Marihuana in Culture

Cannabis is a plant. Let’s establish this. It’s a plant which grows naturally—set there by god or left there by evolution, or existent in whichever way you wish to perceive it. It is there naturally. So why do the governments of our civilization feel they have the right to criminalize it? What is this? It would be preposterous for a group of people to hunt down and exterminate an animal for the constructed ‘danger’ it poses to humankind. Ah, we’ve done that before. The moral is there is stupidity encasing the thoughts of those we find to be in charge of things.

Taking a step back, for governments to spend so much money, so many resources, on the extermination of a natural plant species is ridiculous. Beyond that, for governments and agencies to spend so much effort and resources to criminalize the plant, and to punish those caught using it is disgraceful. Many, if not most, of these people committing a so-called ‘criminal offense’ are below the poverty line.

The african continent contained cultures which used the plant as an integral part of their way of life. There are even bible passages which, interpretable as they are, can refer to the ritual use of the cannabis plant for prayer. Even today, on the banks of the River Ganges in India and in the surrounding countrysides, Sadhus—Shaiv ascetics—may be found meditating and praying to Shiva with a chillum and charas in hand. The Lord Shiva himself is often depicted with a pipe or chillum along with his other religious symbols. 

A highly variable weed, cannabis has been an integral part of cultures around the world with different characteristics and uses. Thus, it may be considered a product of cultural imperialism for certain modern, ‘western’ views to encroach on the much older traditions of tribes and sects from different corners of human civilization.