Cannabis has been celebrated for thousands of years and is a gift from God.

I admire my opponents spunk (nice mug shot) and enthusiasm in his opening statements, and his willingness to take on such an interpretative concept to begin with, which of course will be difficult if not impossible to disprove. I hope my opponents wishes for engaging in such a debate are all in good fun, but carry meaning as well. One of my missions in several debates at debates.org is to dispell the myths and societal stigmas associated with cannabis. As cannabis research becomes more prevalent, many will have scientific research that will prove the greater harms by far to society are drugs already legal and being used today for medicine and recreational use. For this debate I want to emphasize this simple notion: If God Himself provided the plant for us[8], than we are we demonizing it? From the Bible, it reads: “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.[8]” Let me also begin by stating that I don't intend to prove or disprove God in this debate, nor do I believe that is what is expected from my opponent. After all, that would be a whopper of a debate in itself. I believe as gentlemen and in fairness, we are or should only be debating if cannabis is indeed God’s gifts, or whether we can consider the plant cannabis one of God’s creations from the Jewish or Christian’s perspective (since the those of these faiths believe all of creation (earth, heavens) is a gift from Him[4]). That said, it satisfies the meaning of “gifts” since man did not create cannabis, nor any other plant, or living organism. If my opponent believed the debate was to combine the societal stigma of cannabis AND debate the existence of God, I apologize for the misunderstanding in my opening argument. But again, I do not see how a topic of apologetics could be interpreted by my offering and in this limited format and time limitations. By “celebrated,” I do not mean anything other than what is defined by Webster's dictionary, “admired and talked about.” Let’s also establish that the Bible is an historically accurate text of ancient times, if not the MOST historically accurate known [5], and serves well as providing historically accurate information of ancient Jewish culture. There is no question that the plant has a holy source, God himself, and is thus mentioned for several ritualistic and sabbath purposes in the Old Testament[1]. Cannabis is an aspect of Jewish law and tradition. Some Biblical references include Book of Numbers 17:12-13, where Aaron the High Priest, no pun intended, probably burned marijuana as an incense offering during a time of turmoil[2]. They made the wick in candles from cannabis, cotton and flax for Shabbat[6]. Other passages include God’s instructions to Moses to “take for yourself herbs b’samim” — herbs of medicinal quality — and instructions in Exodus to “take spices of the finest sort, pure myrrh, five hundred shekels, fragrant cinnamon, and ‘keneh bosem,’” which literally means “sweet cane,” but possibly refers to cannabis. “Keneh bosem” is also mentioned in the Song of Songs 4:14, Isaiah 43:24, Jeremiah 6:20 and Ezekiel 27:19. Another pronunciation is the Aramaic “kene busma,” which, perhaps unsurprisingly, is also the name of a modern reggae musician. So, if we are to admit the Bible as historical fact, and since it provides that cannabis was used for medicine and ritualistic and spiritual purposes, it no doubt was admired and talked about because of it’s prevalent use in worship, medicine and fabrics over the milleniums. Sources: [1] http://www.haaretz.com... [2] The Holy Bible [3] Deuteronomy 7:6: http://www.biblegateway.com... [4] http://www.biblestudytools.com... [5] http://www.icr.org... [6] http://www.biblestudytools.com... [7] http://www.biblestudytools.com... [8] http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org...