Here is a great article from friend of the blog, Miguel. If you would like to read more from Miguel, check out his blog, Brother Can You Spare A Dime (Bag).
With advocacy comes responsibility. Just like the great Uncle Ben told Peter Parker “With great power comes great responsibility”; the same can be said for being a marijuana advocate. We can stand on our high horses all we want and tell non-smokers the benefits and the non-lethalness of marijuana but the truth is if you don’t add in personal responsibility than you’re defeating the whole movement. For most that are reading this its common sense but it has to be said so we can push on to the next level of the marijuana conversation.
At least from my view point, we’re not telling 10 year olds to light up and we’re not saying operating heavy machinery under the influence is okay. Instead we’re asking that grown people can make grown decisions and live with out the burden of being a criminal or derelict. Its so child endangerment would never be an issue and parents can live without fear of having their children being taken away. Its so people trying to be straight can occasionally stray and not be locked up for a third strike.
There’s a lot of heat from the conservative side and I think they don’t even know what they’re mad at. It’s more of an underlying fear based off of propaganda that these people have but if we don’t take the chance it could hurt our future anyways. Grapes give us wine, why haven’t we illegalized them?
I watched a NORMAL broadcast on Stickam.com the other day and the point was made that the government spends billions of dollars a year combating the drug war where as the marijuana movement is only in the hundreds of thousands. That’s comparing a personal Wal-mart pool to the ocean, yet the movement has yet to die and continues to grow with each news story and piece of fact.
The only time I questioned my advocacy was last year when a story came out in the news about a 44 year old grandmother, named Erin Marcove, accidentally fed her 3 yr old grandson a peanut butter cookie made with THC butter. When she tried to wake him the next day she couldn’t. The toddler turned out to be okay and just in a deep sleep but a week later the grandmother committed suicide. This made me ponder that kids are also getting my message and do I really want them to get high. Well it comes down to “no”, parental supervision, and personal responsibility.
Parents need to guard what their kids see on T.V /internet and than if they see crap try and talk them about it. America has become pussified, relying on the government to tell us what’s good or bad. Personally I’m dreading the day I have to talk to my 6 and 8 year old about what I do and believe in. Not because of shame but because I don’t want them to have the same baggage. Baggage about how the laws of this great and beautiful country I live in can be based on racism, fear, industry, greed, and all that other bad shit you read about in the bible and books like it.
When my kids see me playing as something as stupid as Potville on Facebook (yes there is a stoner Farmville) they ask me what I’m doing and I have to brush them off just not to get into “that discussion”. It’s just like seeing a hot chick in a bikini but I don’t wanna tell them how she makes me feel, not that I’m ashamed just that they don’t need to know grown-up business. Yes I’m comparing pot with masturbation and why not? Both are self-contained to the individual and mostly harmless. Everyone knows someone that does or did it but no one ever talks about it. Could you imagine if they illegalized rubbing one out, holy shit I’d be serving a life sentence.
Responsibility comes on different levels though. When I was younger being high all day was my dream, still is but not realistic. These days if I am smoking all day there’s yard work involved or something else I know I can handle high, complex math is not one of them. Being high 24/7, seven days a week is not a functioning reality; would you want to hang with someone drunk constantly? The point being we need to be functioning citizens to garner the respect needed than when it comes out you’re pro-marijuana people will stop and think.
Have you registered to vote? I hope so. Even if you feel the government is a corrupt machine that sways at the whim of big money (which I do) we have to let our political voices be heard. Along with that put your money where your mouth is. Whether its 100 bucks or 10 bucks donate by buying certain magazines, books, hemp made products and just straight political donations helps show big money where our want is. Trust me; big money still wants little money’s money.
Remember we are fighting years of stereotypes and stigmas. As much as I want to be like the dealer from Pineapple Express I need to be sober part of the day. Here’s some advice; never go to work, a job interview, or court high. Unless the job your doing or want is shoveling shit (which I can understand being high throughout) don’t go high. There are many reasons for this but the main one is your mental facilities are not 100 percent, even after taking the proper precautions of Visine, mouthwash, and Axe body spray the employer may find something amiss to your responses. Never leave room for doubt.
Unfortunately there’s no instruction book to this thing called life but everyone seems to agree, live good and good things come to you. As much as I hate playing the nagging parent it needs to be done. We as consumers and advocates need to get off our asses and be pro-active in this thing called society. Now get out there and write a fucking letter to Marc Emery than spark one up.
