The New Pot Enlightenment
by Steven Hager
EPUB ISBN 9781311073433
copyright 2013 by Steven Hager
Will cannabis legalization sweep the world with a steady stream of cities, states and countries following the examples set by Washington and Colorado and now Uruguay? I sure hope so. However, with great deams come great responsibilities. What we need now to accompany legalization is a maturing attitude toward cannabis, what I call a New Pot Enlightenment.
Unfortunately, the image of the average stoner is not particularly attractive, and for good reason since stoners are most often portrayed as dumb slacker slobs. But this was not always the case. In the 1930’s, vipers were actually daper cats with refined taste in fashion and a deep understanding of blues and jazz. So what we really need is a path back to this forgotten past, a time when cannabis use was cool and carried zero negative stigma.
Enlightenment doesn’t come around often, by the way, and we just had a major wave 50 years ago in the 1960s with the initial breakdown of fundamentalism. Prior to that, great enlightenment eras occurred during the Age of Reason (circa 1650), and the Renaissance (circa 1450), each wave tied to advances in science and technology as well as publishing and the arts.
The New Pot Enlightenment may be an echo boom from the sixties, but I believe it is more because it’s riding a new technological leap: the world wide web. The Earth is becoming something of a global village and tools for education and enlightenment have never been so easily accessed. Intelligent youth who escape the dominant programming (towards war and violence) can advance in knowledge quickly as long as they can distiguish the few honest websites from the mountains of disinfo.
I was introduced to cannabis while in high school in Central Illinois, and most of it was ditch weed and probably never got us high at all. We’d havest in the summer, long before any mature buds had formed, and didn’t know the difference between males and females. We stripped leaves off the stalks and smoked them. I remember sitting in my kitchen one afternoon babysitting a tray of leaf I was drying out to smoke. I thought my parents were out playing golf, but my dad unexpectedly appeared and dashed into the house, smelled the odor, opened the oven, and said: “what’s this?”
Without hesitating I replied: “Oh, that’s my leaf collection, I’m drying it out so I can press it into a book.” I don’t know if he entirely bought this lie, but it was enough to put him back on whatever mission he was on for he closed the oven and went upstairs and was soon gone.
However, the potency of cannabis today is far beyond that ditch weed of the 1960s and may even pose a possible threat to some youth if they become too attracted too early. But before launching into this lecture, I should point out by far the biggest threat to our youth remains chemical pills and the faster we can end the reign of Ritalin and Paxil, the healthier our children will become. Entire generations are being force fed these synthetic substances and getting off them is incredibly difficult, much worse than kicking cannabis. But at the same time, we must recognize the dangers of cannabis abuse for the young. I see no harm in teens experimenting, but if they develop a daily habit (and don’t have a legitimate medical need), it may hold them back.
I don’t believe cannabis causes amotivational syndrome, anymore than video games or watching television does, but young people who medicate constantly may settle for less because they’re comfortable, which is why cannabis intoxication used to be called the “farmer’s vacation.” Long vacations are great for people in retirement years, but not so great for students in the midst of capturing their life skills. If I was in college, I’d avoid binge drinking and breakfast bong hits. In fact, you can’t really make a strong case for daily cannabis use (without a medical need) for anyone under the age of 21 because it takes that long for brains to fully develop. Obviously, many will experiment long before, and we should not punish but guide them toward responsible use through education and ceremony.
Under what circumstances should parental consent of cannabis use be considered? The introduction of cannabis represents a vital right-of-passage and we are in dire need of ceremonies to help make cannabis more socially acceptable. When a teenager contributes to adult vibrations (cooking, cleaning) and works hard as an adult on adult activities (chopping wood, carrying water), it’s time to recognize them as entering adulthood. This comes at different times for different people, but usually appears around age 18, when a sense of maturity begins to manifest. At this point it may be harmful to withhold adult sacraments at major family ceremonies.
In fact, this is the way alcohol is treated and first use often begins with a sip at a holiday family ceremony. It’s at such ceremonies adults break off from children for their secret cannabis ceremony, where those who are making the right-of-passage will get high with adult family members for the first time. It’s important to use the sacrament sparingly in these rituals. Just as you might allow a sip of wine at New Year’s Eve (but not pour a glass of Jack Daniels) great caution should always be the guide when introducing anyone to cannabis. First time users typically experience no effects from cannabis, which is fine, but others can be easily induced into a panic attack. And keep in mind, cannabis is not for everyone, and if one has a bad reaction, they should probably avoid it. First impressions are everything.
My idea of a great cannabis ritual is to have all the adults take a hit off a vaporizer and then start a jam session or an OM circle, although any sort of yoga or sports like vollyball or touch football works as well and can accelerate the harmonization process, which is key function of most family ceremonies.
I was around 35 when I first came to High Times and had never been a daily user of cannabis except for a couple of brief stretches. On the other hand, I’d also never turned down a free hit. I’d seldom bought it though, just relied on friends to provide. Foremost among these was Jimmy “Chef Ra” Wilson, who was the first person I contacted after I got the job at High Times. Jim had been the leading student activist from my high school, heavily influenced by Stokely Carmichel and H. Rap Brown of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). I’d helped elect him senior class president at Urbana High School in Illinois. Jim was the star end on our football team, but one day the coach decided not to allow him into another game. Instead he kept Jim on the bench suited up for the rest of the season with nowhere to go.