Pubdate: Fri, 03 Oct 2003
Source: Auburn Plainsman, The (AL Edu)
Copyright: 2003 The Auburn Plainsman
Contact:  http://www.theplainsman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1880
Author: Michael J. Thompson
Note: An opposing column printed in the same issue is at 
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1509/a06.html

MARIJUANA: NO NEED FOR WEED - ASK TED NUGENT

I can't deny the fact anymore. I'm a huge fan of the work of rock 'n' roll
legend Ted Nugent. Ever since I heard my father turn the volume on his car
stereo up to blast the tune "Cat, Scratch Fever" at a young age I have found
the Motor City Madman to be brilliant.

When I read his fine tome "God, Guns and Rock 'N' Roll" a few years ago, I
realized there was much more to this aging rocker then loud music and the
image the media wished to implant into your mind.

Yes, this guy is a conservative, a believer in the environment, animal
rights, gun rights, the Constitution of the United States, but more
importantly, he has never touched an illegal drug in all his life.

Interesting for a guy who was a legend in his business in the 1970s, when
doing drugs was almost as ubiquitous for a rock star as wearing bell-bottoms
was for your average Greg Brady wannabe.

Perhaps my favorite song Nugent has performed over the years is the
beautiful love ballad "High Enough" he did with the group "Damn Yankees."

Now, when people hear the song title for the first time, immediately in are
MTV-programmed minds, we associate the word 'high' with what takes place
after a person has smoked the illegal drug known as Marijuana.

It's perfectly understandable for someone who has never heard this song nor
versed themselves in the background of Nugent. He is vehemently anti-drug
and stands as a role model for kids and adults for his noble stance against
a substance that is wreaking havoc across this nation.

Sure, TV has desensitized the drug, as movies from "Half-Baked" to the
incredibly woeful, but completely forgettable "How High," attempt to portray
how 'cool' it is to smoke the weed.

Black hip-hop artists have made prosperous career's crooning and rapping
about the joys of being high and have brought the ghetto lifestyle into the
homes of Middle-America via Viacom, the parent company of MTV.

Rappers talk - sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but rap is not a form of
singing, just merely talking at an accelerated rate, accompanied by
generally an 80s beat - continually about the joys of cannabis. Perhaps
Snoop Dogg is best example of this new phenomenon.

I stand with Ted Nugent fully on this issue, as I have never done a drug and
will never do a drug. I have had the opportunity to speak as a D.A.R.E
representative to school children about this issue, and it is hard to
articulate to them reasons not to smoke because they're continually
bombarded with images of celebrities high or singing about being in an
altered state of mind.

On the popular Fox sitcom, "That 70s Show" the characters are continually
shown in Eric's basement smoking weed. Kids see this, and because
repercussions are a rarity to Ashton Kutchur and Co., they think nothing of
it.

Instead, they believe they can sit around, smoke, laugh and eat, and all
will be merry. I know this, because young kids have told me verbatim what I
just said.

I'll admit the silly TV ads put together by the Anti-Drug task force of the
U.S. Government are ineffective. Instead of these spots, which are an
incredible waste of tax dollars, I would have Ted Nugent extol the virtues
of a drug-free life. The commercials would be insightful, entertaining and
eye opening.

Let's get an important point straight before we move on, one that many
conservatives won't admit. The War on Drugs has been a monumental failure.
When images of the supposed joys of drug use are being beamed into any home
with a television in America, while the Government throws billions upon
billions each year into the War, something is wrong. Terribly wrong.  Also,
it is illogical for a person with an IQ over 70 to believe that people will
not do drugs.

Humans, being the curious, bipedal mammals that we are, will always flirt
with the unknown.

Luckily for humans, the effects of Marijuana on the human body are not
unknown.

According to National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, "Marijuana puts kids
at risk." It is the most widely used illicit drug among youth today and is
more potent than ever.

Marijuana use can lead to a host of significant health, social, learning and
behavioral problems at a crucial time in a young person's development.

According to a recent study performed by Joseph Rey and Christopher Tennant
of the University of Sydney, the link between regular cannabis use and later
depression and schizophrenia in life has been strengthened.

That study, cited on www.Newscientist.com, states, "One of the key
conclusions of the research is that people who start smoking cannabis as
adolescents are at the greatest risk of later developing mental health
problems. Another team calculates that eliminating cannabis use in the UK
population could reduce cases of schizophrenia by 13 percent."

Stanley Zammit, of the University of Cardiff in the United Kingdom, said in
that same report, "Nevertheless, our results indicate a potentially serious
risk to the mental health of people who use cannabis. Such risks need to be
considered in the current move to liberalize and possibly legalize the use
of cannabis in the UK and other countries."

It's also interesting to note what Marijuana contains in it: acetone,
hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, carbon monoxide, benzene, benzopyrene,
nitrosamines and many other cancer causing pollutants.

Many people make the argument that smoking is on the same level as getting
intoxicated by the legal ways of drinking a copious amount of alcohol. Well,
to quote a good friend, "You can socially drink one or two beers and not get
drunk, but you can't socially smoke weed and not get high."

Zammit is correct though, as European nations are beginning to liberalize
their laws to make room for the growing habitual users of pot. There is a
massive push underway in this nation as well to legalize the substance.

I'll stand firm on this issue, just as I will others. I look around the
world at nations that have historically used drugs from Jamaica to the
Indian tribes that once inhabited America.

I'll always turn down the peace pipe and it is apparent to any student of
history that a nation that has liberal rules on drugs won't last long. As a
world power, or as a productive nation. Look at Canada...

As has been documented in many books and studies, Europe as we have
traditionally known it, is fading away. It's becoming increasingly apparent
that instead of attempting to prolong Western Civilization, the modern day
ancestors of Julius Caesar, Isaac Newton and Beethoven would rather get high
and live for the day, than ensure the survival of the past and its enduring
memories, into the future.

Jacques Barzun was right when he entitled his life work on the history of
Western Civilization, from 1490-1990 "From Dawn to Decadence."

Nugent is to be commended for taking such a visible stand against drugs. It
is a morose thought to consider the power another celebrity could have in
the Cultural War, when it comes to drugs.

Our culture is currently celebrity driven and celebrity worshipping is
replacing Scientology as the newest cult in America.

I've chosen to live a life free of illegal drugs and I believe that is a
just and noble choice. The Founding Fathers didn't have to deal with the
problems we are facing currently, but it would be quite interesting to see
how they would respond.

I have a feeling Thomas Jefferson would concur though.

And I think he might even enjoy "High Enough" and other Ted Nugent songs as
well. After all, Nugent is a lover of liberty and "enduring virtue will keep
alive liberty," according to Jefferson.

So here's to Nugent, and here's to a drug free life. While you're at it,
turn up that "Cat, Scratch Fever."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Josh