JESUS USED CANNABIS OIL, WRITER SAYS

February's High Times magazine takes the search for the historical
Jesus to a place some might not want to go: the use of cannabis-
infused oil for anointing leaders and healing the sick.

In an article titled "Was Jesus a Stoner?," author and Canadian
television host Chris Bennett argues that Jesus and his followers used
an oil made from a Hebrew recipe noted in Exodus 30: 22-33. That
mixture contained kaneh-bosem, a substance some scientists identify as
cannabis extracted into a mixture of olive oil and herbs.

Bennett, an advocate for the legalization of marijuana for medical
use, says Jesus used the holy oil not only to treat such ailments as
epilepsy and skin diseases, but also to baptize his 12 apostles before
sending them out to help others. "And they cast out many devils and
anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them," Mark the
gospeler says in Chapter 6.

Critics have accused Bennett of using Jesus to push his own agenda,
but Carl Ruck, a professor of classics at Boston University, said
Bennett makes a strong case. "Over the centuries, drugs have been used
by virtually all religions," Ruck wrote in the Sunday Times of London.
"Why not Christianity?