Yo, peep this – the cannabis game today is like the wild wild west, but did they have that good good back in the days of cowboys, outlaws, and cattle rides? Yellowstone be poppin’ right now, following Deadwood which brought back that western vibe. Boomers grew up on Bonanza, Wild Wild West, Big Valley and all that. So the image of a dude on a horse ridin’ the range is pretty much ingrained in our minds. You see them with tobacco, but what about a fat blunt?
We know they were all about gettin’ lit. For an estimated population of about 400,000 in the American frontier between the Sierras and the Pacific, they were importing a crazy amount of booze back in 1853. We talkin’ 20,000 barrels of whiskey (like 650K gallons) and 400 barrels of rum (13K gallons). And beer? They were guzzlin’ down 2 million gallons in 1853. So yeah, they were all about that intoxication life.
Cowboys had it rough out there and money was scarce. Marijuana was a cheap alternative to tobacco, and since it was everywhere in the west by the late 1800s, it was easy to get when tobacco wasn’t around. This stayed true at least till the 1930s, and even after marijuana got criminalized in the 1950s for those who didn’t have much. The Feds really cracked down on cannabis in 1937 with the Marijuana Tax Act.
Cannabis could’ve been a lifesaver for cowboys. Smokin’ up would help them relax after a long day of workin’. Them cowboys were out there hustlin’ over 15 hours a day herding cattle, doin’ ranch work and other physical labor. Their idea of kickin’ back was grabbin’ some grub by a fire and crashin’ on the ground. Showers and fresh clothes were far and few between.
The medical benefits would’ve been clutch for them too – easing soreness, helpin’ with sleep and pain relief. Did you know that 8 to 12 cowboys would herd around 3,000 cattle? They would trek about 15 miles a day – any more than that and their cattle would be lookin’ too thin.
But yo, imagine if cowboys had some dank weed to unwind with after a long day on the range. That would’ve been some next level chill vibes right there. They could’ve been kickin’ back under the stars with a fat joint, forgettin’ about their worries and just vibin’.
So next time you watch Yellowstone or any western flick, just think – maybe those cowboys were puffin’ on some herb to get through their rough days. Weed might’ve been their secret weapon back in the old west.