Thanks Blayze for introducing me to the term "hot boxing," Miguel for telling us about your pot plant Lupe, and Marsha for your "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore"-like tale of liberation through weed.
Thanks for all the invitations to meet in Amsterdam to light up with some really good sh*t. Thanks, Mooli419, for telling me about cannabutter. (Is it cholesterol-free?)
As "research," the comments of course are unscientific, simply anecdotal. But with over 500 responses, a few things seem clearer than ever:
If there's a compelling reason for smoking weed to remain illegal, no one (the government least of all) has offered it. It's hard to see how smoking pot - in moderation, of course - is worse for you than drinking. I am completely unqualified to write about addiction. But it certainly sounds like smoking ganja (why did that word never come up?! or is it hopelessly outdated?) has brought stress relief, not to mention plain old fun, to many many people.
That's not to dismiss the stories of people whose lives were wrecked by their own abuse of marijuana - or heartbreakingly, as in the cases of Wayne, Tonyatardtacular, and Lizzie (#66) the abuse of marijuana by those around them. But I have to wonder if weed was really the root of the problem. As Drat (#113) cheerily put it:
"It isn't pot that makes some of the people that smoke losers. Its only that there are a lot of losers in the world. Many of them don't smoke pot. Whatever you do make it your own decision. Then you can't blame everyone else like losers do!"
(I hasten to add my praise for those former "losers" who wrote about the depths they sunk to abusing drugs, before pulling their lives together. But if it hadn't been weed, would it have been something else?)
Those voting "Yes" for me to get baked far outweighed the "No" respondents in our non-binding vote. And their reasons were often compelling. Among the "Yes" voters:
"I could be wrong but it may make you wiser in the long run although completely stupid while doing it." - Steve Seivers
"Smoke weed today! Your career will thank you tomorrow!" - Finnstoned
"People who haven't smoked pot usually live boring lives, sucks to be you!" - Vic
(Among the no-voters, one standout was Elizabunny's tale of finding a roach in her husband's old yearbook and freaking out that the roach would somehow rat her out and get her disbarred.)
And now for my decision...
Allow me to invoke the great entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr. and the words he once sang: I've Gotta Be Me.
There's a reason why I've come this far as an NBBCer. (I tried to find a tape of Sammy singing this song on YouTube to post here. Alas it does not exist yet.) Part of who I am is someone who's never smoked pot.
Yes, as reader Ami pointed out, taping hundreds of hours of VH1's I Love [insert decade here] might have been easier baked. (Is that how Michael Ian Black and Hal Sparks got more air time?!!!). Yes, Sammy Davis was a pill-popping boozehound who sang a song called "Candy Man," so I sound like a jackass invoking him.
Yes, maybe pot would give me more insight into myself and help me to understand some of life's mysteries - like what the chick below is trying to say:
But I'd be smoking primarily for the wrong reason: to fit in, to catch up. As for relaxation, I can find other ways, though I'm skeptical about yoga. (I've met a lot of passive aggressive yoga people.) Besides, I have other priorities currently. Right now on my to-do list:
- I'm trying to learn a song for every one of our fifty states. Not official state songs, which I loathe. (God, how I hate "Maryland, My Maryland.") I mean songs like "California, Here I Come," "Alabamy Bound," "Back Home Again in Indiana," and "Moonlight in Vermont." If anyone can offer suggestions for other states, please weigh in. All genres welcome. The state just has to be a focus, not necessarily part of the title. (So "Country Roads" counts for West Virginia.
- I'm trying to read the Bible cover to cover. I've tried this before but always run out of steam before the end of Deuteronomy. (Clearly written when Dietary Law books were all the craze.)
- I'm planning on returning to gymnastics class to learn once and for all how to do a back flip. (I sustained an injury trying to do it in 6th grade. I want to overcome the fear.)
- I should really improve my Spanish.
Reader Comments ( Page 3 of 8)
31. Ugh. Mo, I'm tired and hungry just THINKING of smoking weed. That's pretty much what it does for me-makes me a tired, lazy pig. And I easily pull that off sober, without paying some kid that lives in his mother's basement 20 bucks a pop.
While the munchies are fun, waking up spooning an Pringles, cheek pressed against a bed of Oreo crumbs is not (think coyote ugly-just insert food for the man). So, my motivation for weedstinence is just cutting out that middle man...and keeping my dignity.
Good choice Mo, keep rockin' what you've got:)
xoxo
Amanda:) at 10:08AM on Aug 27th 2007
32. 1. Marijuana is illegal because William Randolph Hearst who owned a huge syndicate of newspapers AND wanted to corner the hemp market which made rope for shipping and industry, waged newspaper publicity against the "evils" of marijuana. Pot was primarily smoked by black people in the '20s and Hearst's position was racist, fear-mongering, and typical of journalism in the pay of big business.
2. Marijuana is not a gate-way drug. Millions of people world-wide smoke marijuana and don't take other drugs.
3. Anecdotally, my son smokes pot daily and is a 4.0 student in an Ivy League university.
4. Tobacco, which is far more addictive, and carcinogenic, has a huge organized lobby in Washington which pays off the government to tax and allow its sale, distribution, and use.
5. Marijuana is still mythically associated with "losers", marginal people, criminals, low-status people. The reality is that millions of people who hold down jobs, raise families, pay their taxes, etc. smoke marijuana.
6. Marijuana does not have any secrets. It's a natural-growing plant that has been studied and shown to have beneficial medicinal properties.
7. Mo, we all know you smoke pot. Who do you think you're kidding?
Peace out. Never believe what other people think you should know. Illegal marijuana is a joke. China and India are now manufacturing meth which should be hitting our streets very soon, because our dumb government made access to the pharmaceuticals you need illegal. Expect HUGE amounts of people to become addicted to imported meth.
sallyannsiegel1 at 10:08AM on Aug 27th 2007
33. " But it certainly sounds like smoking ganja (why did that word never come up?!"...you must not have read my post where i reminded you that man has concocted a variety of pills,powders and beverages,but it was the one true god that gave us ganja,and then i asked..."WHO DO YOU TRUST?"..i knew you would not puff puff pass ...ganga chooses you, you do not choose it..
suoires at 10:14AM on Aug 27th 2007
34. I'm not a pot smoker either. Mostly because I don't want to turn out like my pot smoking friends who are boring and childlike in their emotional underdevelopment.
But if you're looking to learn a song about my home state, Louisiana, you can't go wrong with "Monroe,
Louisiana" by Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown.
Brian at 10:14AM on Aug 27th 2007
35. "My City Was Gone" by the Pretenders for Ohio's theme song. I don't live there anymore, but it's still there, I'm just gone.
PS-Forget the weed Mo, try absinthe.
Tracey
tracey at 10:20AM on Aug 27th 2007
36. "Goin' to Carolina" is a good one, although it doesn't mention WHICH Carolina
"Mississippi Queen"
"Where the Orange Blossoms Grow" (from my home state of Florida, and it is not the state song. "Suwanee River" is, which, ironically never mentions Florida as far as I know)
jessmarroyho at 10:23AM on Aug 27th 2007
37. I can never remember if it is legal for medicinal purposes in our state or not. It's been voted on, I think, but it is like the news you never find out the outcome. Then people say it has always been legal for medicinal purposes and on and on. Laws are like the 10 commandments we follow which ones are easiest. Anyway, I don't smoke pot because it is 160 degrees of heat going into my lungs. Although I have heard your limited Spanish will improve while smoking pot because you don't care about how people are interpreting your age 1 - 5 level Spanish lingo. Good luck with the Spanish. Hasta luego y visitarnos en Costa Rica!
lisannbennett at 10:26AM on Aug 27th 2007
38. Good for you. You sound more like my nephew every day.
I will admit, however, that the backflips could be a bit more dangerous.
Jeffrey Smith at 10:28AM on Aug 27th 2007
39. I'm glad you're staying in the club. It's part of what makes you so unique.
For Oklahoma: "Okie from Muskogee"
"We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee". Hmmmm. I doubt it's true anymore but it fits nicely with today's blog topic.
If you haven't seen "Blogging the Bible" on Slate, you should. You could just read David Plotz's synopsis. It would save you a lot of time. Go to: http://www.slate.com/id/2167894/.
Kaycie at 10:29AM on Aug 27th 2007
40. Go back to "The Daily Show" dummy.
rm444 at 11:01AM on Aug 27th 2007
41. And what a fine choice you've made! I'm so proud of you Mo. I'm among the people who voted no, being a member of the NBBC myself!
Breathing is a good way to relax. And there are so many different ways! You'd be shocked (I know I was). Give it a try, it's called Pranayama. Best of all, it's drug free :)
From my corner cubicle
Claudia McClaudia at 11:20AM on Aug 27th 2007
42. YEAH! MO YOU ARE STILL MY HERO!!
LOVE BACK TO YA!!
FROM YOUR VERY OWN NERDETTE!
Bamadutchgurl at 11:20AM on Aug 27th 2007
43. pot is a gateway drug..it lead me to chips and cookies...
suoires at 12:04PM on Aug 27th 2007
44. i enjoy it, if you enjoy life without it more power to you for being yourself. congrats on the decision for pondering the question.
jeffrey reetz at 12:29PM on Aug 27th 2007
45. Hey Mo...a couple of suggestions for your state songs...the first was never a Billboard hit, but very popular in VA as a VA native band wrote and produced it -- "Sweet Virginia Breeze" by the Robbin Thompson Band (good luck finding it...try Limewire)...then there's "In My Mind I'm Going to Carolina" by James Taylor (you might be able to cover North & South Carolina with that one...I always assumed he was singing about North Carolina...guess I should check the complete lyrics)...good luck with the songs!
And, leave the bong and the hooka alone...you'll just eat everything in site, fall asleep, wake up, not remember it and wonder where all the food in the house went...!!!
Marshall in Raleigh, NC
Marshall at 12:31PM on Aug 27th 2007