Pubdate: Sun, 26 Mar 2006
Source: Hartford Courant (CT)
Copyright: 2006 The Hartford Courant
Contact:  http://www.courant.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/183
Author: Jesse Leavenworth, Courant Staff Writer
Cited: National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws 
http://www.norml.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Clifford+Thornton

STILL GRAZING IN THE GRASS

Longtime Pot Smokers Have Various Reasons for Sticking to Their Own High Road

Let's look back into the haze - 25 to 40 years back. Part the veil, 
and peer into that basement rec room, where a Led Zeppelin drum solo 
rumbles, faded jeans glow under a black light and the air is steeped 
in killer weed.

Those were the days when marijuana became a national sensation, when 
the original burnouts wandered high school hallways and pot-smokers' 
paraphernalia included everything from pipe screens to the huge 
rolling paper included in Cheech & Chong's "Big Bambu" album.

For most people who indulged in the 1960s and '70s, the sights, 
sounds and smells of the marijuana culture linger only in memory. 
Some, however, truck on. They may have lost their old posters and 
stopped staring at their hands, but for various reasons, pot has 
remained part of their lives.

Take Bob (not his real name). The electrician from central 
Connecticut says he typically burns a joint each day after work, 
often with his wife. He says the drug helps him relax, and it's a 
better choice than alcohol.

"I don't really drink that much," says Bob. "I feel more in control 
if I smoke than when I drink. I don't like to get out of control."

Marijuana use among young people peaked in the 1970s. In 1979, some 
51 percent of 12th-graders reported having used the drug during the 
past year. The numbers fell to less than half that percentage by the 1990s.

Mark Braunstein, 54, described himself as "a teenage pothead," but he 
only smoked occasionally for fun until a diving accident at age 39 
made him a paraplegic. Since then, Braunstein has used cannabis 
regularly to control spasms and pain, preferring what he sees as a 
natural alternative to tranquilizers and opiates.

A nature photographer, author and art librarian at Connecticut 
College in Waterford, Braunstein is an upfront advocate of 
legalization and looks on current marijuana laws as "chemical fascism."

"I think marijuana is less addictive than coffee," he said.

Of course, the drug remains illegal in Connecticut, and a 
psychologist who recently completed gathering data for a five-year 
study says that chronic, heavy use has consequences far beyond cotton 
mouth and the munchies.

Dependence An Issue

The study - begun in 2001 at the University of Connecticut Health 
Center and sponsored by the National Institute of Drug Abuse - 
involved 240 men and women ages 18 to 60-plus from across a wide 
socioeconomic range. Study leader Ronald Kadden said the subjects 
shared a history of smoking pot for at least nine years (an average 
of 2 1/2 joints a day) and a desire to quit.

"They had low energy. They were procrastinating. Their memory wasn't 
what it used to be," Kadden said. "They were feeling down on 
themselves. They had lost their self-confidence."

About half the subjects, Kadden said, had money problems because of 
the cost of weed (an ounce in the suburbs costs $200 to $240, 
Farmington police Lt. Bill Tyler said). Some subjects, Kadden said, 
also complained the drug was damaging relationships with loved ones.

"They would make promises to their families that they would end up 
breaking because they were getting high," he said.

Researchers found that the longtime pot smokers fit criteria for drug 
dependence. Among other problems, they used more of the drug than 
they intended. Also, some had lost their appetites, had trouble 
sleeping and were irritable.

"Sometimes they knew it was causing medical and other problems, and 
despite that, they continued to use and found they needed more," 
Kadden said. "They developed a tolerance."

UConn researchers tried to teach the smokers coping skills they could 
use to navigate the day rather than flaring up a bone, but they had 
more success getting people to cut down than to quit, Kadden said.

"We have had more trouble getting chronic marijuana users to give up 
than alcoholics or heroin addicts," he said. "The dependence is so 
great, they are afraid they won't be able to function."

An Herbal Remedy For Some

A West Hartford native who goes by the name "Captain Joint" readily 
allowed that he can't function without his daily doobies. Marijuana 
relieves an array of physical and psychological problems, he said, 
but causes no ill side effects.

"I really didn't straighten out until I started smoking pot," said 
the Captain, 52, a legalization activist who first toked at age 16. 
"It normaled me right out."

He acknowledged, however, numerous arrests for pursuing his remedy. 
Asked how he supports himself, the former convenience-store clerk 
says he is disabled and currently relying on family and friends.

Bob said he doesn't smoke on the job or while he's driving, but he's 
noticed that, rather than dimming his aptitude, doing a few hits 
actually helps him concentrate on tedious tasks around the house.

"You can actually focus on what you're doing and not hear anything 
else," he said.

Bob conceded that smoking pot isn't good for his lungs or blood 
circulation and that it's also fairly expensive. He says he doesn't 
smoke in front of his three young children, and he wouldn't want them 
to take it up. When they get old enough, he said, they'll make up 
their own minds.

Arguments For Legalization

The position of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana 
Laws (NORML) is that only adults should smoke pot, and not while 
they're driving. But organization leaders also say current laws 
demonize a drug that millions of people enjoy responsibly.

"The vast majority of marijuana smokers, like most other Americans, 
are good citizens who work hard, raise families, pay taxes and 
contribute in a positive way to their communities," according to the 
NORML website.

Kadden, the UConn psychologist, said there is a distinction between 
longtime marijuana smokers and those who use other drugs.

"Addiction is often referred to as physiological addiction, and 
dependence more as psychological dependence," he said. "For instance, 
while alcohol and heroin have a substantial psychological dependence 
component, they have a strong physiological addiction component, 
whereas with marijuana it's kind of the other way.

"There are signs of physical addiction and withdrawal," Kadden 
continued, "but the psychological dependence seems to be a greater factor."

Clifford Thornton of Glastonbury, a marijuana-legalization advocate, 
said only adults should smoke, but he never met a person who was 
controlled by the drug. In any case, for lots of people who inhaled 
years ago, reefer madness faded out with platform shoes and Pet Rocks.

"The older you get, the less you are inclined to look for altered 
states," Thornton said. "That's a given. I've seen that with everybody." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake