The M Files Seeking The Friendly Stranger

[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.

[stonerish]

wtf is this sooooo many problems

edit: I hope this post by you isnt indicative of future trends. Your last thread was decent and worth the read, but im sorry to say, you suffer without editors it would seem (if that was the difference)

double edit;I predicted the sentiment of the crowd... or did i... cause it perhaps.......

[Broosh]

Reefer Madness was on SHOWTIME for me and i laughed during the entire time, while rippin my RooR of course

[VaporHead]

Great article! I didn't know how involved the friendly stranger was!

[ElendGold]

English might be my second language, but I have great difficulties in following your text construction and the development of your ideas.

I might be alone,

Elend.

[FreeMJ]

I am sorry to say this but please get an editor. Your grammar and vocabulary are decent but you could have made it a better read a least.

[therealstuff]

I was really into the last article you wrote for us and thought it was an excellent read, but this one is very hit and miss. I don't think its the information in general, but the way it has been organized in your article. My main point is its hard to follow. Writing articles for a cannabis community needs to have a strong sense of direction for the readers so that they can thoroughly understand all of what you are presenting us with (many of us are high when we browse these forums). This is all being said with the utmost respect, and I hope you take constructive criticism well. Please continue writing for our forum, I guarantee you I will keep reading if you keep writing. peace and pot.

[TheGanja]

im dissappointed with this once.. i really enjoyed the last one. this one, idk it just wasn't right. i hope the next one is better.

[calp]

I don't even know if I want to read this after all the negative comments

[NFloyd2357]

ugh... this is why being a journalism major in college is so depressing for me. I could do this blog 1000 times better...

[ThePhantom]

This article has gotten a lot of bad reviews, and I will say I have to agree. It was poorly written and made no sense. Even after reading it, I still have no idea who The Friendly Stranger is, and considering the article was about him, it seems that I should know. Come on man! You have your own forum on GC. Step up your game.

By the way, I did like the first article about G-13.

[Matt Mernagh]

im pondering this a little more. had a few friends say its fine. for what i aiming for. spinning a fictious Swift-esq satire yarn. tone of voice is much different one than i normally use.

i can change all this easily. same with topic /style. hunker down and write an essay on cannabis literature or in the movies.

like if you were to meet me in a cannabis cafe what would our sweet stoner talk be.

currently aiming for a Kerouac / HST / X-Files examination of cannabis style. culture.

funnily im a Humber School for Writers graduate which means i should be able to write fiction much better than i write my journalism prose.

the point about wanting to know more about The Friendly Stranger is exactly where i'm standing. i woke up and thought wow The Friendly Stranger. googled the guy. watched reefer madness. talked to a few friends about him. everyone had heard of him. but not much is known about the guy. he truly is an egnima.

i've been trying to get an interview with The Friendly Stranger for years.

what questions would you ask?

or i could interview a few people who know about The Friendly Stranger and do essay style.

happy new year!

M

[therealstuff]

Your 2^nd post seems to be just as directionless as your first. im sorry to say spinning a fictious Swift-esq satire yarn tone of voice is not your cup of tea. I think your possibly trying to sound more sophisticated than you need to be. Not a lot of members here know of or understand using Jack Kerouac’s writing style as a reference to yours. I don’t doubt your writing credentials for a minute, but maybe its better if you focus your energy on your next article instead of trying to revive this one. Peace and pot.

P.S looking forward to the homemade vaporizer article

[ThePhantom]

Yeah, sometimes you tank it. It happens. Concentrate on getting people the information in an entertaining way, instead of being all convoluted like you were in this one.

[thewhitehouse]

I don't even understand what the article was about... ???