Smoking with Heroes

One of the best aspects of weed is getting high with others. Beyond the tribal passing and parking lot circles, is the camaraderie of seeking out other heads who want to get high. And truthfully, the more famous they are, the cooler it is. A bunch of us were there backstage the night Dana Carvey came in to a set at the comedy club and then regale us with stories of getting high with a Beatle. For the young fertile minds who love all tales that get back to P.O. T., it was like we were in Liverpool, hitting on that joint with Macca. For all serious dopers, there is a hierarchy out there to achieve somehow. Sure, I’ve hung with Willie, Woody and some other big names that you can suspect, and some that would totally surprise you. There are the dream gigs that I wish for...Jack. Jack Nicholson. I heard he has two kinds of P.O. T., downstairs and upstairs. I’ve heard Nicholson’s upstairs stuff is the Buds of Gods. Quentin Tarantino has been traipsing through the City as of lately. He is definitely one dude I could get high with forever. It’s been said Inglorious Basterds was settled over a home-made bong. There was much talk in the old days about Brad Pitt and his Missouri-homegrown ways. How his sets were closed to everyone but his dealer and the director...But to this day...Brad Pitt, hands down is the best movie stoner ever as Floyd in ‘True Romance’. Brad beats Spicoli, Rory Cochrane’s Ron Slater, Seth Rogan in anything and the worthy James Franco. Brad brings a perfect pitch of total obliviousness and being bong-ready all in the same moment... One night when I was getting high with Robert Towne...He told me the reason Jack’s acting around the campfire was so good in ‘Easy Rider’ was because Jack had been practicing all those years for it.

It all sounds like boasting and trying to top someone else with a bigger name, but that’s not it. It’s dope lore. It’s whose cool and who isn’t. Who bangs the gong and who doesn’t. This didn’t start with Jonah Hill. I’m looking at you, Bobby Mitchum for bring the rope in from Mexico for then young Hollywood in the fifties...There’s nothing new under the sun...Except a new crop that grows with each new season. But I digress...

I don’t know about you...I like to get high with people I’ve seen on the tube or in the movies. Not only is it cool, it makes for a great story for your other stoner friends. That is to say...I used to like to do that...But now truthfully after a career of getting high with the famous and semi-famous, I’m not as keen on it as I once was. I’d rather share a doobie with an old friend than hang out with someone now because they’re famous. Living in the Bay Area, we downplay the Hollywood thing. Let our famous be. I don’t have that drive anymore. I don’t see that quest as shallow, whether I participate in it or not. I know famous people who are on the same ganja peer-to-peer quest. But now, I rather twist up the night away with Quentin than search out Harry Potter because I heard he’s cool. But everyone has stories...I’d like to hear yours...

One day on a high hill in Sausalito, after meditation, I was walking and bumped into this old guy wearing a flowing caftan. We started a conversation and he passed me a hash pipe. We smoked, talked and solved the entire world’s problems on a sunny day. I later found out it was Sterling Hayden. I don’t search them out anymore, but I don’t forget them either...

There was this place once...

There was this one day at the end of the Seventies that this skater-chick named Jill brought me to the dope store. This magical place was located somewhere between the Castro and the Mission. An older sweet gay guy, he must have been in his early thirties, sat on an over-grown high chair and we, the consumers, were allowed to pick from a variety of grasses and real hashes in a tiny glass cabinet. In those days we were starting to get our dope without seeds and the hash wasn’t made with water. I didn’t know the City that well yet and leaving the Store with grams of this and ounces of that didn’t help. That was the first time I experienced an establishment whose commerce was based solely on selling drugs, pot, and hash, in particular. I hear later this was one of Dennis’s first attempts of bringing P.O.T. to the City...Rumors...I got so high I couldn’t find my way back...

Thank God for your street dealers. As we go legal, and we are, don’t forget the guys and gals, who brought us to the dance. These unsung heroes have been holding down the ganja fort for...well...forever. We should have a National Pot Dealers Day. On N.P.D.D., we would honor the people who have risked their lives for little profit, high risks, externally and internally, and who never asked for legal fees when they get busted. Maybe around the Fifteenth of April, when we get ready for our National Holidaze on the Twentieth, we should recognize those who have made it possible for all us oldsters to score...Give them a little extra that day...A tip or a nice gift...Just an idea...   

I was leaving my store last week thinking how lucky I am to have a bad back and migraines. I sometimes get the feeling that some patients are faking it for their Medical Marijuana Card...But having a store to go to...has changed my life.

No more waiting in late night parking lots. No more hanging at a guy’s house when he’s fighting with his old lady. No more fear of being busted by an overzealous cop or a rookie trying to prove something. And the most obvious, having to be spared the shame of being arrested for weed in the Twenty-First Century...

The Dispensaries have changed everything. There’s no going back. That small little oasis a younger version of me happened upon  all those years ago while being magically guided by the young woman on a skateboard with proper chucks, will never be found, yet will never be forgotten...We have crossed a line here in the City that would be hard to go back against...L.A. of course is getting greedy. There are more dispensaries than there are Starbucks for Johnny Drama to get his hats...

Beyond being more civilized...It’s safer...It’s healthier...And there are patients who couldn’t live without the medication...It’s not a game...Is it up to us to see this through?

The Sunset grow houses are being set-up by gangs from Vancouver...Maybe that’s why they get busted???...Our National forests are embedded with Mexican gangs...

Because...Because it’s cheaper...Purple is the new Black...Growing seasons are being hurried to meet the demand...I leave most dispensaries with a half ounce of some of the best medication I’ve ever had like it’s nothing...Even the small dispensary has good bud...For the most part...I can barely remember having a dealer...God Bless Tom Ammiano and Dennis Peron...Here’s to never going backwards...

Comments

[Tamma]

My name is Tammy and I'm 43 years old and I need to quit smoking. I can't remember how many times I've tried and I always think this is the one. My quit date is NOW, today that it!!! I really hope I can make it this time. I have done various research on effective ways to quite. I just passed by a article on "kiwi drug" and am curious about this nicorette inhaler everyone seems to be buzzing about. Does it really work? If buying online as safe as getting a prescription and going to my local drug store?