Pot. Bud. Dope. Weed. Endo. Ganja. Chronic. Chiba. Reefer. Sensamilla. Whatever its name is, Louis Silverstein wrote a book about it.

That’s inaccurate. He wrote the book about the experience of marijuana and its ability, according to the dust jacket, “to reveal multiple realms of consciousness and to make of life a rapturous experience.”

And he looks like the type of guy you’d expect to write a book about extensive experience with the kindest of herbs – chin-length dark grey hair, Hawaiian shirt, aviator sunglasses and an enormous, turquoise-inlaid silver ring on his left index finger. His face retains a beatific, almost Buddha-like calm as he gently corrects the misconception.

“Actually, it’s not about my experiences. During my travels in the South Pacific, I encountered a gentleman named Ganja, and we became very close friends,” says Silverstein.

A man named Ganja?

Silverstein blinks, his aviator sunglasses pushed up to hold his hair back. “That’s the name he gave himself after a deeply life-changing experience.”

Oh.

Silverstein goes on to explain in his soft, steady, Brooklyn accent that Ganja kept journals of his spiritual experiences with marijuana for many years but was afraid to publish them for fear of being a victim of the “War on Drugs.” Before Ganja passed away, he asked Silverstein to edit and publish the journals. Ganja’s writings now appear as a book, “Deep Spirit and Great Heart: Living in Marijuana Consciousness.”

So Silverstein, 62-year-old Evanston resident, husband of one, father of two, NU alumnus and professor of cultural studies at Columbia College Chicago, didn’t write the bulk of the book. But it is still his project, and providing an interesting, edifying voice of dissent against American social and governmental opposition to drugs is its purpose.

“I advocate that people should have the freedom to choose the means by which they gain both a higher state of consciousness and being if it’s not harming others,” he says. “Marijuana and other plant teachers are often the best means available, and people should use them responsibly, just like they drink wine.”

Plant teachers?

“I call any natural substance that unlocks access to one’s deeper and higher self a ‘plant teacher’-for example, ‘magic mushrooms,’ kava, sativa divonorum, peyote and mescaline. These have all been used throughout history to help people look at the world and themselves anew.”

Oh.

Silverstein was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., dropping out of the City College of New York to join the Army. He received his master’s degree in political science from the University of Illinois in 1962, left the Army as one of the first conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War in 1968 and began teaching at Columbia College a year later. In 1970, he completed his Ph.D. in education at NU and since then has served as professor, head of the liberal education department, and Dean of Columbia, although not necessarily in that order. He teaches courses on peace studies, dying and death, and education and society. He wants to create a class called “Drugs, Culture and Society” but says it is receiving considerable resistance from his department.

“It’s this idea of ‘Say No or Say Nothing’ (regarding drugs),” he murmurs, as angrily as he seems capable of being. “They think speaking in a positive way about drugs is encouraging illegal activity and that it’ll put the college in jeopardy.” Columbia’s legal counsel recently refused to allow a book reading at the college for “Deep Spirit and Great Heart” on the same grounds.

Needless to say, Silverstein is none too pleased with prevailing public attitudes and policies toward drug use.

“Life in society is flooded with legal and illegal drugs – Prozac, alcohol. There’s nothing wrong with being high and having a good time. Any drug can be used or abused,” he says. “The people who fund the drug war all have interests in companies that make socially acceptable drugs. They’re basically saying, ‘We don’t want you to do certain drugs, but we do want you to do others – drink Bud, but don’t smoke bud.”

So where does the book come in? “By acquiring the book, people can speak out for their right to have alternative and divergent views in public space – there is an audience for this and we need to have the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” he says.

The book’s title refers both to what Silverstein believes can be the spiritual nature of marijuana use and to the compassion that it can teach. “Our society is extremely hard-hearted and indifferent,” he says. “Marijuana and other plant teachers unlock aspects of the human heart that have been crusted over.”

Oh. nyou