| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Ferre
Cannabis Sacrament Minister.
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
Posts: 7295
Location: Amsterdam
|
 Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2003 11:51 pm Post subject: Dr. James A Windham : To all Americans... |
 |
|
| Dr. James A Windham wrote: |
To all Americans:
I smoke pot. Those three simple words have just lost anything subsequently typed in this message all of its possible credibility to anyone who has never said those words, and in some cases, to those who have. It often seems like such a little thing. In many circles it is not really all that different from saying, “I drink beer.” It is merely some peoples’ – a lot of people, actually – chosen method of relaxation after a hard day at work or toiling in the fields or having to tend to the day to day routines of their family’s needs.
I am not a daily pot smoker any more than many people are not daily beer drinkers. I am what John Rosevear, in his 1967 book “Pot: A Handbook of Marihuana”, called an “occasional smoker”. A few puffs now and then to relax and spend quiet evenings with my wife, who does not smoke, after the children have gone to bed.
There are those who are now thinking I am a detestable criminal who should be locked away, fined, and left to the dregs of society as an outcast as horrible as a child molester or murderer. Some of those people are reading this while sipping their nightly bourbon, a perfectly legal and thus, morally acceptable substance, while still others are sipping their morning coffee and tamping out their third cigarette of the day. Such is the nature of our current mindset in the United States. Legality and morality have crossed many such lines so that it is often now considered only that which is legal can be moral rather than the other way around.
However, can we truly and effectively legislate morality? No, of course we cannot, yet I imagine we will continue to try. The basic and most fundamental problem with the legislation of morality is one first has to ask themselves who’s morality will we legislate. Who has the just and proper morality that it need be codified into law? Everyone has their own answers on this question and it is often a hot topic of debate in message boards, forums, and other venues of mass communication. The majority of these questions are answered based on strict religious code. Ancient laws handed down generation to generation to help each generation live better lives and come closer to each other and their own spiritual sides. However, there are often some conflicting viewpoints in those various points of morality. To those who are reading this while sipping their evening bourbon, I submit to you that there are those in the world who see you as reprehensible a demon in their morality as you see me in yours. Such morality was attempted in the prohibition of the 1920s. That prohibition led to such rampant crime and senseless violence that it had no choice but to be repealed. The Volstead Act was enacted to remove any liquid with an alcoholic content greater than 0.5 percent, omitting alcohol used for medicinal and sacramental purposes.
Medicinal purposes, of course, meant whatever the current state of affairs in the medical community believed at the time. Interestingly enough, it was in the 1920s that use of naturally occurring vitamin supplements were used to correct or normalize a person’s health. Critics of the time, all educated men and women, stood firm in the belief that vitamin supplements were toxic and potentially fatal. What may we think of medical marijuana in the years to come?
Alcohol used as a sacrament is fairly common in the Christian faith as a communion in the form of the blood of Christ. Not all churches or denominations use wine, but those that do even maintained their protected sacrament even in the face of the illegalization of its use by the Volstead Act. In this case, one particular group’s morality was legislated. Our country chose to legislate a particular brand of morality and it got us in big trouble and cost us dearly. In our modern age of marijuana prohibition, what about those people who use marijuana as a sacrament? Where is their morality to be legislated? We have once again chosen to spit in the face of our founding fathers who once wrote:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The First Amendment is a clear statement that the government of the United States is not allowed to interfere with its citizens' religious practices or their self-expression. Yet, we have put into legislation the prohibition of Cannabis, called kaneh-bosm in the Tanakh where it was set aside as a uniquely sacred plant to the ancient Hebrews. We have legislated against the ancient recipes for majun, halva, and churum. It is nearly impossible for many to imagine Jesus going to a tea house and ordering assis, a drink made from marijuana, or garawish, a hardened paste that resembles peanut brittle but is made from marijuana (kif powder) or to imagine Isaiah being given kaneh-bosm in liquid form by a Seraphim to purge his sins; but these things are clearly written and believed by billions, even though they may be ignored.
Do we continue our legislation of particular morality? I believe we are currently fighting wars against those who sought to bring their own morality as the central core of power and enforced it upon those who lived under their regimes. Are we no better than they who we are currently spending billions of dollars to remove from power and wipe off the earth? I believe our prohibition, humorously given the moniker “War on Drugs” to be no better or any more effective than that which the Volstead Act destroyed in this country. However, as some of you saw in the beginning, I smoke pot.
Dr. James A Windham
Rabbi, UNLC
President, Texas Marijuana Party
http://texas.usmjparty.com/
|
_________________
█ Please read the Board Rules and Posting, and you
█ Radio Free Amsterdam
People who know truth, speak truth.
Those who don't, quote scriptures. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Echo
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
Posts: 1899
Location: England
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2003 7:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Dr. James A Windham seems to have all the strengthes and charisma of a one man party. I wonder what would happen should smokers worldwide come out of their closets and say as Mr. Windham did both at the beginning and at the end of his letter "I smoke pot". A worldwide "I smoke pot" day, to remind legislators to take people's views into account when working for us. Thank you James. And thank you Ferre for bringing this letter to our attention.
And of course, I smoke pot 
Echo
_________________
| Tom Petty wrote: |
Well I know what’s right, I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around
But I’ll stand my ground and I won’t back down
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
dragonwalker
getting into high spirits
Joined: 24 Oct 2003
Posts: 3
Location: Yakima, WA 98902
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2003 8:31 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I smoke pot also. 
_________________
Life is for living, loving, and leaving...so enjoy it! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Rev. Steve
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 17 Nov 2003
Posts: 200
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2003 9:10 pm Post subject: |
|
|
A most enlightening post Rabbi Windham. I was not aware that cannabis was so pervasive in scripture. It is quite clear that the fed is not so concerned with protecting the people as it is with protecting there own interests.
The insurmountable problem we face is that the fed simply refuses to hear any argument regarding an end to Cannabis prohibition. They are like a child throwing a tantrum, holding his breath until the people are blue in the face. This has become their unholy grail and they will sacrifice as many of us as they see fit.
Rev. Steve |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
Public Forum
Members only forum
Members Group
| 
