MARIJUANA
[mass noun] Cannabis, especially as smoked or consumed as a psychoactive (mind-altering) drug. (The Oxford English Dictionary)
In April 2016, The Independent ran an article called “Cannabis possession arrests fall by almost 50% since 2010,” stating that the number of arrests dropped from 35,367 in 2010 to 19,115 in 2015. The rationale of this policing strategy is further explored in the article “Fact Check: do the police spend over a million hours a year fighting cannabis?” But one of the most interesting components of the discussion on cannabis use and the law in the U.K. can be found in people’s comments. For example, in The Independent article, the first comment is by Walktheotherway who says, “You arrive at a party, half of them are awake, alert, rational human beings, the rest of them are on dope, bloodshot eyes, incoherent, paranoid, snigger nitwits…Dope is a cowardly refusal to face reality. The dope smoker is constantly writing himself sick notes. He is absenting himself from life. ‘I’m here but I don’t want to be because I don’t like it, it frightens me.’ Dope is anti-life.” This is later followed by The Mark saying, “Everyone has their opinions, but laws need to be based on evidence. The evidence shows that prohibition has negligible impact on rates of drug use … it has cost over $1 trillion (globally), the harm to society through organized crime has been enormous, and it has led to huge swathes of nations (such as Mexico) to become failed states. To me this says, no, this screams that we’re taking the wrong approach…” At this point we’ll end with the Squidapedoyt responses, “’Laws need to be based on evidence.’ Careful where you say that, now. Proff Nutt got sacked for saying that. Talking sense in a debate bedeviled by prejudice and idiocy is not a safe thing to do.”
I guess I shouldn’t have been, but I was surprised to learn how many had been criminalized for marijuana along with the tremendous governmental cost that these articles reported. Though, I must confess it didn’t feel that way living in east London (north and south of the Thames). On a sunny day in the park, or on an evening stroll through the neighbourhood, I was certain to smell someone lighting up a jay. It certainly didn’t feel as popular in San Francisco or Santiago, Chile for that matter, but it’s also true that the laws are less stringent to non-existent in those two cities.
In the process of writing this, as a habitual weed smoker, I was drawn to what the issue is about. I did smoke weed in London, as many do, which only reveals that the law doesn’t stop people. Is the law there merely as a deterrent? From what?
When I’m high, my brain buzzes and my body feels light and alive, the tips of the hairs on my arms full of sensory information. Connections are made that otherwise wouldn’t have. You take note of those – some are later laughed at and tossed away while others stay.
Some friends from the south of Chile had come into the city and were staying with us. One evening, sitting around the table after the dishes are cleared, one of our friends lights a joint and passes it around. The visitors leave to go dancing. I am enthused but my partner is tired and we stay in. She is very high. She says, “My feet feel like cement bricks.” She leans her head against my shoulder, snuggling into my neck. “Do you feel that?” she says. “What?” I ask.
She sits up on the sofa beside me. “It’s like being on a giant swing set. We are looking forward. Our hands go up, our swings go down.” The rope is tied to the arm of a giant oak tree that sits on the top of the knoll. As we swing through the bottom of the arc and begin to rise, we see a small country village and the trees and green to the horizon of an impressionist painting.
Back and forth we swing on the sofa tree swing together.
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