Pot’s Genial Paradox Distinguishing Apples from Oranges
By S. Brook Reed & Dr. Y
Have a cigar! Can I get you a drink? I only smoke with cocktails. Would you like a nightcap? Sex, drugs, and rock and roll….
Typically, socially acceptable party proverbs ref- erence tobacco, alcohol, and/or synthetic potions. Within many cultures, it is customary to consume a glass of wine with dinner, and
light up afterwords. Ale and pizza, to others, are as con- gruent as Judas Priest and heavy metal. And if you aspire to be a musician, you may be expected to OD on hard chemicals or alcohol prior to attaining iconic status. Just ask Jimi Hendricks, Jim Morrison, or Bon Scott.
Yet beneath the politely condoned, and often deadly, balderdash emanates a non-menacing social outcast, cannabis. Like those dependent on anti-depressant med- ications, pot users are commonly frowned upon. Segregated. Or simply termed too eccentric for the gather- ing. Though, satirically, its been proven much safer than traditional function favorites.
Former Beatles bassist/vocalist Paul McCartney delivers positive insight on cannabis. “The song ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’ isn’t about a girl; its an ode to pot, like someone else might write an ode to chocolate,” the lyricist says of the 1966 Revolver album inclusion. “Yet I’d been a rather straight, working class lad.
“I’ve not really changed my opinion too much,” the musi- cal genius notes. “In a stressful world, I’d say pot is one of the best tranquilizing drugs. I have drunk alcohol and smoked pot. And of the two, I think pot is less harmful. People tend to fall asleep on it rather than go out an com- mit murder! Its always seemed to be quite benign.”
Another
mega-platinum British band, Black Sabbath, has also tipped their hat lyrically to cannabis,
while demoral- izing chemicals. Sandwiched between the anti-drug
themes of “Hand of Doom” (Paranoid,’70) and “Snowblind”(Vol. 4, ’72), “Sweet Leaf”(Master of Reality, ’71) glorifies weed. “Straight people don’t know what you’re about,” one verse begins. “They put you down and shut you out. You gave to me a new belief. And soon the world will love you sweet leaf.”
In turn, “Hand of Doom,” with its skin-crawling concept of Vietnam trauma-induced, mainline drug addiction, concludes in casualty. Just as cocaine-illusion track “Snowblind” terminates with the line “…soon I’ll taste of frozen hours.”
Says guitarist/composer Tony Iommi: “Perhaps doing a lot of coke for the Vol. 4 sessions helped speed things up.” Nonetheless, the band’s first experience with writer’s block would surface for the poorly executed Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album a year later.
Ironically, Sabbath hardly conceals the fact that there was plenty of cannabis involved in the creative processing of Paranoid and Master of Reality, the quartet’s finest-selling records. “While in the studio for ….Reality, Ozzy brought in a big joint,” Iommi recalls. “It bloody choked me!” The coughing was then recorded as an intro to the vinyl. Very appropriate: hacking your way into one of the most suc- cessful stoner albums of all time!
Based solely on right-winged propaganda, cannabis’ repu- tation emulates a virgin that’s been tagged a harlot. The alleged “gateway” to ruins has been erroneously inferred a greater carcinogen than tobacco, more addicting than alcohol. Universal systematic principle, including many religious organizations, has brainwashed society into sur- mising a pot user otherwise dysfunctional.
The Rape Abuse and Incest National Networks says, “Alcohol is the most commonly present drug in crimes of sexual assault.”
Wrong. If used recreationally, as opposed to medicinally, the use patterns of some pot smokers may simulate a social drinker. When encompassed with like-minded folks, weed can be great at a dinner party, on a hot date, or for an outdoor summer gig.
Moreover, alcohol, and other drugs, fall short in the ath- letics department, where cannabis may excel. While pro- fessional athletes, such as basketball players, motocross racers, and snowboarders, have been know to indulge in a joint prior to competing, alcohol and pills do not sub- mit, regardless of the arena.
A so-called “couch-lock” drug, pot can, ironically, incite focus as a nerve calming agent. It has been established at local, national, and international sports levels. At this point, its all but condoned in high profiles leagues, such as the National Basketball Association. And like it or not, it is present within virtually all Olympic games.
Had Michael Phelps been spied drinking, or filling a pre- scription of Xanax, the media would have yawned, turn- ing to something news worthy. Yet the swimmer’s per- formance may have then suffered, experiencing subordi- nation to the toxins.
Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People To Drink? Released in 2009, the book by Chelsea Green is available via Amazon.com or accessed at Scribd.com. It contains well-detailed statistics directly from the US Center For Disease Control and Prevention. All informa- tion is founded via unbiased facts.
Leaving an alarming path of destruction, alcohol and drugs supersede all chronicled serial killers and/or psy- chopaths. Colorado, the American leader in non-acciden- tal booze-related deaths, loses 1,400 of its residents annu- ally to alcohol. With a staggering total of 37,000 Americans dying of liver maladies, alcohol poisoning, etc., fermented beverages should elude your Christmas shop- ping list. Even worse, illicit, over-the-counter, and phar- maceutical drugs exterminate over 56,600 US citizens yearly!
US Disease Control and Prevention has yet to require a cannabis-incited demise category.
The Scientific Research
Society has buried the myths. Slang-talking stoner dudes, in spite of their brain-dead estimations, are simply role players, it seems.
Featuring neuroprotective qualities, countless studies reveal that cannabis use actually preserves normal function
in brain cell tissue, long-term.
Notwithstanding, alcohol quickly pervades cerebrum cor- puscle membranes. Soak a cucumber in caustic fluid for consecutive weeks, and it becomes a pickle, never return- ing to its original outline. Thusly, recovering alcoholics still stumble and fall a year into their sobriety.
It goes without saying, a meth user will never regain their mind, nor his/her lost friends.
General healthcare expenses for routine drinkers far sur- passes that of the daily cannabis user. The British Columbia Mental Health and Addictions Journal disclos- es that alcohol users demand eightfold more health atten- tion than pot smokers!
Synthetic drugs and alcohol are also more habit forming than weed. While pills and liquor may present fatal with- drawal symptoms, cannabis is popular for its lack of side effects.
Twenty-one percent of all injuries in America are alcohol- related. Gambling your overall safety level, liquid intoxi- cants place you in harms way more frequently than any other drug. After all, mind you, alcohol will make you stu- pid as a stick!
Pot is rarely, if ever, involved in 911 misadventures. Ordinarily reducing hostility and/or suicidal tendencies, it produces inner peace and well-being.
A complicity to domestic discord and sexual violation, liquor stimulates otherwise dormant behavioral inclina- tions in many individuals. An investigation administered via the American Institute on Addictions concluded that persons possessing obstinate partner aggression, male or female, experienced increased peevishness with alcohol intake. An angry husband, for example, has proven 80 percent more likely to batter his wife, or girlfriend, when blood-alcohol levels are elevated. The Rape Abuse and Incest National Networks says, “Alcohol is the most com- monly present drug in crimes of sexual assault.”
Neither organization even mentions marijuana as a factor on such devastating fronts!
Are we obligated to mention the 2.3 million years of lost brain capacity due to drug and alcohol-related deaths? Unfortunately, technology fails to download obscured knowledge of the untimely deceased.
Hmmm…Guess its a no-brainer: live long and thrive with cannabis.
