Are you one of those smokers who, from the first puff, already inspiration? It is curious how, in general, all varieties of marijuana, with greater or lesser intensity, free the mind, disinhibit thought and make us see reality from another perspective.
The people we cited in this post also came to the conviction that cannabis use allowed them to access a part of the world, of knowledge or of themselves that they would not have been able to access in any other way.
That is why with his statements, some already historical and others that undoubtedly will end up going down in history for their rotundity and sharpness, defend the consumption of cannabis sometimes from a rather critical position and at other times with total naturalness, as a practice not only beneficial for the human being but also on occasions absolutely necessary to escape the stress, routine and frustrations of a world in which prohibitions often only aggravate existing problems.
Opinions that come from distant times
You may think that sitting down and smoking marijuana is a modern invention. But reviewing the most famous phrases of not so recent history you can find more than one surprise.
We do not know very well what was the relationship between the fathers of the North American country and the consumption of cannabis, but it is seen that the first American presidents were on the subject of smoking a porrito from time to time at home (all very American movie scene, don’t you think?).
This is how it reflected Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, when he stated that “Some of my best moments have been spent on the porch behind my house, smoking hemp and looking at the horizon.” The sixteenth president of the country picked up the witness, Abraham Lincoln, also fond of a good marijuana cigarette at home: “Two of my favorite hobbies are sitting on my patio, filling my pipe with hemp, smoking and playing my harmonica.”
American political history has given much of itself when it comes to marijuana, and you certainly don’t have to travel that far in time to find phrases that are quite revealing. Some of the most curious are from just a few decades ago. The first is somewhat older and is attributed to Michael Reagan adopted son of former President Ronald Reagan, who said “Of course Dad was in favor of decriminalization. He was not mad. He didn’t want his children in jail! “
The other two are not wasted either, one because it is the typical phrase innocent that a teenager would tell his mother to apologize and the other because you can not imagine who it is attributed to. Bill Clinton recognized a shrimp adolescent assuring that “I once smoked marijuana. I did not inhale ”, as if to take iron out of the matter. And a popular governor once said, “Marijuana is not a drug. It is a leaf ”. Can you imagine who it was? Himself Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The decriminalization of cannabis reopens the debate
As expected, every time the government of a country has moved in the direction of an eventual decriminalization of marijuana use, reactions have arisen in the different spheres of society that make up public opinion. Beyond what the public opinion, plastic artists, scientists, politicians, actors, singers or writers have also taken advantage of their public interventions to show their position on the use of marijuana.
It is always interesting to hear opinions coming from so many different fields because we are usually used to associating cannabis exclusively with Rastafarian culture, reggae or everything that has to do with Bob Marley. In fact, sure before you started reading this post you imagined that you were going to find a lot of quotes from the Jamaican musician.
But you see that it is not so. Precisely what we wanted to show you with this post is that people you can’t even imagine at some point in their lives came out in defense of the use of marijuana and its decriminalization. It is the case of Albert Einstein, which justified its position by also establishing an interesting relationship: “It is an open secret that the increase in crime is closely connected with the prohibition of hemp.”
This same line of justification is the one used by the scientist Carl Sagan for his defense of marijuana as a positive element for society: “That cannabis is illegal is really incredible. The complete impediment of using in its entirety something that helps you to produce a deep serenity, sensitivity and brotherhood so desperately needed in this crazy and dangerous world. In a much simpler way but just as forceful, Lady Gaga launched a similar message at a concert in the Netherlands in 2012 in which she recognized that cannabis had changed her life, connected her more to her music, and made her focus more on her career and creativity: “Marijuana is the new symbol of peace ”.
There are those who take it with more humor
But without a doubt, the phrases that we will remember the most are those that, due to their point of irony or humor, are much easier to remember. In addition, it never hurts to have them on hand to release them at the right time and have a laugh again.
Among our favorites is the emblematic “Marijuana causes amnesia … and other things that I no longer remember”, by the film director Woody Allen and another somewhat more general about cannabis use that also has a lot of humor and a lot of chicha: “I never had a problem with drugs, only with the police”, from the great Keith Richards, guitarist for the Rolling Stones.
