Stoned to Death?! An Evening with the Living Dead

Recently The Tab published this article damning the use of marijuana and the “stoners” who use it. In the interest of fairness and impartiality we met up with some students, who are quite capable of telling the difference between White Widow and Big Bud, and queried whether they thought this was an accurate representation of them and their lifestyle.

Firstly I would like to stress that no institution or person cited in this article, including The Tab, The University of Leicester, myself or anyone else referenced, encourages marijuana use as it is naughty and illegal. It is a universally acknowledged fact however that despite inconveniences such as the law, university regulations, and the fact that the RAs will be onto you like a tonne of bricks; many students will chose to go home to a big fat spliff after a ‘heavy’ day of learning. So what did these ‘stoners’ think of the article?

“The Rolling Box” – Finally! A use for all the flyers handed out on campus.

“When I first read the article I thought it was a load of shit.” says Saul as he passes the zoot around the circle. “I mean, does he know what a sweeping generalisation is?” “We’re all different people, we just like to smoke weed together” adds Gale. Indeed, not everyone smoking tonight is middle class, or white, or even a boy as the stereotype dictates. Everyone smoking studies a range of different courses, from English to Engineering, and there isn’t a single dreadlock in sight.

After two more spliffs and two episodes of Breaking Bad, which doesn’t really feel any different to watching Breaking Bad with a group of sober people, I ask non-stoner Flynn what he thinks about the article and the stoners he hangs with. “I don’t think the stoners are boring.” States Flynn “I mean, all they do is sit and watch Breaking Bad. But that’s all they’d do even if they weren’t high.”

The spliff moves on

As the night continues, I soon realise that most criticisms of the article seem to revolve around the fact that the article’s writer is making assumptions, not only about the sort of people who do smoke weed but also about smokers’ futures. If the path to failure is indeed lined with zoots, then for the following people at least, so too is the path to success.

TAB’S TOP TEN SUCCESSFUL & SURPRISING STONERS (ALLEGEDLY)

1. William Shakespeare
2. David Cameron – though he “did not inhale”.
3. Barack Obama -“I inhaled frequently. That was the point.”
4. Queen Victoria – preferred method of “easing the pains of labour”.
5. sir Richard Branson – reportedly requested a spliff at The White House in 2012.
6. Bill Gates
7. Marilyn Monroe
8. Micheal Bloomberg- economist and mayor of New York.
9. LeBron James
10. Sarah Palin

Evidence of marijuana use was found in one of the Bard’s pipes in 2011.

Of course, these people didn’t get where they are through smoking weed, but it just shows that you cannot split the world into stoners and non-stoners.  So-called “stoners” can be or become presidents, CEOs, artists, media moguls, economists, left wing politicians, right wing politicians, royalty, anything really. “Stoners” are people before they’re the obnoxious under achievers we are lead to believe they are. Labelling people as “stoners” only to ridicule them on having found something they like to do in their spare time is unhelpful, judgemental and elitist. Realistically if you and your friends like nothing more than getting high as a kite, sitting back and watching Harold and Kumar Get the Muchies in your spare time, who has the right to judge you? You could be the next prime minister.