An Educated Society Needs No Control – The Venus Project (Video)

An Educated Society Needs No Control - The Venus Project (Video) | Third Monk

The Choice is Ours is a documentary series presented by the Venus ProjectInterviews by a variety of scientists, media professionals, and other thinkers explores a variety of issues that are of social, economic, and technical interest.

The Venus Project created this informative documentary to compel the viewer into rethinking what’s possible in our world. To question the values, behaviors, origins and consequences of our social structures is of vital importance to our survival as we look to the future.

Part 1 is introduction and discussion of determinants of behavior.

Part 2 is a breakdown of problems in our present system; an obsolete monetary system. It covers the media as a tool of the established political and economic elite, corruption of all politics in all nations, and environmental challenges.

Part 3 will show solutions and proposals and will depict and illustrate Jacque’s Fresco’s life work to redesign the culture.

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Terence McKenna at His Best: Drugs, Legality, and Love (Interview)

Terence McKenna at His Best: Drugs, Legality, and Love (Interview) | Third Monk image 1

Terence McKenna is one our favorite psychedelic luminaries. Here is a short interview of his where he talks about many ideas concerning drugs, legality, and love that are increasingly becoming commonplace among a larger and larger portion of our global populace.

Ideally, we’ll look back at this time in history and laugh at our collective foolishness and hubris.

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My mind is made up, don’t confuse me with facts. – Terence McKenna

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Trust Yourself – Terence McKenna (Video)

Trust Yourself - Terence McKenna (Video) | Third Monk image 2

Experience is real. This moment is real. How much of your own experience on this planet is tainted and perverted by different ideologies, looping thoughts, and enshrined beliefs?

Terence McKenna urges you to trust yourself. Question everything, and embrace the chaos of the world.

Claim your identity, your vision, your being, your intuition, and then act from that without regret.

Take responsibility for what you think and what you do.

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Empower Experience…

What do YOU think when YOU face the waterfall?

What do YOU think when YOU have sex?

What do YOU think when YOU take psilocybin?

It’s a wonderful thing to learn to be able to stand up and yell “Bull Shit!”. I did it when I was about 18 years old and it was the meme of the hour and it did blow their minds. It was uncivil. It was rude and crude and correct. – Terence Mckenna

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> Terence McKenna | Eco Hustler

Drug War Shows No Remorse For Innocent Baby Injured During Botched Raid

Drug War Shows No Remorse For Innocent Baby Injured During Botched Raid | Third Monk image 2

Earlier this year in May 2014, a baby was placed in critical condition after police tossed a flash grenade into his playpen during a fumbled drug raid.

Five months later, Habersham County officials say they do not plan to pay for the medical expenses of the toddler seriously injured during a police raid.

Bounkham Phonesavah, affectionately known as “Baby Boo Boo,” spent weeks in a burn unit after a SWAT team’s flash grenade exploded near his face.

The toddler was just 19-months-old and asleep in the early morning hours of May 28. SWAT officers threw the device into his home while executing a search warrant for a drug suspect.

Habersham County officials are defending their decision not to pay, but the child’s family isn’t giving up.

The Letter of the Law Is Broken

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After weeks of recovery at two different hospitals, Channel 2 Action News was there in July as the little boy walked out of a hospital with his family.

He is doing better, but late Friday afternoon, his family’s attorney told said the family’s medical bills are mounting.

“But at this point, the county is refusing to pay,” said attorney Muwali Davis.

Habersham County’s attorney provided the following statement, saying:

The question before the board was whether it is legally permitted to pay these expenses. After consideration of this question following advice of counsel, the board of commissioners has concluded that it would be in violation of the law for it to do so.

Latest reports indicate that the raid was influenced by faulty information. The obvious needs to be stated here.

If there’s a law that prevents a local government from reimbursing a family to heal a child nearly killed by the negligence and ineptitude of local law enforcement officers, then that law needs to be changed.

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The drug war means never having to say you’re sorry | Washington Post

Enemies of Peace – Law Enforcement, Private Prisons, Alcohol and Pharmaceutical Companies Spend Against Cannabis Legalization

Enemies of Peace - Law Enforcement, Private Prisons, Alcohol and Pharmaceutical Companies Spend Against Cannabis Legalization | Third Monk image 2

Some of the most lucrative and powerful industries in America oppose marijuana decriminalization because it threatens their financial bottom-line.

Four different interest groups form the backbone of the anti cannabis legalization campaign, according to OpenSecrets.org, which tracks political spending.

Alcohol Companies

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First, there’s the spirits, wine and beer companies. Legalized marijuana represents a direct threat to this industry’s business model. The more people can legally smoke a bud, the less need they’ll have to buy a Bud.

In 2010, the California Beer and Beverage Distributors contributed $10,000 to help defeat California’s Proposition 19, which sought to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.

Law Enforcement

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Law enforcement groups also want to maintain criminal penalties for pot possession. If the country stops waging its war on drugs, including marijuana, fewer government dollars will flow to police efforts to address this public policy issue. Municipalities will also receive less money from property seized in drug raids.

Prison System

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Others in the criminal justice world that want to keep the status quo of locking up marijuana offenders are private prison operators and prison guard unions. States that legalize marijuana use are likely to experience a decline in prison populations—and that will reduce the need for government to hire private prison companies and correctional officers.

Another example is the Golden State’s mighty prison guards union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), a major player in state politics for decades. CCPOA contributed $1 million in 2008 to defeat Proposition 5, which sought more drug treatment and rehabilitation programs for inmates.

Pharmaceutical Industry

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Finally, there’s the legal drug industry: Big Pharma. It opposes marijuana decriminalization because it could mean people spend less money on painkillers and anti-inflammatory remedies like ibuprofen.

Its primary lobbying group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), has loads of money to spend. Two years ago, it dropped nearly $22 million on congressional races, demonstrating how big a war chest it can muster.

Who’s Funding the Anti-Marijuana Movement? Private Prisons, Prison Guards, Police and Alcohol, Beer and Pharmaceutical Companies | AllGov

Swiss Plan to Pay Monthly Basic Income to Each Adult

Swiss Plan to Pay Monthly Basic Income to Each Adult | Third Monk image 2


Switzerland may start paying every adult (whether they work or not) a salary of over $2000 per month.

Based on the idea that their citizens will have more time to devote to things they are intrinsically interested in, instead of spending the majority of their time worrying about how they are going to survive; as many individuals with entry-level positions find it hard to meet their needs.

The income initiative promises every Swiss citizen a living wage, so they can always survive without basic financial worry.

The 2,500 francs would work out to be an income of 30,000 Swiss francs per year. Statistics released by the European Union in 2002 showed that Switzerland was the third most expensive country in Europe, after Norway and Iceland, to live in.

Switzerland currently has a population of 8.02 million people, equivalent to that of large cities such as the San Francisco Bay Area which has a population of 7.15 million. The Swiss pay particularly high prices for meat, cooking oil, fish and vegetables. Basic utilities (electricity, heating, water, garbage) are around 200 francs per month, and the average rent of a one bedroom apartment in the city center runs about 1,400 francs.

Imagine you are being born and society tells you ‘Welcome, you will be cared for, and asks you what you want to do with your life, what is your calling? Imagine that feeling, that’s a whole different atmosphere. – Daniel Straub, Co-founder, Basic Income Initiative

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Parliament was presented with a petition signed by over 100,000 people, proposing to afford every citizen, regardless if they are working or not, a monthly paycheck of 2,500 Swiss francs.

To mark the day, a truck full of 8 million five-cent coins was deposited on the square and spread out in front of the Swiss Parliament in Bern, supporters gathered around and spread the coins out using shovels. A typical fast-food worker in the US earns roughly $1,500 per month. Anything less than that specified amount of 2,500 francs, would be deemed illegal, even for people working in one of the lowest paid jobs.

A date for the vote itself is yet to be confirmed, however, it could take place before the end of 2014.

The money to fund the measure would likely be supplied by the Swiss social insurance system, so in other words it would be taken from taxpayers. We know that the government has no money itself, everything that it gives to others it must first take from others or print it out of thin air.

This new system will force business owners to pay their workers a certain wage, regardless if their labor is considered worth less than the stipulated amount. This idea aims to set the minimum standard of living higher, but this might prompt business owners to take their company elsewhere, where they have more freedom over wage decisions. Of course, this would also mean they get no cut whatsoever of the Swiss market.

On the other hand, the new income may also lure new business owners to the country in looks of attracting those new consumers. One prominent CEO in Switzerland has stated that if the measure passes, he would seriously contemplate moving his company out of the country:

I can’t believe that Switzerland would cause such great harm to its economy. – Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg told the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation.

The unemployment rate currently remains at 3 percent in Switzerland and is arguably one of the most stable economies in the world. The nation has built the reputation of having some of the most friendly laws toward foreign investors.

Will this measure make more money flow, by putting liquidity in the hands of those more prone to putting it back in the economy, or will it drive investors away and cause the Swiss economy to stumble?
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> Swiss to Pay Minimum Wage Per Month | Earth We Are One

Cannabis Around the World: 8 Countries That Embrace Marijuana (List)

Cannabis Around the World: 8 Countries That Embrace Marijuana (List) | Third Monk image 10

Unlike the United States’ arcane Cannabis policies, these 8 countries actually take facts into account when classifying and regulating Marijuana.

8 Countries That Embrace Marijuana

8 countries that embrace marijuana

 Spain

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In Spain personal marijuana has been legal for decades. Today Barcelona is en route to challenge Amsterdam as the world center of pot tourism. In Spain, anyone is allowed to grow the herb for personal use, and – echoing California’s rules for medical marijuana use – growers can form collective, nonprofit, members-only cannabis clubs.

Barcelona officials have given their blessing to this new phenomenon.  … The number of cannabis clubs that have opened in Barcelona recently has some experts saying this city will soon challenge Amsterdam as the go-to destination for vacationers who want to get high in peace. – Suzanne Daley New York Times

Daley reported that the pot clubs provide an economic boost.

Though they are nonprofits, advocates say the clubs are generating thousands of jobs and tax revenues for the state. In addition to selling a wide array of cannabis products and hashish, many of the clubs also sell food and drinks and offer extras to their members, like live music nights and Pilates classes.

Portugal

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Portugal has enjoyed the benefits of all-out drug decriminalization for over a decade. Portugal became the first nation in Europe to decriminalize personal possession of drugs – including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine – in 2001.

Decriminalization means those drugs remain illegal, but instead of throwing people in jail for their use, the country imposes a fine similar to a traffic ticket and provides addiction treatment options. By removing criminal penalties for drug use, the nation was able to fund the resources necessary to treat drug addiction as the health crisis that it is.

Today in Portugal if you’re convicted of possessing small amounts of drugs,  you visit a psychologist, social worker and legal advisor who determine what kind of treatment you need. Prior to decriminalization, Portugal had a serious drug problem, but over the last decade the nation has seen a decline in drug use.

While critics of the law warned that drug use would swell, it has not risen. We have seen significant reductions in H.I.V. infections and in overdoses, as well as a substantial increase in new patients seeking drug treatment. – João Castel-Branco Goulão,  Portugal’s national Drug Coordinator & Chairman of the European Monitoring Center on Drugs and Drug Addiction

Canada

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While the Great White North does not allow marijuana for recreational purposes anywhere, it has a nationwide government-sanctioned medical marijuana program. About 20 companies are licenced to mass-produce cannabis in Canada for medical purposes.

In addition to the substantial economic boost that comes from the new market, the Canadian government probably took the stacks of convincing research on cannabis’s potential health benefits into account in its decision to allow large scale medical marijuana production and distribution.

Israel

Labor Welfare and Health Committee

In Israel a $40-million-per-year medical-marijuana industry is thriving.

The Israeli government is funding and supporting breakthrough research on the many healing potentials of the cannabis plant – from cancer, to addiction, to psychological traumas. Israel’s federal government sanctions their national medical marijuana program.

Iceland

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According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Iceland smokes the most weed in the world, on average. The report, which included a breakdown of illegal drug use per country, found that 18.3% of the Icelandic population smokes weed. The United States ranked fourth in the report, with 14.8 percent of the population using pot.

Whatever the reason for their infatuation with cannabis, Icelanders were also found to be one of the happiest populations on the planet.

 Netherlands

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Surprisingly, cannabis remains illegal in the Netherlands.

The Dutch government and law enforcement are extremely tolerant of the herb and possession of small amounts is decriminalized nationwide. Two million tourists per year visit the city of Amsterdam for its legendary “coffee shops,” which are licensed to sell weed. You’re not allowed, however, to buy your bud on the streets, and coffee shops do card.

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Uruguay

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In response to increasing drug trafficking activity and violence, Uruguay became the first nation to legalize marijuana across the board, in December 2013. It did so in an effort to undermine the powerful cartels that have ravished much of the rest of Latin America. The plan in Uruguay is to set  government weed prices extremely low so that  cartels will be forced out of business.

While many had hoped to see Uruguay’s pot sales start already, President Jose Mujica announced that complications have delayed sales until 2015.

North Korea

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While not officially confirmed, according to Open Radio North Korea, as well as other news outlets and visitor reports, marijuana has never been controlled in the country and is not considered to be a drug. While the North Korean penalty for hard drugs like meth is severe, people are allowed to smoke pot without regulation – it even grows freely on the side of the street.

NK NEWS receives regular reports from visitors returning from North Korea, who tell us of marijuana plants growing freely along the roadsides, from the northern port town of Chongjin, right down to the streets of Pyongyang, where it is smoked freely and its sweet scent often catches your nostrils unannounced. Our sources are people we know who work inside North Korea and make regular trips in and out of the country.

There is no taboo around pot smoking in the country—many residents know the drug exists and have smoked it. In North Korea, the drug goes by the name of ip tambae, or ‘leaf tobacco.’ It is reported to be especially popular amongst young soldiers in the North Korean military. Rather than getting hooked on tar and nicotine like servicemen in the West, they are able to unwind by lighting up a king-sized bone during down time on the military beat. – VICE

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  > 9 Marijuana Policies From Around the World That Are Way Ahead of the U.S | Waking Times

5 Reasons Monsanto Roundup Needs to be Banned Forever

5 Reasons Monsanto Roundup Needs to be Banned Forever | Third Monk image 3

RoundUp

The science is irrefutable on this simple fact: Roundup weedkiller, manufactured by Monsanto, is a deadly chemical poison that persists on – and in – food crops consumed by millions of people.

The many consequences of Roundup’s continued use in commercial agriculture are reason enough to ban the toxic chemical cocktail for the sake of the environment and humanity.

These are strong words, but they are fully substantiated.

Roundup Ready Crops Absorb Glyhposate

Despite industry claims, Roundup does not simply wash off crops after it has been sprayed. A study out of Norway recently found that glyphosate accumulates inside crops at “excessive” levels.

Published in the 2013 June issue of the journal Food Chemistry, the study revealed that, while Roundup Ready crops are capable of resisting glyphosate in order to survive, they also absorb and incorporate it into food.

This means that people who eat GM soy or products derived from it, including soy lecithin and soy protein, are also eating a chemical solution linked to all sorts of health problems.

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Exposure to Roundup Doubles Exposure to Lymphoma

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The government maintains the same position as Monsanto — that glyphosate is essentially inert and not something to worry about. But a recent review of more than 44 published scientific studies found otherwise, having determined that exposure to glyphosate doubles farmers’ risk of developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The study authors theorize that glyphosate disrupts the normal functioning of white blood cells, throwing your immune system into a sickened, dysfunctional state. – Leah Zerbe, Maria’s Farm Country Kitchen

Roundup so Heavily Used That It’s Being Found in Air & Rainwater

The Rain Room Is Unveiled At The Curve Inside The Barbican Centre

It would be one thing if Roundup were isolated just to crop fields. But scientists are finding that the chemical is now spreading to the air, and even raining down along with precipitation.

This means that glyphosate is now traveling with the wind patterns and raining down on people’s homes and on city parks where children play.

Roundup is Killing Butterflies and Other Pollinators

Even if Roundup really was helping to boost yields and produce more food – as demonstrated here and elsewhere, this is not actually the case — the harm inflicted on butterflies and other pollinators by the GM crop pesticides is simply inexcusable.

Researchers from Iowa State University found that glyphosate use has resulted in an 81 percent reduction in the monarch butterfly population, which relies on milkweed for reproduction and survival.

Like bees, monarch butterflies serve as crop pollinators. Without them, many seed- and fruit-bearing plants would be unable to survive.

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Roundup Doesn’t Even Work as Claimed

Perhaps the biggest reason why Roundup deserves to be banned forever is that the weedkiller does not even work. Overuse of Roundup has led to the emergence of highly resistant “superweeds” that no longer respond to chemical treatments and now plague millions of acres of U.S. cropland. Roundup does not even biodegrade as claimed.

Because of this, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is gearing up to approve an even more deadly herbicide made from a component of Agent Orange, the Monsanto biowarfare chemical used during the Vietnam War.

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> Five Reasons Round-up Should be Banned | Higher Perspective

Weaving a Home: Collapsible Woven Refugee Shelters

Weaving a Home: Collapsible Woven Refugee Shelters | Third Monk image 17

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Human life throughout history has developed in alternating waves of migration and settlement. Navigating this duality between exploration and settlement, movement and stillness is a fundamental essence of what it means to be human.

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In the aftermath of global wars and natural disasters, the world has witnessed the displacement of millions of people across continents. Refugees seeking shelter from disasters carry from their homes what they can and resettle in unknown lands, often starting with nothing but a tent to call home.

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Designed by Abeer Seikaly, “Weaving a home” reexamines the traditional architectural concept of refugee shelters by creating a technical, structural fabric that expands to enclose and contracts for mobility while providing the comforts of contemporary life (heat, running water, electricity, storage, etc.)

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Design is supposed to give form to a gap in people’s needs.

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This lightweight, mobile, structural fabric could potentially close the gap between need and desire as people metaphorically weave their lives back together, physically weaving their built environment into a place both new and familiar, transient and rooted, private and connected.

Structural Fabric Weaves Refugee Shelters into Communities

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In this space, the refugees find a place to pause from their turbulent worlds, a place to weave the tapestry of their new lives.

They weave their shelter into a home.

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Structural Fabric Weaves Tent Shelters into Communities | Abeer Seikaly

Printable List of Monsanto Owned “Food” Producers

Printable List of Monsanto Owned “Food” Producers | Third Monk image 5

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In light of the recent public anger over the Monsanto Protection Act, here’s a simple, printable list of companies that use Monsanto products.

GMO’s are currently surrounded in controversy, but by avoiding products made by companies on this list, you ensure your money isn’t going to Monsanto.

The list is up to date as of June 2014, simply click on it and choose Print from your browser’s menu.

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> Printable Products List | Real Farmacy

DEA Blasted for Spending 4 Decades Obstructing Marijuana Science

DEA Blasted for Spending 4 Decades Obstructing Marijuana Science  | Third Monk image 6

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The Drug Enforcement Administration has been impeding and ignoring the science on marijuana and other drugs for more than four decades, according to a report released this week by the Drug Policy Alliance, a drug policy reform group, and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a marijuana research organization.

The DEA is a police and propaganda agency, it makes no sense for it to be in charge of federal decisions involving scientific research and medical practice. – Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance

The report alleges that the DEA has repeatedly failed to act in a timely fashion when faced with petitions to reschedule marijuana. The drug is currently classified as Schedule I, which the DEA reserves for the “most dangerous” drugs with “no currently accepted medical use.” Schedule I drugs, which include substances like heroin and LSD, cannot receive federal funding for research. On three separate occasions — in 1973, 1995 and again in 2002 — the DEA took years to make a final decision about a rescheduling petition, and in two of the cases the DEA was sued multiple times to force a decision.

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The report criticizes the DEA for overruling its own officials charged with determining how illicit substances should be scheduled. It also criticizes the agency for creating a “regulatory Catch-22” by arguing there is not enough scientific evidence to support rescheduling marijuana while simultaneously impeding the research that would produce such evidence.

The feds have long been accused of only funding marijuana research that focuses on the potential negative effects of the substance, but that trend appears to be changing.

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The National Institute on Drug Abuse has conducted about 30 studies to date on the potential benefits of marijuana. NIDA oversees the cultivation, production and distribution of marijuana grown for research purposes at the University of Mississippi in the only federally legal marijuana garden in the U.S. — a process through which the only federally sanctioned marijuana studies are approved.

Nobody should be afraid of the truth. There’s a lot of other drugs that have harmful side effects. Is the downside of marijuana a harmful side effect? Or is there a positive side that actually does help? That needs to be proven. – Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.).

The federal government’s interest in marijuana certainly appears to be growing. Since 2003, it has approved more than 500 grants for marijuana-related studies, with a marked upswing in recent years, according to McClatchy. In 2003, 22 grants totaling $6 million were approved for cannabis research. In 2012, that number had risen to 69 approved grants totaling more than $30 million.

The DEA has obstructed research into the medical use of marijuana for over 40 years and in the process has caused immeasurable suffering that would otherwise have been treated by low-cost, low-risk generic marijuana. The DEA’s obstruction of the FDA approval process for marijuana has — to the DEA’s dismay — unintentionally catalyzed state-level medical marijuana reforms. – Rick Doblin, executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies

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Currently, 22 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical use. Eight other states — Alabama, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin — have legalized CBD oils, made from a non-psychoactive ingredient in marijuana frequently used to treat epilepsy, for limited medical use or for research purposes.

A number of recent studies have shown the medical potential of cannabis. Purified forms may attack some forms of aggressive cancer. Marijuana use also has been tied to better blood sugar control and may help slow the spread of HIV. One study found that legalization of the plant for medical purposes may even lead to lower suicide rates.

Nadelmann said the DEA has “demonstrated a regular pattern of abusing its discretionary powers.”

We believe this authority would be better handled by another government agency in the health realm, or even better still, by an organization that is truly independent, perhaps something that involves the National Academy of Sciences. We will be working to encourage greater congressional oversight and also to call for reforms of federal law. – Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance

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> New Report Blasts DEA | Huffington Post

Mega Churches and All That Spooky Shit Don’t Make Sense – Tupac (Video)

Mega Churches and All That Spooky Shit Don't Make Sense - Tupac (Video) | Third Monk

“Serving god” can be a very profitable business if you can find the right people to fool.

Tupac talks about the lopsided division of resources between the poor and the rich who brainwash them into blind worship.

Have you seen any of these god damn churches lately? There’s one that takes up the whole block in New York.

There’s homeless people out here, why ain’t god letting them stay there?

Why these niggas got gold ceilings and shit?

Why god need gold ceilings to talk to me?

All that spooky shit don’t make sense

– Tupac: The Lost VIBE Interview, May 1996

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