Prohibition is anti-human

"It is not a war on drugs, it is a war on personal freedom."

History will not look back on prohibitionists with respect, and their 'war' is impossible, as it is a war against human nature and the natural world. They assume moral authority over another individual, they lie in order to enforce that authority and they ruin the lives of those who do not keep in line. Speaking philosophically, I believe we forget that we are human, we lose track of our human self in culture and the aspirations of others. We become our name, our ego, our taught values and absorb all the information we are given through various media whilst never pausing to consider what purpose it serves. Justification for Cannabis prohibition constantly changes, but still costs billions and still invades a very basic human freedom.

Why would any group or individual dedicate themselves to making a plant that has been used for over 2,000 years by humans and grows freely across the globe, a plant that has never taken a life and could potentially boost tourism and the economy illegal? None of that actually matters, as a human being there is no moral authority on this subject, a society that prohibits any aspect of nature is a paranoid and sickly one, fearful of personal freedoms. It is at war with its own species, not a plant or a chemical. Prohibition is only allowed to exist due to apathy and fear on a mass scale, we are lied to from a very young age, and then the lie is continued in television and right wing, tabloid newspapers.

Throughout history unbiased scientists have granted Cannabis with a pretty much clean bill of health, ill effects being so temporary and vague they're hardly worth considering. They have confirmed it is not cancerous, in spite of rabidly conservative Daily Mail articles, it has been confirmed first hand to have a multitude of health benefits. But the fact remains, none of this matters, as a human, born to this planet there are basic freedoms that are untouchable and unshakable, and to imprison and persecute one who has not harmed another dehumanises the victim of prohibition. As long as we fear the plant, or take the prohibitionist seriously we are animals, chained to the bizarre moral ideas of another man's foundation. Moral authorities assume themselves, and when their cause becomes futile they fabricate and exaggerate, stirring emotions, making people fearful of the contents of their own mind, binding them to carefully manufactured cultural values and the concept of family.

Whilst not as extreme as it once was, Cannabis prohibition still helps build public perception of what a Cannabis smoker is. Whilst I once would have been considered a threat to national security or part of  a degenerative hedonistic sub-community, destined to become insane, I am now deemed unmotivated and unfit judge or my own mental and physical health. According to the television Cannabis smokers are usually working class teenagers who have dropped out of school to pursue their 'addiction', living in squalor. The other depiction of a Cannabis smoker is somebody who is mentally ill, the state of their mental health prior to smoking Cannabis is never considered, the emphasis is placed on the fact that this person is mentally ill and they also smoke cannabis. This trash is implanted in our sub-conscience over the course of years until we simply accept it, the idea we are being lied to is just unfeasable.

We are being lied to, history has proven their intentions to be insincere and their approach to be morally bankrupt and dishonest.

They do not care about your health, and if they did they would bring attention to Cannabis harm reduction techniques. I recall seeing a documentary in which a doctor goes on about Cannabis smokers coming into hospitals with punctured lungs, not commenting on whether or not they were also tobacco smokers or whether or not they were made aware of vaporising technology that is available. But as long as the fight continues to prove cannabis is good, cannabis is healthy, cannabis won't turn you into a murderer or manic depressive we will still be losing. Anti-prohibitionist defence is ignored by the mainstream whose lifestyles are still based on and sustained by television, the fact is, we have nothing to prove and nothing to be sorry for. I don't need to explain my lifestyle or accomplishments or ambitions to anybody, I am a cannabis smoker and what you do with that information is your business, your authority is your own illusion and all the money in the world won't win the 'war on drugs'.

We exist in a constant state of competition, conflict and fear. We compete tirelessly for the paper representation of wealth, against or fellow man as though this is the way to build a better and civilised world. All of our emotion and physical energy is dedicated to this one cause, from our first day at school until we die. We learn, we keep learning from a young age, and not once are we ever encouraged to learn about ourselves, our own consciousness or to develop a drop of wisdom. We take the paperwork that identifies 'us' seriously, the driver cannot exist without a license, a human cannot exist without the appropriate certificate and so on. We're lost in the madness of another's ideal, of our own individual fear and apathy. Cannabis does not fit into this scheme, it creates a closeness to nature and opens minds, changing our perception allowing us to laugh at what once made us cry with stress.

Prohibition has turned Cannabis smoking into a statement, one that is anti-establishment and says YES to basic human freedom. The place of cannabis in history and spirituality and political liberation is ignored by the mainstream so many can only perceive the plant as an intoxicant or a party drug, cannabis is not to blame in this situation.

I'd ask anybody who disagrees with the content of this article to explain how their knowledge could benefit me, what good is their higher knowledge to me, and who gave them the information they base their prohibitionist ideas on. Everything we know is learnt and second hand, I don't consider anything I have to say to be profound or new, but more importantly I don't believe anything I have learnt should grant me moral authority over anybody who has not led my life. I would not want to see anybody punished for refusing to smoke cannabis as doing so is a ludicrous invasion of personal freedom and choice, the reverse situation is exactly the same.

High sativa weed...whoa

This amnesia haze. I just took my mind apart and just evaluated my life up to this point from a thousand different perspectives, music sounded almost as deep and intense as it would on say, acid. At some points it got to be too much, depressing and unnerving even, then I played Funkadelics 'Maggot Brain' and closed my eyes and it was like listening to God play guitar. Either ways, I've woke up today motivated like never before, I feel like I've just had my eyes pried open, totally against my will, but for my own good it seems.

Fuck, the whole thing just caught me off guard, I need to fix my life. I've experienced a lot that I've set out to, in general living and drugs and enjoying myself. But I feel like I've got no foundations and I'm running out of time to start building them, I'm 22 and I feel really old, like I've lived my most valuable years without considering so many things. I've been single for about four years, other than a few one night stands and shit, I've had nothing. I feel like I'm to blame for this, 'cos I never realised my situation earlier. I've never held down a job for longer than a year 'cos I can just feel every moment being wasted and unlived, and every day it just feels heavier and heavier. I want to live, and I can't even begin to work out how.

Last nights session exposed me to my own situation and put all the responsibility into my hands, shit. Anybody else feel really lost and confused right now? Either way, tomorrow I'm going out to make some money, whatever it takes to get the ball rolling, so long as I keep all this in mind I'll do my best to ensure my time isn't wasted.

-SWIM

Cannabis and the Ukulele

Man, just the idea of having an ounce and a ukulele, just the most chill instrument in the world. Something tranquil and otherwordly about it, its sound just suggests escape and positivity.

Anyway, I watched the documentary 'Grass' earlier this week, I was aware of racist campaigns against cannabis that were carried out by America in the jazz era, but did not realise even back then there was opposition in place. Not just liberal and progressive, but scientific and political. Politicians opposed to Ansligers hysteria and bigotry spoke against prohibition and were as ignored then as they are today. Money spent on Cannabis research, to prove its dangers, were unsuccessful and even in the 30's it was all set with a clean bill of health. Anslinger had all scientific research thrown away and accused the scientists of being communists.

Billions continue to be spent on anti-cannabis propaganda, prohibition and imprisoning victims of the drug war, but it makes sense that more money is also made due to prohibition. The Cannabis plant would be an immense rival to paper, oil, pharmacy and fabric companies, and would reduce the popularity of dangerous anti-depressants and opiates. Think of a world where people turn to THC to ease headaches, instead of aspirin, a drug which thousands die from using every year.

It will be mentioned in every pro-cannabis argument, but Cannabis has never killed anybody, ever.

Back then Cannabis could turn you into a Communist, or suggested being seduced by black culture. Later it could turn you into a psychopath, then an anti-vietnam hippy or a potential heroin addict. Years after that, you'd be deemed unmotivated and unfit to take part in society, making you worthless in a world where paying taxes means everything and employment is at an all time low. If they could still take the racist stand against cannabis they would, now they've just changed their game, that doesn't mean its not bullshit.



Currently playing;

Jake Shimabukuro

Currently smoking;

Amnesia Haze

Hank Hill

Screw You

Argh

Think I'm going to be at Kanyini tonight, I just feel out of touch from everything and everybody, constantly broke and going nowhere. I feel like I've stopped knowing people, so I feel out of place at clubs and raves, like I don't belong and it shows.  Kanyini is the kind of place everybody knows everyone too, where middle aged hippy looking couples distribute magic mushrooms and trade you acid for a hit on your joint. You get caught in conversations about 2C-x's and Terence McKenna, listening to psytrance in a room decorated with Buddhist artwork. I enjoy myself there anyway.

I'm just trying not to worry that I'm going nowhere until I have a direction to go in anyway. I've been putting together some short stories, when they're eventually done I'd like to distribute them somehow, just for some sense of accomplishment or recognition. When it will actually all come together is another matter.

I feel left behind since having dropped Facebook, I phone people and they seem surprised to hear from me, just calling somebody to say hello has become an archaic concept, dropping comments on a wall has replaced just dropping in on somebody to see how they're doing. I dislike the structure of Facebook and how it plays such a significant role in actual real life relationships, I'm sure there's an alternative still in place anyway.

I've got nothing to say right now, I just wanted to update.

Dude

 

 

Sidney Bechet

Watched an awesome blues documentary last night, got listening to Lucille Bogan and Muddy Waters today, and then strayed towards jazz.

Enjoy.

Poule fou

Feeling like black metal today

French Canadian Black Metal

Gris - Veux-tu Danser

Great Gatsby - The Game

Click Here to Play

Psychoactive Front Demo

Psychoactive Front Seriously Harms your Health and that of Others Around You

1 - Part One
2 - Demonized
3 - Slow Recovery
4 - Delirious
5 - Cannabis
6 - Stations
7 -

Download Link; http://preview.tinyurl.com/5tejrmx

 

Blackpool has...

A sea monster, you pay 50p and you see the sea monster. This got me thinking, this small fishtank, full of dirty water and plastic fish is probably overlooked for the most part but somebody must profit from it. I keep wondering who gets all those 50p's, how many people pay to see the sea monster? I didn't have the right change so I missed out on it. Next time I'm up north I'll keep 50p aside and hope I'm not funding something sinister. Also, further out towards the countryside, where dogs are allowed in pubs, there are llamas (or alpacas). I saw them, I briefly passed a field with several llamas and tried to work out how they ended up there.

Tomorrow is the start of my latest Cannabis tolerance break, which will hopefully go better than recent previous attempts. I'm totally opposed to turning down free weed, as a matter of principle I will smoke when it is offered. But for the next few weeks I'm unlikely to be around weed, unlikely to be able to afford weed and feeling like I need to break the routine again. I've got that intense, mindblowing high to look forward to, after a month without a single bowl you smoke up and it hits you like a train. And smoking big, pure green joints, walking down long, unlit countryside roads in the middle of the night is definitely worth experiencing.

So, weed and blackpool aside, I got thinking about Internet nostalgia earlier. The amount of information we share online, we portray ourselves through blogs and profiles and most information and media we distribute is removed and updated over time, but occasionally some of it becomes a permanent fixture of the Internet and is beyond deletion or modification. Embarrassing forum posts, myspace profiles from 2004 and so on. I also considered how close communities can be torn apart when webmasters decide to throw the towel in, in the case of totse, and the first board I ever posted on 'Tomb of Carpathia'. ToC was an obscure, unofficial Cradle of Filth board populated by black metal fans who were more at home on this isolated ezboard forum, than they were on the official and far more closely monitored official alternative.

I met people through ToC who are close friends of mine to this day, other individuals remained in contact too, but upon deletion of the forum the community, its culture and unique inside humour were gone for good. As far as I'm aware, no archives exist and nobody backed up any threads. I find it hard to imagine the Internet will ever exist in the form it did ten years ago, the sense of belonging to a particular group and community, of keeping something significant alive is gone. Internet use is now based solely on ego, and creating an idealised version of yourself online and promoting it tirelessly. We promote ourselves for feedback, comments, likes and any other meaningless reassurance, creativity and effort are entirely optional. The death of geocities and so many messageboards and BBS systems marked the end of an era. Social networking now dominates and previously strong, thriving communities fell apart from the inside.

I feel I'm now looking to the past in my general Internet use. My prior reluctance to use Facebook has become flat out refusal and most my time online is spent using Zoklet, (which came into its own upon the end of Totse) and a handful of chan imageboards. This blog is a sideline whilst I plan and design a potential homepage, another personal alternative to the seemingly monolithic Facebook, which now overshadows every aspect of the Internet. The online world has took a turn for the worst, I just hope Internet nostalgia and a genuine want for life, creativity and community online will allow the survival of sites such as totse.info and zoklet. It is wrong to feel Zoklet is just the aftermath of the golden years, if anything the smaller scale, and increasingly closely knit nature of such communities is a positive progression. There's something defiant about their survival in the increasingly cold and corporate climate of the present online world.

Ugly the Cat

I found this on 4chan;

Everyone in the apartment complex I lived in knew who Ugly was. Ugly was the resident tomcat. Ugly loved three things in this world: fighting, eating garbage, and, shall we say, love.

The combination of these things combined with a life spent outside had their effect on Ugly. To start with, he had only one eye and where the other should have been was a hole. He was also missing his ear on the same side, his left foot appeared to have been badly broken at one time, and had healed at an unnatural angle, making him look like he was always turning the corner.

Ugly would have been a dark gray tabby, striped type, except for the sores covering his head, neck, and even his shoulders. Every time someone saw Ugly there was the same reaction. “That’s one UGLY cat !”

All the children were warned not to touch him, the adults threw rocks at him, hosed him down, squirted him when he tried to come in their homes, or shut his paws in the door when he would not leave. Ugly always had the same reaction.

If you turned the hose on him, he would stand there, getting soaked until you gave up and quit. If you threw things at him, he would curl his lanky body around your feet in forgiveness.

Whenever he spied children, he would come running, meowing frantically and bump his head against their hands, begging for their love.

If you ever picked him up he would immediately begin suckling on your shirt, earrings, whatever he could find.

One day Ugly shared his love with the neighbor’s dogs. They did not respond kindly, and Ugly was badly mauled. I tried to rush to his aid. By the time I got to where he was laying, it was apparent Ugly’s sad life was almost at an end.

As I picked him up and tried to carry him home, I could hear him wheezing and gasping, and could feel him struggling. It must be hurting him terribly, I thought.

Then I felt a familiar tugging, sucking sensation on my ear. Ugly, in so much pain, suffering and obviously dying, was trying to suckle my ear. I pulled him closer to me, and he bumped the palm of my hand with his head, then he turned his one golden eye towards me, and I could hear the distinct sound of purring.

Even in the greatest pain, that ugly battled scarred cat was asking only for a little affection, perhaps some compassion. At that moment I thought Ugly was the most beautiful, loving creature I had ever seen. Never once did he try to bite or scratch me, try to get away from me, or struggle in any way. Ugly just looked up at me completely trusting in me to relieve his pain.

Ugly died in my arms before I could get inside, but I sat and held him for a long time afterwards, thinking about how one scarred, deformed little stray could so alter my opinion about what it means to have true pureness of spirit, to love so totally and truly.

Ugly taught me more about giving and compassion than a thousand books, lectures, or talk show specials ever could, and for that I will always be thankful. He had been scarred on the outside, but I was scarred on the inside, and it was time for me to move on and learn to love truly and deeply. To give my total to those I cared for.

Many people want to be richer, more successful, well liked, beautiful, but for me…I will always try to be Ugly.

-By Unknown

Blackpool

Going to spend a week in Blackpool, got no money. Should probably be packing right now, we're already running an hour late...a few sort of depressing pictures until I get back;

Sparks

France Gall

Bad trips are awesome and humbling. It's all sensory, and difficult to put into words  what I have experienced under the influence of LSD, but I know I reached out to something greater when things got particularly dark. I suppose after tripping I had a better awareness of empathy and realised just what being backed into a corner can do to your mind. On the other hand, maybe it just revealed how deeply I hope for the light at the end of the tunnel. I looked into a mirror at one point, after having lay down with my eyes closed for around forty minutes and I looked just...like a corpse. I was genuinely uncertain of whether or not I was still alive. But I was totally open to the idea of afterlife, without any doubt or cynicism. Throughout all my trips and emphasis has been on learning and consciousness expansion, LSD is a tool which can be used for different things depending on the choice of the individual.

But a lot of it is lack of familiarity, the world is a big, scary, exciting place when you're a child, LSD throws you back into a big, scary, exciting world and it's a lot to cope with initially. Everything you've been taught is transformed, and only you can come to learn and inhabit the new world, with no outside interference or guidance. If nothing spiritual, the psychological side is real and tangible, I feel toughened by bad trips. I have prayed, internally, under the influence of psychedelics, I'll never forget the thoughts and emotions that came into play throughout my bad trips and will never be totally flippant about God and spirituality. I seek to better myself, but without psychedelics for now.

I've heard people say ego is an essential part of our survival, but we live in a world where it has become our greatest flaw. Ego loss induced by LSD is real and physical and as liberating as it is terrifying, the pettiness and temporary nature of our world, here and now is exposed. There is no subjectivity or bias, you become a witness, consciousness that is entirely separated from the body. The ownership of thoughts is removed, I am no longer 'SWIM', I am chemistry and consciousness without identity. Personality and beliefs are left in the physical world upon closing your eyes. This is a world within a world that has always existed in all of us, LSD uses chemicals already present in our brain, and through the physical self we become open to the spiritual self, without ego. Then we begin to explore, and learn without boundaries.

On the other hand, there has to be determination to experience something spiritual and profound during any psychedelic experience, maybe after using LSD we can decide what we wish to experience and the entire thing is artificial and a hollow illusion. The same however, can be said about day to day life, we choose to continue to exist within the ideals of others and their culture, at least LSD removes us from such external influence and allows us to finally see ourselves, however profound or meaningless we actually are. Culture restricts thought processes, LSD is a removal of cultural bias, spiritual or not, our thoughts become independent after using LSD. To say LSD isn't real is naive, it is denying the presence of already apparent chemicals and neurotransmitters. To say it is a pointless practice is to deny an inherent part of human nature, apparent in tribes and civilisations all throughout history.

If nothing else, LSD has shown me I am small and that I know nothing, nothing at all. LSD only brings about awareness of what was already apparent, that which cultural opposition wishes you to never see. I now understand I hope for something greater, I am no more aware of what's to come than I was before. This sounds silly, and like LSD offers very little in the great scheme of things, but what I'm saying, is I'm no longer a sceptic and understand the dangers of absolute certainty. To cease consciousness expansion, to oppose meditation and use of psychedelics (including Cannabis)  is to give up hope. Prohibition restricts access to thoughts and perception, the highly artificial nature of drug laws will never overcome the elements of hope and desire to explore that are so present within our species.

Plant ban

I just read that the Australian government is planning to ban nutmeg, some plants from the violet family and datura, along with any cacti that contains the smallest amount of mescaline...and that's just a few of  thousands of plants it will be be illegal to grow or sell. Apparently it's to crack down on drug trafficking. I can't imagine who exactly traffics datura or who deals in nutmeg, and how all the gardeners who are totally oblivious to the psychoactive nature of these plants and herbs will respond to these laws, but it does expose the desperation and pettiness of governments that aspire to continue the 'war on drugs'. How do we get to this point as a species, where datura and nutmeg are prohibited and alcohol is sold on TV.

Whether or not these laws are passed is regardless, they would be impossible to enforce and would only raise awareness of the fact these otherwise benign plants and herbs can be used as psychoactives. Nutmeg is popular amongst young people with no access to anything better, datura is potentially fatal delirient with, understandably, very little human use. Go to any forum where discussion of psychedelics and other psychoactives takes place, users will occasionally discuss substances they will never use, invariably these include crystal meth, crack and datura. It is unpopular as a drug, undeserving of mainstream attention and best left to gardeners who have no intention of consuming or selling it to be consumed.

Both (nutmeg and datura) have other non-psychoactive uses, nutmeg being the most obvious and datura as an aesthetically pleasing, popular garden plant. To ban them, as well as being a violation of very basic human freedoms also shows distrust on the Australian governments behalf in its people, how popular can datura use be in Australia and who are all these people that are using it to justify a change in laws. If one case, one bad experience or one death is all it takes, why not expand prohibition to cigarettes, which are undeniably damaging on a greater and vaster scale than some cacti and garden plants will ever be. This is not to condone prohibition of tobacco but to point out the lack of logic in drug laws, which continue to allow black markets and worldwide crime.

The saddest thing is that Salvia Divinorum is also on the huge list of plants to be banned, a spiritual tool now popular with mostly young people, unaware of its power and intensity. Widespread abuse of Salvia as a juvenile party drug has bought it to mainstream recognition and made it easier to push for its prohibition. My theory has always been with no proper guidance or instruction young people will continue down a destructive path, recreational use of drugs has most popularly become an escape from day to day reality as opposed to a means of understanding it better. With no awareness or understanding of the desire to explore different states of consciousness, use becomes abuse and chemicals used for centuries as spiritual tools are held to blame. Drug abuse is our fault, our culture and lack of society is to blame, not nutmeg, not datura, not salvia and not any cactus you could care to imagine.

Testing