Granny was right: We are going to hell in a hand basket. Hillary
Clinton is right, too: What’s putting us in hell along the U.S.-Mexico
border is not just the greedy, vicious Mexican drug lords, but the
insatiable consumption habits of the American public.
Neither of these things is going to change; human greed is more
constant than the North Star. We Americans don’t even define ourselves
as “citizens” anymore. We are consumers. We consume massive
amounts of food, raw materials, manufactured goods and drugs of all
kinds, ranging from caffeine to heroin. Some Buddhists have long since
relegated us to the status of a nation of hungry ghosts. Hungry
ghosts are what’s left over when a sentient being has become so
overwhelmed with the need to consume that it loses every other aspect
of its being. A hungry ghost is represented in the literature as a
gaping mouth supported on a stalk of flesh. Way scary.
What worries me is the inevitable legalization of drugs in the
service of consuming, particularly marijuana. Ostensibly, this will be
to stem the violence. Really, it will be to provide revenue. In case
anybody has missed it, we need money. Loads of it is barking at the
back door, and all we have to do is let it in.
My problem with legalizing marijuana has nothing to do with drugs
destroying the fabric of society. Nor am I worried about cannabis being
a gateway drug, though it often incidentally is. No, my problem with
the gange is that potheads are irritating, and I dislike being around
them. You ask one of them a simple question, like, what time is
it?, and he goes on about time having no meaning because of some
physics he heard about on Star Trek: The Next Generation,
in which there are, like, zillions of dimensions and, like, given all
that and the fact the dinosaurs died out 150 million years ago, who
cares what time it is?
All you wanted to know was whether it was closer to 3 or 4, because
you still had to go to the store and were worried about traffic on
Speedway Boulevard.
And then there’s the Shaun of the Dead factor. For those of
you who shun cinéma vérité, Shaun is a
much-better-than-average zombie movie, although my favorite will always
be the original Night of the Living Dead. Man, those were some
zombies. Those clawing, scraping, eternally insistent deadbeats were
scarier than any of their descendents, but I digress.
One morning, Shaun awakens hung over and heads out of his
apartment across the street to the neighborhood bodega. He fails to
notice not just that the street is choked with dead bodies and wrecked
cars; he fails to notice the bloody handprints on the refrigerator case
in the store. Totally oblivious to his surroundings, he grabs his pint
of orange juice, leaves some money on the counter and splits.
As far as I can tell, people these days are already half-zombie.
Nobody is where they’re supposed to be. They are wired up, plugged in,
tuned out and voluntarily at the beck and call of so many electronic
masters that they can hardly see straight. We have middle-age women
jogging down the street iPod-ing Rod Stewart’s latest-lounge lizard act
at maximum volume to the degree that they fail to hear the fully loaded
Wal-Mart semi as it bears down on them; the semi driver has become
distracted while text-messaging his girlfriend for the third time
because he’s not getting the immediate response he’s used to and
assumes, therefore, that she must be fucking someone else. She,
meanwhile, is in the bedroom screaming her lungs out, having failed,
yet again, to download the latest Black Keys CD from her Mac into her
own iPod, for free.
If only the middle-age woman had left Rod at home, electing instead
to listen to the birds and actually hear large, fast-moving vehicles as
they veer dramatically off course. If only the trucker had not felt
entitled to an immediate response from his hissy-fitting girlfriend. If
only the girlfriend had listened for the phone instead of pounding her
computer monitor. Think of the mayhem that could have been avoided.
In the very near future, not only will we have to deal as a matter
of course with all of this; nearly all of the people doing it will be
stoned.
I have seen the enemy, and he is us. Dude.
This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2009.
Me, I haven’t smoked in years. My difficulty in quitting, the way it ruined my life while smoking, makes me feel pot is far worse of a drug than its reputation. Still, I hope you are right, that it is on its way to being legalized.
We need the revenue, we need the eco-friendly paper, oil for plastics, and textiles. We need to hit the Mexican drug market a huge blow. Maybe, just maybe, getting ride of the thrill of illegal use will knock away pot’s being a gateway drug. (Or, maybe the thrill of illegal behavior will make coke more used, dunno.)
My main concern is cops not being able to give a test to see if drivers are currently stoned. Maybe the demand for such a test will rise, along with $ for research, and legalizing it will help us get such a test.
I usually enjoy your eclectic articles, Catherine, but wow, someone needs a nap and some quiet time.
The ‘potheads’ you know that you rail against were probably stupid and obnoxious before they did pot.
The worst problem with drugs has always been and shall always be the prohibition of them.
Some people will get their kicks from almost anything, so wouldn’t it be better to have them be able to freely contact a doctor for treatment if they develop issues, instead of criminalizing their lives, filling our jails, and destroying their families? Don’t fear the reefer. Awaken from the madness!
We have a thousand Al Capones right across the border from us now, and many more than that inside our country — the true result of prohibition — because it is insanely profitable. The violence, the killings, the corruption of our government and police forces, gangs, guns, and no-knock-shoot-first raids have ravished our liberties and turned our neighborhoods into DMZ’s.
What we’ve done for the last 70 years is the opposite of what we should have been doing about drugs and abuse.
You would be surprised at how many people in this city and many other cities across the nation use pot. It surprised me, and keeps surprising me at how prevalent it is. You cannot get rid of it; its even in our maximum security prisons(!) so we all should minimize the damage it causes in society by bringing it out of the alleys and slums.
Hemp is supposed to be a healing herb, not a drug. It should be utilized medicinally instead of recreationally, but there will still be those who seek to get high… at least an ‘overdose’ of pot won’t kill them.
RE-Legalize and regulate hemp products, and the real danger of pot will soon subside.
We want to outlaw transfat, plastic bags and foie gras, but legalize pot, crack and meth….i just don’t get it.
Gad! First the simple-minded garbage by Leo Banks and now this collection of long-ago-debunked stereotypes and assumptions. Since when did the Weekly start recruiting its writers from the Arizona Daily Star’s online comment section?
Catherine, I think closer observation will reveal that American “potheads,” on the whole, are much less materialistic than non-potheads, so I’m missing your garbled point here…oh, wait, hang on, I have to go do a bong hit…
Two comments here:
First, you seem to stereotype everyone who uses marajuana. Well you tell that to those who have cancer, AIDS, and other illnesses who benefit from the anti-emetic (anti-nausea) properties of pot.
Second, I find it curious that most every article you write always includes one expletive (never none, never two.) You seem to have to drop the “f-bomb” in every article. Is that how you speak to your children, or your mother? Do you say “Clear your f*cking dishes off the table” to your children? Do you call your mother and say “Hey what the f*ck are you doing today?”
A competent journalist can write a good article without using the expletives; give it a try sometime.
I read, I try to absorb what is being said, and I have to agree with Catherines’s article. I also agree with “Is It Just Me”, I do not agree with az4normal.com, as I have heard his reasoning before. I took a little survey of allot of folks that I work with, because I thought my way of thinking about legalizing drugs MAY be wrong, giving the benefit of doubt, and the consenseous of what the issue was, I asked them and I quote, “Do you think pot should be legalized”? Most of the people I spoke to didn’t seem to have a problem with it. Some even said it was being used for medicinal reasons for glucoma, etc. “So”, I said, “You wouldn’t opposed legalizing drugs or controlled substances of any kind?” and they said, “Well yes, I would, but we are only talking about Pot here right?” I said “Yes”. I interviewed at least 40 of my coworkers, some were for it, saying that “Marijuana is the least harmful drug on the market, and is used even for medicine”, and the other half said, “NO, not only no, but HELL NO!, what kind of a question is that?” Of course I explained that I am not a liberalist that condones any kind of legalization of ANY controlled substances, but I am with you Catherine, I really fell that your “Granny” is right. The world is going to hell in a handbasket. The intellects that are proposing legalization to get cartel warfare off the streets and BLOOD, off of our streets actually think that legalizing these substances will end all of that, To me, that is be delusional. The cartels will still fight amoungst themselves to see who could land the biggest contract deals. Yes, drugs are big revenue, and to me, it appears that is is all about the almight buck that “We Need” at what cost? I assume that these are the same people that took prayer out of schools, and are demoralizing this great nation. I think if these folks want to legalize pot, or any other substance, should move over to Amsterdam, or better still, move down to Mexico, then they can finally say that there is no problem living down there because drugs are legal…even though there are cartel wars, corrupt government, and the police are on the take….naw, legalizing drugs is really working down there isn’t it? Wow, its all under control. I liked your article, and I find in insightful.
Ok everybody who even puts weed in the same catagory as cocain crack or any other addictive drug should just shut the F up. And no people can not get addicted to marijuana..and people who say they are..are weak minded people who blame their problems on anything they can besides themselves.
Weed is a beautiful thing that takes away stress and pain. If it was such a terrible thing it wouldnt be givin to cancer, arthritis and aids patients to be able to stand living day to day. People need to stop hatting and start appreciating what God put on the earth for us. :]