Unpacking the Age-Old Question: Is Weed...Tight?
Spoiler alert: I am fan :)
THE WAR ON DRUGS: A BRIEF HISTORY of WEED CRIMINALIZATION IN AMERICA
Weed has been highly misunderstood since the start. Communities of color have been disproportionately affected by laws that, in the clear light of day, were created as racist forms of control and repression.
Recreational weed usage first came to the United States after the Mexican Revolution in 1910 when a flood of very hip Mexican immigrants moved here, re-occupying land that was stolen from their ancestors by white guys in the 1840s leaning heavily on a concept called “Manifest Destiny” to gaslight their way into the genocide of the Mexican-American War.
Because of racism and the fact that brown people knew what was up, smoking the plant meant you associated yourself with the inferior class. Old people in power capitalized on this by perpetuating the myth that smoking weed would make you do crazy things, like hook up with your neighbor’s white wife (their biggest fear). The popularization of the term “marijuana” was used pointedly, to further perpetuate fear by association of the Spanish word with Mexicans. The legal punishments for cannabis-related offenses were so absurdly severe, one man in Indiana was sentenced to life in prison without parole for growing his own weed in 1992.
In the 1930s when the Great Depression hit, massive unemployment further stoked fears of Mexican immigrants who threatened to take their jobs, leading to the ultimate cult classic of 1936: Reefer Madness. One of the dumbest films in the history of time! Entirely based on pseudo-science, this archaic time piece claims that getting blazed can lead you to have sex and then murder someone. Crazy stuff.
After many, many decades of legalization debates, the impact and then decline of 1970s hippie culture, cultural shifts that moved faster than legal shifts – we now live in 2022 where in the midterm elections this year, six different states voted on the issue, three of which have now officially legalized weed.
The cultural perspective of weed shifted over time, eventually leading to the governmental shift we’re witnessing now. However, the misunderstanding of who uses weed and why remains. And that’s why I’m writing this essay!
MEDICAL RESEARCH THE EFFECTS OF WEED ON THE BODY
In Season 48, Episode 11 of the free PBS documentary series NOVA, “The Cannabis Question” (2021) explores what many have seemed to overlook in the discussion of legalization – what has science found on weed’s affect on the body and brain?
In short, not enough research has been done on the long-term effects. Just like space, the brain, and women’s bodies, science doesn’t seem to have the capacity to fund the research to really understand what the hell is going on. However, there have been a few studies on the short-term effects of weed. And what they’ve found is that the body bounces back quickly from the effects of cannabis, which in my opinion, really lines up with my lived experience.
In studies conducted on children with autism, CBD helped children curb behavioral outbursts so they could calm their nervous system to focus on growth functionality like learning. Experts admit that much more research needs to be done to understand the long-term effects, but the early results are promising.
The human body is equipped with an endocannabinoid system (ECS) in the brain, which essentially is a biological system of receptors and internal neurotransmitters that contribute to homeostasis in the body. This system exists all throughout our brains on pre-synaptic neurons. This system performs the natural function of regulating homeostasis in the body. This includes regulating sleep, metabolism, and more. "To stimulate these receptors, our bodies produce molecules called endocannabinoids, which have a structural similarity to molecules in the cannabis plant,” writes Peter Grinspoon, MD on Harvard Health’s blog. Ok, tight.
So when we smoke weed, THC reaches the brain quickly and rivals the function of the ECS, binding to the endocannabinoid receptors in the brain. This releases dopamine faster, thus eliciting an enjoyable high to briefly alleviate pain of existence.
As I mentioned previously, the lack of long-term studies on weed’s long-term effects on the brain mean scientists and doctors can’t say with critical certainty that weed is safe for our brains. However, there is a similar lack of studies on the effects of capitalism, societal racism, or economic collapse on the brain. Based on my own empirical research, I’d say all that shit fucked me up. And weed helps.
Maybe long-term smoking eventually rots your brain, as many depictions of stoners in the media suggest, but so does reality TV franchises about housewives fighting and having to work 50+ hours at a job you hate, so we’re fucked regardless, aren’t we? Even if weed does rot your brain, speaking from experience, I’m still holding down a job (hoping they don’t fire me for this) and I get a lot done. You can be an active member of society and be stoned.
PSYCHADELICS & AWE
I think the real reason weed inspired fear in the white man is because, deep down, weed inspires awe. And as we all know, a basic Chad or Steven can’t handle the magic of being in awe when they’re so busy on wall street exploiting middle-class Americans for every nickel and dime so them and their old boys club don’t have to pay taxes and Jeff Bezos can go to space with celebrities whenever he wants!!!
Awe is a magical emotion that’s hard to pin down, but lands somewhere on the spectrum between incredible admiration and humbling fear. Awe occurs when we stumble into unexpected encounters with natural wonders. I mean, I’m imagining the first guy to ever experience awe stumbling into a majestic forest with beautiful cascading afternoon light, birds chirping, butterflies flying, and he sees the last living baby dinosaur. What the fuck! Now that would inspire some awe. (I smoked weed prior to having this thought; so cool.)
Weed, like many herbal-based psychedelic natural gifts from the earth, inspires awe to connect us deeper to earth.
Embracing the wonders of the natural world is soothing. Not only from a capitalist-self help-productivity sense, but also from a humanistic life experience sense. When we feel existentially lost, we need to “touch grass” as the very-online say.
Touching grass connects us with our humanity, which slows our heart rate, which reminds us to enjoy life rather than exploit it for profit. If we were in an existential spiral – the fastest of all anxiety spirals – touching grass could root us down rather quickly, cutting down the time lost to anxious terror.
TRUTH SERUM AND/OR ANXIETY
Smoking weed feels inherently anti-capitalist because weed enhances the leisure of slowing down, which we know stands in opposition to the capitalist mode of production which is hustle to prove your worth every second until you die. From my perspective, weed is like a truth serum. When I smoke, the more honest I become – it becomes harder and harder to ignore what ails you. I’m forced to face the core truth of reality. For example, a couple hits on the L will have you face to face with the reality that maybe your day job is boring and you’re going to have to find something else to experience the deep peace you desire.
This is linked to the same reason why weed can also be associated with paranoia and anxiety spirals. The truth can be anxiety-inducing, especially if you’re the type of guy who has been attempting to outrun the truth your whole life. Facing real feelings isn’t easy if you’re out of practice. There’s also the reality that weed has been criminalized for many years, both legally and culturally, as outlined above.
The universe is a giant breathing organism, so massive we can’t even begin to comprehend it as we are merely human. I find that fascinating, intriguing, and fulfilling – often this connection to spirit brings me solace and comfort, a break from the punishing monotony of not living up to standards of success here on Earth.
Weed is a way to prioritize leisure because it’s a sacred tool and method we can use to get to know ourselves better. The idea of the stoner is Ashton Kutcher and that other guy in “Dude Where’s My Car?” A limiting picture of a white male dumb-dumb who forgot where he parked his car. Sure, short term memory loss is a side-effect of inhaling the plant, but that’s not the only one. There are cooler, more interesting side-effects like waking up to the truth of who you are, connecting to the oneness of the universe, experiencing spirit dance through your soul.
I mean, weed is fucking tight. Have you ever even experienced spirit dancing through your soul, man ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!
WHY AM I WRITING THIS ESSAY
Weed is legal, you fuck! Why are you spending this entire afternoon arguing the value of weed!
Well, I’ll tell you why, buster. Despite the recent and, in many ways, sudden legality of the plant, there remains a hesitation in the air that I haven’t heard openly discussed yet. Just like anything that is arbitrarily forced into the shadows of society and then arbitrarily pushed as “totally chill” right after that, there’s a major cultural misunderstanding in the air.
Okay, weed is fine to smoke. It won’t make you go crazy or hook up with your neighbor’s wife without you knowing. Reefer madness was a racist propaganda campaign, as most historical American campaigns were during that time. Now it’s fine to smoke weed – every bodega will sell you a semi-problematic eighth of sativa with a Jamaican guy’s face on it, fully unexplained.
The gross capitalization of weed now that it’s legal is another issue entirely. The weed is too damn strong!!!! In the 70s, Obama was smoking shit that was far more chill than what we have. That is directly linked to the market. I will say, from my experience, buying your weed from the queer people is far more chill than the straight guys – the weed just hits a little different. That’s what we need. Chill stuff. No more anxiety spirals for my guys!!! Weed is for the seekers.