"All together now, wake up and live now"

Anywhere you find the stoner culture, whether its very apparent in a place like Venice Beach, or it's the kid with dread locks headed to the local smoke out there's no doubt that the the 420 community is very unique. Whether its the lonely red eyed stoner or the average everyday marijuana user I continue to see some sort of pattern. There is no such thing as the 'typical pothead' if you ask me, but there is definitely an apparent sense of community amongst the stoner culture. Stumbled upon a drum circle a few weeks ago during a photo shoot on Venice beach and was amazed by all the different kinds of people just feeling the sound of the drum, inviting everyone to join the dance circle reminding me of lyrics of a Bob Marley song "We're more than sand on the seashore we're more than numbers, all together now, wake up and live now" Many people were dressed in a red, yellow, and green pattern. Returning home I ponder on reasons as to why even my own closet was filled with many of the same pattern. There has to be more to the color scheme than the trend. With a fresh bowl of marijuana I received from a local pot shop I searched red, yellow and green in a familiar search engine what appeared, just as I had presumed, the trio of primary colors symbolized an entire spiritual movement and culture even characterized as a religion. The colors together are called "rasta" and mean a lot more too many than meets the eye. The red signifies the blood of all living things in the world, the gold for all of the treasures in the world that people cherish and the green for the earth that people walk on. The Rastafari way of life encompasses themes such as the spiritual use of cannabis. Often accompanied by thorough bible study, smoking marijuana (cannabis, pot, herb, weed, ganja, sinsemilla etc.) for rastas is considered to cleanse the body and mind, heal the soul, expedite peacefulness, and bring them closer to God (Jah). Rastafarians refer to cannabis as "the healing of the nation" which was adapted from a Revelation bible verse. Among many bible verses, rastas justify the use of cannabis for example Psalms 104:14 "He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man." There is not one thing that a Rasta has to do to be a Rasta because that would defeat the whole purpose of being a Rasta which is why I assume I am so intrigued by all that goes into the Rastafari movement. Countless cannabis users resent being included in the same category as the recreational marijuana smoker, wanting to detour as far as possible from words like 'pothead' and 'stoner.' However I stand by the matter that it is who we are and it's only until those very people can light up a joint, feel the vibes in a drum circle, or maybe even just publicly admit that they smoke marijuana whether its for medical or recreational use, society will continue to categorize all stoners as couch-potato slobs as apposed to the fact that doctors, firefighters, and professors just to name a few in fact smoke. Perpetuating the stereotypes does nothing besides make concepts like legalization and the privacy they are trying to uphold completely obsolete. "All together now, wake up and live now" words of such meaning meant to inspire a way of life, I say togetherness is a great way to start.