In 1969, someone named Mr. X wrote an account of his experiences with marijuana. It was printed in Marihuana Reconsidered in 1971. Mr X was a successful young scientist who had discovered marijuana in his 20s. Though skeptical at first that the drug was nothing more than a placebo, he eventually discovered that the high from marijuana had a number of amazing benefits and expanded his mind beyond the world of science into other interests and endeavors. Mr X wrote:
I do not consider myself a religious person in the usual sense, but there is a religious aspect to some highs. The heightened sensitivity in all areas gives me a feeling of communion with my surroundings, both animate and inanimate. Sometimes a kind of existential perception of the absurd comes over me and I see with awful certainty the hypocrisies and posturing of myself and my fellow men. And at other times, there is a different sense of the absurd, a playful and whimsical awareness. Both of these senses of the absurd can be communicated, and some of the most rewarding highs I've had have been in sharing talk and perceptions and humor. Cannabis brings us an awareness that we spend a lifetime being trained to overlook and forget and put out of our minds. A sense of what the world is really like can be maddening; cannabis has brought me some feelings for what it is like to be crazy, and how we use that word 'crazy' to avoid thinking about things that are too painful for us. In the Soviet Union political dissidents are routinely placed in insane asylums. The same kind of thing, a little more subtle perhaps, occurs here: 'did you hear what Lenny Bruce said yesterday? He must be crazy.' When high on cannabis I discovered that there's somebody inside in those people we call mad.
Mr X remained a scientist and achieved fame for his work. His scientific thinking was evident in his conclusion:
There is a very nice self-titering aspect to cannabis. Each puff is a very small dose; the time lag between inhaling a puff and sensing its effect is small; and there is no desire for more after the high is there. I think the ratio, R, of the time to sense the dose taken to the time required to take an excessive dose is an important quantity. R is very large for LSD (which I've never taken) and reasonably short for cannabis. Small values of R should be one measure of the safety of psychedelic drugs. When cannabis is legalized, I hope to see this ratio as one of he parameters printed on the pack. I hope that time isn't too distant; the illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.
At the time that this essay was published, Richard Nixon was busy launching the modern War on Drugs, ignoring the advice of his own Presidential Commission who recommended that the use and sale of small amounts of marijuana should not be a criminal offense. For those familiar with the drug, Nixon's actions were as good an example as you could imagine for how the world was maddening in its absurdities. Under the false belief that marijuana is considerably more dangerous than it actually is, it has not only remained illegal, but through the United Nations, the Nixon Administration and future American governments were able to bring about a nearly global prohibition on its use.
In the late 1990s, Mr X was finally revealed. It was Carl Sagan, who passed away 10 years ago this week. As I child, I watched episodes of Cosmos in school and developed a strong love of both science and astronomy. As a teenager, he was one of my role models for his courage in questioning the status quo on religion and other matters of human faith. There's much of Sagan's work that I'm still not familiar with, but his final book, The Demon-Haunted World, is probably the most important book I've ever read.
The roots of that term can be seen in his old essay. The demon-haunted world referred to when people's fears of the unknown caused them to reject science and find comfort in other belief systems catering to their insecurities. For him, science was the antidote to such madness, a "candle in the dark," allowing for humanity to move forward from the things that held it back. He once said:
In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness.
The comparison between faith and science was always prominent in Sagan's thinking. He pointed out that we should rely on science because it has the best track record for any belief system yet discovered. The same can be said for our own Bill of Rights. The American system of justice and equality should be taught to our children because it has worked better than any other. Ensuring basic freedoms was the blueprint that has led to this country's success and prosperity. In The Demon-Haunted World, Sagan wrote that America's growing propensity to believe things through faith alone was reaching dangerous levels, and that it was time to move back towards a greater belief in science and reason in our dealings with the real world. That was 1996. Ten years later, the anti-science movement has reached a crescendo and is finally being questioned. For the first time in my adult life, I feel like there are signs that the candle in the dark is starting to get brighter.
Sagan used marijuana throughout much of his adult life, even finding it beneficial for his scientific work. Yet he was forced to keep that fact a secret from a public not yet ready for the truth about this particular drug. He was a brilliant scientist who influenced millions of people in both America and abroad, yet he was unable to challenge America's irrational fear of this particular demon. It's been nearly 40 years since Sagan wished that the day where marijuana would be sold legally to adults was not too distant. In the meantime, both science and the Bill of Rights have taken a beating in order to keep that day from coming. They are essential elements to human advancement, but they've also been casualties of a war against a demon that doesn't really exist. There are many issues where a greater reliance on science and a greater respect for the Bill of Rights will lead us away from our demon-haunted world, but arguaby none so unfuriating as the continued senseless prohibition of this plant.
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In the past two weeks...
DEA head Karen Tandy backed out of testifying in an employment discrimination trial brought by DEA official Sandy Gonzalez, the whistleblower in the Juarez House of Death case. It's likely that she backed out because she would have had to face questions about that particular case (where another dead body was found with the cards of two American anti-drug officials taped to his forehead). The discrimination case was actually about an earlier time that Gonzalez blew the whistle on DEA funny-business, and he was victorious.
As part of the recent bill reauthorizing the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the cap for the number of patients a physician may treat with buprenorphine to combat heroin addiction was raised from 30 to 100. Pete Guither gives both the good and the bad on this bill.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse showed that teen use of alcohol and marijuana continued to decline while use of prescription and non-prescription medications continued to increase. Libby Spencer shares some thoughts on this. Students for Sensible Drug Policy noticed that the decline in the traditional bugaboos occurred as the anti-drug advertising budget has declined as well. Pete has some links to other posts and thoughts on how this survey could be more useful. Whig reminds parents that marijuana is the safest of all of these drugs.
A large group of medical and public health officials are asking US Health and Human Services chief Mike Leavitt to do something about the large number of heroin-fentanyl overdoses.
The Government Accountability Office believes that the FDA needs to do a better job monitoring how prescription drugs are advertised to the public.
According to government statistics, marijuana is now the nation's most lucrative cash crop. Chris at AmericaBlog is ready for the country to start having a grownup discussion about this. Goldy thinks about the lost tax benefits.
Marc Emery writes about his story in Cannabis Culture magazine.
A report from the Marijuana Policy Project discovered that there's no factual basis for believing that legalizing marijuana for adults will increase use among minors. Drug Law Blog questions the claim that legalizing will actually decrease teen drug use. Pete Guither provides the basic facts. Jacob Sullum has more. Pete responds to the other posts.
Now that meth production has mostly moved to Mexico, the DEA created an online registry of known locations in the United States where meth production had been occurring.
Of the 7 million people in America's prison system, 2 million are drug offenders. Paul Craig Roberts writes more about this massive problem.
Pete Guither tears apart a report on the Drug Czar's blog attempting to exaggerate the dangers of drug-impaired driving.
David Borden discusses some of the most egregious drug war travesties stemming from mandatory minimum sentencing.
Mark Kleiman talks about mandatory minimums, but as is his trademark, refuses to actually suggest something that might work.
Bob Barr has joined the Libertarian Party, but we're not sure if he's a libertarian when it comes to drug policy. We'll find out soon.
Bill Piper is encouraging people to use YouTube to make mock anti-smoking and anti-drinking ads that are as over-the-top as anti-drug advertising.
The Drug Law Blog recounts the top 10 (er, 12) drug policy stories of 2006.
The Drug War Chronicle recounts the top 10 victories and the top 10 defeats of 2006.
Allison Margolin remembers John Lennon. FBI files on Lennon were released recently, revealing that the United States considered his activity to defend drug users to be subversive.
Rob at To The People looks at how anti-drug websites encourage parents to talk to their kids about drugs.
Steve Strommer talks about the accepted belief that using any type of drug alone is a sign of addiction.
Members of the Marijuana Policy Project will be voting on their next radio ad in January.
Whig has the full video of Penn & Teller calling bullshit on the war on drugs.
Psychedelics advocate Daniel Pinchbeck was on the Colbert Report last week.
Daily Kos diarist 'xxdr zombiexx' writes a couple of good diaries.
Kos diarist Lapin talks about a recent study that showed that psilocybin has benefits for dealing with OCD.
Neal Peirce writes in the Seattle Times that it's time we started thinking about ending the drug war.
Rick Anderson details the case of a police drug informant who was murdered in Seattle.
Pete McGowan notes the high number of people arrested in Washington state connected to meth and wonders why we're still so worried about pot. This statistic launched some discussion at Reload about the correlation between meth and the crime rate.
A Ninth U.S. Circuit Court ruling allows for individuals sentenced to mandatory minimums before Booker to be able to review their sentences.
U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Patel threw out evidence gathered in a 2004 drug raid in the trial of medical marijuana activist Eddy Lepp.
Scott Morgan discusses a recent raid on a medical marijuana dispensary in Hayward, California.
Simi Valley, CA has banned medical marijuana dispensaries.
A church in Hollywood, California is being shut down because it uses marijuana as part of its practice.
San Diego County officials are discussing whether or not to appeal the ruling that says that they can not enforce federal law over state law concerning medical marijuana. Merced County, CA will begin issuing medical marijuana identification cards.
A Navy vessel returned to San Diego after seizing 27 tons of cocaine and 49 suspected drug smugglers out on the open seas.
A group of Tucson-based military recruiters were involved in drug distribution. The FBI apparently allowed them to stay on the job even after it was known they were selling drugs.
The Payson Roundup, a local paper in Arizona, took an in-depth look at meth, but couldn't bring itself to recommend any remedies to the problem other than saying they needed to "fight it as a community".
A Kansas couple is suing law enforcement officials who conducted a drug raid on their home in 2005.
An Aramark Services employee working at a Kansas prison was sentenced to 15 months for selling meth to prisoners.
An Oklahoma City prison guard was arrested after allegedly smuggling drugs into the jail.
Texans for Medical Marijuana is trying to raise awareness of the people in the Lone Star State who rely on medical marijuana.
A Travis County (TX) probation officer warns about the dangers of not being able to get probationers into drug treatment as soon as they leave prison.
Dallas County (TX) District Attorney Bill Hill is asking Governor Perry to free Tyrone Brown from a life sentence he's been serving since testing positive for marijuana while on probation.
Former NFL quarterback Quincy Carter was arrested for marijuana possession in Irving, Texas.
The town of Winnsboro, TX has had 1.6% of its population arrested for drug dealing in the past 6 months.
An acclaimed East Texas drug cop now favors the legalization of marijuana and is producing a video to help people avoid being caught. His website goes live on Tuesday.
An East Baton Rouge, LA Sheriff's deputy was arrested for allegedly selling drugs in the parish prison.
A Washington state resident was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison in Minnesota for transporting meth.
A Minnesota state legislator points to the recently dismissed case in California as proof that Minnesota can and should protect its medical marijuana patients.
More older Minnesotans are seeking treatment for drug problems than ever before.
Police officials in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan refused to bring drug dogs into a high school to search lockers.
An Indiana Correctional Facility Officer was busted for selling meth.
A Mississippi police officer was arrested and charged with distributing meth.
The judge in the Cory Maye case refrained from making any major rulings in a hearing this week.
Loretta Nall corresponds with Alabama cancer patient Don Prockup, who is unable to afford Marinol, but cannot legally grow medical marijuana for himself either.
The Florida Times-Union profiles Jerry Cameron of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
A Florida teenager was arrested after an undercover police officer saw his MySpace page which advertised sales of marijuana.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune continues to question how the Bradenton police have been using asset forfeiture as a way to boost the department's budget.
A lawsuit against the Polk County (FL) Sheriff's Office by a father whose son was killed during a drug raid was declared a mistrial.
Georgia State Senator Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) plans to re-introduce a bill to ban marijuana-flavored candy.
Radley Balko discusses a sad image from Durham, North Carolina that results from our over-reliance on SWAT tactics to combat drugs.
A North Carolina prison guard was caught with 2 pounds of cocaine.
A Virginia police officer was arrested for cocaine distribution.
A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to 15 to 25 years in state prison after his 10-month-old son died from ingesting a chunk of heroin that had fallen on the floor.
A pair of university professors are set to release a report demonstrating that New York City's "Broken Windows" theory in the 1990s, which concentrated on low-level crimes like marijuana use, was actually counterproductive in lowering crime levels.
A retired New York City police officer was arrested for running a drug market at a Manhattan marina.
Barbara O'Brien of Mahablog sat on a jury for a marijuana possession case and got to experience the great American train wreck up close.
The son of Miami police chief John Timoney was sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison in New York State for trying to buy $455,000 worth of marijuana.
Two Albany-area prison guards were charged with selling marijuana to inmates.
Trey Anastasio was pulled over in upstate New York and charged with driving while intoxicated.
UMass Ahmerst is misrepresenting the view of the average student in order to implement a stricter policy on substance use.
Ten Boston police officers were transferred from working in the drug evidence warehouse because of suspected thefts.
A Canadian television program discussed law enforcement officials who want to end the war on drugs.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) released a report saying that the harm reduction methods being used in Vancouver will increase drug use, but a researcher studying Vancouver's safe injection site says the report lacks any credibility. The Canadian government is still listening to those clowns, along with our own clowns (more on our clowns here).
A British Columbia organization produced drug cards, in order to provide accurate information on the effects of different drugs.
A Vancouver-area police officer accidentally shot a fellow officer during a drug raid in New Westminster.
Newly elected Mexican President Felipe Calderon is sending 6,500 Mexican troops into Michoacan to fight the drug cartels. The soldiers found marijuana that's very hard to destroy. At a port in Michoacan, a large amount of pseudoephedrine, a main ingredient for making meth, was seized as it arrived from China. Hugo Estrada writes more in this Kos diary about how history repeats itself in Mexican politics. Pete Guither echoes Estrada's comment that these things tend to end with the local government telling the traffickers that they'll ignore the drug stuff if they tone down the violence.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Bahamas wants more toys for local anti-drug efforts.
The brother of Colombia's drug czar was arrested for purchasing cocaine. Garry Leech writes in the Colombia Journal that the E.U. and Canada should take FARC off of the list of international terrorist organizations, so that any hope of a peace process can continue. Colombia's continued support of America's drug war is starting to leave them more and more isolated in that region.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield of lying about the amount of drug trafficking through his country.
Peruvian President Alan Garcia wants to give the death penalty to those who work with drug traffickers but also believes that coca is a wonderful ingredient in salads.
Seventy-five police officers in Rio de Janiero were arrested for being involved in drug trafficking.
A recent survey in the UK claims that approximately 80% of young adults have tried cannabis.
A couple who sent chocolates mixed with cannabis to multiple sclerosis sufferers was found guilty in a British court.
Recent raids in the UK have caused the price of cannabis to rise.
The British Lung Foundation is claiming that cannabis is more dangerous for one's lungs than tobacco, even though researchers at UCLA who recently sought to prove that it causes lung cancer were shocked to find that it doesn't.
Scotland's Castle Huntly prison has so much heroin flowing through it that non-inmates have been sneaking into the prison grounds to buy it from the inmates.
In Belgium, a high-profile group cannabis growing operation was broken up by police.
Sweden is doubling the tax on snuff at the beginning of 2007, triggering a buying frenzy.
Russian authorities are tightening security of the Russian-Kazakh border in hopes of stopping the flow of herion from Afghanistan.
British Military officials in Afghanistan are furious that the U.S. has pushed aside Helmand Governor Mohammad Daud. Drug Czar John Walters, who appears to be in charge of the American occupation now, says that Karzai has agreed to spraying Roundup across his country in order to eradicate the opium crops. I took a look back at Daud's year.
The world's oldest woman, 120-year-old Indian Fulla Nayak, still smokes cannabis every day.
Six convicted drug traffickers were sentenced to death in Vietnam.
The Mental Health Council of Australia is the latest to make the claim that cannabis can trigger mental health problems, but hasn't explained why the large increase in cannabis smoking hasn't resulted in a large increase in mental health problems. The Australian government is now considering banning bongs.
An Australian woman jailed in Thailand for heroin trafficking is trying to get transferred to a prison in Australia.
An Australian judge ruled that it was lawful for a government informant to sell drugs.