cannabisnews.com: Drug War & Reformation! Drug War & Reformation! Posted by FoM on August 02, 1999 at 15:16:48 PT Dana Larsen - The Unholy Drug War Source: Cannabis Culture Magazine Marijuana is the most powerful medicinal plant in the world. She is the Queen of Herbs, first among the healing plants. The war against marijuana is the nexus point of the war against all herbs and natural medicines. Our society's intense control over marijuana and all other psychoactive plants is in parallel to the social control and corruption of the pre-reformation medieval Catholic church.The medieval church maintained a harsh prohibition on magical plants and any personal communion with the divine. The church's power lay in being an intermediary between the individual and the godhead. Only a priest, duly indoctrinated and employed by the church, was permitted to offer sacrament or read the Bible, written in Latin. Without a priest one could not communicate with God.The modern church is the pharmaceutical/ medical complex which enshrines the doctor and psychiatrist as their priest-like representatives. These men are the intermediary between us and our own minds and bodies. Without the doctor's writ we cannot get the modern sacraments of Prozac or Valium. The most powerful medicines, those psychedelics and plants which give access to the divine within, are tightly controlled or completely forbidden.The protestant reformation begun by Luther was founded upon the concept that each person should interpret the Bible for himself, and that each of us can have our own communication with God. These ideas were a direct threat to the power system of the established church hierarchy.The war on drugs is essentially being fought over the battlefield of human consciousness. Those who struggle to end this war argue that each person should decide what they wish to put into their own body, and how they wish to alter their own consciousness. These ideas are a direct threat to the modern medical and pharmaceutical establishment.The most powerful tool of the protestant reformation was the printing press. This newly-invented device allowed Luther and his followers to produce many thousands of bibles, bringing the sacred word and Luther's radical ideas to people in a way which had never before been possible.In the modern world we are witnessing an incredible growth in availability of information through the internet, which is still in its infancy. Governments which censor magazines and books are finding it more difficult to control or ban the new technology of websites and email. Anti-prohibitionists are using the internet to communicate, network and spread their ideas in ways otherwise impossible.Ending the vicious war on drugs will liberate the consciousness of humanity in a similar way to how the reformation freed the European mind and ushered in the enlightenment, a period of exponential intellectual, scientific and social growth. We are once again on the verge of reforming our world in ways we cannot imagine.The war on drugs is holding back the development of our society and our species. This negative and destructive pattern is consuming vast quantities of knowledge, resources and lives which would be better devoted to positive pursuits, like exploring the potential of the human mind and the myriad medical, social and psychic possibilities presented by psychedelic and psychoactive plants.Onwards to Enlightenment!Dana LarsenEditor, Cannabis Culture02 Aug, 1999The Hotpot is part of Cannabis Culture's resource archive. If you have a submission for The Hotpot, send it to: brazyl cannabisculture.com . Another Cannabis Culture Article:Suing California State for Enforcement - 7/18/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2099.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #1 posted by Cory Jones on October 03, 2000 at 09:52:55 PT: Marijuana Why should a all natural plant like marijuana be illegal and a mad made alcohol be legal which kills thousands of people every year in car accident it even effects the innocent bystanders [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: