For the sake of transparency, I initially decided to make this post because a quality blog post about Smoke Network would be rewarded with 10 SMOKE (a whopping 90 cents of value at the moment!) coins on their airdrop in which anyone can participate by clicking buttons and earn SMOKE coins which are redeemable once the mainnet of SMOKE launches. I'm also invested myself in their ICO.

If you want to contribute to the ICO yourself too, don't forget to use my referral link:

https://ico.smoke.network/?ref=d2a4d2d

because not only does it give me 10% bonus for the amount you purchase, it also gives YOU a 5% bonus on your coin purchase. It's a win-win.

Recently I heard about the Smoke Network from other users in Steem.chat. Initially I thought it's only "another cannabis cryptocurrency" but turned out that wasn't the case so I got interested.

What is SMOKE and Smoke Network?

https://smoke.network/ <- Link to their website with information about the project.

Smoke Network aims to be a social media for those who want to share cannabis related content freely without the fear of being censored like in regular social medias. The decentralized nature of it guarantees there is no single entity who could control what gets posted or not. Similarly to Steemit it has a rewarding structure which pays SMOKE coins for authors and the curators who have upvoted a post.

https://smoke.io <- They also have a testnet which you can try out yourself.

NOTE. TESTNET SMOKE COINS AND USERS WON'T BE AVAILABLE ON THE MAINNET ONCE IT LAUNCHES.

"Why not just post about cannabis in Steemit?"

It's a valid question, and sure you can, but I think having its own network for cannabis users has benefits - people know right away they will find cannabis related content easily on Smoke Network because it is made for that purpose. So, the team's goals and marketing matters. Steem(it) (obviously) isn't marketing themselves specifically as a cannabis social media. Why? Probably because its original purpose was and is to be the pioneer as a social media giving value back to the people. And now it's easier for others to follow on its footsteps, like Smoke Network does.

Power back to the people

I believe in cognitive liberty which means people should be free to control their own mental processes as long as it doesn't cause harm to others. This doesn't mean I'm promoting the use of drugs or psychoactive substances, I'm simply saying one should have a freedom to do so if one wishes.

Of course giving such option to individual also gives him or her more responsibility, hence, one should have suitable knowledge available to be able to make better choices. And having such an open social media that Smoke Network aims to be, it can also work as a source of information which in many cases isn't publicly available because of its "unsuitable" nature based on the illegal status of cannabis in many countries.

But the growing trend of legalizing marijuana is unstoppable and it'll keep happening in more and more countries. People are and will be using it regardless of its legal status. The senseless punishing based on decades old policies as a panic reaction at the time towards unexamined compounds has simply not worked.

And something like censorship resistant social media around cannabis could show that this phenomena cannot be ceased and that the old relics from the past should be re-evaluated.

I know it's an idealistic view and I don't necessarily expect one social media to throw everything upside down but nevertheless it's a step towards the world I hope to see someday.

I'm interested how SMOKE will evolve in the future because I think it has a chance of expanding to the realms of psychedelics as well. Of course, it's only reasonable to target the rapidly growing cannabis industry for now but users are the ones deciding the content in the end, right?

Anyway, I'm excited to be part of it and see how it all turns out.

Missed the referral link? Because like I already said; While I get 10% bonus of the amount you purchase, YOU also get 5% bonus for your SMOKE coins when you use the link to register for the ICO:

https://ico.smoke.network/?ref=d2a4d2d

Thus, we will both live happily ever after, in smoke.