Drugs & Music

 When I got into rock and roll in High School some of my classmates, teachers and even family members assumed I did drugs. I listened to classic rock, wore beads, tye dye shirts...but I didn't do any drugs. I found that to be a funny stereotype "because I like rock and roll I must also do drugs." I understood the whole "sex, drugs & rock n roll" thing, but rock and roll was my drug. In High School I was (like every teenager) going through tough times. I had plenty of opportunities to smoke pot, drink or do other drugs...but I simply wasn't interested. Rock and roll did all those things that I would imagine was like being on drugs.

 I was calm, happy, relaxed, and taken to another place. When I was a teen I was pretty straight edge and just didn't have room in my life for trying drugs. My mother already assumed I was doing everything bad so I didn't want to give her any reasons to think I was a bad kid. I was definitely not a bad kid, I sat alone often in the shade sketching dragons and Wookiees. I didn't date 'till I was 17, never snuck out of class; I was actually a really chill mature kid. It wasn't until I was 21 that I tried alcohol and marijuana. Drinking was fun, I later went to bar tending school and had a blast learning mixology.

 I tried marijuana for the first time in what I think is the best way. I was at home with a friend I trusted, and we had music playing. It was with that joint that I realized a lot of what I was told about drugs growing up in white suburbia was a lie. While I'm glad I didn't try drugs or alcohol until I was an adult, I found that it wasn't that big of a deal. All that "DARE" crap I was raised with suddenly became a joke. In my mid twenties, I came down with a mystery stomach problem, and medical marijuana was all I had for years to help my pain. So marijuana is more than just a drug for recreational purposes.

 I wont sit here and lie to you: drugs and alcohol do change the music experience. But you don't need drugs to get high. And you don't need drugs to create music. Steven Tyler once said "Rock and roll is the ultimate drug" and I happen to subscribe to that belief. Even now when I go to live concerts I rarely drink or smoke because I want to experience the raw natural high that is music. And being so drunk you get sick or forget concert details is no bueno.

 As an open pot smoker, even I resent the constant association between music and drugs. Music IS drugs. No doubt people like John Lennon and Paul McCartney were inspired by pot and acid (etc) when it came to creating music. Regardless though, those two men were talented singers, songwriters and musicians. This is just my two cents, I would never tell anybody what to do or how to live their life. But I would suggest whenever you choose to smoke pot or try drugs for the first time....YOU be ready (IF you are interested at all). Give it some thought and don't just give in to peer pressure. I think I've had a good experience because I waited until I was ready and did it on my own terms.