Tag: drugs

I’m sure there are many pro legalization articles floating around, but I wanted to publish my thoughts on all the benefits and consequences of marijuana that I’ve personally observed. Some or all of these are arguable, but I’m not really interested in debating anything. Like all my articles, they exist to ruminate on.

The first is the most obvious: the effect. Marijuana provides an altered state that can manipulate your worldview, increase creativity and attention to detail, relax and calm you down, energize and spark curiosity, offer fresh perspectives, and break down belief structures. All of these can be highly valuable assuming one is interested in utilizing their high. I think when considering the general public in terms of how they would use legalization, we can assume their lives will remain virtually the same. This means that most users would simply consume marijuana for relaxation. Especially among blue-collar workers who may be working tough jobs for long hours. This substance, in my opinion, would provide a better substitute for alcohol-induced relaxation. Among white-collar workers I think we would find users smoking to relax and enjoy entertainment like television and movies. And I think it’s here that we find our first opponent to marijuana: mainstream news agencies. Often times I’ve found that marijuana provides a powerful new angle when analyzing content you’re familiar with. You’ll notice subtleties that normally blend in, you’ll reassess how you feel about things, and the consequence of most Americans smoking cannabis would be the realization that mainstream news is overly negative and incredibly stupid. I base this conclusion on the fact that an increased attention to detail would reveal the negativity you absorb from hearing about deaths, economic woes, crimes, etc. (Note: this increased awareness to emotional absorption can also be achieved through meditation.) They’d also consider what they’re watching more closely because all the different language and visual cues would stick in their minds more clearly. Seriously thinking about what you’re watching would undoubtedly ruin the news for many people.

The relaxation effect would be beneficial for most Americans in my opinion because the stress level of most people I’ve observed is very high. The ability to reassess your life through marijuana may greatly reshape a lot of American lives as they realize how affected by stress and unhappy their are. Again this reveals a serious opponent to legalization: the US government and Wall Street. Assuming a significant swath of Americans begin using post-legalization, I would assume we’d see a correlated statistical shift in how serious those workers are about their jobs. The realization that your job may be responsible for serious unhappiness, high stress, and little free time to spend doing what you care about will undoubtedly affect our economics. As a world power, any significant portion of our country reassessing that aspect of their life could be very detrimental (“lazy nation syndrome”). Of course this isn’t necessarily a bad thing depending on who you are. Considering that we were not born to work our lives away and should be spending most of it enjoying life, this reassessment might be the best thing that ever happened to a lot of people. I constantly feel sympathy for the millions of working adults who have never considered what it is they are doing. They’ve been given a task and will carry it out unto their grave, simply because it’s “the right thing to do”. The longer you consider the design of our system and the reality of life and existence, the more you realize how absurd it is to go along with society. Marijuana may hold the key to freeing many peoples’ minds.

Disclaimer: while relaxation and freeing your mind is good. You must still accept the reality of the world around you. Ignoring your bills, rent, work, etc. and smoking to relax doesn’t change the eventual outcome. Responsible drug use is the only type of drug use I encourage. Pay your bills, pay rent, work hard, but think about things so you can make real, conscious decisions about them. I’d also like to note (somewhat randomly) the importance of NOT using marijuana as a sleep-aid. While it does help with insomnia and simply getting great sleep, natural sleep is always going to be a better, healthier alternative. Do NOT become dependent on drugs for this or any other biological process.

Another important aspect of marijuana use is the increased enjoyment from entertainment. Movies, music, television, art, YouTube, etc. will become more interesting and can captivate you for hours. I can personally attest to an increased appreciation for artistic movies and music post-marijuana use. The band Animal Collective and Between the Buried and Me had previously been nothing more than “noise” when I first heard them. After a night of smoking and watching their live concerts, I became a fan. It allowed me to really hear their music the way I felt it was meant to be heard. The depth, each instrument, and the emotion behind it. Without marijuana my music interests may never have risen above ordinary ears.

Disclaimer: It should be noted that while good media can be appreciated even more, bad media isn’t any different. I suggest actively experiencing what is considered “high art” when high. It will expand your mind, rather than dumbing it down. Additionally, marijuana-based perspectives can actually ruin content as well. I had previously enjoyed the sober experience behind the movie Avatar until I watched it high. Flaws, CG, bad dialog and more become suddenly more apparent. I also immediately stopped playing the game Morrowind as well because the nerdiness-level was too intense. Lastly, it can be somewhat addicting to watch and play everything high because it all seems better. But this is addictive behavior and should be managed properly. If you find that you can’t enjoy things unless you’re high, then you probably need to take a break and get your mind clear.

Now let’s talk about the greatest asset marijuana possesses, something I mentioned above: forced perspectives. Derived from increased attention to detail and the ability to reassess aspects of reality, marijuana provides a powerful tool for destroying belief structures and providing new perspectives you had not previously considered. This is one of the most fundamental lessons a person interested in intellectual enlightenment must eventually grasp. That what you believe, and what is “true”, are two entirely different things. I believe marijuana could produce this effect in a portion of users minds and free them from previous restricted thinking. And this is where we meet our next opponent: religion. Marijuana itself can provide deep spiritual and enlightening experiences. This of course directly contradicts the Church who until very recently provided most people with meaning and purpose. But a free mind cannot be religious (Note: religion is different than spirituality).

The last segment to discuss here is medical purposes. This is a fairly well known argument for legalization and has provided the most successful legislation to date through the use of medical marijuana. It can be used to reduce pain, help with depression, and I’m sure a myriad of other conditions. Personally, I don’t care too much about this section because medical marijuana legalization is still infringing on fundamental liberties. As a responsible user, I would prefer not to lie to get access to marijuana stores. But it’s important to note our very last major opponent to legalization: pharmaceutical companies. The cost and effectiveness of simple, natural drugs like marijuana and even psilocybin mushrooms could be widely available to everyone who needs them for a fraction of the cost of laboratory produced drugs. They should at the least be considered first over the highly addictive, and questionably effective drugs you get now. The fact that many people are on dangerous anti-depressant drugs when they could have taken a single dose of mushrooms is sickening and should be greatly scrutinized. There are also other industries that would undoubtedly find reasons to prohibit marijuana legalization because it would negatively impact their bottom line. One mentioned by Duncan Trussell on his podcast “The Duncan Trussell Family Hour” was of the potentially lucrative hemp industry that was squashed by industries that would be affected by this new material. It’s these sort of behaviors that push through anti-drug propaganda and bad legislation that are based on lies, like that a hemp industry could easily lead to more marijuana production or that hemp would be smoked for a high (even though hemp plants can have extremely reduced or eliminated THC content). I will admit that growing marijuana among hemp plants could be very difficult to detect and thus hemp’s prohibition makes sense from that angle, but to eliminate an entire industry simply because we don’t want people to get high seems foolish. Perhaps with America’s decline from super power status, we will finally come to our senses and realize life isn’t just about economic and sociopolitical power.

From a statistical viewpoint, one I will be mentioning in a future article, marijuana prohibition makes a lot of sense. Legalization will immediately result in a higher statistical rate of addiction, potentially increased unemployment, economic decline, fatalities due to driving under the influence, and more unforeseeable consequences. But legalization is not without benefit. Protecting and encouraging fundamental liberties is what America is all about and our inability to process, dry, and smoke a naturally growing plant seems absurd at best. It may result in change and consequence but the social well-being of every American touched by this frankly strange and mystifying plant, will live on for the better. Understanding more of who they are and what they want in life. Perhaps a powerful society like ours can’t legalize until certain variables are ready, but eventually we must allow people to make their own decisions and face the consequences of their actions as adults.

Update: I suppose I should quickly mention, in comparison to alcohol, you cannot, or it would be incredibly difficult and extremely uncomfortable to, OD on marijuana. There is also no discernible hangover from marijuana which means you can experience the same level of altered state as alcohol without the painful consequence. Alcohol is generally a better social drug and it’s probably the greatest asset it has. Marijuana I find to be more of a small group or even individual affair, but people who smoke very frequently do socialize on it. I find it much easier to maintain (“be cool and think”) on marijuana than alcohol. Of course this is probably subjective, but something to consider. There is a lingering effect from post-marijuana-consumption that keeps you feeling calm and chill. It’s very nice and similar to the feeling after long meditation sessions. Marijuana legalization may help lift the ban on psychedelic drugs as well which could open a new door to social change and experimentation.