The Weed War

by Duke Kell

  I nodded to acknowledge him.

  He continued, "The Movement is as old as written history, and manifests itself in different forms. The issue in this case, marijuana, is only the symptom of something much larger and truly only the last straw. Can you tell me what this Movement is truly about?”

  I thought for a second, "If it's not about the issue, it must be what it represents, which is liberty and freedom."

  "Now we’re getting somewhere, and you can see that what we’re really talking about are the natural rights of individuals and the system our founding fathers set up to protect those rights. Can you speak to the history of natural rights and the formation of the American system?"

  We reached the powdery white beach and he removed his shoes.

  "What do you mean?" I asked as I removed my shoes and left them next to his, then hurried after him to hear his answer.

  "Many Americans believe the ‘inalienable rights’ that Jefferson spoke of in the Declaration were his own, yet he drew them from John Locke, who himself built upon earlier works of philosophers like Plato and Aristotle. All of these men had influences from the earliest writings of our species. Do you know the history behind these figures and why they grappled with liberty and freedom?"

  "My dad was a history professor, so I think I have a pretty good Idea what their stance was."

  "OK, then explain it to me."

  "Right here, with no reference books, you couldn't possibly expect..."

  He cut me off, "I can, and people that you meet will hang on your every word, so you need to speak with authority about what you know. I know you have everything you need, up here," he said as he tapped lightly on my temple. "You just need to believe in yourself."

  "OK, so John Locke said that all humans were born with inalienable rights, including the right to life, liberty, and property. The only difference is that Jefferson dropped property and added the pursuit of happiness."

  "Who was his antithesis?"

  "I suppose..."

  He cut me off," ‘You can't suppose. You either do or do not,’ “he smiled, quoting Yoda.

  I rolled my eyes. "Hobbes, Thomas Hobbes would be his antithesis because he questioned the ability of humans to live under their own free will."

  "Good. I knew you could do it, so now continue."

  “Locke wasn’t the only philosopher to speak of freedom and liberty, and many of his ideas were borrowed from Plato and Aristotle, who were the yin and yang of their time.”

  "Yin and yang of their time?" he asked, stopping to give me a quizzical look.

  "They had opposite view points that today could be construed as the lines that separate our two major political powers."

  "Can you elaborate on their positions?" He kicked some sand out away from us and continued to walk.

  "In terms of positions, Plato was a reformist. He called for drastic social change in his written work The Republic. Aristotle on the other hand sought change within the existing system, stressing the importance of the individual.

  "OK, why would it be important to understand these two view points today, for you as the leader of the revolution?"

  I was taken aback, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure. I mean really, what did it matter? So I asked, "Why does it matter?"

  He smiled as he explained, "Yesterday in Sterling, if you listened to my speech, you may have caught the subtle little phrases I continued to drop that may seem clichéd. These themes raise emotions in humans that make it more likely for them to believe what we’re saying. These phrases are age-old calls of battle, woven deep into our subconscious. Denying them would be to deny the creation and spread of civilization itself." Then he stopped and chuckled.

  "What?"

  "There is something funny about it though! The phrases that work in one town may not work in another. Can you tell me why?”

  "Different beliefs."

  "Bingo, we’ll call it tribalism. Can you live with that?"

  "Sure!" I gave him an uneasy look.

  "You have to always be aware of which tribe you are speaking to and how what you say could affect their opinion on the Movement."

  "You keep calling it the ‘Movement’, the revolution, but it’s not just the issue about weed. It’s really the issue with individual liberty and freedom. Can you see how I could be confused? Maybe you could explain it so I could have a better context for where we’re headed."

  "I wish it worked that way, but sadly, you must come to it on your own, trust me." Then he stopped speaking, looked out into the water, stripped off his shirt and shorts, and ran out into the water. "Come on."

  I had no suit, but I didn't care. A bra and underwear show less than most swimsuits now, so I went for it. The water was cold, but my heart was beating so fast, it didn’t affect me. I reached through the water like a scissor and opened my eyes only to find him right in front of me. I pulled back, but still ran right into him. I jumped up out of the water just as he reached into help me out and my head slammed into his nose. Blood flowed out and dyed the water of the lake red around us. It wasn’t at all what I expected to happen, but all things happen for a reason.

  After tending to his nose we made our way back to the trailer and started up our conversation again. I sat down at a barstool in front of the kitchen bar that separated the kitchen from the living area. Matthew made me an omelet at the stove as he resumed speaking.

  “Now where were we? Oh, yeah, the Movement is built on the shoulders of the Western world’s greatest thinkers. We discussed a few and you seemed quite familiar with them, as I suspected you would be. Is it fair to say you have a pretty good grasp on the ones I did not mention?”

  “Yes, I would say that’s fair,” I answered in kind.

  “Good, then could you please give me a good argument for individual freedom and states’ rights using the figures in the past?”

  I knew he wasn’t kidding and I knew he wanted me to use what I knew already, so I dove in head first. “I’ll start with those who favored the middle ground within the structures that already existed. Aristotle postulated the golden mean in governing between drastic action and no action. This ‘sweet spot’ could also be applied to the give and take of governance and the fine line that must be walked by each party involved.

  His stance on private property was joined by John Locke. Locke, who was one of Jefferson’s biggest influences, wrote extensively about the natural rights of man.

  These men all favored a government that protected the individual’s right to liberty.

  Liberty or rather individual liberty became the calling card that fueled the French Revolution, the American Revolution, and a host of others at the same time. Man’s natural rights or the right to liberty wasn’t a new idea; it was just an unpopular one to those that made the rules. The world, it seemed, had once again found tribes willing to fight for their freedom.

  Montesquieu’s division of powers ensures no governing power will ever be so strong as to infringe upon the individual.

  Adam Smith insisted in his treatise The Wealth of Nations that the minimal political interference maximizes the wealth of the individual.

  These thinkers all appealed to men of faith and strong moral codes, the implication being that only God can judge a man.” I stopped to see if he was still following me.

  He reached out and pulled my plate out from below me. “Another omelet?”

  “No.”

  “Continue, please.”

  “The men I just talked about would appeal to the conservative tribe, but if I was to speak at a conference of engineers, I would talk about men like Isaac Newton and Francis Bacon, who called for government run by science and logic. In Francis Bacon’s The New Organon, he attempts to create a utopian society that favors individual rationality over cultural norms or religious beliefs. There is a mountain of scientific evidence supporting the benefits hemp and its cousin marijuana will have on our society.”

  “Good,
continue.”

  “If I were to speak to the Neocons or the Blue Dog Democrats, which to me are the same people, I would reference those who distrust the human condition and call for a strong central authority like Hobbes, who leans heavily on Machiavelli. He, Hobbes, postulated the social contract which expresses the consent of the governed to be governed. Alexander Hamilton and John Adams agreed with Hobbes’ ideals, and despite favoring a strong central government, they still favored majority rule. With more than 62% in favor of marijuana legislation the majority is all but forethought.” I smiled and he smiled back.

  "Why does all of this matter in today’s world?" he asked.

  "Cultural revolution, the American experiment, and social evolution are all different strands of the same unfinished woven tapestry, each strong in tradition and history, anchored by the work of the Western world’s greatest minds. The loom weaves an intricate pattern of human experience to form a delicate vision of the present and creates the pathway for the future. The patterns are clear: individual liberty is the destination and states’ rights is the highway that will take us there."

  “I guess you really do know your stuff.”

  “I told you my dad was a history teacher.”

  “I know it’s just...” he stopped, leaned over the bar and kissed me on my forehead. “I just want you to know that you’re special to me.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  Matthew walked around the bar and grabbed me, pulling me into his chest. We began to kiss, and all our problems seemed to melt away. Is this what love feels like?

  Day 2

  We awoke, shook the dreams from our brow, and took a walk on the beach.

  "You know your philosophy, but what about the history of this plant?" Matthew asked as he pulled out a small joint, lit it, and puffed on it feverishly until the end glowed like red like a traffic light.

  "To tell you the truth, only what I've heard you talking about."

  He smiled and spun around, "Think you’re up for it right now?"

  "Sure."

  "Hemp and its cousin cannabis have been used as long as written history extends. Carl Sagan pointed out that there is evidence suggesting that hemp was the catalyst that started the agricultural revolution that led to civilization itself. The natural fibers in hemp have long been sought after for rope, paper products, and fabric. Historians will point out that hemp was the world’s largest agricultural crop from 1000 B.C. to 1800 A.D...This hemp fiber was particularly favored by sailing vessels because of its natural resistance to rot and salt. Cannabis, the flowering plant now known by its Mexican slang term marijuana, was used as a medicine. Prior to prohibition, tinctures, extracts, and elixirs were used like aspirin. The US Pharmacopeia suggested the magical plant could be used to treat fatigue, depression, cramps caused by menstruation, migraines, asthma, and a host of other everyday ailments. Our own Founding Fathers grew and distributed hemp products. Benjamin Franklin owned a hemp farm and produced his newspapers on hemp paper. This widespread use of hemp wasn’t something new or controversial; it was normal and natural. The first hemp law in America was enacted by the British in 1619. The law ordered all farmers to grow the precious plant. Hemp was even accepted as legal tender during the colonial days, because until 1820, 80% of all mankind’s textiles were made from the plant. Somehow, in the 1930's, the people of the United States decided to make the use of hemp illegal. I grant you, that it wasn’t willful and may go as far as to say, that they decided under duress, but they made it illegal. Do you know why?"

  "Fear?" I asked.

  "Yes, fear planted in them by a vast propaganda machine. This is the point where I lose most people. They hear the word propaganda and they associate it with the Nazi’s that they learned about in high school. They don’t realize we have the same thing here. Ask anyone who was alive in the fifties about Communism, and they will give you the same cookie cutter answer based on the fear that was fed to them through education, TV, and radio. But why?"

  I raised my shoulders, to indicate I didn’t know.

  "Don't beat yourself up. Very few people truly know why. Have you heard of the cotton gin?”

  "Of course."

  "What about the hemp gin?"

  He must have seen the confused look on my face.

  "The patent was filed for in 1930, and it was poised to change everything. That same year Popular Mechanic magazine called hemp the new billion dollar crop."

  Again he could see the confusion in my eyes.

  "How?" I asked.

  The hemp gin, like the former cotton gin, would revolutionize the way things were made. It made it possible for a single plant to replace trees in the production of paper, petroleum in plastic, and cotton in the production of clothing. Do you know what kind of people run businesses that have interests in these three industries?"

  "Of course, the DuPont’s, the Hearst's, the Bush's."

  He smiled at me. "Cute, but the Bush’s have no pull. They’re just pawns. The others, however, coupled with the investors who were complicit in all this used their influence in Washington to make sure the green plant wouldn't make their industries obsolete. The people are finally starting to question this type of government interference and see it as a direct violation to capitalism itself.”

  "OK, but why did the American people buy into this prohibition of hemp?"

  "The government and its backers put out fear propaganda that tied marijuana to communism; connected it with poor, criminal, black minorities, and any other negative group they could think of. The people bit, hook, line, and sinker."

  I couldn't imagine how a people could be so ignorant, but then I remembered what my dad said about the German people. They weren’t all bad, and they weren’t all ignorant, but they too bit, hook, line, and sinker for Hitler’s propaganda. The truth is that people can be too trusting and sometimes unscrupulous men can take advantage of large groups. The savvy politician understands how popular opinion can sway people into doing things that are out of character, just to fit in. Over the last 70 years the propaganda machine has erased a long and storied history, and replaced it with a false one. Do you see where the problem is?"

  "No, honestly, I don't."

  "This lie, this conspiracy can't last, and sadly the America that was built on this lie won't last either."

  "Do you want to destroy the US?" I asked.

  "For God’s sake, no. The Movement is the only thing that can save her."

  "How?”

  "I'm getting there, so bear with me! As people wake up from the lie, they will start to exercise their reason, and logic, which will lead us right to where we’re at, on the verge."

  "On the verge of what?"

  "The tipping point when people will start to demand their personal liberties back. That is what Colorado and Washington have done, and mark my words, there is an avalanche of states right behind them. If the government gives into the industries that have popped up around prohibition, it will erode the already shaky confidence in democracy and open us up to the world of Fascism. Imagine a world where the state only exists to serve corporations and their bottom line."

  The Diary of Renee de Garcias, A Weed War Tale,

  Entry 9

  This morning we began our trip back to Denver. The car ride was quiet as we passed endless fields of golden wheat. We each took turns driving while the other slept. As we passed the Brighton area on I-270, I began to notice cars slowing down in front of me. I woke Matthew up, telling him, "Hey, I think it's a roadblock."

  He opened his eyes and sat up. "Oh, great.”

  "What should I do?" I scanned the road ahead and my mirrors looking for an off ramp, or a turn around, some kind of escape route.

  "Let me think," he said as the car rolled to a stop behind at least ten cars that were all trying to merge into one lane. He opened the glove box and pulled out a blue bandana and some sunglasses, telling me, “Here, put these on."

&nb
sp; "What about you?"

  He looked in the back seat before hopping over and sliding down onto the floorboard. "This blanket here should cover me."

  HONK!

  A horn sounded from behind me, and I looked up to find the cars in front of us had already pulled away. I pulled forward as I looked in the rear view mirror trying to hide my hair.

  We remained silent, until I rolled down the window to speak to the officer.

  "Morning, Ms., Where you headed?”

  My mind went blank, and I stuttered, "Um, well, um I'm headed to church with my grandma."

  He leaned forward and pulled down his gold-rimmed glasses, looked me up and down, and said, "Have a nice day."

  After I pulled off and rolled up the window, I let out a huge sigh. In the excitement I held my breath, and coupled with the raised heart rate, I nearly passed out. "We’re in the..." I was about to say “clear,” when I saw flashing lights in my rearview.

  Chapter 18

  Harley's mom comes storming into her room, shouting, "Have you lost your mind?"

  Harley looks up, "What?" She shrugs her shoulders and looks back down at the drawings she has on the scratch paper in her lap.

  "You know what, young lady," she leans over trying to make eye contact, "you skipped your work duty."

  "I never signed up for duty."

  "Harley, we've been over this. This is the world we live in, and you have to accept that."

  "No," she stands up and stares into her mom's eyes, saying, "You’re wrong, mom. Freedom and liberty are not myths, we can..."

  SLAP! Her mom’s hand stings her cheek. "You’re talking treason. Do you know what they do to traitors?"

  Harley swings around and grabs her shoulder bag, "Guess we’ll find out."

  She leaves the room, slamming the door behind herself.

  Chapter 19

  The Diary of Renee de Garcias, A Weed War Tale,

  Entry 9, continued

  The flashing lights intensified, as the patrol car pulled up behind us. "Oh no, there’s a cop behind us," I said to Matthew hiding in the back seat.

  "Don't pull over," Matthew warned me from under the blanket.

  "Oh, OK, genius, what…"