Webguy to Worldwide

Recreation is Good Medicine

It's time to relax. Doctors, your Mom, and other kind folk will all tell you that stress is unhealthy; it breaks down your immune system and makes you more suceptable to disease. THC, it turns out, is an effective stress relief agent. Since stress relief is preventative medicine against stress-related illness, if you feel that consuming cannabis lowers your stress level, then you have valid medical reasons for doing so. So at least by this argument, if you smoke grass to relax, you are a medical marijuana user. That's nice to know in the changing climates of acceptance we experience now in our culture.

I used to be a classic DARE kid; whenever illicit drugs like cannabis came around, I'd parrot all the propaganda that I'd heard in my 13 years of schooling. Peer pressure didn't get through to my area of town for quite some time, but eventually even my closest friends were amusing themselves in ways I had forbidden unto myself. When the stories of fun and romance became too much to ignore and let pass me by, I looked into the possibility of other psychoactive substances making their way into my system.

A new world began to open, and I was introduced to a lot of new ideas, substances, and people. There was the older woman from New Brunswick with some special grass she called indica, the 24 hour drive to San Diego with three newly befriended olks of fancy, a riot in Vancouver where the police filled the air with a delightfully stinging and desirable snuff they called "tear gas", and more good times (some forgotten). More importantly, I sought out some new reading material. There were a few excellent newsgroups then like alt.drugs to slowly massage out some stupidity, but what I found most interesting was a book from my father's collection, Martin's "Criminal Code of Canada". Inside I found that what passed for the rules in this country were pretty silly, strict and intrusive. There was a long list of chemicals and plants that we simply weren't allowed to have. There were rules about particular sexual games that couldn't be participated in should there be spectators. There were also rules about what kind of literature could be passed around.

I had read Huxley's "Brave New World" earlier that same summer. I didn't like the way November 11th stories of brave men fighting old wars against book burning governments jibed with the idea that our laws look similar to passages from classic totalitarian novels. I could see through the wool.

A few weeks ago our government passed into law an act even more invasive and meddlesome then the ones that came before. Also a few weeks ago, some Saskatoon police pulled out Criminal Code section 462.2 and busted a record store for carrying the printed edition of this magazine.

I am always pleased to present the newest online edition of Cannabis Canada, but I sardonically grin while beaming with pride over this issue; someone tried to stop this from being read, and now it can be read worldnetwide. A lot of work just paid off, as it pays off anytime someone reads a some of our magazine.

When I was in school I didn't know about hemp, and when I first heard about it I condidered a hemp economy a far off but attainable goal. Now, a few short years later, I've seen a hemp exposition in Vancouver sposored by the Bank of Montreal and the Auto Worker's Union. David Malmo-Levine opened a storefront marijuana selling operation this spring. A few months earlier, California voted to legitimize medical marijuana use. There's been a few odd laws passed lately, but I think we're moving things in the right direction. If you're reading this, and reading the magazine, then you're helping. Sharing what you think with your friends, parents, children, teachers, employees, government representatives, and bossmans helps too.

I've had to relieve a lot of personal stress to get this magazine online, but every gram was worth it; this is another excellent issue. Thanks again for reading Cannabis Canada.