This is an update to the lists here and here of synthetic cannabinoids banned by Peter Dunne.
Banned as from 9 May 2013
BB-221-(cyclohexylmethyl)-8-quinolinyl ester-1H-indole-3-carboxylic acid 5F-AKB48 or APINACA 5-fluoropentyl analog or 5F-APINACA N-((3s,5s,7s)-adamantan-1-yl)-1-(5-fluoropentyl)-1H-indazole-3-carboxamide
This is another blow to the industry and one of many we have delivered – but I fully acknowledge it is more of the cat-and-mouse game until we can deliver the killer punch in August when the Psychoactive Substances Bill will become law
said Peter Dunne when he banned BB-22 and 5F-AKB48 last month.
But take a look at the trend here. There were 20 synthetic cannabinoids banned in 2011, 11 banned in 2012 and, so far this year, just 2.
I think the cat is getting tired.
And the industry is in very good health, despite having had to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous prohibitions. Tonight on Cuba Street, Wellington, I counted 9 synthetic cannabinoid products, in 2 different stores, probably containing 3 or 4 different synthetic cannabinoids. (And that’s not even to mention the flourishing herbal cannabis industry.)
I think the mouse won this cat-and-mouse game a long time ago.
Friday, 14 June 2013, 12:43 pm
Press Release: Libertarianz Party
Libz Endorse ALCP Candidate in Ikaroa Rawhiti
The Libertarianz Party today endorsed the candidacy of Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party leader Michael Appleby in the Ikaroa Rawhiti by-election, but labelled the continuing existence of Maori seats in Parliament as insulting and demeaning to New Zealanders of Maori descent.
Spokesman Richard McGrath, who works as medical officer at a drug and alcohol treatment clinic, said the ALCP and Libertarianz Parties share the core value of freedom of choice for adults and a policy of ending the expensive and fruitless war on people who use recreational substances.
“We are happy to endorse Michael in his efforts to stop the harrassment of peaceful New Zealanders,” said Dr McGrath.
“However, it is high time the Maori seats were consigned to the dustbin of history. There should be one law for all in New Zealand, with no room for the institutionalised racism and tokenism of Maori seats in the House of Representatives.”
“That we continue to tolerate this slight upon Maori people reflects badly on our politicians. Maori New Zealanders are just as capable as those of other ethnicities. To treat them as helpless cripples is disgraceful and a blight upon our electoral system.”
Tony Bower Director of Mullaway Medical Cannabis Limited, and Auzzy Hero!
Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/Mullaway#!/Mullaway
Any one with Children who suffer from Fits and Seizures needs to watch this Video!
If you know anyone with children who suffer Fits and Seizures please forward this Video to them!
It could save their lives.
It is a matter of extreme urgency that Medical Cannabis be Legalised and made available to the New Zealand public!
IF had a child with such a condition, I would not hesitate to break the Law and get some of this Medicine for my child.
Tony Bower is a hero who is battling Prosecution for Cannabis cultivation to produce his wonder Medicine. I implore the people of Australia to Rally in his defence.
Post script update 15-6-13
It appears that the benefits of Cannabis in respect to treating Epilepsy were well known before it was prohibited…
THE ANTIQUE CANNABIS BOOK
Chapter 3 – (2nd Edition)
CENSORED MEDICAL STUDIES
CENSORSHIP
1947 – EPILEPSY STUDY
HARRY ANSLINGER’S CONCERN
[America’s 1st Drug Czar, Harry Anslinger]
This section of the Antique Cannabis Book, was meant primarily as a tool for active News Media Reporters who needed a quick (yet well documented) source of information on the subject of Governmental Censorship as it relates to Medical Cannabis. As such this (1947) study, which was openly published and never actually under the threat of censorship, would normally not qualify for inclusion.
However, a quick look beneath the surface shows a different story. One that reveals, wheels within wheels, circles within circles, all spinning around . . . . let’s just say that this study, came very close to (ah, how shall we put it), going the way of oh so many other Medical Cannabis studies.
The author is convinced that had Anslinger (or anyone at the D.E.A.) known about the study BEFORE IT WAS PUBLISHED , it most assuredly would have been CENSORED. Either that or (doing what the Narc’s do now), killed it in its cradle by simply denying the researchers the needed licenses and permits.
This one however, seems to have slipped though the cracks. Here let us go over the facts (those we’ve been able to locate), and let the reader to decide.
1.1 – STUDY SUMMERY
The following, located via 420 Magazine [1] is the shortest summery that we’ve been able to find. However, as it’s still filled with lots of PHD gobble goop, so the reader is advised simply to skim-read-it. The long and the short of it is that “ Cannabis Works. ”
Anti-Epileptic Action Of Marijuana-Active Substances BY JEAN P. DAVIS, M.D., and H.H. RAMSEY, M.D. [2]
The demonstration of anticonvulsant activity of the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) congeners by laboratory tests (Loewe and Goodman, Federation Proc. 6:352, 1947 ) prompted clinical trial in five institutionalized epileptic children.
All of them had severe symptomatic grand ma1 epilepsy with mental retardation; three had cerebral palsy in addition. Electroencephalographic tracings were grossly abnormal in the entire group; three had focal seizure activity. Their attacks had been inadequately controlled on 0.13 gm. Of phenobarbital daily, combined with 0.3 gm. of Dilantin per day in two of the patients, and in a third, with 0.2 gm. Of Mesantoin daily. Two isomeric 3 (1,2-dimethyl heptyl) homologs of THC were tested, Numbers 122 and 125A, with ataxia potencies fifty and eight times, respectively, that of natural marijuana principles. Number 122 was given to two patients for three weeks and to three patients for seven weeks. Three responded at least as well as to previous therapy; the fourth became almost completely and the fifth entirely seizure free. One patient, transferred to 125A after three weeks, had prompt exacerbation of seizures during the ensuing four weeks, despite dosages up to 4 mg. daily. The second patient transferred to 125A was adequately controlled on this dosage, except for a brief period of paranoid behavior three and a half weeks later; similar episodes had occurred prior to cannabinol therapy. Other psychic disturbances or toxic reactions were not manifested during the periods of treatment. Blood counts were normal.
The cannabinols herein reported deserve further trial in non-institutionalized epileptics. Reprinted from Federation Proceedings, Federation of American Society for Experimental Biology, vol. 8, lY49, p. 284.
Source: Anti-Epileptic Action Of Marijuana-Active Substances
1.2 – MARJUANA LEAF PLAYS EPILEPSY CURE ROLE
The below newspaper article, taken from the “Salt Lake City telegram [May 20, 1947], was located via the National Archives (College Park, MD). It belonged to and was integrated into the files of Harry Anslinger’s old Bureau of Narcotics, today known as the D.E.A. We believe that it was the first that Anslinger knew about the study, and thus too late to CENSOR or put a stop to it.
[Bureau of Narcotics files, — National Archives, College Park, Md.]
[As per the Bureau of Narcotics Files ; National Archives]
TAKEN FROM SALT LAKE CITY TELEGRAM 5-20-49
Marijuana Leaf Plays Epilepsy Cure Role
Drug principles isolated from leaves of marijuana, an innocent-looking plant that grows wild in different parts of the world, are playing an important role in research on a cure for epilepsy.
This is the same marijuana which so many people fear as a habit-forming drug and which is noted for the opium-like dreams it produces in those who partake of it.
The drugs being used are synthetic substances related to cannabinol, which is contained in marijuana, but does not produce the same effects. Dr. Jean P. Davis, faculty researcher at the University of Utah medical college, has done considerable research with the drugs in treatment of minor and convulsive epilepsy.
She reports that the drugs have been found effective about 50% of the time. Future for epileptics appears “very bright,” she said, “because of not only one new drug, but a whole field of new compounds to combat epileptic seizures.”
Helps Minor Seizures One of these new drugs, trimethadione, is most effective in petit mal epilepsy, minor seizures common in younger patients. Another, paramethadione, a sort of second cousin to the first, is useful in such spells.
A third compound, called phenerone, is effective in psycho-motor seizures, sudden episodes of unusual behavior, accompanied by amnesia.
Epilepsy comes in four degrees: grand mal, or pykno-epilepsy, with brief staring spells; psycho-motor, accompanied by amnesia and unusual behavior, and Jacksonian, identified by retention of consciousness with progressive twitching and numbness of one leg or arm.
Mr. Davis is in charge of a section of the psychiatric clinic at Salt Lake General hospital, where she does some clinical work. She also instructs advanced courses in the departments of pharmacology and physiology at the university.
Began in 1929 According to Dr. Davis, actual valuable research with modern methods of fighting epilepsy came into their own in 1929 with the invention of the electro-encephalograph, an instrument for recording brain activity.
And the latest of the compounds used in treatment of the affliction was developed in 1948. Meanwhile, research is advancing at a rapid pace, Dr. Davis said.
She studied for three years under Dr. William Lennox, one of the top U.S. experts on epilepsy. She received her doctor of medicine degree at Yale university in 1943.
Most of her clinical work has been confined to children, with whom she “likes to work.”
Here note the wording:
“. . . Have been found effective about 50% of the time. “
“ . . . the same marijuana which so many people fear “
“ . . . Drug principles isolated from leaves of marijuana . . . being used are synthetic substances related to cannabinol, which is contained in marijuana, but does not produce the same effects. “
With respect to the above — note that a Medical Cannabis like “synthetic substance” is being referred to.
EPILEPSY STUDY — ON TO THE NEXT PAGE
******************************************************
Richard Goode I’m a libertarian. I believe in individual freedom and personal responsibility.
The big problem in New Zealand (much bigger than the problem with K2 being sold in dairies) is that people want individual freedom for themselves but they don’t want the personal responsibility that goes with it. [But] individual freedom and personal responsibility are two sides of the same coin.
I see far too many people blaming “K2” for their problems, when their own lack of judgement, lack of a moral compass, psychological problems, and lack of parental control are the root causes in the vast majority of cases. Like that teenager supposedly “addicted” to K2 whom I saw on TV the other night. He was fine once someone found him an honest job boring post holes up [in] the hills.
Remember that cannabis is a gift from God and that the Devil makes work for idle hands.
That was my post [with minor edits] on the Facebook group K2 and Other “LEGAL HIGHS” in New Zealand we all need to know the dangers. I was added to the group recently by a fellow drug law reform activist and didn’t at first appreciate the nature of the group. It’s a support group “to warn people about the dangers of these relatively new highs and the trouble it has caused so for many.” Perhaps if I’d known that I’d blundered into a support group, I wouldn’t have made such an insensitive post. Perhaps.
Here are the responses.
Tracey Metternich supposedly “addicted” Richard do you not believe it is addictive? lack of parental control? this I disagree with strongly. I am guessing he wasn’t as good as it looked on TV because this teenager found an honest job he was fine. I bet he struggles everyday and he still thinks about it everyday.Cannabis is a gift from god? shame people decided to speed up the natural process and grow in under lights instead of planting a seed and leaving it to grow. Yes it is the lesser evil but it can cause problems for some but not to the extent this chemical crap is doing and it would be a safer option.
Polli Marriner Hayden is not fine . That’s why he spoke up. You have no idea of the pain he goes through every day, or his mother! How DARE you minimise the harm to push your own barrow! You people are the evil! Kids do not need drugs! It was pot heads who brought this stuff into our country and made a demand for it by trying to escape from reality through chemicals. Live a real and godly life in THIS reality before you judge others!
Richard Goode “Live a real and godly life in THIS reality before you judge others!” It’s good advice.
Tim Wikiriwhi I suppose you Polli Marriner are going to blame Nz’s Suicide epidemic of ‘Pot heads’ too! You simpletons seen to forget that like Suicide, drug use is *an Effect* of deeper underlying issues in our society… not the cause of them. Young people try drugs (including alcohol Polli) for different reasons, often it is to sooth a painful heart or to fill a dark empty void… and as you know sometimes a drink (or a smoke) can help… other times it can make things worse… One thing is for sure… persecuting people certainly makes things much much worse, whereas when things like K2 are legal, at least no one is getting kicked over and criminalised by a cold hearted Nazi police, and they can get help for what is *the real problem*… the ussues which have nothing to do with drugs… yet simpletons like you cant e bothered thinking about the deeper/ more complex problems in our society which result in high suicide rates, high drug use, etc…. You prefer to think like a pig and say ‘Ban it’ ‘Ban it’…. Throw them in Jail…. Give the police greater powers!…. More raids!…. Zero Tollerance… “Everyone should be like me!!!”… vote for the Populist Politican who promises to be ‘Tuff on drugs’… etc etc…. year after year… decade after decade…. yet the Stats keep getting worse and worse…. yet you will continue to floog your favorite dead horse because you refuse to consider you have been wrong your whole life….
Polli Marriner Lol…. That’s so funny! If you only knew!
Richard Goode “You people are the evil!” Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Polli Marriner Therre have been a lot of pot smoking people in these anti K2 groups hurting people’s feelings and linking the fight with support cannabis efforts. NOT HELPFUL AT ALL! Gof iChat your own battles in your own page and leave these heroes alone!
Polli Marriner Again, leave people alone, and go fight yr own battles somewhere else!
There’s irony in a rabid Prohibitionist telling me to “leave people alone”! There’s irony in her judging that “you people are the evil” and in the same comment reprimanding me for judging others! (Just saying.)
Subsequently, my post was deleted by the group admin, presumably for its unsupportive tone. (But I blame Tim’s comment. :-D)
Two things are very clear.
First, there are some seriously upset people out there. It’s understandable that they’re upset. From what I’ve read of their stories, some of them have been to hell and back, and they blame it on K2. Indeed, it does seem that some synthetic cannabinoids can have some very serious ill effects on some people.
Second, these people should not be allowed to have any sway over the government’s drug policy. With all due respect, they’re too emotionally overwrought and they can’t think straight. We need to regulate, not ban.
This picture reminds me of one of my father’s favourite jokes.
(Mojo Mathers is New Zealand’s first deaf MP.)
The Green Party has far too many list MPs, so it’s good when they actually do something slightly useful. It looks like Mojo Mathers is following in Sue Kedgley’s footsteps, by keeping us all informed about our foods. Today she issued a press release.
Dole should peel off their stickers claiming their bananas are an ethical choice until the Commerce Commission investigates their claim, the Green Party said today.
Today Green Party food spokesperson Mojo Mathers wrote to the Commerce Commission requesting they investigate Dole’s claim that they sell ethical bananas. Ms Mathers’ request was sparked by an Oxfam report which suggested Dole’s claims may be false and misleading.
“Oxfam’s report into Dole bananas suggests that Dole’s ethical choice claims may be entirely misleading,” Ms Mathers said.
children 15 years old and under working eight to 12 hours a day, harassment of workers for joining a union, aerial pesticide spraying while workers are on the plantations, and environmental damage.
Banana importer Dole is to stop using Ethical Choice stickers on its fruit after criticism that the labels could mislead consumers.
This week humanitarian group Oxfam released a report claiming that child labourers exposed to toxic chemicals were used to harvest Dole bananas in the Philippines for supply to New Zealand.
Last year Dole was put on notice by the Commerce Commission that its Ethical Choice brand risked breaching the Fair Trading Act.
Among the concerns was whether consumers might think the stickers were certified by a third party and make Dole appear more ethical than its competitors.
Today the company announced that it would discontinue the use of the Ethical Choice label on all future fruit shipments.
What with dairies selling K2 to school kids and now this, it’s been a bad month for business ethics.
Go grab yourselves some Dole “ethical choice” bananas and some K2 “takes you higher” smoke while you still can!
K2. (I assume that is short for Kronic 2… the synthetic variant of THC in ‘kronic one’ having been banned.) Is this the packaging of this stuff available in New Zealand?
I don’t know! I have never actually seen a packet myself.
What is interesting about this photo is the clear R18 age restriction voluntarily printed on the packs by the distributors, which is a prudent and socially conscientious thing to do, showing that contrary to all the hypocritical claims of ‘drug panic’ merchants who are busy ripping their shirts over the availability of legal highs… the fact is that the distributors have no desire to peddle their wares to children, and that any shop keepers doing so are violating the express conditions of being vendors of this product, and could be/ should be sued by the K2 distributors.
All Legal highs should have such R18 age restrictions on sale and purchase… just like Alcohol.
I have just recently been accepted into a face book group called ‘K2 and other ‘Legal Highs’ in New Zealand. We all need to know the dangers’ (thank’s to my invitation by Richard)
And as recreational drug use and prohibition is an important subject to Libertarian minded people like myself, I hope to present the group with alternative arguments to prohibition… in the interest of society, Justice, and harm minimization.
It will be interesting to see if my input will be recognized as a legitimate contribution to the discussion, or if I… because I am Anti-prohibition… anti- drug phobia… will be labeled ‘a Troll’
And banned.
I certainly hope not!
It is not my intension (today…in this group) to cause trouble, or to be a Gadfly. I enter this group in sincerity believing I have a valid position to put forward and can contribute value to this discussion.
I have blogged about Internet trolling before Here:, , and though I now need to do a follow up blog post confessing my realization of the reality of malicious predators whom do indeed stalk the Net seeking to cause Chaos and disorder, that in no way is this my intension in joining this group.
My intensions are honourable.
Below is my introduction to my Libertarian argument against Prohibition, in favour of an age restricted legal market. (I have embellished it slightly with photos and captions for the sake of this Blogpost)
*****************************************
This is a very ‘polarizing’ topic… a matter of great paranoia to many….to the extent that they shut their minds to hearing all sides of the debate and demand heavy
handed laws and prohibitions, refusing to appreciate that such an approach has proven to be an absolute failure time and time again, and that the draconian nature of Prohibition is actually far more harmful to our society… esp to the youth who become criminalized and thereby alienated from our society… not for any acts of dishonesty, or violence, but because they have been caught with a small bag of ‘happiness’ in their pocket.
These young people know that they have been unjustly treated, because they know that many of those whom have brought the Law down upon their heads, including the majority of the Police who break down their doors, and ransack their homes, and drag them off to the cells… all drink Booze… beer, wine, and spirits, until they cant even walk!
I would like to present a counter-argument to prohibition as a means of minimizing the harm of drugs upon our society, and discuss why I believe having a legal yet age restricted market for recreational drugs is a far better means of controlling drugs… just as we have with alcohol… and for the very same reasons.
Alcohol prohibition was tried,…and was dismal failure!
Drug raid.
Though we still have big social problems with Alcohol, people still need to appreciate that having legal supply of alcohol is still much better than the evils of Prohibition.
For starters it is much easier under a legalized system for people with problems to go and get help, from places like AA, without fear of being prosecuted, or losing their jobs, etc.
This topic is also a lot like xenophobia and the witch craze, in that wild stories grow up all out of proportion to reality, fueling a lynch mob type hysteria.
Anyone familiar with the history of prohibition knows this classic phenomena.
It is a manufactured frenzy, purposely propagated by the prohibitionist lobby and their Populist politicians who think nothing of feigning Piety and social concern, by promising to crush an unpopular minority for the sake of getting elected.
Corby Schapelle. Imagine for a moment this is your adult child behind bars… not for robbing or harming anyone, but simply because they were found with a drug which was not alcohol.
This is the real ugly face of the injustice of Prohibition… which utterly fails to stop recreational drug use. It merely serves as a disgusting means of inflicting a Nazi-like bigoted hatred upon an unpopular and demonised minority. The Nazis swore their persecution of the ‘Socially deviant Jews’ was completely justified. Vicious bigotry always hides beneath a Cloack of ‘Righteous indignation’.
Though I don’t dispute that drugs (like alcohol and cannabis) ought to be kept away from children, and that adults too need to take care how and when they use such substances, I have little doubt that the fears about the harmful effects synthetic cannabis will prove as groundless as the Nonsense which fueled and maintained Cannabis prohibition.
Cannabis is now being legalized across the globe because of it’s ‘Health benefits’ and medicinal qualities!
It is ironic to understand that for thousand’s of years Cannabis was known and appreciated for it’s manifold beneficial qualities, and that the folly of prohibition of cannabis is itself a *modern phobia*… thankfully this terrible era of prohibition is coming to a close.
It is interesting to consider the fact that if we had already decriminalized Cannabis that we would not be facing the wave of new synthetic substances like K2!
And this fact in itself also reveals why Prohibitions are absurd. Ie because there is a demand for recreational drugs… some innovative people will always figure out an new way to get high, and undoubtedly some these ways will be far more dangerous than cannabis!
Thus Prohibition tends to endanger our youth because it has outlawed safer alternatives.
Below is a blog post I wrote the other day on this subject and I will produce more as this debate unfolds.
I ask members to seriously consider the counter arguments to prohibition if you claim to really have the interests of society at heart, and not be simply driven by a personal bigotry against drug users.
Tim Wikiriwhi
Christian Libertarian.
Hamilton West.
Update: 29-5-13
It appears that after One day, One post, and one reply (in support of Mr G) I have been ‘Fed to the sharks’ by the SOCIALISTS running the facebook page ‘K2 and other ‘Legal Highs’ in New Zealand. We all need to know the dangers’…. which completely vindicates my acustaions that the ‘Anti-everything lobby’ are so fanatically in favour of tyranny, that they will not even consider any alternative arguments to prohibition… in the interest of society, Justice, and harm minimization.
It was interesting to see that indeed my input was not recognized as a legitimate contribution to the discussion, but instead….because I am Anti-prohibition… anti- drug phobia… they chose the low road… the easier path which was to deem me to be ‘a Troll’… and thus….rather than openly debate me….. to simply ban me instead!, and forbid Group members from being able to message me!
*I told ya so!*
Just a few of the vested interests in mantaining Hysteria and the Drug war.
What is the definition of Stupidity?
It’s when someone keeps doing the exactly the Same thing over and over and yet expecting different results!
Question: Has Cannabis prohibition succeeded in keeping Pot off the Streets?
Think hard about this….
The Stats actually prove that Prohibition doe’s absolutely *Nothing* to prevent Cannabis use!
The reality is over 50% of Kiwi’s have ignored the prohibitions and smoked Pot, and the rest simply don’t want to!
Thus the Law does *Zero* to halt drug use, and in fact the stats show that prohibition actually makes our schools etc less safe because of the Criminal monopoly… and vendors who have less scruples about who they sell their drugs to than Legitimate regulated traders.
This is simply a repeat of the failed BZP Prohibition which was only a success… for the Gangs and P dealers!
The truth is the BZP Ban removed a cheaper, and safer alternative to P (Meth amphetamine) …an alternative which many hundreds of Drug users were taking advantage of and thus depriving Criminal organisations of millions of Dollars, and helping the recreational drug user to stay out of trouble with the Law and reducing the negative impact of their drug habits upon their Families… esp in relation to Paying the rent, Putting food on the table, and warm clothing in winter… the Illegal market cost of drugs being astronomical… *while demand remains unchanged.*
People Love to do Drugs!
Alcohol is a Drug!… Of Course the A-Dealers (Alcohol) love these prohibitions too… and you wonder why NZ has a Culture of excessive Drinking and drink related violence and crime!
Yet the Populist politicians and Media never mention these sorts of factors… they pretend they don’t exist.
They continue to maintain the lie that such Nanny State Prohibitions ‘make our communities safer’, and yet no one considers the reality that having Legal sales of drugs actually ‘makes our communities safer!’ and that Prohibition not only works to finance criminal Gangs and results in Underworld crimes between rival gangs, Home invasions trying to steel drugs, Murder and violence when deals go bad, etc etc… it also means more young people end up ‘associating’ with criminal Gangs from whom they buy their drugs.
And this refusal to think through all these negative consequences of ‘the war on drugs’ also panders to the willful bigotry and fear of the Sheeple… whom love tyranny… in the name of oppressing their ‘Jews’… ie the unpopular minorities they have demonized.
Then they wonder why their Teenage sons and daughters don’t want anything to do with them!
Then they blame ‘the drugs’ when their adult Children end up in court and jail on Drug offences!
They never consciously admit to themselves that it is their own bigotry which has now alienated them from their Adult Teenage Kids and has destroyed their lives by allowing the state to take away their rights and liberties, to criminalize them and oppress them!
This is how the Stupidity is perpetuated…
Tyranny is far more harmful to our society than the recreational drugs they fail to control.
What the Government ought to do is simply put an R18 restriction on sales of Party pills and synthetic Cannabis, giving the Dairy owners an incentive to only sell such products to adults.
The also should Legalise Cannabis, and BZP, and Nos!
Should soft drugs (cannabis & synthetic cannabinoids) be decriminalised? YES or NO?
You can vote YES tonight (Wednesday 22 May) between 8.30 pm and 9.30 pm on The Vote.
Watch the sane, sensible Regulators (Ross Bell, Grant Hall, Jeremy McMinn) smoke the rabid, disinformed Prohibitionists (Janie Annear, Mike Sabin, Wayne Poutoa) tonight at 8.30 pm on TV3.
Before I became a Christian… in the late 80’s I believed in the Doors!
I used to roll… 100mph… in my Doorsmobile…a white Valiant Ranger 245 Hemi… with a Doors Badge in the Grill which had I cut out of 16mm thick Aluminum plate and painted Red.
I never Got tired of getting high and listening to the Doors, or Pink Floyd!
Ray Manzarek’s Keyboard put the ‘trippy-ness’ into the Doors sound.
He was one of the very best…ever!
The Door’s (of Perception) music is a Religion… Hedonistic, Mystical, Nihilism,… all mixed together… ‘Break on through to the other side!, ‘The Crystal ship’…
A word of warning to you young-uns….
You gotta be real careful who you Idolise!
Worshipping people like Jim Morison can put you in an Early Grave!
Dead is a Bath by 28.
I guess we young guys easily fall for that sort of thing to fill the black void… that mystery and enptiness which consumes the lost soul… wandering wandering in hopeless Night.
Out here on the perimeter there are no Stars.
Out here We is Stoned Immaculate.
I really hope Ray found out Life and reality are so much more that that…
It’s quite staggering to realise that millions of souls dont find any deeper meaning or value…
Yet again I question thus… Were the Drugs and Doors music really that bad for me… as all the Condescending wonkers like to assume?
I sometimes think that these things actually helped me in my quest for truth and that they were an essential part of my ‘mind expanding enlightenment’ which eventually led me out of atheism and into Faith in Christ.
Smoking a lot of Pot and listening to music like the Doors also meant I spent a lot of time meditating on the meaning of Life… They made me wonder if there was something more to life than mere materialism?
And Drugs and the Doors also (ironically) kept depression and suicidal thoughts to a minimum as being a lost soul is truly a frightening thing… and so the fact that the Drugs and the Doors gave me relief and stimulated Contemplation about reality makes me think they actually played a roll in saving my life and helped steer me towards belief in the Spirituality of existence… they got me started on my pilgrimage. 🙂
I Owe a debt of gratitude to Ray, Jimmy, John, and Robbie for that.
Along with other Great Muso’s, Their Art enriched my life.
I think this ‘apparant contradiction’ is very valid… It all depend’s on the Individual’s desire to know the truth rather than hide from it.
‘The End’
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I’ll never look into your eyes…again
Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need…of some…stranger’s hand
In a…desperate land
Lost in a Roman…wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah
There’s danger on the edge of town
Ride the King’s highway, baby
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west, baby
Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
The snake is long, seven miles
Ride the snake…he’s old, and his skin is cold…
