MARIJUANA: FROM PSYCHEDELIC TO GRUNGE

The Culture Of Weed Has Gradually Evolved Through The Decades.

"Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me/In the jingle-jangle morning
I'll come followin' you/Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship/My
senses have been stripped/My hands can't feel to grip," sang Bob Dylan on
his 1964 hit single, "Mr. Tambourine Man."

The '60s were the age of youth, as 70 million children from the post-war
baby boom became teenagers and young adults. The movement radically
departed from the conservative '50s to revolutionary ways of thinking and
transformation in the cultural fabric of American life. The changes in this
decade affected education, values, laws and entertainment that continue to
evolve today.

During the '60s, college campuses became centers of debate and scenes of
protests. Baby boomers, reaching draft age but not yet voting age, caused a
struggle played out on many campuses as the country became involved in the
Vietnam War. "In the '60s, my generation was more involved in politics and
protests about things going on during that time like the war in Vietnam and
the Civil Rights movement," said Harold Grasmick, professor of sociology.

Rock music became the most important medium for defining and coalescing the
new hippie aesthetic. The style that emerged with the brilliant, swirling
colors and hallucinogenic imagery was termed "psychedelic." Bob Dylan
showed how meaningful songs with surrealist imagery could be wedded to
popular music. Though he was one of the few artists who did not jump on the
psychedelic bandwagon, his revolutionary efforts inspired countless bands
who did. The first psychedelic bands came from San Francisco: The Grateful
Dead, Jefferson Airplane and others. Soon after, the aesthetic spread to
musical groups in New York and England, where the Beatles and the Rolling
Stones began producing albums with overtly psychedelic cover art.

One of the major social changes brought about by this decade was the
widespread use of illicit drugs, primarily the hallucinogens, marijuana and
LSD. "When I came to OU in 1973, pot was widely available and astoundingly
inexpensive, and you would see colleges students smoking it around Lloyd
Noble," said David Gross, associate professor in English. "Pot mainly came
from Mexico when I was teaching here, and a pound sold for $100."

By the mid-'60s, marijuana use was common across the country, especially
among the young. Books were written to explain or vilify this phenomenon,
and many others to justify the use of these drugs. Proponents looked to
religious ceremonies of Native Americans, referencing marijuana use for
spiritual and medicinal purposes in ancient texts. "I consider this period
to be an enduring sign of freedom, and marijuana use is a small part of
larger issues during that time," said Gross. "The '60s produced great
literature, intellectual and scientific achievements and music."

Who were the hippies? Young men with long hair and beards, young women
dressing like peasants and wearing psychedelic colors. All of them seemed
dirty, drugged and disrespectful of their elders and society at large.
Generally, they dropped out of college, started up rock bands, lived in
communes and traveled to the far reaches of the planet. "I'm an aging
hippie and consider the word to be positive in representing the last 50
years of American culture," Gross said. "There are several stereotypes in
movies that are simply untrue."

Woodstock, billed as "Three Days of Peace and Music," drew 450,000 people
to celebrate communal spirit and listen to popular rock acts of the day.
The festival commenced in 1969 with attendees causing traffic jams,
logistical nightmares, shortages of food and medical supplies and potential
problems of crowd control. The music was almost nonstop, the rains came,
drug use was widespread, yet somehow it all worked. Woodstock came to
symbolize all that was right and good about the hippie movement, but also
that the movement was to be short-lived. Three decades later, looking back
on the "psychedelic '60s," it's Woodstock that first comes to mind.

By the 1960s, the great majority of Americans were sending a very different
and powerful cultural message: drugs and altered states of mind were part
of being hip, social rebels. In 1972, a bipartisan commission appointed by
President Nixon called for the decriminalization of marijuana--a
recommendation that Nixon rejected. Nevertheless, eleven states
decriminalized marijuana in the 1970s. When many of the 76 million baby
boomers embraced not just drugs, but also dealing and trafficking, the drug
culture exploded.

In contrast, the '90s youth began with grunge on one hand and preppie on
the other. Most of today's college students were born to parents who grew
up in the '60s. Today, the hip-hop style is popular, boys' jeans have grown
bigger and bigger, worn low on the hips. Girls wear lowriders, bellbottoms
and poor-boy tops reminiscent of the '70s.

The potency of marijuana has doubled since the 1970s because of efficient
methods of cultivation, harvesting and processing, according to the Drug
Enforcement Administration. The DEA's report indicated that marijuana users
in college were often white and single, and preferred spending more time at
parties or socializing with friends and less time studying. Also, marijuana
smokers engaged in other high-risk behaviors such as binge drinking and
cigarette-smoking. The majority did not believe religion and community
service were important.

"The present climate of marijuana use among college students is
ridiculous," said Gross. "People shouldn't do it because of the penalty
involved and the damage it can do to your records."

Due to the diversity of the '90s, individuality among the youth became a
very confusing affair. Jocks started listening to metal, cheerleaders got
into drugs, and nerds pretended they were hip by listening to a lot of
indie rock. Aside from depleting the brain's supply of seratonin and
severely damaging vital organs, marijuana inspired more bad music and
all-night love fests than the Grateful Dead and Phish combined.

One thing is clear: the widespread use of marijuana on campuses is alive
and well in spite of its unpleasant side effects and health risks, not to
mention the legal ramifications that accompany getting busted with a little
herbal refreshment.