COLUMN: The Chronic Chronic

From O.J. Lima's "Blues for Mr. Charlie," Fall '93 From O.J. Lima's "Blues for Mr. Charlie," Fall '93Now and then, I bike out to 52nd Street to get some soul food from Big George's Stop-N-Dine. After a big meal, I make sure to do one thing – browse the tables of the street vendors to see what messages are being sold in black neighborhoods. Has this surprised me? No, not for a city which boasts its own type of joint, the Phillies Blunt. But, I do find that it's a message which could definitely use some clarification and re-evaluation. Just look at hats and shirts, and you will see the marijuana leaf's increased prominence in the black community. The leaf insignia has become so omnipresent that at many black gatherings, it almost makes one feel as if he were in a herb field. With the exception of its use by many reggae musicians, the hemp plant, which was considered so white and Woodstock in the 1960's and 1970's, has made a peculiar cultural leap from white liberalism to black urban culture. With endorsements from hip-hop artists such as Redman, Cypress Hill, Ice Cube, and Dr. Dre, it's no real wonder that the popularity of the herb has grown so quickly among urban blacks. Coupled with marijuana's new-found popularity, there appears to be a noticeable shift from alcohol to weed as the casual drug of choice. A study by psychologist Lewis King reported that alcoholism may not be a disease, but rather the result of people's inability to solve problems. With claims from many black artists and musicians that marijuana promotes creativity and awareness, many are laying down 40's of Olde English to pull from the pipe. All of this would suggest that African-Americans are attempting to leave the sloppiness of alcohol for the "therapeutic" dilation of marijuana. I guess the era of Ice Cube's funky-beat St. Ides commercials has pretty much come to an end. It's sad to see the music in these ads go, but all in all, I can live with it if the rate of black alcoholism decreases. But is this really something worth cheering about? The substitution of marijuana for liquor does not solve the problem of drug addiction. So you can understand why I'm worried, right? I don't want to see yet another drug addiction run rampant in black communities. Or you don't understand what's the big deal. Over 66 million individuals in this country have tried marijuana (not including our current President). It's just a casual drug. Well, let me put it to you this way. Alcohol, which is considered the most casual of all drugs, has created major problems in black communities. In fact, by ethnic group, African-Americans have the highest rate of alcoholism in the nation. So, I guess "casual" doesn't mean "problem-free." When I was a senior in high school N.W.A.'s album "Straight Outta Compton" went platinum. Dr. Dre denounced endo in the song, "Express Yourself," as a substance which only caused brain damage. Four years later he titled his first solo album, "The Chronic" another name for the five leafed wonder plant. Ice Cube's latest album, "The Predator," shows him sucking on a little skull-faced bong. As cool as the photography may be, you're probably not supposed to think he's smoking tobacco. What scares me are the cultural ramifications of these messages. Clearly the popularity of marijuana is a fad, and it is not the responsibility of these musicians to act as role-models. But what do we do to make black children understand that marijuana use is not an intrinsic part of what it means to be an African-American? Well, we shouldn't ban the music. Most of these guys have messages pertaining to other aspects of the African-American life which need to be heard, while others are too talented to be silenced. Besides, Penn's First Amendment Task Force might get all stirred up. Instead, what black children need is education which addresses how and why negative images are originated and associated with blackness. They should be taught that there would be no such thing as malt liquor if some old white-head sitting behind a desk at Anheuser-Busch didn't think he could make a quick buck off selling blacks an inferior beer by-product at the cheapest possible price. The music industry is no better. Just because there is a contraband motif on a hip-hop CD cover doesn't make marijuana, or any other drug for that matter Afro-centric. But rather, what it probably means is that John Hoedy Hawkins, the CEO of Time/Warner/Sony, thought he could make his corporation some extra cash by strategically portraying narcotics as something stylish. I don't know any black folks who are getting rich from selling weed and I certainly haven't seen it build any schools in my community. The only black profits being made from marijuana are shirts and hats at the expense of giving black children false messages about their culture. That's probably a good sign that it's about time African-Americans nipped this weed in the bud. O.J. Lima is a senior English major from Providence, Rhode Island. Blues for Mr. Charlie appears alternate Mondays.