A Toke, A drink, Which, and Why is one Illegal
“Give me a toke from your basket of smoke” was in a song I just heard and I wondered many things. I first thought of all that I miss because of laws that are made for no reason except to protect the interests of an enterprise or some other unknown reason. I thought of all the health benefits that are denied me and others. Why? who knows. I also thought of people locked up using my tax dollars and I am not afraid of what they are doing. So far, I have never been harmed by a Toke smoker. What have we all missed? What are we missing?
I am shy in a group and alcohol gives me a headache or makes me appear stupid because I think a remark is brilliant and I keep repeating it over and over. Remembering my stupidity was worse than the hanover. Yes, I rarely drink more than one drink. I can giggle like crazy with a few puffs of the plant and I have had my best times on those rare occasions. I have never had any ill effects from my few encounters with marijuana or with the people who smoke it. Naturally, I know the mean drunks, the loud drunks, and the driving while drunk drunks. Why is one legal and the other illegal?
I am hoping to get medical marijuana legalized in my state soon. I am hearing that a salve is available that does wonders for rheumatiz and we all have some of that by now. I don’t need a drug company involved, I would like to grow a few herbs and treat myself as people have done for eons of time. I have been prescribed many drugs that did no good and did cause more problems than they cured. Now, I am very skeptical of the prescription pad. If some are worried about me, I am feeling fine the doctors have no concern for my aches and pains, and my shyness in a group, or the sickness they cause others with their chemotherapy sickness. I am told that marijuana helps nausea and the appetite. Why is it not used? There are so many dire drugs handed out as if they are wonderful and a cure all when many cause more problems than they cure.
I am a law abider, so I don’t like to be jailed and face all that comes from doing something that should be nobody’s business but my own. I dug up roots and plants for my mother as a child and she kept us all alive and healthy, but now she would be arrested for practicing medicine without a license. My mother also was a midwife and she never damaged any babies or brought harm to them. There were no doctors within miles of where I lived. We did go to the doctor when necessary, but most of the time we took care of ourselves. My dad came in cold from the outside, my mom made a hot toddy. I am not against alcohol. My grandmother was prescribed a tonic, Hadacol, that was 80 percent alcohol and she had a tiny green glass to take full advantage few times a day.
I wish my mom knew about marijuana, I would have more to tell you, but she probably would not have used it to make people silly. My mom had no tolerance for silliness, neither did my dad, so that is why I could use a few puffs and enjoy a good laugh; you know what they say, ” Laughter is the best medicine “and NO; alcohol does not make me laugh nor do I see a lot of drinkers laughing. Alcohol is good for a hangover, and may do wonders for some, but the rest of us, like me, deserve something.
Why is alcohol legal and Marijuana not legal in so many states and in other countries. I would like to know why you think this is true.
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Hello Rose, what you call a Toke we in the UK would call a joint……it isn’t legalised over here yet but I think It wont be long before it is for serious medical conditions, its been making the news headlines over here in the past two weeks, a mother, whose son suffers many seizures a day was caught bringing the liquid back into the country when her Doc became wary of prescribing it for her son for fear of prosecution, after being without the medication he resumed the seizures which he hadn’t had for many months, once resuming the drug they stopped, its pretty much available in the tobacco form if you know the right people and have the money to buy it,……..I myself have never dabbled but would be tempted if in enough pain to take the liquid……….butttttt……..there is always a price to pay and it has been proven that it can cause paranoia……..this may depend on how much is used and the individual………..but if push came to shove and a persons life could only be helped by the drug then its a no brainer for me…..
Starlette. I appreciate your comment and your story of treatments needed are numerous. We also call it a joint but Toke sounded more poetic, almost like tea, whereas joint is a negative, low class or vulgar kind of thing. Technically a Toke may be a puff from a bong pipe. I am not fortunate enough to hang with that kind of crowd. Just one difference of opinion, it has NOT been proved that pot smoking causes paranoia. It is more likely that alcohol causes that because of all the mean drunks we see. Also, read any legal prescription and the known side effects will terrify you. I have read the side effects and stopped every medication except one that I take on an as needed basis. I have refused chemotherapy twice, stopped a long list of antihistamines, refused cortizone shots, discontinued celebrex after purchase as soon as I read the side effects. I could go on and on. I am still alive and did not die from not taking chemotherapy twice. Celebre xx is still marketed, I think, but not advertized and a similar drug was taken off the market due to some horrible side effects. Viagra is sold to almost anybody that wants it and one of the side effects is “dropping dead” and there is a long list including being rushed to the emergency room with an erection that won’t go away. So, worth legal drugs available and alcohol, what is the problem with a wild weed except no one needs to get paid. I know you are open minded, but you have been fed false and misleading information.
Hi Roseinbloom, thanks for your blog……. I’d say it is true that if common salt were presented to the authorities as a new drug or additive today, it is likely it would not be passed easily. You can kill a baby, kill a person with salt. Too much is said to be detrimental to health.Too little also causes serious problems. It is just that it has always been around, it seems common place. Alcohol has also been around since humankind became settled, it has grown with us. Likewise alcohol would probably be more restricted if it were new on the market today. Cannabis is fairly new in Europe , I don’t think it was heard of that much before the war.
The problem is that anything taken in excess can be bad. They ban nail scissors on airplanes but you could kill a person with a ball point pen if you had a mind to and they don’t ban those. Banning is difficult to do , what to ban and how. Now we are to ban sugar what next?
Historically people have always sought and used substances that alter moods, perceptions. Even animals have been observed seeking things that effect them, for example foxes eating fallen apples that have bruised and fermented a bit. So there are things ingested that give sensations pleasurable to live creatures. It is only a problem if it puts that animal in danger from their own actions or they become dangerous to others. It is this which prompts societies to curb the use of these substances. Fine if people can use wisely, unfortunately many can’t. We all know these things can be addictive and take over a person’s life. That is a tragedy and waste. There are lots of legal prescription drugs that lead to addiction, we know the same can be said of alcohol. Cannabis, some say that it leads people to indulge in stronger more addictive drugs like heroin. I don’t know if that is true or not.
I have to tell you I have never smoked pot…..it was not about when I was young and foolish. I’ve had next to no alcohol because a sherry trifle was enough to put me flat on my back in a dark room with a pounding sick migraine for 7 hours. This a fine aversion therapy believe me. Now, I do take cannabis oil capsules, which are totally legal in Canada. They have the mind altering element removed. I take it for my arthritis, it is no magic wand but it does mean I take less anti inflammatory pills and that is good, as those are bad for the liver and stomach.
It seems to me, that put against other things, cannabis is no worst than many and better than some. I know alcohol often makes people violent does pot? I don’t know. Governments have spent billions trying to ban it with no success. They could be missing a trick, in selling and taxing it. Taxes that could pay to rehabilitate addicts. Heroin and cocaine are different, highly addictive and should be controlled. There are also these so called designer drugs…..great if they could be wiped out, or the people who produce them. Unfortunately we all know if there is a way to make big money someone will do it.
Education……is not the total answer but it can only help. I put my doctor through the third degree if he wants to give me another pill…….I do wish young people would think this way. I can’t believe why anyone would be willing to buy 3 or 4 tablets off a guy in the street, not knowing if they are what this guy is telling you they are. No quality control on illegal drugs, you don’t know the strength etc. The same goes for those taking drugs for body building and sports. Do the research and weigh up the consequences. Nothing is free in this world there is always a down side. We need compassion , we need governments to tackle poverty and hopelessness which often induce a person to try and escape through drink or drugs.
Medical cannabis, I can not see any reason if it is the only thing that gives relief…..not to give it. If medically prescribed can it be any worse than oxycontin for example? That is authority being stupid. In the case of terminal patient…what odds, it does matter even if they become addicted and most will not have time. It is about time science came up with a serious new pain killer, I think Opium based drugs morphine and the like came to us in the mid 18th century but used widely in Europe and America early 19th century. So time for something new. And make it affordable.
Rockflower. I agree with you. I do believe that if pot were legal and people could grow their own, they would not have to go to the bad and highly dangerous and addictive drugs. I think I remember that pot is not addictive though it can be psychologically addictive, anything can be psychologically addictive if it is associated with good feelings and good times.
I think the pain killers that are available are fine and I think they may have some new ones. I know that a recent surgical experience was very different that my experience 30 years ago. The hospital also had a much kinder attitude and practices.
I think good doctors give drugs that provide effective relief from pain and anxiety. The last time I had surgery was the first time I had a really giddy effect. I had a 2-step procedure and I had to be conscious but sedate and pain free. I also know that many people don’t get effective drugs and many get too many drugs. I just heard a TV program and one person said, “Now we have pills for the pills”. In many cases, we have pills for the pills. High triglycerides is a huge heart disease risk and there is no effective medication but it can be cured with changing a diet and cut out processed foods and sweets, The doctors here give drugs and don’t mention diet. Many people are highly motivated after a heart attack and surgery to makes changes and they are not told to change their diet. Many conditions could be relieved or eliminated with lifestyle changes, but there is no push to have people make changes.America has become a pill society. We can have people using plants to treat themselves. The trillion dollar drug industry would collapse.
Hello Rose, may I ask how you know it dosent cause Paranoia…….lots of in depth studies and research shows that in some people it does……..I know someone in his forties who has smoked it on a regular basis for years, he now has life threatening seizures because of it, one day one will kill him, of this he is aware…….my daughter works with the young who smoke the weed, they also suffer from Paranoia, unreasonable fears brought on by it, she supports them and knows their lifestyle, their fears are irrational……..you only have to google Cannabis and Paranoia, the answers are there……it can be wrapped up in any fancy name you choose to give it to make it sound less vulgar and presentable…….but the fact is it is an illegal substance and shouldn’t be advertised as safe and medicinal…..in the case I have mentioned there was no alternate medication that helped the young man, he is Epileptic and up to 50 seizures a day caused by his condition……but if you are fit and healthy why invite Paranoia into your life…….all drugs have side effects as we well know…….but you have to weigh up the side effects against the life saving benefits they offer…..
Starlette, do you remember when studies proved that tobacco was not harmful? The studies, many, were done by the tobacco industry in the USA. I do see that studies done in the UK publish different results than the studies done and published in the USA. My state is a big Whiskey producer and and if marijuana competed with alcohol, alcohol would lose. I know that Scotland and Ireland are big whiskey producers and I don’t know about the other parts of the UK.
My state is trying to legalize hemp and so far have not. There is a push for legalization of medical use. I know little about what happens when the drug industry get their hands on a plant and turn it into isolated parts. I do believe that the costs goes up tremendously and the benefits go down. It may be too early to know the long term dangers of marijuana use. We do know that all the other drugs, including alcohol have huge and dangerous and deadly problems with even short term use and the longer the term, the worse the problems.
I was having some fun, but as with many blogs, the more we discuss, the more information comes out.
Rose your last comment opens a another big Pandora’s box. Drug studies, who does them and why. It points to another concern of mine, which is: Universities are loosing some of their objectivity with a pressing need for funding. Funding from bodies with interests, very dangerous and suspect. Here we are talking about drug evaluation and test studies. International drug companies do not have squeaky clean histories, too often they “buy” the result they want. Just as the tobacco companies did for years. Data can be manipulated and sometimes is , sometimes by a wrong unyielding conviction in being right by the scientist, sometimes by the lure of further funding or personal financial gain. Who does testing and who asks the questions should be rigorously controlled and preferably by governments I think.
I think cannabis and alcohol are probably on a par. Both can be used safely and both are subject to misuse. I don’t know about cannabis but women get addicted to alcohol quicker than men and this is just not a weight thing. It is to do with different brains and different bodies period.
Don’t want to offend but it seems to me, British women really often have a drink problem now, this seems to have developed well after my young days in UK. I was a student in Liverpool, girls did drink now and then but seeing a drunk female student was extremely rare. If seen that girl’s reputation was marked, also if a girl was slightly inebriated, males she were with protected and looked after her. Now I see photo’s of girls passed out on the streets or totally paralytic at horse race meetings. This is new to me. On TV there is scarcely a program where alcohol, drinks, wine, etc are not mentioned, I find it very noticeable. Can we mention what we do not comment on for fear of prejudice. Scotland and the Irish have always had a reputation for hard drinking. This is not saying all Scots and Irish are drunks obviously they are not. Perhaps something in their DNA makes them more affected by alcohol I don’t know. It was on the BBC news last week that Scotland has the highest rate of drug use in UK and the the highest death rate due to illegal drugs. Perhaps we need DNA studies to determine what level of dangers we all have for various substances. There may well be huge differences and knowledge of this could be a great help in prevention and cure of problems.
We need a new medical specialty……wellness….. Medical education concentrates more on
“closing the stable door”. we need more help in not opening that “stable door”. If you get my clumsy drift LOL! Changing life habits is not easy and if health authorities and planners are serious , they have to give people lots of help, make it easy to access. Experts in wellness cannot be trained in 6 months, they need at least 3years for a start. As we know it all comes down to money….funding and above all energetic promotion and will.
Rockflower I agree with everything you say and we do need more focus on young people and prevention. We do AA fair job with babies and preventing infant mortality but the older the people, the less is done about prevention. I hope the situation will change as young people are getting wise about food and the word is spreading that more needs to be done and that we need healthier food and prevention instead of treatment needs to be the focus. If people don’t adopted a healthy lifestyle and diet, little can be done by doctors with miracle surgeries and a trunk full of medications.
The saying is “Would you rather pickle your liver or fry your brain?” I never tried it. I do have my Champagne Splits or Rum Stone Sour now and then. My sister’s children in Colorado were all ‘hooked.’ They all had their bongs right on their dresser tops. It was their ‘thing’ there. My nephew gave me that saying when we were having our drinks and he was ‘smokin’.
Have to say that my drug of choice is none of the above for healing anything. Mine is Lorazepam, for my panic and anxiety attacks and constant nervousness. I don’t want to get hooked on anything. Only take the tranquilizers when necessary only from the Psychiatrist who keeps watch on me.
When my daughter and son-in-law were vacationing in Seatlle, WA they said they were able to buy cannibus at the special stores there and in many forms. They liked the Gummy Bears best!
rose1943, You have interesting information to share. If my choice is pickle my liver or fry my brain, I would choose neither. I am not a user of either. Champagne seemed to make any occasion special and a split was one of my drinks. I have heard of whiskey sours but not Rum sours. A lot of people can be self medicating. The young have hormones, and pressures and they will try something or most do. I did, but not much, but if there was a get together of young people there was drinking and sometimes pot smoking. i needed to be sober to live my life as I needed to so getting high was not a usual thing with me.
Troubled young people who haven’t found their path in life are the most vulnerable.
I don’t want to be gloomy, but the opioid deaths is tragic. I don’t think pot smoking could possible make it worse. I would be happy to try gummy bears. I take gummy bear vitamins.
you won’t fry your brain, science much? you don’t need to smoke pot. you can get medical CBD in America via your doctor or not. you won’t get loaded but it may help your pain. Do some research before you assume you have limited or no choices. or you coulod just fly to Denver or Seattle, we have hundreds of LEGAL Pot shops that fill doctor’s RX.