nugs

Though far distant from their namesake, a cluster of islands south and east of Florida is known as the “West Indies” due to Indian shipping and trade routes, and the word “ganja” as a reference to marijuana comes to Western parlance from India via the Jamaican Rasta scene. The popularity of reggae music in recent decades has familiarized listeners with that culture’s veneration of the herb as a means of communion with the Most High. Though unrelated, ganja has a spiritual connotation in its place of origin too. The Atharva-Veda, presumed to have been written between 200-1400 B.C., mentions it as one of the “five sacred plants” associated with worship of the Hindu deity Shiva, and use of ganja as an aromatic and medicinal herb for healing, relaxation and enjoyment has been common throughout that continent since ancient times.

Quite recently, a grand old lady named Fulla Nayak, who lived in a village called Karapur, in a part of India called Orissa, left this Earthly plane at the ripe vintage of 125 years, with “hardly any unfulfilled wishes”. Known to fellow villagers as a woman possessed of a lively spirit, Fulla attributed her long life to a daily intake of ganja and a liberal sampling of another favorite, palm juice. Fulla also loved steaming hot tea, once stating, “I eat everything what is given me, but I am fond of ganja and wine.” Now Karapurans want Fulla’s name enshrined in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest woman. Fulla’s grandson swears her age at death to have been 125, but her birth certificate has it at 120, and villagers aspire to determine an exact figure through scientific methods.
 

It may not have been the only reason for Fulla’s long life. Said her youngest daughter, 80-year-old Parvati, "Our mother has got special blessings from the God. She must have eaten good food at her early age unlike us." But with daughters aged 90 and 82 years and a grandson aged 72 years, it looks like her fondness for a daily ganja smoke favored her with a long, full life. Western medicine is beginning to catch up with the timeless verities of nature as healer in the same way words join common Western slang from other languages over time with shared usage, lending themselves to the names of magazines and websites (as with yours truly, Nugs dot com).

Sources:

-“125 woman claimed smoking pot everyday was her secret to long life”
http://valetudocafe.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/125-year-old-woman-claimed-smoking-pot-everyday-was-her-secret-to-long-life/

- “Fulla Nayak LINK” http://www.rastafarispeaks.com/cgi-bin/forum/config.pl?noframes;read=108849
- “Religious and spiritual use of cannabis” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_and_spiritual_use_of_cannabis
- “Oldest lady in Orissa is ‘Fulla’ Life” http://ibnlive.in.com/news/oldest-lady-in-orissa-is-fulla-life/26300-3.html