Lemme Smoke My Ish Though!

Clifford been my dream date forever now.

Why was marijuana criminalized in the first place?

We as a society (Barbados) aren't ready for the decriminalization of marijuana...

We've been living in the folds of propaganda, influencing us to believe that marijuana itself is a demonic drug, that encourages negative social and health related behaviors in its users.

Many persons over the age of 30 still believe if you consume marijuana (in the most popular way of smoking it) you instantly become a violent criminal minus control of your senses and prone to terrorize everyone you come into contact with, simply because the drug influences you to be the worst you can be.

The perception that you will sell all your furniture, your body and your mother to get yourself your next fix of marijuana is STILL rampant and being taught as a method of prevention of drug abuse.

The idea that weed is a gateway drug to other, harder, more dangerous drugs is still being peddled to the ignorant masses, scared to look for information because let's face it, information is dangerous in large doses, in the hands of ignorant men.

Here are a few facts about Cannabis: 

Cannabis, is a psychotropic drug. Meaning it alters brain functions, other such drugs include Ativan, Xanax, Zoloft and Prozac.

In Barbados the most easily acquired form of Cannabis is Marijuana, the dried plant form that is smoked.

There are two main strains of Cannabis (there are more but let's keep it simple), Cannabis Sativa, and Cannabis Indica. They have varying effects on the consumer.


Those effects include:

• an altered state of consciousness. The user may feel "high", very happy, euphoric, relaxed, sociable and uninhibited.

• distorted perceptions of time and space. The user may feel more sensitive to things around them, and may also experience a more vivid sense of taste, sight, smell and hearing.

• increased pulse and heart rate, bloodshot eyes, dilated pupils, and often increased appetite.

• impaired coordination and concentration, making activities such as driving a car or operating machinery difficult and dangerous.

• negative experiences, such as anxiousness, panic, self-consciousness and paranoid thoughts.

Ironic as it is, Cannabis is still a Schedule 1 drug, which means the US based organization, the DEA, Drug Enforcement Administration, considers it one of the most dangerous drugs, in terms of addictive quality, and damage to individuals who use it. It joins LSD, and Heroine on that tier.

Why is that ironic? Well, because it's currently legal in over 20 states listed as follows:

Here are states with legal recreational marijuana: 

1. Alaska

2. Colorado

3. Oregon 

4. Washington 

Willie Nelson... America's poster Uncle.

Here are states with medical marijuana: 

1. Alaska

2. Arizona

3. California

4. Colorado

5. Connecticut

6. Delaware

7. Hawaii

8. Illinois

9. Maine

10. Maryland

11. Massachusetts 

12. Michigan

13. Minnesota

14. Montana

15. Nevada

16. New Hampshire

17. New Jersey

18. New Mexico

19. New York

20. Oregon 

21. Pennsylvania 

22. Rhode Island

23. Vermont

24. Washington

It's legal (with medical permit) in half the states, in the country that originally ordered it a dangerous substance, while that country maintains its highly xenophobic bias towards lower class, African American, Caribbean and Latin American offenders, caught with questionable amounts of the drug, often resulting in harsh terms of incarceration, heavy fines and deportation.

Anyhow, enough about America, it's clear that the government of the USA is still heavily biased and bathed in contradiction regarding Cannabis, as American scientists, doctors, patients and citizens who casually use the drug stay proving that the DEA's stance in refusing to demote Cannabis from Schedule 1 is in no way based on scientific evidence of it being any more dangerous than say over the counter drugs used to suppress coughs and manage colds, it's clear that the war on Marijuana is actually a war on class and colour, which is proven every time a high profile white male is revealed to have used the drug purely for recreation, and the major response from the higher ups stays within the circles of "boys will be boys" and "all kids go through a rebellious phase", but the other classes and colours are quickly branded as thugs, and social nuisances, by those same voices.

Don't Do The Marijuanas, It Will Turn Your Skin Funny.

Let's get back to this little island, Barbados.

On August 17th 2016, a 16 year old went before the court, his charge?

He was caught with marijuana. street value of $3, consequentially he was placed on $2000 bail, to return to court to find out his fate.

$3 in weed.

Not even $30, but $3.

It was weighed at two grammes, and is worth $3. He is 16, In my opinion, he should not be smoking that, or even in possession of the drug independently, he is too young, but, I wonder if he would have been charged if thy caught him with a Guinness, or a pack of cigarettes?

In my opinion that was a waste of the court's time, and the fine is obscene, not to mention, who the hell is selling that kind of weed so cheap? Are we even sure that's not just funky oregano???

Okay, two days later, an adult on a pleasure cruise was caught with $16 of the same substance. He was fined $1200, BY THE SAME MAGISTRATE.

Now, pardon me for seeming crude, but WHAT THE EVER LOVING FUCK THOUGH!!

You COMFORTABLY give a teenager a damn charge sheet, put their parent in whatever financial situation to post a bond/bail for $3 in chipwood.

Yeah, I'll let y'all think about that for a minute.

At some point, the powers that be in Barbados will HAVE to look at the fact that the law, and many who are tasked to uphold it, are asses. Around that same time, we will see them grow a backbone and stand up to good old Uncle Sam about his hypocrisy, while adjusting our own laws to encourage education rather than ignorance.

I can never understand how a country based on a culture of rum, minus any real control and protection against abuse, also, little to no legal consequence for being drunk, and doing anything from driving to driving with passengers, heck, there's no real legal limit to the amount of alcohol one can consume in Barbados, and there is no way to measure it, but, I digress, I can never understand how a country based on a culture of rum, can remain so ignorant to the value of decriminalizing a substance that they cannot prove is linked to misinformation used in the smear campaign and propaganda from 40 years ago, in racist USA.




Sources include: 

http://www.druginfo.adf.org.au/drug-facts/cannabis
https://www.drugs.com/illicit/cannabis.html

And other sites.

Have A Seat Aunty Betty, Wrinse Out Ya Salt Aunty Gwyneth.

The year is 2016.

This was me on

Grand Kadooment Monday, living where

you vacation

The Crop Over Festival has drawn to an end, and I survived Grand Kadooment on Monday, made it through the heat of Day 2 (Emancipation Day Bank Holiday) and here I sit in my pajama pants and breast cancer awareness t-shirt, at the computer scrolling along innocently after the trolling exercise I used yesterday to shirk my research duty into regional and international statistics of police brutality.

When suddenly, I happen across an article from our native online publication, Barbados Today.

In fact here is the exact words taken from the article still available to the public at this hour:

Award-winning designer Betty West said as she paraded on Monday she was shocked at the number of semi-nude women on the road.

“You could be sexy but covered. I saw big women with cellulites on the road. The string was so far up you couldn’t see nothing. For me that is a no no,” a disgusted West said during an interview with Barbados TODAY.

“Yes, you have slender girls with these things [on]. But when you see a full figured woman in this, for me it is disgusting,” added West, who said she expected criticism for speaking out about the issue.

“We don’t want this kind of thing in Barbados,” an adamant West stressed.

This sentiment seemed echoed further into the article as they interviewed my queen veteran, Aunty Gwyneth. Look, up until this point Aunty Gwyneth could very literally do no wrong for me, I adore her spirit and her costuming, she is boundlessly talented and there is no one above her.

Well, was. This is what Barbados Today journalist Anesta Henry came away with from my superhero. 

Young Lewis, assisting a Young Robyn

in the search for the next Bus Crawl.

Respected bandleader Gwyneth Squires shared similar outrage, telling Barbados TODAY some of the costumes she saw on the road ought to have landed the revelers behind bars.

“It has to stop. I saw some people yesterday in revealing costumes. To be honest, I sorry the police didn’t lock them up,” Squires declared.

The article went on to cleverly protect the identity (whether intentionally or not) of someone else, a male band leader who was taken aback by one of his male patrons turning up in less fabric than he paid for:

"Barbados TODAY understands that on Monday one bandleader received the shock of his life when he discovered that a male reveller in his band was wearing a thong instead of the shorts with which he was issued."

Now, before I go any further, lemme just declare, I have put on my Sunday hat, and taken off my behavior, my language will be bitter and my message will be absolutely clear.

BUT WHAT DE WHOLE HAM LEG AN' SOUSE I NOW READ DOA???

I have grown up loving and respecting these two women to almost familial level loyalty and dedication, but, in big 2016, you mean to tell me these two clowns cannot understand that it is not their place to cast judgment on the revelers who patronize who they want to, or to denigrate women by insinuating that they are only visually acceptable if they are slim, minus cellulite.

Aunty Betty would get me hawk one up from my guts and just leggo at she brass bowl, though.

Yes, I just typed that in pure, unfiltered bajan. I ain' giving two wukkups and a cock back who vex.

Aunty Betty forget that people have been telling her for YEARS, that she dresses too skimpily for her age? I grew up hearing women say "Betty West need to cool out with the sexiness" and never once has she bowed, who exactly de rambam she feel she is at this point? Women out here fighting with deciding if to go out or not because they're a little fatter because they had a baby, changed their jobs, just struggling with finding the discipline to control their weight? Do you know how many women are embarrassed to this day, that they sit down and their belly rolls look bigger than their girlfriends'? When you walking and wining all cross Bank Hall on an evening do you not think you can be criticized for not being an elegant 50 sain year old?

You just opened your mouth and talked utter jobby, because face it, you are losing the fight for Crop Over, you are no longer unrivaled along with Aunty Gwyneth for your shared crown. The "bikini" bands have taken over and are leaving you, with your antiquated, invidious opinions in the dust.

This is not about the festival, this is about your arrogance, your hubris at being left behind the same way Mr. Harding's effigy was.

And as for Aunty Gwyneth, your solution is to jail revelers because they are reveling in what you deem costumes too revealing for public consumption?

WHAT THE BACKSIDE ARE YOUR OPINIONS ON JAILING ABUSERS AND MEN WHO ARE FOUND IN THE ACT OF RAPING OUR GIRL CHILDREN? WHEN WILL YOU SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE ABUSE HOMOSEXUAL MEN FACE IN BARBADOS? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT JAILING WOMEN WHO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUNG BOYS? THE ONLY TIME YOU APPALLED BY THE HAPPENINGS IN THIS COUNTRY IS WHEN YOU REALIZE YOU NO LONGER FAMOUS AND YOUR GLORY IS BEING OUTSHONE BY HAPPY PEOPLE ENGAGING IN CONSENSUAL DEBAUCHERY BUT NOT DOING IT WITH YOU?

GIRL... BYE!

I am embarrassed to write this damned piece, knowing that Didi Winston, a queen whom I love with no restriction, was once criticized for being a flag girl for Aunty Gwyneth, "he" was "TOO BULLING"  "he" was obscene and offensive and everything Barbados didn't need at that time too. "He" wanted "locking up, cuz people 'chruldrin' did watching he get on like a bare ham an' ting in de middle ah de so an' so suck me teet' road."

"But waiiiittt... Skippa?"

Yet here you two are, flagrantly attacking the revelers who love the festival just as much as you do, because they aren't celebrating the festival WITH you. Here you are, guilty of the same discriminatory, yellow minded (that means badminded in my universe) comments and expressions towards your fellow revelers. Revelers who you cannot guarantee were local, who might have been interested in sharing a part of our heritage with you and your bands in future, who you do not know what opinions they have about body shaming, and ostracization, who are grown adults. You went so far as to suggest incarceration for the more adventurously clad revelers in your rival bands, because their costumes weren't made here (not a word bout "Crop Over Water", not a word about the Day 2 Jump that saw the East Coast Road shut off to accommodate it and has caused 'ruption in de place but arrest de girls and boys in de tstrings and cellulite boa). As you are my beloved aunties, I feel as a Bajan and a lover of Kadooment, it IS my duty, to offer both of you, and that homophobic ghost band leader, ALL THE FLIPPING SEATS IN THE AUDITORIUM, TEK ALL. DON'T LEFF BACK NONE, DUM IS WUNNA ONE.

SIT DOWN AND THINK BOUT WHA WUNNA NOW DO.

* ROLLS EYES AND SUCKS TEETH *

The Frank Collymore Hall itself, plenty sitting room.

* Article provided by journalist Anesta Henry from the online publication Barbados Today is linked here :Oh My ... God... Y'all Actually Said This? *