Just when I think there are no cool collectibles any more…
Robert Anton Wilson, futurist and writer, died with a large amount of medical debt and his daughter, Christina, is auctioning off some of his belongings. Including this: Robert Anton Wilson’s medical marijuana card
As we all know (or should) RAW was a great champion of decriminalizing marijuana. In his late sixties, when his post-polio syndrome started getting bad, he really found great relief and was a staunch supporter of WAMM. WAMM is Wo/Man’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana, located in Santa Cruz. His doctor gave him the necessary paperwork and here is his official WAMM card granting him the right to use marijuana medicinally. He is of course, patient #2323. There is no signature, but his picture is emblazoned on the front with a twinkle in his eye…
RAW’s work… hell, his attitude… was a huge influence on my teenage years, and I reread “Illuminatus!” every year for quite a while. The concept of fun and delight being a necessary component to any personal, religious, or philosophical belief system ran through everything he wrote and it has stuck with me all this time.
How did he manage the #2323? Amazing.
Marijuana prohibition has been a total failure and is perhaps this country’s greatest mistake. Not only has it created criminals out of nearly a third of the country’s populace, it costs our society billions of dollars every year, creates a strain on our prison system, and has little or no effect on marijuana use in the US. In some cases, prosecuting marijuana use has turned non-violent, middle class kids into violent and unpredictable, career criminals. Once a person has a criminal conviction on their record, they are far less likely to find a good job and become a useful member of society. Other countries with more liberal drug laws have much lower rates of drug addiction among their people. I invite you to my web-page devoted to raising awareness on the assault on our civil liberties: http://freethegods.blogspot.com/