I believe the oldest known use of cannabis is India, I seem to remember from a book. It was chewed, possibly and it seems somehow likely by the stoner who invented zero as a math concept.

Asshole, thanks for letting me know that alcohol is legal at a certain age, as opposed to cannabis. You are one insightful and observant dude. I think you've brought the discussion to a new level of understanding. I've seen more thoughtful cases made against pot, back in high school, but those guys were seniors. If Paul McCartney had quit smoking pot and worked on his problems, maybe he'd get over his crippling depression and write a few memorable tunes.

   Far from wishing everyone who complained about laws in the U.S. would leave, I think it's part of the whole free speech and process of law. Maybe people who think everyone should shut up and do what they're told should go somewhere else, where that is the deal. It isn't the idea here, and never was. I just wish people who don't use turn-signals would all drive into each other's vehicles and get off the road.

   The effects of drugs are partly cultured, sometimes what one expects them to be. Other drugs are much more troubling to me as a matter of policy and law than pot. The idea that it's a threshold--people make all sorts of arguments when they don't know what they are talking about, and I kind of collect them. Like the woman who told me, aqbout conservation "My husband says there are more trees now on earth than when God created it"! Three years later I met him, and was fascinated, kept looking at his head.

   Pfffft. 'ere.