THE MOST HIGH.

If you met him this weekend, you would be chocking. Later you would possibly feel like you were riding on a cloud.

Ben stares at his friend. Denno has this idiotic look sagging his face. Matto is on the roof. Naked to his pair of boxers, singing circumcision songs.

How he got there, is a tale on its own. Ben followed Sam’s advice. A short guy from Mombasa with a beefy handshake. Sam is a very wise man.

“I have a problem with my girl, we’ve broken up because my side-chic called her and threw tantrums.”

“We ni nini hii? Piga weedi yako freshi, halafu utulie kejani. Utapata solution.” (What is it with you? Smoke your weed then relax in your house. You will get a solution.)

With the ‘wise’ counsel, he walked to a cigarettes joint.

Some slender guy in an oversized t-shirt moves over on the bench. He passes him a cigarette. Ben shakes his head. Some guy is rocking forth and back continuously. For once you could think he is a mental case. There are other three, with their heads bent very close to their knees.

“You don’t really look like a guy who would come to ‘meditate’ here.” His English is very polished. Unlike his shaggy hair and a very tight pair of denim. Or jeans, is it?

Ben nods, slowly.

“Neither do you say much.”

 He nods again, slowly.

“How can I be of assistance to you?”

Ben gestures the smoking sign. The guy shifts his gaze towards the back of a pub across the road. He looks at Ben and gestures with his head, they walk to the back almost simultaneously.

In a narrow corridor, Ben jumps over a puddle of urine. The air is densely humid. You can feel it as it hits the back of your throat. They stand next to a toppled rubbish bin. Some bony dogs look up then continue digging the dirt with little concern.

“How much do you have?”

Ben fishes out a five-hundred-shilling note. A transparent polythene bag full of rolled up ‘blunts’ appears from under his large t-shirt. Ben’s eyes widen. The guy gives him a black polythene bag which he uses to carry the goods. On his way back, he buys kales worth twenty shillings which he has no use for.

His steps are quick with this awkward smile which is half nervous. He can feel his palms sweat.

Ben looks at his blunt, smoke can be beautiful at times. A slender wavy line rises from his fingers. The way it coils upwards is very amazing. The abstract image it creates is a piece of wonder. He takes a good puff after another while his friends throw cheap jokes at him. Each concluding with, “There are many more ladies around.”

Matto and Denno begin a slapping contest. None of them seems to feel a thing as they smack each other’s faces. Somehow Matto figured it was very hot, he began peeling his clothes off. With a smile he says, “The higher you go, the cooler it becomes.” He scales the wall and somehow finds himself on the roof.

I can explain how all this happened.

 This is the Chinese character for weed. I mean Cannabis Sativa. Specifically hemp, which is a type of bhang which was cultivated as early as 3000 years ago in Taiwan. Bhang was also found in Egyptian pyramids dating to 950 BC. If this plant had been used in Kenya that early, then we would have a ‘tripped’ nation. Traces of this plant were found in pipes dug from Shakespeare’s garden.

‘Weed’ grows in different forms. There is even the one that won’t have an effect on you. The hemp is used to make fiber. In other words, you can smoke a sack and feel nothing, literally. How people get high or stupefied is a different matter altogether.

THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) chemical is responsible for most psychological effects. It attaches itself to Cannabinoid receptors in the brain then activates them. When this happens thinking, concentration, memory, movement, speech, time perception, pleasure and coordination are affected. The strain Cannabis Indica has a high concentration of CBD (cannabidiol) which blocks the effects of THC thus having a sedative effect. “Inatuliza kiupuzi” as my friend once put it. (It relaxes you in a stupefying manner).

Surprise! Bhang has a lower physical harm and dependence levels as compared to tobacco.  Given chance I would spoil you with all the scientific details. Since I am no scientist, I would appreciate if you got the joke in the last paragraph.

Either way, if people smoked weed in church, would they be appreciating the most high?

By Sad Poet.