I haven’t yet discussed last week’s news that a major head stash of marijuana was found in the tomb of an ancient Chinese shaman. It’s significant because the stuff was clearly well grown, with an apparently decent THC content. My analysis: awesome.

Unfortunately, researchers couldn’t get the seeds to germinate, which sucks for breeders because the ‘Tomb Raider’ strain would’ve taken Amsterdam by storm. Of course, it would’ve been even cooler if it had been seedless to begin with, proving that even cavemen could grow better pot than the nauseating schwaggy sawdust being sold on the streets of D.C. and New York as we speak.

Regardless, this is another reminder that the cannabis plant has been with us from the beginning. The logical assumption is that its properties are intended to be useful to mankind, especially after those properties are revealed to be unique and widely regarded as beneficial by the population. Trying to eradicate it is as stupid as it is impossible. It was here 3,000 years ago, and it will still be here 3,000 years in the future. Unless, of course, the drug war has completely destroyed the earth by then.

The argument that cocaine users are destroying the environment is rapidly leading its proponents into a spiraling abyss of irony and incoherence:

If you're into charlie, snow, or a few lines of snort, Colombia's Vice President Francisco Santos Calderón has a message for you: your cocaine use is a "predator of the rain forest" and a serious threat to human life.
…
"Cocaine use requires a disposable income and during the week many users drive hybrid cars and recycle. Then, on the weekend, he or she destroys everything they believe in," Calderón said. [Huffington Post]

Wait, what!? Did he just say that cocaine users are successful and well-educated? Shall police start profiling Prius drivers for drug searches? I remember the good old days when cocaine was supposed to make you steal things and kill people.

I can’t even begin to imagine why you’d argue that cocaine is part of a healthy lifestyle if your goal is to make people stop doing it. If all this is true, then we can conclude rather easily that the problem with cocaine is how it’s produced and sold (which can be changed) rather than what happens when people use it (which cannot).

The two options are 1) illicit cocaine cultivation in the rainforest, or 2) regulated cultivation somewhere else. There is no third option in which everyone agrees not to do coke. If you wait for that to happen while the rainforests burn, you’re a bigger part of the problem than the party people who drive Priuses.

Briefly - I was arrested in Feb. 2007 for MDMA distribution along with 4 co-defendants (including my supplier, my investor, and 2 kids I hadn't ever met.)