CANNABIS AIDS CREATION, APPRECIATION OF MUSIC

MUSIC: Writer Explains Connection Between Pot, Perception, Roots Of
'420'

Jah man. Gather round, for I am about to unveil to you the true origins
of a much misunderstood, misrepresented and misinterpreted expression.
But this reminds me of a point I wanted to make...

One theory why cannabis is still illegal: If marijuana was legal, demand
for the crop might skyrocket. This would in turn necessitate the
planting and cultivating of many more plants, which would help reduce
green-house gasses in the atmosphere by over 15 percent. Normally this
would be beneficial, as it would reduce that dreaded greenhouse effect
they keep scaring us about.

But you see, the people in power don't want to reduce the greenhouse
effect, and unbeknownst to the breadth of the world's population, our
earth is slowly undergoing a massive terraforming project coordinated by
our alien masters.

But I digress.

How did the combination of inhaling a nasty smelling plant and listening
to music come about? First off, with the enhancement of the senses comes
the enhancement of music. The nuances of melody and complexity in
rhythmic patterns enrapture the mind of the demented hophead. Everything
expands in infinite grandeur as if propelled by some gigantic field of
anti-gravity. Permanent volume.

And, yet again, I digress.

This column is really about the origins of the expression "420," as many
people have come to associate this number with cannabis, or the
marijuana plant, for some reason or another.

A particular rumor has it that "420" refers to the number of different
chemicals found in marijuana.

Another rumor claims that the police use "420" as the code for reporting
a "pot-smoking in progress" (police departments deny the existence of
any such code).

In actuality, the term "420" was originated by a group of brothers who
would meet up every day after high school in the parking lot to spark up
at 4:20 p.m. Thanks to these guys, the simple and easy-to-remember
phrase became quite popular among certain populations, musicians
included, signifying a specially designated time significant to all
potheads.

However, the term was really not all that popular until it somehow
spilled over into the Grateful Dead community, who passed out flyers at
Oakland, Calif., shows in 1990 announcing a "4:20 on 4/20 gathering."

The rest is history.

Well, actually, let's take history back a little farther...

2737 B.C.: Cannabis is referred to as a "superior" herb in the world's
first medical text, or pharmacopoeia, in Southeast Asia.

1845 A.D.: Psychologist and inventor of modern psychopharmacology,
Jacques-Joseph Moreau de Tours publishes the first report of the
possible physical and mental benefits of cannabis. Only 25 years later,
cannabis is listed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia as a medicine.

1964 A.D.: THC, tetrahydracannabinol, is first isolated in the
laboratory.

1989 A.D.: Price-per-ounce of cannabis is worth more than gold.
Worldwide prohibition attracts organized crime to take over the cannabis
market and net large profits.

1997 A.D.: An eight-year study at the UCLA School of Medicine concludes
that long-term smokers of cannabis do not experience a greater annual
decline in lung function than non-smokers. Also in 1997, it is reported
that America's largest cash crop, outranking corn, wheat and all other
grains combined, is cannabis.

More recent research on cannabinoid receptors in the brain, known as CB1
(cannabinoid 1) receptors, has concluded that they might regulate
perception (hearing, color vision, taste), cognition (sleep, long- and
short-term memory) and motor skills (movement, coordination, posture and
muscle tone), helping to establish the link between biology and behavior
of the cannabis inhaler.

CB1 receptors have been shown to ultimately inhibit adrenaline,
explaining the large amount of peace and laziness exhibited in your
average cannabis inhaler.

So how was cannabis first connected to music? One of the more striking
effects noticed in the state of consciousness brought on by cannabis use
is an acutely augmented appreciation of music. The effect does not seem
to fade with the habitual use of cannabis. This perception of
enhancement is curiously not limited to certain types of music, although
many persons originally interested only in pop music, for example, have
been known to suddenly find during a marijuana session that more
"serious" music is entertaining in a way both unexpected and profound.

While the biological actions of THC and other related cannabinoids are
not fully understood, it is the derangement of reality in a pleasant
matter that beckons its users. This derangement has obviously been used
to some advantage, as musicians (as well as other artists) have
testified not only to enhanced appreciation of music and art in general
through use of cannabis, but some have also contended that these altered
states of consciousness are useful and valuable in augmenting their
creativity - although research verifying such claims is hard to
accomplish in any meaningful or relative way.

It wasn't really until the 1930s that cannabis became associated with
music - at the time, it was jazz music. It can't be denied that the
long, wild-winded solos of saxophone and trumpet virtuosos John Coltrane
and Miles Davis helped foster a long movement of improvisation which
would eventually carry itself over to such diverse genres as rock,
bluegrass and the avant garde.

Total disinhibition of form in music took precedence for several
decades, where psychedelic and progressive rock music reigned on the
airwaves during the 1960s and '70s. Exploratory arrangements and
free-form song structure opened up a new fanfare of musical
possibilities worldwide.

Freed from the restraint of a more conservative and shunning industry,
artists were now allowed to express themselves as a changing culture;
abandoning the old-guard standards of snappy, happy, three-minute pop
songs for anthemic, aural aggrandizement and virtuosity. Classic rock
groups like Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead and Yes all offered their
listeners multiple layers of instruments (the most important of which is
the synthesizer), jamming out songs for 20 minutes or more at a time,
keeping their respective (and intoxicated) audiences bombarded with
sensory overload. The Dead once played its magnum opus, "Dark Star" for
60 minutes at an early '70s concert.

In this day and age, electronic music seems to have taken over for the
aforementioned exploratory rock bands, trading in drums for blaring
beats, swirls of synthesizer and deep artificial bass. Although the
Grateful Dead was over by the mid-'90s (when lead guitarist Jerry Garcia
died), it was replaced by the more modern Phish.

And, well, now that Phish has decided to take at least a year off from
touring, electronic music seems to be filling in, offering meshes of
novel sonic textures that are sure to offer a deregulation of perception
if absorbed under the right circumstances.

It is safe to say that without the presence of a cannabinoid influence,
music would not be what it is today. The social and cognitive
disinhibition caused by cannabis smoking has allowed countless artists
to achieve some of their finer moments, and it almost serves as a
release mechanism for creativity. That is, only if the artists suspect
that they are at all creative in the first place.

But I digress...