I read an interview a while ago with Adam Jones, in which he said that The Pot had nothing to do with drugs. It was something about the pot chasing the kettle.
He did say, however, that Rosetta Stoned had to do with drugs, and the effect they can have an a person.

Pots don't CHASE kettles, they call them black, get it right. And Rosetta Stoned isn't about drugs, it's about eating peaches (sense the sarcasm due to the pure genius of above statement).

I also think of the millions of folks popping legally prescribed mood altering drugs everyday

Hey thats me :D

Now there's something to be proud of.

ok, well, i think Maynard knows the kiddies are calling it the pot again, so i'd say you're right. (sarcasm test fllight 1-A)
This whole album has anti-drug references (FUCKING HEAR ME OUT): pull your head on out your hippy haze and give a listen, track I, vicariiiiiiiiiiious; you must have been high, das pot, (these are Judith's words), Rosetta Stoned: the whole fucking song.

These references are notifying people the time has come to quit ''enlightening'' ourselves with substances and do it ourselves, alone.

The pot is first person Judith, i'd bet my scotch on it.

LMAO...no kiddin. All the kids sitting there like, yeah man, let's trip balls and listen to Tool because it's cool. Or let's smoke pot while listening to The Pot..hehehe. All the while Tool's scoffing at you retards for going about life and experimenting the way that you are with no frame of reference. It's simply getting high to do so, nothing better to do. I'm not saying they or I myself for that matter are completely against drugs, hell I've had my days but, I also used my head about it. It wasn't getting fucked up just to do it. That's exactly what Rosetta Stoned is about, the guy fucking completely overdoes it and then he forgets the most important fundamental thing he could have. I think it's a little cryptic in basically saying, lay the fuck off the drugs kids, do something more production with your time, and if you do stop to experiment, don't OVER do it and at least make it a learning experience. The guy in Rosetta Stoned just got so fucked up he lost track of what he could've gained from the experience. Which is what I think Maynard's talking about when he mentions the message of hope for those who choose to hear it or a warning for those who do not. In the song it was the secret of life but in reality, it's DON'T forget to be responsible about what you are doing or you'll bypass everything that was important about this experience in the first place.

Yeah that was kinda stupid of me. Especially since now I realize that (correct versions of) what I said had already been posted in the thread. My bad.

agreed..

I think this whole debate about drugs kinda makes me think of the quote

Res non per se at per usum, bona aut mala est (Nothing of itself is good or evil, only the manner of it's use makes it so)

racism????????

Not exactly, just stereotypical I suppose. But Canada's got some of the most beautiful women, I'll give ya' that.

these theories are entertaining .. i say YES to anything u've got to throw in there.

hey now, don't make assumptions about the limited opinions there could possibly be on weed and "the pot." there may be profound opinions waiting to be shared. i have one. but i'd much rather aimlessly post replies on side-topics.

totally agree, i think drugs are a good experience, acid is such an eye opener (literally...) and definitely a learning experience, but reality is best, you dont want to lose touch with it completely or youve got nothing

What an awesome world it could be.

then you'll have to watch out for the stupid people who just do it to do it.

FO SHO'!!

I can't agree more, not all musicians do drugs, but the matter is that weed is not as destructive or dangerous as alcohol. Mary jane even helps prevent/ease cancer. That is a trully good thing. The only problem with Marijuana is that the manufacter is a sceame that they use to add extra chemicals, pixy-dust and other additives make it a dangerous and possibly addictive drug. If grown by ones self and properly used without additives it is simply harmless and nonaddictive.

This is probably my favorite song on the entire album...and I don't smoke weed. So it could be and it couldnt' be. And it can probably be discussed until the end of time.

I think the song is more or less just about a general form of hypocrisy...

Have you seen "In Pot We Trust"....This is about Hypocrisy about the Gov't Still arresting people when in the 70's they let people smoke it for health problems, and also one patient had glaucoma they were growing 4 plants and got arrested when the gov't was conducting research on wheter it helps....It Does help many things.

ALso in the the interview with Adam..he does say it's not about drugs...well marijuana ain't a drug it's a plant that happened to grow and if you catch it on fire it will produce effects to your mind..

Agreed Ghostwriter....

When I first listened to The Pot, I thought it had something to do with the melting pot of America (which, of course, it does) and how we piss all over it due to the obvious hypocracies. TOOL is just using weed to get the message across....because there again.....ANOTHER HYPOCRACY!! And probably one of the biggest in all of time. The play on words in the song are a dead giveaway. I would rather have someone rrrrrrreal fuckin' high on hemp drive me home than someone with Johnny Walker or Jose Cuervo between his/her legs....even if it takes a little longer to get there!!

:)

I can't believe people are still going on about whether the song is about weed or not. I figured by now people would come to their senses. I agree with Ghostwriter and Miketh74.

No kiddin'......I'm surprised this thread has gone 6 pages!!! Took me forever to catch up with it.

Everyone all together now....

"It's all about H Y P O C R A C Y"

<cough, clears throat and whispers> It's H Y P O C R I S Y

I'm spelling hypocracy wrong, aren't I?

yup

Hokay, so could some of you please put the bong down for a minute or two? If maynard wanted to tell all of his wonderful fans how shitty the U.S. drug laws are, or to tell us all that weed is okay sometimes, or that its enlightening or whatever other two bit responses you have come up with...if he really wanted to say these thing im pretty sure he would just come out and say it. If 10 000 days is truly the last album than im pretty sure he would have a message a little more important. I think you guys need to look past the name of the song...not that it is unimportant, but becasue you are getting too hung up on it. Look past it and try to come up with something a little more origonal than weed. Honestly, i dont see this world lasting too much longer, and if i had the ares that maynard does...id talk about something a little more influencial than weed. But hey, if you guys want to be all red eyed and giggly, or transe induced and intellectual...whatever, i gues thats just a few less idiots to try and save. See you on the other side, hopefully there might just be one...

Apparently this guy hasn't read any of the most recent posts. Most of us agree with you here bud. It was a select few "potheads" or however you choose to coin the term that decided it was about weed.

I'll second that. :)

It IS about weed man. The black kettle is the resin caked bowl of his glass piece that some dude pissed on in an effort to clean it, this was obviously a high man who perpetrated this heinous act. Elementary my dear Watson 502

Yeah, keep sprinkling that dust into your pipe

Please tell me you're joking.

Wha.. nah man im real serious. Its pretty obvious that, along those lines, thats what its about. Then at the end he says "Ganja puh-lease you must..." he is pleading with the dude not to do it, but the guy pisses on it anyway. It works a lil bit try it.

When it's "pretty obvious", it probably isn't what it's about. That's mostly the case around Tool's lyrics.

Actually, I take that back, keep the dust out of your pipe...it's fucking with your head

I dont do drugs man. Ive tried it before and it works pretty well so i cant help but think that this song has something to do with this. Maynard, or any other member of the band for that matter may not have know about this trick and when the dude tried it they were all so amazed/pissed off that they wrote a song about it.

Me and my brother was discussing this song the other day and we both concluded that this song has to be about someone getting busted on a marijuana charge.

Let me break the song up for y’all to explain our theory.

Who are you to wave your finger?
You must have been outta your head
Eye hole deep in muddy waters
You practically raised the dead

Now, this first segment is directed to the lawyer who is prosecuting the person the song is about. “Who are you to wave your finger?” is because the lawyer is a abuser just as much as the one on trial. I will explain this further below.
“You practically raised the dead” might be relating to the fact that the prosecutor is getting very worked up about the fact that someone dares to smoke marijuana. Screaming his head off and pointing his fatty fingers at the person on trial.

Rob the grave to snow the cradle
Then burn the evidence down
Soapbox house of cards and glass so
Don't go tossin' your stones around

The “Soapbox house of cards and glass…” bit is there to underline the hypocrisy of letting a coke-snorting lawyer convict a ganja-abuser. “Rob the grave to snow the cradle” is coke-slang followed by “Then burn the evidence down” can refer to the act of burning coke to smoke, or shoot up.

You must have been high

The line above is fairly self-explanatory, the convict probably argues that the lawyer might even had been high when he was giving his statement to the jury.

Foot in mouth and head up ass
So whatcha talkin' 'bout?
Difficult to dance 'round this one
'til you pull it out. boy,

Again, this part is there to say that the prosecutor is full of shit, basically.

You must have been so high
Look above under “You must have been high”.
Steal, borrow, refer, save your shady inference
Kangaroo done hung the jury with the innocent

Actually as English isn’t my main language I’m not quite sure what he means by the above, except of course that “reefer” is slang for marijuana. Although the spelling is off I am sure this is what he is talking about.

Now you're weeping shades of cozened indigo
(Musta) got lemon juice up in your eye
When you pissed all over my black kettle.

The lawyer is apparently worked up enough to shed some tears over the case. Although the one on trial seems to think it’s an act caused by pouring lemon juice in his eyes.
“When you pissed all over my black kettle” might be referring to the fact that the lawyer (or rather, the prosecutor) is crying when he is talking about the heinous act of smoking pot. The word “kettle” in the last sentence can refer to a teapot, and then the jump isn’t that far to “pot”. Black pot, or hashish, or ganja. It’s all the same.

Who are you to wave your finger?
So full of it
Eye balls deep in muddy waters
Fuckin' hypocrite

Here he’s simply saying that the prosecutor is delusional and a hypocrite. “It’s okay to snort/smoke coke/meth and at the same time put people smoking ganja behind bars”.

Liar, lawyer, mirror, show me. What's the difference?
Kangaroo done hung the guilty with the innocent.

“Liar, lawyer, mirror show me. What’s the difference?” is again pointing out the absurdity of the situation.

Ganja? P-lease!
You must have been out your mind

And here he’s just saying, “Really, your busting me for this?!”.
He basically thinks that he’s being put to jail by a prosecutor that is no better than him-self. In fact , he’s much worse.

Anyway, that’s my take on it. Oh and of course, I am sure that even is this could be right, there are a lot more to this song beyond the obvious.

This guy and iAMtheMA need to get a room together.