[Matt Mernagh]

There are plenty of problems when it comes to developing a consensus on stoner culture. Prohibition warriors’ disinformation campaigns, stoners’ embellishing their accomplishments, and lastly, potheads involved were, naturally, high when shit went down. Getting the straight toke is nigh impossible. Do we care? The M-Files does. We believe between bong rips, vapor hits, and joint rolling, The Toking Truth Is Out There. Many marijuana facts are actually marijuana myths, like space aliens, talking dogs and Mugwumps.

This is…The M-Files.

A Friendly Stranger spotting came to our attention late last week via the pot-is-Norml 1-800 hotline. The toker tip line is designed to alert us to weird and crazy cannabis oddity. Deciphering enthusiastic ganja gibberish from genuine leads is a time consuming task.

Done in the wee hours with finelyground grass.

Listening to sweet stoner talk in a murky Haze of scrumptious Mr. Nice (Hash Plant x G-13) a tip temporarily brought us back to reality.

Or did it?

Yah…so like…um…The Friendly Stranger is my great grandfather.

Bong rips! A genuine lead!

Usually the fakes ramble on-and-on, and, on-on about little or nothing of importance. Known as sweet stoner talk. The M Files immediately shelved our investigation into whether Gen X ganja lovers made vaporizers with pickle jars, tubing, and a soldering gun.

We’re still waiting on MacGyver’s report, anyway.

420 on The Friendly Stranger

Though he’s the most prominent person in the cannabis community, more so than say Ed Rosenthal or Emperor Wears No Clothes author Jack Herer, there’s little to no concrete information on a person known as The Friendly Stranger.

Many presume The Friendly Stranger is a fictional character created for the movie Reefer Madness, the propaganda flick that scared people into prohibiting pot.

The M-Files believes he is a real person with a ruined reputation.

Reefer Madness was successful at portraying stoners as murderers, rapists and insane lunatics. Worst, it’s alleged our man The Friendly Stranger preys on first time toking teens!

Friendly is deeply scared from a sobriety society hell bent on eliminating his and Marijuana Girl’s profession with their movie Tell Your Children. They believed they could ride it out at first. Until fiendish movie producer Dwain Esper changed the title to Reefer Madness. Passing the poor quality flick around outback movie circuits.

Making a mint off marihuana doom and gloom while putting Marijuana Girl and The Friendly Stranger out of work or worst, behind bars.

Reefer Madness was liberated from the library of congress in 1970s by NORML’s Keith Stroup due to free domain laws. But still 'exploited' in The Friendly Stranger's opinion on the college campus circuit for fund raising campaigns. Thinking their lives couldn’t get any worst, Reefer Madness received horrible LSD like treatment when a colorized edition appeared galling enough on Apr. 20, 2004.

Reefer Madness ruined The Friendly Stranger’s formerly stellar reputation.

The M-Files has poured-over countless reports and interviewed plenty of potheads who say they’ve met Friendly on a Friday night. We’ve all gone to great lengths to find The Friendly Stranger from time-to-time.

The Friendly Stranger is the first stoner to take on a handle. He started our tradition of adopting a/k/a’s. Akin to how we use marijuana inspired monikers in GC’s community, Twitter or when working in the industry.

Friendly was a successful marijuana entrepreneur who ignited a War on Drugs with his ability to be a loveable

Reefer Man

.

Friendly first appeared, according to our Top Secret M-Files, on the arms of the finest of burlesque dancers, clappers, and swinging gals in early 1920s. The gals adored Friendly’s steep angular facial features (nose / chin), all black wardrobe, consisting of sharp felt hat, a stiffed pressed suit, and just shined shoes.

And his cash flow.

Friendly preferred pot to booze, which was guzzled by the gallon during the roaring ‘20s. Instead he enjoyed turning people onto pot at booming late night parties.

He celebrated both AM and PM 420s.

The Friendly Stranger’s business card declared him 'Importer.'

Then along came Marijuana Girl. A doobie loving dame who stole his stoner heart.

Together they were more successful than Howard Marks or any smuggler who has ever dared to bring in the big one ton(s). Friendly sowed plenty of seeds too. But never, as far as we know, had children, until The M Files received the message.

Friendly helped Old Bull Lee with his Texas cannabis crop that Jack Kerouac describes in On the Road. Hearing Sal Paradise was heading his way The Friendly Stranger high tailed it out town fearing Kerouac would write him into his fictional real-life literary epic.

Update

On Christmas Eve 2008 at approximately 4:20 p.m. an agent met with a blond, thirty one-year-old angular featured dude in the parking garage of a seniors home high-rise on Avenue Rd. in Toronto. The location is the former residence known as Rochdale College, which in the ‘60s was a hippie den of cannabis, communes, orgies, and mind alters like Acid and LSD.

Dressed head-to-toe in sharp all black attire. Including an angled black hat. Our The Toking Man continuously inhaled marijuana joints during the encounter. Creating a Haze around his whole appearance, which included a new twist, mirrored sunglasses.

The agent inhaling copious amounts of wonderful weed he believes to be Williams Wonder or possibly Black Domina or Sensi Star vaguely recalls their conversation.

You’re running out of time. You must find him. It’s imperative The Friendly Stranger is found before it’s too late. I fear…The Friendly Stranger is dieing.

Next on The M-Files.

We uncover homemade vaporizer instructions via the Internet. Proof Gen X got high surfing the information super highway for porn? You bet! And on the trail of The Friendly Stranger.