Marijuana use has long been regarded as the boogeyman of Herbs that are out there. Let’s be honest, though; it’s not a drug. It’s a living plant that grows from the earth and can be used for medicinal purposes. But before diving headfirst into this hot topic, let’s provide some context and history.
First, we look at some ancient history:
“While it’s unclear exactly when cannabis use became mainstream, the plant’s residue has been found in Egyptian artifacts dating back to more than 4,000 years ago.
Around 2,000 BCE, cannabis salves were used to treat eye sores and glaucoma. Today science has proven what the ancient Egyptians learned through centuries of experience: that cannabis is a potent anti-inflammatory which reduces intraocular pressure. Another Egyptologist, Lise Manniche, notes in her book An Ancient Egyptian Herbal that several texts dating back to the 18th century BCE encouraged readers to “plant medicinal cannabis.”
Egyptian history of cannabis.
We will also look at the historical context of cannabis use in ancient Chinese culture:
”Cannabis Sativa is an old plant with a long history. The word sativa comes from Latin and means "sown" or "cultivated." And in fact, the hemp plant, Cannabis Sativa, has been cultivated by humans for thousands of years. Cultivated primarily for its strength as a fiber and for its medicinal uses, it has even been grown for food.”
We will see in the following paragraphs that the cannabis plant had multiple uses in ancient Chinese culture.
Such uses were as follows
”the Chinese used the hemp plant for rope, clothing, bowstrings, paper, and, of course, medicine. The ancient emperor, Shen-Nung (c.2700 B.C.), is known as the Father of Chinese Medicine. Because he was a good farmer and concerned about his suffering subjects, he looked to plants for cures.”
We see a rich history of practical uses for the cannabis plant throughout Chinese culture.
”It wasn't until India came upon cannabis that it became a widespread religious and medicinal intoxicant.”
It’s fascinating to think that thousands of years before organizations such as the DEA and other three-letter agencies. They were utilizing these medicinal benefits without the stigma and lacking the need for a ‘medical card’ to allow them to use and purchase medicinal marijuana legally.
Suppose you think about it in an abstract sense. Picture this!
You’re living in a remote village tucked away in the woods.
You know nothing of economics, nor do you know anything about the value of a dollar, nor do you need to. You have what you need readily available to you and your tribe right at your disposal. As well as (the critical part of this analogy) any ‘natural remedies’ freely accessible to you and your people for any sicknesses! You get the point: no red tape, money, or insurance.
But then! Along comes the ‘white man’ with his Americanized ways and his money, and they try to strong-arm you into civilization and educate you on “how the rest of the world works.”
Before you know it, you’re in the rears and rely on “the white man system” for what you and your tribe previously just did without thought, without getting permission first.
Apply that analogy to medicines that have existed for hundreds of thousands of years! What do you have, if you do? Our current pharmaceutical system. Compile that with ‘Medical Insurance’ and welcome to our present blight, where there’s more money in sick people than in cured healthy people. And you can take that one to the bank!
I digress.
We’ll Segway into some first-hand accounts by someone I interviewed who works in the cannabis industry and has held managerial roles within distribution centers.
Here’s a block quote from the interview we did:
”Now that they're getting the green light to start testing, researching, doing all of that on cannabis with different strains, they're finding all sorts of things that, I mean, nature has been telling us for centuries. Millennia. There are terpenes inside of these plants, just like any other plant. And terpenes are what primarily gives us our essential oils that allow us to concentrate those benefactors into something that can focus. Like cannabis itself has now come to a point where the medicinal benefits are not just from smoking. In fact, you get the least medical benefit from smoking. People that use cannabis medically are typically using oils for either topical, or they're just ingesting the oils. One specifically that comes to mind is RSO, an acronym for Rick Simpson Oil. Okay. Rick Simpson is a gentleman that he himself was going through skin cancer and had what I think was melanoma. He had patches that were developing on the surface of his skin from the cancer. Lesions, I believe. Almost like the liver spots. So he developed this oil by taking the entire cannabis plant’s roots, the stock, the stem, and the leaves. He didn't take anything off of it. Okay. And he broke it down into an essential oil just using ethanol and alcohol, and it became this black viscous, real goopy soupy. It's nothing that's really appealing. It's nothing that's tasty. You're not taking this to enjoy it for getting your rocks off, getting stoned, or nothing like that. Specifically giving you that full medical benefit from the plant. What he did with it specifically before it became an ingestible oil, he turned it into a topical salve. He would put his solution on these lesions and areas of problem, and he would just bandage over them for about three days. He was seeing significant results that all of those MRIs and the radiation and therapies that they were giving them at the hospital were not doing. And when he went back and explained to his doctor what he had done, they were like, well, we can't help you. You're doing better with your homeopathy than we are doing with our pharmaceuticals. Considering what you're doing, you're getting phenomenal results. And it actually was killing the cells, the cancer cells. So not necessarily saying that cannabis is killing the cancer cells. It's just an interesting correlation.”
It’s worth mentioning for ethical purposes; I can not personally confirm nor deny the outcomes and the effectiveness of this approach to “curing cancer” and other such ‘diseases and illnesses.’ That said, there is quite a bit of testimonial on the topic. The basis is people who have personally suffered from things such as cancer or eye diseases. And have fully recovered from said illnesses. Consider that and research the subject before concluding your own opinions.
During the interview, we had a lively conversation about the industry and some outside perspectives they’ve acquired from Talking to customers about their worries and concerns. In effect, guiding the consumer through those worries and concerns.
It wouldn’t always lead to a sale. Still, some of the stories were educational. They told of a generation sold on the propaganda lie that is “reefer madness” and what that meant for an age without access to ‘documents’ which would say otherwise.
Here’s an excerpt of the conversation we had about propaganda methods:
”What you saw was what you believed and what you were told by the powers that be. That was law. There's a whole different world as far as understanding. And that's the biggest stigma that I've seen broken down is the vast majority of the older generation that used to live by that creed of Reefer Madness, the ones that came in and had no interest in making any purchase. But their curiosity got the best of them. The conversations we had were the best. They're explaining to me how their families grew up with such a religious stigma or just a generalized, oh, my cousin never did anything with himself, and his father blamed it on the weed. Stuff like that creates this mindset that people roll with. If you don't have any other experience to argue against it or to give you an alternative perspective, that's all you can live by. So just seeing the stigma break down as they come in, and they're like, you know what? You're right. There are people coming in for medical benefits. We've had people that never smoked in their entire lives come in. They would buy edibles. They would buy those RSOs, that I would talk about things that just benefit them without taking away their cognitive control. And that's the big thing, right? Not taking away their cognitive control. Exactly. One of the biggest stigmas is that people believe that one puff and you're off into this rampage of stonerdom. Yeah. Granted, inhalation is the quickest onset. It's all about that perspective. If you believe that, you're going to have a bad experience. Those are the people that talk about, oh, I had an anxiety attack. It's because they're either sitting there peer pressured, having a bad experience, or going in with a frightened perspective. Just like anything, you have to have a fair, open mind. Do your research, trust your body, and find what fits you best. If you don't need it, your body will tell you.”
This next question was asked of the person I interviewed. Whether they ever faced any backlash at any of the locations, they’ve worked at by the ‘Christian community.’
This is a short excerpt of what they had to say.
”In a generalized statement, I definitely noticed that the religious community, whether they are deeply versed with scripture or if they are simply a weekend presence, yeah. Weekend warriors typically have the same mentality when it comes to those that perceive it negatively. They seem to revolve around consumption. Their major issue that I found is that they don't believe a person that consumes has much capability to become an upstanding person in the eyes of God. Right. And to that extent, I can understand because many things in scripture go against inebriation and enticements of another nature. Being out of your wits and being tempted by any substance that puts you out of control is frowned upon. Right. I can understand to that extent, but personally, this is where I believe it comes down to the individual because every individual will have a different experience no matter what they consume. I can have a bad reaction to oranges, and you can eat them just fine. Yeah. Really? Some people have allergies, and some people are absolute iron guts who can eat anything and have no effect. There should be a bit more of a normalization of certain factors and encompassing age-appropriate activities. But I think from a Christian perspective, there’s still in certain sects of people a reefer madness mentality.”
We, as a general populace, have to realize that not everything is as black and white as it’s perceived to be.
There are certainly gray areas in life, and anybody who tells you else wise is either trying to sell you something. Or they have their nose buried in the CNN cesspool, and likewise, they believe every word that comes out of the news anchor’s mouth. Don’t believe such imbeciles! They likely also believe in the lies that have been peddled over the past few years. If you’re more upset about bureaucratical red tape, than you are about our current blight. There may very well be a bigger issue going on in you directly than the threat of some cooked-up boogeymen virus.
I digress. Speaking from someone whose been on both sides of the “religious table,” I can tell you If you can’t see past your religious presuppositions to see and fully understand how the world really works. All your posturing and all your “witnessing” is going to be in vain. You may do good acts of service. But when the rubber meets the road, ultimately, you want to change somebody to be more like your image of what a Christian truly is, and that’s dangerous territory to be in. Because who says your perception of what a Christian should look like, is an accurate one?!
Take that one for all it’s worth.