SMOKED POT, AND I LIKED IT A LOT

By Andrew Williams

"I'll be scared later. Right now I'm too mad."--Bugs Bunny

It came for St. Augustine. It came for St. Patrick (begosh an' begorrah).

It came for St. Thomas Aquinas. It came for Jean Jacques Rousseau. It came

for Thomas deQuincey. It came for William S. Burroughs. And now, it has

come for me.

I confess: I have smoked marijuana. Hundreds of times over the last twenty

five years. Every grade from shitweed to Thai stick to Afghani blonde

hash. And guess what? Ninety percent of the time, I enjoyed it. I can't

say the same about booze.

By the government's definition of a user, I am a hedonistic, lazy,

irresponsible, immoral, pinko-devo-pervo terrorist funder. And I fart and

pick my nose, too. So if that's how me and millions of pot smokers are

being defined by the monolithic Moloch government media, why in God's name

am I confessing here and now of all times and places?

Because I'm tired. I'm sick and tired of pot smokers being portrayed this

way. We are more than what we take into our bodies. We are more than

arrest stats on a cop computer printout. We are more than airheaded

cartoon characters, as hilarious as they can be.

We are dcotors, lawyers, Indian chiefs, butchers, bakers, candlestick

makers, writers, painters, music makers, sculptors and dreamers. We are

astronauts, aquanauts, argonauts, politicians, cops(!), snowboarders,

skateboarders, rollerbladers, punks, metalheads, Rastas, skins, jazzers

and rock'n'rollers. We are Lutherans, Episcopalians, Catholics,

Unitarians, Rastafarians and a whole host of other -ics and -ans. We are

Republicrats, Demoplicans, Libertarians, Greens, Independents and members

of parties not yet invented. We are male, female, heterosexual,

homosexual, bisexual, trisexual, heterogyne and androgyne. We are black,

white, gray, brown, red, yellow and green. And we are tired of being

dissed.

Like underdog groups before us, we have been patient. We've worked within

the system. We've worked without the system. We've assembled to peaceably

protest for redress of grievances (and continue to do so). And what, by

and large, do we get in return? Jokes. Jeers. Sneers. Cuffs. Billy clubs

and gun butts whacking us on our heads, backs and any other breakable body

parts. Hundreds of thousands of us jailed every year. Millions--hell,

billions--of dollars wasted on arresting and incarcerating us. Uncountable

wasted years and dreams that could have lit up this planet like a galaxy.

Bill Maher, Norm Kent, John Gilmore and Nikki Morris are right. The closet

is too confining, and the smell of mothballs, dust, mold and milder is

smothering. It's past time for folks like me to stand up and declare our

open secret: We've smoked pot and we liked it a lot!

And you know what?

We might do it again.

Despite the lies of the Partnershit for a Truth-Free Amerika. Despite the

lies and false science of the Department of Injustice and the Department

of Hate and Human Suffering. Despite the flag-waving and finger-pointing.

We are not Quislings. We protect our own. (But if we do break down

sometimes and name names--well, we 're only human.)

So, yeah, if you want to, keep making pothead jokes about how we're all

lamebrained lotus-heads. Keep saying we just want it legal so we can smoke

it. You're damn right we do. We're tired of being paranoid every time we

light up. We're tired of sick people going to prison for using God's own

medicine. We don't deny it. But remember this: We don't cram our

ideology--or our weed--down unwilling throats. We don't beat up people for

not supporting legalization. We don't throw people in jail for life for

not thinking and acting as we do. We are not Caesars, not Czars. We are

regular, homegrown guys'n'gals, hard workers, life and liberty lovers. And

as fragile and beautiful as any of the creators' creations.

So punish us if you will. Lock us away. Stamp us as traitors, Enemies of

the People. You can even kill us. You've already killed some of us. But we

won't go away. And if "the fire next time" comes, we'll invite you to

share the peace pipe with us. And we won't get angry if you just say "no."

www.norml.org

www.greenpanthers.org

www.iangoddard.net

www.drc.net

www.hightimes.com