The Desire for Intoxication Leads to Destruction

The Desire for Intoxication Leads to Destruction

Through time, people all over the world have looked for ways to feel intoxicated and alter their consciousness for different reasons. One of the most ancient ways people have reached this state of intoxication has been through the popular marijuana plant. Today this plant has become so widely accepted that it has been legalized in a few states and will most likely be legalized in other states, such as California and Maine, even though it is prohibited by federal law. Advocates claim it has medicinal properties, and that the drug may actually be beneficial to people’s health. But even though many people argue that feeling intoxicated relaxes them and alleviates their pain, research and past incidents have proven that the desire to be intoxicated has more damaging effects than positive ones.

In his book The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan looks at four different desires: beauty, control, intoxication, and sweetness, each represented by a plant . Each plant has either evolved or has been modified to fulfill a desire craved by human beings. Pollan shows us how the desire for sweetness is represented by the apple, beauty by the tulip, control by the potato, and the desire for intoxication by marijuana. In this book, Pollan explains how marijuana became modified through time to fit the different needs and expectations of consumers worldwide.

Putting it in Pollan’s own words, “cannabis had to do two things: it had to prove it could gratify a human desire so brilliantly that people would take extraordinary risks to cultivate it, and it had to find the right combination of genes to adapt to a most peculiar and thoroughly artificial new environment”( 130). Marijuana was here to stay...

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... A. Kallen. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2006. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 26 Nov. 2010.

Pollan, Michael. The Botany of Desire. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2002.

Print.

Works Cited

Hadly, Scott. “CHP Officer remains in critical condition. Ventura County Star. 21 Dec. 2007.

Web. 29 Oct. 2010

Huff, Charlotte. "A risky decision: with marijuana, your good judgment may go up in smoke."

Current Health 2, a Weekly Reader publication Feb. 2010: 20+. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 29 Oct. 2010.

Marijuana Policy Project. "Medical Marijuana Should Be Legalized." Legalizing Drugs. Ed.

Stuart A. Kallen. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2006. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 26 Nov. 2010.

Pollan, Michael. The Botany of Desire. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2002.

Print.