Celebrating Pot

Respond to this Friday Faithfuls challenge by writing anything about cannabis, or you can go with whatever else that you think fits.  Every dog has its day and yesterday is when marijuana was celebrated.  Ok I am a day late, but cut me some slack, because I was busy consuming lots of weed yesterday, so that is why I have a delayed reaction time.  I am also late for bicycle day, which celebrates the first lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) trip ever taken, which was on Wednesday.  As the rock poet Jim Morrison wrote in his poem Stoned Immaculate, “Back in those days everything was simpler and more confused.  One summer night, going to the pier I ran into two young girls.  The blonde one was called Freedom, the dark one, Enterprise.  We talked and they told me this story.  I wanna tell you about Texas Radio and the Big Beat.  It comes out of the Virginia swamps cool and slow with plenty of precision with a back beat narrow and hard to master.  Some call it heavenly in its brilliance, others, mean and ruthful of the Western dream.  I love the friends I have gathered together on this thin raft.  We have constructed pyramids in honor of our escaping.  This is the land where the Pharaohs died.  Children, the river contains specimens.  The voices of singing women call us on the far shore.  Now listen to this, I’ll tell you about Texas radio and the big beat.  Soft driven, slow and mad like some new language.  Reaching your head with the cold, sudden fury of a divine messenger.  Listen to this, I’ll tell you about heartache I’ll tell you about heartache and the loss of God.  I’ll tell you about the hopelessness, the wondering of the Western dream.  I’ll tell you about the maiden with a wrought iron soul.  I’ll tell you this, no eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn.   One morning you awoke with the strange sun opening your door.  Out here in the perimeter there are no stars and O am stoned immaculate.”

Legend has it that 420 started as a secret code among five high school students in San Rafael, California in the early 1970s.  This group of friends in Marin County, California, who called themselves “the Waldos,” would often meet at 4:20 p.m. to get high in front of a statue of scientist Louis Pasteur.   4/20 is also Adolf Hitler’s birthday and the anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting, but those are not the reasons why people smoke weed on April 20th.  420 became the code for anything marijuana related, and High Times magazine which has been the #1 resource for cannabis news, culture, brands and marijuana legalization laws picked up on this and made this day the unofficial cannabis holiday.

Originally released in the mid-1930s while the Great Depression was raging on, Reefer Madness which was originally made as “Tell Your Children”, was established as an educational movie against cannabis use.  It was designed to elaborate on the moral ills of using cannabis and why it was causing society to implode at the seams.  These people thought that society was starting to fall apart and this propaganda film blamed cannabis for people not going to church anymore.  This movie tried to link rape, suicide, manslaughter and even declining mental health with marijuana.  The movie aimed to discredit marijuana use and show it as a mind-altering nuisance.  It was also positioned as a way to illustrate what marijuana addiction could do to young minds if they were exposed early on in their lives.  It declared that weed had its roots in hell and smoking pot would eventually lead to lust, crime, sorrow, hate, shame and despair, along with weird orgies and wild parties.

Smoking marijuana can irritate your throat and pollute your lungs causing a heavy cough depending on how much you use.  It also contains levels of volatile chemicals and tar that are similar to tobacco smoke, raising concerns about risk for cancer and lung disease.  Marijuana can make the heart beat faster and can make blood pressure higher immediately after use.  It could also lead to increased risk of stroke, heart disease, and other vascular diseases.  Cannabis, weed, pot, dope, grass, herb, reefer, spliff, bud, joint, jay, doobie, pinner, fatty, blunt, Mary Jane, ganja, chronic, Maui Wowie, Acapulco Gold, Panama Red, Topanga Canyon, Pineapple Express, Willie Nelson or whatever you call it can all be used for pleasure and recreation.  Most people use marijuana to get high, but it can be addictive, and those who use higher-potency cannabis are more likely to experience addiction, but hey I want the good stuff.

Indica and sativa are the main types of weed that come from the cannabis plant.  Indica is known for its relaxing effects, and it can induce sleepiness, while sativa has energizing effects that should uplift your mood.  The main psychoactive ingredient, Tetrahydrocannabinol simplified to THC, stimulates the part of your brain that responds to pleasure, like food and sex.  That unleashes a chemical called dopamine, which gives you a euphoric, relaxed feeling.  Smoking pot can affect people differently, as some may experience paranoia, others might be disoriented, some could have trouble with their memory and not be able to focus and have slower reaction times.  Most people will have an increased appetite and they are likely to have red eyes.  There are some benefits for the medical use of marijuana, and I would love to volunteer to be a test subject in a study of this someday, especially if they force me to listen to classic rock while I am getting high.