Marijuana has been widely used in various spiritual and religious traditions of the East and elsewhere for literally thousands of years. In these ceremonies, the participants engage in a sharing together of the ritual of inhaling the smoke of marijuana for its calming and healing influence through the whole mind-body structure.
Sitting in a circle together, these small collectives share this religious experience to bring about an empathetic cohesion through inner peace and thoughtful reflections.
Such ceremonies belong to a variety of cultures, tribes and indigenous communities who appreciate and enjoy the calming beneficial influence of the marijuana plant. The personal and social benefits of marijuana have long been recognised in these kinds of communities. The hippy and artistic communities in 1960’s began to adopt a similar traditional approach around marijuana.
Furthermore, respect for this plant has been widely recognised for its therapeutic value since first discovered thousands of years ago. As a medicine, the marijuana plant enables those suffering with chronic pain, stress and anxiety to be able to live more comfortably with such painful impacts of unresolved health issues.
Complimentary doctors, healers and shamans, as well as spiritual teachers, yogis in certain traditions, and the wandering sadhus of India, have regularly employed marijuana for themselves and their followers in a variety of healing and consciousness raising programmes and ceremonies.
Numerous research into the beneficial influences of marijuana confirm again and again how effective the plant is for the healing process. The plant reduces fears, stress and tensions between the mind and body.
Marijuana is far from a wonder drug and no experienced user of the plant would claim the plant has such a status. But it does have a fine track record of making an important alleviation of physical/mental pain. We can no longer continue to keep ignoring the testimony of people who use marijuana.
The ancient traditions and more thoughtful progressive movements towards physical/ psychological health recognise its powerful benefits.
The cost of growing some plants at home is also negligible.
Like other substances, marijuana can become addictive. It is one thing to smoke the occasional spliff but it something else to smoke marijuana daily. A frequent smoker puts the mind into a soporific condition. Such a smoker gradually becomes unable to deal with daily life circumstances. Instead, he or she withdraws into a pleasant zone of comfort alienated from others and reality. Marijuana then becomes a means for avoidance, denial and flight. The habit reduces capacity for empathy, support and and acts of kindness for others – family, friends and social responsibilities.
The Obstruction to the Legalisation of Marijuana
The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) does everything in its power to obstruct the legalisation of marijuana for both recreational and medical application.
The Board demands that government worldwide block recreational use of marijuana and restrict medical use as much as possible. The INCB shows a virtual totalitarian approach to the use of marijuana.
The Board remains determined to stop the cultivation and use of drugs by individuals or groups sharing together the experience of marijuana. The Board supports the prosecution of those who grow the plant for their customers.
The International Narcotics Control Board and the pharmaceutical industry have made strenuous efforts to minimise the use of marijuana for patients.
The Board would rather keep its power than show a compassionate attitude to those in pain or those who enjoy marijuana.
The Board does not engage in a campaign to ban the most addictive and harmful drugs known to humankind, namely tobacco and alcohol. Alcohol and drug abuse leads to violence, despair and suicide.
Around 100,000 people every year in the United States die from the frequent use of alcohol with an average loss of life of around 30 years.
Around 500,000 people a year in the USA die from frequent use of smoking cigarettes. On average, people smoke cigarettes died 10 years earlier.
There is tremendous suffering for those who abuse alcohol and cigarettes not only for the individuals. Their families and friends witness the gradual decline into a long painful death of a loved one.
Yet alcohol and tobacco remains available on every high street, and more cheaply available at airports, while law enforcement agencies treat the use and cultivation of marijuana plants as a crime. The cartels who run the tobacco and alcohol industry work within the law.
The hypocrisy is breath-taking. The tobacco industry and alcohol industry spends billions of dollars per annum encouraging addiction to these harmful drugs which have no medical benefits whatsoever.
The number of people who have died from the use of marijuana for recreational purposes is zero.
The number of people whose lives have been shortened from recreational use of marijuana is zero.
Of course, people MUST remain mindful of the use of marijuana as it is a mind- altering influence. There is a vulnerability to an inner reaction through use of marijuana.
People can easily grow these plants at home. They can find a certain peace of mind through this simple plant that painkillers and antidepressants, with all their side-effects, cannot offer.
Fear of Use of Marijuana
Western governments, corporations, pharmaceutical industry, and powerful institutions demand that citizens work hard, work long hours and permit an escape through alcohol and tobacco. These institutions permit drugs to get to sleep, drugs to block pain and drugs to get back to work.
There is a fear that if marijuana becomes widely adopted millions of people, young and old, will take a more relaxed view towards life. They might to start questioning their lifestyle or about being a wage slave, stressed-out and living on a relentless treadmill.
Along with numerous other political concerns, marijuana could contribute to a spiritual revolution addressing work ethics, livelihood, natural medicine, a relaxed way of being and greater social cohesion and harmony. That’s the last thing that our political, economic masters want.
The pharmaceutical industry does not want the widespread use of marijuana as a medicine as it might well mean that patients can wean themselves off the addictive need for mind numbing tablets.
Three members of the International Narcotics Control Board represent the medical, pharmacological and pharmaceutical industry.
Persistent Criticism of the INCB.
There has been persistent criticism of the International Narcotics Control Board for their determination to inhibit sovereign nation states from the implementation and legalisation of marijuana for medical and personal use.
INCB use its powerful influence to limit the cultivation, production, manufacture and use of marijuana and ensure punishment for those who cultivate, produce and manufacture marijuana.
There are courts worldwide who can still issue the death penalty for manufacturing the plant. There is a ruthless oppression of those who enjoy marijuana. US federal laws still technically permits the execution of its citizens if a citizen is found guilty of growing 60,000 marijuana plants. 0.7% of state prisoners remain incarcerated for use of marijuana. There are US prisoners serving sentences from five years to life imprisonment for having marijuana in their possession or growing small amounts of marijuana.
Of all the Western countries, the United States has become notorious worldwide for issuing Draconian prison sentences running into decades for those who grow marijuana without a licence. We witness a very slow softening of the approach running over decades. The police have far bigger issues to address in the violent/theft/corrupt ridden country from top to bottom of the USA.
Law enforcement agents in the USA and elsewhere spent far too much arresting prosecuting and imprisoning people, who grow marijuana or sell the plant on the streets. Often poor and unemployed, the dealers suffer the madness of dawn raids by armed police with battering rams who traumatise the families in a police search for the plant.
The International Narcotics Control Board needs to be disbanded. The INCB is out of tune with the needs of our time and unfit for purpose.
There is an urgent need to bring about the full legalisation of marijuana for personal and medical use. Ancient spiritual traditions and contemporary users know it is primarily a harmless plant from the natural world for relaxation of human beings.
A joint contributes to a relaxed, stress free approach to daily life.
Note from Christopher:
I wrote the above uncensored article for the US website Test Clear, the drug testing advisors.
http://www.testclear.com/obstacles-facing-the-legalization-of-marijuana.aspx
What are the biggest obstacles facing the legalization of marijuana?
Marijuana legalization won big in 2016, with sales hitting an all-time high of $6.7 billion. In addition, eight more states voted “yes” in favor of legalization – making that more than half of the states legalizing marijuana for either medical or recreational use.
Yet even if 60% of the country’s adult population thinks marijuana shouldn’t be illegal at a federal level, there are still some factors that hinder its legalization.
So we sought out some of the most respected experts in the industry and asked what they think were the obstacles in marijuana legalization. Here’s what they had to say: