The Stoner Evolution

Smoking pot has been around for thousands of years. It’s many uses make it a very valuable part of life for a lot of cultures.

This used to include our own until some people with large pockets decided that the many uses meant that their pockets would shrink drastically. Stoners themselves have evolved drastically since marijuana became part of American culture. We’re definitely not smoking the shwag that our parents used to smoke in their day, that’s for sure.

Weed entered the American circuit sometime in the 1800s. It was sold in pharmacies as a medicine for all different kinds aches, pains, and illnesses. Who would’ve thought right? Unfortunately for those early medical users, it seems like we’ve almost regressed. However, the potency and quality of their medical marijuana was basically all natural. There were no such things as nutes to add to the soil and hydroponics didn’t exist. Hemp farmers were at the mercy of the elements and dealt with issues that we no longer have, such as pests and frost. These patients happened to be the first cannabis users in America.

Once the 1900s hit, however, cannabis use began to be a negative thing if you weren’t using it for medical use. The southern states began to outlaw any type of recreational use of the plant. Does this sound familiar? History really just sounds like a broken record sometimes. 1936 brought around the release of every stoners favorite film Reefer Madness, which was used to deter younger people from indulging in marijuana. The next year, 1937, was the year that cannabis was officially banned from all use in the United States. This was the point at which marijuana became an underground, Prohibition style substance… Everyone was still doing it but the “law” still said it was illegal.

Thirty years later, hash oil began to make an appearance on the market. This was one of the events that later led to the development of the latest pothead craze; BHO. For those that don’t know, hash oil has been around for a very long time and only recently has gained support among marijuana users in the past couple of years. I’m sure that when it was first made, it probably wasn’t as concentrated as it is now. Not to mention the weed that was being used still isn’t as strong as it is today.

We all know the stoners from the 70s. These were the people that gave us the hippie name. They were peaceful, chill, and would rather sit on the beach and smoke a joint before actually going to work. It was a good time, from what I’ve heard from parents of myself and friends. Everyone was smoking weed, even though it was still very much illegal. The thing is that no one really cared. As it should be today, the government was definitely more concerned with pressing issues.

In the 80s is when potheads strayed away from the hippie side of smoking and started doing the classic stoner moves; adventure places, smoke with friends, chill out, have fun. It was in this time period that Cheech and Chong started to move the stoner image from hippie to goofball, as Up In Smoke had come out in 1978. Cheech and Chong, as most of us know, really started a marijuana movement. Whereas before, it was more about peace and love, we learned to direct our focus. We want this plant to be legal and we’re going to pester you until you do (Which unfortunately still hasn’t happened more than 30 years later).

When the 90s finally rolled around, an explosion of marijuana based comedies flooded the media market. Fear & Loathing, Dazed and Confused, and the Big Lebowski just to name a few. It was this time period that got more people to pay attention to marijuana. How can you not support a plant that makes you cry with laughter at the escapades of potheads overfeeding diabetic horses and innocent potheads getting beaten up by thugs just because they have the same last name as some rich guy. It was in the 90s when California started the snowball of marijuana support. While other states, such as Oregon, had already been working towards weed acceptance, it was (and still is) California that is the first state thought of when referring to pot. Sorry, Colorado and Washington. I know you guys are important but California has been doing this for a while now.

It seems like once Cali made medical okay, everyone jumped on the bandwagon. Between 1998 and 2010, there were nine states that either changed their laws to allow medical use or held a vote, leaving it up to the citizens (AS IT SHOULD ALWAYS BE) to decide whether or not they wanted their state to allow the plant to be ingested for medical reasons. It was in 2011 that a study showed that more than 50% of American were FOR the legalization of marijuana, rather than against it.

These days, Colorado and Washington have taken that next step and completely legalized the usage of marijuana for both medical AND recreational purposes. This is a huge step for the movement and just by reading this short blog, you can see how far we’ve come from flowerchildren to highly educated, seriously enlightened debaters that can talk any anti-pot person off of their high horse. We have advanced in both quality and quantity of marijuana that gets produced, sold, and smoked. BHO has advanced greatly as well to become a cleaner, healthier way to medicate. It’s been a really tough road but as I said, we’ve done a lot of very positive work for a movement that so many people love and believe in.

As you can see from this pretty basic overview of the stoner history, there’s been so many obstacles and issues. Legalization gets more realistic with every day that passes, due to the tireless efforts of the ones who support it. While some people still deem it okay to trash talk our cause and spread lies, more people are being awakened to the truth. This plant can help us and at this point in history, we could definitely use it.

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