Reefer Madness

Happy 4/20, everybody!

Yeah, right -- fuck that nonsense. As a friend of mine said on Facebook this morning, if you're above the age of 19 and are excited that it's 4/20, kindly do us all a favor and kill yourself.

With that in mind, my latest piece for the Daily Banter is up and it's specific to this hallowed day in the life of every dipshit stoner you know and wish would just leave you the hell alone (because you likely don't care that he or she came into this really great batch of purple haze and is, like, so mellow right now). Over the past couple of weeks, if you pay attention to the podcast and my only occasionally active Twitter feed, you know that Bob Cesca, myself and a couple of other players have had a minor debate going back and forth over the good, bad and ugly of the pot-praising subculture in this country. Last week, we kind of left it at the fact that I merely wasn't into the whole thing and that it's simply a matter of opinion -- and that's true, to an extent. But I also do have a legitimate beef with those who loudly proclaim the wonder of weed -- and that's what today's piece deals with.

Despite my obvious distaste for stoner culture, I think it's pretty even-handed. Then again, you know what my idea of even-handed is.

Here's the opening shot:

"I’ve never been a big fan of smoking pot. Yeah, I’ve done it a few times, but being that I seem to have lived by the motto 'Go Big or Go Home' when it came to kicking off my storied career in drug use — diving directly into LSD and ecstasy rather than going through the various 'gateways' — I always kind of found pot smoking to be a bit anti-climactic. Great, so you laughed a lot and ate too much shitty food and were often forced to hang out with idiots who spent hours engaging in long-winded discussions that employed a lot of stoner logic. Sounds like a blast. That being said, I don’t begrudge anyone their habits as long as they’re not hurting anyone else in the process, and I accept unequivocally the absurdity of demonizing a plant simply because it happens to make people feel good; the political pressure to keep marijuana illegal amounts to nothing more than the senseless perpetuation of a puritanical blue law. If alcohol is legal I see no reason why pot shouldn’t be as well.

Over the past couple of weeks, though, Bob Cesca and I have had a little debate going on our podcast and radio show about the merits — or lack thereof, in my opinion — of the 'culture' of marijuana..."

Read the Rest at the Daily Banter