Saturday, August 09, 2008

iReport

1. people get "high" on cannabis because the plant produces secondary metabolites that mimic the action of cannabinoids produced in the human central nervous system. The human body produces its own cannabinoids (the endo-cannabinoid system), and the endogenous cannabinoid Anandamide binds to the same receptor as delta 9 THC (the active cannabinoid in Marijuana).

2. the cannabinoids of Cannabis sativa are active, not only in humans, but in most if not all other mammals. This suggests a co-evolutionary, symbiotic relationship between mammals and flowering plants like Cannabis.

3. anthropologists have proven the antiquity of the use of cannabis by human populations. Cannabis is one of humanity's oldest cultivated plants, and its range of uses as a botanical resource has shaped the progress of human civilization in many ways.

4. Cannabis has at least a 12,000 year history as a botanical resource for human populations. It has been a "dangerous drug" for almost seven decades during this time.

5. Cannabis has been and still can be used as a fiber for rope, clothing, canvas, and American flags. It can be used in construction to make bricks and timber. The oil can be converted into biodegradable biofuel, paint, skin lotion, and food. The cannabinoids of cannabis have many medical applications. All this, and it grows like a weed.

6. Cannabis does all this because humans have shaped its genome over the many millennia of our shared existence on Earth. Cannabis is a living artifact of ancient horticulture.

7. We have a lot to learn from this little plant.

8. Our blindness in these matters is NOT adaptive.

9. Learning to value this plant and use it effectively IS a great adaptive advantage in securing out future as a people, and a nation.

10. or, we can continue to support censorship, and bear the burdens of our ignorance.

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