CFN – Teens are getting a lot of mixed messages about marijuana these days. At school, the teachers, cops, and so called “experts” come in and tell them that marijuana is addictive, that it causes cancer, brain damage, and mental illness, and that the use thereof will inevitably lead to the spiral of addiction to hard drugs. None of this is actually true.
A quick scan of google, and any teen might get get the idea that marijuana is some sort of “miracle cure” for everything from cancer, to MS, to depression. This is also not entirely true.
Then there is the whole legal hypocrisy of deadly drugs like tobacco and alcohol being sold and used, while something that is substantially less harmful can get them suspended from school, kicked out of the house, or even criminally charged. Teens notice this, even the “straight edge” kids who have no interest in any drugs see that this policy is nonsensical.
Confused, and feeling – quite accurately – like adults are a bunch of insane hypocrites who can’t be trusted, teens often turn to their friends, their siblings, older teens, and very young adults for advice. There, they often try pot, and thus their misconceptions are reinforced, mixed ‘n matched, and soon, the teen has no clue who or what to believe. Or is believing the wrong thing. This also puts them in danger.
Some people who first try marijuana are left hating it, thinking that the mild rush of anxiety that often comes with the first few tokes was actually the onset of a full-scale panic attack. “Oh, I tried it once and I freaked out!” is a sentence I have heard often from teens.
Some users fall in love with pot immediately, letting it consume their thoughts even when they are not using it. They often change their hair, clothing, decor, and lifestyle accordingly, as it sometimes becomes a hobby, an ongoing pass-time, their new “thing”. Similar things happen when people suddenly get excited about a sport, a fashion, or a musical genre in a really big way.
Most fall somewhere in the middle, using pot only occasionally for fun, but not pursuing it any further than a passing fancy.
As a Federally Licensed Medical Marijuana user, I have been prescribed 10 grams of pot per day to combat the symptoms of PTSD and fibromyalgia. I have to use that much, or suffer with my symptoms. There is nothing fun about it.
I use a variety of strains, all of which have been carefully selected to meet my symptom needs, though, I must admit, they all fall short. A cannabis “strain”, is much like a pure-bred dog: Breeders select male and female plants (from popular breeds that already exist) to enhance or reduce certain traits in the final product. The names of the strains are arbitrary, but they help users and growers understand what they are using and growing.
I am unfortunate in that I have a nearly superhuman tolerance to cannabis and many other drugs. Even using ten grams a day, my symptoms are only half-way alleviated and you would not notice any lethargy or slowing in my demeanor. I am also confident that I could pass any sobriety test. Guests who watch me medicate are astonished that I am not getting stoned.
The potency of the pot I use has not been tested in a lab, but growing techniques and other pertinent data suggests that most of them are producing bud with a THC rating of anywhere from 12-15%, and CBD rating of about 1-3%. One strain that I use is 6 and 6 percent, which is unusual. As good as it gets, basically.
Cannabis has dozens of proven medical applications and the studies are well-documented and easy to find on line. THC is one of only several therapeutic agents found in cannabis. Cannabinoids are found in different ratios, depending on the strain and the quality of the growing cycle, and these agents work synergistically with THC to produce the health benefits – and buzz – that pot is coveted for. There are many different cannabinoids, and scientists are just beginning to understand what they do and how they do it.
Every morning, I melt 3.3 grams into 70 ml of olive oil (350° in the oven for an hour), and drink that down with my breakfast. I get no buzz from this huge dose, but do get symptom relief. I do the same thing just before bed and it helps me sleep and I feel much more rested and energetic in the morning.
During the day, I use the remaining 3.3 grams through a Volcano Vaporizer. This device blows hot air (365°) over a screen chamber containing a level teaspoon (about 1/3 of a gram, or one joint’s worth) of ground bud. The vapors are collected in a bag, then inhaled from the bag using a mouth piece. Because the volcano does not destroy the bud the way fire does, it delivers four times the medicine that the same amount would if it were being smoked. Thus, it is much like smoking four joints in one short sitting, but with no tar or lung damage. None.
I smoke on occasion, usually when my asthma is bothering me or when I am particularly anxious, or when I am out in public. Just eating pot doesn’t do enough for me. Just using the volcano falls short most days as well. Smoking too. So I must constantly engage in all three methods to get the needed relief. And still, my symptoms are only half-way alleviated. Some people use cannabis in a balm, some even use balls of hashish as suppositories!
There are various studies – none of them conclusive enough for my taste – as to why some symptoms are better treated with edibles rather than smoked or vaporized cannabis, but they are still ongoing. There is not much data on why some people can get by on a gram a day while other people need over an ounce a day.
Okay, so one could easily get the idea that I am trying to get kids to try pot. Not so. There are several reasons people should avoid drugs – including pot, sugar, alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine – until they finish with puberty.
First off, until puberty is done, the brain is not yet done developing. The brain is still growing new tissue up until the ages of 19-25, so putting anything but good clean food into it is best avoided.
Next, the pot that most teens have access to is the “bottom shelf” stuff. Doesn’t matter if you are a rich kid, doesn’t matter if you think the guy who sells it to you is the coolest guy ever – take it from me: teens are smoking the dregs. By that I mean, the pot is usually weak, full of chemicals, and the money they spend on it eventually finds it’s way to some Very Serious People. People with guns. People who smuggle poor women from poor countries to work as prostitutes in wealthier countries. People who ship explosives and make meth and deal coke and who kill people.
These guys convert whole houses, steal hydro, and destroy property. They produce a product that is full of grow fertilizers because they are too lazy and greedy to “flush” the plants with water for the last two weeks of the flowering cycle. Fungus (live and dead), fungicide, pesticide, bugs (usually dead), and bug feces can all be found in abundance on “street weed”.
The smell is the give-away. Good pot should smell like potpourri – aromatic, like dried flowers. There should be a clean, fresh, herbal smell to the bud, and it should burn clean, leaving a white or grey ash. That chemical, skunky, acrid smelling stuff is the stuff you want to avoid. That black-ash and the burning headache behind your eyes should also give you a clue as to the low quality of the bud you just smoked.
Thing is, these chemicals are found in trace amounts in many of our foods, so it isn’t like they would be particularly dangerous if they were eaten. But the bio-availability of these chemicals when they are burnt and exposed to lung tissue is much greater than it would be in the gut. People can get lung infections and do permanent lung and throat damage smoking this stuff, never mind what those weird compounds might be doing to the rest of your body when it hits the bloodstream.
Then there is the nincompoop rabble who buy a book, a lamp, and a hand full of seeds from the local “head shop”, and try to finance their trip to europe by “selling dope”. What these guys usually end up with is a bunch of stringy plants with weak little buds – the pot heads’ equivalent of a tomato plant in a window box. By the time he factors in all the hydro, fertilizers, and hassle, the pot he grew in his dorm room (and smoked before he could sell any), probably cost him about $125 a gram.
Occasionally, a teen can connect with a clean(er) source of pot – like some “mom `n pop” grower who knows what they are doing, and they can worry less about things like chemicals and where their money will end up. But this is a rarity. Especially since most dealers are congenital liars who will tell people that the pot they sell is as clean as clean can be. Sometimes their suppliers are liars. Either way, teens are operating in an area where no one can be trusted, and everyone is looking to come out on top, and teens are the bottom of the totem pole.
Teens (and parents) need not worry about people “lacing” their purchase with anything like meth and cocaine, for a few reasons. First off, pot is cheap, and those drugs are expensive. No one is going to waste expensive product on cheap product, as it cuts into profits. In fact, we “legalizers” have been asking the police for years to show us even one lab report supporting the claim that pot is “laced” with anything, and they have not. But as I said, the pot they sell to kids is usually the stuff that adults turn their nose up at when offered.
But sometimes the dealer shrugs and says “Sorry, dude. Just sold my last quarter. Got some other goodies here, if you like.” So the teen, who was, until then, in search of a light-hearted buzz, is now left with the choice of making the best of this weirdo’s inventory, having a sober weekend, or calling all over town for the whole night trying to get clean bud. “Well… what have you got…?”
That, ladies and gentlemen, is how the “gateway” thing works. It isn’t that pot makes you want to chase a higher high, it is that dealers often have far more than just pot available for sale. Studies show that most people who use pot tend to use less hard drugs, less booze, and less prescription medications.
And don’t get the idea that there is some creep lurking in the park trying to ensnare your kids into the drug world. No one is out there trying to get your kid to try drugs. Get it into your heads, Canada: your children have an insatiable appetite for drugs of all kinds, and the dealers are barely able to keep up with the demand. And it is everyone’s fault.
Canadians smoke more pot per capita than any other country on earth. We smoke the most potent pot on earth, and admit to toking and then driving more than any other country on earth. We have had our population increase dramatically in the past few decades, and our roads are more crowded every year. Yet the per capita accident rate has been dropping. Some could conclude that all this pot use is actually making roads safer!
That said, driving high is just dumb. Pot is not like alcohol, and it does not impair every user every time. But it can impair. The slightest reduction in reaction time, the slightest distraction, can mean death. So people need to use common sense and, much like they should be doing with booze, give it some time to wear off.
Bringing drugs to school is as dumb as it gets. Schools are private property, usually owned by a community, and managed by hired specialists, but just like a restaurant or hospital, they are still private places. The people in charge can make the rules they want. If the school says no blue hats, then that is the rule. In my opinion, any kid dumb enough to bring their drugs to school needs to be held back a grade, because they are clearly not thinking straight.
Going to school high is also not cool at all. Imagine if you and your friends had a band. You have been working hard and have some songs together, and get a gig at a birthday party. If everyone pays attention and digs it, you will probably want to keep doing it, and do it well. If everyone is baked and non-responsive, or barely listening, then you are going to hate performing. Your teachers feel the same way, so show them the respect you would expect, and be sober in class.
Now, about being “high”… the reason people have memory issues and reaction/motor problems with pot is because of how pot stimulates the brain. Areas of the brain that govern creativity and non-linear thinking are stimulated when cannabis is present, so, the imagination starts to broaden and wander. Many people mistake this for “added creativity”, whereas it is more like a person trying to carry a mattress. A single mattress is easy for one person to carry, but a double, or a queen, though still technically light enough to lift, is difficult to manage because it flops around and is cumbersome. This is what happens to the unaccustomed mind when using cannabis, and that is why it is a bad idea to drive or go to class high on pot.
Some people, like me, find the opposite is true. Cannabis focuses my anxious mind and allows me to keep my many responsibilities in order. Some teens say that they use pot to relax, to reduce stress, and to cope with the pressures of teen life. But how many other things are they doing that augment the problems? Maybe – just maybe – if they got more exercise, stopped drinking carbonated, sweetened, caffeinated drinks, and stopped playing 11 hours of intense video games every day, they would find it easier to relax.
There are some times when young people can use marijuana – like under the supervision of a health care providers and parents. ADHD, autism, and many other behavioral problems are being treated with cannabis in people as young as six, with resoundingly positive results. But that doesn’t mean that teens should be doing any self-medicating, it means the parents should be more educated and more involved.
Russell Barth
Educators For Sensible Drug Policy
Federally Licensed Medical Marijuana User
(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of this site, their staff, or sponsors.)
Marijuana for PTSD, give me a break. As an expert on anxiety and stress related imbalances…. the use of marijuana is nothing more then a bandaid on a deeper root cause. There is a reason 10 grams a day isn’t working anymore. This guy needs to deal with the root cause of his stress…. or risk experiencing the symptoms associated with stress such as fibromyalgia for the rest of his life until he is willing to learn how to manage his heightened stress and anxiety.
The science for PTSD and marijuana is well-documented. In fact, the Israeli army has been using it on their soldiers with resoundingly good results for over a decade. Israel is about 20 years ahead of Canada on their Medical Marijuana program, with lots of research being done.
As for why 10 grams a day is only partly working….. there is some unfinished science on that as well. One thing I heard is that there is a study being conducted looking into why people of celtic descent are less sensitive to cannabis than other people.
I cannot tolerate pharmaceuticals. They simply don’t work, give me lots of side effects, and often make things much worse.
Cannabis has been proven to be more effective and less dangerous than the addictive, toxic, often suicide-inducing drugs usually prescribed for PTSD.
I also use pot to help curb the desire for booze and pills that comes with the pain and the stress. Not using pot puts me at serious risk of relapse into addiction to pain pills and booze.
As for dealing with the root causes….. living in a country where I can be thrown in jail for using a plant has caused a lot of stress. I would gladly leave Canada and never return, if there was somewhere else to go. I have also had a long list of physical and mental traumas that keep me on my toes at all times.
One involves Christine’s heart stopping and me bringing her back to life with my approximation fof CPR. That actually happened.
Living with an epileptic and being in 24/7 responsibility for their well-being is stressful as well. it would be for a healthy man, but for someone in pain, ti is even harder. She has 1-3 seizures per month, sometimes injuring herself or me in the process. They come out of nowhere, as she has a rare form of epilepsy.
Also, she can’t take the pills either, as they juts make things worse. So we are both stuck using pot and making the best of it.
Some people would say – and have said – that living the way we do is wrong and sick and evil. Funny, we look better, feel better, and have fewer symptoms. Our sex life is terrific, better than ever. On the pills, we were bloated and sicker and fat and lethargic. But many people think that having us bloated and sick on pills is actually preferable to us being healthy on pot. Why? I am not sure. I think it has to do with the fact that THEY are terrified of having to admit that pot is a good medicine. They might be worried they will look foolish. They worry that I might be sending the wrong message to kids, but I don;t see how the truth can ever be the wrong message.
So good luck trying to convince me there is a better way to treat my illnesses, because I have tried them all and this is the best of the bunch. Besides, the science, history, and observable fact, all support my assertions. It dissolves yours.
I have been coping with pain since I was about 19.
I have been coping with the anxiety and suicidal tendencies since I was about 11 or 12.
I have been to numerous therapists, and they all scratch their heads.
Not one, not two, but 7 doctors have confirmed my diagnosis of fibromyalgia.
I got out of a wheelchair to which I was tethered for 5.5 years, much to the surprise of my doctors.
I have had over 800 letters published since October of 2003, and numerous articles.
I have been sought out by media for quotes on tv, radio, internet, and in print.
I ran in the 2004 federal election, from a wheelchair.
I cured my sleep apnea.
I have pretty much cured my erectile issues that bugged me my whole life.
I have a diet so clean that it would put most athletes to shame.
I am community minded and work hard – for no pay – to educated the masses.
I have to put up with all manner of abuse and stigma-reinforcing balderdash from simple minded, visceral, un-educated, willfully-ignorant boors who have no qualms about crapping all over a sick person who is doing his best to get by.
We can’t have pets due to allergies and funding. We cannot have children, as our conditions make that next to impossible.
So yeah….. I am pretty awesome.
Why doesn’t Russel condemn the selling and use of illegal drugs? He is instructing teens how to buy illegal drugs! When and how to use them? He has gone far beyond the use of pot for medicinal purposes! Keep your drug addiction to yourself, if you don’t mind, and if you don’t have enough brain cells left to be smart and discerning, than you ought to shut up! Your advice comes from the influence of dope! Such is quite apparent to all – pot head delirium (PHD). I am all for free speech, and good healthy debate, but pot head Russel has gone too far. By writing such an article he has become a contributor to the delinquency of minors!
Isa 5:20 – 22 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink”.
Woe unto them that say pot is good, healthy, and everyone ought to be allowed to smoke it! The blind leading the blind, the mindless leading the mindless – “Some could conclude that all this pot use is actually making roads safer!”, says the prophet of pot!
P.S. If I were King for a day, I would also outlaw all uses of tobacco, and of course all alcohol, and….
Jason Said: “the use of marijuana is nothing more then a bandaid on a deeper root cause.”
Jason, the same can be said of all pain killers, including aspirin, morphine, tylenol, etc., none of which can aspire to the fact that they have not caused any deaths. The only benefit is to relieve pain from an underlying cause. Also, these substances are legal.
Cannabis has not caused one death from an overdose in the history of mankind. This is kept illegal.
Kinda makes you wonder a bit, huh?
Why doesn’t Russel condemn the selling and use of illegal drugs?
>>>>I am condemning prohibition.
He is instructing teens how to buy illegal drugs! When and how to use them?
>>> I am telling them how do be safe.
He has gone far beyond the use of pot for medicinal purposes!
>>> Yes. I have ventured into public discourse. How awful of me.
Keep your drug addiction to yourself, if you don’t mind,
>>> I am not an addict. Calling me one is actionable, so I suggest you speak to a lawyer, ASAP.
and if you don’t have enough brain cells left to be smart and discerning, than you ought to shut up!
>>> MY brain is in tact, as there is no science showing that pot kills brain tissue, and recent science out of Saskatchewan shows how pot stimulates tissue growth in the hypothalamus section of the brain. As Jesus taught us to not hide our candle under a basket, I am letting my light shine. (If only Jesus had really existed…. that woulda been so COOL….)
Your advice comes from the influence of dope!
>>> No, it comes from common sense and critical thinking and careful deliberation. If I was so messed up, how could I have written such an eloquent and informative piece in just one day?!?!? In fact, I wrote it in about three hours, as I was still busy with the previous forum and a bunch of other stuff. So your assertions that pot is making me crazy is not supported by any observable facts.
Such is quite apparent to all – pot head delirium (PHD).
>>> I have tried numerous times to induce a delirium with cannabis, and have never got past a mild euphoria.
I am all for free speech,
>>> No, you’re not.
and good healthy debate,
>>> No….. clearly, you’re not….
but pot head Russel has gone too far.
>>>> Nope. Not far enough, actually. This article was prompted by something that happened three weeks ago at a bus stop across from my house. A local teen from the local Catholic high school asked me to sell him pot, at 10:40 on a Tuesday morning. I spoke to the Vice Principal, and offered to come talk to his students. Not likely to happen.
By writing such an article he has become a contributor to the delinquency of minors!
>>> Actually, I bet this article will get a lot more kids to avoid pot, quit using, or be more discerning in their purchases and consumptions. Red Bull is doing more harm to kids than pot. Junk food kills many TIMES more Canadians each year than all illegal drugs combined, and, as I have said before – pot has never killed anyone, ever.
Isa 5:20 – 22 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
>>> See, that would be YOU, preacher. Your twisted desire to pound everyone with your prohibitionist religious balderdash is calling evil good, and good evil. You. Yes you. You are the problem, I am the cure.
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
>>> Wow. Get a load of this people…… Mr. Know-The-Bible-Better-Than-You is accusing me of something that he is doing AS he quotes scripture. Too funny. Preacher, you are a BARREL of laughs. You should tour with this act.
Woe unto them that say pot is good, healthy, and everyone ought to be allowed to smoke it!
>>> But…….
1) pot is good, god says so himself on the first page of the bible
2) it is healthy, 20,000 studies prove that
3) everyone should be allowed to do what they want with their own bodies.
The blind leading the blind,
>>>> Funny you should say “blind”. I went to the eye doctor one time after smoking a joint. He said “Um, did you use pot today?” I said “Of course. How did you know?” He told me that the intraocular pressure in my eyeballs was well below normal, and that no man-made medication can do that. Only pot can do that. He then told me it was a good thing, because it was slowing the natural deterioration of my eyes that comes with age. Also, in the past ten years, my wife has had to have her lenses changed three times because her eyes keep getting better every few years. Because of pot use. The science on pot treating glaucoma is also well documented. Preacher would rather those blind people suffer in pain and pray to The Fictional Hippie Who Never Returns.
the mindless leading the mindless
>>>> Coming from someone who thinks there is a man in the sky who controls us, and thinks that the universe is only 6000 years old…… your words are merely silly. You are a child among adults.
“Some could conclude that all this pot use is actually making roads safer!”, says the prophet of pot!
>>>>> Science shows that pot users drive slower and more cautiously than non-users, but things like fatigue, old age, distractions like pets and kids and stereos and rowdy friends in the car, stupidity….. all these things serve as impairments. No one should drive impaired. Pot doesn’t always impair.
P.S. If I were King for a day, I would also outlaw all uses of tobacco, and of course all alcohol, an
>>> Why? Do you have friends who deal in those commodities? Banning, outlawing, and prohibiting substances only makes them more available and less safe as they are only controlled by unregulated ruffians. Why would alway want to increase prohibition, unless they are a drug dealer.
>>> ban tobacco and what have we got? A black market in tobacco. Same with anything. The smarter way to reduce alcohol and tobacco use is to to educate. Tobacco use has dropped from something like 45% of adults in the mid sixties to just 15-17% of adults taoday. Prohibition didn’t accomplish that. Intelligent, honest information campaigns based on science and fact is what got the tobacco-smoking rates to drop.
I was tired, so I prescribed myself some sleep.
I was hungry so I prescribed myself some food.
I was thirsty so I prescribed myself some water.
I was in pain so I…… oh…. I have to get someone else’s permission to alleviate my pain? Do I have to check with the book of fairy tales to see if I am allowed to relieve my pain?
if alcohol were illegal, then Jesus would be arrested for turning water into wine.
Most of Jesus’ healing tricks can be attributed to pot as well…..
Russell Barf said: “I would gladly leave Canada and never return, if there was somewhere else to go.” In your smoky world I’m sure there are countries who would welcome you perhaps even the USA.
Harry…. i was thinking Portugal or Spain…. i couldn’t get into the US to shop for the afternoon. As a holder of an MMAR, I am – what Homeland Security calls – a “known drug user, so I would be turned away at the border.
Happened to a woman out west. Never been charged, had a pot license, but no pot on her. They would not let her enter the US, took a DNA sample, and told her to not try entering the US again.
Besides, any country that would allow Stephen Harper to become PM is no country of mine. I was driven out of Quebec by the language issues of the 1980’s, and now it looks like I might be driven out of Canada by the pot laws.
I live in life and death fear every day. I am not exaggerating. every single day, I have to be ready to get arrested, roughed up, thrown in a cage, and evicted, simply for trying to manage my symptoms.
I go to the trouble of writing these articles and letters in the hopes that it will help get rid of the stigmas and hostility that people like preacher keep spraying on us.
I mean, just LOOK at his lies about me. I welcome his diatribes because it illustrates the problems we have to live with.
oh, by the way, Harry…. changing the “th” in my name to an “f”…… truly a master stroke. How you carry that huge brain around with you is a mystery.
I mean, that is the kind of stuff that makes people give up comedy careers. When writers like you exist, the likes of Patton Oswald and Louis CK haven’t got a chance.
Where are you performing next? Leno? Letterman? Fallon?
You. Are. A. Genius.
I mean that.
Your PHD is acting up again, time for another toke! Reality – ah, ah,ah,ah,ah………………………………………
The time wasted arguing with idiots is time you’ll never get back.
More people from Cornwall should look up what Rebecca Skye is doing on the drug facts 9look up Cornwall ont drug dvd
know that tnpreacher555 is actually
Pastor Tom Newton of Cornwall, Ont.
This guy is taunting me, goading me, making fun of me with totally made-up afflictions, and this guy is a PASTOR. What kind of vicious rotters GO to the Calvary Baptist Chruch, anyway? I expect to see them protesting at gay people’s funerals next, like Rev. Phelps and his band of nincompoops.
I am not upset or arguing with him, I think it is high-larious!
Who would Jesus belittle?
Who would Jesus make fun of?
From one intelligent person to another, I thank you for some very informative information. Great journalism!
The preacher sure seems to be busy these days. He’s been going bashing gays and Muslims over at the Freeholder for the last week or so, and now he’s back here bashing medical marijuana users. The hatred in his wizened little heart is boundless.
if this is the Miss Steak I know from Ottawa…… yum
Furtz…. what do we know about this church? can anyone join? who has joined? he has a building and everything, so there is money coming in. Who is this guy? i can’t find much on him except his site…
Sorry, Cornwall born and raised, but I’m still yumm to some.
@ Russell. His “church” is an independent outfit that is not associated with the Canadian Baptist Convention. Pretty sure anybody with a pulse can join the cult as long as they cough up money to keep the preacher afloat. They probably have a rule about checking your brain at the door. They are registered as a charitable organization in order to avoid taxes, which I find hilarious considering how uncharitable the preacher is.
Here’s a little background
http://www.timeforchrist.ca/Time%20for%20Fellowship/TesPastorTom.pdf
Excellent article. Love your responses to tnpreacher too. He is so damn ignorant.
yikes
“Who would Jesus make fun of?” – The Lord Jesus Christ says this as the God/Man:
“How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD” (Pro 1:22 -29).
Repent or perish!
The spiritual roots (high hollering hoots? and boots on the ground? and whistling toots?) of Her Highness Cannabis of the House of the Tree of all Liveliness, magisterially presented as magically may ever be hidden as seen, whether or not she may be received through the faculty of wisdom alloyed through the vision of fusion, combining prudence with understanding, vis-a-vis the eyes reading words, lines and stanza comprehensively in a holy poetic form; a particularly potent conception artistically fashioning itself as an heavenly mirror culled leaping scripture (miracle leaping forth left, right and middle center, up, down and even, oddly sPeaking, all around in and about, contained within that allegorically charged “chamber” of the “vaporizer”, aka the “Bong of the Bible-Technique”, like an ancient of Daze Library, but maybe stored in a mushroom-like accessory, maybe like back in proto-brain daze, back to the future that is, burning bush regions of the gene=pool goo goo dancing thing-a-ma-jiggy, on top of that too, 2 to two, to those truly rising spirals of spinning embers of enchanting light revealing herself, disrobing?) as would be wheels spinning within wheels of eclectic delights…
All that being said, betwixt the shortest and the longest of these chapters,
Betwixt Psalm 117 and Psalm119,
the former being shortest,
And the latter being the longest,
Rests the Very Middle One to be smoked up, up and away,
Say, read it out loud and bray it forth to every way,
Psalm 118:8;It is better to trust in GOD than to put confidence in man.
Now IS Psalm 117 or Psalm 118 or Psalm 119, these THREE are what known of the renown?
CXXTroversy abounds..
One counts one way of the spreading of the chapters as such:
Psalm 118 is naught….but the middle is a fiddle of the diddle of the riddle of the little…
http://www.prayerfoundation.org/not_center_verse_of_bible_118_8.htm
Where this one counts in this ciphering stay…
http://www.advancedhealthplan.com/thecenter.html
I think (therefore high) AM Psalm 118 is the MIDDLE ground in this way.
Psalm 117 is like the smallest seed that moves a mountain, that wiggy, wiggly sperm thingy…
Maybe like that ancient of daze, like the sky god above that shoots His load into Her earthly goddesses below. She wood be like the 119, hue knows, that largest Cell in the human body, the EGG, filled with 12 manner of fruits every month, besides 12 repeating Words, like laws, precepts, testimonies,…etc…etc…etc…like DNA, dna,…AND…
And, Oh shit!, Right betwixt those parents of hers,
“the stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone!”
What do you know!
WOW!
That Mom,…flipped!
g!
Psalm 118:22 The stone which the builders refused
is become the head stone of the corner.
ZZZounds like the Tree of Life!
Everyone must get astonied!
repent to someone who doesn’t exist……?
for something that isn’t bad…….?
you make no sense, preacher. you are ignoring science and ignoring knowledge and demanding that I do what you say. You. Are. A. Mental case.
but thanks for the laugh. sorry your metal band didn’t work out….
Hi Guys, please again; when two parties know that most likely neither will change their minds of the others why bother? It only alienates and at times even annoys our viewers and reduces the impact of the opinions that some of you obviously feel quite passionate about.
Maybe the preacher should be smeed for a while. Really Jamie, the hateful crap he spews here and at the Freeholder does nothing to advance intelligent discussion. He’s in attack mode all the time. At least smee has an original thought now and then:)
i think preacher serves a purpose, just as Rush Limbaugh, Nancy Grace, Bill O’Reilley, Lowell Green….. he is the voice of the right. sure, he is bit more vociferous than most, but he represents the thoughts and feelings – at least tacitly – of about 1/3 of the population, and bout 2/3 of the rural population of Canada……. so it is necessary to have him here so we can see what we are dealing with.
I read Russell’s complete article and was impressed with the knowledge-based information passed on in that article, and all done very articulately and intelligently. It’s a shame that we have been distracted from the original message and ideas though senseless bickering. I’m all for discussion and opinion, but tnpreacher555 is always in attack mode towards anyone and everyone who doesn’t agree with him.
Hi John,
I want to play Devil’s Advocate for Pastor Tom for a second because there are some people that attack him in the exact same manner. No? He says his message and gets attacked. Now that happens whenever you get up on a soapbox. If you print a comment you are always open to rebuttal or egg throwing.
When someone repeatedly tells me that I am a sinner and will burn in hell if I don’t repent and worship his imaginary god, I’ll attack the a$$hole as harshly as this website will allow. Some say that hate-mongers should be ignored and they will just go away, but I don’t believe that. The venom that the preacher spreads only encourages religious intolerance, gay-bashing and bullying. Now he’s going after people with medical problems! How low can a human being sink? Russell says that the preacher serves a purpose. The only purpose I can see is that he illustrates just how nasty a person can be.
to admin: things is, if you and I, or me and a reader have differing opinions that are based in some sort of fact and science, then we can debate or whatever.
this preacher guy is just spouting a lot of superstitious nonsense with the direct intent of discrediting science and fact. Go read Doonesbury today and you see where I am coming from.
Only opinions based in fact are worthy of consideration. quite frankly, i am surprised that you let him post such vitriol because some of it IS actionable (calling me and addict, for one thing, is quite serious).
If he was using the Very bad words for gays and black and muslims, what would you do?
This is a good lead in to my next article about stigma.
K, again, playing Devil’s Advocate. I get called names all the time. Heck I even print some of them here, but I rarely will respond because frankly it’s just not productive and certainly not informative or entertaining and that’s what we are in a way doing when we post comments. People are reading them. Do you like to see tit for tat name calling? For me it’s boring so it comes down to almost no benefit and boring, plus we lose people’s interest in listening to our message. Sometimes it’s better to just ignore a troll or someone we just aren’t that into.
@Russell – No, we don’t post ‘isms here. As a matter of fact a few weeks ago I did a piece about de-friending someone on FB over their abuse of Mayor Rob Ford for not supporting Pride in Toronto. Not because I agreed with Ford, but what did his weight have to do with his position? Anyone in minority fighting for their rights to me has no position to behave in the same manner. The answer to my query about that was what caused me to de-friend this person who is intelligent and erudite. He just wanted to hug his hate and wrap it in Mayor Ford’s girth.
I love debating subjects. I love freedom of speech, and I love some of the magic that can sometimes happen; but people have to understand that Freedom of Speech carries to things we don’t agree with. I allow tons of stuff I don’t agree with to be shared on our platform and will continue to because that’s our mission statement.
@Furtz – be thankful for Pastor Tom. There are many far worse people out in the planet. He has a belief. He feels he has a mission, and while we may not appreciate or support it he’s entitled to say crap and then get debated and challenged. We all follow our paths no matter how murky and strewn with debris they may be….
like furtz says, he illustrates the poison we need to cure.
I mean, if someone has valid questions or concerns, or asks questions because they are new to the topic and not-yet adept at debating it, i have and will been polite.
People get real worried about THEIR kid who tokes occasionally because Jimmy or Billy down the street is a total chronic…… so they get huffy and i can cope with that.
but what preacher is doing is basically a hate crime, and the admin should be more careful. one day preacher is going to go too far, and someone with a ferocious lawyer is going to get up his ass, and anyone who facilitated the crime…… like websites.
it happens. i am not threatening that, but people need to know that it can get really expensive really fast when you just let mad dogs run wild on your forums.
and since the rise of the right in canadian politics, we can see in papers like the Sun chain and on the news, that the right-wing hate-mongers feel free to do and say whatever they want about whoever they want and they are getting away with it.
remember win the 60’s when being gay was considered a mental illness that needed to – and could be – “cured”? Same thing is happening tom us now. Preacher is just the most shrill voice…. but he represents a large number of people. they might not be as bad as him, but they still hate us.
Jamie, I don’t care what religious beliefs anybody has or what god they worship. Hell, I’m a Pastafarian! How weird is that? What I find disgusting and intolerable is when someone uses their religion as an excuse to promote hate. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if a complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Commission would land the preacher in some deep poop, where he belongs.
Greetings to you Mr. Barth. I hope you and your wife are well. I read your essay with great interest as I too use cannabis for medicine even though it is not legal in my state here in the US. Eventually I may have to move west to a less legally restrictive environment so that I may be able to access the medicine I need.
I found your article to be very informative and well written. The way you explain to people about the results of prohibition are great. I too, agree that the “gateway” scenario you spoke of is precisely how kids get on harder stuff. There’s so much misinformation out here about cannabis and the best we can do is try to educate people. We won’t even talk about industrial hemp, since that’s one of the main reasons cannabis is illegal. Since it can be used for food, fuel, fiber, medicine and recreation and they can’t patent a plant. The real roots of prohibition lie in greed- the oil companies, the pharmaceutical companies, law enforcement and the prison industry… the list goes on.
Hopefully we are starting to see the tide begin to turn. I know there’s a lot of activists (me included!) working hard to make cannabis hemp legal again and save the planet. Peace!
Just to illustrate “the gateway theory” from another angle, I knew a guy in high school who used to get everyone booze. He eventually found a source for cannabis, which we all knew as “weed” way back then, due to our level of government-mandated ignorance. Eventually–surprise, surprise–he got busted, and this is where HIS “gateway” materialized.
While he was being booked, the local police explained to him in no uncertain terms that he might just as well be selling heroin, because if it’s illegal, it’s illegal, and you’re going to suffer just the same for cannabis as for anything else.
Basically, the police spelled it out so specifically that the guy knew EXACTLY what was most readily available, and how much more money he could make from selling the far more dangerous compounds which were a little harder to get, and had a considerablty higher profit margin.
Eventually, he “had a taste” of the stuff he was dealing for others, and he got himself hooked. You name it, he was hooked on it, and it ended up killing him. Not right away, not when he got shot, not any of the many times he was put in jail (where he would meet new people, develop new supplies and better connections, take over other people’s operations when he got out, et cetera), but simply due to the ravages of all those different chemical compounds on his system. His body simply gave out a few months ago from all of the cumulative damage.
It’s really too bad that he listened to the cops and got into all that other stuff “for more money”…if he’d have stuck with cannabis, he’d have had considerably less problems, and he’d have also had none of the chemical-induced damage that the crack and other compounds did to him.
All that having been said, I disassociated myself with the guy well over 20 years ago, once I saw what he was becoming…I simply wanted nothing to do with the guy. He was always a bit of a jerk…but his experience with police, and what they taught him, is what changed the course of his life, just as surely as if he was following a curved road along a straight cliff.
Those who stand to benefit most from prohibition are always the ones most invested in seeing that prohibition continues. Those whose incomes are directly supported by prohibition will fight even harder to maintain the status quo, even when all of the scientific and medical evidence says that they’re doing the wrong thing.
For those who want to know more, google “2002 Canadian Senate Report” and find out what the last HONEST Canadian study on cannabis actually produced. Spoiler alert: It is nothing even remotely close to what Emperor Harperius Mandatorius Minimus has in his plans for the Canadian public!
Russel: I’ll pray for you. (Well…don’t expect any major changes overnight…I’m an athiest, too, and from what I gather, our prayers don’t carry quite the same weight as the “invisible omnipotent fairy-in-the-sky buyer’s” prayers do…to be honest, I’ve yet to see any proof to support this conjecture. d;o)
Another excellent article, Russell, congratulations; the comment section also provided food for thought and sadly enough, a reflection of what passes for a “religious” perspective from someone who, by his very calling, should have realized that his comments were so off base they would not only reflect poorly on himself but the calling he represents.
Shame on you, tnpreacher555, please step away from the pulpit, you are a complete embarrassment to your calling. The fact is if it were not for others posting your identity I would have rejected any idea that you were a preacher whatsoever. Your condescending, impudent and judging from your content, too immature to have a grasp (beyond the superficial) the nuance of the scripture you quote.
Your use of Isa 5:20 – 22 is an incomplete reference used out of context in such a way that it merely reflects your pretense; your sin. That section of Isaiah deals with God’s judgments upon covetousness and if read in its’ entirety (Isa 5: 8 – 30) it becomes apparent. By using God’ Word as you have you denigrate it. This brings disrepute, not only upon yourself, but also upon the religion you purport to represent. Could it be that your covetous of Russell?
Moreover, tnpreacher555, take your ego out of the equation; having more than one emperor without clothes is more than this country can bear.
With a moniker like Corn**** Harry, this guy ought to really think twice before he starts ridiculing anyone’s name.
thanks kittybud…
I just wanted to add that – I don’t know every dealer and every grower and every buyer… so what I say “Take it from me…..” it is basically me saying “This is what I would tell any kid who asks.”
As for the gateway thing – sure, there are some people who are always chasing a bigger high, but that is more a function of the person than then drug itself. the data supports that.
What the Charter of Rights declares about the Public incitement of hatred, sect 319:
3) No person shall be convicted of an offence under subsection (2)
(a) if he establishes that the statements communicated were true;
(b) if, in good faith, he expressed or attempted to establish by argument an opinion on a religious subject;
(c) if the statements were relevant to any subject of public interest, the discussion of which was for the public benefit, and if on reasonable grounds he believed them to be true; or
(d) if, in good faith, he intended to point out, for the purpose of removal, matters producing or tending to produce feelings of hatred toward an identifiable group in Canada.
Do I hate you Russel, Furtz. etc, not at all. I am commanded by my Lord and Master Jesus Christ – “Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you”. I earnestly pray for and seek the good of all the bloggers on this website. I am a sinner saved by His grace, and I am not afraid to speak His truth in love. Your overall animosity and hatred, and even murder that you express towards me, I whole heartily forgive, and my His grace I seek to pray the more harder for your salvation and deliverance.
Luk 13:5 “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish”.
Joh 9:39 – 41 ” And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth”.
Wayne Phillips says: Could it be that your covetous of Russell? How could I be covetous of Russell when I have the Lord Jesus Christ? I lived in Dope land for years, but now I serve the King! Can’t compare at all.
Mar 5:15 “And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid”. Sweet salvation at the Merciful Saviors’ hand!
I’ll bet that the preacher was far less hateful when he was in “Dope land”.
When I was in Dope land I hated God, how about you? 1Co 16:22 “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. The Lord comes! “
How does one hate something that doesn’t exist?
I liked the part when religion made everything this guy was trying to say invalid. my 14 yea old sister thought it was pretty funny too…jesus haha, what a joke 🙂
“Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you”
You love your enemies so much that you call them your enemies, when they have done nothing to harm you but to tell you the truth. It is not your enemies who tell you the truth, and until you understand this basic fact, your entire friends/enemies conjecture remains completely unfounded.
You’ve attacked an innocent man and attempted to cast aspersions against him on every possible front you could consider, and the facts have proven you wrong. You have made an innocent man your enemy, but only in your own mind, and due to your own wilfull ignorance of the truth, in favour of “beliefs” which are not at all based in reality.
Promoting lies, which is exactly what you are actually doing, not only harms the person you are attacking, but also anyone else who unknowingly believes the lies you are promoting. You have, in effect, made yourself an enemy of the very people you have professed to “want to save” by keeping them from honestly exploring the truth for themselves.
One thing I’ve learaned about religious people is that, whenever they are confronted with facts that contradict the lies they have been told, they retreat into perverting “their beliefs” to suit the situation, and when in an argument with those who have REALITY on their sides, they always fall back to quoting scripture and telling the person who has spoken the truth that they are sinners, they’re going to hell, “don’t you WANT to be saved?”
Preacher…save thyself.
ElectroPig Von FökkenGrüüven:
Did I not attack the religion of the “Dope heads”? Did I not ascribe the only cure for PHD (pot head delirium)? Did I criticize the recruitment efforts of the prophet of pot? Yes to all of the above.
To your reference to “enemies”: Are not all sinners enemies of the truth, enemies of grace and the Gospel, enemies of righteousness and holiness? Haters of the True and living God, and the Saviour of the World – the Lord Jesus Christ! Yes, again to all of the above!
ElectroPig Von FökkenGrüüven: The real issue is not the outward manifestation of sin (particular acts of sin, life styles of sin, habits of sin). Sin is “the transgression of the Law’ – the Ten Commandments, want or the lack thereof of being conformed to the image of God’s Son, failure to love God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Such particular sins manifest our depraved, sinful heart, and for each sin committed, one will have to give an account before God in the Judgment Day to come. Sure moral, religious people look good on the out side, but in side – the heart, the thought life, full of corruption and depravity too. Whether opening depraved or a religious hypocrite in heart, the issue is that each one of us are at war with God! Enemies of God! Until we submit to King Jesus. Clear statements of the Word of God about being the enemies of God:
Romans 5:10 “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” Romans 8:7 “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be”. (carnal mind – unsaved person).Colossians 1:21 “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled”.
Since we all hate God, and God’s solution – salvation in Christ by faith, we manifest this hatred by loving sin, loving our sins, loving ourselves rather than hating sin, loving righteousness, and loving God. The abuse of legal drugs, and the use of illegal drugs promotes this inward hatred towards God. Drug use “helps” us to manufacture a dream world in which one can live without the concern for one’s eternal soul. Drugs numb our minds and consciences so that we just don’t care, and that is what Satan wants – blind, living a stupor type reality, heading for Hell. And laughing all the while to our certain doom.
One last thing, when it comes to “facts”. The Word of God doesn’t need, nor does it care for such “facts”, as you speak of. It stands on it’s own, and God will see to it personally, that each violation of His inspired Word is accounted for in the Judgement Day. To belittle, to despise, to reject God’s Holy Word is to belittle, to despise God! Psalm 138:2 “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name”.
Enemy of God – save yourself. So sad, you can’t. 1 Timothy 1:15 “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief”.
Oh Gawd, Please save us from your followers.
Thanks.
Hey, newsflash for ya pastor t, there is no Commandment for “Thou shalt not smoke pot”. In fact, out of any written bibles, the 10 commandments are the only thing apparently left behind written by God. Ill follow those since they are short and to the point, before I follow any bible written by man… No matter how inspired the bible may be… So, since this is not one of the Commandments, nor is there any Commandment even remotely alluding to smoking pot, then I’m all good in God’s eyes!