The Future of Marijuana Legalization

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JASON SILVA: We are definitely witnessing a phase change,

a turning point in America's relationship

with cannabis sativa.

That's right, the marijuana plant,

a sacrament that's been used for thousands of years,

in all kinds of contexts, for promoting healing,

for promoting transformation, for promoting spirituality.

And every day we're learning a host of new benefits

that are associated with the plant.

Now, I think it's kind of amazing, not just

for the fact that this plant is nontoxic, and has

so many medicinal and therapeutic benefits,

but also for the fact as a sacred sacrament,

this raises the issue of cognitive liberty,

the fact that as adults, if we're not hurting anybody else,

we should have the right to explore

the contours of our own consciousness

without any mediation or legislation

on the part of somebody else.

Prohibition, as Abraham Lincoln used to say,

goes beyond the bounds of reason,

and attempts to legislate a man's appetite

by making a crime of things that are not crimes.

I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point.

But I think now the majority of Americans

support marijuana legalization.

We're seeing more and more states embrace this issue

of cognitive freedom.

And I think we're going to see transformation

in consciousness.

Not to mention that marijuana is extraordinarily

sensitive to initial rhetorical conditions.

It's what Timothy Leary used to describe as set and setting.

So by changing the context, by changing

the culture in which people partake in this visionary herb,

you're changing the very nature of the medicine's effects.

Experiments in Colorado are raising the stage in which

people enjoy their cannabis.

We're talking culinary experiences,

we're talking classical music venues and concerts.

We're talking special cinemas with vaporizing rooms, where

people can prime their brains for enhanced cinematic

diversion.

It's a new world, and it's a world

that it's going to be interesting to see how it all

unfolds.

Cognitive thrills await us that we cannot even imagine.