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High In High Places part 2 of 3 Burn Out
Certainly,
some would testify that pot smoking is not universally innocuous. At a
recent Marijuana Anonymous meeting in the basement of a Saratoga church,
a group of about 20 men and women ranging in age from 15 to over 50 is
cast about on saggy couches and mismatched chairs. This is one of seven
MA groups that gather every week in Santa Clara County. There are even
three groups that meet each week in Santa Cruz County--Hempland, U.S.A. It's clear
that these people have not had good experiences with marijuana and that
many have become at least emotionally addicted. The young man who opens
group discussion on this foggy Friday night claims he used to buy an
eighth of an ounce of pot a day--about a month's supply for more
moderate users. "I couldn't do anything without smoking dope. I was
a slave to the substance," he says, adding that his math and
analytical skills eroded when he smoked. "It wasn't until I stopped
using and the fog cleared that I noticed changes. I'm doing better
now." Reformed
addicts tend to eye current users with some suspicion. "The
recovery people seem to feel there is no place for this in anyone's life
and if you enjoy this you must have some unsettled problems,"
writes a general contractor and busted pot grower assigned by the courts
to a "recovery program." Yet the
ostensible purpose of 12-step programs like MA is to help people who
have addictions. One thing that draws addicts to this group is a
collective strength and camaraderie some have not found elsewhere. The
meeting seems to compensate for the loss of the drug's former comfort
and companionship. Listen to David, in a radio interview: "When I
went to my first meeting at MA, I fell in love with it. When I went to
MA, I knew I was home. I've been a regular every since." MA groups
cater to those for whom drug use "causes problems in their
lives," says MA member Kevin during a phone interview. Reflecting
on this, he says, "I do think there are people out there who can
use it okay, and it doesn't interfere with their lives. We call them
'normies.' Those people are not addicts." When the
Saratoga meeting breaks up, some in the group ask who else I've
interviewed. "I guess there are people who can smoke marijuana and
handle it, healthy smokers," says one young man. "I envy
them." Marijuana is
perhaps as susceptible to abuse as to responsible use, like most
drugs--and, as one smoker points out, even food or sex. Rowan Robinson
writes in The Great Book of Hemp that "Cannabis ... tends to
amplify qualities that were already present in the user." In his
study On Being Stoned, which recorded in exhaustive detail the
effects of marijuana on 150 regular smokers, author Tart writes:
"With a psychoactive drug like marijuana the variability across
subjects is very high." If a user is upset when she smokes, she
might become more upset. And, similarly, if a user is a highly motivated
person, marijuana use and its effects will play into a pattern of
achievement. The
professionals I spoke with confirm this dynamic. Bioscientist Frederick,
for example, is highly driven, athletic and intelligent; his use of
marijuana conforms to these traits. Tart's findings also support the
claims of working marijuana smokers who claim pot improves their
productivity. One very common effect of marijuana, he found, is that
stoned people become more absorbed in "ordinary" tasks. Other
cross-cultural studies report that hard laborers in some countries like
Jamaica smoke marijuana to alleviate the burdensome nature of their
work. Those people I spoke with whose jobs involved frequent contact
with colleagues and self-initiated projects use marijuana less than
those with more physical jobs, and are more careful about the conditions
surrounding their use. Those
"normies" I interviewed who seem to have a healthy
relationship with the drug share the opinion that there are others who
most definitely do not. "If you get high three or four times a day,
you're not breaking any patterns," Frederick says. "You're
just creating a new one." Author
Herbert admits, "I have a kind of contempt for people who smoke
every day. To me, that implies a lack of respect for the drug."
Another user writes: "Moderation is the key. Whether wine tasting,
beer-after-working [or] vegging before the TV, any behavior when taken
to the extreme can interfere with our primary tasks of survival,
procreation and seeking enlightenment."
Most adult
pot smokers with whom I spoke say that marijuana enhances aspects of
their lives. They use marijuana thoughtfully and with regard for its
effects. While many compare smoking a joint to drinking wine, they cite
many distinctions between alcohol and marijuana. Many say they enjoy
smoking more than drinking. "I don't drink much," says Mickey,
a 35-year-old account executive for a Bay Area radio station. "Pot
hasn't made us boomers into alcoholics, drug dealers or child
beaters." Many adult
dope-smokers express a sober, contemplative reverence for the herb,
often describing it as natural and unadulterated, a gift from God. They
do not share these feelings about alcohol. Frederick, for example,
refers to marijuana as "a holy substance," the proper use of
which is "dependent on respect." One woman who says she's been
smoking for 35 years asserts that "toking has created quite a bit
of power in my life. ... It's contributed a tremendous amount to my
consciousness." "For
more than 30 years," author Herbert asserts, "I have used
marijuana for inspiration and connection with people, nature and the
Holy Spirit. ... I suppose alcohol can also put you in touch with that
place, but usually it doesn't." Marijuana has
been used in religion and spiritual practice for thousands of years, in
dozens of religious traditions. In the Taoist text The Secret of the
Golden Flower, references to "incense" contain this potent
advice: "If there is time in the morning, one may sit during the
burning of the incense stick, that is the best. In the afternoon, human
affairs interfere and one can easily fall into indolence." Author
Robinson observes that while many spiritual traditions include the use
of marijuana, all do so with caution. "While substances [like
marijuana] may introduce some seekers to the possibilities of higher
consciousness, they can't deliver enlightenment itself." Many users I
interviewed shared this perspective. Pot is a means to an end for them,
not the end itself. In any event, it is not a substance to be taken
lightly, if it is taken at all. Pot-Proper
Parenting One
significant effect of the baby-boom generation on pot smoking today is
reflected in their children, many of whom have by now reached or
surpassed the age when their parents began experimenting with legal and
illegal drugs. After a
decade of declining teenage use, marijuana smoking is on the rise again
in the teenage population. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports
a near doubling of marijuana use among eighth- and 10th-graders in two
years. Anti-drug pundits like Steve Dnistrian believe the increase may
be due to the maturation of bong-hitting boomers. They further attribute
the increase to silence on the part of pot-smoking parents. "It's
the baby-boomer conflict," Dnistrian says. "They wonder, 'How
am I going to talk to my child about drugs if I did them?'"
A flurry of recent articles on the subject echo this refrain: Parents
cannot talk about marijuana with their children because they are
"conflicted" about its use. But the
anti-drug crowd's analysis of increased teenage use contrasts starkly
with stories of pot-smoking parents I interviewed, most of whom feel
comfortable discussing marijuana use with their children--some of whom
have introduced the drug to their children in the same way a parent
might allow a kid to drink a little beer. Indeed, young people may be
smoking more not because their parents are ashamed, but because their
parents don't think it's such a big deal. Reports showing increased
marijuana use in teenagers show a corresponding increase in the number
of teenagers who believe marijuana is relatively harmless. One
21-year-old writes, "I've smoked pot for over seven years. My
mother shared it with me at a very young age." This woman's
case and another of a mother who smoked marijuana around her young
children to calm them down are extreme. Most responding parents say they
conceal their use when their children are young, smoking outdoors or in
the garage, waiting until their kids are old enough to understand what
the drug is for and why they use it. Some fear anti-drug propaganda
promoted in schools might turn their children against them. Others smoke
in front of their children, but with cautions. One woman says she treats
grass in her home much like wine, advising her children that there's a
place and time to partake. Ted, the
45-year-old co-chair of a successful Silicon Valley company, says he
introduced the topic to his teenage son: "I told him if he ever
wanted to know, I knew a lot about it. I said I would tell him what I
knew and let him try it. His response was, he didn't want to hear about
it--sort of, 'Thanks, Dad, but no thanks,' " Ted chuckles. Some
pot-smoking parents express concern that young people not ingest any
sort of drug. "Why terrorize your body when you're still
young?" Frederick asks. "I told my son I didn't want him to
get high until he was an adult. I don't think it's a good idea for young
people to escape when nothing has been built up first." Other parents
have told children they would rather they smoke marijuana than drink
alcohol--and some studies show that teens drink less when they smoke
marijuana. One woman says when her teenage son threw a party at her
house she gave him a bag of weed and said no alcohol allowed. "I
would rather have a house full of quiet, laughing, stoned kids than
rowdy, drunk kids breaking things," she says. |
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