'Make Love, Not War: The Lure of Cannabis Culture'

Why Everyone is Falling in Love with the Cannabis Culture of Peace and Love from CannabisNet on Vimeo.

There's just something romantic about the Cannabis culture.

There's an aura, a pulsating energy, a flow of peace that shines from those who seek enlightenment through herb. The pure, limitless ebb of freedom is undeniable. It's an intoxicating sight that must, no doubt, tempt many a fervent prohibition supporter.

Remember when Bill Clinton came out of the Cannabis closet and admitted to smoking weed? Sure, he followed it up with, "I did not inhale," but we all knew that was some next level bullshit. Remember the time he also said, "I did not have sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky?"

PRESIDENTS SMOKED WEED

Fuck off Bill, we know you inhaled, and that's cool, really it is. People are fascinated when someone of importance admits to using pot. There's just something completely wild and untamed about Marijuana that draws people in. Potus? A weed head? It's crazy really. Think about it: people seemed to really admire the man who the Americans trusted to run the country more when he admitted to having used an apparently quite dangerous drug that the country was waging war on.

What the actual fuck?

I think the problem is that people are scared. They've been lied to their whole lives, so of course they can't be expected to change their belief system over night. It's happening slowly though and these days it seems that most of the population doesn't know whether to be outraged that they've been lied to, or happy they can get high without overdosing. People get hardcore offended when they find out they've been investing a large part of their life in something that is false, understandably, so when someone well known steps into the spotlight and admits to smoking grass, people are attracted to it. It's as if they get a glimpse, only a glimpse, of that limitless ebb, that gentle, intoxicating flow of freedom and they are hypnotized, caught in the persuasion of true liberty. I've spoken about it before, the wild beauty that emanates from someone who has chosen to acknowledge their civil right to use cannabis rather than adhere to preposterous laws. What's not intoxicating about refusing to be held down? Humans have one binding similarity that spans all ethnicities- we are at our strongest and proudest moments when we are banded together in the face of injustice. Refusing to be slaves is in our DNA. Human history is recounted with the most awe when we remember the tales of slaves who finally woke up to conquer with truth. That my friends is the hypnotique of the Cannabis Culture. It stands for the freedom fist, raised and unrelenting. Maybe part of the hypnotization also comes from the subconscious understanding that if a well educated powerful person, like the people chosen to run a country, can make a decision to get high, it isn't so bad after all?

The interference comes into play when people have spent their lives believing that Reefer Madness was actually true. If you've never watched documentary flick Reefer Madness, I highly recommend it. The overall theme of the film is driving the point home that Marijuana will turn studious, hard working white children into drug addicts, criminals, dregs to society and all in all ruin their perfect little lives. The whole thing is so ludicrous it's easy to forget that it's not satire. It was an educational video funded by a church group in the 1930's intended to warn people upon the dangers of reefer. The scary thing is that it represented the absurdly popular view of the time that unfortunately still has a stranglehold some 80 years later.

HIPPIE SMOKING CANNABIS

I've only ever understood the term hippie to refer to a person that is free. Am I alone as imagining a person who would be described by most as a hippie, as boundless, passionate, wild creatures that would rather talk than fight and teach their children values like righting wrongs and making a stand for what you believe in?

Why was love and peace so offensive to America during the flower power era that it had to go on a smear campaign against Cannabis anyway? How had the world become such a miserable place that when people who esteemed such things like looking after the planet and being the ushers of justice and peace arrive they could be held at arms length like a soiled diaper?

Because that is exactly what the Cannabis Culture is, no matter whether you're a hippie or not, no matter the genre of pot smoking clique you fit into, it is undeniable that Cannabis promotes peace. The Cannabis Culture is the antithesis of everything we are taught by big brother and that's why the lure is so strong. Marijuana is a self thinking promotion of inner awareness that encourages the development of personal spirituality. Within its embrace it is possible to see a different way of living. We see hope, we see community, we see a host of people with different faiths, cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds, all united under the umbrella of a prohibited herb. No matter who we are as individuals in the Cannabis Community, we are united as a collective.

People can only be fooled about the matter for so long though and that's why, even though the prohibition supporters will never admit it, sometimes you can catch that gleam in their eye and that wistful, far off gaze. Secretly, they're reminiscing about their rebellious college days and wondering why they ever stopped taking bong hits before bed and now rally against a leaf so passionately.

YES WE SHOULD LEGALIZE IT

When these people can finally admit that the Cannabis Culture is producing more artists, visionaries and political activists than it is drug addicts, criminals and dregs to society then maybe they'll in turn begin to wonder what this multi-billion dollar war on drugs has been actually fighting. And for what reason has the war on drugs been waging, in respect to Marijuana, anyway? I mean, the world acted so shocked and horrified when all these peace promoting hippies turned up, so what did they do?

They declared war.

Yup, makes sense.

What also makes sense is this: any declaration of war on a peaceful entity should be seen as an act of terrorism. The only question now is, are you one of the terrorists?

Peace,

James

(This is part 4 of of our series, Through The Eyes Of A Stoner, written by James Munroe)