If you were looking through a microscope that could magnify any object infinitely, eventually through it you would see yourself looking through that microscope.

OK, so now I’m going to venture into the realm of politics. This is one of the few issues I’m very passionate about, and an issue I will always be involved in until the legislation is abolished.

Drugs are a contentious issue in society, and I think most of it is propagated by misinformation, myths, and fear-mongering by the government. Firstly, its important to distinguish the different connotations of the word ‘drug’. The first instance in which ‘drugs’ are used is in the context of pharmaceuticals. These are the apparent ‘acceptable’ drugs which worth and effects are not questioned. Then there are the ‘drugs’ that refer to illicit substances. These ‘drugs’ are treated with suspicion and criminality, while little is generally known about them, other than the bias facts the government provides, aimed at vilifying them.

Second, it is important to know that just about everyone has drugs on a daily basis. When you have a cup of coffee, a beer or a cigarette, you are consuming drugs. While it is concerning that even dictionaries provide different definitions for the word ‘drug’ based on the contexts I outlined above, I would say (and hope that you agree) that a drug is any substance that changes or otherwise affects one’s natural physiological or neurological processes. Caffeine, alcohol and nicotine, as well as all pharmaceuticals and illicit substances all qualify under this definition. Yet, they are treated differently. Legal drugs used in a recreational capacity are ‘fine’ and enjoyed, yet illicit drugs are ‘morally questionable’ on the sole basis of their legal status. So from this we must ask, why are some drugs acceptable while others are not?

The other problem with the consideration of illegal drugs is that they are all lumped together and subsequently labelled as a problem. The fact is, the substances that are illicit are all different. They have different effects, effect different parts of the mind and body, have different health consequences associated with them, are consumed in different ways and are consumed by different kinds of people. Thus, different drugs should be treated differently.

OK, so now on to cannabis. As you’re probably aware, cannabis is the most common illicit substance used recreationally. Hundreds of thousands of Australians used it today alone, and millions will have used it in the past at some point. Just like having a beer with a few mates, having a few cones or a joint or two is a good way to relax and be social with your friends; and its far better for your body than alcohol. But since cannabis has been under prohibition, users have been pushed into the shadows with fear of criminal records, hefty fines, prison time and the consequences that come with it, including refusal of entry to certain countries. Prohibition has also caused plenty of other problems, which I will outline later on.

The main reason I see evident behind prohibition (not just with cannabis but all illicit substances), is in attempt to stop drug abuse. The fact is, yes, any drug (including alcohol and caffeine) can be abused, but only so many people abuse drugs. Most people when they drink do so in moderation and with responsibility, but a minority drink excessively. The same applies with any substance. Those who do drink alcohol excessively now have help available to them to help overcome alcoholism. However, in the case of cannabis, governments choose instead to outlaw it all together. Is this throwing the baby out with the bathwater? Shouldn’t reasonable people who take drugs in moderation with responsibility be allowed to do so? Well, regardless of what you think, the government isn’t giving you a choice in the matter. Maybe they’re trying to protect you, or maybe they think you’re too stupid to make a decision; either way, they’re trying to make sure you don’t even have a taste.

With that out of the way, here are the reasons why I think cannabis should be legitimised.

1. Cannabis can be used as a valuable medicine for many conditions. It can be used to ease chronic pain, and research suggests (even though this research was instigated to try to prove the opposite) that cannabis can be used to reduce the size of, or eliminate, cancerous growths. It has also been proven (at least in preliminary research) to help conditions like asthma, depression and MS, as well as induce hunger in patients who are undergoing chemotherapy, or suffering from AIDS. It is quite possible cannabis could be used for many more conditions, but because of its legal status, research (and research funding) is limited, and most studies on it try only to access or prove their harmful effects (which in my opinion, have come up with very little).

2. Hemp is a highly renewable source of energy, fibres, building materials and food. Seriously. I can’t think of many things you can’t do with hemp. They once even made a car out of hemp, which could sustain 80% more damage than a regular car, and was significantly lighter. But, that’s obviously one quite obscure example. It can obviously be used to make clothes, insulation, construction, paper, textiles, plastics and much, much more. Most of these are currently made with materials that are either harmful to the environment, or are made from trees from clearing forests, which take hundreds of years to grow. Hemp, on the other hand, takes from 3 months to a few years to grow, and is completely biodegradable. It can also be make fuels such as bio-diesel and alcohol fuel (which burn cleanly into carbon dioxide and water), and as a food in a variety of ways and forms, and contain essential nutrients which promote general good health and well-being.

3. Cannabis production can be regulated if it is legalised. Just like alcohol and tobacco, cannabis’ properties, such as its THC content (the active compound in cannabis), its tar content, as well as levels of certain carcinogenic chemicals. Regulation can also cover things like where it is sold and at what age you can buy it. This of course has the obvious benefit of alleviating some of the health problems associated with smoking cannabis, and making sure it is sold in a responsible manner.

4. Legalising cannabis takes money directly out of the black market. And not just an insignificant sum; I’m talking about billions of dollars annually. This is money that goes purely to profit certain individuals, and importantly, organised crime. As organised crime doesn’t just deal with cannabis but other more harmful drugs, not to mention other violent crime and perhaps weapons, this causes a greater harm for society at large. Without the billions of dollars provided by the illegal sale of cannabis, this would significantly inhibit the ability for organised crime to operate.

5. Legalising cannabis would create several industries, and thus thousands of jobs and economic stimulation. That kind of speaks for itself. In critical economic times, money in businesses and more jobs do nothing but good. We all benefit from it. And, it has been consistently been proven in hard financial times, the two industries that always surge, are recreational drugs and gambling. So, should we ever fall in another financial dip and cannabis is legalised, we can know that its growth will help us out collectively.

6. Decriminalising cannabis will eliminate state expenditure on enforcing its prohibition, including investigation, searching, prosecution and imprisonment. If you’re not aware, drug enforcement costs the state and federal governments millions upon millions of dollars every year, and the enforcement of cannabis prohibition makes up a significant proportion of this cost; not to mention that the government’s efforts to control or stop the sale and distribution of drugs have had very little effect. And remember, this is money that comes out of your pocket through taxes. You are paying for an effort by the government which is having no success. So why should we continue funding it? Remember also, and I think quite importantly, that people like you and me who are sent to prison for cannabis possession or trafficking are not able to contribute to society or stimulate the economy, and cost us up to $50,000 per year EACH for their upkeep. Legalising cannabis isn’t only going to lower the costs of law enforcement (which will also free up money and people to fight real crime such as theft and violent crimes), but it also takes otherwise innocent people out of prison, which account for a significant percentage of current inmates.

7. The taxation of the sale of cannabis would create billions of dollars in revenue annually. This is serious money. Serious money that we could benefit from greatly. This is money that will not only go into the responsible consumption of cannabis, but into schools, health care, roads, public transport, infrastructure and countless other things which desperately need the money to operate successfully for our benefit; especially in areas such as health care which are in desperate need of funding in the midst of a growing and aging population.

8. Cannabis is be a much safer recreational drug than any legal drug currently available. Alcohol poisoning, alcohol related violence and accidents kill hundreds of thousands of people every year. Countless more are killed by illnesses directly caused by smoking tobacco. Even caffeine has racked up a death toll. Cannabis on the other hand, in it’s many thousands of years of recorded use, has never killed a single person. It is impossible to overdose on, and is not physically addictive. By miles and miles, cannabis is a safer drug.

So there you have it, my general rant about drugs, and my reasons for the legalisation of cannabis; what I think would make our country a better place. But, the fact remains that cannabis is illegal, which takes money away from police concentrating on crimes that have victims, puts money into the black market, and denies us many environmentally friendly resources and puts regular people in prison.

If you have been compelled by this, then do something about it. Talk to people, join lobby groups, sign petitions; this issue isn’t going to go away without action from the people.

Until next time, peace out and have fun!

I’ve been having a lot of discussions with friends generally revolving around the concept and application of the absolute (that is to say, fundamentals of existence, or better put, what is) and its relationship with the conscious mind/being. I found that most of these discussions arose generally from the idea that as consciousness is purely subjective (being that one only looks through one’s own eyes), that any absolute (or objective reality) cannot be accessed directly, if at all. This naturally infers that as an individual consciousness, you cannot see from any objective standpoint what is ‘really real’.

Science, physics and many other studies rely on the presumption and the necessity that it describes the world objectively, purely through observation of data and making conclusions/conceptions that gives the collective data a pattern. However it is apparent that the men and women who make these observations and conclusions do so within their own consciousness, through their own eyes and in their own brains; making their observations and conclusions subjective by necessity with this logical opposition.

When I sat and pondered this problem, I came to the realisation that these two things, consciousness (the subjective) and ‘reality’ (the objective) are in fact one and the same. This, I think, is true because of one simple fact: reality comes into being through your consciousness.

The separation people feel/think exists between consciousness and reality lies in the presumption that reality and consciousness (that is, you and the rest of the world) are two different, perhaps mutually exclusive things. The illusion that you are separate from the world. You quickly learn as a child the difference between yourself and others, the difference between your voluntary actions and the actions of others or external forces. This is the beginning of how one identifies one self as ‘self’, and inherently as a separate existence.

I base this proposition on the primacy of lived experience. I think, within experience itself, lies the perfect intersection and unification of the dichotomy of subjectivity and objectivity as one. While you experience something, it happens through the subjectivity of your consciousness. Simultaneously, there exists the objectivity and pureness of the experience as it happens, in that you only experience the moment in one way. Its a little hard to explain, but I’m sure you know what I mean. This is where the magic happens.

This is the space in which reality comes to life within you, and remember you are the very core of it. What’s the one thing always in common in your experience of reality? You’re always right in the middle of it all.

Consider this: when you encounter a problem, you usually take action in response to it. Firstly, when did this situation become a problem? Secondly, when did action become necessary? This is simply answered: because you said/know so. When you feel the sensation of hunger, you say to yourself ‘I am hungry, therefore I must eat’. You identified what the sensation or situation was, it’s nature, and any action you deem necessary. In the same way, when you observe something and form an opinion on it, that is you describing to yourself what it is and in the process actualising it. If you believe a certain piece of music is bad, then it is bad. Action to any situation is only necessary if you say it is necessary, for that becomes so when you think it. The crux of what I’m saying is that by virtue of reality existing within your consciousness, you are the sole definer, arbitrator, judge and authority of reality itself.

And this is no small thing. The power that you have in this is the power of God (or whatever you like to call it). Within this power, and the full realisation of what it is, resides the limitless possibilities of existence, reality and consciousness.

This realisation, I would argue, comes with an implied responsibility to self. That being, as I discussed in an earlier post, to have sole reliance on self for information and definition of anything. Don’t let anyone tell you how things are, that’s your job. This doesn’t by any stretch mean that you shouldn’t engage in discussion or debate, but rather that you see reality on your own terms and not someone else’s.

So, that about wraps it up.

Peace and Love at you all.