The Manifesto of a Midnight Toker

I suppose, based on a previous post, that you may know by now what sort of position I’ve taken in terms of the U.S. war on drugs. I want to use this post to discuss a more specific position, namely in terms of the legalization of marijuana. I won’t say “don’t read this if you don’t agree or personally, recreationally smoke pot” because my intentions are to inform and hopefully change some minds. All I ask of you the reader is to keep an open mind and refrain from passing judgment. I know that I am not alone as far as my stance on this issue goes, as there are many groups and NGOs devoted purely to the cause.

After all, over 20 million Americans have smoked pot in the past year, and more than 80 million total Americans have used it in general.

To illustrate why I take the position on this issue that I do, I must explain to you the personal experience I have had with marijuana. To quote an online organization’s website section entitled The Experience of Getting High, “many people report that cannabis makes them more open-minded and tolerant of diversity.” The instant I read that line, I knew it completely summed up my own experience with pot. Since the time I first began smoking pot occasionally (high school) and more frequently as I eased into my collegiate career, I have become more accepting of all groups, and gently switched from a conservative mindset to a liberal one. I don’t have a problem with conservative-minded people, but I’ve gone through a few changes as a result of becoming this free, love-everyone, any/no/self-created religion accepting person. For example, I used to be a very devotional Christian that was in church every Sunday. I believed deeply in one God and one religion, and was recognizing of, but not fully accepting of all world religions. I didn’t have enough experience with world history to realize that Christianity isn’t that old and that “hey, there are some pretty serious religions in other parts of the world.” You could say I was stuck up America’s ass, and was kind of caught in this superiority complex whenever I compared the ways and customs of Americans with those of other countries.

You’ll have to give it to me that I was experiencing high school through a pre- and post- 9/11 lens.

Anyway, I figured that the ways Americans did things were the best ways to do things- religion, government, public policies, education, you name it. It of course took me some time to open my eyes. But until I did, I was stuck in a small conservative city with small-town values, with a model and upright citizen for a boyfriend (who loved to be staunch with me whenever I did something remotely close to receiving his disapproval), and friends who were too politically apathetic because they were busy enjoying their teenage years and their worldly-ignorant mindsets. What could I do but conform to these various values? I saw nothing wrong with it because there was nothing out there to tell me it was wrong. There was nothing to do but approve.

Then came college.

Mr. Staunchy and I were on the outs, I made new friends, I traveled to Europe, I met my new boyfriend, who was just what I needed. I consider him the catalyst for releasing my inner liberal. And when I say “liberal”, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I align with the Democratic Party. It refers more to my lifestyle and values. The summer before I met him, I had begun hanging out more with a good friend from school and my field hockey team. She and I enlightened our minds several times, including during an amazing light show on the 4th of July from her rooftop. My mind was finally expanding outside of the little bubble of a life I’d been surrounding myself with. So, when I met him for the first time in front of our dorm on a balmy September night, I was faced with a tall, shaggy-haired, Zeppelin-shirted, cargo-shorted young man. Top it all off with a plaid fedora and you’ve got the most liberal-minded individual I had ever met (and to this day can’t be beat).

I was smitten.

I learned a lot about him and from him the following semester, then I was off to Europe for a study-abroad program. We emailed daily while I was gone, and as soon as I returned, we decided to make it official. It was during that following summer, especially after just having seen the way Europeans live, that I grew more than I ever expected. I adopted a very free lifestyle, not holding back from the indulgences of marijuana, listening to new and enthralling music, and opening my eyes to the real world around me. We came back to school for my junior year and his senior year, and have continued to smoke pot together often.

This is NOT a defining aspect of our relationship. It sure does help you become deeply connected to a person, however.

A fiery Democrat and deeply interested in the politics of marijuana policies and legalization, he tells me of new developments, research, groups involved, politicians in support of decriminalization, and people in the public eye openly favoring legalization. This has consequently turned me on to similar notions and understandings in this realm of controversy.

So now, here are the reasons I personally and fully support the legalization of marijuana.

• It doesn’t give you a hangover, you can’t overdose on it, and it always makes you happy.
• Physicians recommend it to ease the pains of many types of patients.
• It’s all natural.
• It is not physically addictive.
• You don’t make ridiculous decisions under its influence (like a crazy drunk who drinks themselves blind, screws that guy from class in the men’s room, and then throws up on the bouncer’s shoes before stumbling home alone).
• It is very enlightening and a thorough exercise for the mind.
  

By now, I hope I have achieved my intentions of informing as well as changing minds. I also hope it’s clear that I didn’t write this to convince people to try pot- I know it’s not for everyone. But for those whom it is for… well, I just think its time to stop ostracizing people for responsibly doing something that is safe, not harmful to others, and is THIRD in line behind alcohol and tobacco for being the most recreationally used drug in America.

We’re productive, intelligent, society-minded people too.