history

The history of marijuana, including political resistance and social advancements.

Maria Sabina's Mushroom Rituals
When I first attended a “velada” (vigil) sung by María Sabina in Huautla de Jimenez, and when on her invitation I first ingested the divine mushrooms, I was bowled over by the performance. It took place in the lower floor of the home of Cayetano Garcia and –his wife Guadalupe. Little did I know, Maria Sabina's mushroom ritual was one of a few catalysts responsible for introducing Psilocybin mushrooms to the Western World.
By Wendy Weedler10 years ago in Potent
God Grows His Own Ganja
“And God said let the earth bring forth grass, and the earth brought forth grass, and God saw that it was good." - Genesis... something or other.
By Ed Green10 years ago in Potent
Marijuana Moments Throughout History
Religion and history are full of miraculous stories and larger than life characters. From Jesus to Christopher Columbus, the burning bush to the Garden of Eden, we are taught that these people and stories are the righteous among us- they are our examples and our best case scenarios. But what they also share, is a rich history of marijuana moments. That’s right. Recent science, biblical scholarship, and historical evidence prove time and again that many of our favorite biblical stories and historical characters grew and smoked marijuana. It was included in holy rituals and everyday necessities that you definitely didn’t learn about in history class.
By Jacob Frommer10 years ago in Potent
Evolution of Cannabis Culture
Cannabis is the most publicized vegetable in history. From Madison Avenue ad agencies to the swift and deft legalization movement, marijuana is on everyone’s mind in one way or another. It also grows in virtually every country and climate. It literally grows on the streets of North Korea. The plants are quite graceful to see as well, sinuously waving on their flexible stalks with long serrated leaves, much like bamboo. Perhaps such a sight inspired the underground interpretation of Bob Dylan's phrase "The answer, my friends, is blowin' in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind".
By Jacob Frommer10 years ago in Potent
I Was a 1970s Pot Guinea Pig
The ad, or ones very similar, had appeared in Boston’s Real Paper and Phoenix for almost four years. Intrigued, needing money, hating work, in between college and the future, and with the encouragement of some friends tired of my freeloading, I made an appointment at McClean Hospital in the suburb of Belmont. I answered the ad.
By Aunt Mary10 years ago in Potent
How to Make Hash Oil
Ever since marijuana was first discovered, cultivated, and ingested a few thousand years ago, people have strived to find stronger and more concentrated forms of the drug. Hash is one such potent preparation, but an even more concentrated form of the THC-containing resin found in marijuana is hash oil. The term hash oil is misleading because most hash oil is merely a resin extract derived from marijuana.
By Sigmund Fried10 years ago in Potent
Fitz Hugh Ludlow Hasheesh Eater
I used to think 19th century literature was a drag. There were so many things our English teachers didn't tell us, - especially when it came to the great dope and sex underground books of the Victorian era. They never mentioned that stuffy old Charles Dickens, for instance, wrote his last novel in a haze of drugs, with several key scenes in The Mystery of Edwin Drood set in an opium den. Or they'd ramble on and on about John Greenleaf Whittier's Snowbound, never mentioning his interesting little poem The Haschich. Sometimes we'd get maybe an hour of English class devoted to an excerpt from Thomas De Guincey's Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1822), because it was the first great English dope tale and influenced all the Romantic writers. But we never heard about Fitz Hugh Ludlow, America's first great drug writer. Maybe the teachers had never heard of him either, or maybe they didn't want us to get too inspired by his work.
By Ami Roach10 years ago in Potent
Marijuana in the 80s
In past decades, little was known about marijuana. Those in charge believed the mysterious grass was dangerous and its effects were strictly harmful on the human body. Back in the 80s, there was a case of an honors high school student from Chicago. Three years later he was a twenty-one-year-old dropout wandering around the country. He was later committed to a sanitarium—a shell of what he once was, unable to function in the world outside his hospital window.
By Aunt Mary10 years ago in Potent
History of the Hippie
Long hair going down to the middle of his back, faded patched pants, beads and a psychedelic smile, he walked down the back roads of history, playing Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart’s Club songs on a handmade wooden flute. He shunned dollars and material possessions, preferring flowers. He would often be seen hitchhiking and would always return your peace sign. He believed in free love, marijuana (which he held a religious sacrament) and peace on earth. He tasted of religious philosophies from eclectic Christianity to Mahayana Buddhism to the League for Spiritual Discovery. He was loved by children, hated by rednecks, featured in Hollywood films, such as Easy Rider, Godspell, The Big Lebowski, Zabriskie Pi. He became a familiar figure on the American Scene. And then quite suddenly, Jay Hippie, Esq., bright-eyed son of Joe Crewcut, disappeared.
By Wendy Weedler10 years ago in Potent
Keith Stroup Interview
In the later part of the 20th century, the young lawyer Keith Stroup, a key member of NORML, succeeded in influencing ten states to ease their marijuana laws. He hasn't stopped working on the other forty, where every day you smoke, you are threatened with jail. At a NORML conference, there was plenty of smoke. Hash, grass, pipes, joints, and a lot of proud homegrown, was brazenly passed in every direction, over lunch, over dinner, at the plenary sessions, in the corridors, in the public rooms, even to the hotel help.
By Izzy Erlich10 years ago in Potent
Caught Smuggling Marijuana
I was talking to my good friend "the worm," whom I met because he was working as the worm in the bottom of the Mexican tequila bottles from which I was liberally drinking when they came in. I knew right away that they were Americans, not because that's the only clientele that this sleazy tourist trap just over the border gets, although it is, but because they had University of Southern California written all over their faces. And all over their T-shirts.
By Aunt Mary10 years ago in Potent
George Washington Smoked Weed
“Whadaya mean, you don’t know if you should try it?” Jack screamed at his father. “Do you know how hard it was for me to get this stuff? Do you have any idea?”
By Wendy Weedler10 years ago in Potent