The Botany of Desire Page #7

to work for it,

And quite slavishly,

at that,

If it's clever enough

to cash in on a skill

That every plant

is born with --

Its ability

to make chemicals.

The genius

of plants

Is really the arts

of biochemistry,

Creating these really

interesting,

Complicated,

original molecules.

Some are designed

to produce flavors.

Others are designed

to produce great beauty.

And then you've got

this class of plants

That is producing

these molecules

That, incredibly,

have the power

To alter what goes on

in the human mind.

This plant,

by making just such a molecule,

Has gotten us to spread it

All over the world.

Scientists call it

cannabis.

It is better known

as marijuana.

Cannabis recognized,

metaphorically speaking,

That this was its path

to world domination.

Produce more

of this molecule,

And there will be

more marijuana plants

Given more habitat

by this creature who likes

What this molecule

seems to do.

And by trying

to figure out

Just how that molecule works,

Scientists stumbled

on an amazing discovery

About the workings

of our brains.

This plant has opened up

This very fruitful

path of inquiry

Into understanding

how memory works,

How consciousness works,

how emotion works.

We have unlocked

this whole mechanism

Which we didn't know existed --

And we would not know existed,

if not for this plant.

Human beings are born

with an innate drive

To experience other states

of consciousness periodically.

I think you can see this

in young kids,

Who begin spinning

at early ages.

Amusement park rides

serve the same purpose.

There's an endless stream

of activities

That can shift consciousness --

everything from singing,

Dancing, having sex,

jumping out of airplanes.

And drugs are clearly one way

of getting these experiences.

People like to have

that altered consciousness.

I'm not saying that's good,

but it's --

Individuals seek it out.

Marijuana

seems to have made

An evolutionary decision

long ago that it was

Going to throw its lot in

with human beings.

From the plant's point of view,

The psychoactivity is

an attractive characteristic

Which has brought the plant

great success.

There's a lot more marijuana

being grown today,

And the reason is that

humans like it.

They like it

because it gets them high.

But cannabis

can also get them

Locked up.

There are about

750,000 arrests a year

for cannabis possession.

Makes it about third

among all crimes.

And so you've got

25,000 or 30,000

People behind bars

at any one time

For cannabis offenses.

But marijuana still entices

Nearly 15 million americans

To smoke it every month.

And nearly 100 million

have tried it.

To keep up

with that demand,

Cannabis growers cater

to the plant's every whim...

We're going to lose

that tap, aren't we?

Pampering it

like a spoiled child.

Nice and healthy.

We do anything

it tells us to.

If the plant says

it wants something,

We listen and we give it

to it.

And that's the whole thing --

Listening carefully --

and we're listening all the time

And observing all the time.

We work for them.

This man and woman

live in a state

Where growing marijuana

for medical use is legal.

We agreed to conceal

their identities,

Because they still risk

prosecution under federal law.

Yeah,

that's a beauty.

But whatever

the legal risks,

The horticultural challenges

they face

Would be familiar

to any farmer or gardener.

It's a daily effort,

And there are things like,

"oh, did we over-nutriate

the water?

Did we under-nutriate

the water?"

Everything has

really tight parameters,

And we try to keep as tight

as control as possible,

But it's --

it's a battle.

My associate

is really the green thumb

In this enterprise.

And I've noticed

that when she's

Not around

for a couple of days,

The plants know it.

I mean, I'm not

making that up.

They literally know it.

I mean, I almost hear them

whispering, "where is she?"

They don't do as well,

you know,

They don't seem

as happy.

Strange as it may

seem, these cannabis growers

Are part

of a very long tradition.

In every culture

and in every age of history,

An enormous amount

of human energy has gone into

The production, distribution,

and consumption

Of psychoactive plants.

The only society

that we know of

For whom there is

no native intoxicant

Are the inuits,

and that's simply because

Nothing grows up there

that they could use.

In almost every society,

One or two or a small number

of intoxicants

Are accepted --

and not only accepted,

But their use

is actively promoted --

And the rest are condemned.

But there's no agreement

from culture to culture

As to which are the good ones

and which are the bad ones.

So you have alcohol,

Which is an everyday drug

used in our society --

That has a taboo on it

in islamic society.

And though cannabis

is illegal in most places today,

Many cultures throughout history

have tolerated it.

From the time the plant

was first discovered

In india and china

thousands of years ago,

People have seen it as more

than just an intoxicant.

Long before the discovery

of aspirin,

Cannabis was used

as a medical treatment

For relieving pain.

Dealing with pain --

you know,

That's a tremendous part

of human life.

And it was a bigger part

before modern times.

We all did physical labor.

We didn't have many painkillers.

We didn't have antibiotics.

And a lot of intoxicants,

even if they don't

Diminish pain,

the way opium does,

They take your mind off it.

And that's very, very important.

In 19th-century america,

Cannabis was a popular treatment

for conditions

Such as labor pains, asthma,

and rheumatism.

You could walk

into any drug store

In america and buy

tinctures of cannabis.

Cannabis was included in all

sorts of medical preparations.

And it was legal.

But everything would

change in the 20th century,

When the plant got

its new name, marijuana.

The name came from mexico,

Where cannabis

was a popular intoxicant.

In fact, pancho villa's

rebel army

Sang a marching song

about a cockroach

Who fueled himself

with marijuana.

During the 1920s, many mexicans

Immigrated to the United States.

And some brought the custom

Of marijuana smoking

with them.

Cannabis was certainly

More common among

mexican americans,

And to some extent,

among african americans

In the '20s and '30s

than it was among whites.

I mean, you'd find it,

you know, very popular

In the music scene

in new orleans,

Very popular among

african american musicians.

The jazz world was really

soaked in cannabis.

The great

louis armstrong

Felt marijuana enhanced

his ability to improvise.

Cannabis proposes

this idea

Of time stopping,

being able to explore

The present moment -- forget

the past, forget the future,

Just be there and see

what you can come up with.

Even if it's a song

you've played

A million times before,

it becomes new,

Strange, wonderful.

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote