After many days of anticipation, I'm sure the one or two of you that have actually read one of these things will be relieved to read this. So relax and take the gun out of your mouth because I'm about to start.
I wasn't sure what I wanted to talk about this time and even at this point I'm just typing stuff out to delay and delay the point where I actually have to decide. And the inspiration strikes!
Why exactly, in the year 2014, is weed still illegal anywhere? For those that don't know the history of weed and it's criminal status, I'll share the history with you. In the early days of America, not only was it totally legal to grow, but states were required by law to grow a certain amount. One of the early drafts of the Declaration of Independence was actually written on hemp. George Washington wrote in a journal entry about separating the male and female parts of the plant-“Began to separate the Male from the Female hemp … rather too late.”-which is something you would do solely for the purpose of smoking cannabis. Tales even tell that Washington and Thomas Jefferson traded seeds. Fast forward to January 1st, 1937-cannabis-or marijuana, the term was first coined at this time-is made illegal by the Marijuana Tax Act. And why? William Randolph Hearst (the name should ring a bell) ran several newspaper organizations, which were printed on tree pulp; just regular paper. However, because hemp was a stronger and better paper substitute, it was competition for the wealthy and powerful Hearst. The only problem was, it was very hard to produce the hemp and took a long time. Around 1935, however, a machine called the decorticator was introduced which made hemp production much easier and cheaper. Obviously, this caused a problem for Hearst. So he and Harry Anslinger, the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, began printing stories in Hearst's papers that literally claimed that black were smoking marijuana and raping white women. Obviously there was little substance to these claims. Also, the Du Pont family (yes THAT Du Pont) had recently invented nylon, a material which also faced stiff competition from the arguably better hemp material. Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury, and the richest man in America at the time, was a huge investor in nylon. See where this is going? With the wealth and power that this group held, as well as the trumped-up stories in Hearst's papers, they managed to get cannabis criminalized with the Marijuana Tax Act. (It was still legal only for medicine and research, but was heavily taxed.) This lasted until Leary v. United States in 1969, which led to the Controlled Substances Act, which repealed the Marijuana Tax Act and made marijuana an illegal, Schedule I drug.
Still with me?
And now, it's 2014, and despite widespread knowledge of the bullshit that made it illegal, marijuana remains illegal at the federal level and in 30 states at the time of this writing. All this despite evidence showing the medicinal benefits of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active chemical and marijuana and what produces the "high".
The medical benefits are way too many to list, but THC may realistically be the closest to a "cure all" medicine that there's ever been. I want to talk about the recreational benefits. And I want to get this point out-who the fuck cares? I say as long as you're not hurting anybody, why the fuck should it matter what you do to your own body? Cigarettes and alcohol are 100% legal to consume as long as you're of age, and they're waaaaaaay more harmful than marijuana. Hundreds of thousands of people die from either cigarettes or alcohol every year. Total marijuana deaths from the beginning of time is zero. Now, as for actual recreational benefits, someone I know who isn't me speaks very fondly of recreational use. This person was in the military and when he got out, was very depressed, even suicidal. He started smoking and found that the mindstate that it induced helped him to cope. He says that it helped him to put things into perspective and look at every aspect of his life objectively, and make changes that were necessary. It helped him see that there were parts of his life that were holding him back from being happy and that he needed to cut those things out of life. He says that smoking helps him to enjoy things again, be it food, music, or people. He says that if it weren't for marijuana, he probably would've killed himself long ago. These are things that he can't say about cigarettes or alcohol. And still, in the state that he lives, marijuana is illegal.
And what is the argument against legalization in 2014? The "gateway drug" argument. This is the only argument that so many right-wing politicians latch onto. Is there substance? Let's examine. The argument is that smoking marijuana leads to experimentation with cocaine, and then meth, and then pretty soon you're melting spoons and shoving dirty syringes into your arm. Pretty solid. However, in my opinion and that of real educated people, the real gateway is bullshit. What happens is these bullshit drug resistance classes tell kids that all drugs are bad, top to bottom. And the kids buy it because what do they know? Then they smoke weed for the first time and they have a wonderful time. They laugh and joke with their friends, food tastes like it never has before, they watch a movie and laugh like they never have before, they have sex and enjoy it like they never have before, and they start to think,Well, they told me that weed was bad, yet here I am, having a wonderful time. It's obviously not bad. So they obviously lied, which means they probably lied about cocaine. And meth. And heroin. It seems to me like that's the real gateway. It seems to me that we need real drug education, shit that's applicable in 2014. The truth. Weed is not bad for you. You're not gonna die, you're not gonna go crazy, but you might get a little hungry. And forgetful. But let's be honest-those are memories you didn't need anyway. But what about paranoia? It's a common complaint with weed, and one that someone I know can substantiate. But he says it's just reality. It's reality hitting you and it can make you feel a little bit off. It's the knowledge that you have some issues or problems that you haven't dealt with. This person I know has dealt with his demons and is very comfortable in where he's at in his life and he never experiences any paranoia.
Alrightey-I still probably have plenty to say about marijuana, but this one's probably gone long enough. I love to rant, and you know this, but if you're reading this, you probably haven't even made it this far to be honest. So that's all I got. 20% of tuxedo rentals take place in May.
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