DON’T PASS THAT JOINT
I was hanging out with some friends and a Jamaican dude. This rasta rolls up a joint and then takes a big drag off of it. I got excited because it was a fatty. He takes another drag and blows the smoke into the room. It’s smelling good and I’m waiting.
He takes another long toke and I say, “Hey man, gonna pass that thing?”
He shakes his head. “Go roll your own splif. This one is mine.”
So Jamaicans don’t pass joints around, sharing the high. It’s a private affair, like a cigarette. I just couldn’t believe the guy didn’t fall over because that splif could have stoned the whole group of us.
But after covid, it’s like being a Jamaican. It’s one on one with the joint. Letting someone else’s lips gubber your joint is just not kosher any longer. People have gotten super sick after a passing party. Covid nixed the communal spirit.
That’s not all that is putting a bummer on the drug culture - fentanyl is beyond bummer, it’s straight-up death. It kills the same amount of people as diabetes. After a few funerals of friends, coworkers, and people’s kids, taking some drugs is in the realm of paranoia. It’s like - am I going to be high and see god, or am I just going to go live with god permanently?
Not so much fun anymore. And then there is spiked drinks. Every good-looking chick has a story of going out to a bar and then either waking up with a splitting headache, stripped naked in some park, or helping their friend, who is suddenly shit-faced after one beer, get out of a weird situation. It’s not an anomaly, it’s a straight-up, ME TOO situation. And sometimes the loaded drinks are right from the bartender. Now that is F-up.
The 60’s thing of sex, drugs, and rock and roll is over. Now it’s disease, death, and diversity of music. It is making a more chase and careful generation. We are experiencing the sober truth of letting it all hangout. It’s hung out so far, it’s over the edge. The Freaks now stay home and grow their own weed and make soup out of garden vegetables. The In thing is to cleanse, exercise, be with people you trust, find freaky fun in creativity, and smoke your own vape pens.
Everything has a flip side. Nothing stays the same.
