RESPECT

Mother nature is full of miraculous things - us included. The symbiotic relationships between humans and their environments is the reason we as a species have survived and conquered. Also, its one of the basis for our various cultures.

Respect is one of the first lessons early humans had to learn. If our ancestors didn't understand or respect their surroundings, well, simply put, they wouldn't be our ancestors. They had to know what plants were useful as food, as building materials and other various raw materials. They needed to know what plants intoxicated you or had medicinal properties, as well as deadly ones.

For starters, lets look at cuisine. This is going to be a vague example, but humor me. Don't some cultures prepare spicier foods than others? The uses of various herbs and spices is a notable aspect of human culture, as well as a means by which people can identify with themselves. "Do you prefer coffee or tea..?"

With all of that being said, I feel that modern culture in general has lost contact with their ancestral understanding of plants. Society greatly disrespects the value and uses that plants have to offer us.
Examples of this social disconnect are heroin, cocaine, and of coarse marijuana, but that topic is a whole nutha mutha.

OPIUM POPPY

Papaver Somniferum 

Opium poppies have long been a source of food and also have deep deep roots in ancient medicine. Their use has been dated back to prehistoric times. Sadly, the abuse this plant has seen has led it to be a modern day super villain, but the plant itself is not evil, its actually still used to this day to treat pain in people. Its the lack of respect people have for the plant that has created modern day issues. Maybe this is another reason it has stayed illegal to extract opium from its flower? Large Pharmaceuticals wouldn't want people growing their own pain medication, where is the profit in that? There isn't any.
"In late 2006, the British government permitted the pharmaceutical company Macfarlan Smith (a Johnson Matthey company) to cultivate opium poppies in England for medicinal reasons, after Macfarlan Smith's primary source, India, decided to increase the price of export opium latex. This move is well received by British farmers, with a major opium poppy field located in Didcot, England. The British government has contradicted the Home Office's suggestion that opium cultivation can be legalized in Afghanistan for exports to the United Kingdom, helping lower poverty and internal fighting whilst helping the NHS to meet the high demand for Morphine and heroin. Opium poppy cultivation in the United Kingdom does not need a license, but a license is required for those wishing to extract opium for medicinal products" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium
 Gotta love how major corporations have more rights than everyone else, eh?

Now, for those of you in the western world, (except the U.S.A.), you don't really have to worry about medical bills. You're fortunate enough to have a Nationalized healthcare system. However, people in the U.S.A are not so fortunate. One visit to the hospital can cause entire families to go bankrupt, and at the same time they have no choise but to pay the outrageous bills because its illegal to use natural alternatives.... Why? Thats another discussion for another time...

Pain is one of the biggest money makers in the world because its one of the hardest things to live with. 

COCA

Erythroxylum coca

Nature is greatly disrespected when man comes and makes poison out of plants.

What a sad story this one is. Cocaine is a drug, but Coca is a plant. Coca has been used for thousands of years by the indigenous peoples of Central and South American.  I agree that cocaine should be illegal to the public, as it is nothing but an addictive toxin, but the plant itself should not be illegal.

It is an extremely medicinal plant, as well as extremely spiritual. It is not smoked, rather chewed or stepped in water to make a tea. As a person who hs struggled with weight his entire life, I believe that coca tea could have helped me greatly. In its natural leaf form, as nature intended, it is a mild stimulant, suppresses hunger, thirst, and helps alleviate pain. That sounds like a pretty beneficial leaf. Lets not forget to mention the leaf itself shows no sign of addictive qualities - as it naturally occurs, only .8% of the leaf contains cocaine. The extracted cocaine used by people is the one that needs to maintain its illegality.  This is just one of many plants being abused and disrespected by drug addicts and governments alike.

Thousands of years of use. Spiritual, medicinal, natural. None of these things matter. Government has deemed this plant unworthy for us, but why? I know it's refined form is dangerous, but the plant itself is only giving.

RESPECT, Continued...

One of the greatest disrespects for plants I have to talk about is the tobacco industry. Their product is by far more dangerous than most substances banned, such as coca leaves or marijuana. How many people have died as a direct result from tobacco? According to the CDC1, tobacco smoking is the number one preventable death in the U.S. About 443,000 people die every year as a direct result. That's just the deaths. Nearly 9 million Americans live with serious illnesses that were caused by smoking, yet still nearly 47 million Americans still do it. Why? Because nicotine is a very, very addictive substance... yet, being one of the most used drugs in the united states, and causing so many deaths and illnesses, it has somehow managed to stay LEGAL!

It's quite funny how governments decide what plants remain legal and which get outlawed. I personally have never heard of someone dying from marijuana, a wrongfully illegal drug whose legalization would dampen a huge war on drugs... yet nearly 443,000 people die every year from tobacco. It seems like with statistics like that, the legality of the two plants would be reversed. What these large tobacco corporations do is 100% disrespect. They sell an extremely addictive substance, add more addictive chemicals to it, and watch as their customers die and make others around them sick. What an extreme disconnect... not to mention its a vulgar disrespect for human life, as well as plants. 

Another legal intoxicating substance that comes from plants is alcohol. Why do I think alcohol is a joke? Well.. According to the CDC2, about 50% of US Adults consume alcohol at least once in a 30 day period, 5% of them admitting to heavy drinking and 15% admitting to binge drinking. To me, that sounds like 100% legal SUBSTANCE ABUSE. Again, DISRESPECT OF WHAT MOTHER NATURE INTENDED. Alcohol is very much like other processed drugs. Coca leaves won't cause mind altering sensation, but Cocaine will. Same with alcohol. Potatos don't get you drunk, but vodka does. 

Alcohol ruins families, lives, and causes death and illness in countless people around the world, including the United States, my home country. in a 4 year period (2001-2005,) about 79,000 deaths attributed to excessive alcohol use. In fact, alcohol was once seen by our government as a self destructive force and was effectively made illegal. Al Capone could tell you how that went, if the IRS didn't catch him for tax evasion... In fact, the mobsters of that era remind me a lot of the drug cartels on the news today. Maybe we need to learn from the past and legalize the future.