Note: This post does not promote nor discourage the use of recreational marijuana in any way. The aim of this post is always, to educate and inform.
While a lot has been said about cannabis and its benefits, its evils and everything in between, not a lot has been said about the users themselves, their motivations, their aspirations, their dreams or even their apprehensions or tensions or reasons to exist and make a living for themselves and their families if any. Its the users who have time and again come under the scanner. While the sellers, many good and many not-so-good ones, are in it for purposes best known to themselves, the most common being money, it is prudent to note that a majority of the conversations around cannabis haven’t been spoken about as openly as one would like to.
There’s literature on junk food (obesity), sugar intake, diabetes (India being the diabetes capital of the world with 70 million plus ‘registered’ cases), ‘cholesterol-free’ edible oils, allergies of all kinds, lifestyle diseases and crime, coupled with the rise of a new ‘fitness-conscious’ generation going for walks, runs and sprints, frolicking in gyms and indulging in routines bordering from dance and boxing to eating healthier food.
Indeed, to be noted is the fact that many urban users with the monetary heft to take care of themselves (say those earning at least an upwards of rupees 40k to 50k and upwards a month) make a point to wake up as early as possible, eat the healthiest options available, work out, learn new things by reading and writing everyday, focus on their work and sleep for at least 6 hours a day. They are consciously aware that a healthy body and a mind compound themselves towards the better over the long run. This cohort understands that financial independence is a technical problem that needs to be solved by adopting multiple pathways which include the basic fundamentals of mind and body first – two factors that complement everything else.
The Indian marijuana user is different. But he or she can fit the above description too. Many do. Life is not about simple cause and effects like saying if someone uses marijuana he or she ‘fits’ a certain profile. Life is too complicated for that. The time for forming stereotypes is over. Amateurs do it. Not professionals with a rational approach towards life.
Firstly they aren’t ‘different’ in the true sense of the word. Just like how there are people with different shades of physiques and mindsets owing to their different sets of experiences while growing up, there exists a class of people who look up to marijuana in the same way as an ordinary non-user may look up to a Bollywood hero or a heroine for example. Or any other role model that could be a person or an object. It doesn’t matter.
Why this is so is because, one, marijuana makes everything (read: what one already likes) better, from food to movies to sex. Yes, it is a short-term experience, depending on the potency of the dosage and the type of instrument used. Two, its euphoric effects are quite apparent in a group or a circle of people, with the topics being discussed varying widely, from seeing the humour, irony and hate so fully apparent in the world, to taming the weirdest of ideas in an open-minded environment that encourages discussion and debate.
While the motivations of marijuana users may be up for debate, we advocate its responsible consumption and to be aware of the multiple strains being sold on the market, checking for quality and price and last but not the least remember and educate their peers about the following facts:
- Marijuana is medicine. Science proves it. The main fact is that the human endocannabinoid system produces compounds structurally similar to the compounds found in marijuana. Hence, in the ‘right’ dosage, marijuana is medicine.
- Hemp seed and Hemp seed powder is protein powder. Hemp is the low THC variant of cannabis (Marijuana is the high THC variant) whose seeds contain the highest amount of poly-unsaturated fatty acids in the entire plant kingdom. Use it. Its available to buy.
- Hemp can be used to make clothes. Wear it.
- Hemp can be used to make paper. Use it.
- Understand why 2020 is such a big year for Indian Marijuana. Go talk about it. Tell everyone whom you meet. Who knows, you could be in the cannabis business yourself in a few years.
Marijuana Maharaj 