you doubt this, go to a Phish concert, or a bluegrass festival. Inhale deeply and in the breeze you will smell the sweet acrid scent of burning herb. Then look around at what you see.

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People don't just hear the music, they feel it, and they aren’t bashful about it. They spread their arms wide and whirl ecstatically, like a maniacal dervish. They twist and contort their arms, and they stomp their feet, kicking up dust. They may as well scream "I deny you adulthood, and all of your constraints and strangleholds, and I'm going to dance and sing and run and play and I do believe in magic, too!" The plant enhances their experience in this way. It's not about partying and getting wasted. It's about celebrating life. And it may not be pretty - but it's a beautiful thing to behold.

Cannabis and the Legend of the Sand Dollar by Annie Hicks By smoking marijuana that morning, I was given the gift of enhanced appreciation. Annie Hicks is a 27-year-old wife and mother of three girls who lives in San Antonio, Texas where she enjoys writing, independent study and spicy Tex-Mex. We walk with her by the sea as she develops a new respect for nature's majesty, and we find a humble sand dollar containing a precious message. Every puff of marijuana smoke brings an adventure. Perceptions become heightened, and senses sharpen, becoming acute and aware. One of my fondest memories of smoking marijuana was in the graceful embrace of the ocean side. I stood on the beach with my mother and my youngest daughter, feeling the deepening warmth of the mid-morning sun on my face, arms and legs. Although I had smoked pot dozens of times prior to my experience at the beach, it was this particular event that changed my life and made me want to observe my natural physical surroundings high from then on, released from the grip of stifling social reality. In my usual smoking life, I enjoy marijuana privately in my home, where I like to watch television and movies, listen to music, read, play with my three daughters, flirt with my husband and actively imagine under the influence. I didn't realize I was missing a whole other world. Everything was different at the beach that day. Living in Texas has afforded me many opportunities at the coast, but none were as lucid as this one. When my mother and I arrived, we pulled our car to a deserted stretch of sand and shared a joint in the sheltered shade of wind ravaged trees. As I began to relax, the first thing I noticed was the wind. It was like a living, breathing entity, first stroking my hair, then playfully fluttering my shirt, then tickling my toes and beginning again in ceaseless repetition. I could hear the sounds the wind was making, almost as if I could predict which way it would stream next, even before it knew. I felt like I could see the wind as well, not the impact it has on other objects, but a visceral outline of the element itself. That experience was only the beginning. As we stepped away from the car and toward the skirt of the ocean, nature illuminated herself for me to see, and I was a lone specimen in a vast galaxy. I was completely content. It was a perfect cloudless day, just miles and miles of blue arching overhead that melted into the miles and miles of blue drifting before us. The sun had not yet reached its pinnacle in the sky, and its heat was not yet so overbearing as to be exhausting. Warm rays soaked my skin as though I'd been kissed by nature’s magic wand. I couldn't help smiling. I had taken my shoes off in the car, so I felt every gradient of sand, from the soft fluffy white sand far from the water’s edge, to the seaweed spattered sand nearer to the water, to finally the drenched, compressed, squishy sand beneath the sea. Being high, I was able to fully appreciate the moment, rather than enjoying only the surface of the experience.

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The water was still cold; a wintry March had not yet heated the ocean to a comfortable temperature, but it was marvelous nonetheless. The Gulf seemed infinite. Sparkles of sunlight bounced off every molecule, dazzling my eye. I was enraptured, spellbound and free of anxiety or worry. The waves crashing upon themselves made a deafening sound, commanding respect as though the ocean were a General in majesty’s army. To speak at that moment would have been sacrilegious. After some time, I wandered slowly and deliberately up the shore, pausing on occasion to watch the water. I could hardly take my eyes off of it. The wind remained with me the entire time. As I walked, I looked at the sea shells that had washed up with the seaweed. I was surprised to find that most of the shells were intact and unbroken. On my way back to where my mother stood holding my daughter, I happened to look off to the left of where I was walking. Something grabbed my attention, although from where I stood I couldn’t tell what the object was. I bent to where it was and gasped aloud. There on the stiff sand was a perfectly round, unbroken sand dollar. Growing up near the Gulf, I had always hoped to find an unbroken, flawless sand dollar, but all the ones I had ever seen were crunched or for sale as high-priced novelty items in tourist shops. At last I had found a whole one, unmolested by human hands, sea cruelty or time. The legend of the sand dollar, in addition to being saturated in Christian lore, tells of five white doves locked inside that, when cracking the surface of the sand dollar directly in the center, are released to fly away and spread peace throughout the world. I picked up the sand dollar as if it were a delicate bomb that could erupt in my hands at any second. I wanted the doves to remain inside, a perpetual reminder of the potential for world peace. It was a wondrous piece of treasure that I had discovered by chance on a blue sky day. By smoking marijuana that morning, I was given the gift of enhanced appreciation. By observing my surroundings and taking the time to revel outdoors, I had escaped the inner sanctum of my home and wandered into the elusive grace of nature. I can only hope my future adventures with marijuana will be as personally rewarding.

Miraculous Marijuana by Paul As the prisons continue to fill up with Americans whose sole law-breaking habits consist of growing and smoking marijuana, I feel that it is my time to weigh in on the inherent injustice of it all. In order to accomplish this task comprehensively, it will serve the reader well if he or she understands the evolution of my own involvement with the "sacred herb." At 51,1 have been judiciously partaking of marijuana for almost 27 years. There was a time, particularly after a six-month period in 1969, when the very notion of smoking pot was abhorrent to me. I had come home from the active duty segment of a six-year contractual arrangement with the U.S. Marine Corps (Reserves) to discover that someone very close to me was getting high on a regular basis. The vision harbored at the time was that using marijuana would be the first step toward a nearinevitable descent into lazy irresponsibility, then one would end up right down in the cellar of stealing money to support the habit of shooting heroin. The final frames of this distorted picture of pot-inhalation were, of course, financial ruin and an untimely, grotesque death. Well, I really read the riot act to this loved one and was thanked for my concern, but also duly informed that they were going to go ahead and smoke a joint now and again, anyway. The long-term upshot is that my friend never tried any other drug whatsoever and has turned out to be a quite 149/160

healthy contributor to everyone's life in all facets of personal and professional interaction. Yes, there were many people that I watched start with marijuana and end up in drastically dire straits denoting extreme un-centeredness, but I came to understand that it was an addictive personality driving their demise, not the plant. Four years later, I ran into some good high school friends who had both been to Vietnam and we decided to get together for reminiscing. Upon entering the one fellows' apartment, I smelled another aroma mixed in with India-brand incense. At 24, my open-mindedness was starting to kick in about what individuals did to relax. For the preceding two years, I had gradually realized that beer and hard liquor were not doing it for me anymore. Moreover, alcohol was increasingly the source of a pervasive physiological sickness, which started with headaches and would rapidly advance into multiple maladies, making me wonder if I wasn’t on the road to serious alcoholism. There wasn't any booze at my friend’s home; just water, soda and lemonade. His record collection conveyed a full connection with the "hippie music" that I hadn’t really given a chance as yet, being a staunch proponent of the R and B sound. I knew then that I would be asked if I wanted to "take a toke," and for the first time, I said yes. The rationale was that, as a scholar, I should examine this phenomenon like any other form of societal variable, informally recording my subsequent reactions. The trick was to hold the smoke in a while before exhaling, according to the other friend. Having never smoked cigarettes, there was an initial sense of harshness in my throat after a long draw. I took three hits off the joint and passed on the fourth. A couple of minutes later, I was wondering what the big deal is about herb, as perceptivity remained unchanged. Then, I happened to notice that the album playing on the stereo, Neil Young’s "Harvest," sounded louder, like the band was right in the apartment with us. In the deeper background, I could hear both a cardinal and a blue jay chirping like they had just discovered a cache of fat worms. When a strong thirst came over me following these quick successive thoughts, I beat a path to the fridge for some of that lemonade. For the next couple of hours, all three of us listened to music, talked about everything under the sun and moon and solidified our friendships effortlessly. One thing that got my attention was that, instead of losing focus on immediate surroundings, as warned about by many people who thought that they knew the dangerous byproducts of marijuana use, I found myself thinking of previously established priority issues in a much more in-depth fashion. Also, problems that might have seemed intractable before that afternoon now appeared as smaller, more manageable tasks, which could be worked out with no sweat at all. Again, that day was 2 and 2-3 decades ago. I can honestly say that I have never had a bad experience with marijuana. The "set and setting," including who you are with, is an important consideration to ponder before embarking on "the journey." If there are emotionally turbulent matters with which I am mightily contending, I keep the "green away from the scene." Knowing what constitutes quality pot is something that one picks up along the way. Discipline has been a key component of my intake regimen, as well. When the dishes are done, cat is fed, 12-string guitar tuned, candles lit... then I am ready to soar. People run into problems when they imbibe before breakfast, because it does stimulate one's appetite. Yes, the more times in a day that you "go there" translates into wastefulness and becomes physically tiring. I only depart from evening inner adventures when I want to take a long walk in a state park on a beautiful day or share the experience with someone. One vital area concerning the benefits of smoking pot which hasn't seen much ink is the opportunity for profound spiritual voyaging. I didn't really grasp this view until I lived up in British Columbia for two years -1977-1979. The actual place is called the Sunshine Coast, located 45 minutes away from Vancouver's Horseshoe Bay by ferryboat; the only other access is by plane. It's hard to explain to anyone who hasn't either 150/160

lived in a pristine locale or tried marijuana, but the presence of an intensely mellow magnification of God/Nature’s constant symphony is the best portrayal I can make right now. Without the jarring sights and sounds of civilization around (cars, concrete, glass, metal, human voices, machinery, etc.), one sort of melds into the natural environment and reflective thoughts are able to sweetly stream on through. A spin-off of these meditatively splendid interludes, which persists up-to-date, has been the formation of a firm foundation within me that challenges the current supremely unbalanced societal status quo. Now, all I do beyond survival and loving dear ones, is keep a razorsharp focus on planetary peace strategies. What happened to me up North is that the combination of mountains, ocean, old-growth trees, eagles swooping over the water to catch leaping salmon, great friends, and, yes, a giant stash condensed from 22 plants (which I grew myself), opened me up to academically question exactly why the world must continue being so out-of-whack. Hence, rather than retain my Canadian landedimmigrant status for the rest of my life, I gave away most of my possessions and left for America on November 1,1979. The crystallized project attendant to this decision was simply to merge myriad sociological methods of deciphering cultural trends with burgeoning spiritual acumen. That the measured use of marijuana has played an enormously important role in attaining the complex answers to why we don’t have "Earth tuned right" can't be overstated. No, I'm not addicted; there have been months-long periods when there was zero access. Yet, because I never overdid ingestion, my system hasn't had to make a major adaptation to its prolonged absence. Indeed, marijuana might not be for everybody; hence, I am not calling its use a mandatory element to reach maximum bliss nor optimum creativity. What I can say is that, having been a guitarist for almost 25 years, playing the old 12-string Yamaha has always proved to be a markedly more orchestral adventure after a bowl of fine herb. Truth be told, although I have read less than a few accounts from other people actually willing to talk about it, there is one other area of enhancement which I’d like to mention. I have a growing interest in promoting the notion of "spiritual intimacy" these days. Long decrying the shallow exchanges under girding "mechanical sex," I have happily discovered, quite by accident, that the properties germane to marijuana are exquisitely conducive to a degree of love-making that is akin to timeless flying in heavenly dimensions. In this high-tandem land, focalization on mutually nurturing generosity has consistently been present during my long study of this still-embryonic field of human ecstasy. Since my observational approach to this subject tends toward continual striving for the balance between maximum mind and soul participation, I don’t feel the need to flesh out the details on any other level. It seems that illogical and corrupt forces are in control of the debate over whether or not marijuana should be legalized. One has to draw this conclusion, if only upon the lone examination of law enforcement and legislators denying the plant from citizens afflicted with terminal illnesses like cancer or AIDS. The entire medical marijuana issue is such a sad travesty that I'm convinced - one day in the not-too-distant-future - that the electorate's educated understanding of the beneficial attributes, like easing chemotherapy complications and increasing appetite, will put a critical mass ending to mean-spirited intransigence. We can't eliminate the possibility that interlocking collusion of the alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceutical industries is at nefarious play here; specifically regarding non-disease usage of marijuana on the road to recreational and spiritual joy. The database that I have compiled encompassing the full gamut of marijuana-related study has become remarkably voluminous. I hope to share same with anyone who sees clearly that human and civil liberty erosion is at the root of marijuana prohibition. The populace is waking up fast, as far as 151/160

I'm concerned. We need more courageous souls to come out of the woodwork to voice reasoned appeals for common-sense legislation to be enacted. I am one who believes that a person should be 21 years of age to maturely enter this heightened sense of self and surroundings. However, in some cases, when parents and teen exhibit solid respect and communication, 18 could be an acceptable passageway if maturity has been greatly accomplished. That the necessary debate about age, regulation, quality control, distribution, etc, has been both distorted and one-sided is without question. We have to keep asking ourselves, Why?xxvi

Chapter 10 - Growing Tricks "Ye Reap what Ye Sow" Growing marijuana is essentially trouble-shooting and being proactive in order to avoid the former. Do your basic reading and remember the following tricks from my thirty-plus years of green-thumb growing: 1. Use "Miracle Grow Ultra Bloom" for the 18 hour grow cycle (I know it sounds weird). Your plants will be shorter, more compact and with bigger buds in the end. You'll thank me later. 2. Use "Aussie Tonic" along with "Kool Bloom" for bigger, higher THC-content buds during the 12 hour budding cycle (see chart below). 3. Keep a 10-15 degree C. difference in temperature between night and day. The ideal hottest temperature is about 78 degrees C. - never go above 90 Degrees C. I never go above 85 degrees C. Plants shut down at 90 C. 4. Mix about 5% Dolomite Lime in your professional growing medium to keep your PH neutral. A lot of water is inherently acidic, so check it with a PH meter, and your soil. 5. Use CO 2 additive. That's what plants breath. I mix sugar with yeast and warm water. Change the solution every 3-4 days. Only pour out 30-50% of the C02 solution each time, and keep adding the new 30-50% back. 6. Use an Insecticidal Soap (20 ml per liter) when the plants are small, and every 2-3 weeks thereafter. Don't wait until you already have spider mites. You need to get the dilution on the underside of the leaves. Proactive is the name of the game here too. 7. Trim off most of the bottom leaves when the plant is going into the 12 hour budding state, to force larger buds. Don't wait until the last weeks, do it right away. 8. Ensure you have no smell emanating from your grow room during budding (it starts to really smell around week 5 of an 8 week Budding cycle). I connect directly to the sewer system with a bathroom fan and 4 inch PVC pipe. In lieu of that you can buy chemicals at your local supplier to deaden the smell - but either way you still need air in and air out. Ensure you have a fan and an exhaust fan for your system. 9. Let your water sit in a container for 24 hours after you get it out of the tap, to get out all the chorine. 10. Let your plants dry out and water them well. It sounds obvious, but overwatering is a common scourge of many neophyte growers.

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11.

Do a ton of foliar feeding (spraying).

12.

Freezing the product is a good idea to keep your herb from degrading for decades.

13. If you vaporize, save the residue and make cannabis oil. Alternately it could be smoked - as it retains much THC. In other words, if you vaporize your herb you can use the product twice - thus reducing cost by 50% over a smoker, and saving your lungs. Better yet, grow your own and vaporize it, then you can give some away to a few people who are in need of the medicine - but are not financially well off. We need to help others to be well, to reach their potential in this world would you not agree? 14. Do not foliar feed (spray with water) your flowering plants after week six. H20 could encourage mold on the larger buds. 15. Let the plants dry out almost bone-dry to harvest them. That way, less moisture will be in the buds, hence less drying time. 16. When you dry your herb, sweat it twice when the buds get crispy after several days of drying . To sweat the buds - put them in a plastic bag for up to 6 hours, then remove and dry some more. Repeat the next day. 17. REMEMBER: Your two biggest enemies as a grower are grow lights on after dark, that can be seen by prying eyes, and the budding smell. 12 Hour Bloom Cycle -Magic Fertilizer Flora Gro - Green Flora Micro - Purple Flora Bloom -Red Green (Growth) Purple (Flora) Red (Buds) Week 1-2

2 tsp - gallon 2 tsp – gallon 2 tsp – gallon

Aussie Tonic 4 ml - gallon (1 ml -liter) Kool Bloom (liquid) Week 1-3

.25 tsp – gallon

Green (Growth) Purple (Flora) Week 3-9

Red (Buds)

1 tsp – gallon 2 tsp – gallon 3 tsp – gallon

Aussie Tonic 8 ml - gallon (2 ml -liter) Kool Bloom (powder) 153/160

Week 4-9

.25 tsp – gallon

Flush with a half dilution in week 7-8, then straight water

Chapter 11 - The Strain Debate - Cannabis Ruderalis Cannabis Ruderalis is a unique variety of cannabis that isn't nearly as popular as Indica or Sativa; in fact most people have never heard of it. Marijuana comes in a wide variety of different strains, which are often labeled as Indica, Sativa or hybrid. Many claim the differences between Indica and Sativa are like night and day. But the truth is after so many years of crossbreeding - most strains that exist today are likely some sort of hybrid. While the accuracy of strain names continues to be debated, there's a lesser-known species of cannabis. This species is known as Cannabis Ruderalis. No one is really sure how many species of Cannabis there are, mainly because of the plant's illegal status as a demonized substance, a label way passed its time. Still, there are a few popular theories. A common belief is that all Cannabis belongs to the same species, since different types can easily interbred. But others think that Cannabis has a number of species. For example, Cannabis Indica and Cannabis Sativa are often considered different species. And while Cannabis Ruderalis is less commonly considered its own species, the idea has drawn some supporters. Cannabis Ruderalis is a wild variety of cannabis that originates from Russia. The plants are incredibly short and only grow to about 2 feet tall. Compared to other varieties of Cannabis, the leaves of Ruderalis plants are smaller and fewer in number. Ruderalis also produces very little THC, which lowers its appeal for recreational and medical users. In fact, Ruderalis strains have been found to possess a chemical profile similar to Hemp. Cannabis Ruderalis was first classified in 1924 by the Russian botanist D.E. Janischevsky. He came across Cannabis plants growing wild in Central Russia, and noticed that they were different from the Hemp varieties (Cannabis Sativa) grown throughout Asia and Europe. While much shorter than Cannabis Sativa, the wild-growing plants were also unlike Cannabis Indica, which was known for having intoxicating effects. As a result, Janischevsky concluded that a third species of Cannabis existed. The name Ruderalis comes from "Ruderal," which is a term used by botanists to describe hardy, non-domesticated plants. In other words — a weed.

Genetics - Origin of Cannabis The Cannabis plant originated from Central Asia thousands of years ago and spread outwards as humans began to cultivate the crop. However, a 2005 study found little genetic evidence to support Ruderalis as a separate species. Instead, the gene pool of Ruderalis seems to lie somewhere in between the gene pools of Indica and Sativa plants. As a result, the researchers concluded that Ruderalis is more likely a hybrid rather than a species of its own. 154/160

Short, wild-growing varieties of Cannabis have also been found in other regions, such as Afghanistan, which suggests that humans have played a significant role in shaping the characteristics of Cannabis through dedicated breeding and cultivation.xxvii

Chapter 12 - A Good Night’s Sleep It's common for people to use marijuana before bed time, whether out of habit or necessity. Now, research on marijuana and sleep helps explain why. Besides easing insomnia, marijuana seems to have a wide range of effects on sleep. This is because chemicals in marijuana, known as cannabinoids, actually mimic the activity of chemicals found naturally in the brain. These chemicals and their biological pathways make up the body's endocannabinoid system, which is responsible for regulating sleep, among other things. Likewise, research shows that marijuana can also have a direct impact on sleep. Here's 5 of the most important effects that studies have identified so far.

1.

Easier Falling Asleep

Some of the earliest research on marijuana and sleep shows that marijuana's main ingredient, THC, can significantly reduce the time it takes for both insomniacs and healthy people to fall asleep. In a small study published in 1973, THC reduced the time it took for nine subjects with insomnia to fall asleep by over an hour on average. However, the researchers noted that too high of a dose could counteract the effect. THC was also found to ease falling asleep in a 2013 study involving healthy subjects.

2.

Longer Sleep

Studies also revealed that taking either THC or CBD before bed could lead to an increase in overall sleep. In one study, increasing the dose of THC also increased the amount of time spent sleeping. However, higher doses of THC also caused a "hang over" feeling in some subjects when they woke up, while the feeling was not present at lower doses.

3.

More Deep Sleep

Some of the more interesting effects of marijuana on sleep involve its impact on the sleep cycle. Studies show that THC can increase the amount of slow-wave sleep, also known as deep sleep, that an user experiences during their slumber. This is likely a good thing, since deep sleep is believed to play a major role in the restoration process that occurs during sleep.

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What's more, experts believe that the most damaging effects of sleep deprivation result from a lack of slow-wave sleep. For example, research has shown that reduced slow-wave sleep can be a strong predictor of high blood pressure in older men.

4.

Shorter REM Sleep

Another way marijuana affects the sleep cycle is a reduction in REM sleep. Many people who smoke before bed report a lack of dreaming, which only occurs during REM sleep. While less REM sleep could be seen as a negative effect of marijuana use, scientists are still not sure what purpose REM sleep actually serves. However, people who quit after using marijuana on a frequent basis often experience an increase in REM sleep. also known as the "REM rebound" effect, which is accompanied by an increase in dreaming and restlessness during sleep. But this effect tends to wear off within days or weeks, depending on the individual.

5.

Better Breathing

When it comes to medical use, marijuana could offer an incredible benefit to the approximately 25% of men and 9% of women who suffer from a disorder called sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is characterized by disrupted breathing during sleep, and has been linked to a number of serious conditions, including diabetes and heart problems. Unfortunately, the vast majority of sleep apnea sufferers remain undiagnosed and untreated. Even of those who seek treatment, many eventually give up on wearing a CPAP mask every night. But that's where marijuana may help, as researchers are currently trialing THC as an alternative, with early results already showing promise. If clinical trials are successful, sleep apnea patients may one day have the option of ditching a bulky sleep mask -and popping a THC pill instead before bed. xxviii

Chapter 13 - The Miracle of Cannabidiol - CBD "I think people need to be educated to the fact that marijuana is not a drug. Marijuana is a flower. God put it here." Willie Nelson

Cannabidiol (CBD) CBD, or cannabidiol, is quickly changing the debate surrounding the use of marijuana as a medicine. Most people have heard of a chemical called THC, which is the ingredient in marijuana that gets users high. But recently, attention has shifted to another compound in marijuana called CBD — and for good reason. Because while doctors can't seem to look past certain side effects of THC, CBD doesn't appear to present that problem. On the other hand, evidence of CBD's medical benefits continues to grow. Here are five facts that you should know about this unique compound:

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1. CBD is a key ingredient in cannabis CBD is one of over 60 compounds found in cannabis that belong to a class of molecules called cannabinoids. Of these compounds, CBD and THC are usually present in the highest concentrations, and are therefore the most recognized and studied. CBD and THC levels tend to vary among different plants. Marijuana grown for recreational purposes often contains more THC than CBD. However, by using selective breeding techniques, cannabis breeders have managed to create varieties with high levels of CBD and next to zero levels of THC. These strains are rare but have become more popular in recent years. 2. CBD is non-psychoactive Unlike THC, CBD does not cause a high. While this makes CBD a poor choice for recreational users, it gives the chemical a significant advantage as a medicine, since health professionals prefer treatments with minimal side effects. CBD is non-psychoactive because it does not act on the same pathways as THC. These pathways, called CB1 receptors, are highly concentrated in the brain and are responsible for the mind-altering effects of THC. A 2011 review published in Current Drug Safety concludes that CBD "does not interfere with several psychomotor and psychological functions." The authors add that several studies suggest that CBD is "well tolerated and safe" even at high doses. 3.

CBD has a wide range of medical benefits

Although CBD and THC act on different pathways of the body, they seem to have many of the same medical benefits. According to a 2013 review published in the "British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology." studies have found CBD to possess the following medical properties: Medical Properties of CBD Effec Antiemetic

Rede

Anticonvulsant

Supp

Antipsychotic

Com;

Anti-inflammatory

Com;

Anti-oxidant

Com;

Anti-tumoral/Anti-cancer

Com;

Anxiolytic/Anti-depressant Com; Unfortunately, most of this evidence comes from animals, since very few studies on CBD have been carried out in human patients. But a pharmaceutical version of CBD was recently developed by a drug company based in the UK. The company, GW Pharmaceuticals, is now funding clinical trials on CBD as a treatment for schizophrenia and certain types of epilepsy. Likewise, a team of researchers at the California Pacific Medical Center, led by Dr. Sean McAllister, has stated that they hope to begin trials on CBD as a breast cancer therapy. 4.

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CBD seems to offer natural protection against the marijuana high. Numerous studies suggest that CBD acts to reduce the intoxicating effects of THC, such as memory impairment and paranoia. CBD also appears to counteract the sleep-inducing effects of THC, which may explain why some strains of cannabis are known to increase alertness. Both CBD and THC have been found to present no risk of lethal overdose. However, to reduce potential side effects, medical users may be better off using cannabis with higher levels of CBD. 5.

CBD is still illegal

Even though CBD shows much promise as a medicine, it remains illegal in many parts of the world. CBD is classified as a Schedule I drug in the United States and a Schedule II drug in Canada. On the other hand, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved a request to trial a pharmaceutical version of CBD in children with rare forms of epilepsy. The drug is made by GW Pharmaceuticals and is called Epidiolex. According to the company, the drug consists of "more than 98 percent CBD, trace quantities of some other cannabinoids, and zero THC." GW Pharmaceuticals makes another cannabis-based drug called Sativex. which has been approved in over 24 countries for treating multiple sclerosis. A patent awarded to the U.S. Health and Human Services in 2003 (US6630507) also covers the use of CBD as a treatment for various neurodegenerative and inflammatory disorders.xxix

A Parent's Testimonial Moriah Banhart believes medical marijuana is helping her three-year-old daughter deal with the side effects of aggressive brain cancer. Dahlia Banhart was diagnosed with brain cancer in June, 2014 and has undergone numerous rounds of surgery and chemotherapy. Dahlia's mom finally turned to a special form of medical marijuana known as cannabidiol (CBD), after her own research led her to believe it could help. After the first dose, Dahlia regained her appetite and slept through the night for the first time in almost three years, says her mom. But despite the incredible results, Dahlia's mom says her doctors still refuse to talk about CBD, which remains illegal under U.S. Federal law. Indeed, while marijuana and its derivatives are classified as substances with no medical benefit, many patients find them effective for managing the side effects of chemotherapy. What's more, decades of pre-clinical research have revealed CBD to have cancer-fighting properties itself. In 2014, a company called GW Pharmaceuticals began the first clinical trials of a cannabis-based medicine for brain cancer.xxx

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Conclusion The proof is in the pudding! Soon the scientific evidence to support the legalization of marijuana will overwhelm the naysayers and antimarijuana political lobby. It will still take time however, as obdurate minds often never change and it take a new generation to foment positive moves forward. I only have 50 years or so left on this earth, so I'll be using my green thumb to propagate the Cannabis Indica species as long as I'm physically able -whether the soon-to-be un-demonized herb is legal or not. Like millions of others I've made up my mind and many scientific, doubleblind tests will only tell us what marijuana advocates have known all along - that Marijuana is a miracle plant that has been unfairly maligned since the 1930's, but change is in the wind. It's high time the infamy was refuted once and for all - and the time is now to slay the dragon. To the Reader: Thank you very much for your time. Make wise choices, and All the Best, D. Farang Thanks for reading this manuscript. Take good care, D. Farang

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i

Retrieved from http://www.druglibrary.org

ii

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iii Retrieved from "The Huffington Post, 2013 By Ryan J. Reilly and Robin Wilkev iv Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk January 17, 2012 v

Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan

vi Retrieved from http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/psyc hiatrist-lester-grinspoon-smoked-weed-with-carl-sagana-lot, David Bienenstock, October 29, 2013 vii Retrieved from http://n3rp0st.com, Amber Sutherland and Leonard Greene viii Retrieved from http://wikepedia.org ix Retrieved from http://wikepedia.org x

Retrieved from http://wikepedia.org

xi Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com, Eric. E. Sterling xii Retrieved from http://www.alternet.org, Kevin Zeese (President of Common Sense for drug Policy) xiii Retrieved from http://druglibrary.org xiv Retrieved from http://antiquecannabisbook.com xv Retrieved from http://antiquecannabisbook.com xvi Retrieved from THE NATION, PHOOWADON DUANGMEE xvii Retrieved from http://marijuana-uses.com/ February 11th, 2010, Lester Grinspoon. M.D. xviiiRetrieved from http://sensiseeds.com/en/blog/cannabis-in-switzerland-war-on-cannabis-consumers/, September 1, 2015, by Sylent Jay xix Retrieved from http://sensiseeds.com/en/blog/cannabis -as-a-treatment-for-addadhd/, by Seshata xx Retrieved from http://sensiseeds.com/en/blog/could-cannabis-slow-the-ageing-process/, Seshata, August 20, 2015 xxi Retrieved from http://sensiseeds.com/en/blog/the-cognitive-effects-of-cannabis/ xxii Retrieved from http://sensiseeds.com/en/blog/cannabis -eating-disorders/, July 13, 2015, by Sehata xxiiiRetrieved from http://sensiseeds.com/en/blog/could-cannabis-help-to-treat-autism-spectrum-disorders/, August 26, 2015, Seshata xxivRetrieved from http://sensiseeds.com/en/blog/cannabis -the-menopause/ August 3 2015, Seshata xxv Retrieved from 13,2015, Seshata

http://sensiseeds.com/en/blog/how-cannabis-can-treat-me-chronic-fatigue-syndrome/,

August

xxviRetrieved from http://marijuana-uses.com/read/ xxviiRetrieved from http://www.leafscience.com/2014/09/19/cannabis-ruderalis/ xxviiiRetrieved from http://www.leafscience.com/2013/ll/25/5-ways-marijuana-affects-sleep/ xxixRetrieved from http://www.leafscience.com/2014/02/23/5-must-know-facts-cannabidiol-cbd/ xxx Retrieved video/

from

http://www.leafscience.com/2014/02/25/mom-says-marijuana-saving-3-year-old-brain-cancer-