{"id":36565,"date":"2019-07-04T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T20:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2019\/07\/04\/cannabis-is-the-best-fourth-of-july-drug\/"},"modified":"2019-07-06T00:47:49","modified_gmt":"2019-07-06T08:47:49","slug":"cannabis-is-the-best-fourth-of-july-drug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2019\/07\/04\/cannabis-is-the-best-fourth-of-july-drug\/","title":{"rendered":"Cannabis Is the Best Fourth of July Drug"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

My father busted me smoking cannabis exactly once, on the Fourth of July, 2003. I say \u201cbusted\u201d in the sense that I was trying to\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0draw attention. Though I was a legal adult, this was in New Hampshire in the early 2000s, so nothing marijuana-related was legal.<\/p>\n

I had always been a nerdy kid (adding to the invisible forcefield that shields white dudes like myself from all suspicion) but had discovered cannabis a few years earlier, I found out I really enjoyed cannabis the summer I turned 17. That year, when my dad found me smoking weed on his porch on the Fourth of July, was the year that I discovered I really,\u00a0really<\/em>\u00a0enjoyed smoking cannabis on the Fourth of July.<\/p>\n

Let me try to explain to you why, and let me try to explain why, almost 20 years and a\u00a0legalization wave later<\/a>, I cherish both this memory and this activity. Some people go camping or boating or do outside stuff on the Fourth; it\u2019s nice to have that privilege and those that do should enjoy it. Some other people use the occasion to pursue still-illegal drugs; I know folks who whip out the cocaine bullet or drop some acid on special holidays like the Fourth of July.<\/p>\n

For me, apology-free marijuana use is\u00a0the<\/em>\u00a0chemical intervention for this holiday, which every thinking American should greet with deep ambivalence, if not solemnity. Celebrating the power of an empire on a holiday originally meant to mark righteous rebels\u2019 success over an empire is more than a little dissonant. Smoking weed is less and less a rebellious activity every year, but at least (for me) it triggers reflection. The Fourth of July is as good as time as any to celebrate the death of bad laws outlawing a personal choice that, for most people, is mostly free of consequences \u2014 aside from those imposed by society as means of control.<\/p>\n

Not that I could have quite articulated all this on that day. At this particular time, I was in that awkward liminal space familiar to middle-class white America, a legal adult with a (menial) job, but still living in my parents\u2019 house in the summers between years of college.<\/p>\n

I had just turned 21. Some friends were pursuing prestigious internships and some very close friends were off doing NOLS in Alaska, soil-sampling in Montana, or working on a camp in Minnesota \u2014 adulting. As for me, I was living at home and stocking shelves in the same grocery store I\u2019d been working at since I was 18.<\/p>\n

I felt a bit of a loser and was feeling even more trod upon than usual. That particular Fourth, I had drawn the bad straw and ended up on shift at the store (as I recall, it was particularly dead and I was particularly salty about hanging out in a supermarket pretending to work hard when everyone else I knew was out enjoying FREEDOM!) and so had to do without the cookout and pretending not to enjoy the fireworks, things I very earnestly enjoyed.<\/p>\n

But since I was 21, and since I was at least working and hadn\u2019t dropped out of school, I could have a beer with the old man.<\/p>\n

(We were very straight shooters, our family, and with reason; if you must know, the old man spent about 20 years judging in the local\u00a0district court<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

I remember coming home from work that night and sitting on the porch. Everyone else was somewhere else; it was just the men of the house. I don\u2019t remember what we talked about, but I remember it was an adult conversation \u2014 insofar as nobody was being patronized \u2014 and I remember thinking how nice it was to be treated like an adult.<\/p>\n

By then, the daytime heat had dissipated and a cool breeze had kicked up. I was playing the\u00a0Pearl Jam cover of Jackson Browne\u2019s \u201cPatriot<\/a>\u201d on the boom box. \u201cI am a patriot, and I love my country\/because my country is all I know,\u201d Eddie Vedder warbled. \u201cWanna be with my family\/people who understand me\/I got no place else to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a great song,\u201d we agreed. \u201cWhat a nice night,\u201d my dad said. I agreed. The only thing that was missing was getting stoned.<\/p>\n

Some time earlier, I had bought a quarter-ounce from one of the \u201cbad kids\u201d I worked with at the grocery store. Every \u201cbad kid\u201d has at least a couple good kids like me keeping him in business. It was one of those magic bags that seemed to last ages, no matter how much I smoked (which wasn\u2019t that much).<\/p>\n

I thought it would be really fun to get stoned with my dad. We had talked about it, but always in the negative. For him, the last time was about 25 to 30 years prior, sometime in the 1970s. He was okay with cannabis in principle, he said, and didn\u2019t agree with prohibition on any level \u2014 regulation, sure, but outlawing it was dumb \u2014 but there was too much at risk for him under the letter of the law. (All true!)<\/p>\n

After a while, my dad excused himself to retire for the night. My parents\u2019 bedroom was on the second floor above the porch, something I knew very well. Whether it was the beer, the nice night, or the nice conversation, I was feeling loose and free and felt it was the time. I restarted the Pearl Jam CD and lit up a joint. I think I had maybe five minutes of serene bliss before the screen door to the porch swung open.<\/p>\n

\u201cChris!\u201d my dad said, but not in the \u201chere comes trouble\u201d tone I was so used to. \u201cDad?\u201d I croaked, trying not to cough or laugh,\u00a0joint<\/a>\u00a0still smoldering in my hand,\u00a0terpenes<\/a>\u00a0on my lips and fingers. \u201cAre you smoking\u00a0dope<\/em>?\u201d he asked. \u201cUh, yeah,\u201d I said. He sighed \u2014 a good sigh. Amused, resigned. \u201cDon\u2019t let your mother find out,\u201d he said, and then disappeared back into the house. I had a few more puffs and then put it out.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t really view this story as widely relatable. The fact I had a parental home to smoke pot on is evidence enough of my own privilege. I share it mostly because I think about it at this time of year, and I think the sentiment is widely shared. A plant grown in the ground that provides momentary release from physical and psychic stress is a gift from whatever goddesses guide the universe; the ability to enjoy that plant without stress and consequence is the fruit of human labor and suffering, the victory of a political struggle.<\/p>\n

You could fill a phone book with essays on what the Fourth of July means, or what patriotism means, or whether either is any good. This isn\u2019t that. This is about small moments of personal freedom, of enjoying measures of self-determination that harm no one else and bring you joy. That joy is probably best shared collectively. I hope you\u2019ll have someone else with whom you can share this joy today. If not, enjoy the solace and reflect. Much has been accomplished but there is much yet to be done.<\/p>\n

TELL US,\u00a0<\/strong>what strain are you smoking to celebrate the holiday?<\/p>\n

The post Cannabis Is the Best Fourth of July Drug<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Cannabis Is the Best Fourth of July Drug<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My father busted me smoking cannabis exactly once, on the Fourth of July, 2003. I say \u201cbusted\u201d in the sense that I was trying to\u00a0not\u00a0draw attention. Though I was a legal adult, this was in New Hampshire in the early 2000s, so nothing marijuana-related was legal. I had always beenContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,4810,119,11180,1598],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36565"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36565"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36566,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36565\/revisions\/36566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}