July 2020 — Maryland Leaf

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H i g h l y L i ke l y h i g h l i g h t s Ca n n a b i s p i o n e e rs w h o p a ve d t h e wa y t o g re a t e r h e r b a l a c c e p ta n ce .

The argument could be made that Bob Marley was one of the most important driving forces in creating our modern Cannabis culture and ideals. And for that we should all be thankful, because Marley is possibly the best role model a culture like ours could ever hold up. That’s because he was as close to a pure musician and human being that we’ve seen in the modern era - with much of that owed to his spiritual practice.

There’s the age-old joke about stoners having ‘deep conversations about meaningless subjects,’ but this actually speaks to something intrinsic to Cannabis’ effects on the human body, emotions and mind. That’s because alcohol and other drugs don’t necessarily cause one to introspect, to look inside, in the way that Cannabis does. So often, we tend to disregard this important sensation that could be called ‘religious’ - because that term falls woefully short and carries Spirituality is often divorced from THE FACT THAT MARLEY along with it all sorts the zeitgeist surrounding Cannabis. CONSUMED AND WAS of inappropriate Considering what this herb can do for SOMEWHAT OUTSPOKEN connotations. us as people, this is a mistake - and ABOUT HIS OWN LOVE And yet, there’s that Marley in many ways exemplified that. FOR CANNABIS, LIKELY special something in Because he imbued such a heavy the music of Marley LED MORE PEOPLE TO dose of soul and such a potent that even people who WANT TO FIND OUT WHAT message into his unique reggae don’t use Cannabis sound, Marley helped to popularize IT WAS ALL ABOUT IN THE have felt, perhaps the ideas and religious concepts of FIRST PLACE. helping them to Rastafarianism in the world. And understand on an he accomplished this in sometimes abstract level some of the feelings or sensations hidden, metaphoric ways through song. that Cannabis users achieve when they consume In Rasta culture, Cannabis is considered to the herb. be a sacrament - something that is used as a And, while there’s no concrete evidence of it, holy tool in ceremonies to bring people closer the fact that Marley consumed and was somewhat to God. The purpose for consuming the herb outspoken about his own love for Cannabis, likely isn’t to have fun, relax or party, but rather to led more people to want to find out what it was all concentrate one’s attention on higher things. about in the first place. It could be said that real Rastas do not For these and many other reasons, today we believe in using Cannabis for recreation, still regard Marley as a pure artist and someone considering it to be a superficial purpose. integral to our eventual acceptance of Cannabis as This is an interesting concept that we can all the holistic healer we see today. I hope you agree, explore. For example, many of us have likely but even if you don’t - it’s probably not a bad felt this gravitation toward thinking on higher idea to listen to his music the next time you light things in both subtle and overt ways when something up. we’ve been under the influence of Cannabis.

BOBMARLEY B EFORE WE BEGIN, we must acknowledge that much of Marley’s image and religious philosophy have been perverted. There’s the cliched scene of his posters hanging in the dorm rooms of college freshmen, a large joint in hand and smoke wafting through the air. His name has been exploited by opportunistic capitalists in countless ways, marketing products to make money off of his image. Not to mention, the famous ‘greatest hits’ album LEGEND is the butt of many a music snob’s jokes. Taking a look a little under the surface and we see that Marley was in many ways a once-in-a-lifetime phenomena - an artist who single handedly embodied a nation, a musical genre and a religion at the same time. More importantly for our purposes in this column, he helped to define a different cultural mindset around consuming Cannabis. In the West, because of the clandestine nature of consuming and producing Cannabis, our way of thinking about this simple herb has evolved to mirror the way we think about alcohol. One consumes for fun, personal pleasure, to get ‘messed up’ in an (often vain) attempt to avoid thinking about life.

The iconic musician stands out in Cannabis history as a global beacon of positive Cannabis use jUly 2020

By PACER STACKTRAIN for LEAF NATION | ILLUSTRATION by DANIEL ALVARADO SILVERA/CREATIVE COMMONS


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