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What is it that the war against cannabis and psychedelics is supposed to do and what is it that it actually does? The Prohibitionists will try to point to some supposed "benefits" of these harsh and unjust laws but what are they and are they real? What is the real purpose of preventing a person from altering his or her consciousness with these largely benign substances?  I would argue that the benefits which the prohibition proponents push are nonexistent. Further, I would venture to say that the real and most fundamental purpose of this prohibition is to prevent "dangerous" thought (dangerous to the authorities and ruling classes, that is) among the common people. To put it differently, the war against cannabis and psychedelics is the forceful arm of a system of mind control that serves to prevent the masses from learning how to question the social, political, economic, and most other established authorities, who owe their power to our blind obedience and unquestioning minds.  

Lets look at some of the purported benefits of the prohibition of these drugs and see if they stand up to reality. The most obvious these "positive effects" is a reduction in the use of these substances but this, both, is untrue and falsely presupposes that consuming cannabis and psychedelics is inherently "bad". Most kinds of drug use have steadily increased (in the U.S., at least) since the beginning of the drug war. Cannabis and psychedelics are not particularly "harmful" (they are far safer than most legal drugs, in fact) and, in reality, have a number of real and valuable uses. Simply put, this argument for prohibition is a lie. Prohibitionists may also say that they wish to reduce the "harm" caused by drug use but prohibition kills or otherwise harms far more people than even the worst of drugs and, as we already covered, there is very little "harm" to reduce when we are talking about cannabis and psychedelics. Like the first, this argument is a lie. The prohibitionist may say that outlawing these "dangerous" drugs protects the health and safety of the population but alcohol and tobacco (some of the most dangerous drugs in existence) are legal. Yet again, we have another lie. Clearly, the publicly stated "benefits" of the war on cannabis and psychedelics do not actually exist.

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If the supposed benefits of the prohibition of cannabis and psychedelics aren't real, why do these laws continue to be passed and enforced? Many point to the powerful industries that profit from the drug war but I view these things as a symptom of the problem and not the cause. In other words, this view is like putting the cart before the horse. Institutional corruption plays a role, of course, but even that corruption seems to be more of a motivation than a cause. The truth, I think is much simpler. The power that these types of drugs have to provoke novel thinking strikes fear into the hearts of established authorities. These leader of government, of industry, and of any long running system of control rely on the obedience of the masses to maintain their positions of power. These authorities know the best way ensure this obedience is to prevent any "dangerous" thought which might cause the common people to ask inconvenient questions and, as a result, they will take measures to stifle any "dangerous" thinking.

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Psychedelics and cannabis can lead to self discovery and the critical exploration of the preconceived and preprogrammed  ideas that one holds. Cannabis can open one's mind to new and novel thinking. Psychedelics can wash away one's deeply believed lies with their strange and intense waves of potent emotions and peculiar thoughts. The authorities, who wish to maintain their systems of control, fear the powers that lie hidden in these plants, fungi, and chemicals. They fear them because they know that new thoughts lead to new questions, new questions lead to new criticisms. Criticisms lead to discontent and unrest and, if the masses should unite as a result, it will usher in the end of these systems of power. The elites and their fear of a free thinking populous lie at the heart of the prohibition of cannabis and psychedelic drugs.    

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Your mind is yours to control. Whether you agree with me or not, try to think freely about all things and always question authority, lest you become another victim  of the mind controllers.

Peace.

Unless otherwise credited, the images in this post were sourced from the free image website, unsplash.com.