Pass the J's, The Psychosis is Free!

I’ve long questioned the promotion of smoking marijuana in all forms of music and popular culture. Artists who testify of incidents of “higher creativity” while under the influence of Mary Jane have always bothered me. Redman, who I loved as an artist, I hated as such a joint smoking endorser. Snoop Dogg, who I loved for his finesse and vocal stylings, I hated for his flamboyant love affair with weed. Willie Nelson, an artist I respected for being creative and in the music business for so long, I hated because he risked his freedom in order to support his belief that people should have a right to smoke pot.

In a low-budget hotel in the late 90’s, I met Snoop Dogg. He was scheduled to perform in Richmond, Virginia and I had been in the hotel room interviewing Miss Jones (the current NY morning show host who was an R&B artist at the time) and also scheduled to be a part of the show. Mid-interview, I recall Snoop Dogg waltzing into the room as slick as an Allen Iverson pick pocket. When he sat on the bed, he sort of slid back like some sort of chaise lounge. To see Snoop move was like watching Boys N The Hood set to a slow jam and he was Dough Boy. His lids were thick, his eyes were red and in his hand, an unmistakably thick joint. I didn’t want Miss Jones to think that I was more concerned with Snoop than her meteoric rise on the R&B charts and so I continued to interview her while my mind thought of Snoop’s marijuana.

In the years prior to publishing, Mad Rhythms magazine, I read numerous reports on the effects of marijuana on the human brain including “Marihuana-Hashish Epidemic and Its Impact on United States Security” which was presented before the United States Senate in 1974. This 33 year old, four hundred thirty page document details how soldiers who never used drugs before were introduced to marijuana in Vietnam. When these soldiers returned home to the US the study reveals that the soldiers craved marijuana use and suffered from “personality changes, apathy, irritability, mental confusion, distortion of time and sense” and much more. In fact, the study asserted that “marihuana caused severe impairment of mental processes.” This study is 33 years old.

Last week, a Charleston, West Virginia newspaper revealed that pot grown and sold from West Virginia is “four or five times stronger than weed 20 years ago.” In that same article, The University of Mississippi’s Marijuana Potency Project stated that marijuana on the market today is stronger than ever. In today’s news reports, a study from London is stating “marijuana’s damaging effect on the brain show the drug triggers temporary psychotic symptoms in some people, including hallucinations and paranoid delusions.” Really? Somebody should tell black men especially the weed enthusiasts.

I single out black men, because I believe black men have been duped the most by the lies about marijuana. It is their dreams, goals, and potential that has been killed because someone told them that smoking weed “didn’t really do anything to you.” When I read statistics like only 35% of black men from Chicago are graduating from high school, I wonder have they bought into the lie about smoking weed? When I read the statistic that only 25% of black men from New York City are graduating from high school, I wonder if the other 75% are at the bus stop smoking joints – so confused that they’re coming to the stop hours after the bus has left. I wonder.

My disdain for people who friendly-ize marijuana to the masses, who familiarize marijuana to young people, who downplay the ill affects of marijuana to the world, is real. It’s real because the government has known publicly for at least 33 years about how dangerous marijuana is and yet people with microphones continue to act like smoking marijuana is like taking a bite out of an apple-except they forget to tell you about the razor blade that is hidden on the inside. They forget to tell you about the invisible poison that sneaks up to your brain and starts burning transmitters that you need to get your hustle on. They forget to tell you.

So, no matter how much I loved music or the artists, I could never embrace the adoration that some artists or people have with taking a drug that is known to damage your brain. Anybody who doesn’t believe that marijuana can damage people’s lives act should keep a journal on the behavior of one of their friends who is a known pothead. You’ll see in 60 days how marijuana is taking that person down one inhalation at a time. Marijuana kills goals, dreams, abilities, clarity, and realities, one hit at a time. And for all the non-believers out there, keep passing those j’s, the psychotic episodes that are in your future, they’re free!