I smoke weed because [Fill in the blank]: Why you should throw your justifications for consuming cannabis out the window!

marijuana smoking reasons

On a recent Joe Rogan podcast, guest Hamilton Morris, host of Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia, a show that deals with the history, chemistry and culture of psychoactive drugs - Joe and Hamilton spoke about “justification of consumption.”

What this refers to is the social need to explain why you do a particular thing. For example, “I smoke weed because of anxiety or insomnia.” While this may be true for whoever utilizes this argument as a justification for consuming cannabis, Hamilton reminds us that it's also not necessary.

Cannabis consumption it is about human rights, it's about the individual's right to choose what he or she introduces into their own body. The idea behind prohibition, and I'm referring to the prohibition of all drugs, at its core is an affirmation that the adult human being does not possess the intelligence to decide what they consume.

The Control Substance Act is in fact a document that asserts blanket authority to politicians and lawmakers to dictate how you eat or drink or treat your body .

In part, this is why medical justification of cannabis started in the first place. Due to the stigma behind drug prohibition, people were forced to utilize the medical defense in order to circumvent a draconian policy.

During the podcast, Hamilton utilized a brilliant example on why medical justification is actually not required.

Let's make music legal again!

Hamilton Talks Music Legalization - https://youtu.be/ih3H3Fz0X_k?t=342

There was one part in particular during the podcast that inspired me to write this article. It even received a small applause from the host due to the precision of the analogy.

Within this analogy Hamilton equates music to drugs. He begins by establishing the Hypothetical premise that in the 60s people started listening to music for the first time. Subsequentially, people began associating it with different things like being part of the “anti-war movement” or a specific ideology, or seeing instances that there is evidence of permanent deafness if people listen to music too loudly, etc.

Then a medical professional says, “well this has to be regulated or prohibited”. And so it is prohibited. This provides an added benefit, because people will continue to listen to music irrespective of whether it’s illegal – lawmakers would be able to selectively prosecute people because it’s essentially a non-crime.

As time advanced – people continued to listen to music and began creating their own biases such as, “it’s okay to listen to music, as long as you don’t sing or record it” and so on. Eventually, some “scientists” who – according to Hamilton – have never listened to any type of music lest it corrupts their point of views – but they have looked at old Pre-prohibition literature that proves that music is actually healthy.

This medical shift then allowed people to embrace it and use it as a medicine and say things like, “Wow, I just listened to some music and I feel so relaxed, my stress and anxiety is gone!”

This then can lead to a greater decriminalization and eventual legalization – but as Hamilton remarks, “That’s missing the point”.

So what’s the point then?

I know that this individual freedom thing he's fairly new in the world. You must remember that The United States is only 244 years old. Prior to this the world was essentially under colonial rule and instituted a sort of serfdom to the general masses.

As many revolutions occurred around the world, the idea of Kings and Queens faded and were replaced with lawmakers. These were people that were supposed to be chosen by us to lookout for our best interests. Our best interests of course at the time of liberation is our sacred freedom. Yet over time, with a lack of conflict – people begin to become comfortable.

People begin to let their guard down and over time – the erosion of the ethical leader gave way and was purchased by financial interests that rewrote laws in order to “game the system” in their favor.

The point is that you and me, and everyone alive today have been duped into believing that we need to justify anything we put into our mouths to the government. The government – while mighty – does not have authority over your own body. You have final ownership – you have final say and if you want to smoke weed – you shouldn’t have to justify anything.

No matter where you stand – if you give away ownership of your own body – well, that makes you a slave.

I think we’ll sum this article up with Hamilton’s applause-winning moment.

“As much as I enjoy the new medicalization and decriminalization that’s taking place I just hope people remember it doesn’t need to be any of those things and this history of justification is ultimately something we are doing because we are afraid, afraid to be free to acknowledge the fact that we should be free to do whatever we want regardless of whether or not it’s good.”

In the words of Joe Rogan, “Yes – well said!”