So this is random, but doesn't everybody wish their lives were like Weeds and that exciting where they got to hang out with Nancy all day? She's crazy and hilarious! Nancy seems like she's getting more confident, more stable, getting her shit together, but really, this is all a bad reaction to grief as some would say, and some would say it's her freedom and she's been this rebellious creature all along. Who better to portray the incandescence of Nancy's erotic behavior and stimulating action adventures in a beautifully pale silhouette than Mary Louise Parker? Everyone has options in life, she had some, but in turn, she's kind of lost it and instead of it shining a bad light on the world of drugs and dealers alike, it's showing us real people, real instances, and how someone on public night time news who just got arrested for drug trafficking might have made it to that place in their lives. I love how this show takes what seems perfect and ordinary, classy and ticky-tacky and defines exactly what is fucked up and what we've all known about the world to a much broader audience. Following the "Look Closer" theme of the great movie American Beauty, what you see on the outside isn't always what is within.
I was sitting at my best friend's house who happens to dispense marijuana for the greater good of peace and mankind in the city delivery style, and we began watching this together, from start to finish of season one to three with her boyfriend who also contributes to their casual entrepreneurship and that's the first comment he made after the first season.
"I really like how it doesn't make us look so bad and puts a different aspect on weed." Coke can kill with one blow too many, heroin addicts are the people of lost souls who drift in and out of reality and ecstasy is one of those boxes of chocolates Forrest Gump was talking about.
Actual studies of human's who use THC based products, most commonly known as Cannibas Sativa, Pot, Weed, Mary Jane or dope do not show results of brain damage whereas Heroin is a highly addictive drug derived from morphine, which is obtained from the opium poppy. It is a “downer” that affects the brain’s pleasure systems and interferes with the brain’s ability to perceive pain.
Marijuana does not affect the reproductive system whereas heroin and cocaine are continually growing statistics for birth defects, withdrawal symptoms and still born children.
It is said that there are almost as many chemicals in ground roasted coffee as there are in Weed.
In the 25 to 49 age group, illicit drug overdose is the fourth leading cause of death, about the same number as motor vehicle crashes. Marijuana tends to substitute for hard core drugs which can easily effect the nervous system and bodily functions and even create overdose on a regular basis in proven studies from countries or states which have wavered illicit marijuana use. The common statistics for hard core drug use overdose reported to emergency rooms in those areas have decreased greatly due to the readily availability in Marijuana. In order to overdose on Marijuana it takes 40,000 times the amount of THC Cannabinoids to acutally kill someone.
That basically means, you'd have to smoke yourself 40,000 joints or eat 20,000 pot brownies within a limited, short amount of time, let's say less than an hour, in order to overdose. No one can possibly smoke that much or eat that many brownies without going to the bathroom.
Marijuana cannabinoids are fat soluble and remain in the body in fat cells. People can die from one injection of Heroin, one tab of "E" or ecstasy, one line of cocaine or injection within seconds of taking the drug. Potheads would pass out at joint number five in ten minutes, take a long nap, wake up and eat a bunch of resees and try again, maybe have sex somewhere in the middle.
On this following website is listed a timeline of Marijuana and it's illegal state and how the whole thing began.
http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2003/12/22/whyIsMarijuanaIllegal.html
It states the most often cause of Marijuana illegalization was due to
- Racism
- Fear
- Protection of Corporate Profits
- Yellow Journalism
- Ignorant, Incompetent, and/or Corrupt Legislators
- Personal Career Advancement and Greed
I could understand the useful rights outlawing iilicit, harmful drugs such as heroin, coccaine, opiates and other hard drugs, but I don't understand the prejudices of Marijuana.
My mother told me once when I was younger, she found out I was smoking Marijuana and I thought she would be upset with me and I'd be grounded or in big trouble, but she sat down and gave me a talking to that I think the world should hear.
"If you come home from work and pour yourself a cup of red wine to relax and enjoy, maybe smoke a cigarette and watch TV because you've had a hectic day, then you are not abusing the alcohol and it's relaxing, legal qualities, none of which are medicinal. If you decide to come home after a long day and have six cups of wine, let's say a bottle and a half, then you are in trouble with yourself. It doesn't take that much to relax a little, only a cup or two responsibly in the evening if you are not driving or going out by yourself but if you end up drinking too much, you just swirl and puke and poop or say mean things to those you love, or love mean people you don't know in public and it's no good and that is abuse of anything. The same thing goes for Pot. It does not mean you can indulge or need to in other drugs or common things your friends might be doing, but perhaps to relax a little and have your cup of wine at night after a long day is no big deal just be responsible and don't shout it out loud and wave it all around and act like a dummy.
It doesn't make you poop yourself, it helps you eat better, and I sleep really well on it but don't you go abusing it and messing up your life or we will have issues. Do you have some anyway?"
It was perhaps one of the most proud moments I've ever had of her in my life. I knew she smoked sometimes, cigarettes have a different smell and I wasn't a stupid child, but her reaction, her words were priceless and I still remember her speech loud and clear in my head.
I've had my bouts with other drugs not because of Marijuana but because I was in pain at work and tried different things to make it through the night and got hooked. It was a stupid move and my mother gave me many lectures after rehab, countless times, never the less supportive of my dumb mistakes. Having tasted a little bit of addiction with other drugs because of my own stupidity and God Bless me that I'm alive and well, I think I'll stick to Pot from now on and I'm not ashamed or scared to say so. I don't smoke often, in fact, it's been two months now and I don't think about it much and I feel no sudden urge to have to get high, sometimes after a long hard day at work, I sit and relax with my cup of wine and a joint and watch TV, smoke a cigarette, eat and sleep really well and I like that.
When I was in rehab two summers ago now, I had an amazing Dr to work with. I won't mention names here, but she and I were talking outside for a long time one day in the sun. She kept asking me questions about my addiction, where it started and why, what I've learned and how etc. I told her everything and how low I had fallen, how much I had learned and it was the hardest thing to admit where it started and that it was ridiculous of me to in the first place instead of getting the proper medical help I needed. When I bought up Pot and how it relaxed me and my anxious mind and everything I was going through, she asked me a question I'll never forget. "And what do you think about Pot? Do you feel the same and as low with the other drugs like you can't function and it takes away from who you are, or does it help you, center you? Do you feel like you need it? I won't be with you to tell you not to do anything in the future when you go home, no one will be there to warn you or remind you what you went through but yourself. If you feel like you can't handle pot, then don't bother. One of the most difficult things you'll have to do is separate yourself from other users, even if it's your friends, especially with hard drugs that can kill you. What do you think about pot in those circumstances?"
After all that self reflecting and thinking about life while I was there, and all I had learned from other people's stories, this was the one conclusion I was sure of. We talked about politics and government, stock holders and the economy, drugs and their affects on young kids, sex and how it is in society and societies effect on the world. It was one of the best conversations I've had in my life. I'm very grateful. She was an incredibly intelligent woman who kind of looked like Marilyn Monroe in recent years if she were alive and well. I've been clean and sober for a long time now, I don't drink, maybe a beer once in a great while but I didn't have a big problem with that other than coming down, I needed something to fill in the blanks. I still smoke pot once in a while and there are not any medical anxiety drugs out there that help me eat and sleep as well as calm me down when I'm over worked or depressed, make me laugh as much. I can't overdose and end up back in rehab, I don't feel like it controls my life at all and I feel good. I don't feel dependant on it, it's not hard to say no when I don't feel like smoking and I don't abuse it.
The one thing I learned, which I think relates to all of us from Weeds and Nancy's story, is not to judge the life she lives. To educate yourself about something before you form an opinion.
To break out from the ticky tacky people and all their boxes that look just the same and live a little of your own life and stop worrying about others. The only thing I disagreed with is the gun scene in weeds where they were held captive over some money from weed. This doesn't usually happen to this extreme that I've ever heard of. Potheads are simple and exchange the goods on a rational, friendly term. When other drugs or money get involved, never borrow for large amounts of weed, that is abuse and addiction which is rare, it can cause trouble, it is TV after all.
I don't suggest young kids smoke all the time because of school just like I wouldn't want a young kid drinking because of school and it's just morally wrong, but as adults of all ages, it's not only a medicinal relief for many different types of issues from mental to physical health including cancer patients, but also a common ground as similar to Alcohol but less harmful to enjoy.
So as with anything, even Twinkies, you can abuse the enjoyment. Be careful, smoke responsibly, but live on and live free! I can't wait for season 5 to come out. I've been waiting a long time!!
