Fretless
seeker
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2007
- Messages
- 333
- Reaction score
- 114
I've been thinking on this for a while lately. About the two main drug strains of cannabis, Sativa and Indica. Most of us have known about these and their differences for many years. But the other day, I really started to come to a personal clarity on the subject.
Back in Ancient Times - the 50's, the only cannabis in the U.S. was pretty much Mexican Sativas. This is the plant that was known to the Beat writers, and that whole great wave, that unfolding of creative genius that occured then and spilled over spreading like weeds into the 60's and beyond, truly, to this very day, the legacy continues, and truly it began long before the Beats. They just happen to be the nodule where we pick up the thread of the story.
Sativa was also the plant that Bob Marley was familiar with, the plant of the Rastafarians, and regardless their strange mythic fascination with Haile Selasie, the Rasta I met on my travels was an accomplished philosopher, our conversations had much common ground between his belief and my studies of Taoism.
And it was Sativa that Bob Dylan got turned on to, and in turn the Beatles, and so forth and so on. Carl Sagan. No, I'm not about to bash Indica really. I've just never thought this out to this extent.
At whatever point it was, the 'high water mark' of the freedom of U.S. civilization was reached, somewhere back there, in the late 60's probably, before I was born. But there were great dividends from that season, the legacy, as hokey as it seems, is not bullshit. The prevalance of Sativa continued into the 70's, but the wave had already crested. LSD, Sativa, Psilocybin, hadn't really been an answer at all. Just vehicles, teachers, glimpses, and people had to get back to earth, back to their jobs and their families. Even as the wave had crested, the 'Quickening' had really begun. 'Seeking' was rapidly being replaced with raw, unguided party energy, disco, cocaine, everything was accelerating and it still is.
At some point, Blueberry appeared, that loveable, wonderful Indica that was the beginning of a big change for cannabis in the U.S. The 80's started happening, John Lennon was shot, the music was getting angrier and chaotic. The message was still there but it was reacting to the change.
Fast-forward a bit, and pure Sativa is almost gone from the consciousness. The double-edged sword of commercial growing meant producing the most bud in the least amount of time in the least amount of space. So the age of Indica was here. Now we all know there are various negative sterotypes about stoners, about wasting time, losing motivation, 'couchlock', etc. I wasn't there before, but I don't know if those stereotypes existed during the Sativa time. I really think it had to do with the rise of Indica. It's not a bad thing on its own, but combine this with ignorance ~ how many people have indeed wasted much time, smoking the heavy Indica (a gift of the Goddess), and fulfilled the sterotypes most of us try to avoid. Who doesn't know a stoner like that? But for us Gen "X" people, many of us were unaware, or only dimly aware, of what had come before. We cannot, with integrity, continue to seek legalization with any traction if we are not willing to confront the elements of truth within the stoner sterotypes. Most all of the 'older' smokers I know have long since realized this, but I remember a time when I too steadfastly denied that there could be any detriment to smoking, and where that stance exists, it undermines the legitamacy of legalization.
Fortunately, of course, the strains combined, and being as people have been known to grow a plant or two, not to mention the efforts of the mighty Dutch, I can say for sure that I've experienced the qualities of both types of plants. And even so, an Indica still contains great THC, and can be quite euphoric. It is only a matter of relative concentrations of the different cannibinoids, as I understand it. But I doubt whether I have ever experienced a pure sativa, and it makes me wonder.
Someone recently asked me, "You're not going to turn into a Pot Snob, are you?"
I don't think so, but I can honestly say at this point, that if it comes down to a) mind-numbing shwag and b) nothing, I'm going with B.
When you've opened enough doors, you don't need any help stepping through again.
So, I guess in closing, I'm just saying that I'm becoming more mindful of what I smoke, or not. Personally I haven't had any for many months now, and its certainly not a bad thing. Would be nice, though, as I'm about to pop in Star Trek: First Contact. And some munchies, yeah....hey, you know, stereotypes....$uck 'em if they can't take a joke. Peace to you all.
Back in Ancient Times - the 50's, the only cannabis in the U.S. was pretty much Mexican Sativas. This is the plant that was known to the Beat writers, and that whole great wave, that unfolding of creative genius that occured then and spilled over spreading like weeds into the 60's and beyond, truly, to this very day, the legacy continues, and truly it began long before the Beats. They just happen to be the nodule where we pick up the thread of the story.
Sativa was also the plant that Bob Marley was familiar with, the plant of the Rastafarians, and regardless their strange mythic fascination with Haile Selasie, the Rasta I met on my travels was an accomplished philosopher, our conversations had much common ground between his belief and my studies of Taoism.
And it was Sativa that Bob Dylan got turned on to, and in turn the Beatles, and so forth and so on. Carl Sagan. No, I'm not about to bash Indica really. I've just never thought this out to this extent.
At whatever point it was, the 'high water mark' of the freedom of U.S. civilization was reached, somewhere back there, in the late 60's probably, before I was born. But there were great dividends from that season, the legacy, as hokey as it seems, is not bullshit. The prevalance of Sativa continued into the 70's, but the wave had already crested. LSD, Sativa, Psilocybin, hadn't really been an answer at all. Just vehicles, teachers, glimpses, and people had to get back to earth, back to their jobs and their families. Even as the wave had crested, the 'Quickening' had really begun. 'Seeking' was rapidly being replaced with raw, unguided party energy, disco, cocaine, everything was accelerating and it still is.
At some point, Blueberry appeared, that loveable, wonderful Indica that was the beginning of a big change for cannabis in the U.S. The 80's started happening, John Lennon was shot, the music was getting angrier and chaotic. The message was still there but it was reacting to the change.
Fast-forward a bit, and pure Sativa is almost gone from the consciousness. The double-edged sword of commercial growing meant producing the most bud in the least amount of time in the least amount of space. So the age of Indica was here. Now we all know there are various negative sterotypes about stoners, about wasting time, losing motivation, 'couchlock', etc. I wasn't there before, but I don't know if those stereotypes existed during the Sativa time. I really think it had to do with the rise of Indica. It's not a bad thing on its own, but combine this with ignorance ~ how many people have indeed wasted much time, smoking the heavy Indica (a gift of the Goddess), and fulfilled the sterotypes most of us try to avoid. Who doesn't know a stoner like that? But for us Gen "X" people, many of us were unaware, or only dimly aware, of what had come before. We cannot, with integrity, continue to seek legalization with any traction if we are not willing to confront the elements of truth within the stoner sterotypes. Most all of the 'older' smokers I know have long since realized this, but I remember a time when I too steadfastly denied that there could be any detriment to smoking, and where that stance exists, it undermines the legitamacy of legalization.
Fortunately, of course, the strains combined, and being as people have been known to grow a plant or two, not to mention the efforts of the mighty Dutch, I can say for sure that I've experienced the qualities of both types of plants. And even so, an Indica still contains great THC, and can be quite euphoric. It is only a matter of relative concentrations of the different cannibinoids, as I understand it. But I doubt whether I have ever experienced a pure sativa, and it makes me wonder.
Someone recently asked me, "You're not going to turn into a Pot Snob, are you?"
I don't think so, but I can honestly say at this point, that if it comes down to a) mind-numbing shwag and b) nothing, I'm going with B.
When you've opened enough doors, you don't need any help stepping through again.
So, I guess in closing, I'm just saying that I'm becoming more mindful of what I smoke, or not. Personally I haven't had any for many months now, and its certainly not a bad thing. Would be nice, though, as I'm about to pop in Star Trek: First Contact. And some munchies, yeah....hey, you know, stereotypes....$uck 'em if they can't take a joke. Peace to you all.
