Thursday 15 July 1999
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Pic of the day: Hemp soap. This harmless skin cleanser has become the
focus of the Norwegian government's wrath. Sold by The Body Shop, it
carries a hemp leaf as background picture, along with the word HEMP. Now
it so happens that neither the leaf nor the actual ingredients come from
the Cannabis plant that is used to make pleasure drugs. The hemp family
contains various useful plants. For instance, Norway's rise from
colonial poverty to a modern European state was largely brought about by
our fleet of merchant sailing ships... all of them dependent on hemp
for their ropes. And this is how our government repays the favor...
Basically, I'm not a great fan of pleasure drugs. Nor am I impressed with steroids and other variants of molecular mas... manipulation. The human body (and not least the brain) is a very sensitive instrument. Taking shortcuts is bound to do some measure of damage. And pleasure drugs are shortcuts. They engage circuits in our brain that were meant to be accessible only for short periods of time, during rare and intense experiences. Using medication instead of meditation means that you seem to get something for free. But actually your brain is shopping with a credit card: You get to pay the price afterwards instead of up front. Yet I think it is unseemly to single out users of cannabis and brand them as criminals, while other dangerous pleasure drugs like tobacco and alcohol are sold and used freely. (Caffeine seems to be much less toxic, but is still a habit-forming, brain altering substance.) And if one is concerned about the health risks, it would seem that fat sausages and pommes frites should be forbidden too: The saturated fats in these foods do unspeakable thing to the arteries, especially in males. Yet it will be a hot day in the idyllic Norwegian village of Hell before anyone is thrown in jail for illegal holding of sausages. So, in conclusion, I think abuse of cannabis is stupid and despicable. But I also find it spectacularly unwise for the government to attack a shop that in public opinion has better reputation for ethical conduct than the government has. (The Body Shop is known for not testing its cosmetics on animals, but on rabid environmentalists. And that pleases me mightily.) Again please note that the HEMP series does not contain that kind of hemp which you use for drugs. Eating the hemp soap will make your intestines come out through various body openings, but will not give you any kind of high.
META DIVISION.
PIMP SECTION.
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Mindlessly repeating music: Eternal Flame, a love song performed by Bangles.
Current computer game: Civ2, Dinosaur scenario.
Snacks of the night: Yellow banana with freckles.
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