bornday blue

across the street from our Oaxacan apartment – foto by smith

Today is my bornday. I’m 63 and sober when I’d rather be stoned; cold when I’d rather be warm; in pain when I’d rather not be. Arthritis is aggravated by cold, humidity and lack of grass (grass is a pain reducer as well as an anti-inflammation).

So I’ll rewrite what I wrote 2 months ago and didn’t post. Figured it best if I waited until out of Mexico. Looking back, I’m glad to be out of the daily dope business – it gets rather repetitive, becomes usual, mundane.

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Past 24 hours have been a druggie’s dream, a William S. Burroughs short story.

Last night did some Clonazepam(*). Today smoked a big bunch of grass, a lot of hash, and had my first taste of fresh opium paste.

Clonazaepam is a weird, strong unstone. Lady got a prescription to help her sleep back when she was having anxiety problems, and since that is past, she let me try it. Being an old druggie, I love expanding my experience. You take 8 drops of Clonazepam and a powerful taste moves through your head but you don’t get high, just feel a little odd, and then 30 minutes later you’re asleep for 4 hours. If you try to stay awake, you still go to sleep. Interestingly functional, but nothing fun.

Smoked grass and hash daily for 15 months down here in Oaxaca Mexico. The grass was $6 an ounce, the hash $2.50 a gram. Smoked close to 4 ounces of grass and 3 grams of hash a month. For the first time in 42 years of smoking, availability and cost were not factors. Only factors were how early to start in the day, and how much to smoke. Figured a good stone was 60 cents a day.

My personal high point in our 31 months of travel was a month of smoking Moroccan hash in Marrakech. Other cool points were finding a month of red skunk weed in London, two weeks of golden hash in the south of France, a month of good grass in Krakow, two more months of Moroccan hashish in Essaouira, and 15 months of grass hash and opium in Mexico. And of course a week of buying different grasses and hashes from coffee bar menus in Amsterdam.

10 of those 31 months I was straight – the first 10 months in 2006-7.

It took us 6 weeks to find smoke in France, 1 day in Marrakech, 3 weeks in Essaouira, 3 days in London, a month in Krakow, and 4 days in Mexico. Never did find it in Croatia, Spain or Italy. Here in Cleveland I found it our first day, but can’t afford to buy it.

But enough is more than enough. Time to see who straight Smith is, although in today’s society, calling me straight is like calling a Republican honest, a CEO ethical, or a priest moral.

*[Clonazepam is an anti-anxiety medication in the benzodiazepine family, the same family that includes diazepam (Valium), alprazolam (Xanax), lorazepam (Ativan), flurazepam (Dalmane), and others. Clonazepam and other benzodiazepines act by enhancing the effects of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the brain. GABA is a neurotransmitter (a chemical that nerve cells use to communicate with each other) that inhibits brain activity. It is believed that excessive activity in the brain may lead to anxiety or other psychiatric disorders. Clonazepam also is used to prevent certain types of seizures.]

Lady’s last trip to the Juarez Market, Oaxaca – foto by smith