[Previous entry: "Medical sticker shock/dependency culture"] [Main Index] [Next entry: ""Closing the Collapse Gap""]

12/07/2006 Archived Entry: "Another visit to the cannabis grow"

I SPENT ANOTHER HOUR WITH OUR LOCAL CANNABIS EXPERT. You might remember that I've written about him and his beautiful garden before. This is a legal grow; he's a medical marijuana patient. But there's still something marvelously Outlawish about it -- and not in the sense that the anti-weed warriors might think.

Last time George pointed out the sativa and indica traits of his hybrid plants. But this is the first time I've been up close with plants that had strong, obvious characteristics of the two varieties. George and I squatted in the darkness under one green light (even a flash of any other light could disrupt the budding cycle) while I asked questions and he gave answers and ruminations.

As somebody who can't even grow a weed (even the legal kinds), I still marvel at his healthy green leaves and fulsome bud. I love the smell of the stuff, too. But what I really, really, really, really liked was the simple sense that freedom prevails -- that good people will do what good people will do to live their lives, regardless of the lurking anti-life menace of the drug war (because even this state-legal grow is still an offense against Our Masters in Washington, even if it's too small to provoke their jackbooterie). We will go on, regardless of the drive for total federal control of our lives, our health, and our minds.

The spirit of liberty has a lot in common with weeds. It springs up even in the most well-planned and aggressively tended government garden. It returns despite every effort to wipe it out. It finds its way upward through the smallest cracks and crevasses. And eventually it has more strength and resiliance than the fragile, carefully cultivated plants Our Masters prefer. If I ever decide to quit calling myself an Outlaw, then being known as a Weed wouldn't be a bad thing.

Posted by Claire @ 09:46 AM CST
Link