Choose your vice carefully
Having been Marlboro smoker of 20 years I found it easy to justify the switch from toxic carcinogen to herb, and new documentaries like 'A culture high' and ‘Breaking the Taboo’ really got me motivated to jump on the bandwagon, join the new movement and end the stigma associated with traditional weed smoking.
As an athletic, relatively young, professional I figured I'd missed the hippy rebellious teenager stereotype as I could be accepted as the new face of modern marijuana smokers. Through healthy debate and research I would bring the issue to the floor and confidently end my own personal prohibition.
This appealed both to the modern Jack Daniels saloon man in me and the slightly naughty rebellious aspects of my personality.
It was a coming of age statement and admittedly egotistical as I figured 'who the fuck is really going to try to stop me? I'd be too polite and well dressed in the right environments for anyone to waste their resources and no one has the right to tell me what I can and can't do!
It was a principal of sovereignty and anyone who would condone smoking a Marlboro cannot argue that smoking a joint is any worse.
This sense of flag waving at times can call out the apex in any situation and from a primal territorial perspective define the ‘guest or host’ rules.
I would say this is true of censorship. If someone's language is offensive, either in volume or words, normally all it takes is a polite word to remind the person offending to reconsider.
As a smoker the law has been well established 'outside' is the norm.
This puts a cannabis smoker in a ‘catch 22’ whereby you are almost forced to wave that green flag very publicly.
At the early stage it felt like an easy win to sit in the smoking section and light a joint rather than a Marlboro and anyone who objected I almost could laugh at and point out the hypocrisy.
The move from carcinogen to non-carcinogen was set for my social experiment with my responses in place.
I had positioned myself very well to both intellectually argue my own sovereign ability to consume whatever I felt best for my body (who could argue with the switch from cigarettes?) Potentially there was a healthy upside with anti inflammatory and pain relief quite an aid to yoga and general sports and training.
Then there was the financial argument; with cigarettes being so fucking expensive Marlboro was becoming a real luxury I was happy to find cheaper rolling tobacco alternative and the light dusting of herb was a distinctly healthier alternative to beer or whisky.
It was easily justified on a boring Monday night instead of spending £5 quid a pint in the local pub or wasted calories on wine.
The financial double-edged sword of drugs and poverty and the intertwining relationship between drugs, depression and financial hardship is potentially a real global issue.
I, like many other young, single, pleasure seeking members of society drank and smoked for social acceptance and hedonistic reasons.
Smoking cigarettes, or cannabis, have no real logical reason or justification but can perhaps be best explained with a David Attenborough perspective of a Peacocks feathers, this peacocking or flagrant self-destruction is almost a statement to the opposite sex that I am strong enough to poison myself and still thrive.
This and the imitation of film, music and iconic fashion idols is really the only potential explanation that I could think of.
Base imitation explains a considerable amount of perceived stupid behavior and perhaps the purpose of this book is to stop anyone walking the same path or potentially making the same mistake.
I not here to advise but perhaps highlight the potential pitfalls of my logic and previous behavior.
Prohibition is commonly financial and the average person is not able to justify the fiscal implication of smoking 20 cigarettes a day certainly in London where a packet of Marlboro is more expensive than a meal.
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