Aloha Family
I want to let y'all know about the gathering September 28, 29 and 30th @ the Shire. on the Big Island of Hawaii.
This will be an awareness raising and community sharing event, dealing with the very real invasions of homes and families in Puna, due to a plant the earth grows naturally. Testimonies will be shared by individuals who have been affected by this including mothers and children. Many bands soon to be announced. Activism ideas and support by Roger Christie and others. High Times magazine will also be coming to do an article about the event. Any singers, dancers, musicians, poets or other creative souls who want to contribute, share testimony, support or learn can contact me for more info here on tribe or at www.myspace.com/irisohana
P.s. Here's a recent article written by a Hawaii Tribune-Herald Columnist in response to the stupidity of the war on cannabis, it's really good.
Why isn't pot legal in U.S.?
Wednesday, September 12, 2007 9:07 AM HST
By Gloria Baraquio
When I first moved here, I thought marijuana was illegal. And then after living here a few years, I realized that everyone and their mom either smokes it, buys it, grows it, or sells it. So then I thought weed wasn't illegal. But then in the past few weeks, I've been hearing about these drug busts and house raids and farms getting shut down, which has made me start to think, once again, that marijuana is in fact illegal.
I grew up thinking weed was BAD. Just say no to drugs. Marijuana is a gateway drug. It's addictive, and it'll get you hooked on harder drugs like ice and cocaine. Somewhere, somehow this was ingrained in me.
But then I started going to public school, and a lot of my friends were smoking it. They made special brownies, and they ate them in class ... and they always got good grades! When I went to college in California, everyone in the dorms smoked it -- all the time. And many of them were honor students. I found the same thing happening when I studied in England. Those Brits love their pot. They actually roll their marijuana with tobacco so they don't smoke it all one time -- weed is hard to come by in those areas. But when I visited Amsterdam, I found pot on every corner. I remember walking into a coffee shop there and being absolutely astounded with their menu. Right next to their coffee list was a list of marijuana strains! They even had complementary pipes and hookahs for free samples of the herb.
When I worked as a professional on Oahu, I found that a lot of business owners and all these rich, white guys smoked weed for recreation. That was a little shocking for me.
But then I moved here, and nothing really shocked me anymore. Everyone -- young and old, rich and poor, local and haole -- was smoking it.
And it made sense to me. For one, the lifestyle here is so laid back. Everything is chill, and the marijuana high seems to complement that. And two, the farmland and weather conditions here are prime for cannabis. You don't have to do anything to the plant. Just throw it in the ground and it grows. And three, there aren't many other jobs or sources of income on this island (yet) to sustain everyone who wants to live here.
In my time here, listening to different people's stories, I've learned that marijuana is sacred and natural, that it can expand the mind and take you to higher states of consciousness. That would explain why some of the kindest and wisest people I've met are advocates of the herb. And I don't really have to say this because it's so obvious, but smokers of marijuana are way more peaceful, loving, and conscious than most alcohol drinkers out there. And yet, somehow, alcohol is totally a legal drug (and a multibillion-dollar industry in the U.S.).
I was reading the forums online regarding the pot busts on this island, and different people have their different beliefs.
Some people think weed is a danger to society and to the youth. Some people think it should be taxed and controlled. Some people think cannabis is still illegal because it's a threat to big industries like pharmaceuticals, tobacco, cotton and oil. Many believe that criminalizing it is a way to simply control the masses.
But there seems to be no disagreement about this: marijuana frees the mind.
The main reason people love the herb is the same reason other people fear it. If everyone smoked weed, this world might be happy, healthy, peaceful, and free. People might actually quit their jobs and start doing what they love. Society, as we know it, would come tumbling down.
Bob Marley once said, "The more people smoke herb, the more Babylon fall."
Babylon is falling.
Gloria Marie Baraquio is a host, writer and producer for the TV Series "Living Local with the Baraquios" on OC16. Her column appears Wednesdays in the Tribune-Herald. E-mail: gloria@livinglocal.tv.
I want to let y'all know about the gathering September 28, 29 and 30th @ the Shire. on the Big Island of Hawaii.
This will be an awareness raising and community sharing event, dealing with the very real invasions of homes and families in Puna, due to a plant the earth grows naturally. Testimonies will be shared by individuals who have been affected by this including mothers and children. Many bands soon to be announced. Activism ideas and support by Roger Christie and others. High Times magazine will also be coming to do an article about the event. Any singers, dancers, musicians, poets or other creative souls who want to contribute, share testimony, support or learn can contact me for more info here on tribe or at www.myspace.com/irisohana
P.s. Here's a recent article written by a Hawaii Tribune-Herald Columnist in response to the stupidity of the war on cannabis, it's really good.
Why isn't pot legal in U.S.?
Wednesday, September 12, 2007 9:07 AM HST
By Gloria Baraquio
When I first moved here, I thought marijuana was illegal. And then after living here a few years, I realized that everyone and their mom either smokes it, buys it, grows it, or sells it. So then I thought weed wasn't illegal. But then in the past few weeks, I've been hearing about these drug busts and house raids and farms getting shut down, which has made me start to think, once again, that marijuana is in fact illegal.
I grew up thinking weed was BAD. Just say no to drugs. Marijuana is a gateway drug. It's addictive, and it'll get you hooked on harder drugs like ice and cocaine. Somewhere, somehow this was ingrained in me.
But then I started going to public school, and a lot of my friends were smoking it. They made special brownies, and they ate them in class ... and they always got good grades! When I went to college in California, everyone in the dorms smoked it -- all the time. And many of them were honor students. I found the same thing happening when I studied in England. Those Brits love their pot. They actually roll their marijuana with tobacco so they don't smoke it all one time -- weed is hard to come by in those areas. But when I visited Amsterdam, I found pot on every corner. I remember walking into a coffee shop there and being absolutely astounded with their menu. Right next to their coffee list was a list of marijuana strains! They even had complementary pipes and hookahs for free samples of the herb.
When I worked as a professional on Oahu, I found that a lot of business owners and all these rich, white guys smoked weed for recreation. That was a little shocking for me.
But then I moved here, and nothing really shocked me anymore. Everyone -- young and old, rich and poor, local and haole -- was smoking it.
And it made sense to me. For one, the lifestyle here is so laid back. Everything is chill, and the marijuana high seems to complement that. And two, the farmland and weather conditions here are prime for cannabis. You don't have to do anything to the plant. Just throw it in the ground and it grows. And three, there aren't many other jobs or sources of income on this island (yet) to sustain everyone who wants to live here.
In my time here, listening to different people's stories, I've learned that marijuana is sacred and natural, that it can expand the mind and take you to higher states of consciousness. That would explain why some of the kindest and wisest people I've met are advocates of the herb. And I don't really have to say this because it's so obvious, but smokers of marijuana are way more peaceful, loving, and conscious than most alcohol drinkers out there. And yet, somehow, alcohol is totally a legal drug (and a multibillion-dollar industry in the U.S.).
I was reading the forums online regarding the pot busts on this island, and different people have their different beliefs.
Some people think weed is a danger to society and to the youth. Some people think it should be taxed and controlled. Some people think cannabis is still illegal because it's a threat to big industries like pharmaceuticals, tobacco, cotton and oil. Many believe that criminalizing it is a way to simply control the masses.
But there seems to be no disagreement about this: marijuana frees the mind.
The main reason people love the herb is the same reason other people fear it. If everyone smoked weed, this world might be happy, healthy, peaceful, and free. People might actually quit their jobs and start doing what they love. Society, as we know it, would come tumbling down.
Bob Marley once said, "The more people smoke herb, the more Babylon fall."
Babylon is falling.
Gloria Marie Baraquio is a host, writer and producer for the TV Series "Living Local with the Baraquios" on OC16. Her column appears Wednesdays in the Tribune-Herald. E-mail: gloria@livinglocal.tv.
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