Decriminalising Personal

In the wake of the collapse of the medical cannabis bill Catherine Byrne TD (Irish politician) has announced a proposed change to drug policy to change to a health based approach for possession of personal amounts of most drugs like cannabis, heroin and cocaine. I don't want to disrespect Catherine Byrne as she's one of the few politicians to respond to my email on the medical cannabis bill unlike anyone else in Fianna Gael, Labour, Sinn Fein or Fianna Fail. As my local TD this certainly carries favour with me come the next election and has made some great changes in the national drug strategy already, being able to approach it with more evidence based reasoning than most who deem themselves capable of ruling.

I'll briefly touch on the proposed change in policy but it's not the main point of this rant. I think Bill Hicks summed it up best with "sick people do not get better in jail". That is why we need a change in the way people in possession are handled. There's plenty out there about the societal benefits Portugal has experienced due to its change in policy and I recommend you research them yourself. Despite the gross misunderstanding of the benefits of rehabilitation over imprisonment by some at the Irish Times. This seems to be the 140 character attention span millenials are to be cursed with.

On to my main point, given the Oireachtas Health Committees 'it's too difficult' approach to the medical cannabis bill, what chance does a change to drug policy have? Logically no chance. If providing cannabis under a doctors directions under strict guidelines is too difficult how will our government committees cope with the complexities of figuring out personal use, adequate rehabilitation services and the risk of normalising drug use? Remember if you use drugs your of no use to society, regardless of your community work, income/employability or not causing harm to others, your presence is detestable and to quote a judge recently 'you should just leave the country'. Let us not forget the sacrosanct UN convention internationally banning drugs like cannabis, another blocker to the medical cannabis bill. According to our government this is adhered to by all countries, with the incredible blinkered approach ignoring the Netherlands, Switzerland, Portugal, Germany, Finland, Spain, Uruguay and the USA. All of which are not adhering to the aforementioned convention. Nah, those countries don't exist in the eyes of our government.

So there's two ways the changes will go, with the logic above it won't pass or by some amazing corkscrew politics it does pass, so what does that mean? I'm not foolish enough to believe that decriminalising personal amounts is better for people than not allowing medical cannabis and I hope you're not either, but I am paranoid enough to think there's a lot more politicing going on than we're allowed see. I think we will see a change in the drug policy but not for the right reasons. This policy is coming from an established member of Fianna Gael, one of the oldest parties in the country not from an upstart independent who doesn't know his place. Gino Kelly is just a nobody whinging about what people need, he's not their to tow the line and let the big boys play their game. He's even foolish enough to try represent the people who elected him. If we see this policy pass its a clear sign that the supporting bodies to our government are partisan against anyone who is not part of the political establishment. Reinforcing the strength of the established parties further adding to the idea that voting independent is a waste of time because they can't get anything done. The upside if it passes is the health committee will have less argument against any future attempt to implement a medical cannabis bill, as the ground work will already be laid out for people being in possession and going against the almighty UN convention. Maybe they'll even trust doctors to do a job they spent up to 7 years studying to do. Unlike politicians who seem to spend less than 7 minutes studying how to run a country.

I don't know about the rest of you but these sorts of antics seem another step closer to good aule rope day but given those supporting the TDs we'll need a lot more than 158 nooses. Free helicopter rides for communists afterwards too.

No Reform

Today we got the news that the medical cannabis bill may not pass. One phrase that has been bugging me all day 'Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell warned: “Convicted drug dealers could secure a licence to supply cannabis.”'. I'll be honest here I'm in that category so maybe I'm more emotional about it, but let's break it down a bit.

People with experience shouldn't use their experience to work a legitimate job. That goes against any concept of freedom of employment and also the common sense of someone working in a field they're good at. Looking at how the government in the states has grown some of the worst weed known to man as reported by Vox governments have no idea what they're doing. How would you like your medicine made by someone who has no idea what they're doing? "Hello pharmacist give me 24 of your finest 'maybe paracetamol' and a pack of 'pin holes passion condoms', please". No I don't think so.

Let's also look at our TDs (Irish politicians) approach to people previously found guilty of crimes. There appears to be an attitude that criminals shouldn't have legitimate business or be a benefit to their society. Our representatives pick and choose who they represent. Should our representatives cause an 'us vs them' attitude in our society? This may seem acceptable to you right now but what if things changed, are you a smoker, enjoy occasional game of poker, like pornography or maybe have a vehicle with after market parts? Because all those things will come into the line of fire in the near future and then you're on the other side, the side that is reprehensible, morally corrupt and do not deserve representation from the people who take a percentage of your wages by force (don't forget, taxation is theft). That's why you need to be outraged by a politicians exclusion of a member of society no matter who they are.

Lastly I'll raise this, this concept that someone with criminal record shouldn't be allowed the same opportunities as someone who doesn't have a criminal record? Does this politician not believe that our criminal justice system is capable of reforming criminals? It's reasonable for them to believe so, what's unreasonable is that they have gotten in to a role that allows them to instigate changes in that area but they don't. Did they end up in a role they didn't understand?

What conclusion can we draw from that? A few things I can speculate, sheer ignorance developed by a sense of superiority. The concept they're better than others, with the nativity that's there's good & evil, that they're the good and only they can defeat the evil. Ignoble glory, to be a leader is to be a great person, surely they wouldn't have won the great democratic popularity contest if they weren't a great person, right? Finally, divide and conquer, politicians like this have something to gain while we're suspicious of each other. So what does Kate O'Connell need to hide or who is she hiding it for?

Cannabis is not a gateway drug

One of the biggest arguments against cannabis is "it's a gateway drug". I'm going to propose a few reasons this is wrong.

Mis-education: People are often taught the dangers of cannabis in a greatly exaggerated manner, this will cause people to think the dangers of other drugs are exaggerated too.
Criminals or pushers: Criminals sell drugs, to get cannabis someone is most likely going to be dealing with a serious criminal. Cannabis has the lowest mark-up of any drug, so it's in a criminals interest to sell something more profitable.
Substance abuse: Through escapism people will want to get out of there heads, cannabis isn't all that great at this but is the light start, people who want to escape will start light and work up. Very few start with heroin.

So what can be done?
Education: dis-spell the myths about cannabis, ensure people know the difference between cannabis and hard drugs.
Decriminalise: moving cannabis sale from criminals to legitimate taxed businesses changes the dynamic, a legitimate cannabis seller will be pushing nothing worse than smoking accessories and munchies.
Psychiatric care: the substance abuser will always exist, it could be alcohol, cannabis, paint or anything. There issue lies in the psychological no matter how much prohibition is introduced they'll find something, it can only be resolved with adequate psychiatric help.

A Piece on DMT

Dimethyltryptamine AKA the God molecule. It's one of the most common chemicals in ethnobotanicals (plants that let you see God). It occurs naturally in most mammals as part of our endocrine system yet its purpose is unknown it's hypothesised to be integral to dreaming. As such its amongst the least dangerous hallucinogens, it still has its risks but it's accessible to the newer psychonaut but essential to the experienced. As it's a substance our body produces it gets broken down quickly, ingesting it alone has no effect as the stomach acids destroy it immediately. If it's taken alone it should be smoked in plant or crystal form or it can be made into a tea with an MAOI like Ayahuasca.

What plants?
There's a multitude that contain it but the 2 most powerful are Salvia Divinorum and Acacia. It's recently been postulated that Acacia is the burning bush through which the Judaic God spoke to Moses.

What is it good for?
People take it to commune with God, for me this has been a direct link from conscious to sub-conscious and a feeling the universe is talking to me. The latter isn't as strange as it sounds, to truly understand the world outside one needs to look within. The sub-conscious holds our connections to past lives that's where this connection feels like the universe is talking to you.

Whats it like?
My preference is to use it as an aid to my mediation, whilst it has some fun fractal hallucinations in the waking world it's ability to facilitate enlightenment far out weighs that. I will load a pipe, start my chant and try still my mind. After that prep of about 15 to 20 minutes I'll smoke the bowl, drawing the smoke as deep as possible and holding it. Finish the bowl and let the trance take over. It will begin with fractal like visuals in the darkness forming into archetypal images, dragons, the Buddha a multitude of things. From there through previous attempts I focus on an opening happening at my crown this feels to facilitate the connection better. I find it best to let what comes, come. Allow the sub-conscious talk to me and question as I need. All in all the trip only lasts about 15 minutes but while I'm meditating it feels like a few hours, this demonstrates the flimsy nature of time and our perception along it linearly.

What have I learnt?
There are a few personal revelations that will remain personal, I'll just say it will help you realise the things you do wrong and help you improve.
People fear intelligent individuals, the ones willing to learn and expand their minds. We're a threat to those seeking to control.
To know the world outside you, you must look within.
Always be prepared to change your mind.
Try not have beliefs.
Never assume you're more intelligent, better or worse than anyone else, we all have skills others don't.
Perception is key to everything.
Our perception of other people is a reflection of ourselves, we view aspects of ourselves in other people, often when we don't like someone it's most likely we don't like something we see of ourselves... Sometimes they're just ass holes.
It is essential to remember this is how people interact with us too.
Question everything even the mundane. Small answers help us understand other things we may not expect.
Experiment with other ideas, think like that, experience like that but remember you don't have to stay like that.
I got my chant from a DMT trip, 'ho chi jah roh' it doesn't mean anything as far as I know, it helps me still my mind.
Using previous trips, recalling and remembering them during meditation will help induce the state.