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By Viperslair.co.uk 1/10/2005 ________________________________________________________ John Moores University LT3020 Perspectives On Shakespeare Assessment Two: Semester Two 2001 Submission Date 17/5/2001 Tutor: Brian Gibbons The Seed Of Wisdom: Shakespeare, Marijuana, And Prohibition; A Cultural Examination
A Four Thousand Five Hundred Word Essay By Mr P. Brownlow
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Registered with Lorna Clay at the Cannabis College,O.Z. Achterburgwal 124, Amsterdam, The Netherlands by Tessa Lee from Homegrown Fantaseeds, Nieuwe Nieuwestraat 25, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Summer 2001. _______________________
Viperslair.co.uk hope that you enjoy this ©publication & that you are as entertained by it as educated.
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Those that have come into contact with Shakespeare's work in their school days seem to have departed with a marked lack of regard for him. Young students seem particularly resilient to the study of his work. So why is it that the Blair Government has imposed the compulsory study of Shakespeare upon the nations children, regardless of their respective multi-cultural backgrounds ? Better still, why should a counter-culture magazine like Weed World, a magazine dedicated to the study and cultivation of cannabis, be interested in Shakespeare ? Well, According to the article Toke It Up Will in issue 32 several 17th Century clay pipes found near the home of William Shakespeare contained a hallucinogenic substance and several others may have been used to smoke marijuana1. The pipes were analyzed in the Forensic Science Laboratory in Pretoria, South Africa and the results showed traces of tobacco, camphor and myrisitic acid, which has hallucinogenic properties2. The scientists went on to state We do not claim that any of these pipes belonged to Shakespeare himself. However we do know that some of the pipes come from the area from which he lived, and they date to the 17th Century, said Francis Thackeray of the Transvaal Museum, one of the researchers on the project. The results suggest that at least one hallucinogenic substance was available to Shakespeare and his contemporaries at the time when smoking was a novelty in England.3 So What implications are there to the Shakespeare industry, and the wider cultural integrity of the Shakespeare image if we look at Shakespeare as a marijuana user or, at very least an experimenter of altered consciousness ? They are immense, but before we examine them lets take a look at the evidence. How available was marijuana in Shakespeare's time ? Well, In 1484 Pope Innocent VIII singled out cannabis healers & other herbalists, proclaiming hemp an unholy sacrament of the second & third types of satanic mass. This persecution lasted for more than 150 years.4 However, during the time of Shakespeare the politico-religious hegemony had shifted from Rome's absolute Papal rule, and, via the manipulations of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I, the Protestant ideology became the dominator5 culture of Britain. It would therefore seem perfectly logical to assume that during this ideological shift that the traditions of cannabis healers & other herbalists6 made something of a subtle comeback. Sherman, Smith & Tanner state in Highlights; An Illustrated History Of Cannabis (1999) that in Central Europe cannabis had found its way into the ritual world of witchcraft & sorcery7. They go on to argue that witchcraft & sorcery8 were part of an underground movement that systematically challenged the spiritual authority of the Catholic church9. Apparently Peasants prescribed cannabis for everything10, and men & women how felt alienated by the opulence of Gods church decided to throw in their lot with Satan. Every ceremony in the anti-Church was a conscious parody of Christian ritual, & when it came to mock the use of wine in Holy Communion, cannabis won hands down by default. It offered a cheap high, which even in small doses gave a sense of spiritual, not to mention sexual, ecstasy that made the orate trappings of the Catholic church seem pointless.11 It is also a fact that King Henry VIII was heads above British monarchs when it came to recognizing the value of hemp, & in 1563 he ordered farmers to each devote a small portion of their soil to growing hemp. ....... thirty years later ..... Elizabeth I issued (the order) again.12 That would be 1593, when Shakespeare would be eleven years married, aged about twenty nine. Jack Herer states in The Emperor Wears No Clothes (1994) that, In Europe, hemp was widely used both industrially & medicinally, from the Black Sea (Crimean) to the British Isles, especially in Eastern Europe .... (And) ... In Ireland, already world famous for its cannabis linen, the Irish women who wanted to know whom she would eventually marry was advised to seek revelation through cannabis. Eventually, the hemp trades once again became so important to the empire builders who followed (in the age of Discovery/Reason, the 14th to 18th Centuries) that hey were central to the intrigues and maneuverings of all the worlds great powers.13 Terence McKenna observes that As school children we are taught that the spice trade ended the Middle Ages and created the basis of modern trade and commerce; what we are not made aware of is the fact that the break up of Christian mediaeval Europe occurred as much as a result of an epidemic obsession with the new, the exotic, and the delightful in short with consciousness expanding substances. Drugs such as coffee, wormwood, and opium, dyes, silks, rare woods, gems, and even human beings were brought back to Europe and displayed almost like the plunder of a looted extraterrestrial civilisation.14 These exotic importations acted to transform not only aesthetic conventions, but cannons of social behaviour and individual self image.15, and there certainly seems to have been a common empathy of feeling among the 'common' people towards Paganism for it prompted Francis Bacon (1561 1626) to write, Atheism leaves a man to sense, ...... but superstision dismounts .... these, and erecteth an absolute monarchy in the minds of men. ..... The master of superstision is the people; and in al superstision wise men follow fools16 Trade with India had already been established and the East India Co. received its first charter at hands of Queen Elizabeth in 1600, ..... first granted for fifteen years17, when Shakespeare would have been thirty six. So it is entirely possible that high THC18 hemp/marijuana strains could have been introduced from India, or elsewhere along the spice route, and grown in England. It would also seem reasonable to suppose that the sailors, and merchants, would have become acquainted with the local Indian refreshment Bhang19 and the tale of its discovery by Lord Shiva20 If we look further into the history of hemp cultivation we find that Cannabis was introduced into Britain by the Romans21, and There is historical documentation of cannabis used in North West England almost 2000 years ago (this data can not be found in the Home Office statistical reports). The cultivation of cannabis in Britain for use in medicine and possibly in some religious rituals became prominent after 500 A.D. & continued until the early 20th Century.22 So we must come to the conclusion that marijuana was not only known in Shakespeare's time but had in fact been widely and traditionally used for a thousand years at least. So what do we actually know about William Shakespeare ? His exact date of birth is unknown. But, Tradition has it that he was born on the 23rd of April 156423. This tradition makes convenient that the birthday of the National Poet should coincide with the Saints Day of the National Saint, and (also) partly for the sake of symmetry24, in that Will died on the 23rd April 1616. Between his baptism on the 26th April 1564 and 1592 the only thing we know about him for certain ..... is he got married in 158225. Everything about him, personally, with the exception of his death, and the birth dates of his children, appears to be complete guesswork whether it be deducted or not. Phrases like he would have26, it is reasonable to assume27 and the odds are28 are put in front of statements about what is known of the culture of his day and known historical facts about his place of birth and education. So, given that tobacco was introduced into Europe in 1559 by Francisco Hemandez de Toledo, a physician .... sent by Philip II of Spain to ..... Mexico (and) Jean Nicot, the Fr. ambas. To Portugal, ..... introduced it to the Fr. court in 1560. ...... (that) On its first introduction into Europe T. was valued for it medicinal properties, and it was considered 'a panacea for all the ills that flesh is heir to.' (that) sailors returning from the Americas first introduced smoking to England about 1565 (and) Sir Walter Raleigh brought the practice to court circles.29, and that there was an established, ancient, and traditional practice of using and cultivating cannabis in England, it would not seem unreasonable to imagine that tobacco, marijuana30, camphor31 and other herbs were blended, and smoked together by cannabis healers & other herbalists32 as a preventative, and cure, to illness. Indeed it is still the practice of Hindu Sadhu Priests to travel throughout India and the world sharing chillum pipes filled with cannabis, sometimes blended with other substances.33 Middle East Sufis34 Of Islam, Moslem mystic priests who have taught, used and extolled cannabis for divine revelation, insight & oneness with Allah, for at least the last 1,000 years35, also still practice the smoking of cannabis36 as do many Afghani's37. The findings in the pipes examined by the scientists in Pretoria would seem to lend evidence to the blended tobacco theory.38 Indeed it is still the wide spread practice among European cannabis smokers to mix marijuana or hashish with tobacco. However, the modern practice of adding tobacco to ; 1. marijuana; is an attempt to 'water down' the strength of the marijuana, and part economic necessity in that marijuana, due to its legal status, is noe far more expensive than tobacco, and so an attempt is made by the smoker to make the marijuana go further, and, 2. hashish; in order that hashish can be smoked conveniently in public in a cigarette instead of a specially designed pipe used exclusively for hashish smoking. Though some contemporary smokers claim they add tobacco for reasons of aesthetic taste, it has been medically proven that whilst tobacco contains "nicotine, a powerful, addictive vasoconstrictor39 marijuana is found to be useful for treating asthma attacks ...... One of the proven effects of THC is to act as a bronchodilator.40,41 The Toke It Up Will article also said that The use of drugs in Shakespeare's time may have inspired his Sonnet 76, in which he refers to a noted weed and compounds strange, Thackery said. Literary critics have interpreted noted weed to mean a well known garment or style of dress and compounds strange, to mean a strange word construction or a medicinal mixture.42 Stephen Coote says Shakespeare's sonnets (written c. 1595 1600, published in full in 1609,) emerge out of the concerns of the period.43 Coote also states that, Shakespeare did not authorize their publication, the proof reading was poor, and it is possible that many of the sonnets were not originally printed I their true order, if indeed there was one.44 So if the sonnets are in a disrupted order, or the sequence of their original order has been lost, should we not study each sonnet as a complete work ? If we do study each sonnet as a separate text then changing And keep invention in a noted weed45 to mean a well known garment or style of dress46 within the context of the sonnet, makes no sense at all. Unless you consider that clothing of the type worn by rural communities of that day was often made from hemp. Hemp, as already, noted was integral to shipping and adventure as well as medicine, and clothing47, and it is not unreasonable to assume that a poet might find inspiration in a subject with such diverse and global applications. If he was also inhaling it, he may well view invention48 is kept in a noted weed.49 This would seem to fit with the sentiment of the sonnet as he also seems to be complaining of writing ever the same50 The interpretation of compounds strange to mean ...... a medical mixture51 would again seem to back the theory of a blended 'tobacco' cure all. It is also interesting to note that in Sonnet XCIV Shakespeare observes that Lillies that fester smell far worse than weeds.52 It can only be wondered, is this a reference to cannabis's distinctive aromas ? At the end of the day all we can say with certainty is that we can not prove that William Shakespeare, living in a cultural environment structured around its use of hemp, did not consume marijuana by means of combustible apparatus. After all, the pipes come from an area in which he lived, and they date to the 17th Century53 So what happens if we start to view Shakespeare as a marijuana user ? Do we start seeing him out in the garden watering his plants ? Do we see him being struck with inspiration after a smoking session ? Or do we, because of the witchcraft and sorcery associations start seeing him as some sort of member of a secret herbalist society ? Do we start seeing him in the romantic figure of an alchemist or shamen ? Terrence McKenna holds that A reverence for and an immersion in the powers of language and communication are the basis of the shamanic path.54,55 He goes on The evidence gathered from four millennia of shamanic experience argues that the world is made of language in some fashion.56, and Misia Landau of Boston University is in concord. She says, The twentieth century linguistic revolution is the recognition that language is not merely a device for communicating ideas about the world, but rather a tool for bringing it into existence in the first place. Reality is not simply 'experienced' or 'reflected' in language, but is instead actually produced by language.57 McKenna continues, Shamanism is the practice of the upper Paleolithic tradition of healing, divination, and theatrical performance based on natural magic developed ten to fifty thousand years ago.58 Though it may be hard to see Shakespeare as a shamen there are certainly plenty of magical59 references within his texts. The Shakespeare plays, For which the man is most famous, seem to be as shrouded in nearly as much mystery as their author's life, The dates of composition of most of the works are highly uncertain ..... (and are) .... as much indebted to informed guesswork and sensitivity as ....... to fact.60 A number of Shakespeare's plays were published in various forms while he was alive61. But62, In 1623, seven years after Shakespeare's death, John Hemmings and Henry Condell (two senior members of Shakespeare's company, who had performed with him for about twenty years) collected his plays --- published and unpublished --- into a large volume, commonly called the first Folio63 There is reason to believe that Shakespeare's words may have been altered during various publications owing to errors of proof reading64. There is also reason to believe that the plays themselves never really existed as whole texts to begin with, but rather, were pieced together by Heminges and Condell from surviving stage scripts and their own memories of the performances. It had been a thing , we confess, worthy to have been wished, that the author himself had lived to have set forth and overseen his own writings.65 Of Shakespeare's contemporaries only Ben Johnson carefully supervised the publication of his own plays.66 So, surely the phrase, lived to have set forth and overseen67, leaves plenty of room for an idea, that Shakespeare may not be solely responsible for the language which was printed in his name, to take root as, the texts that Heminges and Condell printed reflect the theatrical practices of their own time rather than Shakespeare's.68,69 Macbeth, Hamlet, and The Tempest are good examples of plays that use magical references. Macbeth starts with three witches, withered, and so wild in their attire, That look not like th' inhabitants o' th' earth70, who make prophecies and potions Round about the cauldron.71,72 hamlet begins with communication from the dead, lend thy serious hearing To what I shall unfold.73 The ghost reveals to Hamlet 'secret knowledge', and it is the result of this secret knowledge that activates the plays proceedings to their ultimate, and predictable, ending.74 Ghosts are also used in MacBeth and Richard III, shadows this night Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard Than the substance of ten thousand soldiers75. In King Lear (1605-ish) the other world experiences of madness and vision are explored through the characters of Lear, Edgar and Gloucester, I stumbled when I saw.76 Traditionally, and in most cultures of the world, The skills associated with visions and speaking to the dead are regarded as the territory of the sorcerer, druid, herbalist, alchemist or shamen. The character of an alchemist is well explored in (The Tempest 1611-ish). Magical references run all through the play and it is indeed Prospero's secret knowledge, his vengeance through magic, that is the prime motif of the play, Hast thou, sprite, Perform'd to point the tempest as I bade thee ?77 Prospero's and Miranda's companions on the island are the sprite Ariel, Prospero by his art released him, and Ariel, ..... became his devoted servant78, Caliban79, and spirits80, who tormented Caliban81. So it can be said that Shakespeares plays, or stories, reflect aspects of magical, herbalist and spiritualist cultures, with 'secret knowledge', which are based on deep rooted, highly ritualized, long established traditions, of a distinctly Pagan nature. It is also a motif in the work of Christopher Marlowe 1564 1593 who was an influence on Shakespeare82, The Tragical History Of Dr Faustus was written about 1588 or 1589, and acted in 1594 or earlier.83 The theme is again taken up by Ben Johnson's The Alchemist (1610). If we accept the argument of Miss Landau84, then we must reconsider Shakespeare in the shamanic role. Here is a man producing texts, which in England, during their first and subsequent publications, became as well known as the bible stories, were much more accessible to purchase, and were able to be read in English, rather than in Latin. What would become the standard English translation of the bible, The King James I version, would not be published until 1611, and that means Shakespeare texts were in circulation up to twenty years before it. Though eighteen of his plays were published during his lifetime, Shakespeare seems never to have supervised their publication. There is nothing unusual here, when a playwright sold a play to a theatrical company he surrendered the ownership of it. Normally a company would never publish a play, because to publish it meant to allow competitors to acquire the piece.85 That being the case then, the other actors wishing to stage the play needed to be able to read the published article, An early example of purely literary imagination, ..... may be seen in Sir John Suckling's plays, which are fuller of poetic than of dramatic reminiscence. While the Restoration Theatre mangled and parodied the tragic masterpieces, a new generation of readers kept alive the knowledge and heightened the renown of the written word. Then followed two centuries of enormous study ..... until the plays have become the very standard and measure of poetry among all English-speaking peoples.86 So is there an argument here that Shakespeare helped promote the skills of reading, and the standardising87 of language, in circles and peoples that the authorities would rather have kept ignorant ? According to Herer, The masses of people, the commons, were kept in check through a duel system of fear and enforced ignorance. All learning except the most rudimentary was controlled and strictly regulated by the priests. The commons (about 90%of the people) were forbidden to learn to read or write not even the alphabet and often were punished or put to death for doing so. The people were also forbidden to learn Latin the language of the Bible. This effectively enabled the few priests who could read to interpret the scriptures in any way they pleased for about 1200 years, until the reformation in Europe.88 Walter Raleigh holds the view that, It was not until the appearance of the Folio Edition 1623, that Shakespeare's dramatic writings challenged the serious attention of the great variety of readers.89 Ben Johnson in his verse prefixed to the Folio, ...... invokes him first of all as the Soul of the Age, the applause, delight, and wonder of our stage.90 He continues, Triumph, my Britain, thou has one to show, To whom all scenes of Europe owe. He was not of an age, but for all time !91 It is interesting to note, that the next Johnson that would be associated with the publishing of Shakespeare would also be the same man who brought the English Dictionary into existence, His edition of Shakespeare92 was published in 1765. Boswell says Johnson's view of Shakespeare is like the grave, well considered, and impartial opinion of the judge, which falls from his lips with weight, and is received with reverence. What he did as a commentator has no small share of merit, though his researchers were not so ample, and his investigations so acute as they might have been.93 But he also says, he at length gave to the world his edition of Shakespeare, which, if it had no other merit but that of producing its preface, in which the excellencies and defects of that immortal bard are displayed with masterly hand, the nation would have no reason to complain. A blind indiscriminate admiration of Shakespeare had exposed the nation to the ridicule of foreigners.94 In a complimentary Epigram95 about Samuel Johnson (1709 1784) his former pupil Mr Garrick writing, with the war in France in mind, in On Johnson's Dictionary put forward a view that; In the deep mines of science though Frenchmen may toil, Can their strength be compared to Locke, Newton, and Boyle ? Let them rally their heros, send forth their pow'rs, Their verse-men, then match them with ours ! First Shakespeare and Milton, like Gods in the fight, Have put their whole drama and epick to fight96. This would seem to indicate quite a shift in conscious ideas from Shakespeare as gifted entertainer, to Shakespeare Divine entity[1]. The view of Shakespeares work as untouchable seems to have been largely upheld through a successive series of critics, pretty much, ever since. Walter Raleigh (1861 1922), the first holder of the chair of English Literature[2] seems to have continued in this style of thinking and writing. In 1907 he says: Shakespeare has come into his own, as an English man of letters; he has been separated from his fellows, and recognized for what he is: perhaps the greatest poet of all time; one who has said more about humanity than any other writer, and has said it better; whose works are the study and admiration of divines & philosophers, of soldiers and statesmen, so that his continued vogue upon the stage is the smallest part of his immortality; who has touched may spirits finely to fine issues, and has been for three centuries a source of delight and understanding, of wisdom and consolation.[3] Stephen Coote continues in a similar vain in 1933s The Penguine Short History Of English Literature. The range, depth and imaginative richness the sheer power and variety of Shakespeares work have meant that each generation discovers him anew and in so doing, partly discovers itself.[4] But are they right ? you see the problem is that we are now in 2001, and the only way we are able to gain access to Shakespeare is to read the Shakespeare texts in a desire to get close to the author, and the authors original motivations and intentions. The potential of origin as an agent of affirmation, confirmation and limitation makes it a powerful ideological tool. If we can persuade ourselves that in some way origins generate authenticity, determine, establish and reinforce essentials, then we can forget about change and about the history and politics that produce it.[5] True, we can see the plays performed, but only from todays interpretation and with todays perceptions. The texts, like the furniture and the pottery of the period are objects of an always conjectural knowledge; conversely, when they are experienced, they become irretrievably alien, as do the eating habits and the herbal remedies[6], of the day. Terence Hawkes in Meaning By Shakespeare (1992) explores this idea further in Chapter Sevens Bardbiz. Whilst discussing the authentic re-building of the original Globe Theatre he observes that the, difficulty is that the original Globe Theatre doesnt bear much looking into. There were, to begin with, two of them. The first Globe was constructed in 1599. It burned down in 1613 and a second Globe was constructed on the same site.[7] He also observes that, Gurr and Orrells meticulous work[8][9], comes across, rather like an Elizabethan Theme park[10]. With, the good news that[11], although the Globe was built as a , recreated piece of Londons history[12], it will, to conform to modern fire regulations, .. have illuminated Exit signs.[13] So what have we got here ? An Elizabethan playwright who lived long enough to see the king James I bible, that wrote plays like Marlowe, Kyd & others, but had friends that decided to make use of the latest technology in order to preserve his memory. They created what could arguably be called the first virtual reality, and produced a form which did not exist before, which could be reacted to, and could act as a vehicle for the discussion of ideas other than Shakespeares. We have a critic of Shakespeares day heap such praise in the prefix of the first edition of its publication that it influences others to do likewise down the years to the present day. Until we have a critic[14] who points out we are no longer looking for Shakespeares ,meanings but instead are framing our linguistic ability, and therefore our culture, around the meanings we have attributed to Shakespeare and the origins of English Literature. So that being the case will Tony Blairs government do a U-turn on indoctrinating the children with the historical propaganda of the Shakespeare myth on account that Shakespeare was, as near as fact can be reasonably established a, horror of horrors, DRUG USER ? The issue of the legal status of marijuana , particularly for medical use, has become a unifying cause for many radical opponents of the state who believe, the enemy of man is the means by which he is governed.[15] all over the globe. The recent May day protest being ample evidence. Governments around the world, particularly the U.S.A., have gone out of their way to try and eradicate this most useful and helpful of all plants. They have denied its cultural heritage and influence, and have even tried to write it out of history all together.[16] The World Health Organization was even put under successful pressure from the American Drug Enforcement Agency to withhold & suppress a report that concluded: smoking three joints per day caused no greater rate of decline in lung capacity and the ability to breath than smoking no marijuana per day.[17] Even though drug Czar General Barry McCaffery was embarrassed to find out that the study he had commissioned from the American Institute of Medicine stated marijuana is medically useful for a number of ailments[18] he continues to support a regime that has been directly responsible for the cause of the death of Peter McWilliams[19] and others. This is why a counter culture magazine like Weed World, a magazine dedicated to the study & cultivation of cannabis, is interested in Shakespeare. If Shakespeare can be proved to have been a marijuana user then the cultural relevance of cannabis use will need to be reexamined, and so to the ideology that brought about cannabis prohibition in the first place. We can only wonder at the future, but will the acceptance of Shakespeare as a cannabis user eventually lead to seeing blended tobaccos in the Globe Theatre gift shop, along with a selection of clay pipes ? If that should prove the case, pack the bowl and, light one for me.[20]
________________________________________________ Footnotes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] One of the most effective agents in this respect was the apostate Coleridge, whos lectures gear themselves to a growing fear of popular revolution and, in the playwrights name, deploy a considered programme of anti-Jacobin propaganda., T. Hawkes, p.143, chapter 7, Bardbiz, Meaning By Shakespeare, 1992. [2] Concoise Oxford companion To English literature, p.463, 1987, 1991 Ed. [3] W. Raleigh, p.2, Chapter 1, Shakespeare, 1907, 1928 Ed. [4] S. Coote, p.88, Chapter 4, Shakespeare & The Drama 1500 1642, The Penguin Short History Of English Literature, 1993. [5] T. Hawkes, p.142, chapter 7, Bardbiz, Meaning By Shakespeare, 1992.
[6] C. Belsey, Reading Cultural History, Reading The Past: Literature & History, edited by T. Spargo, 2000. [7] T. Hawkes, p.142, chapter 7, Bardbiz, Meaning By Shakespeare, 1992.
[8] T. Hawkes, p.143, chapter 7, Bardbiz, Meaning By Shakespeare, 1992.
[9] T. Hawkes, p.143, chapter 7, Bardbiz, Meaning By Shakespeare, 1992.
[10] T. Hawkes, p.143, chapter 7, Bardbiz, Meaning By Shakespeare, 1992.
[11] T. Hawkes, p.143, chapter 7, Bardbiz, Meaning By Shakespeare, 1992.
[12] T. Hawkes, p.143, chapter 7, Bardbiz, Meaning By Shakespeare, 1992.
[13] T. Hawkes, p.143, chapter 7, Bardbiz, Meaning By Shakespeare, 1992.
[14] T. Hawkes.
[15] S. Christie & A. Meltzer, p.10, The Floodgates Of Anarchy, Sphere books 1972. [16] See the Hemp For Victory and the Napoleon Hemp War of 1812 items in Jack Heres The Emperor Wears No Clothes, 1994 Ed. [17] New Scientist, p.28, No.2122, 21st Feb 1998. [18] 18a. S. Wishnia, The IMO Medical-Marijuana Report, p.23, July 1999, Issue 287 of High Times. 18b. On the B.B.C. Radio 1 News, 15/5/2001, it twas reported that the American Supreme Court had ruled against independent state laws which had made provision for the distributio, cultivation & consumption of marijuana for medical use by patients. The laws for distribution of Medical Marijuana was introduced in several states of the U.S.A., pioneered by Dennis Peron in San Francisco, buyers clubs, where people could come and purchase and use their medicine safely, were in operation across the country from 1996. They catered mostly to people with terminal illness, cancer, M.S. M.E./C.F.S., and A.I.D.S.. [19] See High Times issues 287, July 1999, Catch 420 by Opaul Krassner, 291 November 1999, Butterfly On A Wheel by D. Latimer, 296, April 2000, Medical Marijuana Gag Order, by C. Batycki, 302, Oct 2000, The Murder Of Peter McWilliams by Paul Krassner, and 310 June 2001 The High Times Interview by Dan Sky. [20] T. Hawkes, p.143, chapter 7, Bardbiz, Meaning By Shakespeare, 1992. ____________________________________________
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Weed World (U.K.) Issue 32, Apr 2001. __________________________________________ __________________________________________
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