A history of cannabis consumption

Let me start with a couple of caveats off the top. In the first place, I know nothing about the history of cannabis consumption other than what I read in High Times, so I know archeologists have found cannabis residue on hookas buried with Egyptian royalty 5,000 years ago, but who knows? What I actually know about the history of cannabas didn't kick in till the 1970s. And that brings up my second caveat; my experience of cannabis takes flight (good one, eh?!) from a kinda lame baseline; the 5% THC weed we were smoking in the seventies. To be honest, I stuck with the low-octane stuff for the next fifty years, mainly because that's what I grew in my weed patch. At some point maybe 5 or 10 years ago... or probably closer to twenty now that I do the math, I moved to smoking my weed out of a vape instead of twisting 'em up. In hindsight, that was the thin edge of the wedge that's gonna launch you down the slippery slope. The PAX vapes I settled on after a little experimentation ran 200 bucks and in every case lasted within a few weeks more or less of two years, right around the time the warranty expired. Finally I spring an extra hundred for the PAX 3 model because it has the life-time warranty. It lasts an extra year, and of course to cash in on the warranty, you would have had to do proof-of-purchase paperwork when you bought it. Ya right! Anyway, the PAX vapes still required loading loose bud into a tiny space with my fat fingers and shaky hands. That wasn't getting any easier, and then a few years ago I had a wee close call while germinating my spring crop. Long story mercifully short, there was an incident involving the gas fireplace and (hitherto unknown to me) flammable seed trays, after which I concluded, fuck this; growing 70s-style weed isn't worth burning your house down. That's aound the time I began experimenting with the pre-filled vapes that come with cannabis oil instead of bud. In texture, taste, and viscosity it strikes me as the modern version of honey oil. Remember that shit? That was $500 for a 5g vial back when you could buy a bag of weed for twenty bucks! Which brings me to my current situation. A year and a half ago I got the CHF diagnosis, ie your heart is fucked. Just a couple weeks ago I got the complimentary COPD diagnosis, ie your lungs are fucked too. So you can see where they've totally triggered maximum paranoia in a schmuck who is predisposed to it to begin with! I'll sit on the stoop sucking on the honey oil vape for an hour, hoping to cope, and then be alarmed by the fact I'm having trouble standing up! OMG, it's my heart! OMG, it's my lungs! Ya, maybe...

The internet is doing what residential schools couldn't

Assimilating native youth. 

I was taking a visit to the Saugeen First Nation down the road the other day. My vape went on the fritz a while back, so the pot-addled hillbilly has been twisting doobies like it's 1972, and I've got the lung-shredding cough to prove it.

I'm getting desperate, but the head shops in town, being non-essential, remain closed. Every Korean corner store sells bongs and those cheesy tobacco vapes, but I'm looking for a new Pax. I figure maybe some of the pot shops on the rez might stock something like that.

Long story short, nobody had what I was looking for. A gal at one of the joints said she'd order some in. The pot shops on the rez aren't subject to the same regs as the official Ontario pot outlets, and I couldn't help but notice their prices were about half what government shops charge. Five bucks a gram, a hundred an ounce. That in itself is worth a drive to Southampton. 

But here's what struck me. These places are most often family run, so sometimes you'll meet the extended family. Don't be surprised if a twelve year old kid is giving you change when you shop at a rez store. (Not the pot shops; didn't see any minors there.) They're not as bad as the Koreans.... I've had four year olds hand me my change there.

Anyway, I notice that a couple of places where there were kids about, they were all on screens. And not that I was particularly spying on them or anything, but they were playing the same Grand Theft Auto and Hitman 3 or whatever kids everywhere are addicted to.

From Saugeen to Scarborough, the internet has become the great leveller.