No “Marijuana Cigarettes” Will Not Go On Sale Worldwide In 2017, But There Is A Bigger Story Here
Newport Cigarettes, one of the world’s most popular cigarette brands, announced that they will join the marijuana legalization trend and start producing marijuana cigarettes, or so it has been said.
This story has been going around but doesn’t seem to actually be true.
The company has not made a statement and the original source is a website called TMZworldNews which is a satire website. Let me be the first to say that I think legalization is an important step in changing the stigma around cannabis; however, I think cannabis is still vastly misunderstood by many of us. Further, recreational use of marijuana is abused far more than most people are willing to admit. Let’s use this opportunity to explore some of the serious elephant’s in the room we are overlooking when it comes to marijuana legalization. Firstly, cannabis can be used in many medicinal ways, when done correctly, to help with serious illness. Example, this 3 year old had huge help with her seizures via cannabis oil. We also covered the very real scientific reasons to avoid smoking everyday, and this is partly why I’m writing this. Now, I’m going to bring in what I’ve observed and intuitively feel is something we must be aware of when it comes to cannabis. I do not feel legalization is entirely a step in the right direction. Let me be clear, I’m not saying that the government shouldn’t legalize a plant from nature or that we should be stopped from doing what we like. I’m simply saying there are things here that we are turning a blind eye to, things that have the potential to eventually become issues given our current path. First off, one thing not enough people are talking about is the increase in gang war and violent activity in Colorado as a result of the legalization of cannabis. Giving the option for so many people to grow cannabis has created even more competition, leading to growers raiding other growers and trying to ensure they have a high market share. It’s important to note that this is an issue of our states of mind (greed, power, etc.) and consciousness more than anything. It’s not cannabis legalization that’s causing the issues, it’s human consciousness. However, making the decision of legalization within an unconscious world is leading to the issues at hand. Let’s look at alcohol for a moment. Many people use the argument that if alcohol is legal even though it’s proven to be harmful, cannabis should be legal since it doesn’t cause any health issues. For the most part, I agree with this point, it seems absolutely crazy when you consider the reality that alcohol is legal and regulated given its disastrous effects on the human body, yet cannabis remains illegal. At the same time, due to the state of our culture and humanity, both cannabis use and alcohol use can be very destructive. I have seen many recreational users, including people close to me, be greatly affected by recreational use that becomes an everyday occurrence. This is an addiction that can cause a number of issues and stops us from addressing our emotional challenges. Yet it’s seen as something that is entirely safe to do because marijuana is a natural plant. To add it it, due to the fact it affects the release of dopamine levels in the brain, long time users often have a hard time being happy without smoking. It’s here where I think governments, corporations and so forth provide the product and then put their hands back and simply say, “Well, it’s up to the people to decide how they use it.” In many ways, they are technically right, but I believe that in a world where making money and profit overrules our desire to make sure our society is healthy and at peace, legalization only puts another vice out there in a more accessible and socially acceptable way. This isn’t something we will have statistics on yet because it simply hasn’t been long enough, but I believe cannabis will create many problems like we see in Colorado as well as like what we see with alcohol but perhaps not as bad. We simply aren’t paying close enough attention to these issues yet. We already know that for people under the age of 25, cannabis smoking effects the brain in negative ways. However, what is often not talked about in adults, is the over use, abuse and crutch that daily cannabis smoking is. It’s one thing to smoke from time to time at a party, but it’s entirely different to smoke every day, multiple times per week and so forth. Now, I know this isn’t a popular idea or thing to talk about because it’s somewhat of a sore subject, but this is the crux of the issue. It sheds light on something that many of us don’t want to look at, which is the emotional pain we are running away from and covering up everyday using a number of vices – including cannabis. Don’t get me wrong, for those experiencing physical pain, cannabis is a different story, but I’m referring to a different type of pain. We have a serious problem in our society when it comes to our emotional selves. We don’t know how to deal with our emotions, partially because we’re not taught how to properly deal with them, so they often get pushed aside. In exchange, we take on a number of addictions to modify our feelings (mainly through dopamine release) via alcohol, cannabis, sex addiction, social media addiction, etc. in order to deal with them.
The legalization of cannabis will also attract more users because it will become easier to obtain. So, if a person is having a bad day, week, month or are not sure how to deal with the emotional challenges they’re facing, another unhealthy vice can be used and it would be considered socially acceptable to do so. Let me be clear, I do not think cannabis is evil, bad, or the problem entirely, I believe our mindsets and consciousness are. Since we live in a world where we are so out of touch with ourselves and not equipped with the tools to work through what we face daily, this is just giving us another thing to get lost in, create more problems and distract us from our real challenges. That being said, I believe cannabis can be used as a healing herb to help many people, but it should be used as that and people should be educated about it properly. Most people aren’t even aware that isolating certain compounds in cannabis isn’t nearly as therapeutic as taking the whole plant. Further, smoking it offers little to no therapeutic value as it should be made into oil, eaten raw or juiced. As a whole, our culture views cannabis as something safe and cool to do, to deny that would be naive. So, given the culture around it, we are not aware of the real problem it can create (along with many vices). I don’t think the issue is necessarily what we do entirely in the political and law realm, but more so in the education realm of the long-term effects of cannabis use, the ages at which it is safe and most importantly, equipping society with the tools to deal with our stresses, anxieties and emotional traumas without resorting to substance abuse. When an individual is feeling good, fulfilled and at peace, they aren’t likely to use these substances often, so we avoid these issues altogether. To me, that is what will produce a solid, evolving, peaceful society with a high quality of life. Here are a few resources to help deal with some challenges that we might face in our everyday lives, that cause us to turn to vices like cannabis. Depression – 1, 2, 3 Anxiety – 1, 2, 3 Stress – 1, 2, 3 .
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