420 Day
Apparently it’s news that three players widely regarded as top-10 picks in the upcoming NFL draft have admitted to smoking pot.
Is this a “dog bites man” story or what?
It would be news if they admitted to NOT having gotten high.
On this, the semi-official annual marijuana day (I first heard the term “420” when some students in a high school class I was volunteering in asked me, one April 20th a few years ago, whether I was going to mark the occasion at 4:20 in the afternoon), I want to say a few words about the entirely fucked-up attitudes and policies that society at-large and the world’s governments have about cannabis.
When I was a pot-smoking teenager oh so many years ago, I was convinced that by the time I was a grown-up, marijuana would be entirely legal, that you’d be able to go to your local smoke shop and buy a pack of joints to consume responsibly without fear of arrest or reprisal.
But here we are in the 21st century still institutionalizing this weird taboo about a plant that has the misfortune (or good fortune) of producing in people who smoke it slightly altered sensations of taste, touch, and vision, and occasionally somewhat different ways of looking at and thinking about the world.
I really do wrack my brain to figure out why pot should be illegal when alcohol isn’t. My dad’s position was that the intent is different: people allegedly drink booze because they enjoy the taste, whereas the only reason anyone smokes dope is to get high.
I think that’s false. Last night, for instance, I slammed down, on something of a dare, a shot of Jagermeister and Rumplemintz; no one would do that unless they wanted to get hammered. By contrast, I shared a joint earlier in the evening with some fellow bike riders, fully enjoying the tasty bud whether I got high or not.
Which, however, incidentally, I did.
Is this a “dog bites man” story or what?
It would be news if they admitted to NOT having gotten high.
On this, the semi-official annual marijuana day (I first heard the term “420” when some students in a high school class I was volunteering in asked me, one April 20th a few years ago, whether I was going to mark the occasion at 4:20 in the afternoon), I want to say a few words about the entirely fucked-up attitudes and policies that society at-large and the world’s governments have about cannabis.
When I was a pot-smoking teenager oh so many years ago, I was convinced that by the time I was a grown-up, marijuana would be entirely legal, that you’d be able to go to your local smoke shop and buy a pack of joints to consume responsibly without fear of arrest or reprisal.
But here we are in the 21st century still institutionalizing this weird taboo about a plant that has the misfortune (or good fortune) of producing in people who smoke it slightly altered sensations of taste, touch, and vision, and occasionally somewhat different ways of looking at and thinking about the world.
I really do wrack my brain to figure out why pot should be illegal when alcohol isn’t. My dad’s position was that the intent is different: people allegedly drink booze because they enjoy the taste, whereas the only reason anyone smokes dope is to get high.
I think that’s false. Last night, for instance, I slammed down, on something of a dare, a shot of Jagermeister and Rumplemintz; no one would do that unless they wanted to get hammered. By contrast, I shared a joint earlier in the evening with some fellow bike riders, fully enjoying the tasty bud whether I got high or not.
Which, however, incidentally, I did.
posted by Professor Dave at 11:26 AM
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