“Robin Scott, the Cannabis Guru”
GQ Magazine
Former top scholar at Rugby School, and graduate of Oxford University, where I specialised in Religious and Political Philosophy, I first smoked Cannabis at the age of 18 in Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, in the Summer of Love 1967. I first cultivated Cannabis in Scotland in 1972 – the story of which is told in my book The Case for Cannabis – published last year. A former Scientologist and veteran Yoga practitioner, I spent three years & three months in prison in the UK in the 1990s for growing the best and most potent Cannabis ever recorded at that time, a record I’m proud of!”
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I’m proud to say that Howard Marks and I were contemporaries at Oxford University in the late 1960s. I bumped into him years later at a Cannabis Conference in London in 1996, where we were both invited speakers. At that time, he had just published his most excellent book Mr Nice. He was indeed a very nice man, very sweet, very charming, great company – everyone loved to hang out with him. And he was always stoned!
Anyone who has read Mr Nice cannot fail to be impressed with the extraordinary achievements of this gallant buccaneer. Howard did breath-taking deals all around the world, and ventured into places few ever dared. He had balls of brass, enormous charisma, and a global vision of bringing Cannabis to the western masses – in which he succeeded triumphantly, and the world owes him a huge debt. I bet most of the Hash that my friends and I smoked in the early 70s was imported by Howard.
Of course, in those heady days of the 60s and 70s, all we knew was Hash. As I described in my previous article, we always tended to use Hash crumbled into tobacco joints. It wasn’t until the 1990s that we discovered the joys of freshly grown Marijuana here in the UK – smoked without tobacco. But Howard came from Wales, where the booze and fags culture is deeply embedded in the Welsh psyche. My only disagreement with Howard was that he never cast off this old pattern, but brought it with him into the world of Cannabis; he continued his life-long habits of smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol. Sadly, the result was that he died of Cancer a couple of years ago now, at the age of 70.
In my previous article, I described the process of how I had gradually changed over the years from smoking Hash to the point now where I no longer smoke at all, but instead only use edibles. However, I know that many of my friends still tend to smoke Cannabis, and my advice to give up smoking and stick to edibles seems to fall on deaf ears. I want to take a look at why I consider it important that we all transfer to edibles, and away from the harmful effects of smoking:
(1) The first and most obvious point is simply that smoking, in all its forms, is bad for you. This applies to Cannabis as much as Tobacco, although Tobacco damages the heart in ways that Cannabis does not. Even so, the tar in Cannabis is very heavy, and will cause lasting damage to your lungs if you persist with the habit. Even using a bong or a vaporiser will still cause dangerous smoke particles to enter your lungs, and will never be a safe and secure method, my friends. If you value your long-term health, please stop smoking – now!
(2) But actually, eating Cannabis is a quite different and, in my opinion, far superior experience to smoking. When you eat Cannabis in well-prepared edible format, and at the right dosage, you will enjoy a euphoric experience that is a longer-lasting and much more enjoyable high altogether. In particular, it’s a more organic feeling, coming from the stomach rather than the head. For me, it is much like eating Mushrooms, more trippy, and more physically powerful. Some people find it a little overwhelming when they first try edibles; it’s necessary to familiarise yourself with the experience, and to experiment with getting the right dosage through trial and error.
(3) There’s a distinct difference in the way that you use the Healing Herb between the two methods. When you smoke Cannabis, there’s a lot of paraphernalia: your stash, cigarette papers or bong, the lighter or matches, your tobacco, disposing of the vile bong water, etc, etc. Especially when you are travelling, this is awkward and cumbersome – and telling evidence against you, if you are busted. There’s also the fact that, although you get high very quickly, in a matter of minutes, you tend to come down again with half an hour or so – with the result that you need to repeat the whole complex process over again!
(4) Whereas, when you use edibles, the whole process is clean and safe. Take half an ounce of good quality bud, bake it in a tray of brownies, and you have a month’s supply already prepared in advance. No mess, no telling evidence, no smell, no smoke, no problem. In my recent book The Case for Cannabis, I describe the whole process, giving the recipe to prepare Robin Scott’s Cannabis Pill – one in the morning, one in the evening. And it’s a much more pleasant feeling than smoking, which tends to make you bilious; it’s a delicious comfortable high that lasts for hours. I find it takes exactly 1 hour 40 minutes to take full effect, but the mellow buzz will last you a good five hours. I should add in passing that edibles render sex absolutely delicious! You will never have a better experience, trust me!
© Copyright Robin Scott 2021
