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Oaksterdam?s Retrograde Message |
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Written by Fred Gardner
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Monday, 11 April 2005 |
Those enduring buildings in the historic center of Oaksterdam were built in our grandparents’ era, a time when medical marijuana could be ordered at any pharmacy. That is the history and the future encapsulated into one dream of safe access and social justice for cannabis users.
Scientists have learned in recent years that cannabis affects the body because THC and other plant components act just like some of the body’s own neurotransmitters (dubbed endocannabinoids).
It turns out that endocannabinoids send messages to all other neurotransmitters (GABA, norepenephrine, serotonin, dopamine, etc.) They are like orchestra conductors, facing the instruments and signaling them to quiet down or get stronger, speed up or slow down.
 The art deco on the front of the Paramount Theatre looms high over broadway near 20th Street.
Even before the biochemists reached their current
level of understanding, Tod Mikuriya, MD, inferred from the effects
cannabis has on people that its mode of action was unique and that it
modulated multiple systems within the body.
Mikuriya proposed that cannabis be categorized as an
“easement” and grandfathered into the US formulary on the basis that
its safety and efficacy had been established prior to its prohibition
in 1937. “Back to the future,” is a slogan he often employs — a
perfectly retrograde message.
A link between two eras
You may be wondering what this has to do with Oaksterdam.
Start at the Bulldog Coffeeshop and take a walk.
Look at the buildings. Some have style and grace, high ceilings,
windows that open, distinctive architectural features.
You can see that the builders were trying to achieve
something beautiful and enduring; that they were craftsmen who took
pride in their product.
Turn down 17th and look at the Floral Depot building
on the corner, “flashing a silver and cobalt blue exterior,” as Ishmael
Reed describes it in Blues City. Built in 1931, the building stands
because the Oakland Heritage Alliance fought to keep it from being torn
down for a mall. Today its spacious main room is the setting for one of
Oakland’s four permitted medical-cannabis clubs (so, it’s still a
flower mart!)
Among the buildings within walking distance that
architects consider classics are City Hall (1914); the Fox Theatre and
Office Building (1923); I. Magnin (1931), a beautiful green terra cotta
building at the corner of 20th and Broadway; the Paramount Theater, a
masterwork designed by Timothy Pflueger; the First Church of Christ
Scientist (1902) 17th and Franklin, a small stone building in
Romanesque revival style; and the YWCA on Webster St. (1915) designed
by Julia Morgan. There are many, many more.
Plunked among old Oakland’s architectural gems are
stark cubes made out of steel and glass in which the air is
recirculated.
Which buildings are more pleasing to the eye? Which
draw you in and look like inviting settings to work or shop or eat or
watch a show? Which pique the interest? It becomes obvious that
progress is not synonymous with improvement and can sometimes mean the
exact opposite.
Freeways cut and slash through Oakland
neighborhoods now, half the land is devoted to cars, but prior to World
War II Oakland (and every other major American city) had electric light
rail lines connecting it to the suburbs efficiently and without
pollution. General Motors and Standard Oil conspired in 1937 to
secretly subsidize Greyhound Bus Lines to offer lower prices than
electric rails and drive the lines out of business. The tracks were
torn up in the 1940s, under the eyes of our parents and grandparents,
and the choking of our cities by cars commenced in earnest.
Bring past and future together
To think “retro” is to question progress itself as
it has occurred in every field (medicine, architecture, public
transportation, the school system, the environment) and to figure out
how to restore sanity, balance and fairness to our society.
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Fred Gardner |
| About the author: |
| Fred Gardner is a political organizer and author best known for his opposition to the Vietnam War and his writings about the medical mariijuana movement in the United States. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 04 August 2006 )
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Volume 1 
The Men's Wearhouse George Zimmer
