it all started with a man named Harry J. Anslinger who was a F.B.I adgent during the prhoabition on alchohol. at the end of the prohibition the public expectid the F.B.I to be disbanded but in fear of losing his job Anslinger decided to start a drug scare and chose hemp(cannabis) the stories he told were completely ficticious and almost entirely racist. He chose to call it marijuana in attempt to acociate it with the despised manority of the time(the mexicans). marijuana comes from mexican slang and was orijinally the name of a brand of cheap mexican cigarets whitch bore a picture of a young girl and said Marria Juana"mary jane".
CANNABIS is a latin word and thought to be derived from the same non-indo-european source as heneap and hemp. our words canvas and canvass boat come from the latin word cannabis.

YES! FINALLY! the right sotry has been told.

no one ever believes me...

If you think media propaganda is bad now you should see some of the stuff back in the 20s and 30s, we blamed societal problems on just about anything that was available without a prescription. At the same time advances in pharmaceutical research were producing a wide variety of drugs. Benzos, amps, morphine analogs, and sleeping pills that could knock out a mule. Does anyone know of a good article linking the rise in prescribed drugs with the prohibition movement against alchohol, marijuana, opium and even cola?
ps: okay, maybe media disinformation is as bad now, just more subtle.

i had always wondered who smoked the first bowl of sweet mary jane. i think it was the muslims of the middle east, but i cant be sure. probably some rope maker burning bunk and thought it smelled good and then got a little too close to the fire... hehe. anyone with a definate answer to this question?

I don't know about smoking it, but I read someplace that the Aztecs or the Incas or one of those south american native peoples used to chew the stuff.

I don't partake, personally, but it still angers me greatly whenever I am assaulted with whatever bullshit poster campaign/TV ad run the Ad Council is undertaking at the moment. Methinks the govermnet as a whole should step back and take a broader look at the facts and its own policy - Especially the part about cigarettes and alcohol legislation. How many thousands of people die because of smokes and booze a year? Tens of thousands, at least. How many people die from smoking pot a year? 0.2?

~Zero

The South American's used to chew on Coco leaves, which released a small ammount of cocaine into their blood stream. It helped to ease the pain of working all day in the fields.

yttr... according to Steve J. Gould, marijuana was probably the first plant ever cultivated by the human species. There are records of wild canniboids being helped out by pygmy (sp?) tribes long before the 'modern' agriculutral revolution...

so, hell... it looks like humans invented agriculture so that they could smoke more and better pot...

life makes scense again

http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_timeline.php3

Speaking of DARE and Just Say No! campaigns, here in the US we have a few insanely funny anti-drug commercials.

Ad #1: Two kids are sitting in the leather chairs of an office, probably the kid's dad's. His friend is holding a smoking bong (something's strange here...usually when there's smoke in the bong, it's getting inhaled). Several cut scenes, with drowsy conversation about how the kid's sister is hot and what not. Then the first kid picks up a gun (that's just sitting on his dad's desk):
"Check this out."
"Cool. Is it loaded?"
"Nah."
BOOM! fade to white and then black. on-screen message: Marijuana affects judgment.

#2. A series of pictures, beginning with the young girl who smokes weed. Who got it from her friend.Who bought it from a dealer. Who hooked up from his supplier. Who does business with the cartel that murdered a little baby. All because Sally decided to smoke dope.

#3. (this one's a little older) When you do drugs, you're responsible for Sept. 11(through the Afghan opium connection).

These commercials make me want to just...well, they actually make me want to smoke a bowl.

[This message has been edited by Vox (edited 11-13-2002).]

It's one thing to dislike marijuana. It's a drug, and it does affect people. Hemp, on the other hand, is one hell of a product.

Let's just look at one small aspect of hemp production: Hemp vs. Trees

Hemp paper is stronger than tree-pulp paper.

Hemp produces more paper per acre than trees.

Hemp regrows many times faster than trees.

Hemp pulping does not require many of the harsh chemicals used to break down tree fiber. It is safer for the environment.

Hemp paper lasts longer, and does not yellow like tree paper.

So, why do we still destroy forests to print bullshit newspapers? Because the government is completely against anything remotely related to cannabis, despite the lack of any recreational value in industrial-grade hemp plants. It's a crusade, not legislation.

and if you would like a full history, a movie version, which is quite good....very good...
http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-1110.html

Also, browse through the rest of the pot-tv network, espicially this one.
http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-1448.html

Aren't there text files already on totse which look at the history in a lot more detail?

quote:

---

#3. (this one's a little older) When you do drugs, you're responsible for Sept. 11(through the Afghan opium connection).

---

- which is ironic since it was the "Northern Alliance" that exported most of the opium and the Taliban that was given money by the US to clamp down on opium production. Buy heroin to support the War On Terror.

I always thought weed was illegal because the goverment could not tax the sales but now I know it was because a man wanted to keep his job and drugs are a way the goverment could persaude the public to give them more power.

I also believe we the people should make goverment officials smoke dope a bit in order to loosen up their tight assholes. Make em mellow.

I don't know why anyone would even care if it's illegal or not. Besides, isn't it more fun, when it's not allowed? Personally, I wouldn't give two fucks about it. I'm going to do whatever I want, which is in this case, smoking kif. Even further, I'd like it to stay illegal. I'm from Belgium, where it's illegal, but in my neighbour country, Holland, it's nice and legal as you allready may know. Well most buyers (in Holland) are people from Belgium, France, Germany, England,... well you get the point.

Besides, what is illegal? I've done lots of illegal things up until know. However I was never arrested nor do I have a criminal record. Try using you brain some more than your ass, and never smoke for the purpose of showing off. As long as you're not caught, it ain't illegal.

The only thing legalisation would make simpler, is the fact that kids would have easyer access to weed. You don't want that do you?

I'm pretty sure they started off chewing the stuff but you've gotta wonder how they started smoking it. What do you think did? Hmm lets stick this green stuff in this pipe shape object i just invented then set it of fire and put it in our mouths

I absolutely agree with the fact that smoking weed being illegal makes it a little more fun.

But I think if it was legal, driving down the backroads at night while smoking a j would be a little more enjoyable. You wouldn't be paranoid as fuck, wondering if that car that's been behind you for what feels like hours (and in actuality has only been there for two minutes), is a cop. You could be between classes and light up a blunt before you bear the boredom of a physics lecture.

Ahh... yes, I could go on about the freedoms of legalization for hours. But the fact is, it IS illegal for right now, but it hasn't hindered anyone I know from smoking.

I went to a concert on Halloween in Dallas, and most people there were smoking. I just met my neighbor that lives below me in my apartment complex, and he smokes. The bartender where I work deals, and just about everyone that works there has bought from him.

Just because something is illegal doesn't mean people won't do it. If legalization happens, I don't think more people will smoke. I think those who don't do it now have some moral reason behind it. It would be a very long time before the whole population would be comfortable with smoking-even after legalization.

If certain drugs were legalized, it would not only provide the government with another source of taxation income, but it would stop the persecution of professional, otherwise law-abiding adults who chose to smoke recreationally.

Many employers will drug test potential employees simply to receive the federal aid that comes with such a policy, nevermind that working as a cashier at a supermarket isn't exactly a complex or dangerous job.

If I don't smoke on the job, why would my boss give a shit what I do when I want to watch a movie at home? I can drink myself into a coma, but I can't toke a fucking joint? Fuck off.

A marijuana conviction disqualifies students in the US from getting financial aid to go to college, which is fine if you're rich but not so fine if you're not.

The marijuana trade generates millions in profits for foreign criminals, when growing hemp (for THC or not) would help provide a needed cash crop for American farmers. Add all the black market side effects, and legalization looks pretty good.

Drug will not be legal any time soon because the now large fbi needs drugs to be illegal so they can have jobs and control.

People say the drug war costs billions of $$$. The fbi wants that money so the goverment does not care about exspenses.

I believe Marijuana will be legalized within 8 years.