READING IS FUCKINMENTAL / Jason Matthew Smith

STRAIGHT TALK ABOUT BAMMY

Disinformation gives you the real deal on dope.

Let’s make a list of the greatest influences on rock music. We’ll want to throw the blues on the list, along with gospel. And teen angst—hormonal and otherwise. Oh yeah, and drugs. Can’t forget the dope.

Narcotics have been responsible for more good, bad, and indifferent rock songs than just about anything else (attention songwriters: I’m still waiting for that generation-defining song about knocking off a Walgreen’s for a handful of OxyContin). And dope has also been to blame for ushering a fair number of quality musicians into the afterlife. Add to that the United States’ complicated and contradictory relationship with the stuff and you’ve got a recipe for disaster: the U.S. “war on drugs”—a seriously misguided attempt to fix a problem by bludgeoning it to death with a tire iron.

Recently I snagged a copy of Under The Influence: The Disinformation Guide to Drugs (2004, The Disinformation Company Ltd.), edited by High Times contributor, musician, DJ, and journalist Preston Peet. Peet’s book includes an ensemble cast of cops, commentators, academics and old-fashioned rabble rousers, all writing succinctly and eloquently about the FUBAR manner in which law enforcement, the justice system, politicians and the public all approach the so-called “war on drugs.” It’s a good book to have in your arsenal for those late-night, booze fueled (my drug of choice is in liquid form, ladies and gents) arguments with the conservative Republican inbreeder who showed up at your party uninvited. Toss him a couple of toddlers to chew on (after all, they eat children, don’t they?), crack open the book, and begin your spiel. You’ll be ignored, but do it anyway.

A disclaimer: I’m in no way advocating drug use. I’m simply arguing that it’s inherently idiotic to send a 60-year-old ex-hippie to San Quentin for selling bags of bammy out of an Airstream trailer. And the government will seize the Airstream and the land it sits on as part of the bust—they’d snag the old hippie’s soul if they could figure out how to do it. It makes no sense to throw non-violent offenders into the clink for participating in an underground economy. Under the Influence lays out some pretty rational arguments along these lines—and more.

Jason Matthew Smith is a Texan who never developed an accent, thanks to a steady diet of television reruns during his formative years. He now lives in Utah, where everyone thinks he sounds just like John Astin, the original Gomez Addams.