Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored!" Test your knowledge of witchcraft and drug use through the ages!
Remember, Princeton, if you answer ALL questions either TRUE or FALSE, and the quiz is graded on a curve, you're sure to pass!
(Answers at bottom. Don't cheat.)
1. Cannabis has been used by the human race for its euphoric effects for more than 12,000 years.
TRUE
FALSE
2. In the sacred Indian texts called The Vedas, the god Shiva is praised for giving cannabis to humankind.
TRUE
FALSE
3. One hundred years ago, medicines containing cannabis were sold over the counter for such problems as toothache and fussy infants.
TRUE
FALSE
4. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both used recreational cannabis, grown on their plantations.
TRUE
FALSE
5. William Randolph Hearst led a campaign against cannabis in his newspapers because hemp was grown for paper and he had invested heavily in forests he planned to cut down for paper pulp.
TRUE
FALSE
6. Chemists have devised a synthetic opioid that is not habit forming.
TRUE
FALSE
7. The use of opiates for analgesia and euphoric effects dates back at least 6,000 years.
TRUE
FALSE
8. Much of the world's best poetry has been written by people under the influence of cannabis, opiates, alcohol, or hallucinogens.
TRUE
FALSE
9. The celestial sensations and proximity to deities experienced by hallucinogen users is merely brain chemistry and not a true religious experience.
TRUE
FALSE
10. European women in the Middle Ages distilled hallucinogens from toad venom and mushrooms, smeared the substance on broom handles, and touched the broom handles to their genitals to transmit the substance into their blood streams.
TRUE
FALSE
11. Some men and women in the Middle Ages knew how to poison people with opiates, ergot, arsenic, and mercury.
TRUE
FALSE
12. An overwhelming proportion of the women and children of Europe did the above, necessitating their being burnt at the stake.
TRUE
FALSE
13. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, an overwhelming proportion of women and children in Europe had sexual intercourse with demons, necessitating their being burnt at the stake.
TRUE
FALSE
14. Medical doctors (men) promoted the burning of witches because it removed herbal healers and midwives from the population and was therefore good for business.
TRUE
FALSE
15. Priests tortured women and children into confessing to having sex with demons because the existence of demons proved the existence of God.
TRUE
FALSE
16. It is possible to overdose on smoked marijuana, just as it is to overdose on hard liquor.
TRUE
FALSE
17. Cannabis has never been proven to have any medical benefit.
TRUE
FALSE
18. The Web site Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia names Rush Limbaugh on its "List of Famous Opiate Addicts," which also includes Axl Rose, Aleister Crowley, and future Supreme Court Justice Lou Reed.
TRUE
FALSE
19. Of the three men above, Rush Limbaugh is the only one to use a national platform to berate drug users and call for their imprisonment.
TRUE
FALSE
20. Four in ten Americans admit to having tried marijuana at least once.
TRUE
FALSE
Okay, students. Now for the answers.
1. TRUE
2. TRUE
3. TRUE
4. TRUE
5. TRUE
6. FALSE
7. TRUE
8. TRUE
9. FALSE
10. TRUE
11. TRUE
12. FALSE
13. FALSE
14. TRUE
15. TRUE
16. FALSE
17. FALSE
18. TRUE
19. TRUE
20. TRUE
Bonus question: Legalizing cannabis would prove catastrophic to the American pharmaceutical industry, which profits greatly from habit-forming prescription medications for pain, anxiety, nausea, depression, and drug/alcohol addiction.
TRUE
TRUE
FROM ANNE, WHOSE MEMORY IS BEING DESTROYED BY WINE
