If you don’t know the rules by now, you may be pissing off your circle of smoking friends. The rules of smoking marijuana while sitting in a circle of all your favorite people have been finely tuned over thousands of years. Marijuana smokers may be laid back, but check this list of the common mistakes rookies make when smoking.  NORML has given us the Principals of Responsible Cannabis Use which outlines the steps you need to take to be safe when using marijuana. Now, AntiSoccermom gives you:

The Principles of Smoking Pot.

Let’s look at the big picture here, the karmic experience of sitting in a circle with all of the people you clearly connect with. Note the low level of tension, the idle smoke hanging dense in the air, the music playing softly in the background. Marijuana is often a religious experience and sharing it with your closest friends and family can be great, unless you do something stupid and ruin the vibes. Now even I am starting to sound like a hippy! Let’s Discuss.

Clean Your Pipes!

If you find yourself searching for a clean pipe at the bottom of a drawer full of gunked up reserves, perhaps its time to just break out the alcohol. That’s right, I’d never recommend you to drink alcohol of any type, but it does work great on dirty pipes and your guests will thank you for it! Also, change the bong water. There is nothing more revolting than nasty, scummy, stinky bong water. Don’t clean it and I bet it somehow gets “accidentally” spilled onto the floor. Good luck getting the smell out!

No Camping!

Marijuana can make even the most soft-spoken of us start spouting off our foolproof plan to “free the weed” that no one else has ever thought of before, but do it too much and you get labeled a camper. “Camping” on a bowl, or holding on to the joint and talking on and on about “some guy you know”  or the best Elton John lyrics, while everyone is eye-balling the precious marijuana smoke wafting above your waving hands….is an utter fail. It has happened to the best of us, but try to watch it. And no dude, thats totally an original idea.

Puff-Puff-Pass.

Joints and blunts, the mecca of every weed smoker’s dreams have their own set of rules, with these precious commodities you must always take two hits and pass it, while smoking out of a pipe you need only take one. Rules seem to vary by region in this section, so my advice would be to always ask what the rules are for your circle. With bongs, pipes, vapes, and knifers, you want to hit it once and share the love to-the-left-hand-side.

Bring it.

You don’t really want to be the guy that shows up to a smoking circle without any herb, I’ve been there and it ain’t pretty. Stoners might not call you out directly, but I bet you don’t get invited back to any blunt parties. When it comes down to it, its rude. Take turns loading up the bowl and always offer greens to the person who got the worst of the last bowl. But showing up empty handed and begging to get smoked out? Don’t do it. Bring your own to share or don’t smoke anyone elses!

Pass the Dutchie.

To the left hand side. Did you get that? It means that you pass to your left, no….your other left…. sheesh. Smokers like to see things coming and one of the most reliable things we foresee is that someone is going to be handing us something awesome, from the right. Dont screw up the rotation and if you need to remind yourself, just sing this little tune.

Share it.

Cannabis is a life-giving medicine, don’t you want to share that with the lovely people that care for your plants and help keep you as healthy and capable as you are today? Smoke up your caregiver, ya know, if it is a responsible and safe area. Smoke  up your patient-friends any time that you can, we all have dry spells and we all need those free tokes in between. I’ve found that its best to keep your karma cup pretty full on this one, you never know when the favor will be returned!

So that’s it folks. Or is it? What rules of smoking do you use in your favorite circle?

© 2009 – 2010, AntiSoccermom. All rights reserved to the original author unless stated otherwise.

Depending on who you ask, marijuana is either a natural medicine or a dangerously addictive substance that can and will ruin your life. The wide gap in public thinking has been generated by the hypocritical misinformation from our government and their reefer madness techniques. As marijuana becomes mainstream, we have discovered that the laws put in place around marijuana and its actual value in society have been increasingly ignored, thwarted and swept under the rug. You may not know that marijuana has been illegal for only a small portion of its lifespan, we now know that marijuana has been used for over 5,000 years, medicinally and recreationally but has been deemed illegal only for the past seventy years. We know that the US government holds patents for the medicinal use of marijuana and we also know that many of our former (and current) presidents have used marijuana at some point in their lifetime. If it’s good enough for our president, and good enough to hold patents on, why has the government kept marijuana illegal? Has prohibition failed us and more importantly, are we on the brink of marijuana legalization? Many people assume that marijuana was outlawed based on scientific research and studies when in reality it was a racially fueled attacked on Latin Americans and the black jazz musician community from Harry Anslinger himself. Marijuana was demonized and eventually outlawed on the basis that it “influenced Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.” The lies told by Anslinger and perpetuated with Reefer Madness sentiment are appalling to read today, but the same sentiments are what keep the laws already cooked, in place. Anslinger stated: “Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.” “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” “…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.” “Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing” “You smoke a joint and you’re likely to kill your brother.” “Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.” All these statements from Anslinger were draped in racism and meant to terrify the populace away from marijuana. We now know the plant was outlawed on the basis of race. We also know now that race and a preference for jazz music does not dictate the effects of marijuana on a person. Harry J Anslinger was not running for a political office spouting bogus ideas about drugs, he was the Director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics for all of America. Anslinger’s racially charged decisions have affected millions of lives since going in to effect, but as the information about marijuana increases, we are beginning to see that marijuana is not the demon we have been led to believe it is. The government has kept marijuana illegal for reasons that remain difficult to understand. Some say that it was in direct correlation with the Vietnam war. When protestors for peace were caught using marijuana, an idea was born. To be able to arrest (and thusly stop all protests against an unjust war) the government began turning an all too common recreational activity into a crime and arresting those people with strong feelings against the governments decisions. Reagan, speaking out against marijuana made a statement saying that marijuana causes people to sit around, read books and talk. This was apparently a dangerous activity for the government, when its people turn to educating themselves. Reagan went on to say in 1974 “marijuana leads to homosexuality and therefore, to aids” the scare tactics of his presidency and war against drugs are comical now, but at the time his words were taken as truth, a very scary leap from cause to effect. Mainstream media has picked up on the hypocritical nature of these laws and has exploited the deceivers behind them for what they are, liars and racists. What was once a dangerous substance has become a common medication to treat ailments from everyday depression to cancer and aids. Science is finally starting to catch up to the millions of marijuana users who have found relief from the plant and now we are closer to full legalization than ever. According to the United States DEA chief administrative law judge in a ruling issued on September 6th 1988, “Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.” Despite his ruling, and his urging that marijuana be moved from a Schedule 1 to a schedule 2 substance on the basis of a 69 page scientific report, the government has ignored this declaration by their own judge, again for reasons unknown. Now, President Barack Obama has been urged to recognize marijuana for its medicinal uses and reschedule the drug more appropriately, but little has been done to right the wrongs of a failed war on drugs. The fear, generated by the movement to make marijuana illegal, realizes that once the government accepts the medicinal use of marijuana for sick people, there is no longer the argument that it is inappropriate for healthy people. Our government has ignored even their own science and needless suffering has been inflicted on millions of Americans who have benefited or could benefit from marijuana.

© 2009 – 2010, AntiSoccermom. All rights reserved to the original author unless stated otherwise.