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| By Yael Ivri October 26, 2006 |
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Weed for peace? Marijuana may achieve the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- or at least so believe members of the Green Leaf party, which organized the First Israeli-Arab Joint conference at Jerusalem's Hebrew University Wednesday.
Chairman of the Green Leaf party, Ohad Shem-Tov, explained the idea behind the conference. "Many youths, Jewish and Arab, act the same due to cannabis. This similarity creates a basis for common identity, identity that exists culturally as well owing to the music created around the use of cannabis. We believe this creates a basis for something that can in the future bring peace," Shem-Tov said.
The idea is to pass the peace pipe.
The conference also hosted many speakers. However, most of the speakers preferred to disregard the drug's peace-generating potential in favor of addressing its health benefits, the need for legalization, and invariable anger against "the establishment."
'Marijuana reconsidered'
The most conspicuous speaker at the event was Professor Lester Grinspoon, former Harvard lecturer in psychiatry and considered one of the top experts in the world on marijuana and its medical uses. His book "Marijuana Reconsidered" was published in 1971 with the aim of warning marijuana users of harm caused by the drug. However, in the process of writing, Grinspoon started to change his mind.
In addressing Green Leaf and their supporters Wednesday, Grinspoon explained that during his research, he started thinking he'd been mislead all
these years about the drugs negative effects and wanted to try marijuana. However, out of concern this would interfere with the scientific objectivity his research, he decided to delay his first toke -- until after the book's publication.
By the end of the conference, Green Leaf's vision of peace did not seem to be any nearer, especially considering the fact that all the Arab speakers invited to the conference cancelled at the last minute.
This article first appeared on Ynet.
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