Will the world’s global superpower ever legalize marijuana? It seems unlikely not, even though it’s extremely ironic that some of the oldest evidence of weed consumption has been found in China.
China, a global superpower in the world, a country responsible for numerous inventions that have helped save humankind, is now living in a dystopian nightmare that has eerily too many similarities with George Orwell’s famous book, 1984.
In fact, internet users in China aren’t even allowed to type “1984” in social media, and copies of Orwell’s dystopian novels are banned. The novel is set under a fictional regime of constant state surveillance and censorship. The citizens in the book are carefully monitored by “Big Brother” and are made to practice “double think” and only talk in a state-controlled language known as “newspeak.” Talk about double standards.
An article by Brookings discusses how visualization and police informatization is driving Chinese surveillance systems. The communist government has numerous methods of collating massive volumes of data on its over 1.4 billion citizens: from surveillance cameras in the streets to medical history, e-commerce, travel, WeChat, and more, the repressive nature of its surveillance tactics feel like a huge step backward.
On top of that, they place a strict focus on “focus personnel”, who are citizens that are deemed by the government to undermine social stability, or people petitioning the government.
Naturally, the communists have a strict stance against drugs – and all kinds of it. According to the Chinese government, all kinds of drugs pose a serious hazard which is why they take drug control seriously. While Chinese society has, just like many other countries, also suffered from the ills caused by deadly street drugs such as methamphetamine – as well as heroin and fentanyl.
But will the world’s global superpower ever legalize marijuana? It seems unlikely not, even though it’s extremely ironic that some of the oldest evidence of marijuana consumption has been found in China. Researchers discovered that marijuana was burned for its intoxicating plumes around 2,500 years ago, in a plateau in Central Asia. They also found more evidence of Sogdian culture, an ancient people from western China as well as Tajikistan who followed Zoroastrianism, a religion that appreciated the benefits of cannabis according to their sacred texts.
In addition, both cannabis and hemp were used in China’s early history, part of making traditional Chinese medicine, fibers, textile, and more.
No matter which way you put it, marijuana is an entheogen, plant-based chemicals that induce an unusual state of consciousness. These types of plants have been used since ancient times for spiritual and religious purposes, as many cultures believed that these hallucinations and experiences allowed them to dialogue with the gods among others.
For example, peyote was consumed in Mesoamerica for some 2,000 years is still widely used by the Huichol tribes of Mexico. “For the Huichol, peyote serves as the central sacrament of their rituals,” explains anthropologist Paul Liffman, who has been studying the tribe for many years. “It is taken to illuminate the user, to lighten them from inside,” he adds.
Meanwhile, magic mushrooms and ayahuasca have long been…
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