Drinking alcohol is a widely accepted habit in many parts of the world. From the odd glass of wine with a meal to a full blown drinking session on a Friday night at the pub/nightclub it is regarded as a perfectly legitimate way to wind down from the stresses and strains that we all encounter throughout our lives.
The problem is, unfortunately, that it is not very good for you. It can easily become a habit that permeates your life without you even thinking about it. Over time it can destroy your liver and brain and ultimately lead to death and destruction, as it did with my father. He was dead before he got to my age (he was 51 when he died).
All sounds a bit miserable doesn’t it? Surely, you might think, a few drinks at the weekend doesn’t hurt, and you would be right. The thing is that a lot of us try and kid ourselves that we only have a few when in reality it is probably rather more than that. I’m no angel. I will often get a few beers from the Tesco express on the way home to have later when I’m relaxing in front of the TV. It’s what I have grown up with. Everybody in my family has a drink. Quite often one of us will have more than is good for them. “Never again” we tell ourselves but a week or two later we jump back on the wagon and things return to the status quo. Old habits die hard as they say.
If this all sounds a bit familiar and you’ve never been stoned before then read on.
I spent the first half of my adult life so far getting drunk. Then I got stoned one day and everything changed. If you’ve read my article on my introduction to the world of weed you might have gathered that I had been put off smoking cannabis for the sole reason that every time I had been offered a joint and accepted it I was already half cut (or drunk) and would end up spinning out and having a conversation with the big white telephone in the bathroom, in other words puking my guts up whilst hugging the toilet bowl. Not at all a pleasant experience and the reason I didn’t smoke weed like many of my friends did. “It doesn’t agree with me” was my usual response when offered a joint.
However, one day, when I was in my mid twenties, I found myself in a situation where a lit joint was thrust into my hand in the middle of the morning. I was left wondering what to do with it as I was just about to go out. I nearly threw it in the bin but instead decided to take it with me. I was pretty skint at the time and smoked roll ups. I was running out of tobacco and thought “to hell with it”, so off I strode puffing away in the glorious sunshine listening to some music on my headphones not knowing that this was going to be one of those sliding doors moments. My life took a sudden turn and I would never be the same again.
I was stoned for the first time in my life. The music on my walkman sounded more intense than I had ever heard before. I was strolling along in time with the music with a swagger like I was Tony Monero. The sun was on my back and I felt a sense of euphoria washing over me. This was a feeling that I had never had before. I felt so happy. This was much better than being drunk. I realised just then that I was going to be a stoner. A head. A chilled out motherfucking space cadet. Weed was the way to go.
I never stopped drinking alcohol. I just cut down. I wasn’t drinking much at the time anyway due to my financial situation but I had previously been a consumer of large amounts of export strength lager. On a daily basis. If I had the money I would spend it on a session in the pub. But not now. I still went to the pub with friends but less regularly. I gained some new friends and I drifted away from some old ones. My lifestyle changed. Before I would get agitated if I wasn’t going out down the pub. Now I was happy to spend nights in with a few friends and listen to music and talk about stuff that would occasionally blow my mind. I was learning. Cannabis is a teacher like a few other natural plants and fungii. The veil is lifted for a brief while and you can see the word from a different, more insightful perspective.
Some people drink alcohol, some people get stoned. I do both, but I much prefer the latter. It is much less harmful to your health. Some people argue that it can be harmful to your mental health and I wouldn’t disagree. I have had a few times where I have felt absolutely awful. Paranoia and panic attacks that I had not experienced before. But this is almost completely down to the situation I am in at the time along with the lack of CBD present in the weed. If there is hardly any CBD and it is mostly THC then you can mess yourself up for a couple of hours. If it was legal and controlled this problem could easily be avoided.
However, as it is still illegal in the U.K. it can be pot luck (lol) as to what ratio of THC to CBD there is in the weed you smoke. You can’t even grow your own. Damn those greedy pharmaceutical companies (that’s another story).
The bottom line is that if you have always drunk alcohol before you smoked weed, spun out and therefore never tried it again then stop. Stop dinking, find some decent weed, give yourself a couple of hours, put on some music and get stoned. Hopefully you won’t regret it. It might even change your life.