Ganja Vibes Blog

Bob Dylan turns The Beatles on to cannabis

11.00pm, Friday 28 August 1964 (47 years ago) On 28 August 1964 Bob Dylan introduced The Beatles to cannabis. The two parties were introduced by a mutual friend, the writer Al Aronowitz, at New York's Delmonico Hotel. Upon arriving at The Beatles' suite Dylan asked for cheap wine; Mal Evans was sent to get some, and during the wait Dylan suggested they have a smoke. Brian and the Beatles looked at each other apprehensively. "We've never smoked marijuana before," Brian finally admitted. Dylan looked disbelievingly from face to face. "But what about your song?" he asked. The one about getting high?" The Beatles were stupefied. "Which song?" John managed to ask. Dylan said, "You know..." and then he sang, "and when I touch you I get high, I get high..." John flushed with embarrassment. "Those aren't the words," he admitted. "The words are, 'I can't hide, I can't hide, I can't hide...'" The Love You Make Peter Brown Some of The Beatles had actually been introduced to cannabis in 1960, but the drug had made little impression. We first got marijuana from an older drummer with another group in Liverpool. We didn't actually try it until after we'd been to Hamburg. I remember we smoked it in the band room in a gig in Southport and we all learnt to do the Twist that night, which was popular at the time. We were all seeing if we could do it. Everybody was saying, 'This stuff isn't doing anything.' It was like that old joke where a party is going on and two hippies are up floating on the ceiling, and one is saying to the other, 'This stuff doesn't work, man.' George Harrison Anthology After the hotel room was secured, Dylan rolled the first joint and passed it to Lennon. He immediately gave it to Starr, whom he called "my royal taster". Not realising the etiquette was to pass it on, Ringo finished the joint and Dylan and Aronowitz rolled more for each of them. I don't remember much what we talked about. We were smoking dope, drinking wine and generally being rock'n'rollers and having a laugh, you know, and surrealism. It was party time. John Lennon Anthology The Beatles spent the next few hours in hilarity, looked upon with amusement by Dylan. Brian Epstein kept saying, "I'm so high I'm on the ceiling. I'm up on the ceiling." Paul McCartney, meanwhile, was struck by the profundity of the occasion, telling anyone who would listen that he was "thinking for the first time, really thinking." He instructed Mal Evans to follow him around the hotel suite with a notebook, writing down everything he said. I remember asking Mal, our road manager, for what seemed like years and years, 'Have you got a pencil?' But of course everyone was so stoned they couldn't produce a pencil, let alone a combination of pencil and paper. I'd been going through this thing of levels, during the evening. And at each level I'd meet all these people again. 'Hahaha! It's you!' And then I'd metamorphose on to another level. Anyway, Mal gave me this little slip of paper in the morning, and written on it was, 'There are seven levels!' Actually it wasn't bad. Not bad for an amateur. And we pissed ourselves laughing. I mean, 'What the fuck's that? What the fuck are the seven levels?' But looking back, it's actually a pretty succinct comment; it ties in with a lot of major religions but I didn't know that then. Paul McCartney Evans kept the notebooks until his death in 1976, when they were confiscated and later lost by Los Angeles police.

Steve Guttenberg receives Hollywood Walk of Fame star

Steve Guttenberg, star of “Diner,” “Three Men and a Baby” and the “Police Academy” movies, is getting a star today on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Appropriately, it will be placed in front of the Police Activities League on Hollywood Blvd. (CBS Los Angeles) The Gutte does have his vices. “I indulge in wine, and I love vodka, I do,” he said. “And I love scotch, you know. And I love weed. And I love women. “If I feel lousy, I’ll do what the next president of the United States did: smoke a joint,” he said. “It’s documented in his book. I’ll go into a bar and down two beers. I’ll go out with women, because it’ll make me feel better. Read more at ONTD: http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/26312912.html#ixzz1gLI1Td2D

Joe Rogan

Joe Rogan is an American comedian, video blogger, actor, writer, podcaster, and martial artist. One of the recurring themes in his stand-up comedy and life is the use and support of cannabis, psilocybin mushrooms, and DMT. Rogan supports the medical and recreational use of cannabis.He has also starred in the marijuana documentary The Union: The Business Behind Getting High. Rogan was featured in the 2010 History Channel documentary, Marijuana: A Chronic History, as an advocate of legalized medical use of marijuana. He is also the presenter of the 2010 documentary, DMT: The Spirit Molecule, released in October 2010. From MMA to Newsradio...Love this guy! Joe Rogan on Legalizing Marijuana [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fA-o6tSdmU&w=420&h=315] Joe Rogan on Occupy Wall Street [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjMcDXGkR8I&w=420&h=315]

History of "cannabis tincture" produced by U.S. pharmaceutical companies

Before marijuana/cannabis was made illegal in the United States in 1937, it was used in a wide array of medical products. The antique cannabis book documents over 600 products. Have you heard of the Eli Lilly the well-known pharmaceutical company? They are the manufacturer of some well known medicines that you have probably heard of - Prozac, Cialis, Zyprexa, Methadone and many many more. The photo below is of a Cannabis "tincture" produced by this company in the 1900's. The photo above is from Parke-Davis, a subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Pfizer marketed the first widely available treatment for epilepsey (Dilantin), they also developed the first bacterial vaccine, and were one of the first companies contracted to manufature the Salk vaccine used to eradicate polio. Learn more history and see more photos at the antique cannabis website.

Cannabis & The Penial Gland: Turn On The Third Eye

The Pineal Gland or the 'Seat of the Soul' as described by Rene Descartes, is the focal point of our spiritual guiding system which makes us go beyond the five senses of rationality and become multisensory, tuned into and aware of higher dimensions of consciousness within a holographic cosmos. Cannabis or Marijuana among other psychedelics facilitates the activation of the pineal gland and helps turn on the third eye or the mind's eye directing our spiritual evolution to wholeness. Here is an article by Chris Bennett on Cannabis & the Power of the Pineal Gland ... Pineal Power ((( The Pineal Gland is the Key to Psychedelic Enlightenment ))) The pineal gland, located in the centre of the brain, is about a quarter of an inch in size, reddish-gray, and weighs about one-tenth of a gram. Unlike other parts of the brain which come in pairs, the pineal gland is singular. Its location in the center of the brain and presence in other species indicates it is an older part of humanity's evolutionary brain system. The pineal gland is present in all lower vertebrae. In other species, like birds, reptiles and frogs, the pineal gland is called the parietal eye or "third-eye" as its functions closely resemble that of an actual eye. In these other species, the pineal gland has components of an actual eye, with a cornea, rod and cone. It is considered to be the vestige of a functional sense organ of early primitive vertebrates. Directly affected by the light taken in through the eyes, the pineal regulates sleep, menstrual cycles, mating seasons, hibernation, seasonal flight patterns and many other "instinctual" behaviors. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twm1cAEWb8w&w=420&h=315] Tryptamine Trippiness Psychedelic researcher Dr Rick Strassman has explained how the pineal gland "is quite active in synthesizing compounds related to serotonin, an important neurotransmitter in the brain. Neurotransmitters are the chemical messengers allowing communication among individual nerve cells. Most typical psychedelic drugs, such as LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, and DMT are active in brain sites which are also affected by serotonin. In addition, most of these drugs are similar in their chemical structure to serotonin." Strassman states that most of the above substances belong to the "tryptamine" class of drugs, and proposed that the pineal gland produces "one or two endogenous tryptamines found in human blood and cerebrospinal fluid. This latter fluid continually bathes the brain, and compounds found in it most likely affect brain function." Strassman also explains how "psychedelic drugs, meditational states, spontaneous near-death experiences and other phenomena which may induce stereotypic death/rebirth and paradisal/hellish states act via the pineal gland. Lyttle points to the universal mystic vision of God as an all-consuming white light, and postulates that on a physiological level, this experience is produced from chemical reactions in the pineal gland which is extremely light sensitive. "Light, the eyes and the 'third eye' or pineal gland form a triad which directly controls and regulates normal or altered consciousness and many bodily functions? these three factors are also directly related to, or implicated in, mystical states and the 'psychedelic' experience." Visions of white light are not only associated with mysticism and psychedelic explorations, but are also a prevalent image recorded by those who experience the near-death state. A reason for this recurring theme in near-death states may be found with Dr Strassman, who suggests that after death, as the pineal gland shuts down, some of the chemical present in it may turn into "psychedelic" drugs! According to Dr Strassman, the pineal gland may not only play an important role in death, but also in birth, possibly even in rebirth... The pineal gland first becomes visible in the human fetus at the same time as does the clear differentiation of the fetus into female or male gender. The time for both of these events is 49 days, the period of time that, according to several Buddhist texts, the life force of a deceased individual coalesces around its next corporeal existence. If the life force does indeed enter through the pineal, the manifestation of this coming and going would be the release of psychedelic tryptamines, which would mediate the visionary experiences associated with near-death, and near-birth states. Spiritual Traditions Certain initiatory cults, such as Tantrism, Kundalini and Gnosticism, acknowledged the role of the pineal gland in the spiritual process. The spiritual/instinctual life force was seen as a serpent, due to its physical structure extending from the genitals, through the spine and up into its single all-seeing eye in the pineal gland. These spiritual systems focussed around the raising of this primordial serpentine energy, based in the genitals and at the core of the pro-creative process. Through certain yogic practices this energy can be reversed and forced to travel up the spine into the brain, where it is reputed to cause "enlightenment". In the Kundalini system, which has seven distinct energy centers, the pineal gland has been variously identified with the "Ajna Chakra" and alternatively the "Sahasrara Chakra". Both pre-Christian Mithraic and second century Gnostic texts also distinctly refer to the pineal gland in relation to seven distinct energy centers and this serpentine energy. Not surprisingly, a common experience of those who have successfully raised their kundalini is the vision of all-consuming white light. More importantly, the devotee who successfully raises the kundalini experiences a radical switch in consciousness, obliterating the sense of individuation, and enters Nirvana. Another potential reference to this curious little gland may occur at the end of the New Testament book of Revelation, where we find that the elect will know God intimately, "his name will be in their foreheads," which is where the pineal deeply lies. Noting the gland's strong connection with light, the rest of the passage is interesting: "There will be no more night; they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light." Likewise in the Qabalistic tradition, the primordial archetypical man, Adam Kadmon, shines forth with a light from his forehead that was rich in complex patterns and linguistic symbols. Similar imagery occurs in the Persian tradition of the light-like sacred fluid, the "vivifying and spermatic" xvarenah. "Ahura Mazda is preeminently the possessor of xvarenah, but this 'flame' also springs from the forehead of Mithra and like a solar light emanates from the heads of sovereigns." This mind-light from the forehead is also identical with the 3rd Eye of Shiva, which when opened in the individual burns away the concept of ego-bound consciousness, and when opened collectively has the potential to burn away the ties and fetters of the Old World Order. Perhaps if enough modern psychonauts achieve the pineal experience we can push this new frame of mind onto the rest of ego-bound humanity. Here at the turning of the millennia, in the apocalyptic year of 1999, never has the potential for the state of mind which has been the goal of yogic sages, and psychedelic voyagers alike been so possible to attain for humanity as a whole.