Pubdate: Thu, 25 May 2000
Source: Mountain Xpress (NC)
Copyright: 2000 Mountain Xpress
Contact:  PO Box 144, Asheville, NC 28802
Fax: (828) 251 1311
Website: http://www.mountainx.com/
Author: Joseph Howard

SKIP THE POT, GET A LIFE

Maybe I'm old-fashioned. I have some responses to the several letters I've 
seen periodically and recently in Mountain Xpress defending and promoting 
all things cannabis. Am I the only one who thinks that many pro-pot 
advocates (pot users?) sound like some of the most whining, "poor-me," 
self-righteous people in America today? Some sound to me like they're 
struggling through a stint in the old Soviet Gulag, for God's sake. Their 
seeming sense of the grandiosity of their cause is troubling. All the 
standard arguments for legalization of marijuana aside (economic, medical, 
etc.), some of the respondents sound to me like strong evidence that 
marijuana usage is not good for us.

I smoked marijuana regularly for several years in the 1970s. I finally 
stopped when I began to sense that ­ heightened sensory experiences aside ­ 
the larger, long-term effect on me seemed to be very damaging: emotional 
numbing, fogginess, paranoia and lethargy. Simply put, marijuana interfered 
with my emotional health, emotional growth and development, and mental 
clarity (and believe me, I need all I can get!).

This discovery became even more profound after several months and years of 
not using it, and observing those who still did. Many of us have known or 
have been the people who were so out of touch that they or we had to get 
"high" to really "enjoy" something. It's quite sad. Of course, during my 
toking days, I went through a phase of: "This sh*t should be legal, and the 
world would be a better place if we could all get stoned, Man!" I now 
attribute this belief mainly to troubled adolescence and the fact that pot 
made me stupid.

Legalizing marijuana would not mitigate the harm it can do to those who use 
it, nor to those for whom the users might be responsible: their children. 
I've also come across available research (somehow never mentioned in 
pro-cannabis literature) that suggests regular usage can adversely affect 
men's testosterone levels and can play havoc with serotonin levels in the 
brain. These are a few of several examples of possible serious harm. 
Marijuana is simply not a safe and harmless drug.

Additionally, if you buy marijuana, there is an excellent chance that you 
are supporting international drug cartels, composed of some of the most 
homicidal and psychopathic human beings in the Western Hemisphere. These 
same cartels also bring us crack and heroin. These people routinely torture 
and murder those, and their families, who get in their way. Do you really 
want to support these murdering criminals with your money? Do you want this 
on your conscience, assuming you have one? How does this fit in with not 
eating meat and shopping at the Co-op? What does this have to do with 
peace, love and justice? With making the world a better place? No, thanks, 
but I'll pass ­ even if marijuana were as benign as mother's milk.

In the grand scheme of things, legalizing marijuana seems to me trivial and 
misguided, especially given so many truly urgent concerns in our world 
today. But then, I have a life, not a drugged life. I suspect many will be 
angered by my letter. However, the movement toward using and legalizing 
marijuana has become an unchallenged, fat, sacred cow ­ blindly accepted by 
many. This cow is long overdue for a journey out of the pasture of denial. 
This bloated bovine needs a diet and a reality check.

Joseph Howard
Asheville
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