By Jersey Noah
It's so funny to me when I post something online about how much I love weed and people respond like, "hey, not cool. I can't smoke weed and you're out here publicizing that everyone should smoke."
Lol. Why does me smoking weed have anything to do with you not smoking weed? Do whatever the heck you want and I will, too.
I really do not care if other people do or do not consume weed and I'm not quite sure why anyone would care. The whole point of body AUTONOMY is that we get to make our own choices and fulfill our own needs; it's the basic idea that we know what is best for ourselves, it's about what we do with and put into our bodies (and minds). Body autonomy is about freedom of identity and presentation (i.e. transitioning genders socially and/or medically), reclaiming words and names that have been used to hurt us as empowered parts of ourselves (i.e. identifying with terms like f@g). Body autonomy is about our right to self diagnose and not be forced to rely on the psychological industrial complex to define our mental health. Body autonomy is about our medical access, choices, needs and desires being fulfilled despite anyone else's opinions of our process.
No one likes when their autonomy is threatened or removed, but this country was developed through the objectification and literal ownership of human beings and the reality is that laws and policies we see and experience today are shaped from from this past.
One of the most well known and current media and policy topics on body autonomy is around access to abortions. The fact that Roe vs Wade had to be enacted to allow and decriminalize abortion access is a problem; access to abortion should have never been decided on by people, policies and government as it should be an individual's right to do with our bodies as we please.
You may be familiar with, "if you don't want an abortion, don't have an abortion." This concept can be applied to all of the autonomy we should be grantedcand it should be applied naturally. Your opinion of me, should not infringe on my experience of me. In regards to being transsexual, for example, I needed and wanted to transition medically; the barriers I faced along the way were so much labor to get passed. Sometimes, getting passed a barrier took years. For example, it took five years of work, appeals and appointments to have my top surgery covered by insurance. Today, I still experience barriers, such as running out of testosterone, needing to get a prior authorization for approval and ensuring my insurance will cover the costs.
In regards to cannabis, no matter your experience with it, my experience is valid and honestly, I don't owe anyone an explanation about any parts of myself. The fact that people believe we should control one another in this way is a byproduct of living within a system that controls our choices.
Choices can be controlled in many ways. Look at abortion, for example, and think about who had access to reproductive rights when Roe v Wade was enacted in 1973. Years after the Roe v Wade decision, tens of thousands of Black, Latinx and Indigenous people who could give birth were forcibly sterilized in California and throughout the country; this is and was an act of eugenics. It's important to look at who is most impacted by policies and opinions that control our bodies. Unfortunately, "womens rights" defaults to white cis women. If it didn't, people would argue for "women's rights" when trans women and girls are banned from sports. If "women's rights" were not exclusive to white cis women, people would argue for women's rights in reference to the forced sterilization of women of color.
I feel like it's important to point out that this exact argument I'm using is used to justify problematic identifiers and opinions as a freedom of some sort. For example, being "free to follow the law of G-d" can be used to justify being anti abortion. But the "law of G-d" should have no impact or relation to the law of the state, for many reasons. One reason is that there are tons of religions that actually support abortion as a right. In Judaism, for example, it is the "law of G-d" to save the life of the person giving birth vs the fetus when there are medical complications. Plus, in general, Jewish law supports abortion and a person's right to reproductive autonomy. The fact that white, westernized Catholicism has such a strong hold on abortion access demonstrates whose beliefs, opinions and experiences are prioritized.
Cannabis is also politicized and its politicalization directly impacts poor people, disabled people and Black and Brown people. For example, Black people comprise only 12.9 percent of Texas's population, yet from 2017 to 2019 the state reported that 30.2 percent of all possession arrests were of Black people. Incarceration is one of the most ultimate losses of individual autonomy.
Your opinions of cannabis use should not infringe on others; it should not matter how or why cannabis is consumed whether it's for recreational or medical purposes. Opinion and politicalization has made such an impact that from 2000 to 2010, 8.2 million people were arrested for cannabis (88% for possession alone).
Cannabis has improved my quality of life both physically and mentally. As a disabled person with chronic pain, I experienced a reliance on the pharmaceuticals prescribed to me by doctors. It's important to note that some people need the medication I was on, but I did not. After seven years, I tapered myself off of prescribed opiods and started using cannabis for pain. Soon after, I realized cannabis also improved the frequency of my seizures and after a year or so of steady cannabis use, I realized that my introverted autistic self became more social, more unmasked and less anxious. Having less physical pain and seizures has improved my mental health alone as anxiety and depression are often synonymous with both pain and epilepsy. My mental health has also improved as I feel calmer and more comfortable in the world. Ultimately, this has led to me building more community and relationships while also being more physically active.
Granted, life is still hard, things still suck sometimes, trauma still arises, physical pain can still be present and the world can still be terrifying; but my life is not constantly consumed by these things anymore. I would say that my weed "habit" has improved my quality of life by at least 50% tbh.