Sex, Drugs and Rock&Roll
What Do We Teach Our Kids...What Do We Teach Ourselves?
It is ok to say, "No."
That's the first thing I'd like you to know.
It is ok to say "No."
If someone, anyone, friend, family or stranger
Offers or pushes on you something you do not wish,
It is ok to say "No."
For any reason, maybe you simply do not want it,
Or you are unsure, or because it hurts,
It is ok to say "No."
Imagine having friends or knowing someone who does not understand and abide by the word and meaning of No. When I imagine this, I don't like what I see. Imagine a society or culture or government that does not also understand and respect any human being's right to say No. Again, and it ain't pretty.Imagine the child who does not understand the meaning and application of the word No. Indeed a sorry sight, both for child and adult.Imagine the adult who does not understand and respect the word No. Ugliness is all I see, for everyone involved.This is the first challenge in this lesson on ethics. What do you think?Imagine living with anyone, including yourself, who does not understand, respect and apply in their lives the word No. Do you think any relationship, interpersonal or societal, could exist for very long if one party could never take No for answer, and if your response to that party always had to be yes, whether you wanted it to be or not?Imagine the salesman or pusher who cannot take No for an answer. Or the culture whose motive to make a buck supersedes all else, including the recognition and right of the citizen to say No.Imagine yourself unable to say No to others. Imagine being unable to say No to yourself, especially when you need to do so for your own good. Is this not the fundamental basis of addiction, the inability to follow your own directive of No?Is following the directive of No a simple matter of understanding the definition and meaning of the term No? Or is there something deeper in the mind that prevents or overrides one's ability to follow the directive of No? If so, isn't it necessary to get at that something and override its authority? And is not exposing its presence in the subconscious the first step?Conditioning, as Pavlov demonstrated, is a powerful thing. The young mind is especially vulnerable and susceptible to whatever conditioning, behavioral or ideological, that outside forces, social to parental, heap upon it. And yet, must we accept we are mere products of our environments? Is it not possible to get at the root of this conditioning, raise it to higher conscious awareness so that its power over us might be recognized and diminished? This is after all the basic premise of psychoanalysis and depth psychology.Of course, the best medicine for unhealthy or corrupt mental conditioning is, as always, prevention. And I have no doubt Nature, in its infinite wisdom of evolution, makes continual strides in this behavioral realm. But what about reversing corrupt mental conditioning, or at the very least holding at bay its manifest problems, namely in this discussion, addiction.How do we treat addiction? For those who have treatment options available and are not too far gone to recognize they have a problem, therapy is one option. For many the addiction goes unrecognized or unacknowledged and so manifests in all sorts of tangential personal and interpersonal issues. For those whose addiction is readily apparent to society, as in the case of the drug addict, treatment is not so much an option because in our society, theirs is considered not a health problem but a crime. Ok, so we've gone from the word No to mental unhealth and the prevention and treatment of such. That's a lot! And it can be overwhelming. But we're not after immediate answers here. This is just to get us thinking. Now let's switch gears a bit.Let's consider the cancer cell. What's the difference between a cancer cell and a healthy cell? Most simply, the cancer cell does not know No. It divides and divides, and its population of cells grows and grows without knowing when to stop, without knowing when enough is enough. Somewhere in its cellular programming and intelligence something has gone critically wrong. And so all the while it just keeps on dividing and growing without realizing it is killing the very body it depends upon for life. The human that does not respond to No. The cell that does not respond to No. Both human and cell in this case know not when to stop. And in their faulty response, or lack thereof, they hurt both themselves and potentially those around them. Treatment? Prevention? Solution? How to get at the root of the problem? Are there options besides the reductionistic- mechanistic-materialistic approaches of conventional medicine? Should we consider in such matters the power and primacy of mind and the holistic approach of energy-body healing? Are such philosophical and ethical considerations helpful? And finally in this case, might cannabis assist in the process of healing, health and fitness? Now, for the sake of balance and fairness, let's consider YES!Marijuana is Safer, So why are we driving people to drink?
Steve Fox, Paul Armentano, Mason Tvert
Recommended Reading
After all the research and writing, and all the controversy and debate, the title of this book finally lays it on the line and asks the 64 thousand dollar question. The authors also provide a 130 billion dollar answer (that's how much Americans spend anually on alcohol). And while that big number explains a lot, it does nothing to help the upset stomach, headache and heartbreak one gets from reading the many disturbing facts provided by this book, especially in the chapter The Real-World Ramifications of our Pro-Alcohol Culture. A tiny sampling: 90% of all reported campus rapes involve a victim or an assailant who has been drinking alcohol; alcohol use and abuse costs this nation about $200 billion anually; conservative estimates say alcohol contributes to 25 to 30 percent of all violent crime in America including 30 percent of homicides and over 22 percent of sexual assaults...and on and on and on. If these numbers don't wake-up leaders and policy makers I'd hate to see what will. In terms of safety for both individual and society, Fox, Armentano and Tvert show how marijuana wins hands down and present the strongest case yet that it should not only be decriminalized but fully legalized as a safer recreational alternative. Their final chapter even discusses what a cannabis-legal environment might look like including labeling requirements, zoning laws, taxation and revenue generation. Give this book as a present to any anti-marijuana friend or neighbor. You may even want to read aloud to them this part of the foreword written by former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper: From my own work and the experiences of other members of the law enforcement community, it is abundantly clear that marijuana is rarely, if ever, the cause of harmfully disruptive behavior. In fact, I would go so far as to say that marijuana use often helps to tamp down tensions where they might otherwise exist.
