I’ve spent some time recently doing a deep dive into the history of cannabis and its impact on human culture through the ages and the subject continues to intrigue me. When I finished reading a book like Michael Pollin’s The Botany Of Desire for example, I spent days days afterward, mulling it over and thinking about tidbits and new stunning facts I’d just learned and wanted to share. I recommended that book to a lot of people. It connected some dots for sure. Or, I’ll hear a podcast, Great Moments in Weed History is a perfect example, and rather than being satisfied after hearing about activists that came before us to pave the way for compassionate marijuana policies and eventual legalization, instead I’m inspired and compelled to learn more and to feel that fire, that anger about the politics and the counter-intuitive laws and inept attempts at prohibitions and all the suppression of information and prevention of research. And how about The Emperor Wears no Clothes book by Jack Herer ? That book spelled it all out for me when I was in my twenties and skimming it for sound bites to share with my stoner buddies, but now, as I consume more comprehensive histories and new information about how cannabis is becoming this huge industry, even after all these years, I continue to have epiphanies and connect dots and find new rabbit holes I want to explore – in search of the answer to the question I keep asking myself, which is “why can’t people see the obvious benefits of this miraculous plant we call cannabis and why isn’t it held in reverence as it should?” I’m beginning to see what the answer is and I don’t like it.

What’s really going on here?

What do you think is going on when we consider the continued suppression of information and access to cannabis in the 21st century? What motivates the establishment to lean toward prohibition as its default posture despite the incredible success of legal retail and medical sales across the country? I think most importantly, how is it that medical patient after patient continue to demonstrate the health benefits they experience when augmenting their conventional medical treatments with the use of cannabinoids such as CBD and THC, yet solid medical studies and hard reliable data on the effectiveness of these treatments continue to be opaque and difficult for the average person to discover? Doctors are reluctant to incorporate cannabis into their practice and neglect knowing about advancements in science and how effective treatments can be for their patients. Why is it so difficult to treat this safe substance as the life saving and therapeutic wonder it is and instead it’s stigmatized and railed against as if it were a dangerous narcotic? Meanwhile; the fentanyl crisis. I mean, come on. If ever there was a time to realize the safe efficacy of Cannabis as an alternative to dangerous, overprescribed pharmaceuticals, NOW IS THE TIME.

Your comments are welcome, please weigh in below.