July 21, 2011

I Don’t Want You To Smoke; I Just Want You To Understand Why I Do

July 21, 2011
Marijuana Scholar

Marijuana ScholarMy name is No Inhale. I am 20 years old and I live in Portland, Oregon. I am part-owner and administrator for The Weed Blog. I don’t have a criminal record and I’m attending school full-time, but still people don’t think I am capable of leading a healthy and productive life. I’m not here to endorse smoking marijuana, nor am I here to convince anyone to try it. I am only asking those around me to, not only understand why I smoke cannabis, but accept it, as well.

I first smoked when I was a freshman in high school; I was 14 years old and just as blissfully unaware of my own ignorance as I am now. I didn’t like how it made me feel then, so I only did it a handful of times before quitting for the remainder of my high school career. I was approached by Johnny Green and Ninja Smoker in May of last year. They knew I supported those who used marijuana, but did not smoke it myself. This gave me enough credibility (and relevance) to start writing for the website. It’s a year later, and a few things have changed; mainly, that now I am, once again, a marijuana consumer.

I remember the petty judgments and shallow reception the “stoners” got in high school, but I always thought the animosity stemmed from 1,200 insecure teenagers forced to be around each other five days a week. Unfortunately, the adult world can be just as judgmental and closed-minded as a pack of 16 year old girls. Both sides of this issue are tired of the opposition’s repetitive rhetoric. Stoners, bible thumpers, rednecks, liberals, conservatives, hippies have all been beating their dead horses since June, 1971. It’s gotten so ridiculous that both sides are stretching the truth to serve their causes.

My time around cannabis culture has exposed me to hundreds of claims and “facts” about marijuana; many contradicting. What I have extrapolated from my experiences is much less dramatic than a painful death or a cure to all ailments. Marijuana is a plant; it grows naturally in the dirt. The fact that we have made nature illegal should show you how out of hand this has gotten. My father recently passed away from esophageal cancer. It was a three year battle of hell, but marijuana helped him enjoy his last years alive. I can’t imagine anyone would want to throw him in jail for trying to make his last years livable. Marijuana is not the cause of, nor the cure for, cancer, it’s just a plant that amplifies the positive emotions a person feels. Food tastes better, movies are more enjoyable, people are friendlier. Marijuana gives me a certain lucidity, a certain intimacy with everything around me, including myself. Sounds super stoney, right? So, who gives a shit?? Let me be a stoner. Let me laugh at Jay and Silent Bob, let me appreciate every-day objects as divine creation, let me see the beauty and symmetry this world has to offer. Why do you care? Let me enrich my life the way I want to. Let me roll my spliff and sink into my own subconscious, I promise you will come to see that marijuana is just another consumable this earth offers. No different from an apple, no different from chocolate cake, no different than salt and pepper. I don’t want you to join me (although you are always welcome), I just want you to understand and leave me to my happiness.

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