Cannabis: What Were We Just Talking About?: Philosophy for Everyone

“Not so much a subject matter, philosophy is a way of thinking. Thinking not just about the Big Questions, but about little ones too. This series invites everyone to ponder things they care about, big or small, significant, serious … or just curious.”—Philosophy for Everyone

Many communities are still contemplating whether to “Legalize It!” or continue to treat cannabis as an outlawed substance with criminal repercussions. Although it has increasingly gained acceptance as a medical treatment worldwide, its multi-use status as a form of pain relief, a method of relaxation, an appetite stimulator, and as a potential emotional handicap, provide valid reasons for its controversial reputation. In Cannabis: What Were We Just Talking About? (October 2010) accounts of personal adventures, hazy times, epiphanies, and political and social views on the phenomenon, combine with academic and scientific reports of marijuana as a political icon.

Rick Cusick (High Times magazine) points out in his foreword, “Philosophy, at its best, is the art of reason tempered by the science of thought, and our conversations regarding cannabis need to be more reasonable, more thoughtful, and more civilized—now more than ever.” Essays such as “Marijuana and Creativity” and “Navigating Creative Inner Space on the Innocent Pleasures of Hashish,” discuss the origins of the belief that marijuana increases creative thinking, including pop culture references to Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Allen Ginsberg, and Bob Marley, and an exploration of the powerful “creative inner space,” which marijuana can help facilitate.

An international community of writers who are active in the fields of philosophy, psychology, sociology, law, pharmacology, psychotherapy, and medicine describe cannabis culture, combining personal anecdotes with examples of the latest public opinion on the debate (“Pot Politics: Prohibition and Morality” and “Reefer Madness: Cannabis, the Individual, and Public Policy”).

The philosophy of law, phenomenology, the mind, creativity (“Hallucinatory Terror”), ethics, morality, sociology (“Reefer Madness: Cannabis, the Individual, and Society”), and language (“Buzz, High, and Stoned: Metaphor, Meaning, and the Cannabis Experience”) are all applicable when trying to engage in a meaningful debate regarding this oft-misunderstood substance.