"Going to Pot!" Skunked, Debunked.

"The weaker goeth to the potte" - John Heywood, 1546

Hazy origins: While "this country's going to pot" has a contemporary connotation of the rapid pace of legalization of marijuana throughout the United States of  America, signaling in part that the "War on Drugs" no longer includes "cannabis" (the botanical name assigned in the mid-18th C., referring to the entire cannabis plant and all its uses), depending on the generation with which you have been assigned, it has many more iterations, connotations. In our house, for example, it was strongly associated with my father, especially in the morning, when his irritation was growing in the midst of burning eggs or oatmeal, simultaneously listening to the news on the radio: "...this government is going to sell us down the river to the commies; its going to pot!" was a common early morning utterance (it remains an occasional topic of debate whether burning breakfast or the unwelcome news was the 'cause' or 'effect'). You are likely to have different experiences but everyone can appreciate the psychological implications of this idiom itself, as well as the more frequent experience as we venture out of our homes and into a new type of haze...

Scents and Sensibilities - "What's that smell?!" As we re-emerge from our respective abodes, due to both the summer temps and the ebbing of CV-19, uncovering our mouths and noses (at least the vaccinated among us), and take a deep breath of what we anticipate will be fresh air, instead of a sigh of relief we are likely to be a collective candidate for being diagnosed with "Hyperosmia", which is an abnormally acute olfactory awareness. In other words a really strong sense of smell..."ewww!" This, due to all the foregoing factors plus the experience of being surrounded by...DEAD SKUNKS! While we were accustomed to hearing "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road" by Loudon Wainwright III while on campus, what we were not exposed to was the smell of this road kill. That is, while pot was plentiful in and around campus, at least in our collective memory, it smelled more like incense; it was 'sweeter'. As researchers, talking pot heads have explained, this was in part due to the lower percentage of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) in 'our' pot, which ranged back then in the 2-4% but now can be as much or more than 25%...some 'heads' further cite that marijuana used to be an "indifferently tended crop" (how ironic as many discerning 'consumers' even in the late 60's and early 70's could be described as being "insouciant", which connotes a "casual lack of concern, indifference"). Finally, they explain, the pungent scents we are experiencing is good news for the new consumers, as it means that 'Mary Jane' (one of our terms of endearment for cannabis) is being harvested at 'her' peak (we were relatively indifferent to pronouns as well back then, even on a liberal campus as U-M).

Hash Bash, Dash...Streaking and Peaking (?)  If cannabis croppers back then could be considered as being "relatively indifferent", so were the officials in and around our campus, as Ann Arbor started and has sustained some of the more lenient laws on responding to those who had a joint or two, citing them for a minor civil infraction (which amounted back then to about what current tobacco/cigarette smokers pay per pack, the few who remain from earlier gens). The first "Hash Bash" was held at the University of Michigan 'diag' (if you know where this is, you are True Blue Wolverine and, if not, consider yourself 'skunked'!) and survives to this day, commencing on the first Saturday in April at (well, pretty lax here) at noon, apparently in part so as to not collide with another 'commencement'. It was also in the early 70's that 'streaking' became popular on campus, the fad of bearing it all, which eventuated in bearing the brunt of jokes and laughter for their respective 'shortcomings', which nevertheless continued in the form of the "Naked Mile" into the early 2000's. Apparently yielding to the English majors at U-M and elsewhere, who collectively (en)countered the streakers with a quote from Mr. Twain: "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence..."

Out of, Into the haze: Speaking of streaking, being under the influence, unless you were one of the unfortunate individuals who lost their sense of smell due to CV-19, and also experiencing a case of blurred vision/hearing loss, you have become aware that individual states are trying to catch up to Ann Arbor, as they pass laws first legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and now, increasingly for recreational use. The long range economic, social, medical, and psychological effects of such a trend are, at best, hazy. Deserving, demanding scientific research which is credible, independent of, 'indifferent', to any political position or pot industry lobbyists (now a legion). In the meantime, we can take solace in the trend that those that are enjoying their skunk junk are ostensibly becoming more "refined and discreet" (according to one proponent of the new age pot consumer), less indifferent to those among us with hyperosmia, offering us a more pleasant floral aroma, as they consort with Mary Jane via e-pens and cannabis oil. 

Ahhh, the sweet smell; it's safe once again to venture out😎