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Religious Issues

Canadian Marijuana Church Seized

By: skip

Church of the Universe leaders imprisoned

by Al Sweeney, CHCH News

Perhaps the most well known marijuana activists in our region are going to jail.
"The Church of the Universe" on Barton street is now under new management.
It’s been seized by the government. The two reverends who sold marijuana here as a sacrament in their church, have started serving prison terms.
Police took over the building late Friday afternoon following a court order by a judge, and the judge came down hard.
He sentenced Michael Baldasaro to two years for selling marijuana, and he gave Walter Tucker a year in jail.
The two men lived in their church, and this case made history in Hamilton. It’s the first time that a residence has been seized and will eventually be sold off under the drug law.

"So now we’re inspecting the premises, seized property management is here, they’re the people that are going to manage the property (during) the forfeiture process, just here to ensure the property’s secure, make sure there’s nothing of value in the property that could go missing, change the locks, board the property up make sure it’s secure.
This will send the message that if you’re going to carry on trafficking in drugs, growing drugs, in your premise or residence, it can be forfeited as offence-related property."
-Bob MacDonald, Hamilton Police

Now one of the aspects of this case is Baldasaro and Tucker are well-known in Hamilton. They may have been selling an illegal drug but they were friendly and very well-liked by a lot of people. They said they sold marijuana out of compassion to help people.
But the judge didn’t buy their church argument.
He said the church was actually a marijuana convenience store, run like a prohibition-era speakeasy, disguised as a church.
The two reverends being characters, there was a very touching scene in court as this case came to an end. Baldasaro as we said got two years in jail, Tucker got one year. But Tucker asked the judge to give him two years as well so that he could spend the time with his friend. The judge ignored his request.
As the reverends were led away to start serving their jail terms, they called out ‘bless you’ to the court. They say they’re also going to be appealing.

Views: 9228

Sacrament or Medicine?

By: skip

By BushyOldGrower
Author of “Bonanza of Green

This question may indeed be answered “Yes” in both cases when Cannabis is considered. Some people scoff at the idea of smoking weed being religious and I can understand that initial response. However when looked at more closely the sacramental nature of cannabis becomes obvious to me. Consider the fact that in Christianity, which encompasses many denominations, wine is a sacrament used in many churches. Is it any more ridiculous to use cannabis as a sacrament than it is to use booze?

Actually the world now realizes that cannabis is indeed medicine. In fact as a trained Naturopathic Therapist I can attest to the fact that cannabis is probably the finest of herbal medicines available. The range of uses are so wide that many pharmaceuticals would be replaced if Cannabis were freely available at reasonable costs. The use of cannabis even when smoked has been shown to be healthy in fact. Most people are convinced by now that cannabis is real medicine especially since we discovered the THC receptors in the brain.

This powerful effect has major implications for many types of therapies and cannabis can be a very effective anti-depressant. These THC receptors seem to allow us to relax and enjoy eating. This de-stress herb can be the key to healing our souls as well as our bodies. In alternative medicine the mind, body and spirit are a triad making us whole. When considering the spiritual nature of a substance we look at the effects of ingestion by whatever form.

Luckily the Christians don’t get drunk when they go to church. 🙂 Most probably Rastafarians have a serious spiritual side as well. If you look at it with an open mind Cannabis as a sacrament seems sensible. The effects of the aromatherapy Cannabis gives are relaxation, peace and love. My good friend Soma says that “Cannabis makes people kinder” and he considers it his daily Sacrament. I quite agree with this and most of what Master Soma says because he is truly a great soul. Like myself he is possessed with the spirit of Cannabis. That may sound like a bad thing to some but would you rather use alcohol daily as your ritual or sacrament. Would that be more spiritual?

In fact there is much basis for Cannabis being a sacrament in history and even Christianity believe it or not. Many now believe that the recipe for the Holy Anointing Oil, used by the Hebrews and Jesus to heal, actually contained large amounts of cannabis. This oil is currently being made and it does have remarkable healing properties that could have helped a blind person see after having it applied by Jesus. The ingredients for this Holy Anointing Oil come from the Torah which predates the Old Testament of the Bible in Judeo-Christianity.

In many states and other countries as well as Canada there is legal medical marijuana and the trend seems to be going well in
that regard but Cannabis while allowed for some religious use has not been legally made a sacrament in the USA as yet. We are working on it however. The implications of this are huge in the legal realm because this could, in one court case, virtually end Cannabis Prohibition in the USA. Although some don’t want it legalized, for many reasons that I do understand, there may be no choice. Time marches on and the good aspects of Cannabis and Hemp seem endless. Now on to the spiritual aspect.

Have you ever been to an event where everyone was smoking and sharing a lot of pot openly and freely? Did you notice something about how you felt and about how others seemed also to feel around you? Do you think a plant could have a spirit? Booze has a spirit as well and when everyone gets a little high on it the fun starts, but when the folks get drunk people often fight. Cannabis tends to make the initial fun as well and there is no problem when people have had enough. They don’t fight or crash their cars. They don’t get rowdy and start cussing at each other. They have a great time and they go to sleep peacefully.

Religious or Medical, freedom is just that. The right to say and think what you believe and the right to choose what you ingest. Whether it be for medicinal or religious purpose is up to the individual. Alternative Medicine as a whole often stays away from the Medical Marijuana issue because they have enough trouble with their own legitimacy when faced with a myriad of laws forbidding them from practicing medicine without a license. Herbal medicines are required to state that they haven’t been proven to be effective by the FDA in America so they are in almost the same boat as us Cannabis users.

What people need to realize is that freedom is what is at stake here. Everyone has certain rights given by “The Higher Law”. Most legal authorities say that man’s laws reflect the Higher Law but often they don’t. Since men made the laws that we can change all we need to do is just that. My belief is that the courts will soon be forced to place Cannabis in the same place as Ayahuska as a legal sacrament. The people I recently visited in California have a city where Medical Marijuana is legal for medical users. The funny thing about this California city however is that it’s name is Sacramento!

Personally, I am for the legalization of Cannabis for whatever purpose. I would like to see it remain a small time business and home grown industry if possible. We wouldn’t want our medicine to lose it’s spiritual nature in some big commercial production line. Part of the process is the love people put into their Cannabis and the intention Medical Providers have to provide real medicine that will help people. My wish is that someday the simple truths will come to be evident to all.

In conclusion my argument that Cannabis is a Sacrament seems every bit as real as it’s medicinal value. Have you ever heard it called, “The Peace Weed”?

Peace to you, all my Brothers and Sisters, may the ONE LOVE be felt in you all right now! 🙂 BOG

This story previously appeared in Treating Yourself Magazine.

Views: 3721

Sacramental Cannabis

By:

By BushyOldGrower
Author of Bonanza of Green

There is little doubt that cannabis is effective medicine and it is totally safe. Recently my Medical Doctor stated, “Whatever works” regarding Alternative Medicine. She knows that what works for the patient is the main criteria for good medicine as well as safety.

The term, “Sacramental Cannabis” like “Medical Cannabis”, makes some in the anti-pot world shudder. The difficult thing to understand, about opposition to medical use, is the fact that Doctors prescribe many very dangerous and poisonous drugs even for small ailments. Why should anyone object to a patient taking the advice of his or her physician?

In regard to Spiritual usage of Cannabis, I believe that the objections to this one are as illogical as ever. In reality Sacraments are rituals used for religious purposes. These rituals allow a practitioner to raise their spiritual energy. Visualization, meditations, incense burning and prayer are all helpful to the daily maintenance of the spiritual aspect of our lives.

Truthfully I swear that I am a medical and sacramental user of Cannabis, as is my friend, Soma. Master Soma has been a good example of many things. Soma says, “Cannabis is my daily Sacrament”. Like myself, Soma is also a medical user, an author of many cannabis articles and has written a book as well. Soma faced open-heart surgery recently and coincidentally so did I a while back. When in the hospital in Amsterdam, Master Soma insisted he needed his medical marijuana to live and he was allowed to use cannabis in his room. He recovered.

(Taking a Sacramental usage break) 🙂

Whew! 🙂 Now, where was I?

The reason cannabis makes such a great sacrament is the effect it has on a person or a group. People often notice details when “high” and the appreciation of beauty becomes easier. Seeing the beauty in nature is a beginning on the road to enlightenment.

Cannabis use also has the ritual people seem to need in order to achieve peace and oneness. Soma says, “Cannabis makes people kinder” and he’s right. Did you know that Hitler and the Nazi’s hated cannabis because they believed it made men weaker? They wanted insensitive soldiers who drank alcohol because booze goes with violence. Pot is for Peace.

In order to bring peace to Earth the Buddha came. This is the only reason anyone ever tried to help us. Someone “up there” saw the world of delusion and violence we live in and this someone had pity on us. This “higher person” that you may prefer to call by a different name is “The Prince of Peace”.

Jesus was a great Buddha and all the great masters who wished for peace seem to have the same message. Love everyone like your brothers and sisters. As Bill and Ted said, “Be Excellent to Each Other”.

Cannabis brings me inner peace and allows me to open my heart to others. “Getting High” in the morning does get me higher in my level of spiritual consciousness. I am high right now! Of course I wasn’t raised a stoner but was forced as a child to endure the hypocrisy of the Catholics. Catholic School was a nightmare to me but I never quite rejected the notion of God despite their efforts. To this day the Catholics oppose birth control in a horribly over-populated world. Do catholic rituals like sacramental incense, wine or unleavened bread do much? They own much property and they are guilty of many crimes and I can testify to the fact that the Catholics did harm to me. So if that is legitimate religion it isn’t for me.

False religions teach a delusion of good and evil, a devil and a God Father. It all sounds like children’s stories except for the message Jesus gave us in his “Sermon on the Mount”. This sermon was the Sutra of Buddha Jesus, his sermon on the rule of love and peace.

I believe there is one deep truth like the deepest part of the Sea. There are many paths to this one truth and these paths are like rivers that all lead to the Sea. All religions eventually will end up at the same truth. We will eventually bring peace to our planet but first we must bring peace to ourselves.

(Smoke some pot now…)

Can you feel the peace? Say aloud, “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo”. Take a deep breath and close your eyes, feel the love as you see the light. The Kingdom of God is within you and your body is a temple of great beauty. Realize your beauty and your place in the universe as one of those most honored. You are the highest sentient being on this planet. So what is your duty? We tend the garden. Planet Earth is the garden we are responsible for. All life forms are under our dominion. What will we do with our lovely Mother Earth?

It is my hope that everyone will continue to seek enlightenment. Whatever path you choose is up to you of course. I would never wish to restrict anyone’s religious freedom, would you?

You may wonder if I am a Christian or a Buddhist. Actually I love them all. This is the “One Love” concept. One Love because all humans are one. This collective consciousness we share is evolving, as have our religious ideas. Bring Peace and Love into yourself so you can project the same to the world.

See the Beauty in yourselves my brother and sisters. I see it in you.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo (from the Lotus Sutra)

Views: 9517

Using Peyote or Marijuana Instead of Wine in Eucharist

By: skip

Wahkon writes:
I, as a Catholic prophet with a pharmaceutical social engineer ministry, am in the process of trying to found a religious organization that will seek to gain the legal right to use marijuana and peyote in a strictly therapeutic way during religious ceremonies.

By Thomas Ivan Dahlheimer

In a Minnesota county newspaper article, subtitled: "300 gather to note the toll by alcohol abuse", Melvin Eagle, the traditional Chief of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is quoted as saying: "Alcoholism is not our traditional way. We need to try to pull together and away from alcohol because it is destroying our people."

I am a American Indian rights activist who is spearheading an international movement to change the derogatory name of a Minnesota river, the Rum River. The reason why there is an international movement to change the river’s name is because the current name is both, as stated in a book published by the Minnesota Historical Society, a "punning perversion" of the sacred Sioux name Wakan which is translated as Spirit or Great Spirit, and the other reason why the current name is inappropriate is because "rum brought misery and ruin, as Duluth observed of whisky, to many of the Indians".

I believe that by drawing attention to the Rum River name-change issue "white guilt" will increase, because of a heightened awareness of the catastrophic consequences caused by white settlers introducing and selling alcohol to American Indians; and that this increase of "white guilt" will, in a lot of ways, cause the dominate culture to offer all American Indians their long over due restitution justice, especially when it comes to making amends to help American Indians to free themselves from the plague of alcoholism.

During an early stage of this river name-changing movement I was challenged by a statement published in a Minnesota newspaper article, to use this name-change issue to gain accesses to public forums wherein I would be able to express my opinion on whether it was right or wrong for Europeans to bring alcohol to the homelands of American Indians, and if, in my opinion it was not right, explain what could and should be done to rid alcohol from the Americas. And I have accepted that challenge. Hence I believe that it will not be long until I will be receiving recognition in the mainstream news media as a social engineer in the forefront of a world wide movement to stop the America Indian alcohol-abuse genocidal epidemic.

And in respect to this work of mine, I, as a Catholic, have radical grievances against my church’s supreme hierarchal authorities’ world-wide support for the legality and use of the addictive and dangerous drug alcohol. And I am especially troubled by their support for the legality and use of alcohol in the Americas, where the homelands of a multitude of indigenous tribes are located.

In addition, I am radically opposed to my church’s use of wine in the sacrament of the Eucharist. I have talked to the pastors of Catholic churches in the Mille Lacs Lake area about petitioning their Bishop to give them permission to stop using wine in the sacrament of the Eucharist. I am trying to evangelize the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe to the Catholic churches located on the south end of Mille Lacs Lake. And at least some Band members are trying to "pull together and away from alcohol", but my church’s supreme hierarchal authorities want me to lead them to alcohol (wine) on the churches’ alters.

An open letter to my pastor about this issue:
During last Sunday’s Mass a song with the words "I will drink wine on my knees" was sung. Those words filled me with holy indignation. Why sing those words when everywhere in the world where alcohol is legal and available there are catastrophic consequences?

Now-days, we know a lot more about the dangers of alcohol than they did back when Jesus walked the earth. And when Jesus turned the water into wine at the wedding party those people who drank the wine did not have cars to get in and drive off and kill people. The circumstances associated with the moral issue concerning the legality and use of alcohol has, over a 2000 year period of time, radically changed. But most people are stuck in the past and can not accepted this truth. Even our Church’s supreme hierarchical authorities are still stuck in their erroneous traditional way of thinking when it comes to the question as to whether or not our Church should change its attitude about alcohol. I believe that our supreme hierarchical authorities should stop supporting the legality and use of alcohol throughout the world, and especially in the homelands of the indigenous peoples of the Americans.

When it comes to our supreme hierarchical authorities’ other traditionally approved of deadly drug (tobacco), they are beginning to change their traditional attitude and policies. They just recently banded the smoking of tobacco from Vatican buildings. When modern-day scientific evidence first indicated that it was wrong to continue to allow smoking of tobacco in buildings where people would have to breath second hand smoke, the Vatican’s hierarchical authorities did not take the moral lead and become the first, or one of the first major building managerial committees to ban smoking from their buildings, but rather they were one of the last major building managerial committees to ban the smoking of tobacco in their buildings.

When they were pressured by concerned public health activists to deal with this modern-day tobacco use in public buildings moral issue, they finally had to admitted that they had made a mistake in the past, and that they made it when they originally allowed the use of tobacco in Vatican buildings. We know that in the past they have gotten stuck in some erroneous traditional ways of thinking, and then made immoral judgments when new scientific evidence was telling them that their traditional stances on some issues were radically wrong. Imagine how much Galileo had to suffer because he discovered that the Church’s traditional position on an issue was radically wrong, and our Church’s supreme hierarchical authorities would not, for a long time, accept the new scientific evidence that indicated that he was right.

Modern-day scientific evidence informs us, and this is even the official position of the French government, that when comparing the traditional mood-altering drug of both the Church and the white raced people (alcohol) with the drugs of colored people throughout the world, alcohol has been found to be one of the most addictive and dangerous drugs, and that everywhere it is legal and available there are catastrophic health and social consequences. But never-the-less our Church’s supreme hierarchical authorities continue to disapprove of the use of colored people’s traditional mood-altering drugs and then give their (back in the days of Jesus’ earthly life, and out of touch with today’s reality) traditional white racist support for the legality and use of alcohol. And they also continue in their erroneous traditional way of thinking when it comes to their misguided support for the legal use of tobacco.

One of Alcoholics Anonymous’ twelve steps for alcohol abuse treatment deals with the "big shot syndrome". And one of today’s biggest questions is what was the primary cause of why the white raced people developed such a diluted superiority complex that they were able to commit such radical atrocities against colored people. And when trying to find the answer to this question, it made sense to me, that if a race of people were to use and abuse alcohol for a long time, they would consequently develop the "big shot syndrome". People with diluted "big shot" mentalities need to subjugate and manipulate people. And this type of mentality portrays the history of the white raced people. Hence, I have concluded that because – where there is legal use of alcohol there is also a lot of alcohol abuse – that therefore the Church’s long standing position of sanctioning the legal use of alcohol has been the primary cause for all of the white-racist atrocities committed against colored people.

And now-days, even when it is known that where ever alcohol is legal and available there are catastrophic consequences our Church’s supreme hierarchical authorities never-the-less continue to promote the legal use, and consequently the abuse, of alcohol.

When writing the new Catechism Of The Catholic Church our Church’s supreme hierarchical authorities included an erroneous statement that has influenced a great multitude of people to believe that the use of alcohol is not dangerous. And because of this highly influential opinion of theirs a lot of people have started drinking alcoholic beverages and many of them are now suffering from alcohol abuse problems. In the Catechism our Church’s supreme hierarchical authorities proclaim that alcohol is not dangerous, but that all other drugs are dangerous. They should have known not to put that erroneous statement in the Catechism. Even the advisory doctor for the nationally broadcasted Good Morning America television program said on national television that too many people who start using alcohol with the intention of using it moderately end up becoming habitual abusers of alcohol, and that the belief that the use of alcohol is not dangerous for the average person causes a lot of grief and suffering for multitudes of people. Note: In America 10% of men and 5% of women who start drinking alcohol will become habitual abusers of alcohol.

I would like the world community of nations to advocate the creation of an United Nations world court indictment in order to bring our Church’s supreme hierarchical authorities to justice for their long-standing and persistent support for the legality and use of the addictive and dangerous drug alcohol, it is a crime against humanity. I am sure that the many anti-alcohol Moslem nations would like to participate in this righteous plan to bring them to justice. And for the Church’s supreme hierarchical authorities to continue to promote the legality and use of the addictive and dangerous drug alcohol during this critical time when there is a war against other harmful and dangerous drugs makes this crime of theirs even more evil.

European salve traders shipped thousands of barrels of rum across the sea to African tribal leaders and gave some of the barrels of rum to them. And they did this without warning them that it was addictive, and they also neglected to warn them that, if they were to get addicted to it they would do evil things to get more of it. And by neglecting to warn them of the addictive and dangerous qualities of alcohol, the white salve traders intentionally deceived the African tribal leaders for the purpose of gaining an opportunity to coheres and manipulate them into capturing their own people for the purpose of trading them (as salves) for rum.

And their scam worked, the black African tribal leaders became addicted to alcohol and then captured their own people for the purpose of trading them (as slaves) for more rum. Hence, the white slave traders were able to make a lot of money. They put the captured black African slaves in their ships as cargo bound for America. And on the way to America many of them died because of the ships unhealthy living conditions. And for the slaves that survived the trip they were separated (husband from wife, children from parents) and sold to white customers who lived many miles apart. And many of those white customers were Catholics. Both Catholic Bishops, as well as Catholic laymen bought and owned black African slaves. They greedily made a profit from the slave traders’ promotion of alcohol abuse in Africa. The slave trade was a promotion of alcohol abuse, greedy money-making, white racist scam and atrocity that many of our nation’s Bishops and laymen participating in. And our Church’s supreme hierarchical authorities permitted this alcohol abuse related atrocity to continue, and this radical neglect of their moral responsibility caused untold grief and suffering for multitudes of people.

And when Catholic missionary priests entered the homelands of the indigenous people of the Americans they brought the addictive and dangerous drug alcohol with them. And the Catholic missionary priests, in the process of their Holy See directed mission to evangelize the natives, gave the addictive and dangerous drug alcohol to the natives. And they committed this grave sin because they wanted the natives to believe that alcohol was a good and safe drug. And the reason why they wanted them to believe that it was a good and safe drug was because it was being used during the summit of the Church’s worship services. And this grave sin of theirs was the primary cause for the indigenous people of the Americas alcoholic-abuse genocidal epidemic, a genocidal epidemic that is still being perpetrated against indigenous people throughout the Americas.

When our nation’s bishops found out that a pre-Columbus traditionally used Native mind-altering medicinal drug (peyote) was being used spiritually and therapeutically by an increasing number of Natives and that its use was helping them to stop the alcohol abuse genocidal health epidemic that was being perpetrated against them our nation’s bishops condemned its use and proclaimed it a heresy for Catholic American Indians to use it, and did so because of their white racist belief that the white man’s drug (alcohol) was the superior drug and the only good mind altering drug, and that therefore American Indians should use alcohol and not their traditional drug peyote. And this is the reason why the American Indian alcohol abuse health epidemic and genocide continues to plague American Indians today.

Jesus wanted the church to go into all parts of the world in order to evangelize all of mankind to God’s saving plan, but he did not want the church to take the negative aspects of Jewish culture with them and impose those negative aspects of Jewish culture on the peoples of different races and cultures. But in respect to the alcohol-use negative aspect of Jewish culture, that is exactly what our Church’s supreme hierarchical authorities did when they imposed, in the process of their evangelization mission, the use of alcohol on American Indians and other non-alcohol drinking indigenous peoples throughout the world, and they are still committing this same grave sin. But, thanks be to God, at least some of the protestant churches have switched from wine to grape juice when it comes to the Last Supper segment of their worship services.

And our Church’s supreme hierarchical authorities also sanctioned North American cultural genocidal boarding schools. Native children were legally kidnapped from their parents and taken away to Catholic boarding schools there they were brain washed to believe that their culture, religion, language, and drugs, drugs that they used moderately and spiritual, were evil, and that the white man’s culture, religion, language and drug alcohol (an addictive and dangerous drug) were good. And in the evil environment of Catholic boarding schools, alcohol demented homosexual pedophile priests had a field day sexually molesting the native boys. And our Church in North America is headed toward bankruptcy because of all the evil things that happened in those brain washing boarding schools, where the natives were taught that alcohol was a good and safe drug, and that their peoples’ drugs, the drugs that the adults in their communities used moderately and spiritually, were dangerous and evil and therefore forbidden.

Official governmental reports on the income of our nation’s bars and liquor stores present evidence that indicates that most of the money that is made from alcohol sales in bars and liquor stores comes from the abusive users. And these reports are presented in the popular cultural mainstream newspapers throughout our nation. And even though this information is known by the pastors of the cultural mainstream "Christian" churches throughout our nation, most of them still support private and municipal bars and liquor stores, and they do not even advocate that most of the money made from the municipal bars and liquor stores go to alcohol abuse screening centers and treatment centers. Descent moral people should be outraged by this fact.

The tax paying citizens of towns that have municipal bars and liquor stores are not making a profit from these immoral businesses, but the greedy and corrupt corporate elite of the abusive alcohol industry are. The average tax payer is paying for alcohol abuse treatment centers, the housing and supervision of DUI incarcerated inmates, and also other alcoholic abuse related incarcerated inmate cost. And the average tax payer is also paying for the medical cost of non-insured alcohol abuse victims of car accidents and other alcohol abuse related violence. Two-thirds of domestic violence is caused by alcohol abuse. And the average tax payer is also paying for Supplement Social Security payments to demented alcoholics who can’t work, and they are also paying for the cost of health and social problems due to the brain damage caused by the alcohol fetal syndrome health epidemic. One out of every 100 children born in America has been brain damaged by his/her mother’s use of alcohol while pregnant. And then there is the cost of welfare payments to the multitudes of alcoholic single mothers who keep getting drunk and having more babies. And a lot of unwanted pregnancies occur when people get drunk and have unplanned sex, and many of those pregnancies end with an abortion. The negative health and social ramifications associated with alcohol abuse are terrible and descent moral people should be outraged by this fact, and then work to put a stop to this alcohol abuse epidemic and related social atrocities. And you, and the vast majority of our country’s other "Christian" pastors, should begin telling it like it is, instead of giving watered down homilies about this issue, homilies that deceive and therefore influence multitudes of our country’s churchgoing citizens to be apathetic when it comes to solving the alcohol abuse health epidemic and related social atrocities.

Charles Krauthammer… of the Washington Post wrote: "The demonization of drugs allows delusion about alcohol to flourish".

In the Catechism Of The Catholic Church it says "The use of drugs (but, erroneously excludes alcohol as one of these drugs) inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offence. Clandestine production of and trafficking in drugs are scandalous practices." During our nation’s prohibition of alcohol era a lot of American citizens practiced civil disobedience by either buying alcohol or participated in the clandestine production of and trafficking of the dangerous and harmful drug alcohol, and did so as a means to regain their supposed basic human right to drink alcohol legally. And their involvement in these civil disobedience activities is the reason why alcohol is a legal drug in our nation today. The government could not stop the illegal use of alcohol so they made it a legal drug. Therefore, is it right for Catholics in our nation to buy, produce or market alcohol? Under the present circumstances how could it be? And if it is, is it not then justified for people to engage in the equivalent illegal activities to gain their supposed basic human right to use present-day illegal drugs? Why are the traditional drugs of American Indians illegal in their homelands and alcohol, the traditional drug of the Church and white people legal? And in respect to our Church’s hierarchical authorities current answers to these questions, their answers and subsequent policies impose a blatant white racist and scandalous double standard and principle on the great multitudes of people who blindly follow them. And this is a disgrace and great scandal to our Catholic Church.

A pre-Columbus American Indian drug (Peyote) has been found to both help Natives resist the use and abuse of alcohol as well as to find and follow Jesus Christ. The following summary of a book entitled: Peyote Religion, by Omer C. Stewart, presents some information about this medicinal drug peyote.

Preface:
In 1880 the modern peyote religion became formalized in Oklahoma.

"I will consider throughout the opposition to peyotism and the stubborn fight for what Americans generally take for granted: religious freedom.

"I will consider the physical and psychological effects of eating the peyote cactus."

"I would like to highlight here two conclusions I have reached about peyotism as a part of a culture and historical process. First of all, peyotism has been a unifying influence in American Indian life, providing the basis for Indian friendships, rituals, social gatherings, travel, marriage, and more. It has been a source of comfort and healing and a means of expression for a troubled people. And it has resulted in one of the strongest pan-Indian movements in the United States.

Chapter 1 The Plant:
This book is about peyote, a small, spineless cactus having psychedelic properties which grows in a limited area principally in northern Mexico and southern Texas. It is also about the peoples and ceremonies concerned with the use of peyote over the last four hundred years, culminating in the present-day Native American Church, the members of which number perhaps two hundred thousand and the territory of which extends from Alberta, Canada, to west central Mexico and from Wisconsin to the Pacific Coast states.

Eating peyote "produces a warm and pleasant euphoria, an agreeable point of view, relaxation, colorful visual distortions, and a sense of timelessness that are conducive to all-night ceremony of the Native American Church. To the church’s members, peyote is the essential ingredient, the sacrament, in their well-established, unique ceremony. Peyote is not habit-forming, and in the controlled ambience of a peyote meeting it is in no way harmful.

Chapter 2 Peyote Eaters and Their Ceremonies:
Fernando Hernandez, making a study in 1577 of plants used by the Aztec, included peyote among other intoxicating plants: tobacco, narcotic mushrooms, and psychedelic morning glory.

From the beginning, the Catholic church found in peyote another evil to be rooted out of the New World. In an effort to purge their new Christian converts of the use of peyote the Church prepared a catechism to be used by priest conducting confessionals.

That the use of peyote was pervasive throughout central and northern Mexico and deeply ingrained in the lives of those who used it can be judged by the radical efforts of the Catholic church to stamp it out.

The Catholic Church said: "We order that henceforth no person of whatever rank or social condition can or may make use of said herb, peyote, nor any other kind under any name or appearance for the same or similar purposes, nor shall he make the Indians or any other person take them, with the further warning that disobedience to these decrees shall cause us. . . to take action against such disobedient and recalcitrant persons as we would against those suspected of heresy to our Holy Catholic Faith.

The earliest historical reference to peyote is that of Franciscan missionary Bernardino de Sahagun. He wrote: "…the Chichimec were the first to discover and use the root which they call peiotl (peyote), and those who are accustomed to eat and drink them used them in the place of wine.

Page 91 Peyotists are strongly opposed to the use of liquor and claim that peyote destroys the taste for alcohol.

Page 110 "…the use of whiskey spread among the Osages like a deadly epidemic…. More Osages are turning to peyote religious cults which had been introduced among the Osages by John Wilson. . . The adherents drink no alcoholic liquor. . . Peyote induced a beautiful state and behavior of adherents was as different from that of whiskey drinkers on a spree as that of peaceful sheep and rampant lions.

Page 133: Congress passed a new law against the sale of liquor to Indians. . . but "these changes brought no improvement in the enforcement of the liquor laws on Indian lands, and the resulting lawlessness had finally become a national scandal.

Superintendent Frank A. Thackery reported that: "With peyote there is very rarely any violence shown from its use while quite the reverse is the case with alcohol."

Superintendent A. R. Miller, reporting on the Kaw, wrote: "There have been no deaths from its use in this tribe. . . The Indians of this tribe who use peyote were formerly hard drinkers, but claim that now they have no appetite for alcohol. . . It is used here, I am informed, in connection with religion.

Page 171: "essentially, the religion is Christianity adapted to traditional Indian beliefs and practices."

Page 163: I have a list of ninety-seven members of the (peyote) Society. Some have belonged for five years, others have joined since that time. Of these ninety-seven, over sixty of them I knew as habitual drunkards. Some ten or twelve of them got drunk every time they came to town. Of this ninety-seven I have seen fully one-half of them under the influence of liquor on election day. With hardly an exception the whole list of ninety-seven members are now total abstainers.

Page 203: William H. Ketchum, to the Bureau of Indian Affairs indicated that the Catholics were aware of peyote and eager to have it declared illegal.

Page 213: In March, Father William H. Ketchum, director of the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions, sent to the Bureau of Indian Affairs a nine-page file and memorandum including a request to "rid the Reservations of the Mescal [peyote] evil."

Page 213: Christian religious leaders felt a need for a federal law to prohibit the use of peyote.

Page215: The Osage accumulated and published a pamphlet of documents to establish that peyotism was a good influence on Indians behavior and not harmful.

Page 217: But he was ruined by drinking until rehabilitated by peyote.

Page 217: The Indians had made a strong statement to the effect that peyotism was a sincere religion which helped them resist liquor.

Page 220: To justify their drinking they would say, "The white people drink, and why should not we?" Matters began to grow from bad to worse, and it was simply a continuous drunken orgy for several years. After a while white men became afraid to travel the roads on the reservation in the night, and the Indians were afraid to travel on the roads for fear of meeting drunken men. Murders and rape were committed and lawlessness had sway, and the Indians needed help in all this trouble. The agent who had charge of these Indians needed help in all this trouble. The agent who had charge of these Indians was aware of the condition, the Indian Office was aware of the condition, and I think the Indian Rights Association and the missionaries were aware of this desperate situation. What did they do? Nothing. They did absolutely nothing. Poor little children became afraid of their mothers because they drank. They became afraid of their fathers, and when they heard them coming home from town they ran into the ravines, into the bushes, so as to avoid getting hurt.

But suddenly there came a lull in this drunkenness and lawlessness. I had a sister who was a physician, and her practice was mostly among the Indians, and she wrote me regularly about the conditions of the Omaha people. She was interested and one day I got a letter from her in which she said: "A strange thing has happened among the Omahas. They have quit drinking and they have taken to a new religion (the peyote religion) , and members of that new religion say that they will not drink; and the extraordinary part of the thing is that these people pray, and they pray intelligently, they pray to God, they pray to Jesus, and in their prayers they pray for their little ones, and they ask God to bring them up to live sober lives; they ask help from God.

Page 230: "We recognize all people who worship God and follow Christ as members of the one true church. . .We believe in the sacrament and the sacramental bread and wine, but in so much as the use of the same is forbidden to Indians, we of the people who cannot obtain or use the same have adopted the use of bread as Peyote and water as wine."

Page 262: "…it was established that Peyote was not a narcotic. Their information was from the Narcotic Bureau of the United States."

Page 263: Dr. Hoffer, and I who have done I suppose more research on the psycho physiological aspects of this than anyone in Canada, frequently express this viewpoint and emphasize that all the evidence that we have suggested that Peyote is wholely beneficial and in no way a drug of addiction. It cannot even be defined in that way since it does not have the essential compelling qualities or the withdrawal symptoms."

Page 283: The U. S. Indian Service, in a booklet, has declared peyote not habit-forming.

Page 306: Psychiatric Bernard Gordon M.D., who had studied the affects of mescaline (the psychedelic chemical found in the peyote cactus) at the New York Psychiatric Institute with Dr. Paul Hoch, an early researcher of peyote, was also a witness. Gordon maintained that peyote was not harmful, not addictive, and not dangerous.

Page 307: "… the Native American Church, who believe the peyote plant to be of divine origin…."

Page 333: "It was in the sixties when the hippie generation became interested in peyote…"

Page 325: The Drug Abuse Control Acts have been tested a number of times in a number of states and in relation to other religions than peyotism. One of these involved the Neo-American Church, a church which was organized and incorporated by Art Kleps when he and Timothy Leary (a hippie leader) were promoting the general use of all psychedelic substances.

Page 304: "….and thru the grace of our Lord and God, we carry the banners forward. Onward, Christian soldiers of the NAC everywhere thruout this land of ours and unto all the world."

In the 1960s, I, as a hippy, took two hits of mescaline, the psychedelic drug found in peyote. And during that "trip" I was converted from a somewhat Christian expression of New Age hippie Hinduism to Christianity. In addition, I also received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. When great multitudes of 1960s youth started to experiment with psychedelic substances, including peyote, our brainwashed minds began to see the truth about our country’s culture, including our country’s cultural mainstream "Christian" churches. In the past, when the slave traders arrived in America, Catholic Bishops were there to greet them, shake their hands, and buy their black African slaves. And with this fact in mind, us psychedelic drug using youth of the 1960s began to question the morality of the alcoholic beverage drinking bishops’ anti-psychedelic drugs stance. We, at the time, came to believe that present-day bishops were a lot like the immoral slave owning bishops of the past, but now they were not in cahoots with slave traders, but with the greedy and corrupt corporate elite of the health and earth destroying industries, such as big oil, big coal, big nuclear, big tobacco and big alcohol. And that they were brainwashing their followers by telling them that they should not question their positions on social justice issues, and that there was no such thing as resistance loyalty.

In the 1960s we counter cultural revolutionaries came to believe that these cultural mainstream "Christian" bishops were telling their followers to basically conform to the mainstream culture and that they should only take counter cultural positions on social justice issues when they were asked to do so by themselves. And we believed that these bishops could not retain their positions of power and influence over great multitudes of their people unless they continued to make a lot of compromises in order to please the people who were running our nation, those people being the greedy and corrupt corporate elite. Hence when we tried to expose the greedy and corporate elite’s evil deeds, we could not do so because these bishops’ brainwashed cultural mainstream followers were brainwashed to believe that they were not suppose to discern whether our (not supported by the bishops) counter cultural positions on social justice issues were right or wrong. They believed that they were suppose to blindly believe that we were wrong. And the bishops’ cultural mainstream brainwashed followers would not use traditional American Indian truth revealing psychedelic substances because their bishops were radically opposed to their use. And this same pitiful situation has continues on to this present day. Hence our nation’s greedy and corrupt elite continue to lead our nation and the whole world toward destruction.

In 1914 narcotics were criminalized nation-wide and in 1919 it became a federal crime to posses alcohol, but marijuana was not criminalized until 1932. During this time span when narcotics and alcohol were illegal drugs and marijuana was still legal Mexican Natives were growing marijuana and selling it to Hispanics who were immigrating into the our nation’s southwestern states. And just prior to the prohibition of marijuana our nation’s governmental leaders came to believe that marijuana would spread to the white people throughout our nation. Hence they decided to criminalize it. It was to much to ask people to abstain from all mood altering substances hence when marijuana was criminalized the prohibition of alcohol laws did not stop the use and abuse of alcohol. Hence they legalized alcohol. We need to try to re-enact the prohibition of alcohol laws again but not until we legalize marijuana.
Note: Reference: http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/LIBRARY/studies/vlr/vlrtoc.htm.

I, as a Catholic prophet with a pharmaceutical social engineer ministry, am in the process of trying to found a religious organization that will seek to gain the legal right to use marijuana and peyote in a strictly therapeutic way during religious ceremonies. And in the process of trying to establish this organization I am trying to influence our Catholic Church’s supreme hierarchal authorities to help me and others to gain the legal right to use marijuana and peyote moderately and spiritually during future religious ceremonies.

I believe in "pulling together and away from alcohol", and that the moderate spiritual use of marijuana would help people of alcohol drinking cultures to become alcohol free. I would like to rid the world of the plague of alcohol abuse. And I believe that in nations where alcohol is legal and available there should be both movements to criminalize it, as well as movements to legalize moderate spiritual use of marijuana. And I believe that if these, hopefully futuristic, movements were to become manifest and successful at accomplishing their goals they would solve the whole world’s alcohol abuse epidemic.

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