Pubdate: Wed, 02 Sep 2015
Source: Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Column: Higher Ground
Copyright: 2015 C.E.G.W./Times-Shamrock
Contact:  http://www.metrotimes.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1381
Author: Larry Gabriel

LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN

Actress Susan Sarandon recently tweeted a message to rappers A$AP 
Rocky and Action Bronson, saying, "thx for the shout out on '1Train.' 
Not sure what it means, but let's blaze one & talk about it some time."

It comes as no surprise that Sarandon, or Rocky and Bronson would 
want to blaze one. Sarandon has been an outspoken supporter of 
marijuana use for years - it probably helped her get through the 
chilly days on the set of the classic movie Rocky Horror Picture 
Show. Rocky and Bronson put out tracks that boast about their 
involvement with the stuff, so there's no surprise there. What's 
interesting is that the 68-year-old Sarandon reached out across the 
age and cultural divide to invite the youthful performers for a smoke.

Well, Bronson did bring up her name on 2013's "1 Train," saying, "You 
see us scrambling, selling Susan Sarandon. The cloud of smoke like 
the phantom ..."

It's not clear what that means, and Sarandon says that in her tweet. 
Could "Susan Sarandon" have been a code name for weed? Apparently 
Sarandon's been trying to figure it out for two years and finally 
thought she would ask the originator of the rhyme (her name is 
awkwardly rhymed with "Grambling," for Grambling State University). 
Although it could be self-serving - it probably brings some youth 
cheese to Sarandon's game to acknowledge that she actually heard the 
track. Not that the Thelma & Louise star needs to score points with 
youths. It just might be that she has a lot of time on her hands when 
she gets high. In the August issue of High Times magazine, she says: 
"That's the great thing about smoking weed: If you lead a very, very 
busy life, for me, it really makes the most of your weekend. It, 
like, triples your weekends. If you only have certain windows to get 
high, it allows you to slow down and really be there."

I'm all for triple weekends. I mean, come Monday morning it will seem 
like six days since you were at work. That, in itself, should make 
weed very popular. I'd like to thank Sarandon for that bit of wisdom. 
Also, that might give us some insight into why Snoop Lion talks the 
way he does. He's in another time zone where things take three times 
as long as they do in conventional time.

That might explain the behavior of some other famous people who have 
copped to using the herb. For instance, could Oprah Winfrey have 
built her empire without having more time than most people on the 
weekend to get things done? And now we know why her interviews were 
so great. Everyone else was working at 33 1/3 speed compared to her 
100 percent time warp.

And Bill Gates is known to have smoked while he was in college. A 
self-professed nerd, this guy had the extra time on weekends to come 
up with Microsoft, which he co-founded in 1975 at age 20 - almost a 
full decade before Revenge of the Nerds had Gates yawning and saying 
"been there, done that." Now that he's a really rich guy, Gates has 
continued to be friendly to the herb, claiming to have voted for 
legalization in Washington state.

When President Barack Obama is giving a speech, when he pauses and 
looks off into the distance, is he tapping into the weed time warp he 
discovered as a teenager?

Comedian Jon Stewart kind of let the cat out of the bag on this 
secret of the highly successful when he famously said, "Do you know 
how many movies I wrote when I was high?" Jay Z did the same thing 
when he said, "I smoked some weed, and that's how I finished 'Izzo.'"

Just in case you weren't paying attention, Lady Gaga has chimed in 
with "I smoke a lot of pot when I write music."

All of these folks had extra time to do these great things due to the 
cannabis time warp. The lesson here is, if you want to have bigger, 
better, more creative, more fun, and longer weekends, burn one and 
watch a Susan Sarandon movie while listening to some Action Bronson.

Detroit high

Not only did High Times bring us Sarandon in August, its October 
issue, which is on the stands now, has a cover teaser that reads: 
"Can Pot Save Detroit?" The story begins with a longish retelling of 
the John Sinclair tale that segues into MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer's 
story, although it's all spiced up with new, live quotes from both of 
them. Then the story shifts to a bit about this year's hash bash, 
then the recreational legalization efforts aimed at 2016, and on to 
the Detroit Dab Warz, an event where cannabis extract makers gather 
to show off their products. It's a rambling story, although there are 
some interesting points made. Most of that is about Kramer's 
Jailhouse Guitar Doors USA work with prisoners.

However, the story never gets to asking, let alone answering, the 
question posed on the cover: Can pot save Detroit? That's a very 
interesting question that's worthy of some serious discussion. I know 
there are some people who would claim that it destroyed Detroit. But 
when you look at Ann Arbor, the most marijuana-friendly city in the 
state, it doesn't seem to have suffered from the scourge of the weed. 
So, really, how could marijuana make a difference in Detroit? I'll be 
taking a look at the Detroit marijuana scene in my next Higher Ground column.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom