Carl Sagan on Pot
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This account was written in 1969 for publication in "Marihuana Reconsidered (1971)". Sagan was in his mid-thirties at that time. He continued to use cannabis for the rest of his life.
The cannabis experience has greatly improved my appreciation for art, a subject which I had never much appreciated before. The understanding of the intent of the artist which I can achieve when high sometimes carries over to when I'm down. This is one of many human frontiers which cannabis has helped me traverse. There also have been some art-related insights - I don't know whether they are true or false, but they were fun to formulate. For example, I have spent some time high looking at the work of the Belgian surrealist Yves Tanguey. Some years later, I emerged from a long swim in the Caribbean and sank exhausted onto a beach formed from the erosion of a nearby coral reef. In idly examining the arcuate pastel-colored coral fragments which made up the beach, I saw before me a vast Tanguey painting. Perhaps Tanguey visited such a beach in his childhood.
A very similar improvement in my appreciation of music has occurred with cannabis. For the first time I have been able to hear the separate parts of a three-part harmony and the richness of the counterpoint. I have since discovered that professional musicians can quite easily keep many separate parts going simultaneously in their heads, but this was the first time for me. Again, the learning experience when high has at least to some extent carried over when I'm down. The enjoyment of food is amplified; tastes and aromas emerge that for some reason we ordinarily seem to be too busy to notice. I am able to give my full attention to the sensation. A potato will have a texture, a body, and taste like that of other potatoes, but much more so. Cannabis also enhances the enjoyment of sex - on the one hand it gives an exquisite sensitivity, but on the other hand it postpones orgasm: in part by distracting me with the profusion of image passing before my eyes. The actual duration of orgasm seems to lengthen greatly, but this may be the usual experience of time expansion which comes with cannabis smoking.
Thanks Josh!
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Recently @ DoseNation
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Have fun licking my shoes when I trounce you in the corporate ladder. 10 years of smoking reefer and I've still never touched anything else (except for hallucinogenic mushrooms, one time, when I couldn't smoke because work was drug testing me). Anyway Carl Sagan will always be my hero, I identify closely with his experience with marijuana. My introduction to pot was during my sophomore year in highschool. I immediately began getting stoned and going to AP Calculus (1st period). I ended up taking two separate AP Calc classes that year (AB & BC for those in the know) and scored top marks (5/5) on both final exams. Since then, the story has remained the same:
1. Get baked
2. Go to work
3. Outperform the muggles (non-potheads)
4. Laugh all damn day
I am 17 years old and believe it or not quite wise and have seen both sides of the arguement and believe that no matter how many labels are put on cannabis, all the so called "studies" that have proven cannabis to be bad for our memory/paranoia, etc... All of these studies aren't medically proven, they have no solid evidence. There has been thousands of studies to prove that x number of hours of sleep is good/bad for us, but none are conclusive (Just an example I think is somewhat relevant to cannabis).
Think of the pros and cons of alcohol.
Pros - More social, small doses 'may' be healthy for our bodies.. I can't think of many upsides and I'm a teenager who drinks.
cons - Cancer of the liver, mouth, stomach.. so on, memory loss, lose of inhibtions, loss of morals, increased rate of criminal activity.. You get the picture.
I'm sympathetic to those who completely disregard what I'm saying but the truth is alcohol keeps us dumb. If it was newly found it would be immediately illegalised due to the horrific side-effects it has if overdone/long term usage. Throughout the ages there has been more pro cannabis arguments that are, lets face it, more honest. Nearly everyone who has been 'baked' has said somewhat the same results, you don't hear about people committing crimes (not possesion related) or all the jazz you hear from alcohol related situations. Cannabis has been proven again and again that it is a natural painkiller, I've met 30 plus year olds who are actually high up in my towns government who admit to smoking pot.. Even Obama smoked and he's president! Stop your war on cannabis. It saves lives and helps chemotherapy patients get through the slaving nausea.. You may think I'm blathering on but nearly 1 in 3 people are effected by cancer, in all honesty I'd rather not believe anyone would want there loved ones to suffer more than they need to. Rant over!
P.S. I'm an enormous fan of Sagan and his work.
we as humans learned to wield fire by burning everything in sight including each other,
i'll safely assume that cannabis curbed our obsession with fire so we wouldn't pyrolyze our kin.
Cannabis saved the human race and was the catalyst to our evolution.
If we legalized cannabis, the government might lose control of their livestock/the working class
the medical companies would lose a shitload of customers
their whole system would fall apart because there would be an influx of lazy, philanthropic, anti-war HIPPIES!
War is a fucking BUSINESS ie: G.W. Bush
Peace is marketable
but experiencing peace is as unrealistic as freedom
unless you're referring to death
than sure
you're just going to have to pay for that funeral or leave that debt to your spouse and children
[link]
WTF?
I think his opinion alone outweighs the majority.
www.surfing-anonymity.br.tc
....as Bush said...'its a scourge' ...not
Worthruss - I don't see why it would matter to any of us if the world ended in even 100 million years -let alone 1 billion. If we havn't figured out how to leave this solar system by then... well, I'd find that surprising. Also, we've got a technological singularity gaining momentum exponentially. We've already started to augment ourselves. In 100 years I think it'll be tough to find anyone you could still call human (at least by today's standards). My point is, I find it hard to get all hot and bothered by something that isn't going to happen in my great-grand children's (however many generations) lifetimes. As for refining the "good stuff" - what do you mean? Marijuana? If so, we've had that down to a science for quite a while now -take a look at some pics of White Widow.
People who abuse Marijuana by violating some basic rules will have to be dealt with.As vices go and it does have some positive benefits the negatives are far less than either alcohol or tobacco.If you truly believe in liberty you should help overturn arcane and bad law.
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