For centuries Shamans have used hallucinogenic substances to alter thier perception of reality while searching for a greater understanding of the cosmos.  It wasn’t about getting high, which is the way mind altering drugs are mostly used in our society.  Shamans were smart enough to realize that the human perception of reality is only a sliver of what’s out there.

We live in a world where empirical evidence reigns supreme over what we think is real, religion excluded.  Combine that with the legal status of mind altering drugs, and most people will never gain a shamanic understanding of the cosmos.  I would guess that most people would find it hard to believe that a non typical truth seeker could provide profound insights that science cannot.  This is what shamans can provide.  They have been doing it in cultures all over the world for centuries.   A serious thought should be taken, by society at large, to see what shamanism could offer toward betterment of humanity.

When the truth is distorted, the arguments of those who wish to make their ideas heard fall upon deaf ears.  In geopolitics the distortion of the facts forces potentially nonviolent actors on both sides of the political spectrum to resort to violence.  Deception fosters a situation where peaceful discourse is, at least, improbable.  Duplicity creates a world in which, as JFK was fond of saying, “Those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable.” 

Loren

A recent study of marijuana smokers, which has taken place over the course of 20 years, shows that daily marijuana use is not damaging to respiratory function and may have some benefit.  Although doctors are cautious about agreeing with Peter Tosh’s assertion that smoking the plant is good for lung ailments like asthma and tuberculosis, it seems that smoking weed is not as detrimental as was once believed by the medical community. 

One thing is for sure, marijuana has numerous medicinal benefits.  So why is it still illegal in the U.S. while more dangerous substances such as alcohol and tobacco are not?  Here are three major reasons:

1. Legal drugs made by major pharmaceutical companies cannot compete with a plant that anyone can grow in their backyard, which offers relief to a number of ailments that people pop legal drugs to treat.

2. In 2011 more than half of all inmates in federal prisons were incarcerated on drug charges.  Therefore, the Man has an easier time controlling the population with drugs being illegal.  As Noam Chomsky said, as cigarettes have become a class issue (granted cigs are much worse for one’s health than marijuana), they have been taxed to the extreme, a pack of cigarettes now costs about $15 in New York City.  As one may recall, early marijuana regulations such as the Harrison act were aimed at controlling members of the working class, specifically Mexican-origin laborers.

3. The international trade of illicit drugs, such as marijuana, allows for over a trillion dollars in laundered money, which creates a black market of untraced dollars available for government agencies to cut backroom deals to get operating capital as the CIA did to fund the Contras in Nicaragua.  If marijuana is legalized it would open the door to legalization of other controlled substances, which would curb the supply of laundered money. 

Drug addiction is not going away.  The “War on Drugs” has ended in failure.  If the U.S. government was serious about controlling the problem, which not only plagues our nation but many foreign nations, most notably Mexico, then legalization is the best option.  A first step would be considering the Dutch model of drug control and making steps toward using increased education and treatment, rather than incarceration and fear to curb usage. 

Loren