Culture Vulture

Spare Us The Potheads ( I think)

The debate over whether or not marijuana should be legalized in Canada has become so polarized that I have found it personally VERY hard to take a position on it either way. I mean, I know what I think of people who smoke a lot of marijuana, but is what I think really best for the country, the future of our children and especially the potheads? I mean, this really does seem to be all about making long-term smokers, who are sick of sneaking around, legitimate citizens.
The problem seems to be that there is no accurate information on the effects of marijuana anywhere. If you go on the internet and look for sites about it you will more than likely encounter a pro-marijuana point of view financed and written by (who else?) a pothead. According to long-term, heavy smokers of marijuana, the bud cures everything from epilepsy, glaucoma and World War III. While lighting up a spliff, they will insist it is not addictive. There is also the spiritual argument - that smoking the stuff leads to spiritual enlightenment. O.K. I'll buy it. Who am I to deny a bunch of overworked, poverty-stricken hosers the opening of their third eye? Still the pro-pot smokers are just a tad too similar to the nicotine addicts I know. They get that same glazed, panic stricken look in their eyes at the slightest hint that they might run out of their stash.
On the other hand, if you consult a so-called anti-marijuana expert, you will find out that marijuana leads to lung cancer, promiscuity and bad SAT scores. Then you find out this same individual believes that watching American Idol leads to lung cancer, promiscuity and bad SAT scores.
The problem here is that we really don't know what the long-term effects of sustained marijuana use has on health and society. Medical studies which also tend to be financed or authoured by potsmokers, say there is no psychological dependence, but if that is true, then why the push to legalize it? I say, just continue to smoke it like you have been for the last 30 years. What's the problem? On the other hand, there is the argument that cigarettes and alcohol are legal so why shouldn't dope be? Cigarettes and alcohol don't lead to promiscuity and bad SAT scores.
Unfortunately, when all points of view are so slanted, there is only one point of view that you can rely on and that is your own. In my opinion the stuff really does have long-term negative effects on a person's personality, memory, spiritual and physical health. I mean, in my 43 years I have seen a few things. There is the pot-smoking single mom who smokes a joint after work and then zones out so badly that her children wait until 10 p.m. to be served dinner. There is the stoned driver, who sits at an intersection and giggles while watching the light turn green, then red, then green. There is the paranoid breed of pot smoker, that suddenly develops conspiracy theories that every one is after him at work.
Like any drug, marijuana is about self-medication and escaping the realities of life. Do we really want these people in our life? Also, I hate to say it, but when I think of the pot-smoking parents that I know, there is not a single one that does not have a child with some kind of weird attention deficit disorder or learning disability.
Then there is the whole theory that pot is not addictive. Has anyone else here ever been on the other end of what I call "Pot Rage?" This syndrome is well known in recovery circles but rarely talked about publicly. This is where the individual is o.k., as long as they get to smoke their J every day. However, the minute they are denied their daily dose, they have tantrums, irrational thoughts and go into a kind of sulk. I have seen this a million times in my own life. Has anyone else?
I think promoting marijuana as a medical miracle is not the way to go. The very idea that the potheads think this flimsy approach will fly, shows right there how much damage the stuff does to the brain.
The best way to get this stuff legalized is to get a big business behind it... a big pharmaceutical or cigarette company. Better yet, it should be distributed free by the government at Pot Smoking Depots. If the masses are legally stoned they won't notice the disappearance of their social safety net, higher taxes, etc. It's time for those potheads to get serious about their lobbying, otherwise, they're blowing smoke just as foul as the stench from cigarettes.The Potheads ( I think)

Publication Date: 2004-02-15
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3635