Why weed is the most universal psychedelic.

[Swayambhu]

No, I always produce lengthy posts, consumption of cannabis extract prior to sitting down behind the key board may have something do with it...

the term "stupefying" does not bother me, I just feel it's a little inaccurate, as the root of that word derives from the Latin "stupefacere" which means "make stupid or senseless".

I feel that word choice lends credence to the popularized disinformation that "drugs make you dumb" and feeds into the cultural propaganda machine of the modern drug war.

Okay, okay, fine, but first off I have felt many times that weed has made me stupid; temporarily stupid for the duration of the high. I obviously cannot speak for anybody but myself, but for the "duuuh" feeling of being a certain type of stoned "stupefied" is a very accurate word.

Concerning your feeling about drugs making you dumb or not, I wonder if perhaps you are not coming from a place of concern about the morality of getting "fucked up"? I know many people who use psychedelics "intentionally" are very much against the idea of getting fucked up and/or stupid. It seems kind of old fashioned and moralistic to me. Strangely in very old cannabis cultures I have encountered people will take cannabis very explicitly to get fucked up. The idea of mental elevation has it's place, but it's definitely not the whole story.

I see cannabis as fairly low yielding, the majority of the plant is not smokeable, and as far as being "easy" to grow, that's a bit of an exaggeration as well, growing good cannabis isn't as easy as most envision it.

I'm probably a rank amateur compared to most on this forum, but I've grown cannabis in the past, and if you can grow vegetables, you can grow cannabis. It's easy. Also it may be relevant to remember the millions of people across the tropics/subtropics who grow cannabis in its natural latitudes, and people in these areas generally use more of the plant than we do.

Psilocybe fungi, stropharia cubensis, are easier to grow than cannabis,

I have not personally found this to be the case.

Salvia divinorum is not very difficult to grow, and more of the plant is consumable than the cannabis plant.

Perhaps, though I understand that salvia is almost always grown from cuttings, and really I don't think people will ever be using salvia to brighten their day-to-day.

Opium poppies are more than easy to grow, fairly low yielding as you are collecting dried latex from cuts on the living flower bulbs, yielding raw opium, but the poppies are far more simple to cultivate in comparison to cannabis.

Again, apart from sexing and eradicating males, if you choose to do that, the ease of cultivation is the same, while the yield of poppy is lower per plant, the plant density can be very much greater than cannabis, and I couldn't tell you the comparative yield per hectare. Poppy probably pips it.

Which brings me back to the point, most psychoactive plants are easy to grow, yet they don't have the same appeal as cannabis.

-eg

In retrospect, you are absolutely right about the appeal, but I think ease of cultivation is much greater than you suggest. Finding plants with comparable effects is what is hard.
Of course, the plants that are most easily grown, have highest yields and widest appeal are the grains/grasses, barley, wheat, millet, maize, rice, etc. that are used to make alcohol, the most common psychoactive of all.

 

[entheogenic-gnosis]

No, I always produce lengthy posts, consumption of cannabis extract prior to sitting down behind the key board may have something do with it...

the term "stupefying" does not bother me, I just feel it's a little inaccurate, as the root of that word derives from the Latin "stupefacere" which means "make stupid or senseless".

I feel that word choice lends credence to the popularized disinformation that "drugs make you dumb" and feeds into the cultural propaganda machine of the modern drug war.

Okay, okay, fine, but first off I have felt many times that weed has made me stupid; temporarily stupid for the duration of the high. I obviously cannot speak for anybody but myself, but for the "duuuh" feeling of being a certain type of stoned "stupefied" is a very accurate word.

Concerning your feeling about drugs making you dumb or not, I wonder if perhaps you are not coming from a place of concern about the morality of getting "fucked up"? I know many people who use psychedelics "intentionally" are very much against the idea of getting fucked up and/or stupid. It seems kind of old fashioned and moralistic to me. Strangely in very old cannabis cultures I have encountered people will take cannabis very explicitly to get fucked up. The idea of mental elevation has it's place, but it's definitely not the whole story.

I see cannabis as fairly low yielding, the majority of the plant is not smokeable, and as far as being "easy" to grow, that's a bit of an exaggeration as well, growing good cannabis isn't as easy as most envision it.

I'm probably a rank amateur compared to most on this forum, but I've grown cannabis in the past, and if you can grow vegetables, you can grow cannabis. It's easy. Also it may be relevant to remember the millions of people across the tropics/subtropics who grow cannabis in its natural latitudes, and people in these areas generally use more of the plant than we do.

Psilocybe fungi, stropharia cubensis, are easier to grow than cannabis,

I have not personally found this to be the case.

Salvia divinorum is not very difficult to grow, and more of the plant is consumable than the cannabis plant.

Perhaps, though I understand that salvia is almost always grown from cuttings, and really I don't think people will ever be using salvia to brighten their day-to-day.

Opium poppies are more than easy to grow, fairly low yielding as you are collecting dried latex from cuts on the living flower bulbs, yielding raw opium, but the poppies are far more simple to cultivate in comparison to cannabis.

Again, apart from sexing and eradicating males, if you choose to do that, the ease of cultivation is the same, while the yield of poppy is lower per plant, the plant density can be very much greater than cannabis, and I couldn't tell you the comparative yield per hectare. Poppy probably pips it.

Which brings me back to the point, most psychoactive plants are easy to grow, yet they don't have the same appeal as cannabis.

-eg

In retrospect, you are absolutely right about the appeal, but I think ease of cultivation is much greater than you suggest. Finding plants with comparable effects is what is hard.
Of course, the plants that are most easily grown, have highest yields and widest appeal are the grains/grasses, barley, wheat, millet, maize, rice, etc. that are used to make alcohol, the most common psychoactive of all.

I guess we will have to agree to disagree about cannabis "making you dumb"

I have nothing against getting "messed up", but I am a strong advocate for responsible and safe consumption of psychoactives, I don't care why you are using the compounds, so long as you can you can do it safely, responsibly, and without causing any harm or bother to others.

I still feel mushrooms are FAR easier to grow, all you need is some spores, some jars, a fish tank, hygrometer, pressure-cooker, coffee-grinder, Brown rice flower, perlite, vermiculite, a "glove-box", and knowledge to be sterile. (As well as a few other small things), most this stuff is already found in the average American home. Growing mushrooms takes minimal time space and resources, everything you grow is consumable, and there are very few hassles so long as you are sterile, it helps to be educated, but if you can follow simple instructions you could pull it off.

With cannabis you need: space, expensive grow lights, electricity, fans, nutrients (which cost a ton), pesticides, soil, and a good deal of time, money and work, plus there are always hassles, spider-mites, mold, male-flowers/pollen, hermaphrodite plants, seeded crops, bad plant genetics, other pests, etc...

Plus, with cannabis, the majority of the plant is composed of giant stems, large leaf, and trim, and only the trim is able to be converted into anything useful, so with buds and trim you are still throwing away half the plant in stems and shade leaf.

With the salvia comment you inadvertently made my point:

Perhaps, though I understand that salvia is almost always grown from cuttings, and really I don't think people will ever be using salvia to brighten their day-to-day

My point was most psychoactive plants are easy to grow, but the general appeal of cannabis drives more people to grow it, and it looks like you eventually conceded to that same conclusion.

-eg

 

[PsyDuckmonkey]

Okay, okay, fine, but first off I have felt many times that weed has made me stupid; temporarily stupid for the duration of the high. I obviously cannot speak for anybody but myself, but for the "duuuh" feeling of being a certain type of stoned "stupefied" is a very accurate word.

I agree with this - while not trying to write off cannabis as a plain "dumb pill". The cannabis high does give me a slow, indeed "dopey", stupid feeling, and a regressive, childlike joy in playing with words (in a childish and "dumb" way), sensations, everyday objects or whatever is at hand. It reminds me of what it was like to be kindergarten age.

Calling cannabis stupefying is no insult at all in my view.

if you can grow vegetables, you can grow cannabis. It's easy. Also it may be relevant to remember the millions of people across the tropics/subtropics who grow cannabis in its natural latitudes, and people in these areas generally use more of the plant than we do.

It's not growing cannabis that is hard. It's growing it in a city apartment at high latitudes, undetected by law enforcement that is hard.

Psilocybe fungi, stropharia cubensis, are easier to grow than cannabis,

I have not personally found this to be the case.

That can be due to a number of factors. Lack of preparation (as in learning), lack of hygiene, low viability of your starting culture / spores. Growing cubes in a city apartment at high latitudes, undetected by law enforcement is far easier (and cheaper) than doing the same with cannabis.

Finding plants with comparable effects is what is hard.

Indeed, cannabis is quite unique.

I still feel mushrooms are FAR easier to grow, all you need is some spores, some jars, a fish tank, hygrometer, pressure-cooker, coffee-grinder, Brown rice flower, perlite, vermiculite, a "glove-box", and knowledge to be sterile.

A ~12 gallon plastic box will do nicely instead of a fish tank, and I've never found a need for a coffee grinder, but yea, it's pretty "low key" compared to HPS lights and active carbon air exchange systems.

 

[Swayambhu]

With the salvia comment you inadvertently made my point:

Perhaps, though I understand that salvia is almost always grown from cuttings, and really I don't think people will ever be using salvia to brighten their day-to-day

-eg

I don't think I inadvertently made your point, but rather enforced my argument that cannabis is popular as a broad-spectrum, daily intoxicant. It also happens to be very easy to grow.