Culture through pot

When Becker is talking about becoming a pot smoker he is really explaining how humans become the humans become. He explains that pot smokers do not smoke pot by simply putting a chemical into their bodies, it is a ritual that has to be learned and practiced. This may not be as easy to see with pot as with other drugs, but one perfect example that I have seen is from an episode of the show Taboo. They were profiling a church in the jungles of South America that ritually uses some cactus-based hallucinogen as a spiritual aid. They give it to everyone of all ages, even infants. To us this seems like a horrible idea, but they are not "drug users" as we see them. None are addicts, none are unhealthy, this is normal as communion wine to them. I think this really shows that drug cultures, and all cultures, are social constructions. Pot smokers don't wear tie-die shirts and cargo pants because the drug tells them to. They don't smoke out of 6 foot high glass pipes because it makes the THC absorb more. They do it because that is what they do. That's what they learned how to do.