Detailing his involvement in Five Star Extracts, the magnetic frontman advocates for responsible consumption and details how the war on drugs stigmatized cannabis and keeps people from embracing the proven benefits of the substance.
The latest episode of The Electric Theater checks in with The Used Frontman Bert McCracken.
The conversation with clown quickly found common ground as the pair of veteran musicians are both in the same space at present – stuck at home with no place to tour. The guys shared that the slower pace of life and the extended time home that has happened as a result of the pandemic has really afforded quality time with their families.
Both Bert and clown shared how leaving their familiar unit is always tough when it comes to touring and if there was any silver lining to the global shutdown, it’s in not having to go away for an extended time to tour.
The discussion segued into McCracken’s advocacy of cannabis and his involvement with the Five Star Extracts brand. The frontman shared how the company’s compassionate start was part of piqued his interest. The guys at Five Star had a family member that was living with the kind of daily pain that required a hefty regimen of morphine. The side effects of the opioids were taking their toll, so an effort to restore some quality of life, cannabis was introduced as a means of pain relief and proved not only effective, but afforded a life with none of the side effects of the especially powerful morphine.
In that regard, McCracken carries the torch as an advocate for the responsible consumption of cannabis. Reiterating the holistic health benefits and its proven effectiveness for issues like post traumatic stress and pain management, the assertion of the importance of cannabis goes well beyond the championing the freedom to smoke a bowl.
Addressing the stigma of cannabis is something that Bert has been chipping away at for quite some time. He cited his references to the war on drugs in his 2014 release in the The Used’s Imaginary Enemy and further detailed that stigma is a element of control. He further explained that history has shown that making cannabis illegal was used as a tool to incarcerate minorities and assert control. That kind of ingrained perception of cannabis being criminal is what continues to keep people from universally embracing all of the beneficial elements that have been well established.
Approaching the discussion with a sense of practicality, Bert also confided that cannabis isn’t the end all fix for everything. What he stressed, albeit very casually, was the notion of advocacy through education. In gathering credible, vetted information that details the benefits of cannabis, people can make educated decisions about what works and certainly what doesn’t work with regards to their health and wellness.
The conversation ropes in everything from parenthood to alcoholism to elephant in the room that is the pandemic. Listen to the complete discussion with Bert McCracken of The Used on the latest Electric Theater below.
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