Smoke Pot, Stay Outta Jail

thanks to MetaFilter
---------

You Are What They Ate:
A Brief Survey of Entheogenic Foods and Their Possible Roles in Human Evolution

What is the difference between a food and a drug? Most of us would agree that an apple is certainly "food", but is a vitamin C tablet? Coffee is an integral part of the American diet, but is a caffeine pill as well? Can some drugs be considered food, and some foods considered drugs? According to the dictionary, a food is "a substance that is taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy, and promote growth". Using this definition, entheogenic preparations such as soma, ayahuasca, and others are certainly "foods". Pharmacologically speaking, these compounds might also be classified as "drugs", but the distinction between the two becomes quite fluid when closely and thoughtfully examined. When our earliest ancestors were finding new items for dietary inclusion using trial and error, they most certainly happened upon psychoactive specimens. These must have gained the attention of the early explorers, as some of them have remained in our diet ever since, perhaps catalyzing profound cultural change. Psychoactive foods seem to be underestimated as agents of cultural change. It may well be that these compounds are, in fact, the most impressive catalysts of cultural change, perhaps being partly responsible for language, religion, and other phenomena which are integral parts of human culture.
[read more]

thanks to abuddhas memes

----------

I was a teenage abstainer

In recent days there has been much discussion of whether marijuana -- hash, weed, grass, pot, maryjane, bhang, ganja, call it what you will -- should be decriminalized. This has given rise to speculation over whether this or that well-known public figure has or has not used the drug.

In the interests of full disclosure, and in answer to persistent rumours, I feel compelled at this time to make a frank admission. This isn't easy, but here goes: Years ago, as a graduate student, like many young people of my generation, I experimented without marijuana.
[read more]

thanks to abuddhas memes