Re: Drugs: need description of pot smoking experience

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/9/04 5:24:19 PM Eastern Standard Time,

bettysmith997@... writes:

> Since my curiosity has been piqued and it's highly unlikely that I'll

> ever smoke pot, could someone who has used pot before describe what

> it's like? Use as many details as possible – Mike style.

> TIA, Betsy

I'll try, but it's hard to communicate such a subjective experience,

especially when it doesn't correspond to things the reader are familiar with.

When I first started smoking, it happened relatively often (maybe 30% of the

time) when I got high enough that the first 10 minutes or so would involve

everything in my vision moving back and forth on the " z axis, " if you will, IOW

along the line of depth, so that everything bounced toward me and away from me.

Occasionally it would occur that everything would be sucked in towards me,

and begin again from further away. This only happened at the *beginning* of

the high. The rest would last up to an hour or a couple hours. (over time and

repeated usage this duration diminishes.)

This effect diminishes relatively quickly with repeated usage, as acclimation

take place. It seems to take an extremely large dosage, relative to

tolerance.

Heart rate elevation usually takes place, similar to that experienced during

exercise. This may produce excitation, or take place allongside mellowness.

Your eyelids get heavy. You generally think of things you wouldn't ordinarily

think of, and it seems to increase " right-brain " activity. In other words,

you become more inclined to engage in artistic activities and to talk

philosophy. Things are generally much funnier, so you'll laugh a lot. It

stimulates

the " happy hormones, " so you might be smiling most of the time, for no

particular reason. You might act very silly, especially when you are

inexperienced,

and would tend to want to watch silly movies, like Monty Python or Super

Troopers or Cheech and Chong.

There's a general feeling of " euphoria " that is very hard to describe. It's

kind of like runner's high, but much more intense and with a longer duration.

It's kind of like being drunk, but very different in several respects:

-- it doesn't interfere with your vision in the same ways (no " tunnel

vision " )

-- it doesn't make you black out

-- it doesn't make you sick

-- it doesn't impair your judgment very much

-- while it does reduce reaction time and attention span, it doesn't

interfere with your coordination *anywhere near* as much as alcohol does

Pot tends to intensify colors, for which it is classified as a " minor

hallucinogen. "

In large doses, it can make things dream-like, and sometimes I've seen images

with my eyes closed that were hard to distinguish from what I was seeing in

front of me. This is on the rare side I think.

The " high " slowly fades away over time, and leans to a " burned out " phase,

where you are generally pretty tired.

Pot gives some people anxiety attacks, but tends to mellow out most people.

<<<<<Probably like finding an illegal source of raw milk. I wouldn't be

comfortable with just any pot. I'd insist on organic, no

pesticides. And I'm in to meeting my growers these days. That

probably wouldn't be possible, either. >>>>

I think that's imperative. I've heard that pot is often laced with paint

thinner, though I'm not sure whether that's common or not, or just anti-drug

propaganda.

The first time I smoked pot, it was laced with some powerful hallucinogen,

which I didn't know prior to using. I was later informed by the person I got it

from that he got it from a nutcase who was putting crack in it, but I don't

see how crack could cause the hallucinogenic effects. I've described it to

some drug connesieurs and two told me it sounded like PCP, one added, " a

mega-dose of PCP. " Someone else told me it sounded more like LSD than PCP.

I've been

told that burning destroys LSD, but I've never verified that.

This actually happened to me TWICE. The first time I was alone, but the

second time, everyone who smoked (5 people) and we did NOT smoke very much, was

seeing at least traces, and the two of us who had never (purposefully) done any

hallucinogens were " tripping our balls off " as they say.

I'll describe the first experience:

I got ten dollars of pot from my step brother. Contrary to the " peer

pressure " myth, I asked for it myself, the same way I started smoking

cigarettes. I

was grounded at one point and decided to smoke it out of a soda can bong.

(you dent a soda can and poke pin holes in the top and inhale through the

opening

you'd drink out of, and punch a big hole in the side to use as a carb

[ " carborator " ], plugging it with your finger while inhaling to fill the can with

smoke, letting go to let it in your lungs). I smoked about two thirds and saved

the rest.

I think it took me twenty minutes to smoke it because it burnt really slow

and was hard to keep going. I noticed it hitting me after I stopped smoking.

My initial thought was that it was such a fantastic experience, but I was

afraid because it seemed like it would only last several minutes (boy was I

wrong!), so I went and smoked the rest. My head felt like a lead weight. I

almost

fell over from leaning forward slightly.

I walked into the living room, when I experienced the above-described

phenomenon of my field of vision being sucked in towards me repeatedly. I lost

all

conception of time. I went into my room, and started hearing music and singing

along to it. It was faint, so I thought it was playing in the living room.

I walked into the living room only to find that there was no music plaing at

all. I popped in Beck, which seemed appropriate. Later I walked back in the

living room and stood staring at the tv for five minutes wondering why there

was sound but no picture before I realized that it was because I had a casette

tape playing.

Somewhere in the first half hour, I got a sudden pain in the base of my skull

like I'd been hit with a sledge hammer. (some people describe crystal meth

like this, but I didn't snort anything). My pulse was racing so fast that I

couldn't even measure it. It seemed like my heart was just openly gushing

without pumping. I went into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. My

pupils

were alternately constricting and dilating, repeatedly. I called my friend,

who was skipping school (I was suspended-- oh, and I'm 13 years old here). He

told me everything I was experiencing was normal, though he later revealed that

at the time he was wondering what on earth the pot was laced with as this was

anything but normal.

I had come to accept the delusion that while I was drinking iced tea, my

pulse slowed, but only *while* I was drinking it. So I was compulsively downing

quarts of iced tea that I was scrambling to make barely even mixing it. I

drank so much of it I puked repeatedly. At the time I puked, I exclaimed over

the

phone, " Wow, that was the coolest thing I've ever seen! " My vision was

divided into squares, and each square was shifting right, down, left, up,

independently of the other squares. (Perhaps somewhat like the " waffle effect "

that

LSD users describe?). My vomit fell in the corners of each square, and was thus

divided as they shifted.

Then I was seeing all these pictures in patterns. The woods outside were

still unleaved from the winter, and the branches formed a stairway into the sky,

those wooden reindeer people keep in their yard at Christmas time, and a giant

teddy bear. The lines in my wooden kitchen table formed Barney Rubble, who

then appeared to have bunny ears, and then wearing a camoflauge jacket.

I was affected by this for about 8 hours, and felt more " burned out " after it

than I've *ever* felt from smoking pot afterwards.

This is NOT a representative sample of pot smoking. It's a good reason to be

sure of your source though.

Any drug-users out there want to tell me what was in my pot?

Well, while I'm at it, here's the other experience:

I smoked three relatively small joints between five people. I felt fried out

of my mind for about an hour and a half, like a very, very intense marijuana

high. At some point, I was seeing everything like a strobe light-- not

exactly, but it's the best way to describe it. I'd actually learnt how to make

my

vision do this while sober by adjusting my eyes the right way. Anyway, it

would stop if I blinked twice, but not once.

At some point while I was playing hackey sack, literally an hour and a half

later, I suddenly got about 10 times higher. I can't describe it any other way

except to say that it HIT me, so that I literally fell over when it happened.

I then proceeded to have a string of hallucinations. Every time I

hallucinated I'd get a funny feeling in the back of my neck that was kind of

warm and

tingly that would tell me what I was seeing was a hallucination. Among them:

-- I saw a levatating translucent table with an ash tray in the pizza place,

and thought, " hmm. That's wierd. There's no smoking in the pizza place. "

-- I saw a baby levatating in a car that drove by.

-- I was walking up the street with a friend while the sidewalk was swinging

from side to side, and heard a train. I said, " Oh my God, Kurt, if I see a

train coming down the road... " and then I saw a train coming down the road.

When it passed me, I looked back and it was a dump truck.

-- Me and my friend Kurt were both seeing either a cat or a dog that kept

turning back and forth from a cat and a dog so we couldn't figure out what it

was.

-- When I was alone and on my way home, I saw a car stop, and a guy turned

suddenly to me and said " Hello " in a very wierd voice and his face sort of froze

in that position, while four other people said " Hello " in turn, in the same

manner, as if it were a domino effect. I wasn't really sure whether anyone

said hello to me or not, so I hesitantly said hello back.

I think one of the joints was stolen from the stash of the room mate of one

of the guys we smoked with, so his room mate might have had something mixed in

the pot for himself that we didn't know about.

These are the only two times I've had real hallucinatory experiences from

smoking pot, and I've smoked hundreds of times.

Chris

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/9/04 6:40:17 PM Eastern Standard Time, lynn@...

writes:

> And interestingly, " dope humor " seems to stick with you long after you

> smoke dope. It's been decades since I did anything even vaguely

> hallucinogenic but I still can tap into the stoner's sense of humor.

I agree fully, only all this talk about drugs really makes me want to do

them, for the first time in some seven years. Ahh, the memories...

Chris

[Guest guest]

Betsy,

ROTFL.....you're a true blue NT thinker and questioner now!

> But it recently occurred to me that

> the same kind of people that were telling me to avoid saturated fat

> were the same type of people telling me to just say no. It's even

> kind of ironic that a fried egg was used in the drug analogies.

Wanita

[Guest guest]

> You might act very silly, especially when you are inexperienced,

> and would tend to want to watch silly movies, like Monty Python or

> Super

> Troopers or Cheech and Chong.

And interestingly, " dope humor " seems to stick with you long after you

smoke dope. It's been decades since I did anything even vaguely

hallucinogenic but I still can tap into the stoner's sense of humor.

Lynn S.

who still has Cheech & Chong's " Big Bambu " with the original giant

paper...

[Guest guest]

LOL! I've been really wanting to get stoned since this discussion started.

Damn, I have a small bag of pot that I lost about a year ago, that MUST be

in my apartment somewhere...but where?

From: ChrisMasterjohn@...

Reply-

Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 19:57:45 EST

Subject: Re: Drugs: need description of pot smoking experience

In a message dated 2/9/04 6:40:17 PM Eastern Standard Time,

lynn@...

writes:

> And interestingly, " dope humor " seems to stick with you long after you

> smoke dope. It's been decades since I did anything even vaguely

> hallucinogenic but I still can tap into the stoner's sense of humor.

I agree fully, only all this talk about drugs really makes me want to do

them, for the first time in some seven years. Ahh, the memories...

Chris

[Guest guest]

Chris-

>Contrary to the " peer

>pressure " myth, I asked for it myself,

Are you actually suggesting that peer pressure doesn't exist, or that you

asking for something yourself somehow means that it doesn't exist?

-

[Guest guest]

Betsy,

I have a different perspective that I would like to offer you about this

subject. First of all, contrary to everything that I have come across, I

don't personally consider a plant that grows from the ground and is used as

is or with minimum processing (such as drying, making into a tea, smoking

it, eating it, etc. ) to be a drug, at least not in the same sense as we

consider other substances drugs (such as crystal meth, cocaine, PCP, paxil,

lipitor, coumadin, etc.) This is my opinion, and I realize that it is out

of step with our culture *shrug*

When I smoke Marijuana, I use it sacramentally. A sacrament is something

that we use as humans to open our mind to divinity, and I use this plant as

a sacred herb. This plant has a long history of being used this way. After

I post this, I will post an essay that was not written by me, but that I

found one day while reading on the internet, and I found it to be very

fascinating and confirming of what my own spiritual experiences had been for

years.

As was saying, it opens up the right hemisphere of your mind. So on a

more scientific basis, we have an understanding that when we use a different

area of our brain, or we access it in a different way, what we are in

reality doing is building new neural pathways that bridge different parts of

our brain. However, we all know the Cheech and Chong stoner stereotype,

and stereotypes generally become that way for a reason. I am a firm

believer in moderation in use, and there is a difference between using

Marijuana as a party drug and using it in its traditional role as a

spiritual sacrament as do many traditional cultures.

This is what I like to do as a part of my spiritual practice *please note

that I did use the word part*:

I limit my use to the Full Moon and the New Moon, unless I need clarity or

insight about something in between then. I decide before I start what I my

focus is for the evening. I might choose to read something that I want to

gain a greater understanding of, I might want to meditate, I might choose to

listen to certain music that " turns me on " spiritually ( I also find that it

is important to remain flexible with that focus, because it may become

apparent later on that I should do something else. Such as, if I was going

to meditate for a half hour and then read, but I am really connecting

through my meditation I might choose not to read at all.)

So, once I decide what I am going to do, I get out my pipe and cannabis.

Every puff that I take, I do it with the intention of making an offering to

the divine of incense (you will see in the next article that cannabis is one

of the oldest incenses used in spiritual traditions around). So, I draw in

my puff and let the smoke swirl in my lungs while I say a prayer and then

exhale it to " send it to the heavens. " In doing this, I myself become the

incense censer, and the change in my consciousness I offer to the divine as

a sacrifice of my ego so that I can grow closer to God.

When I do this, I am able to see things from a different perspective,

experience things from a different point of view. It is to attain the

acrostic eye. When a spiritual seeker attains the acrostic eye, everything

changes. The big spiritual connections that one makes in this life, I have

found, usually aren't that big and mysterious. They are usually right under

our eye the whole time, hidden only by the rationality of our mind and the

busy work that we are usually content to fill our days with.

About using organic Marijuana, I think that is extremely important. I don't

know about paint thinner and all of that, but what I do know is that a lot

of the stuff out there is grown in third-world countries by criminals. I am

sure that they wouldn't think twice about dumping some really nasty

pesticides and herbicides on their investment to keep it " healthy, " (such as

DDT). Also, when you are using a plant this way, I think that it is really

important to come to an understanding of what type of energy is surrounding

the plant at all times. If it is being raised by criminals who don't care

about anything except the money involved, it is going to be more difficult

to reach spiritual bliss with it. I do buy from a guy who grows his own,

organically, and with as much love as a prize winning rose gardener would

use.

So I hope that helps with your quest to understand, and if you have any

questions, please feel free to ask me. Don't forget to read my next post as

it deals strictly with the use of Cannabis in traditional cultures.

Blessings,

_________________________________________________________________

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[Guest guest]

THE USE OF MARIJUANA IN ANCIENT TIME

The use of marijuana is as old as the history of man and dates to the

prehistoric period. Marijuana is closely connected with the history and

development of some of the oldest nations on earth. It has played a

significant role in the religions and cultures of Africa, the Middle East,

India, and China

E. Schultes, a prominent researcher in the field of [psychoactive

plants, said in an article he wrote entitled " Man and Marijuana " :

" ...that early man experimented with all plant materials that he could chew

and could not have avoided discovering the properties of cannabis

(marijuana), for in his quest for seeds and oil, he certainly ate the sticky

tops of the plant. Upon eating hemp the euphoric, ecstatic and hallucinatory

aspects may have introduced man to an other-worldly plane from which emerged

religious beliefs, perhaps even the concept of deity. The plant became

accepted as a special gift of the gods, a sacred medium for communion with

the spiritual world and as such it has remained in some cultures to the

present. "

The effects of marijuana was proof to the ancients that the spirit and power

of the god(s) existed in this plant and that it was literally a messenger

(angel) or actually the Flesh and Blood and/or Bread of the god(s) and was

and continues to be a holy sacrament. Considered to be sacred, marijuana has

been used in religious worship from before recorded history.

According to A. Embolden in his book Ritual Use of Cannabis Sativa

L, p. 235:

" Shamanistic traditions of great antiquity in Asia and the Near East has as

one of their most important elements the attempt to find God without a vale

of tears; that cannabis played a role in this, at least in some areas, is

born out in the philology surrounding the ritualistic use of the plant.

Whereas Western religious traditions generally stress sin, repentance, and

mortification of the flesh, certain older non- Western religious cults seem

to have employed Cannabis as a euphoriant, which allowed the participant a

joyous path to the Ultimate; hence such appellations as " heavenly guide " .

According to " Licit and Illicit Drugs " by the Consumer Union, page 397-398:

" Ashurbanipal lived about 650 B.C., but the cuneiform descriptions of

marijuana in his library " are generally regarded as obvious copies of much

older texts. " Says Dr. P. Walton, an American physician and authority

on marijuana, " This evidence serves to project the origin of hashish back to

the earliest beginnings of history. "

THE USE OF MARIJUANA AS INCENSE

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica: " Pharmacological Cults "

" ...the ceremonial use of incense in contemporary ritual is most likely a

relic of the time when the psychoactive properties of incense brought the

ancient worshipper in touch with supernatural forces. "

In the temples of the ancient world, the main sacrifice was the inhalation

of incense. Incense is defined as the perfume or smoke from spices and gums

when burned in celebrating religious rites or as an offering to a deity.

Bronze and gold incense burners were cast very early in history and their

forms were often inspired by cosmological themes representing the harmonious

nature of the universe.

The following piece was taken from " Licit and Illicit Drugs " , page 31.

" In the Judaic world, the vapors from burnt spices and aromatic gums were

considered part of the pleasurable act of worship. In proverbs (27:9) it is

said that 'Ointment and perfumes rejoice the heart.' Perfumes were widely

used in Egyptian worship. Stone altars have been unearthed in Babylon and

Palestine, which have been used for burning incense made of aromatic wood

and spices. While the casual readers today may interpret such practices is

mere satisfaction of the desire for pleasant odors, this is almost certainly

an error; in many or most cases, a psychoactive drug was being inhaled. In

the islands of the Mediterranean 2,500 years ago and in Africa hundreds of

years ago, for example leaves and flowers of a particular plant were often

thrown upon bonfires and the smoke inhaled; the plant was marijuana. "

( Preble and V. Laurey, Plastic Cement: The Ten Cent

Hallucinogen, International Journal of the Addictions, 2 (Fall 2967):

271-272.

" The earliest civilizations of Mesopotamia brewed intoxicating beer of

barley more than 5,000 years ago; is it too much to assume that even earlier

cultures experienced euphoria, accidentally or deliberately, through

inhalation of the resinous smoke of Cannabis? " (Ritual Use of Cannabis

Sativa L, p. 216.)

" It is said that the Assyrians used hemp (marijuana) as incense in the

seventh or eighth century before Christ and called it 'Qunubu', a term

apparently borrowed from an old East Iranian

word 'Konaba', the same as the Scythian name 'cannabis'. " (Plants of the

Gods -- Origin of Hallucinogenic Use by E. Schultes and Albert

Hofmann)

" It is recorded that the Chinese Taoist recommended the addition of cannabis

to their incense burners in the 1st century as a means of achieving

immortality. " (Marijuana, the First Twelve

Thousand Years by Earnest Abel, page 5)

" There is a classic Greek term, cannabeizein, which means to smoke cannabis.

Cannabeizein frequently took the form of inhaling vapors from an incense

burner in which these resins were mixed with other resins, such as myrrh,

balsam, frankincense, and perfumes. " (Ritual Use of Cannabis Sativa L)

" Herodotus in the fifth century B.C. observed the Scythians throwing hemp on

heated stone to create smoke and observed them inhaling this smoke. Although

he does not identify them, Herodotus states that when they " have parties and

sit around a fire, they throw some of it into the flames. As it burns, it

smokes like incense, and the smell of it makes them drunk, just as wine

does us. As more fruit is thrown on, they get more and more intoxicated

until finally they jump up and start dancing and singing. " (Herodotus,

Histories 1.202.)

Like the Indians Hemp Drug Commission three quarters of a century earlier,

the Canadian Le Dain Commission conducted an inquiry into the use of

marijuana. On page 156 of the report is the following:

" In the case of cannabis, the positive points which are claimed for it

include the following: It is a relaxant; it is disinhibiting; it increases

self-confidence and the feeling of creativity (whether justified by creative

results or not); it increases sensual awareness and appreciation; it

facilitates self acceptance and in this way makes it easier to accept

others; it serves a sacramental function in promoting a sense of spiritual

community among users; it is a shared pleasure; because it is illicit and

the object of strong disapproval from those who are, by and large, opposed

to social change, it is a symbol of protest and a means of strengthening the

sense of identity among those who are strongly critical of certain aspects

of our society and value structure today. "

On page 144 of the Report, marijuana is associated with peace.

" In our conversation with (students and young people) they have frequently

contrasted marijuana and alcohol effects to describe the former as a drug of

peace, a drug that reduces tendencies to aggression while suggesting that

the latter drug produces hostile, aggressive behavior. Thus marijuana is

seen as particularly appropriate to a generation that emphasizes peace and

is, in many ways, anticompetitive. "

In a magazine article by G. S. Chopra entitled " Man and Marijuana " on page

235 is a section dealing with Human Experiments. One hundred persons with an

established marijuana smoking habit smoked marijuana. They described the

symptoms as follows: " I have done things today which I usually dislike but

which I rather enjoyed doing today. " Nothing seemed impossible to

accomplish. " " I assumed a cool and composed attitude and forgot all mental

worries. " " I behaved in a childish and foolish manner. " " It relieves sense of

fatigue and gives rise to feelings of happiness. " " I feel like laughing. "

" My head is dizzy. " " I feel like taking more food. " " The world is gay around

me. " " I feel inclined to work. " " I am a friend to all and have no enemy in

the world. "

Practically every major religion and culture of the ancient world utilized

marijuana as part of their religious observance. Marijuana was the ambrosia

of the ancient world. It was the food, drink, and perfume of the gods. It

was used by the Africans, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Asians, the

Europeans, and possibly the Indians of the Americas. Would it be too much to

suggest that the ancient Israelites also utilized marijuana?

The following information was taken from the most authoritative books

dealing with the history of marijuana. They are mentioned at the end of this

work.

MARIJUANA IN INDIA

In Indian tradition marijuana is associated with immortality. There is a

complex myth of the churning of the Ocean of Milk by the gods, their joint

act of creation. They were in search

of Amrita, the elixir of eternal life. When the gods, helped by demons,

churned the ocean to obtain Amrita, one of the resulting nectars was

cannabis. After churning the ocean,the demons attempted to gain control of

Amrita (marijuana), but the gods were able to prevent this seizure, giving

cannabis the name Vijaya ( " victory " ) to commemorate their success.

Other ancient Indian names for marijuana were " sacred grass " , " hero leaved " ,

" joy " , " rejoicer " , " desired in the three worlds " ' " gods' food " , " fountain of

pleasures " ' and " Shiva's plant " .

Early Indian legends maintained that the angel of mankind lived in the

leaves of the marijuana plant. It was so sacred that it was reputed to deter

evil and cleanse its user of sin. In Hindu mythology hemp is a holy plant

given to man for the " welfare of mankind " and is considered to be one of the

divine nectars able to give man anything from good health, to long life, to

visions of the gods. Nectar is defined as the fabled drink of the gods.

Tradition maintains that when nectar or Amrita dropped from heaven, that

cannabis sprouted from it. In Hindu mythology Amrita means immortality;

also, the ambrosial drink which

produced it. In India hemp is made into a drink and is reputed to be the

favorite drink of Indra (the King of Indian gods.) Tradition maintains that

the god Indra gave Marijuana to the people so that they might attain

elevated states of consciousness, delight in worldly joy, and freedom from

fear.

According to Hindu legends, Siva, the Supreme God of many Hindu sects, had

some family squabble and went off to the fields. He sat under a hemp plant

so as to be sheltered from the heat of the sun and happened to eat some of

its leaves. He felt so refreshed from the hemp plant that it

became his favorite food, and that is how he got his title, the Lord of

Bhang.

Cannabis is mentioned as a medicinal and magical plant as well as a " sacred

grass " in the Atharva Veda (dated 2000 - 1400 B.C.) It also calls hemp one

of the five kingdoms of herbs...which releases us from anxiety and refers to

hemp as a " source of happiness " , " joy-giver " and " liberator " . Although the

holy books, the Shastras, forbid the worship of the plant, it has been

venerated and used as a sacrifice to the deities.

Indian Tradition, writing, and belief is that the " Siddhartha " (the Buddha),

used and ate nothing but hemp and its seeds for six years prior to

announcing (discovering) his truths and becoming the Buddha.

Cannabis held a preeminent place in the Tantric religion which evolved in

Tibet in the seventh century A.D. Tantrism was a religion based on fear of

demons. To combat the demonic threat to the world, the people sought

protection in plants such as cannabis which were set afire to overcome evil

forces.

In the tenth century A.D. hemp was extolled as indracanna, the " food of the

gods " . A fifteenth-century document refers to cannabis as " light-hearted " ,

" joy-full " and " rejoices " , and claimed that among its virtues are

" astringency " , " heat " , " speech-giving " , " inspiration of mental powers " ,

" excitability " and the capacity to " remove wind and phlegm " .

Today in the Tantric Buddhism of the Himalayas of Tibet, cannabis plays a

very significant role in the meditative ritual to facilitate deep meditation

and heighten awareness. In modern India it is taken at Hindu and Sikh

temples and Mohammedan shrines. Among fakirs (Hindu ascetics) bhang is

viewed as the giver of long life and a means of communion with the divine

spirit. Like his Hindu brother, the Musalman fakir reveres bhang as the

lengthener of life and the freer from the bonds of self.

At the turn of the twentieth century, the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission set

up to study the use of hemp in India contains the following report:

" ...It is inevitable that temperaments would be found to whom the quickening

spirit of bhang is the spirit of freedom and knowledge. In the ecstasy of

bhang the spark of the Eternal in man turns into the light the murkiness of

matter. " ...Bhang is the Joy-giver, the Sky-filler, the Heavenly-Guide, the

Poor Man's Heaven, the Soother of Grief...No god or man is as good as the

religious drinker of bhang...The supporting power of bhang has brought many

a Hindu family safe through the miseries of famine. To forbid or even

seriously restrict the use of so gracious an herb as the hemp would cause

widespread suffering and annoyance and to large bands of worshipped

ascetics, deep-seated anger. It would rob the people of a solace on

discomfort, of a cure in sickness, of a guardian whose gracious protection

saves them from the attacks of evil influences...

MARIJUANA IN CHINA

Hemp was so highly regarded in ancient China that the Chinese called their

country " the land of mulberry and hemp " . Hemp was a symbol of power over

evil and in emperor Shen Nung's pharmacopoeia was known as the " liberator of

sin " . The Chinese believed that the legendary Shen Nung first taught the

cultivation of hemp in the 28th century B.C. Shen Nung is credited with

developing the sciences of medicine from the curative power of plants. So

highly regarded was Shen Nung that he was deified and today he is regarded

as the Father of Chinese medicine. Shen Nung was also regarded as the Lord

of fire. He sacrificed on T'ai Shan, a mountain of hoary antiquity.

A statement in the Pen-ts'ao Ching of some significance is that Cannabis

" grows along rivers and valleys at T'ai-shan, but it is now common

everywhere. " Mount T'ai is in Shangtung Privince, where the cultivation of

the hemp plant is still intensive to this day. Whether or not this early

attribution indicates the actual geographic origin of the cultivation of the

Cannabis plant remains to be seen. (An Archeological and Historical Account

of Cannabis in China by Hui-Lin Li)

A Chinese Taoist priest wrote in the fifth century B.C. that cannabis was

used in combination with Ginseng to set forward time in order to reveal

future events. It is recorded that the Taoist recommended the addition of

cannabis to their incense burners in the 1st century A.D. and that the

effects thus produced were highly regarded as a means of achieving

immortality. In the early Chinese Taoist ritual the fumes and odors of

incense burners were said to have produced a mystic exaltation and

contribution to well-being.

MARIJUANA IN JAPAN

Hemp was used in Ancient Japan in ceremonial purification rites and for

driving away evil spirits. In Japan, Shinto priests used a gohei, a short

stick with undyed hemp fibers for purity) attached to one end. According to

Shinto beliefs, evil and purity cannot exist alongside one another, and so

by waving the gohei (purity) above someone's head the evil spirit inside him

would be driven away. Clothes made of hemp were especially worn during

formal and religious ceremonies because of hemp's traditional association

with purity.

MARIJUANA IN ANCIENT IRAN

Ancient Iran was the source for the great Persian empire, Iran is located

slightly to the northeast of the ancient kingdoms of Sumeria, Babylonia, and

Assyria. According to Mircea Eliade, " Shamanistic ecstasy induced by hemp

smoke was known in ancient Iran. " Professor Eliade has suggested that

Zoroaster, the Persian prophet, said to have written the Zend-Avesta, was a

user of hemp. In the Zend-Avesta hemp occupies the first place in a list of

10,000 medicinal plants.

One of the few surviving books of the Zend-Avesta, called the Venidad, " The

Law Against Demons " , calls bhanga (marijuana) Zoroaster's " good narcotic " ,

and tells of two mortals who were transported in soul to the heavens where,

upon drinking from a cup of bhang, they had the highest mysteries revealed

to them. Professor Eliade has theorized that Zoroaster may have used hemp to

bridge the metaphysical gap between heaven and earth.

MARIJUANA IN ANCIENT EGYPT

In the book, Plants of the Gods: Origin of Hallucinogenic Use by E.

Schultes and Albert Hofman, page 72, it is stated that the specimens of

marijuana nearly 4,000 years old have turned up in an Egyptian site and that

in ancient Thebes the plant was made into a drink.

MARIJUANA IN EUROPE

According to Nikolaas j. van der Merwe (Department of Archaeology,

University of Cape Town, South Africa) the peasants of Europe have been

using cannabis as medicine, ritual material, and to smoke or chew as far

back as oral traditions go.

Marijuana was an integral part of the Scythian cult of the dead wherein

homage was paid to the memory of their departed leaders. This use of

cannabis was found in frozen Scythian tombs dated from 500 to 300 B.C. Along

with the cannabis a miniature tripod-like tent over a copper censer was

found in which the sacred plant was burned.

It is interesting to note that two extraordinary rugs were also found in the

frozen Scythian tombs. One rug had a border frieze with a repeated

composition of a horseman approaching the Great Goddess who holds the " Tree

of Life " in one hand and raises the other hand in welcome.

MARIJUANA IN AFRICA

The African continent is probably the zone showing the widest prevalence of

the hemp drug habit. When white men first went to Africa, marijuana was part

of the native way of life. Africa was a continent of marijuana cultures

where marijuana was an integral part of religious ceremony. The Africans

were observed inhaling the smoke from piles of smoldering hemp. Some of

these piles had been placed upon altars. The Africans also utilized pipes.

The African Dagga (marijuana) cults believed that Holy Cannabis was brought

to earth by the gods. (Throughout the ancient world Ethiopia was considered

the home of the gods.)

In south central Africa, marijuana is held to be sacred and is connected

with many religious and social customs. Marijuana is regarded by some sects

as a magic plant possessing universal protection against all injury to life,

and is symbolic of peace and friendship. Certain tribes consider hemp use a

duty.

The earliest evidence for cannabis smoking in Africa outside of Egypt comes

from fourteenth century Ethiopia, where two ceramic smoking-pipe bowls

containing traces of excavation. In many parts of East Africa, especially

near Lake (the source for the Nile), hemp smoking and hashish

snuffing cults still exist.

MARIJUANA IN THE NEW WORLD

According to L. Lingeman in his book Drugs from A to Z, page 146,

" Marijuana smoking was known by the Indians before Columbus. " After the

Spanish conquest in 1521 the Spaniards recorded that the Aztecs (Mayans)

used marijuana.

The present day Cuna Indians of Panama use marijuana as a sacred herb and

the Cora Indians of the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico smoke marijuana in

this course of their sacred ceremonies.

In the Ritual Use of Cannabis Sativa L by A Emboden, Jr., pages 229

and 231, is the following:

" A particularly interesting account of a Tepehua (no relationship to

" Tepecana " ) Indian ceremony with cannabis was published in 1963 by the

Mexican ethnologist o of the University of Veracruz,

northernmost branch of the Maya language family. " In his account of Teehua

religion and ritual, Willianm (1963:215-21) describes in some detail

a communal curing ceremony focused on a plant called santa rose, " The Herb

Which Makes One Speak " , which he identified botanically as Cannabis Sativa:

According to it is worshipped as an earth deity and is thought to be

alive and comparable to a piece of the heart of God. "

MARIJUANA USE BY THE MOSLEMS

It is interesting to note that the use of hemp was not prohibited by

Mohammed (570-632 A.D.) while the use of alcohol was. Moslems considered

hemp as a " Holy Plant " and medieval Arab doctors considered hemp as a sacred

medicine which they called among other names kannab. The Sufis (a Moslem

sect) originating in 8th century Persia used hashish as a means of

stimulating mystical consciousness and appreciation of the nature of Allah.

Eating hashish to the Sufis was " an act of worship " . They maintained that

hashish gave them otherwise unattainable insights into themselves, deeper

understanding and that it made them feel witty. They also claimed that it

gave happiness, reduced anxiety, reduced worry, and increased music

appreciation.

According to one Arab legend Haydar, the Persian founder of the religious

order of Sufi came across the cannabis plant while wandering in the Persian

mountains. Usually a reserved and silent man, when he returned to his

monastery after eating some cannabis leaves, his disciples were amazed at

how talkative and animated (full of spirit) he seemed. After cajoling Haydar

into telling them what he had done to make him feel so happy, his disciples

went out into the mountains and tried the cannabis themselves. So it was,

according to the legend, that the Sufis came to know the pleasures of

hashish. (Taken from the Introduction to A Comprehensive Guide to Cannabis

Literature by Earnest Abel.)

SOURCES

E. Schultes, article: " Man and Marijuana "

E. Schultes and Albert Hofman, Plants of the Gods -- Origin of

Hallucinogenic Use (McGraw-Hill Book Co. [u.K.] Limited, Maidenhead, England

[1979]).

G.S. Chopra, article: " Man and Marijuana " , International Journal of the

Addict,1969, 4, 215-247.

Earnest L. Abel, Marijuana, the First Twelve Thousand Years (Phenum Press,

New York, 1980)

Earnest L. Abel, A Comprehensive Guide to Cannabis Literature

Earnest L. Abel, Marijuana Dictionary: Words, Terms, Events and Persons

Relating to Cannabis(Greenwood Press, Westpoint, Connecticut [1982])

M. Breecher and the Editors of Consumer Reports, The Consumer Union

Report, " Licit and Illicit Drugs " , (Little, Brown, and Co.)

Louis Lewin, Phantastica, Narcotic and Stimulating Drugs: Their Use and

Abuse, (London: Kegan, Trench, Turbner and Co., Ltd. Translated from the

second German edition by P.H.A. Wirth, 1931) (N.Y., Dutton, 1964, reprint,

1924, trans. 1931)

Sula Benet, Cannabis and Culture, ed. V. Rubin (The Hague: Moutan, 1975)

E. Lingeman, Drugs from A to Z, A Dictionary (McGraw-Hill Book Co.,

1969, 74)

R. Glowa, The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Drugs (Chelsea House Pub.,

N.Y., New Haven, Philadelphia, 1986)

s and Simon Vinkenoog, The Book of Grass: An Anthology on

Indian Hemp; Chandler and Sharp Series in Cross Cultural Themes (N.Y., Grove

Press [1967])

Jack Herer, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, 1985, 90, 91, 92.

T. Furst, Hallucinogens and Culture (Chandler and Sharp Publishers,

Inc., 1976)

Baudelaire, Artificial Paradises

Dr. Tart, " On Being Stoned: A Psychological Study of Marijuana

Intoxication " (Science and Behavior, 1971)

A. Emboden, Jr. Ritual Use of Cannabis Sativa L

S.I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia (Dent., London, 1970)

Atchley, A History of the Use of Incense in Divine Worship

E. A. Wallis Budge, The Divine Origin of the Craft of the Herbalist

Egon C. Corti, A history of Smoking, by Count Corti; Translated by

England G.G. Harrap, London, England, 1931)

Francis Robicsek, The Smoking Gods: Tobacco in Mayan Art, History, and

Religion (University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1978)

Diodurus, Histories 1.97.7

Herman Scneider, History of World Civilization, 2v (New York, 1931)

M.N. Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization (Oxford University Press, N.Y., 1922)

Sir Eliot, Hinduism and Buddhism 3v. (Routledge & K. , London,

1921)

A.A. McDonell, India's Past (The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1927)

Anthon, A Classical Dictionary (N.Y., Harpers and Brothers, 1848)

G. Maspero, The Dawn of Civilization: Egypt and Chaldea (London, 1897)

Lucy Lamy, Egyptian Mysteries Friedrich Ratzel, History of Mankind (N.Y.,

Gordon Press)

R.H. The Book of Jubilees, cap, iij, (London, 1902)

Alfred Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1987)

Geoffrey Wainwright, Eucharist and Eschatology (Epworth Press, London, 1971)

Webster's Third New International Dictionary, 1966

The Book of the Dead, Edit. E.A.W. Budge, British Museum, 1895, p. 250

J. Jeremias, in Encyclopedia, Iv, 4119, quoting Rawlinson, Cuneiform

Inscription IV. 19 (59) cnf. the story of Bel and the Dragon.

McKenzie, The Bible Dictionary (N.Y. MacMillan Pub. Co., 1965)

Encyclopedia Britannica, " Holy Spirit " (15th Edition, 1978)

Micropaedia, Ready Reference and Index Encyclopedia Britannica, " Sacrifice "

(15th Edition, 1978)

Encyclopedia Britannica, " Pharmacological Cults " (15th Edition, 1978), p.

199

Encyclopedia Britannica, " Coptic "

Encyclopedia Britannica, " Essenes "

Encyclopedia Britannica, " Theraputea "

Encyclopedia Britannica, " Sacred Pipe " (15th Edition)

Encyclopedia Britannica, " Incense "

Encyclopedia Britannica, " Hemp " (Microppaedia Ready Reference and Index,

p.1016)

Encyclopedia Britannica, " Roman Catholicism, The Eucharist " (Volume 15, p.

998)

Encyclopedia Britannica, " Mysticism "

King version of The Bible

http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_spirit2.shtml

Television, the drug of the Nation Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

author: an anonymous coward

printed from www. room23.org

_________________________________________________________________

Plan your next US getaway to one of the super destinations here.

http://special.msn.com/local/hotdestinations.armx

[Guest guest]

,

I think that was a great post about your personal marijuana usage and

spirituality. I've never tried pot and I'm following a waterbug-

based spiritual path but I'm not even in the mood to think very long

about spiritual matters because I'm trying to contemplate the role of

eyeballs in my diet. Also, like Dali, " I am drugs " , probably not

doubted by other list-members...

Ignore that last sentence. I wanted to note that your post shows an

example of behavioral self-regulation through arbitrary culturally-

mediated symbolic mappings to cyclic and homeostatic phenomena in

nature, and personally I think that's a great way to go, because,

like, ya know, nature's already just sittin' there waitin' to be put

to good use like that. What I especially like about your type of

approach is that it is peaceful and tolerant of other approaches.

If you're a pot-loving early-twenty-something female living near

Massachusetts, please watch out for Chris; he doesn't have enough

money to treat you to organic, pasture-fed NT foods. Also, he's a

libertarian. Don't be fooled by those big muscles...

hehehehehehe.....

I will have to study your other post sometime too, but I can't stop

thinking about those eyeballs so this spiritual stuff is over my head

right now, but thanks for these wonderful posts. I like the NT bent

to the historical stuff; wow, maybe this will result in on-topic

posts?

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/9/04 8:38:10 PM Eastern Standard Time,

implode7@... writes:

> LOL! I've been really wanting to get stoned since this discussion started.

> Damn, I have a small bag of pot that I lost about a year ago, that MUST be

> in my apartment somewhere...but where?

That first time I smoked that I described, I dropped nice sized bud in

between the cushions on the couch. I looked periodically for a couple years

after

that, but never found it.

Chris

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/9/04 11:39:13 PM Eastern Standard Time,

Idol@... writes:

> Are you actually suggesting that peer pressure doesn't exist, or that you

> asking for something yourself somehow means that it doesn't exist?

No, not at all. Just that it's somewhat exaggerated.

Chris

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/10/04 1:11:24 AM Eastern Standard Time,

jennifer_seeks@... writes:

> I

> don't personally consider a plant that grows from the ground and is used as

> is or with minimum processing (such as drying, making into a tea, smoking

> it, eating it, etc. ) to be a drug, at least not in the same sense as we

> consider other substances drugs (such as crystal meth, cocaine, PCP, paxil,

> lipitor, coumadin, etc.) This is my opinion, and I realize that it is out

> of step with our culture *shrug*

,

Cocaine is derived from the coca plant.

Chris

[Guest guest]

Chris-

>Just that it's somewhat exaggerated.

And you base this conclusion on your memory of what made you, a single

individual, choose to smoke?

-

[Guest guest]

@@@@@@@@@@@@@

> > I

> > don't personally consider a plant that grows from the ground and

is used as

> > is or with minimum processing (such as drying, making into a tea,

smoking

> > it, eating it, etc. ) to be a drug, at least not in the same

sense as we

> > consider other substances drugs (such as crystal meth, cocaine,

PCP, paxil,

> > lipitor, coumadin, etc.) This is my opinion, and I realize that

it is out

> > of step with our culture *shrug*

>

> ,

>

> Cocaine is derived from the coca plant.

>

> Chris

@@@@@@@@@@@@

you'll note she referred to " minimum processing " , so I think

her distinction still makes sense. From what I understand, some

traditional cultures chewed on coca leaves without the disastrous

effects of isolated cocaine usage.

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

[Guest guest]

> jennifer_seeks@h... writes:

>

> > I don't personally consider a plant that grows from the ground

and is used as is or with minimum processing (such as drying, making

into a tea, smoking it, eating it, etc.) to be a drug, at least not

in the same sense as we consider other substances drugs

> ,

>

> Cocaine is derived from the coca plant.

>

> Chris

Yes, and so is aspirin and digoxin, but there is little resemblance

to the willow bark and the foxglove flowers that they are made from.

Marinol is made from Marijuana, but it has been processed beyond the

point of recognition. The leaves of the coca plant have been safely

used for millenia in their original form... pulled from the plant and

chewed. This is the same type of thing that has happened to our

food. The oils in margarine is made from natural substances, but

that doesn't mean that it is natural! Cocaine, however, is treated

to a host of chemicals during the processing of it:

Coca leaves are stripped from the plant and crushed, chopped, and/or

pounded and mixed with a solution of alcohol, gasoline, kerosene, or

some other solvent that will remove the cocaine from the leaves.

The resulting liquid contains unpurified cocaine alkaloids and may

additionally contain waxy material from the leaves. This waxy

material can be removed by heating and then cooling the mixture, a

process that solidifies the unwanted wax.

The next step is to isolate the cocaine alkaloids from the liquid.

This is done with acid and basic mixtures. The alkaloids that are

removed in this process are then treated with kerosene.

The kerosene is removed and gas crystals of crude cocaine are left at

the bottom of the tank. Typically, the crystals are dissolved in

methyl alcohol. They are then recrystallized and dissolved in

sulfuric acid, which results in cocaine that is about 60% pure.

It should be noted that cocaine at this point is basically freebase

cocaine, very similar to crack. In fact, when a person freebases

cocaine, or makes crack, they are reversing what is done in the next

process.

What is done next is converting freebase to a salt called cocaine

hydrochloride. (http://www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/coc08.htm)

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/10/04 8:00:14 PM Eastern Standard Time,

Idol@... writes:

> And you base this conclusion on your memory of what made you, a single

> individual, choose to smoke?

>

No, I base it on my experience in the drug culture I grew up in. Also, I was

rambling when I wrote that, and what I was considering a " myth " was not the

existence of peer pressure, but the analysis of it they gave us in high school.

Chris

[Guest guest]

Great description. I almost feel like I experienced the high.

Thanks very much. I remembered while reading your description that

the place I now work does annual random drug tests so I think I'll

have to save your email to read when I'm feeling especially curious.

Betsy

,

Thanks so much for your post and article. Much food for thought.

Betsy