A very good question. And one that probably requires a few paragraphs.

Socially controlling drugs are pretty much what you'd think. :) But to expand, they're pharmacological agents that impact our physical and mental states. Probably a given.

This is the first part.

The second part is that there are two main types of socially controlling drugs. (well, there may be more, but I'm sort of riffing here...) We've got uppers and downers.

Our "uppers" are socially controlling drugs like coffee and cocaine and refined sugar and Coca Cola. All of which serve to push humans to "produce." Just like slaves chewing the coca leaf in Columbia, Americans drink Starbucks and eat Little Debbie Snack Cakes and chug Coke to synthetically increase our energy level and thus maintain an expected level of production - usually for wealthy owners at our corporate jobs.

And this energy burst? To ensure we produce? It ain't natural. But this type of "high" is good for Colonel Kurtz. So he keeps it legal for the natives.

The major drawback is these synthetic bursts negatively impact our health and increase our level of tension. (Only adding to the corporate-manufactured tension generated by 24 hour media...)

Ah...but sweet release is here! Only a bar or a doctor's prescription away. Because we also have "downers," socially controlling drugs like alcohol and heroin and OxyContin which provide respite from our current state of manufactured tension. Socially-accepted relief which turns off our innate ability for critical thinking and individuality. (i.e. we get to "turn off our brains...")

These are two types of socially controlling drugs.

So when we're imbibing the first substance, we're more likely to be producing. Which for most of us is churning out widgets or waving to customers at our so-called "capitalist" feudal system. Then we switch to the second control agent and find ourselves safely tucked away in a warm n' cozy bed of alcohol/heroin/OxyContin. Until we wake up and go right back to the beginning...

Twenty four hour control.

Thus ends the second part.

[And really, on the topic of "socially controlling drugs," I'd probably also include high-tech gadgets, American Idol, and internet porn... What? This isn't porn? Uh...it's "research."]

Which brings us to the third part.

Right now, anyone who hung on this long (really? thank you...) is saying, "hold on, BHG" and pointing out stoner comedy movies and the stupefyingly appeal of Jamiroquai... Pot must be controlling! How could it not? It makes us laugh at Dude, Where's My Car. Pot makes us think Jack in the Box actually tastes good. Pot is the only f*cking thing that explains the appeal of the Spin Doctors.

And...I agree. When we "smoke a doobie" (say it in Ted Knight's voice), we can absolutely turn off our brains.

But, once upon a time...back before the media presentation of pot smokers was that they're just a bunch o' lazy losers? Back before our entertainment sources told us smoking pot = eating munchies and playing video games? (Aside: isn't it interesting how this is the only media-acceptable viewpoint of pot smokers? No one presents them as intellectual artists any more....)

Well, sir. This very same media once told the public that pot smokers were crazy, violent menaces to the social order! They smoke a joint and go nuts!

Uh...hm. So which one is it, Mr. Hearst?

Really, the truth is likely neither one. Not either of these stories fed to us by those with ulterior motives.

Which is why ethnobotanists and shamans and metaphysicists and jazz players considered marijuana to be something that actually expanded our mental experience and separated us from the socially-controlled order. In a good way... They saw pot more in line with ayahuasca and magic mushrooms. Not so much a recreational excuse as an opportunity to expand our experience and creativity and consciousness.

Conversely, people aren't conscious or creative on heroin. And they aren't creative when they're drunk. They're asleep. (they also aren't creative or conscious on meth - which falls under the first category with coffee and coke)

So next time ya smoke? Try taking a killer walk in the woods and soaking in all the fall colors. Look for machine elves. Or have a deep discussion about deeper outer space. Or perform ritual sex magic. Heck, I don't know. Really do anything except for playing Halo 3 and eating Taco Bell.

Think deep. Listen to what you hear. Reach beyond reality.

And see what you see.



p.s. Total aside. Did you see Hump? The Stranger brought it down to Portland this year. So consider me "socially controlled" for a couple hours on Saturday night. :)

p.p.s. I totally earned my ten cents with this post...