(ThyBlackMan.com) I am going to hit this topic hard – but hard, fair and accurately. If you smoke weed recreationally and do not like the assertions I am about to make, too bad. But I dare you to keep reading and I dare you to share this article with everyone you know. The day of denial is over and recreational use of marijuana is a detriment to the African American community. I have heard all the defenses and excuses before as a counselor so let’s tackle them one by one.
You may say weed (marijuana) is harmless, but that is simply not true. You may pull up studies conducted by people who use marijuana or done by those who justify it, but the motives of those people are highly suspect. You can say our ancestors and the Native Americans smoked Cannabis, but you need to know that neither reverses nor nullifies the fact that THC in marijuana is addictive. Plus, the weed on the streets today is everything but pure hemp, marijuana or cannabis. Street weed today is laced with everything from feces to rat poison to embalming fluid. Oh yes it is. Thus it amazes me how almost no African American would eat a teaspoon of rat poison, yet so many would smoke it in a blunt or joint.
IF MARIJUANA SOMKING IS HARMLESS, WHY CAN’T WOMEN SMOKE IT WHILE PREGNANT?
You may say I am judging, but you must still admit the body is a temple and a temple should not be filled with smoke that kills brain cells, clouds judgment and throws off your focus and equilibrium. There is simply no justification for that, not at all, recreationally speaking. You may say I am placing all weed heads in one box, but that is not true either because I am going to examine several reasons – not just one. Therefore I am going to address every possible excuse I have encountered as a counselor regarding why our people smoke marijuana – and what we should be doing instead.
WHY YOU DO SOMETHING IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!
You may be thinking cigarettes and alcohol are drugs too. And that is
correct. So look at the devastating effects of cigarettes and the statistics on alcoholism. Then tell me you still want to use cigarettes and alcohol to defeat my arguments. If you do, look in the mirror and introduce yourself to Mr. or Ms. Denial. And while you can in fact do what you want to do because you are “grown“, remember those who were arrested for DUI or those who got cancer from cigarette smoking once defended their positions just as many of you do with marijuana. But once they were sent to jail or admitted to the hospital, it was a different story.
IF USING RECREATIONAL WEED IS HARMLESS, WHY ISN’T IT ALLOWED WHILE YOU ARE ON THE JOB?
If you use recreational marijuana, you are getting pimped, punked and bent over by the little “blunt” god that takes your money, gives you a temporary break from life then leaves you with nothing. How dumb is that? Is it very smart to defend a drug that trades a short term of escape from reality in exchange for your concentration, your brain cells, your health, your memory and a host of other problems? News flash, laced marijuana was dropped in our communities just like crack was decades ago. But this drug is lulling you to sleep, slowly altering your consciousness and getting you to defend its side affects to the death. Doctors know it. The health department knows marijuana is harmful and addictive. The federal government knows it. The CDC knows it. Only those who are hooked on marijuana don’t know it – or won’t admit it. But why not?
Life is tough and many African Americans are using marijuana as a means of temporary escape. But guess what? Weed does not solve the problem, it just makes you temporary ambivalent. Yet when you come off your high, surprise, the problems are still there. There are also those who smoke weed because of peer pressure, everybody seems to be doing it. But people who blindly and blanketly follow the crowd are people who refuse to think for themselves.
THE POWERS THAT BE ARE PROGRAMMING WEED HEADS ON A SELF-DESTRUCTIVE PATH
Then there are people who smoke weed because they swear its harmless and that all the research saying it’s harmful is fake. How could states all over this country legalize pot smoking if it was dangerous? How could they dare do that when they are supposed to look out for us? Did you really ask those questions in your mind? Really? Since when has the government looked out for us? Think about it. No, really think about it. Or is there a deeper plan at play which will create an entirely new rehab industry only a few years from now?
MARIJUANA HAS BEEN PUMPED INTO OUR COMMUNITY TO ALTER OUR CONSCIOUSNESS, REDUCE OUR AWARENESS, RESTRAIN OUR UPRISINGS AND ELIMINATE OUR RESISTANCE! WAKE UP!!!
Then there are those African Americans who say they will smoke “hemp” because their ancestors did. First I say to you, we can’t go back and look at their medical reports and charts, can we? Secondly, as advances in medicine grow by leaps and bounds every year, we now know that some things done long ago were bad for us – very bad. Thirdly, emulation of your ancestor’s behavior is not the best reason to do something. Your ancestors also picked cotton and went back in the barn to be chained up at night. Would you like to do that too? Our ancestors also had rights of passage where they went out and killed lions and bears barehanded. Maybe you would like to do that as well. Do you have to follow the crowd?
Some African Americans (black is the color of our car tires, not our skin) smoke weed because they have seen it done by those they trust – parents, close friends, older siblings etc. But that simply means there are even more people who are misled and who will not dare look at both sides of the coin. They will not read the health reports and the research. They only stick with whatever information supports what they want to do. Can you say “DENIAL“?
It is ironic that so many African Americans are smoking weed in order to mask their depression when weed is in fact a depressant. Why do you think people who smoke weed feel “chilled out“, laid back and as if nothing matters? These behaviors are the results of a depressant, not a stimulant. Hello, the alarm clock is going off but will you wake up?
Other African Americans smoke weed yet have no idea why they do it. These are the zombies who are more lost and on destructive autopilot than they realize. It’s very interesting that in 2011/2012 the CDC released a “zombie control plan”. Everybody laughed it off but what were they really saying? A zombie’s mind is gone. It has no sense of identity and very little awareness. It can function on a primal, primitive level but that’s about all. If you smoke weed, how far away are you from becoming that zombie? And could that be the plan put in place by those who flooded our communities with weed in the first place?
IN A TIME WHEN AFRICAN-AMERICANS ARE BEING SHOT DOWN LIKE DOGS, YOU WANT TO BE MORE ALERT THAN EVER AND HAVE YOUR WITS ABOUT YOU – NOT A CLOUDED MIND!!!
There is a reason employers do not accept employees being under the influence of marijuana at work – even in the states where it is legal. How would you like the police officer who is following you to be under the influence – especially in this current climate? How would you like the doctor operating on your mother or the ambulance drive to be under the influence of marijuana? Impairment happens at different levels with different people, but you really wouldn’t know if the police officer, doctor or ambulance driver miscalculated, now would you? Wow use a little common sense, just a little.
So you see we can debate about side effects, purity levels, case studies and recreational use all day long. But in the end, proof is proof and facts are facts. So if you smoke weed and you have not experienced the devastation, it is likely on the way. And while you may disagree with me now, let’s have this conversation again when the devastation, addiction and consequences hit home. At that point in your life, I will not have to convince you. STOP SMOKING WEED AND WAKE UP!
Staff Writer; Marque-Anthony
