Just one more thing to consider:

My wife is reading this book called Hottentot Venus (warning: what i am about to describe is very disturbing). It is a historical novel based on a very true and historically accurate event about the Khoikhoi (there are many spellings) peoples of what is now called South Africa. The story is set in the 18th century, and is about a Khoikhoi girl who was taken from her homeland by the first Dutch "visitors" (this is before they "settled" and established a "colony") and placed in the custody of the government as a "specimen" of the so-called savages that they found in Africa. She was placed in museums, freak shows, and circuses inside a glass cage as a display for rich white people to observe and talk about at tea parties and such. They had her chained up, and she basically lived her whole life like this. Her bones were recently returned to South Africa just a few years ago. whew!!! okay onto my point:

In the very first chapter there is detailed account of the Khoikhoi's use of weed. The name they use is "daga." They used it the context of spiritual ritual, and as means of gaining closer contact with divine forces. I say all this to say that we, as black folks, completely have forgotten a few things:

1) herb grows natural on our homeland
2) it has been historically proven that it has been used for thousands of years by our people, and has shown up in the historical record of most of our major civilizations, including the great kingdoms of Egypt, Mali, and Songhay.
3) we also have seen it used under many contexts including spiritually, medicinally, and recreationally (our defintion of recreation doesn't completely capture this use, however.)

so the question is: has herb contributed to our downfall? or has it been a long series of tumultuous events that have lead us into misunderstanding of our own cultural past, hence the improper usage of herb? for example, where did we learn to put herb into chemically saturated cigar paper? why does the paper have so many chemicals to begin with? who keeps cigar companies in business? why do they make choclate flavored phillies nowadays?

just some food for thought...

pex