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It isn't without its side effects, however.  I'm talking social side effects.  Such as medical marijuana being diverted to non-prescribed users, including minors.  AND, the message it (intentionally or unintentionally) to youth which is that it is okay to use because it is prescribed.  (even though it hasn't been prescribed to them.) 

I'm not saying this as an argument against medical marijuana, per se, but pointing out that the benefits do not come without costs. 

These side effects are of criminalization, really. I live in the Netherlands, and most young people here don't use weed. One of the reasons is the kind of drug users we see: there are few artist glamorizing weed, and most of the people you see in coffeeshops are old. Housewives in their fifties. Working class men in paint speckled uniforms. Most of them are  friendly and interesting people, but they're not the kind of thing young people aspire to.

I used to drink cheap whiskey, now I only drink single malt. All the cheap stuff tastes horrible.

I used to drink tea from tea bags, now I can't stand the taste. Properly brewed loose leaf tea is so much better.

I refuse to get into good coffee, because I'm afraid I'll lose interest in delicious vending machine caffeine water.

People prefer a more accessible prophet to annoy with their endless bleating.  There was only two people in that batch that I didn't hate, and only one that didn't annoy me, as that person actually asked a sensible question (#11).

You are kind of the most visible person on the board. You have like 8000 more posts than LMNO (the number two poster), and that's not including alts.

Psychological addictions can be very powerful and cause very real harm to an individual.  And as someone who works in the field, and who's worked with people who've been addicted to marijuana, I can attest to that.  Addiction is addiction.  If you are using a substance to an extent, that you cannot quit it because of the withdrawal symptoms, that is addiction.  Word games and pedantry don't change that fact. 

Funny thing, words games are also psychologically addictive. You can get addicted to crosswords and scrabble!

Anything that is enjoyable is going to be psychologically addictive. I know I have a way harder time quitting reddit for a week than quitting weed for a week (and I wouldn't call myself a light user).

There are pills with THC, but there is more stuff in cannabis than THC. Unfortunately any cocktail of substances approximating cannabis would be almost impossible to get through the FDA.

Also, marijuana is cheap, pills are not.

Also, you say that smoking is bad for the lungs, but there isn't much evidence for this. Yes, smoke is hot and contains tar, but studies looking at long term cannabis smokers do not show an increased level of lung, throat, and mouth cancers. Also, tar isn't well defined. THC could count as a type of tar.

There are ways to consume marijuana that are more comfortable. There are vaporizers, which heat the cannabis up to less than 300 degrees C. It doesn't burn, but many of the active substances do make there way through. You could also make tea out of it. Arno Hazekamp wrote his PHD dissertation on the subject, it's available online (Cannabis; extracting the medicine.) 

I can hardly imagine anything more scary than waking up in the middle of the night and discovering this in your room...

What sort of stuff would be dumped into this central repository thing? Not the letters, right? That would be weird.

You know, I'm not completely sure. According to Kerry Thornley there was not really a central thing.

What is so unusual about Discordian Abnormail - as we call it - is decentralization. Don't contact me here at Orthodox Discordian Society Hindquarters. Send your letters, notes, relics, sacraments and writs of excommunication to one another.

But according to DrJon (an semi-old school Discordian):

Abnormail was a kind of Central Sorting. The best pieces were redistributed to the Mailing List. Greg and Kerry set it up to keep themselves abreast of how Discordianism was evolving, and to make and remain in contact with new Discordians. Of course, it was also the boiling pot for Jakes...

What I was imagining was something like a big letter exchange (Ideally on a regular basis, like 5 times a year, but first just try and see if it works). In this letter exchange you are expected to write some kind of thing, like I wrote you something about Jack & Jill and about a Discordian confirmation. It could also be a poem, or a drawing, or a photo. That would be what you send to central sorting.

You also send it to someone else, possibly with a letter (I wouldn't dare expect everyone to write letters as long as I did, but then again I didn't plan to write letters as long as I did. They just sort of grow...) These letters could be in character (like RAW's letter on p72 of the Principia Discordia), or not.

Then  we have an end product (the intermittens or whatever) and everyone involved has a chance to reply, and thus start some kind of correspondence. I don't know why, but to me Discordianism by mail is more interesting/romantic/desirable than Discordianism over Internet.

If I do this, I would want to advertise it more widely. Not just a post on a forum that most people can't even get to (I'm not really sure how I found it, I don't think I'm supposed to be here with less than 50 posts. I can access GASM command, but not Operation Mindfuck). At the very least I'd post it to somewhere public on the three forums and on the facebook group.

Excellent! judging from how long your letter took to arive it should take about 5 days to arrive.

This whole thing was kind of unstructured. I would like to set up a more structured mail project sometime, but up to now I haven't done much more than register abnormail.org :P.

I think it might be better to set it up like a mail art project , where everyone is expected to mail something by a certain deadline. Everyone sends something, and everyone gets something back. I also thought it would be a good idea to have everyone send their stuff to a central address also, so we can use it to output a holy document or intermittens or something.

WTF?  When did the finance folks start doing door to door? 

Probably as soon as they figured out it worked. I also get people wanting donations. I don't mind giving once, but I'm not giving them access to my bank account...

Very pretty!

The only comment I have is that Improv Anywhere is not actually improv. I believe they even rehearse (but even if they don't, it is scripted).

Risus: Yes. It should also be on the back of the envelope (unless I forgot).

I have now actually posted a letter to everyone involved, except Golden Applesauce, whose address I don't have.

I was checking my calendar, and I noticed april 6th is Jake Day. Anyone have an idea of who to Jake?

The reason there wasn't more after line two was because it wasn't really about Ayar Cachi as a discordian, but it does make the whole story more biblical. The stuff I have added is pretty much straight from the original myth, except for changes in the good guy/bad guy dynamic (in the original story Ayar Cachi is the bad guy who is cruel and oppresses local people).

Ayar Cachi emerged with Manco Ccapac and his other two brothers and four sisters from the cave called Hostel of Dawn.
They set off to find fertile land.
Marching together they came to a place called Huanacancha, four leagues from the valley of Cuzco. Here Huanacancha ruled a local king, called Sinchi Cui.
Manco Ccapac gave Sincha Cui a gift of potion he had taken from Ayar Cachi.
Sinchi Cui was then infested with demons, and Mancho Ccapac was forced to kill him.
Mancho Ccapac forced heavy taxes on the people of Huanacancha, and forced firstborn children to fight to death for his entertainment.
Ayar Cachi and his family remained in Huanacancha for some time, using the fertile land.
Manco Ccapac had connection with his sister Mama Occlo, and she became pregnant by him.
As this place did not appear able to sustain them, having become barren, they advanced to another place called Tampu-quiro, where Mama Occlo begot a son named Sinchi Rocca.
Having celebrated the natal feasts of the infant with the sacrifice of a local maiden, they set out in search of fertile land, and came to another place called Pallata, which is almost contiguous to Tampu-quiro, and there they remained for some years.
One day Ayar Cachi decided to prank his siblings, and made it appear that he shot down several hills with his sling.
The others were not amused, and blamed the cruelties Manco Ccapac on Ayar Cachi.
Ayar Cachi's brothers discussed how to get rid of Ayar Cachi.
They sent him back to the Hostel of Dawn, telling him he had to fetch golden vases, a badge, and special seeds.
When Ayar Cachi got back in the cave one of his brothers, with great celerity, closed the entrance behind him with rocks.

etc.

Something I've been working on is a spin-off from an Inca legend. I tried to write it in a kind of Bible-ish style.

Ayar Cachi emerged with his three brothers and four sisters from the cave called Hostel of Dawn.
They set off to find fertile land.
One day Ayar Cachi decided to prank his siblings, and made it appear that he shot down several hills with his sling.
The others were not amused, and decided to get rid of Ayar Cachi.
They sent him back to the Hostel of Dawn, telling him he had to fetch golden vases, a badge, and special seeds.
When Ayar Cachi got back in the cave one of his brothers, with great celerity, closed the entrance behind him with rocks.
Ayar Chachi was imprisoned in this cave for 5 days and 5 nights.
Then Eris appeared, and she gave him freedom and life in return for his eternal devotion and a cigarette.
He went to Pachacamac, 100 days away.
There, on the main square, he spoke to his people:
I have been abandoned by everyone I knew, and the goddess saved me
But the people listened not, for he was just saying stuff. It was the first rejection of Cachi.
Ayar Cachi then started driving in a miniature car shaped like a steam train.
He told the people: See, not just words but deeds! I act in the ways of goddess. Do you beleive me know?
But they did not listen, for he was just some idiot. It was the second rejection of Cachi.
So Ayar Chachi wore five ties.
He said to to people: See, I'm important. I'm wearing five ties, that proves it.
But the people did not listen, for he did not fit their image of authority. It was the third rejection of Cachi.
So Ayar Cachi gave them a powerpoint presentation on Eris and the importance of synergy in the workplace.
But they would not listen, for he was boring. It was the fourth rejection of Cachi.
so he preformed readings from Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable with a discordion playing in the background, in an effort to entertain them.
Put the people would not listen, for it was three in the morning and they wanted to sleep. It was the final rejection of Ayar Cachi.

I'm planning to write more about him (and use this material in something else, but it can be in two works, right? Besides, I'm not even sure I'll finish the something else), but that's what I got.