Every age has its peculiar folly and if Charles Mackay, the author of the mid 19th century classic, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds were alive today he would surely see "cannabinophobia" as a popular delusion along with the "tulipmania" and "witch hunts" of earlier ages. I believe that we are now at the cusp of this particular popular delusion which to date has been responsible for the arrest of over twelve million US citizens. I also believe that future historians will look at this epoch and recognize it as another instance of the "madness of crowds." Everyone in this room has already arrived at this understanding, but for some of us enlightenment came later than we would have wished. Consistent with the goal of my Uses of Marijuana Project ( http://www.marijuana-uses.com/ ) of encouraging users to write about their involvement with cannabis, I thought I would share something of my cannabis enlightenment, a story that now spans a third of a century.

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