Don’t tell the Department of Justice, but Ray Davies may have been substituting the rhyming slang term “Harry rag” for “marijuana cigarette.” But the song could just as easily be about regular cigarettes, or fags, as the cockneys say.
Footnote, from Alternet: More U.S. teens are now smoking marijuana than smoke cigarettes.
That’s right. Among high school students, current use — defined as use within the last 30 days — is now higher for marijuana than for cigarettes. According to the CDC, 21.9 percent of teens reported smoking cigarettes within the last month, while 22.4 percent smoked marijuana.
There is a lesson here, but one that policymakers won’t want to hear: If the idea is to stop teen substance use, the approach we’ve used with tobacco works better than the approach we’ve taken with marijuana. That means regulation of adult use, rather than prohibition…
