Tuesday, April 7, 2009

pass the bong

Recently I was talking with a friend who brought up marijuana. This friend (let's call him Billy) said that his favorite feeling in the world is the feeling of smoking some mj and then reading the bible or listening to certain music. Billy said that it opened his mind and made him think about things in new ways that he couldn't even describe. It made him realize how important love was. Billy also made it clear that he is not a "pot-head" and maybe only does this a few times a year. So of course, this got me thinking about this drug called marijuana.

First of all, I'm not sure how I feel on whether or not it should be legalized. It may be less harmful than alcohol, and it's hard to get upset about a drug that makes people want to think about life and love and be creative. Compare that to Alcohol, which is responsible for many a bad thing: violence, drunk driving accidents, depression, addiction, or just doing stupid things that you will have to live down. And don't get me wrong, there are definitely some bad side effects from marijuana, namely loss of ambition, loss of memory and suppression of the brain's learning center, tar in your lungs, and some more I'm sure. So based on that alone, I'm not really sure one way or the other.

The reason I think I oppose marijuana, is much for the same reason I oppose MSG. It's not real life. MSG makes your brain think your bland food actually tastes good. The food doesn't actually taste good, but the MSG chemicals change your brain's perception. While MSG may not have many actual bad side effects, many people are very much against it. Methinks this is due to the idea that we don't want to be lied to. If your food isn't good enough for us to like on it's own merit, surely we can go somewhere where it is. Nobody really wants to substitute something fake for something real. Well when someone says they like the feeling of being high on a little weed, I guess I feel the same way. Why do you care about what your brain thinks when it's nerve cells are being rocked by some THC? It's not real life. So what if it makes you feel more philosophical? If you can't manage to want to think philosophically about things with an un-altered brain, maybe thinking about things isn't for you. Otherwise, it seems like you'd also be a proponent of athletes using steroids. Like steroids, it's cheating, but only for your mind. Does that make sense? If you like to get high because of the way it makes you think, do you then like to douse your food in MSG because of the way it makes you think your food tastes? Do you then like to see athletes pump in the steroids because of the way it makes their bodies be stronger? I'm not opposing it based on side-effects or health reasons, but because to me it's cheating yourself. It's making your brain something it isn't. If you want to think more philosophically, read books, study Socrates, find some open-minded intelligent friends. That way when you're thinking more clearly about things, it's because you actually were trying instead of just letting some drug temporarily (or maybe not so temporarily) change your brain. I don't want to settle for a brain that only philosophizes when altered by drugs, I want a brain that can philosophize in real life, on its own.

4 comments:

shaun said...

Very well put Pete. I never thought of it that way.

Monika said...

Excellent argument, Peter the Great. Would you mind if I shared this post (in a word doc with no reference to you) with my class? They're crafting arguments for various topics (one being the legalization of mj) and I'm trying to show them how each issue can have a myriad of different perspectives. Yours is fresh and interesting - what do you think?

P.S. Have you ever heard of Malcom Gladwell? I've just ordered his book "The Tipping Point" to read after the semester ends.

Anonymous said...

You got it just right! I hate being lied to by MSG, I just didn't think about it that way. Thanks honey, for your insight.

Nancy said...

that last comment was me, I just got the URL wrong! sorry!