— by Knute Berger, of Crosscut.com —
Maybe it’s because I have frequently been accused of looking like Jerry Garcia. Maybe it’s because I went to Evergreen and people often assume I have a stoner’s proclivities. Maybe it’s because I came of age in the late 1960s — a generational thing.
For whatever reason, I have been trying to escape marijuana for a long time.
My age and look — beard, often longish curly hair — suggest that I must have serious experience with pot. This is not the case. I don’t smoke or consume it, hardly ever did even back in the day. Yes, there was teen dabbling and some college toking, but the truth is, I never liked being high. It turned out I was more of a tobacco and alcohol guy, Old Golds and Rainier beer.
I was passionate about writing in my adolescence, and drugs just seemed to get in the way. I remember once in a high school poetry class, I shared my work and everyone, including the teacher, was impressed. A classmate pulled me aside afterwards and said, “You only write that good because of drugs.” The fact was, even in high school, I was drug avoidant and it enraged me to think that others thought my creativity came from a bong.
(To read the full editorial, go to crosscut.com/2014/07/11/mossback/knute-berger-just-another-stoned-hippie?)
I listen to Knute and ensemble usually every Friday morning on KUOW and he was going on about this last week. My only comments are: Knute states that “I was more of a tobacco and alcohol guy”. That bugged me when I heard him say that on the radio too. Tobacco and alcohol are DRUGS~! AND they kill WAY MORE PEOPLE each year than pot does. They have extreme costs to society, health costs and with alcohol, you get the added benefit of a lot of violent and erratic behavior. Just sayin…..I’m glad we have decriminalized cannabis too as his article points out if you read it. There will have to be a major educational outreach to consumers regarding edibles as well. As far as kids go…DON’T PACKAGE IT LIKE CANDY but as a past teen myself, you couldn’t tell us anything. If we wanted alcohol we got sailors to buy it for us (in Hawaii). I never had ANYONE ask me if my writing or poetry or creativity came from drugs BTW. I’ll admit though, a good bottle of Merlot brought forth some very good writing and bad stuff as well. I like Knute for the most part but this article feels….well, sort of stupid and self serving. Sorry Knute.