¢ℓαωмαякѕ ✘

                     _{Most people are aware of the fact that a marginal portion of teenagers in North America experiment with drugs or otherwise illicit substances by the age of 18; but Seth has not—-…not recreationally—at least.}

_{Seth has never smoked for the sole purpose of achieving a high; he’s never smoked in attempts to contract an intoxicated state. Rather, he’s smoked only in the case of ritual and tradition; circumstances approved by the council and his parents and/or guardians.} 

_{Most Indian tribes South of Mexico utilized the hallucinogenic properties of cannabis, (marijuana)–but marijuana was not–in fact–cultivated, grown, and distributed in North America until the early 1900s. This left little variability, but fairly plentiful alternatives.} 

_{Nicotian is a genus of herbaceous plants and shrubs of the family (Solanaceae) indigenous to the Americas, Australia, south west Africa and the South Pacific. Various Nicotiana species, commonly referred to as tobacco plants, are cultivated as ornamental garden plants. N. tabacum is grown worldwide for production of tobacco leaf for cigarettes and other tobacco products. Eastern “ Native American” tribes traditionally used Nicotiana rustica in their peace pipes.}

_{In Southern and Midwestern tribes, where vegetation is scarce–Peyote was used.}

_{Peyote is a cactus type plant that excretes a substance that is similar to LSD in chemical composition. Hosting psychoactive properties when ingested, peyote is used worldwide as an entheogen and supplement to various transcendence practices, including meditation, psychonautics, and psychedelic psychotherapy. Peyote has a long history of ritualistic and medicinal use.}

_{——–Western Tribes, however, used kinnikinick.}

 _{Kinnikinnick is a Native American smoking product, typically made of mixture of various leaves or barks with other plant materials. It does posess scant amounts of THC – and in concentration–holds the potential to intoxicate its intended user.}

_{In historical reference;}

_{“At this moment the Indians were in deliberation. Seated in a large circle round a very small fire, the smoke from which ascended in a thin straight column, they each in turn puffed a huge cloud of smoke from three or four long cherry-stemmed pipes, which went the round of the party; each warrior touching the ground with the heel of the pipe bowl, and turning the stem upwards and away from him as ‘medicine’ to the Great Spirit, before he himself inhaled the fragrant kinnik-kinnik.”}

<sub>Thus precluding the circumstance, Seth has – in fact – been “high” before, and I’m assuming the rest of the pack has, as well. 

                       ——————— But not for fun. The use of kinnik-kinnik or kinnikkinnik is strictly religious, or spiritual; usually used in attempts to dissuade bad spirits, bad energy – sometimes in the passing of a chief or a tribal leader. In the case of the Quileute tribe, it was used whenever a “Spirit Warrior”–or shifter–passed on. These traditions are very sacred, and the plants, and their properties, were never abused.</sub>