The coming of coffee to Europe had a major impact on the history of Western civilizations, some reputable historians say. The use of marijuana in America is rising pretty sharply, and the question arises: Will the impact of this mind-altering drug on the collective consciousness of our society culture and society and nation include anything of that kind?
What is the impact that marijuana — excuse me, cannabis — has on human consciousness? Where does it take the person who takes it into their body?
How should we think, in general, about the various drugs that impact our consciousness (i.e. its effects on how we feel, how we think, what we believe)? What are the costs and benefits of a society opening-vs-closing access to any of the various drugs that lead a person into a different state of consciousness (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, psylocibin, ecstasy, LSD, opiates, ...)?
At this dark and dangerous point in America, what path forward — regarding mind-altering drugs --would best help make America’s collective consciousness less crazy and misguided than this 2024 Presidential Election showed it to be?
Discussed here in this video:
I invite you to check out my website, where I try to present an integrated picture of our situation — as Americans, and as members of human civilization (which needs to get its act together better if it is to survive on this planet for the long haul, rather than destroy itself (as it looks quite able to do either because we’ve failed to prevent a nuclear holocaust or because we’ve failed to reorganize our civilization so that we can prevent ecological catastrophes like the climate crisis).