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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.
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