Drug War Editorial: Carpe Diem

With Cannabis initiatives sweeping the country, it is time for pro-pot Americans to stand up, speak out and effect even more change.

If you have not yet noticed, hemp and Cannabis products have successfully made it back into both the marketplace and the hearts of mainstream consumerism - even supermarkets are starting to stock hemp products. At this rate, and with enough friends, it is possible to imagine hemp growing across the continent in a few years.

Carbon-friendly Cannabis was never needed more than it is now. The plant could provide everything from food, fuel, fabric and plastics to medicine; the biggest advantage is perhaps that DuPont would not receive a nickel.

You would think that a country like the United States would do anything to reduce its exports and become self-sufficient; yet the country still imports all of her hemp, when at one time the continent was covered in the crop - the currency of the land. Later, hemp was demonized and thrown into exile so that DuPont could sell us their plastics. Big Business does not care about the environment - it is too busy turning nature into pocket change.

In the last years, we have 'taken our eye off of the ball'. Distracted by one crisis after another, we have just stood by and watched as the rape of our planet has continued, unabated. Global warming may be the end result; however, you should remember that it is not the planet that needs saving, as the planet is going to be just fine. It is we who are - to put it delicately - fucked!

Nature gave us a plant that could improve the health and well-being of everyone on the planet - maybe even save us from ourselves - so why hasn't more research taken place, nor any serious discussion been sparked in the media? Instead they drag out the same tired old dogma and stick their heads in the sand, denying us the chance of a new, sustainable future.

The media is as much to blame, always seizing upon the negative and linking Cannabis with hard drugs, focusing upon busts and celebrity overdoses, in place of the truth. The corporate world is ultimately responsible for this media amnesia. They do not like Cannabis, mostly because they cannot patent it, but also because it is threatening their own products - and certainly making Big Pharma look sick. One day, the whole world will find out that Cannabis cures cancer and that they kept the cure from people who needed it, in spite of the proven benefits of medical Cannabis.

And so the lie is told and retold; considering the collusion of the media, who need the advertising revenue, it is inflated even more. Big Money purchased the media and the truth years ago - and boy, did they get a deal, because they have being feeding us their twisted version of it ever since. They think they are in control and that we are just plain stupid. Maybe we are, because they do not even try to hide their hypocrisy anymore and still we do not do anything about it. However, a lie told a million times is still a lie.

One of the main reasons Cannabis is being kept illegal is to support the billion-dollar industry that surrounds its prohibition. Starting with the cop who busts you (because it is so easy), you then move on to the legal system and lawyers who strip you clean, finally ending at the privately-run jail where you do your time - and they all make a profit. This is incarceration on an industrial scale: profit-driven imprisonment, with an eye on the bottom line.

The War on Drugs really has nothing to do with saving us from dangerous substances. Fewer people have died in the last hundred years from natural, illegal drugs than those who have died from prescription substances in one year. This drug war is really a profit-motivated attack upon the poor and underprivileged; the anti-Cannabis factions will not stop until we are all in prison, with our own tax dollars paying to keep us there.

It is insane that thousands of people are still locked up for Cannabis, when most are peaceful growers and smokers. In an age of semi-legal pot (in some places), this incarceration nation cannot continue - but how can we put a stop to it? What can we do? Well, a good way to begin fighting back is by becoming aware of who you are and the power that you have.

Cannabis users all have at least one thing in common: the plant that we love. There is an ability given by the plant that helps us to see the truth, to see beyond the bullshit that is fed to us every day. It does not matter if you are some dude from east Los Angeles or a monk from Kathmandu; the plant that we share makes us brothers and sisters under the skin - and there are many of us. In our hearts, we all know there is a 'better path'.

The powers-that-be keep us distracted and divided because they know that when we come together, we will win. Thus, it is time to stop living in the duality that divides us and realize the oneness that brings us together. We live in a holographic universe, so when you change, we all change and Cannabis is the key to helping you to realize that change.

We are living in interesting times: movements swell up, needing no leaders; the power of social media is making things happen. The truth rolls through the 'net like a wave rolling through an ocean, but when it breaks, things change - the 'Arab Spring' showed us that. It is time for us to become part of the change.

All around us, structures we once thought solid are starting to disintegrate - banks, businesses, governments - nothing can be trusted anymore. This is all evidence that the old system is no longer working, so it is time to build a new society, one based upon peace and harmony.

If you want to create a new world, start by becoming informed; find the truth and spread it. Educate yourself and do something about the continued war against our favorite plant - and the people who need it. If we are to create a sustainable future, then laws need to change. Social media has given you the power, so get involved. If you want change, become the change.