Leaderboard

Well my cyber buddies its time for this lurkers contribution. I am on the forum every day,and am across all the info and issues, I just dont like typing. So anyhow,I have just cracked a bottle of whisky, taken half a day to work out how to resize pics, and here is my yearly garden happy snaps. Being a lurker doesnt mean I am not totally involved in this community. I love having guest visitors,and being generous in trading,and storytelling. I will say....here on my own thread,I have been disappointed at the slanging matches and degenerating of good threads. Yes i was even a victim of the downfall of Chiral. But being a member for 8 years I know the quality will return. I look forward to meeting more of you at this years NSW camping trip and meetings. So without any further ado, here are some pics. I love the different sculptural shapes of cacti and succulents Brug and a 20ft khat in skyline Fat Scopi erection My shrooming temple Now I hope this does not upset Planthelper too much as I know he has some issues, ....but here is my Nexus!!Very healthy and happy in the hothouse. And one of those things you can grow in NSW Folks, you can see my Caapi in another post today. Best wishes to all....and here we go on another year on the Coorroboree.

This letter was then written back to the Queensland government in response to the reason cited for Cannabis Prohibition: Thank you kindly for the information provided. Please send this letter onto the relevant government departments. In response to the information I have received on cannabis prohibition reasoning, I would like to discuss the issue further. I am wondering with the reasons stated why alcohol is not prohibited? Alcohol is an intoxicating drug that is by far more of a cost on society and has actually claimed many lives where as cannabis has not. As for the association with mental illness, not every person that smokes cannabis develops a mental illness, just as not everyone who drinks alcohol will commit a crime on it or become depressed. The reality is though that alcohol intoxication and crime has a significant correlation, far beyond possible connection that might made of cannabis intoxication. The main crime and cost to society associated with cannabis is through the prohibition of it. There is crime because there is a black market for trading cannabis because of its prohibition, not so much because of people being under the influence of cannabis. Whereas alcohol has a well documented connection with violent crimes, injuries, and illness and driving offenses. Alcohol is also known to be linked with depression in chronic users. There are far more severe effects on the physical body from alcohol. I have spoken with doctors who confirm that alcohol when excessively consumed damages nearly every organ in the body. Cannabis does not. So why isn't the government doing more about alcohol if the grounds of cannabis and other scheduled herbs for that matter such as salvia divinorum are less so than those for alcohol. I am interested to know if the government plans to prohibit any more herbs that have been generally unknown to the public and have caused little or no harm? Salvia divinorum is rather unknown to the general public and has never been known to result in a death and has little if no harm on the physical body. Has anyone in Australia been treated for psychosis or any other mental illness as a direct result of consuming only salvia divinorum? I am curious as to why the government continues to take such an inconsistent approach to the law as it leads the public to viewing the law with disrepute? Does this have anything to do with prejudice of religious and/or spiritual beliefs? British settlers most of whom were Christian consumed alcohol as part of religious and cultural practice. Many other herbs of intoxication that the British have found throughout the world they have tried to or have prohibited. Every race on the planet except for Eskimos has found at least one conscious altering plant or substance, Eskimos had nothing locally available. When the British spread out across the world they tried to eradicate other religions and cultural practices including the ritual use of herbs. So is this the continuation of the witch hunts? In England when the Roman Christian movement swept across the nation the witch hunts began. They accused those who stayed with their original native pagan culture and were condemned as “witches” and “sorcerers”. These were people who used herbs for rituals and medicines. They were called evil and burned, drowned or hanged (makes you wonder who was “evil”). The thing is though, Christianity out of Judaism when around 1AD Jesus started his teaching. Before this Romans were a mix of Pagan religions. Then Christianity began and within the two thousand years that followed bloody battles have been fought. First the Pagans executed the Christians, until Christianity became the religion of Rome at which point the Pagans where then executed by the Christians. Persons practicing Pagan rituals were persecuted, and this included the use of ritual herbs. A very similar story then spread throughout the world. For example much later in time, the Spanish invaded the Maya people and destroyed their books; they too tried to eradicate all Maya cultural practices including the ritual use of salvia divinorum calling the plant and the people who used it evil even though the Spanish were cruelly killing the Maya. Also when the British invaded America, the Native American Indians were persecuted for their Shamanism and peyote was condemned and prohibited. Yet the Christians pushed their alcoholic beverages throughout the world and said that it was okay. Even today many Australian laws are reminiscent of the former British Christian rule. Australian politician commonly make reference to Christian beliefs and attend church services. Shamans have for thousands of years all around the world used a wide variety of conscious altering herbs for ritual and healing purposes quite peacefully. Why are the British (and by proxy their invaded colony America) allowed to prejudice the world through threats of trade sanctions to ban all other cultures ritual herbs? Alcohol has been one of the most detrimental substances of all the ones in question. This is not to the inclusion of manufactured drugs such as pharmaceuticals, cocaine, MDMA, heroin and amphetamines as they are a different subject matter to that of which I am referring. Shamans as well as other spiritualist have used a wide variety of herbs as part of their culture and spiritual practices. How would Christians feel if they were told that alcohol is now prohibited and they cannot use wine in their services? Why should shamanic herbs be any different? Rastafarians have also raised this point with cannabis many times. Why condemn people for their personal choice of spiritual practices when these practices do not harm other persons? No real risk to society has been produced in any documentation that I have been provided with on the subject of cannabis use or salvia divinorum use, sassafras or even dimethyltryptamine containing plants for that matter. There is no other person in any way adversely affected through the user actions. Would you impose fines on people for excessively consuming sugary substances which have resulted in the person developing type II diabetes? Cannabis legislation was also influenced by corporations in America who were heavily vested in wood plantations, the chemicals being sold to the wood and cotton plantations and the development of nylon. The key player with those industries was DuPont which was run by Andrew Melon. His nephew Harry Anslinger made quite a career for himself when he and his uncle hatched the plan to use racial prejudice that existed in America at the time against Mexicans to prohibited cannabis and hemp along with it (even though hemp has a very low THC content it is still illegal to grow in America). Harry Anslinger was placed in charge of the newly formed government department known as the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. The campaign was started against cannabis with the name ‘marijuana’ used to get people onside playing on the racial prejudice of the American people at the time and to hide the intention of prohibiting hemp which was widely used for textiles and medicine at the time. The Bill was nearly passed before anyone had released what actually being prohibiting. The campaign involved using the influence of William R Hearst, who not only owned a large newspaper business, but also a permit to harvest 100,000 trees to turn into newspapers and used DuPont chemicals. William R Hearst ran newspaper articles stating outlandish claims like; ‘new killer drug marijuana’ and other comments like’ just one puff of a marijuana cigarette and you could become insane and murderous’. Dr. Woodward a medical physician stepped forward and asked congress question why they were being referred to newspaper actual as cited reasons rather than actual medical studies. He argued that cannabis had been used medicinally for a very long time and the alleged ‘evidence’ (being made up newspaper stories) was completely unfounded and inaccurate. With the research done in the time since then, it has been shown that the claims made at the time were completely incorrect. If cannabis prohibition lives on now in light of this solely through idea of harm reduction to the user, than harsh penalties that are currently in place are entirely inappropriate and a waste of tax payer dollars. Actually the prohibition laws on cannabis currently cause the harm to society. Even when the money in revenue from fines is weighed against the cost of enforcing cannabis prohibition, the tax payers wear a large bill. If cannabis were legalized, there would no longer be a black market for it, not the crime associated with the black market. The revenue raised in tax from the legitimate sale of cannabis (persons over age 21). Even the acknowledgement of medical potential should be given at least a little more thought given it has over two thousand years of history being used for medicinal and cultural purposes. More information on the history of cannabis prohibition can be found on these links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_history_of_cannabis_in_the_United_States http://www.medical-marijuana-hut.com/history-of-marijuana-prohibition.html http://www.420magazine.com/forums/cannabis-facts-information/83764-history-cannabis-prohibition-1937-1962-a.html I think the current policy in regards to herbs and alcohol is very inconsistent and illogical. The tax payers of Australia currently spend into the billions on drug prohibition and a very large portion of that is used on cannabis prohibition. For at least the last fifteen years there has been Queensland government commissioned reports on the impacts of cannabis use in Queensland that suggest cannabis prohibition is more costly than effective and more importantly that Queensland cannabis legislation should at the very least be brought into line with the other states of Australia and reduce the penalties for personal possession. I found this government report particularly insightful. http://www.qccl.org.au/documents/Sub_PA_1Nov93_Cannabis_Law_in_Queensland.pdf I would like to highlight a few things from this document; • The onus should not be on those favouring law reform to demonstrate that cannabis is harmless and, in particular, that it has no adverse health effects. To create such an onus is unfair and wrong in principle. All substances have some side effects, especially if used to excess. A simple illustration is soft drink which may cause tooth decay and have other ill effects, especially if consumed to excess. But no one seriously contemplates a prohibition on the manufacture, sale and consumption of soft drink. Similarly, the consumption of alcohol, especially if used to excess, has health effects and anti social consequences. However, users of alcohol are subject to formal control only for defined public behaviour. By contrast, the use of cannabis is subject to prohibition, irrespective of the behaviour which that drug induces. This approach misses the mark of social concern, and results in imposing control on many persons who have posed little risk to self or society and have not exhibited behaviour of the kind which normally warrants application of the criminal law. (See generally the Shafer Commission page 249). • “Anyone who pushes law anti order as a way to solve the illegal drug problem just doesn't understand or they are either an idiot or a liar. More than 57 percent of people up to the age of 25 have experimented or have been exposed to cannabis - that means more than 50 percent of Australians are criminals. The law is a joke when it is ignored by that many people (Courier Mail, 18/2/89)." • The principle that the criminal law should not govern private behaviour which causes no harm to others has widespread acceptance. Indeed, one of the functions of law in a civilised community is to secure a sphere of self-determination for individuals to act. The right of the individual to self-determination is recognised by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The imposition of the criminal law is justified by the idea of preventing harm to others. The mere possibility of harm to others is not normally sufficient unless the harm in contemplation is very serious. When one applies these principles to drug-taking in private, the advocates of imposing the criminal law must identify a "harm" which justifies criminalizing such activity. The fact that such drug taking may have adverse consequences for an individual's health does not justify the imposition of the criminal law. If this were so, the consumption of alcohol or tobacco would be prohibited by the criminal law. But whereas the consumption of alcohol and tobacco and numerous other drugs has been well demonstrated to cause adverse health effects, cannabis has not been demonstrated to cause such harm (see the review of the literature in Appendix A to the Discussion Paper). The fact that an individual's conduct has adverse health consequences and the potential to impose a burden on the health system does not justify use the criminal law. For example, deaths in Australia from skin cancer due to excessive exposure to the sun occur at over three times the rate of deaths from the use of all opiates, but sunbaking is not an offence! It may well be asked in those circumstances why the prohibition on cannabis was introduced. So if this legislation founded on lies, racism and religious prejudice is only being kept in force today for harm reduction purpose, why is personal cannabis possession a criminal offence? Harm reduction is the only reason that I found cited in the information I have received from parliamentary discussions and it usually not grounds for criminalization unless the harm is considered significant (cannabis does not fit the usual criteria used for this description, neither does salvia divinorum). I see it highly unlikely that the information talked about on venereal diseases as applicable in regards to cannabis, and the other little bits of information contained within in the Bill; government commissioned reports; and discussion papers that give details on the particulars of cannabis and the reasoning for its inclusion as a scheduled substance refers to concerns over mental health. I would have personally thought harm reduction might be more in line with offering people help if they require or request it, instead of the government imposing fines upon personal users. The government sends police to invade the privacy of persons suspected of using cannabis, and then significant fines are imposed if charges are laid, and the community is encouraged to ridicule persons identified as cannabis users. This is to spite that fact the only person to have been allegedly harm is the user themselves. This does not seem like harm reduction. Going on this philosophy of ‘harm reduction’ should we be fining obese persons for the harm they have inflicted upon their body, their mental health and the very real burden on the health care system as a direct result of their eating habits?

I use weights/sinkers as my primary method and then tape and stockings as secondary. I find the larger the scion/cut surface the more pressure you need to get a nice union. I have found it difficult to get enough pressure from stockings alone when doing larger grafts (Scion over 8cm), heavy sinkers are much better. Additionally the stockings slowly stretch and over a day or two loose most of the pressure originally applied. Elastoplast can be useful in some grafting situations also.

Inspired by Gerbil's seed growth Pach thread I thought I would do a similar thing but with my 'Icaro' seedlings. I received the seed a few seasons ago but I can't for the life of me remember the source, anyway I think they turned out pretty well ? This is the first one again.

Wish it wasn't true but it unfortunately is. Know a few people with Parkinson's and have heard about the side effects of this for a while Parkinson's effects are symptoms of reduced dopamine production and action. The drug in question is, I believe, designed to re-establish correct dopamine levels and function. ( please correct me if I'm wrong ) High risk activities which produce a feeling of reward are also implicated in the dopamine pathways. Sex and gambling are two biggies affected by dopamine levels It's a measure of just how hard Parkinson's is on sufferers, carers and families that this sort of treatment is considered an option. Desperate measures for desperate people

okay all seeds are in the post. i did not have time to open and inspect every single pod. each person should get at least half a dozen pods. if for some unlucky reason all of your pods are full of dead seeds PM me and if I still have some left I'll send some more.

alright i am posting everyones seeds tomorrow, apart from the dude, i will post yours after this weekend. undeclared envelopes with bubble wrap protection. anyone with special packaging requests pm me

Hola Amigos First I would like to say that I am quite humbled by the members who want me to come back. I would like to also appologise to the people who have participated in my threads for deleting my posts. I can assure it was all done with much of regret. I take alot of time to write posts because I want people to learn and have success with their plants so I hope people can understand its not much fun to go to each one and delete them. Alot of people do message me asking for trades, I don't have a problem with this. I do have a problem when people ask me for stuff and I decline proceeding to go off and threaten me with racial abuse and so forth. It had been a very long hot day on friday and when you log in to relax only to see abuse it makes you question what you are doing. With this said at the time it seemed like the right thing to do at that point in time. Thanks to some supportive members of SAB I now know it was the wrong thing to do. When you don't live in a 3rd world country its easy to take for granted things you just assume everyone else has. In this case i am talking about mail. Where I live in Papua I do not have a "mail box" like everyone else does in Australia, I have a post office box in Port Moresby I use for business and its nearly a day and a half away by car and I only check it once a month. I wish people could understand it is just to much time and money to post of something that will most likely get intercepted by customs. Your much better off sourcing in Australia. If you can't understand this, That is ok - Just dont abuse me over it and don't pm me about it either. But my friends if have a problem with your plants, Need help, Just want to have a chat - You are very welcome to start a conversation with me. I hope some of this makes sense now, I will be fixing up my deleted posts the best i can over time and I will be posting newer and better threads in the near future to. I hope you all can accept my sincere appologies over what has happened. It will take more than personal messages to bring me down in the future and we have a saying here. "There is always a few moonlighter's in the jungle" Saludos

double post!

is alcohol sentient? is psilocybin sentient? is THC sentient? is serotonin sentient? micro - i have just started responding to your post in the other thread

I do solemnly pledge that I will always try my best to abide by forum rules.

This is dreadful news. If the USA bans it nationally, that's the end of Salvia extract-legality anywhere (we just jumped the gun here). Fingers crossed this doesn't get a lot of attention but at the end of the day it'll just turn it into a bigger industry like the australian plant-banning is doing to DMT.

oh no man they're right, i'm a fucking cunt because i believe in something i believe the plants are there to be taken, like magic mushrooms are there to be picked i hear again and again that if you want to harvest trees you should grow them yourself. what's the fucking difference between harvesting a wild one or one of your own in the scheme of things? If anything the wild ones are the ones to be taken because they are a natural occurance of a psychedelic in nature; a psychedelic that nature wants you to see i believe that taking a tree is not by any means disrespecting a plant teacher; i believe that respect is shown to them by what is done next so yeah, i'm a fucking cunt fuck you apoth, fuck you conan -coschi out

Spice is sentient and it's method of communication is by evolving plants in an environment with the right elements to create that specific compound. -Then, within the human population created random moments of divine inspiration or perhaps a 'chance' encounter with the plants.. a random chance encounter with both plants necessary... was all in the cards of the spice as it folded space and time to communicate with us.

I dont get it why are locally indigenous or wild plants more important that non indigenous plants or home grown plants just because a tree is grown on land i "own" with my assistance that gives me more right to use the plant? and what is indigenous really? everything was indigenous to only one point once are humans the only thing that is allowed to spread and still be valued the same its been happening for millions of years life spreads and the strong survive years from now much life will be gone and replaced by different life why does a "weed" have lees right to play the game of life than an "indigenous" "plant" but yea i think when taking any resource that is finite you should always keep conservation in mind in this case whether it be for our benefit or that of the plants ,conservation is the best policy but sometimes it may just be ignorance and not lack of care or concern. i wouldnt have a clue as to the best/safest way to harvest bark

While I'm an active member of the OTO, and an admirer of Crowley, I have my own criticisms and I find it perfectly understandble that many people cannot digest his work. I believe it's important to question and to criticise and to be skeptical, and I'm quite certain Crowley would applaud and encourage this. As far as I know Crowley never really commits to the belief that any of the beings or whatever described by him or other occult writers actually enjoy any sort of objective existence. Even Aiwass he admits at times could very well be a fragment of his own psyche. Consult Liber O. What disappoints me is the lack of sophistication in the rhetoric of many of Crowley's detractors. There's a lot of outright slander and very little understanding about the man or his work. There can be an uncomfortable level of homophobia in many criticisms of him as well. We hear the same assertions over and over ad nasueum "He sacrificed children", "He killed goats", "He worshipped the devil", "He hated women" and so on. Now the goat story is true, to the best of my knowledge he did ritualistically kill a goat. But it was only after he tried to get it to have sex with his wife. I have no idea what the fuck was going through his head when attempted that. But anyone who looks into the rituals of certain hindu and buhhdist tantrics will find similar things. Do I necessarily agree with such an act? No I don't, but, I acknowledge that it does take place and it is part of our religious inheritance. I don't really understand it, but I also don't condemn people for practicing their religion. The sacrifice of a child can be read as a metaphor for the spilling of sperm, somewhere he writes that he sacrificed hundreds of children in a year. I believe, as do others, that Crowley was implying he had spilled a lot of sperm (this is also a certain magickal practice though). Which is funny considering many people use this as a criticism against him, when in reality it's joke taken out of context (also perhaps a veiled reference to sex magick, nothing to do with killing children however). So really, the joke is on them! Crowley experimented with worshipping many Gods and Goddesses from many Pantheons, was Satan one? probably, but as he writes in Magick in theory and practice chapter 5: "This "Devil" is called Satan or Shaitan, and regarded with horror by people who are ignorant of his formula, and, imagining themselves to be evil, accuse Nature herself of their own phantasmal crime. Satan is Saturn, Set, Abrasax, Adad, Adonis, Attis, Adam, Adonai, etc. The most serious charge against him is that he is the Sun in the South. The Ancient Initiates, dwelling as they did in lands whose blood was the water of the Nile or the Euphrates, connected the South with life-withering heat, and cursed that quarter where the solar darts were deadliest." As for hating women? Every man and every woman is a star. Get your facts straight brothers and sisters. 93

Would it be too much to ask, or possible if we could put together a thread dedicated to all known named ozzie trichocereus cactus..? Could a rough idea for the format be something like:- Bruce: T. Bridgesii variety named after ........ First collected from.......in 19..... Columnar cactus noted for it's........ insert image here....... and so on and so on... I think it would be nice to showcase all the oz varieties here at SAB in a dedicated thread then people could go to the thread when they need find out about a particular oz cactus they are interested in. People who discover new ones or need id for a possible new clone could use the cactus ID pinned thread...if it found to be a new or unknown variety then it could be added into this one. Sound like a lotta work...if anyone wants to send me the text and a ton of photo's then I'd be quite happy to compile it and start the thread... ... anyone...? Pass I'm looking your way...