Cannabis/Soma Research Project

Cannabis and the legacy of Soma

by C. Lore Redfern

December 2000

1. Introduction

2. Basic Botany: Cannabis spp.

3. Chemistry: Cannabinoids (Cannabis terpenoids) and THC Potency

4. Dosage

5. Ethnobotany, Cultural Use and Terminology in India

6. The Ŗgveda: Ancient Origins

7. Soma: A god, a plant, an elixir

8. Soma: Far more than just a plant

9. Snapshots of the Origins and History of Cannabis

10. Legal Issues and the Practical Solution

11. Political Issues

12. Structuralist Views

13. Economical Issues / Functionalist Approach

14. Medical Marijuana Issues vs. Medicinal, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

15. Cannabis and the Timing of Change

16. Further Research

- Suggested Areas of Further Research

Endnotes

Image 1: The Goddess being imprisoned…

References

Appendix I: Images

2. Cannabis sativa L.

Appendix II: Documents (Legal, Political)

A. The History of the Non-Medical Use of Drugs in the United States

Introduction

I would like to take a look at this issue through the multi-faceted lens of a Cultural Anthropologist. Both the Arts and Sciences will be represented in this debate. My resources for information and theory have a wide base; chemical, botanical, medicinal, political, legal, historical, economical, emotional, spiritual, structural, functional, whimsical, and practical concerns will be addressed to varying extents throughout this work. Further research would deepen the argument, and should be focused on the origins of the Cannabis spp. and the Vedic Soma plant candidates. A deeper understanding of the workings of the ancient Soma plant(s), and its subsequent use in religious ceremony would benefit this study. Over 1,028 hymns were written, in praise, as a result of the consumption of Soma by Vedic priests (~3000-1100 B.C.). What did this botanical concoction contain to have inspired such a dramatic response? Does this present us with an ancient plant-based, culturally linked shift of consciousness? If so, how deeply were the “products” of this shift: language, religion and song, affected by the virtues of this divine elixir, Soma?

I will present [1] the theory that (the Ancient ingestion of) Soma sparked a plant-based “evolutionary” movement and may have shifted cultural consciousness significantly, as evidenced through the creation of the Vedic hymns and the Sanskrit language, and this ancient model set the precedence for this type of shift to occur again; [2] my argument is that the time for another significant cultural shift of consciousness is approaching (now), and [3] I will submit evidence in favor of Cannabis as a practical modern-day Soma plant.

I will use the term, Cannabis, to represent those species of Cannabis (indica and sativa) which contain significant quantities of psychoactive constituents, namely THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), and are cultivated and appreciated for those constituents. I will use the term Cannabis in place of the more common, Marijuana, because I believe it is more accurate and appropriate. I will continue to refer to Medical Marijuana as such because it is an accepted societal term. I will not refer to Cannabis as a drug[i] because this is misleading; Cannabis is a plant, which produces substances that humans (and some animals) have learned to use as a “drug.” Drug is a heavy word, heavy with intonation, connotation and links to civilization. I feel that the use of accurate, positive language is essential to understanding this issue.

When I wish to deal specifically with one species or the other, I will address the plant of topic (e.g. Cannabis sativa L.) by genus and species or common name (e.g. Indian Hemp). There are so many strains/variations of the two psychoactive species that an entire lifetime could be spent recording them; so, for simplicity, Cannabis will denote the entire spectrum. I will use the term, Hemp, to represent those species, or variations of species, of Cannabis (indica, sativa and ruderalis) which do not contain significant quantities of psychoactive constituents and which are cultivated and appreciated for their long stems, producing some of the strongest and most useful fibers from the plant kingdom.

Basic Botany: Cannabis spp.

Flowering Plants Division – Dicotyledon Class – Witch Hazel Subclass – Stinging Nettle Order

Family: Cannabaceae

Genus and species: Cannabis indica

Cannabis ruderalis

Cannabis sativa (Linné)

Habitat: Eastern India, Persia, U.S., Central America, Europe (cultivated). Cannabis currently enjoys global distribution due to cultivation.

Lamarck first botanically described Cannabis indica, Indian Hemp, whose macroscopic features are further outlined by Felter and Lloyd in the King’s American Dispensatory 18th Edition. This herbaceous annual typically grows from 3 to 10 feet tall. Fine hairs cause it to be sticky to touch. The stem is erect, branched, luminescent green, and angular. The leaves are “alternate or opposite, on long, lax petioles, digitate, and scabrous, with…sharply serrated leaflets, tapering into a long, smooth entire point; stipules subulate” (Felter and Lloyd, 422). The flowers are born in auxiliary clusters; the male flowers are droopy, branched and leafless at the base, while the female flowers are erect, simple, and leafy at the base. The calyx of the male is downy, and the female calyx is covered with brownish glands. The seeds are from 1/8 to 1/6 of an inch, and “subglobular, somewhat compressed, possessing a marginal keel, whitish in color” (Felter and Lloyd, 424). The testa is brownish or olive-gray, smooth and shiny, and marked with veins. The enclosed seed is greenish and oily.

There is a great deal of taxonomic debate on whether there are more than one species of Cannabis. Richard Evans Shultes and co-workers conceived of three species, Cannabis indica, sativa and ruderalis, as mentioned above. There is some evidence to suggest that there are actually more than one species of Cannabis, although this is still under debate. These scientists designated Cannabis indica as a short and very densely branched plant, Cannabis sativa as tall and laxly branched, and Cannabis ruderalis as very short and not/or sparsely branched (Ott, 386). These three species were observed to contain differing amounts of psychoactive constituents as well. I included a detailed botanical description of Cannabis indica (above) because this was the only species for which I was able to find solid botanical information. The Shultes group seems to have designated the opposite height of growth parameters for C. Indica and C. sativa, suggesting that C. indica is actually the shorter of the two. This contradicts scientific and practical research, unless I have misunderstood the Shultes group’s assertions. I once heard of a Cannabis indica plant growing in Florida that reached 11 feet tall! Cultivators I have spoken with concede that C. sativa tends to be shorter (~3 feet maximum), than C. indica. Perhaps the height of different Cannabis plants stems from growing conditions (e.g. elevation, indoor vs. outdoor) and/or breeding practices, rather than scientific classification systems.

Cannabis sativa L. and its many variations are similar to C. indica, in regards to many botanical characteristics, but tend to have multiple branches and slighter stems (laxly-branched). This species is reported to contain a high concentration of THC and other cannabinoids, making it a cultivar that has seen enhanced THC production due to the joyous care of Cannabis connoisseurs. Please see Appendix I: Image 2, for a botanical sketch of Cannabis sativa L.

There is far less published material about Cannabis ruderalis. This species seems to be used for hemp production partly because it is reported to contain a low percentage of psychoactive constituents.

Chemistry: Cannabinoids (Cannabis terpenoids) and THC Potency

Cannabis: Dried flowering tops of pistillate plants, Cannabis sativa L. and Cannabis sativa var. indica Authentic, Moraceae

Constituents: Isomeric tetrahydrocannabinols, cannabinols, cannabidiols*

1. NAME: Cannabidiols, CBD (Cannabis sedative)*

CHEMICAL NAME: 2[3-Methyl-6-(1-methylethenyl)-2-cyclohexen-1-yl]-5pentyl-1, 3 benezenediol

ALTERNATE CHEMICAL NAMES: (3R, 4R)-2p-mentha-1, 8-dien-3yl-5 pentylresorcinol

CHEMICAL FORMULA: C21H30O2

MOLECULAR WEIGHT: 314.47

SOLUBILITY: Practically insoluble in water or 10%NaOH

2. NAME: Tetrahydrocannabinols, THC (Isomeric tetrahydrocannabinols)*

--primarily Δ9-THC, also Δ6-3,4-trans isomer present only up to 1%)

CHEMICAL NAME: Tetrahydro-6,6,9-trimethyl-3-pentyl-6H-dibenzo[b,d]pyran-1-ol

CHEMICAL FORMULA: C21H30O2

MOLECULAR WEIGHT: 314.47

BOILING POINT: 200°F

LD50: 1270 mg/kg (male rats), 730 mg/kg (female rats) oral in sesame oil

LD50: 42 mg/kg (rats) inhalation

SOLUBILITY: Practically insoluble in water

3. NAME: Cannabinols, CBN (Cannabis psychotropes)*

CHEMICAL NAME: 6,6,9-Trimethyl-3-pentyl-6H-dibenzo[b,d]pyran-1-ol

ALTERNATE CHEMICAL NAMES: 3-amyl-1-hydroxy-6,6,9-trimethyl-6H-dibenzo[b,d]pyran

CHEMICAL FORMULA: C21H26O2

MOLECULAR WEIGHT: 310.44

SOLUBILITY: Practically insoluble in water

*As Quoted From the Merck Index 12th Edition

Cannabidiol, CBD, is believed to be the biosynthetic precursor to THC. CBD is said to be the “body” part of the high, but is dependant upon the THC to function ideally. Cannabinol (CBN) can be understood as the degradation product of THC. CBN, and CBD, are psychoactive, but with less potency than THC (Pendell, 189-190). CBNs function to degrade the potency of improperly stored Cannabis, over time.

THC is the major psychoactive ingredient of Cannabis, and was detected to occur in percentages, adjusted for weight, from between .61(1994) and 3.96 (1984) as measured by PMP, the Potency Monitoring Project at the University of Mississippi, over the years 1980 to 1994.[ii] This runs contrary to most current urban mythology surrounding Cannabis. We have all been told that the potency of Cannabis is rising. This PMP data is the result of years of testing the THC content of Cannabis seized by the police (Zimmer and Morgan, 137). This project was designed to reflect the potency of “commercial grade” Cannabis (the grade available primarily from Mexican imported Cannabis [iii]). Independent tests conducted by PharmChem in 1973, reported the average potency of Cannabis to be 1.62% THC content (which was four times the PMP for that year). Additionally, many samples were over 4% THC, and the highest single reading was 9.5%, which we would have thought inconceivable as gauged by the pot they measured in Mississippi. The highest sample measured by PharmChem in 1975 contained 14% THC (Zimmer and Morgan, 137). This surely rivals the potency found in some of the experiments conducted by independent analyses today. And, as has been demonstrated through the black market and counter-culture (e.g. High Times Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam), there are some Cannabis cultivators who have nearly perfected the art of THC production. There are certainly well-cultivated strains of Cannabis with THC content that adequately exceeds the mainstream, low-grade samples turned in by police raids and busts. Those who cultivate their herb with the greatest care also take the greatest steps to protect it from the enforcers of dominant culture.

Dosage

CANNABIS, High Potency (Smoked)*

Light: 1/30^th gram

Medium: 2/30^th gram

High: 3/30^th gram

MARINOL, Synthetic THC*

Appetite Stimulant: 2.5 mg

Chemotherapy Dose: 5 mg (3x daily)

As quoted from www.Erowid.org, Cannabis Vault**

Cannabis dosage is fairly easy to manage. A “threshold” dose has been observed at 0.5% THC, though placebo effects have been measured by persons receiving a 1% dose of THC. One method for determining dose is to smoke a small amount (1-2 "hits"), wait 5-15 minutes, and repeat as desired. The slang for a single intake of smoke is called a hit. Generally, an average hit from a pipe, water bong, bubbler, chillum, hookah, splif, joint, blunt, bat, fanta (sp?) or one-hitter equates to approximately 1/20^th gram of Cannabis. This one hit, depending on the potency of the Cannabis, could be enough for first time smokers and persons who do not partake of the herb often, to experience psychoactive effects. Heavy smokers may be able (or may need) to smoke an entire joint to catch a buzz. Tolerance builds with increased smoking of the flowers.

Herbalists continue to suggest that the “polypharmacy” of botanical medicines provides advantages over single-ingredient drugs. It is believed that the primary active ingredients in herbs are synergized by secondary compounds, and these secondary compounds also act to mitigate the side effects caused by the primary active ingredients. In an experiment designed to examine this claim, Medical Marijuana was compared with its primary active ingredient, THC. The results seem to support the polypharmacy theory.

Good evidence suggests that some side effects of tetrahydrocannabinol are mitigated by other volatile compounds present in the essential oil of marijuana. Inhaling tetrahydrocannabinol, which avoids first-pass hepatic metabolism, has advantages over ingesting it. Other cannabinoids, terpenoids, and flavonoids can reduce tetrahydrocannabinol-induced anxiety, cholinergic deficits, and immunosuppression. Other compounds increase cerebral blood flow, enhance cortical activity, kill respiratory pathogens, and provide anti-inflammatory activity. The hazards of marijuana smoke can be reduced with appropriate technology” (J.M. McPartland and P.L. Pruitt, 57-62).

For this reason, the case for Marinol use as a substitute for Medical Marijuana appears weakened, and seemingly, the argument that we do not need to legalize Medical Marijuana because we have the synthetic drug, Marinol, is also subject to serious criticism.

Ethnobotany, Cultural Use and Terminology in India

In the high elevations of India, from 6,000 to 8,000+ feet above sea level, the natives grew (and grow, though not as much today) Cannabis indica; the plant rarely reaching above 3 feet tall (due to elevation). They were said to dress in leather apparel and run amidst the plants, beating them, and then gathering the resin that stuck to their garments (Felter and Lloyd, 426). Waxen Charas, highly coveted in India, was made by rubbing the flowering tops in the hands, then using the hands to form balls of the resin. Cannabis indica is indigenous to Persia and Northern India, and is cultivated (everywhere) else. Cannabis indica and Cannabis sativa have been naturalized in North America, Brazil, and Europe, according to Felter and Lloyd in the King’s Dispensatory 18^th Edition. They go on to say, rather loosely, “the hemp of this country [India] is identical with the Eastern plant [Persia] in its botanical characters, but differs somewhat from it in its physical qualities, the India plant being more powerful in its effects on the system, and which is probably owing to the influence of climate, cultivation, etc” (426).

Here are some specific ethnobotanical aspects of Indian Hemp. The leaves have been used in cooking as an inebriant. The fibers have been used for cordage, and as pulp for paper. The seeds produce food and oil; Cannabis has long been used as bird food.[iv] Ganja refers to the inflorescences of the female plant, freed of their small leaves (as cultivated in the Himalayas). The charas, or hashish, or kif, is the highly active, mildly stimulating, psychoactive resin (Rätsch, 95). The charas can be made into a more potent form, hashish oil, and has received the most demand in this form in traditional medicinal use. The bhang is puzzling to me; bhang (pronounced bung) has been used as a slang term for Cannabis, has been described as almost tasteless, dark green in color, and is said to have been smoked with tobacco, and made into majun[v] (Felter and Lloyd, 427). Bhang also refers to a cold-water infusion of hemp, used since at least the time of Zoroaster. This is a somewhat elusory detail because cannabinoids are nearly insoluble in water. This leads me to believe that more potent concoctions were also made, perhaps using ghee or milk to extract the THC from the ganja, which could then be added to the tea. I later found a recipe for traditional bhang in Christian Rätsch’ book, Plants of Love. Cannabinoids, which are considered volatile oils, are lipid-soluble and can be extracted in fats such as ghee, olive oil, butter, etc.

The Ŗgveda: Ancient Origins

A collection of 1,028 hymns, known as the Ŗgveda Samhitā, is the oldest and, reputedly, the most important source of Indian religion. This sacred document follows a long oral tradition that regarded the hymns as too sacred to write down (Keith, vol. 31:1). The Ŗgveda is thought to have its origins in a sizable area of country, for it contains hymns from a wide variety of families.[vi] When the collection of hymns reached seven or eight books, the ninth was devoted to gathering and consolidating all the hymns, from previous books, that dealt with Soma Pavamāna, “the Soma as it was poured through the filter” (Keith, vol. 31:2). According to A.B. Keith, who first published The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads in 1925, the Ŗgveda has not been successfully chronologically mapped; the hymns, and the original compilers of the hymns, seem to elude a pinpointed date location, although interpretive attempts to date the hymns have been made by scholars.

The Ŗgveda Samhitā, as an entire work, contains no historical date, though scholars have placed it at 1100 B.C., 1800 B.C., and as far back as the 3000 B.C. There is an especially interesting reference to the presence of several gods in the Ŗgveda that have been placed chronologically at ~1400 B.C. (Keith, vol. 31:5). The Ŗgveda is probably not the oldest literary achievement of the Vedas, but “the practically exclusively religious character of its contents, makes it unique in its revelation of the religion of the Vedic tribes” (Keith, vol. 31, 8). The argument over dates seems mute since the hymns were preserved through oral tradition for uncounted years prior to being recorded.

“The language of the Veda is essentially akin to Iranian as seen in the Avesta, and more remotely to the other tongues which make up the Indo-European family” (Keith, vol. 31:9). The Vedic tongue is thought to be the parent of classical Sanskrit (Wasson, 3). There is debate whether the language of the Veda is the result of the banning of the Vedic tribes, their invasion of Northwestern India, carrying with them the Vedic culture and religion and which they then developed in India under the practical constraints of climate and elevation. The language of the Ŗgveda has thus been attributed to the degradation of sounds created by generations of intermarriage, and the mixing of the Aryan invaders with the aboriginal tribes in Northern India. The alternative hypothesis claims that the Dravidians, a prominent early aboriginal tribe in India, adhered to the religion of the Ŗgveda Samhitā. This alternate theory pronounces that the aboriginal Dravidians civilized the invading Aryans.[vii] The religion, like the language, has been termed, Aryo-Dravidian, or Indo-Aryan, depending on individual taste; this denotes the result of the syncretism of the two cultures (and religions), due to the invasion, and the legacy of the Ŗgveda which has passed through the Brahmans to modern-day India.

Soma: A god, a plant, an elixir

The Ŗgveda Samhitā contains an entire book, and six hymns in other books, with poetry about the Soma sacrifice. The god Soma clearly held importance to the Vedic people. “Soma was at the same time a god, a plant, and the juice of that plant. So far as we know, Soma is the only plant that man has ever deified” (Wasson, 3). Yet another trilogy, or Trinity, Soma is an unlikely cog in the wheel of religion. We imagine: The god, The plant, and The holy essence. Finally, a concept good Christians could fathom. Soma is invoked repeatedly throughout the Ŗgveda, and treated as a joint deity with gods such as Indra, a Soma drinker, and Agni, a god of ritual like Soma (Keith, vol. 31:166). Because of the unique physical connection that Soma ritual gave the priests with this central god in their pantheon, Soma was forever celebrated in detailed, ecstatic song. It is said by modern-day readers of the Ŗgveda, “this surely was composed under the influence of a divine inebriant” (Wasson, 4). Elaborate, perhaps succinctly practical, audial imagery was created to explain the reportedly simple operations of processing, pressing and filtering the Soma plant for ritual consumption. Soma is often referred to in connection with the Sun, giving him supremacy among gods.[viii]

Soma was not alcohol, as is sometimes proposed in Western interpretations of the Ŗgveda. There are specific references to the plant Soma as “a creeper…an inflexible bush with dense, upright, leafless stalks” (Wasson, 140-141). One of the earliest Vedic beliefs about the origin of Soma is that it was brought to people by a bird. Soma was believed to extend and improve life, produce happiness (máda), and even immortality. Súrā, another concoction, possibly fermented, produced evil intoxication (durmáda). Delli Roman Regni argued further that Soma is not a fermented beverage, but a non-alcoholic ‘syrup-like thing’ (Regni qtd. in Wasson, 136). This suggests to me that either the Soma plant itself was sweet, the brew had added sweeteners to mask a bitter taste, or the extraction of the active constituents of the plant were accomplished through the use of a glycerin base. Regardless, the brew was not fermented, since there is reference to the completion of one to several extractions of the plant per day for ritual use. The highly psychoactive constituents of the plant(s), Soma, appear to have been easily extracted, lending the plant(s) to extensive praise and, supposedly, extensive use.

For the purposes of this paper, we will focus on Soma as a concept and as an example of a successful, plant-inspired cultural shift in consciousness, and not as a specific plant or combination of plants. I do not wish to offer Cannabis, per se, as an ancient Soma candidate. The bhang theory, which suggests that Zoroaster used Cannabis to achieve some state of heightened awareness, has compounded the issue of Cannabis as a Soma candidate.[ix] There are certainly arguments to be made for Cannabis indica as a potential Soma,[x] as there are for several other plants, such as Peganum harmala (Syrian Rue) and even Rhubarb.

Soma: Far more than just a plant

In my eyes, Soma provided (some of) the inspiration needed to live beautifully, and seemed to lend the muse necessary to create a hymnic recording of this way of living virtuously (as outlined by Vedic priests who were the primary consumers of Soma). Soma was praised and exalted as a bringer of heightened, often ecstatic, awareness. This heightened awareness could have helped form the cosmological and/or mythological structure of the Vedic culture, first through religious awareness (the advent of Soma rituals) and then through language (the hymns).

Many have pondered the possibility that a plant was the original carrier of consciousness to our species, Homo sapiens var. sapiens. This is a worthy debate. Why else would human nervous systems have receptor sites for nearly all the psychoactive constituents of today’s illegal compounds and plants, including THC?[xi] There are certainly plants (and one documented animal[xii]), throughout the world, that have psychoactive properties in quantities significant enough to have been metabolized though ingestion, and other so-called primitive methods of preparation. In that case, experimentation, originally for food sources, might have inevitably led to an unexpected shift in consciousness, induced by a plant ally such as Cannabis. Imagine stumbling upon a wild hemp plant, while gathering roots in the high elevations of the Himalayas, and nibbling on the beautiful, sticky, vibrant green flowering top. If this didn’t provide a pleasant, albeit novel, experience later in the day, surely the buds gathered, and cooked in animal fat later might have delivered a not-so-sobering call to consciousness. I do not mean to discredit the possibility of this hypothesis by poking fun, to the contrary, I am under the assumption that experimentation with plant allies yielded nothing short of divine states of enlightenment for the first “psychonauts,” the original voyagers of the spiritual beyond.

Snapshots of the Origins and History of Cannabis

I believe it is safe to say that the use of Cannabis predates written history, and that is probably all that it is safe to say about its origin of use. To pinpoint the date of the plant’s arrival in Central Asia, where it is almost certain to have sprung forth into life, is even more difficult. The plant's natural homeland is thought to be the regions north of Afghanistan and the Altai mountains of Southern Siberia. Cannabis’ now widespread distribution is undoubtedly due to a combination of cultural and natural factors. Christian Rätsch, an expert on aphrodisiacs, of which he claims Cannabis is renowned as the greatest on Earth, also gives us this figure: there have been 9,000 years of Cannabis use, however he does not give specific support for this argument.

Hemp is thought to be the oldest cultivated fiber plant. The cultivation of hemp in China spans 5,000 years, and it is speculated that hemp fibers were woven into fabric at least as early as 8,000 B.C. (Balick and Cox, 93). This leads me to assume, supposing that the plant was first attempted as a food source before it was tested for use as cordage (which seems logical), that the use of Cannabis as an inebriant outdates the use of hemp fiber. This would help support Christian Rätsch’s date (with several hundred years to spare). A somewhat less publicized theory on the evolution of consciousness involves the “co-evolution” of the human race and the plant kingdom. Plants have always supported our physical mechanisms, giving humans what we need to survive here on Earth. At the same time, they do not come to us blind, without asking for reciprocity. The interaction between the plants we eat and our own internal chemistry is quite dramatic, even today, by FDA standards. Some plants poison, but, as we know, poison in measured doses is medicine. These first “poisonings” surely produced some fantastic results. In the end, it seems that some plants won the attention and devotion of great numbers of individuals and, consequently, entire cultures.

If we assume that the use of Cannabis as a “divine inebriant” outdates the use of hemp as fiber, then we may also look at whether the use of Cannabis actually led to other uses of the plant. Plants have often acted as teachers to those who have ingested them with intent, purpose, and integrity. Certain plants are thought to educate people in the ways of their uses, and their potential combinations with other plants in the bioregion. Professor Richard Evans Schultes, the director of the Botanical Museum at Harvard University, wrote an article titled Man and Marijuana in which he states:

...early man experimented with all plant materials that he

could chew and could not have avoided discovering the proper-

ties of cannabis (marijuana), for in his quest for seeds and

oil, he certainly ate the sticky tops of the plant. Upon eat-

ing hemp, the euphoric, ecstatic and hallucinatory aspects

may have introduced man to an other-worldly plane from which

emerged religious beliefs, perhaps even the concept of deity.

The plant became accepted as a special gift of the gods, a

sacred medium for communion with the spiritual world and as

such it has remained in some cultures to the present.

- Shultes (qtd. in Brown, 1980)

Another historical reference to the ally of Cannabis can be found in Dale Pendell’s PHARMAKO/POEIA, Plant Powers, Poisons, and Herbcraft, where Pendell quotes:

Of all that Orient lands can vaunt

Of marvels with our own competing,

The strangest is the Haschish plant,

And what will follow on its eating.

- John Greenleaf Whittier,

The Haschish

One final contributor to this theme of the spirituality of the Cannabis experience must surely be Aleister Crowley, infamous for his reported gift of clairvoyance. Crowley is credited with writing, The Psychology of Hashish (1908), when opposition to Cannabis was mounting in the United States. In this section Crowley pronounces the “religious tendencies” of some users of hashish:

If hashish-analogy be able to assist us here, it is in that supreme state in

which man has built himself up into God. One may doubt whether the drug

alone ever does this. It is perhaps only the destined adept who, momentarily

freed by the dissolving action of the drug…, obtains this knowledge which is

his by right; totally inept as he may be to do so by any ordinary methods.

- Aleister Crowley, 1907

Legal Issues and the Practical Solution

U.S. FEDERAL CANNABIS & THC LEGAL STATUS*

CLASSIFICATION: Cannabis (this includes all species because it is so non-specific)

LEGAL STATUS: Controlled

SCHEDULE: Schedule I

U.S. FEDERAL SYNTHETIC THC LEGAL STATUS*

CLASSIFICATION: Marinol

LEGAL STATUS: Controlled

SCHEDULE: Schedule III

Cannabis is illegal to grow, sell, buy or possess, according to the U.S. federal government. Cannabis is classified under DEA Schedule I in all forms (hash, hash oil, cannabis, THC), excepting that synthetic THC (Marinol) is classified as Schedule III. Marinol was moved from Schedule II to Schedule III in July of 1999.

Schedule I is federally defined as drugs which:

• Have a high potential for abuse

• Have no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States

•.Have a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug under medical supervision*

*As quoted from www.Erowid.org, Cannabis Vault

The federal government recognizes Cannabis as a Schedule I Controlled Substance, meaning there is NO CURRENTLY ACCEPTED MEDICAL USE, while several independent States (including Colorado) have legalized and are in the process of providing legislation for the accepted medical use of Cannabis, not just Marinol. This should naturally send up the red flag, so to speak, for the federal government who have refused to re-evaluate their current scheduling due to trends across the country. Some of our own policy makers know less about the federal scheduling of controlled substances than we do. This is the sad state of affairs in our country.

The Clinton era has seen unprecedented government spending on the “War on Drugs,” commonly touted as the “War on People” by drug reform networkers. We’ve all heard that war is good for the economy. Maybe Clinton should have inhaled after all.

In the 2000 election, Colorado surprised the nation by passing Amendment 20, thus providing theoretical legal protection for patients who are prescribed Medical Marijuana for chronic illness, glaucoma, etc. Provisions for care-givers include legal protection to grow Cannabis plants, with varying stages of usable and/or curing Cannabis flowers. The wording of the Amendment is confusing, and difficult to explain. Further proofreading of the material must be accomplished to provide a working model for Medical Marijuana patients, their care-givers, and their lawyers.

There are literally hundreds of reasons why Cannabis should be legal. In the United States, where Cannabis prohibition occurred shortly after Alcohol prohibition and has obviously lasted longer, the persecution of the plant happened so swiftly, and so thoroughly, that many people here do not think to question it any longer. DARE to think for yourself, some say. In fact, most people are so uninformed that they do not even know when the tables have turned on them, as in the case of the Arizona legislature, which:

Late in ’95…goofed and made pot legal. People were actually able to

purchase a cannabis-dealer license and escape prosecution. Thousands

acquired the license. Some even sold pot openly. At the ’96 Super Bowl,

a few brazen dealers set up shop right outside Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe.

One such entrepreneur named his product “Supherb Bowl.”

- High Times, Best of Issue 2000

The most culturally imperative reason to legalize Cannabis, in my own opinion, is so that the uninformed majority of U.S. Cannabis consumers will stop buying herb that was grown at gunpoint in Mexico and other areas of Latin America. Rosenthal and Kubby report that the DEA estimates that half the Cannabis used in the U.S. is imported (81-82). Most of this is grown in Mexico. Not only are villages throughout naturalized Cannabis growing regions of Mexico coerced by “drug runners” to grow the herb in areas that might otherwise produce food crops, but they are also punished, sometimes with their lives, for refusal to cooperate (Salmon, Lecture notes, 2000). Here we run into the crux of the matter, demand. In the United States, production of Cannabis is sometimes punishable by state and federal law, therefore, to alleviate some of the stress of paranoid Americans, Mexico has been called to supply the needed herb. Unfortunately, their cultivation and storage practices are unsatisfactory. “Marijuana is harvested, and then dried in the open. Coca Cola is poured over the dried pot, and the mass is pressed into bricks” (Rosenthal and Kubby, 82). It then takes weeks for this shipment to cross the border and even longer to circulate, thus leaving the door open to contamination. If Americans were allowed to grow Cannabis again we could surely alleviate some of the stress our forced demand has placed on Mexico.

Can there be any greater reason to Legalize It than common sense? Plants are wonderful, we consume them every day, they change our chemistry, we are thankful (most of the time). The measure of duality with which we have constructed our society is evident in the separation of plants and plant products into categories, Good and Bad, Legal and Illegal, Right and Wrong. However, this is an insufficient explanation of the situation, and reflects a narrow-minded approach to the nature of consciousness. If the U.S. government thinks, that after approximately 9,000 years of use, they can overturn the destiny of Cannabis, they are surely mistaken. What the federal government has demonstrated, through their laws, is that they want control of our freedom of choice and religion, not to mention our own indigenous ligands (some of the chemicals our brains produce are actually federally scheduled). The practical solution to this dilemma awaits the scrutiny of the people, however, in the future may we remember a few simple catch phrases that most eloquently summarize this debate:

--Legalize Life

--Grow your own Stone (a cultural adaptation of the Philosopher’s Stone, as devised by anonymous)

Political Issues

For Propaganda and inaccurate information on Cannabis (Marijuana) please see this U.S. Government site: www.nida.nih.gov/MarijBroch/Marijintro.html. I will not waste ink reproducing this information in my paper, although I believe that familiarity with the approach the government takes in response to Cannabis is valid and can be helpful in countering their narrow-minded and destructive drug policies. I highly recommend anyone interested in Popular Culture to check out this site: www.yahooka.com. Ya-Hooka, “The Guide to Marijuana on the Internet,” is in no way associated with Yahoo!, unfortunately, though the reference is clever, and the site is well done.

I do not wish to delve too deeply into the nature of Politics and the repression of Cannabis, for much has been written about the politics of drug prohibition. Please see Appendix II: A, an essay by Charles Whitebread, Professor of Law, USC Law School, entitled The History of the Non-Medical Use of Drugs in the United States. Whitebread’s article is especially interesting because, in 1971 and 1972, he and a colleague were given access to both the open and closed files of what was then called the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and what is now called the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Based upon those files Professor Richard Bonnie and Professor Whitebread wrote a book called, The Marihuana Conviction-The Legal History of Drugs in the United States, and that book went through six printings at the University of Virginia Press before it sold out (to the FBI). One of the main points of the article is that we need to remember that the initial Cannabis prohibition movement began in this country for financial reasons, it was initiated with the Harrison Tax Act of 1914, but really set in stone in The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. The Federal Bureau of Narcotics, created by the Hoover Administration in 1930, saw Harry J. Anslinger as its first commissioner. The bureau, interestingly enough, was part of the Treasury Department, because the government’s only avenue into the private sector was through taxation, which the previously enacted Harrison and Marihuana Tax Acts legally supported.

Structuralist Views

The prohibition of Cannabis, when viewed from a structural anthropological perspective, presents a subtle male / female dichotomy that demands attention. Cannabis in ancient, probably kin-based societies, was represented as a goddess. Paternalism, Patriarchy and the Capitalist Mode of Production have insidiously attempted to destroy the goddess in mythology and in practical applications in our superstructure, structure and infrastructure. Faith, belief, and ideology, the cornerstones of structuralism, come into play, and are played with, for the purpose of conveying practical, experiential information, in Pendell’s prose from PHARMAKO/POEIA:

Like the ska pastora ally, the Cannabis ally can assist with augury.

In fact, that is one of its greatest strengths. But the euphoria is very seductive.

The little leaves, they are for professionals: who would keep doing that for pleasure?

But the ganja ally soothes.

In her palace she presents you with many delights:

pleasant sounds and bright colors, graceful movement, hilarity, and poignancy,

all of which can distract from the true goal – the Queen herself.

The Queen is the vatic whispering of crossing branches in a tree,

knots in the warp of time where the obvious no longer hides beneath the expected.

She can advise you. Usually fairly soundly, in my experience.

Still, as with any ally, it doesn’t hurt to follow the custom of the Persian kings

and wait for a second opinion in the light of the next morning.

Pendell does not hesitate to refer, quite casually, yet in calculated measure, to Cannabis as a female entity, a queen, a goddess. This has been the experience of many of the people I have interviewed on this subject. This may also rule out Cannabis as the sole plant god Soma, as recognized in Vedic times (Soma was considered male). There are other botanical descriptions that also count Cannabis out of the ancient debate, however, new theories arise every day, based on newly encountered evidence. This does not, however, discount Cannabis from the current call for Soma. There are several reasons, which could be supported by data, in favor of the re-introduction of Cannabis into mass culture. Pendell’s demonstration of the plant ally, Cannabis, in light of her female essence, provides structural fodder for the fire of civilization, creating a new ideological model for the world with the concerns of the goddess in mind. With the simple step of legalizing Cannabis, we could begin to successively topple the prohibitions against plants and consciousness across the spectrum. Femaleness, women and families could again be elevated to their proper position of respect in our global environment. The goddess, Cannabis, whispers about how to treat a woman, and it is time that men who are ruled by ignorance, stop to listen. Let’s be reasonable, and give her the Green Light! If it sounds like I am reaching beyond my limits here, good, that is the power of inspiration. I see a better world, and then I walk out my door and help to create it.

Economical Issues / Functionalist Approach

“I think it is all money, “ says Jeff Brown of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church. “I think big corporations will lose money were cannabis legalized, because of its many uses.” (qtd. in Damuzi, 68). Brown has a valid point, one that has seen its sharp edge pierced into many well-intentioned ventures. What I mean is, the industries with the largest funding, Plastics, Paper, Oil and Gas, the extractive industries, have cut Hemp out of the equation, definitively and methodically. The exact procedure has been mapped by brave souls, seeking to expose the “witch hunt” that has ensued because of the interests of the chemical development and extractive industries. Here is some of the information that corporations like Dow Chemical, Hearst Papers, and even Texaco, would probably rather you didn’t know.

Hemp Fiber Types:

Long Bast Fiber

~long, strong strands that are very desirable for textiles

~anti-mildew and anti-microbial properties

~biodegradable

Medium Fiber

~low lignin levels; ideal for paper

~antimildew and antimicrobial properties

Short Core Fiber

~twice as absorbent as wood shavings

~sturdy, wood replacement

~biodegradable

--Roulac, 12-13

Hemp spread across China to Korea, Japan, and on to the Mediterranean and Europe (Roulac 27-30). In the New World, Bibles, maps, and linens were made of hemp. We have almost all heard that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp, and the first two drafts of the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper (Roulac, 32).[xiii] About a century later, hemp and Cannabis began to slip out of the newly acquired grasp of the people. Cannabis prohibition began in 1937 and drug hysteria heightened during the Depression with the infamous reports of “reefer madness” beginning to surface in media coverage around the country. One unchecked distributor of this baseless hype was the Hearst Press (Pendell, 195). All manner of crime was presented through “true stories,” as having been the result of Cannabis use. “Hearst’s paper and timber companies had recently developed a new way to bleach wood pulp for paper making. About the same time, a machine was invented for extracting the fibers from hemp, which suddenly made the Cannabis plant potentially serious competition in the paper business” (Pendell, 195).

Why use up the forests which were centuries in the

making and the mines which required ages to lay down,

if we can get the equivalent of forests and mineral products

in the annual growth of the fields?

I know from experience that many of the raw materials of

industry which are today stripped from the forests

and the mines can be obtained from annual crops grown

on the farms.

...Industrialization of crops will also have the advantage of

making a considerable saving to the manufacturer who

learns how to accomplish it.

...The best possible working plan for any man in our

civilization is to have one foot on the soil and

the other in industry.

- Henry Ford

Uses of Hemp:

Hemp was used to make the sails of ships in the 5th century. Hemp fibers have been used to make Bibles, cordage, lighting oil, building materials, and even plastic pipe (Balick and Cox, 94). Hemp was our paper fiber of choice in the United States until 1883. In addition, hemp has many modern uses: textiles, technical textiles, paper, building material, technical products, foods, personal hygiene products, and other industrial products (Roulac, 15). “Hemp may have a commercial impact in the future in the areas of agriculture, automobiles, body care, construction materials, feed, food, furniture, industrial resins, paper, plastic, and textiles” (Roulac, 115). Hemp can be used to make anything currently made with cotton, timber, or petroleum. In fact, it is said to have over 50,000 commercial applications.

Research and development of the Hemp plant has provided the foundations of a movement that is functionalist in nature. The basics of functionalism state that social institutions and practices serve to fill the individual’s needs, and help reaffirm a culture and its ways (Kozak, Lecture Notes, 2000). In our country today, many are sick and need a new myth, one that is inclusive, as opposed to exclusive, and one that works for everyone, not just the elite at the top of the class structure.

We face a dilemma here on Earth, we have abused our privileges and have seriously jeopardized our well-being and our future. We, in the American culture, need to adopt more sustainable ways of living, or get off the planet (which, for some, is on the agenda). Hemp is not the only answer, but there is little doubt that the Cannabis plant can contribute to the renewed sustainability of the U.S.

Medical Marijuana Issues vs. Medicinal Freedom

My hope is that at this point I need not persuade any further, that the evidence speaks for itself. However, there are a few key points left unspoken, that will indeed serve to close the argument. Our species has, through its own folly, poisoned the waters, the food, the land, and anything we could get our hands on. There are few healthy cultures yet represented across the lands. Multi-national corporations have planted their operations in developing countries in order to most effectively create the largest profit margin, often by paying off third world governments and their people, and after their “work” has been accomplished, they pull out without providing retribution, having laid waste to the land, scattered the inhabitants to the four winds, and left an unsafe, toxic environment for the human, animal, and plant life forms to adapt or succumb to. In light of the experimental practices unleashed en mass during the last 50 to 100 years by the United States and other industrial nations we have seen a rapid and rather alarming rise in what we know of as “diseases of civilization” (Kozak, Lecture Notes, 2000). Immuno-suppression disorders, cancers, cold and flu bugs, birth defects, AIDS, ADD and ADHD, etc. have emerged, spread and mutated before our eyes, and only band aids have been applied to the wounds. The real work is yet to come.

We have abundant medicines, at our disposal, if we conduct ourselves as true ambassadors to the plant kingdom. For example, we may focus on the specific medicinal qualities of the Cannabis indica plant with an excerpt from Plants of Love, by Christian Rätsch:

Leaves: Sedative, analgesic, anesthetic, antispasmodic, diuretic, digestive, astringent. Internally for diarrhea, tetanus, menstrual cramps. Externally for ulcers, tumors, head lice, dandruff, wounds, conjunctivitis, hemorrhoids, orchitis.

Bhang: Internally for dyspepsia, gonorrhea, intestinal complaints, lack of appetite; nerve stimulant.

Ganja: Analgesic, antidepressant, antispasmodic. Externally for painful skin diseases and itching. Smoke is swallowed in cases of poisoning (from Datura, aurin); administered rectally for hernias and dysenteric cramps. Smoked as a psychotherapeutic agent and as an aphrodisiac.

Charas: The most demanded anesthetic and analgesic in India. Internally for headaches (from malaria, menses), migraines, acute mania, mental disorders, insanity, delirium, cough, whooping cough, asthma, brain anemia, nervous vomiting, dysuria, eczema, neuralgia, severe pain, impotency, frigidity, sterility, severe diarrhea, hepatitis, opium poisoning.

Seeds: Internally for gonorrhea. (95)

Sounds like a panacea to me.

An book entitled, Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts: a review of the scientific evidence, written by Lynn Zimmer, PhD and John P. Morgan, M.D. has a readability that reaches a wide spectrum of readers. The gem of this book is in the ample data painstakingly gathered to produce this work. According to Zimmer and Morgan, studies have demonstrated Cannabis’ usefulness in “reducing nausea and vomiting, stimulating appetite, promoting weight gain, and diminishing intraocular pressure from glaucoma. There is also evidence that smoked marijuana and/or THC reduce muscle spasticity from spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis and diminish tremors in multiple sclerosis patients” (17). These represent the current medically accepted uses of Cannabis and THC. However, the hold that Medical Marijuana has at the state level is tenuous, and sensitive; as it is, according to federal law, Marinol is the only substance related to Cannabis that is scheduled for medical use. On the other hand, the AMA has long had a respect for Cannabis, and most doctors seem to agree that legislation against Cannabis is unusually harsh in light of the circumstances.

Cannabis and the Timing of Change

Cannabis is believed to be the most widely consumed “illegal substance” in the world. In my own experience, people use Cannabis because it works. Every country shelters a Cannabis culture; be it in the open or underground, in a closet or out in the yard, Cannabis grows nearly everywhere humans have settled as a result of its virtues. The unjust persecution of this plant goddess, Cannabis, and her admirers is the result of demonization tactics and not harm reduction, as we’ve been told.

What I mean to suggest by calling for a plant/consciousness movement in the tradition of Soma, is the much-needed decriminalization and re-legalization of life. Let’s start with that. Have we forgotten the rights we earned at birth? Would we unequivocally allow the imprisonment of people because of the medicine they chose to alleviate their suffering? Do we, who have not been imprisoned, understand the devastation that has been realized in the lives of those people that have been the target of the “War on Drugs?” Is the violence begotten by the Drug War, both in America and in countries where it has been exported by the CIA and the U.S. military, justifiable, especially in cases of non-violent drug offenses?

Throughout time certain people have been able to live without bringing violence upon others and who have sought to live in balance with their surroundings. Others have not. Let us consider this tale of Shiva and Shakti (also known as Parvati) and their efforts to develop a harmonious marital relationship:

A Nepalese myth tells how the aphrodisiac powers of the divine plant [Cannabis] were first discovered. Shiva…lived with his heavenly wife Parvati in the Himalayas, the roof of the world. He never stayed at home, however, but went into the mountains instead, where he amused himself with divine nymphs and played with alluring goddesses. This did not please Parvati. And so she searched for a means of binding her husband to her and their house. She found a hemp plant, and took its resinous female flowers. When Shiva returned home, Parvati gave him the hemp to smoke. Shiva was immediately stirred by joyful arousal and an unprecedented desire for his wife. The two joined together in heavenly bliss. Shiva experienced that sacred ecstasy that would later open the doors of paradise to his devotees. After this, Shiva remained with his wife. And whenever the two conjoined, they smoked hemp. This is why hemp is considered the best aphrodisiac. It was given to humans so that they could live forever in happiness and domestic peace. (Rätsch, 83-4)

Shiva and Parvati achieved harmony, partly through their use of Cannabis, which is why Cannabis is considered to be a supreme marital tool (its primary function is as an aphrodisiac). In this instance, Cannabis helped to balance the distribution of power between the male and female energies represented by Shiva and Parvati. If Cannabis can contribute to the success of more marriages we will see the benefits throughout society. I will say it again, when our goddesses, the Earth, the plants, the mothers, the sisters, and the daughters are given practical and real respect in the decision-making cosmology and practices of the Nation, the Republic, the State, the City, the Country, and the Global Family, we will see change. We will see change! Cannabis is a metaphor for the goddess (the female essence, matriarchy, maternal instinct, love, compassion, nurturance). Let’s free the goddess. It will be necessary to turn the tables in order to see what we’ve been missing for so long.

We may have to wait another hundred years before the U.S. agrees to the legalization of Cannabis. If I am forced to wait that long, I will wait, I am a woman, and I will wait. Until then I will fight for the legalization of life, not with my fists, but with my actions and my words.

Further Research

Any one of the subtopics outlined here could be addressed in a deeper manner. Additionally, one subject I excluded from the text is the importance of Cannabis in established religions across the globe, but especially in India, Jamaica, and the Netherlands. I feel that these three nations could provide a diverse, politically and culturally aggressive platform from which to dive into the ocean of further Cannabis research. The cross-comparison of Cannabis and the ancient Soma plant (unidentified, yet deified) has supplied an argument for the practicality of acknowledging and even praising the gifts the plant world bestows upon us daily. I believe further research of this subject is warranted based on the argument provided herein. With specific areas of concentrated research, this argument could be strengthened and would eventually, hopefully, present a legitimate case for the legalization of Cannabis.

Suggested Areas of Further Research

The Vedic Hymns and the Ŗgveda: further research
Origin of the god Soma in Vedic times
Ancient Soma sacrifices
Soma: Ties to Cannabis? Further elaboration on the subject
Devas and Plant Spirits
Religious use of Cannabis: Rastafarianism, The Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church, The Church of the Universe, etc.
Zoroaster, mystic prophet, user of Cannabis?
The origins of Cannabis, especially, information on the origins of use
Anthropology and Cannabis: Evidence of use in antiquity?
Hemp, a solution to global ecological needs?
The role of the United States in the legalization of Cannabis
The legal history of Cannabis throughout significant countries in the world
Cannabis: in Music, Video, Photos
Cannabis substitutes: there is no substitute…Medical info on Cannabis in comparison with Marinol
Medical Marijuana