cannabisnews.com: Why Marijuana Leaves Became My Cup of Tea





Why Marijuana Leaves Became My Cup of Tea
Posted by FoM on May 13, 2000 at 06:07:04 PT
Viv Richards says that mj green tea helps his eyes
Source: The Times
It was on a trip to Jamaica when I was explaining to some friends about my problems with my eyes that I discovered a natural remedy without the need for surgery. They told me that there was a herbalist on the island who had various solutions for a variety of ailments, including mine. 
The regular treatment for my problem, according to the herbalist, was a drink called bush tea or green tea; to put it simply and bluntly, it was a hot-water infusion of the fresh green leaves of the marijuana plant. Whenever I drank the tea, I felt sure it was going to do wonders. Having experimented with smoking marijuana myself as a youngster, and then trying the tea after hearing what it could do, I became convinced that perhaps this weed had been seriously misunderstood. The herbalist explained what it was and said that some people were afraid to try it, but he asked me to give it a chance to see whether it would work. The leaves are best when they are fresh and green, and you make the tea just like any other tea, infusing the leaves in hot water. I tried it and my eye problem responded well. There was no hallucination or anything, just a great relief to my problem. It remained but was definitely not as bad when I had access to the green tea; when I didn't, it was worse. It was no miracle drug. There was no immediate effect; it needed time to work. As kids, you hear about the dangers, but I suppose that made us even keener to test it out. We would sneak away and find a little space, leave someone to look out and smoke the occasional spliff. There was always one of the older children who knew somebody who could get their hands on marijuana. The adults as well as the youngsters would use him for their supply. No one ever forced me to try it; I did it of my own free will. When you first venture into it, the experience is a shock to the system as you cough and splutter over your first one. It was an adventure, just like your first drink of rum, your first cigarette or your first fumble with a girl behind the rum shop or in the park. I am lucky that I have never been addicted to anything. I have tried things and I have enough of my wits about me not to let any of them become a habit; I was far too focused on sport. Anything taken too heavily, whether it be aspirins or green tea, is not good for you. But, in my view, the green tea was good for my condition and for me. I was of the opinion that God put these plants on our earth for some reason. I wondered how it is that something so natural and non-toxic could be considered so dangerous. Nature has its poisons, but in this case man has abused it by developing its dark side. We've all heard about the menace of cocaine. In some parts of the world people happily chew coca leaves. The problem arises when evil individuals develop a refined product which costs lives. I am not advocating the free-and-easy recreational use of marijuana, but we should start considering the whole matter more seriously. I am not recommending that soft drugs should be sold freely in the shops or be allowed unrestricted widespread use, but I do believe that if a thing is medically beneficial, then it should be licensed and made available in a controlled way. Having tried smoking the drug when I was young, I quit because I didn't think it would be good for my cricket - it's hardly performance enhancing - and I didn't want to do anything illegal, something you think about seriously when your father is a strict prison officer. In all my time in English cricket, I never saw what I would call a drug culture. There was the odd cannabis smoker, but I rarely if ever saw the hard stuff being used. Extracted from Sir Vivian by Viv Richards to be published by Michael Joseph on June 30 at £16.99. © Viv Richards 2000. Online Ordering:http://www.times-eshop.co.uk/Published: May 13, 2000Copyright 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd CannabisNews Articles From The U.K.:http://lycos.com/srch/index.html?query=cannabisnews+uk
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Comment #1 posted by Dave on March 16, 2001 at 09:59:28 PT:
weed
i smoke mad weed
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