the war at home - part 2

In the war at home, the “war on drugs” has become a “war on marijuana” because half of all drug arrests nationwide are attributable to marijuana. It must be understood for nothing less than what it is – our government has become destructive of the most basic of human rights – those of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

This is no diatribe against this party or that – both major parties contributed to the violation of human rights in the only country in the world that claims the throne of liberty and democracy too shameless to even choke on the empty rhetoric.

Nor is this a polemic against organized religion – in particular the Christian right which is no different than the Islamic right, the Jewish right, et al. To be sure, my knowledge that a numberless number of people died for this monotheistic religion or that compels me to dismiss the zealots who preach about Armageddon while following the path of death and destruction.

“Right” used herein refers to but is not limited to individuals or groups reflecting moderate to high levels of intolerance and the capacity to use whatever means necessary to impose “their” values based on “their” view of reality onto the rest of the world.

Since my longest relationships with social institutions have occurred in a primarily “Christian” country I am forced to conclude that “our” government no longer follows the ideology of independence – we have taken a “right” turn into the dark ages – under the influence of false prophets who claim “god” is on “their” side and by implication “not” on the side of “others” who disagree with this diabolical farce. They lose all credibility when they try to convince the rest of the world that “their god” created all that exists with the blood of “the others” on “their” hands.

In my last post I mentioned that Christianity was the primary cause of “the dark ages” when it waged war against “knowledge” the “knowledge” accumulated by man to date in the books that were burned by those who brought a disease to the Roman Empire which crumbled and fell in the end. It is the same war on knowledge which manifests itself today in the war on drugs.

Shouldn’t our curiosity be peaked just a smidgen by a country that wages war on a plant?
Don’t we have more serious social problems which could make better use of 34 billion dollars a year? Why have we, “sweet land of liberty ” failed to express our outrage at such waste of capital, and abuse of power by those who would have us believe in the “rightness” by trying to convince us that “god” is on “their” side? If the truth sets one free are we not more likely to find “truth” through knowledge or ignorance?

Knowledge:

Marijuana was among the first plants cultivated by human beings. Approximately 10,000 years ago, at the same time humans began making pottery and working metal, they began weaving hemp fiber.

From at least the 27th to 7th century B.C. up until this century, cannabis was incorporated into virtually all the cultures of the Middle East, Asia Minor, India, China, Japan, Europe, and Africa for its superior fiber, medicines, oils, food, and for its meditative, euphoric, and relaxation uses. Hemp was one of our ancestors’ most important overall industries, along with tool making, animal husbandry and farming.

In Shintoism cannabis was used for the binding together of married couples, to drive away evil sprits and to create laughter and happiness in marriage.

In Hinduism the god Shiva brought cannabis from the Himalayas for human enjoyment and enlightenment. In the Bhagavad-Gita, lord Krishna say “I am the healing herb”

Buddhists ritually used cannabis. Some Tibetan Buddhists and lamas consider cannabis their most holy plant. Some Buddhist traditions, writings, and beliefs indicate the Buddha himself used and ate nothing but hemp for 6 years prior to announcing his truths and becoming enlightened.

The Sufis of Islam are “mystical priests” who have taught, used and extolled cannabis for divine revelation, insight and oneness with Allah for the last 1, 000 years.

And Coptic Christians believe Ezekiel 34:29 – “I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more”.

Rastafarians use “ganja” as its sacred sacrament to communicate with god. It is said that “ganja” is also referred to as “the wisdom weed” because it is said that the weed was first grown on the grave of King Solomon, the wisest man on earth. Rastafarians also provide a contemporary example that the “freedom to exercise one’s religion” does not exist as decided by an activist supreme court at the twilight of Reagan’s reign but the erosion of our civil liberties is for another post in a series addressing the war at home.

And contemporary Christians believe in a bible that says:

“Thou shalt eat the herb of the field (genesis 3:18)
“Eat every herb of the land (exodus 10:12)
“He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man” (psalm 104:14)
“And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind; and god saw that it was good” (genesis 1:12)
“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)

If such a god exists that created all that is and if most of this country believes in such a god, why is there no outrage from the religious leaders who should be expressing their outrage against a government that wages a war against god’s creation. And what better example of god’s creation than a plant which was used to make ships’ sails, textiles, fabrics, fiber, pulp paper, rope, twine, cordage, art canvas, paints and varnishes, lighting oil, biomass energy, medicine, food oils and protein, building materials and housing, and smoking.

With knowledge comes the power to expose the ignorance and perceive the hypocrisy of false prophets but in the “war on drugs” or more precisely the “war on marijuana” truth once again is the first casualty which only serves to obscure the agenda of those who suffer from terminal righteousness as they usher in the dark ages of the 21st century.