WARNINGS OF 'SUPER WEED' JUST BLOWING SMOKE

As a member of the baby boomer generation, I, like many of my cohorts,
experimented with marijuana in my youth.

Many people, like me, even inhaled it and found it quite enjoyable. But
these days we are warned that marijuana is "more dangerous" than ever, and
that our youth is in grave danger because today's weed is up to 30 times
more powerful than weed in the '60s and '70s.

We're being told that we must protect the children and that we should join
the chorus of voices pounding it into our children's heads that drugs are bad.

First, I reviewed some of the available literature about marijuana. I found
that marijuana contains more than 400 chemicals.

That was interesting, but not really useful, as I also have discovered that
a single coffee bean contains some 1,200 chemicals, while common tea
contains a whopping 4,000. Clearly, this was not the real issue.

I learned, and of course remembered, that smoking marijuana made your eyes
bloodshot, your mouth dry and your appetite insatiable. Could the modern
super weed make your eyes even redder, or your cottonmouth 30 times as dry?

Being curious by nature, I knew there was only one way to get to the bottom
of the issue: find out for myself. There was only one logical thing to do:
go to the marijuana mecca -- Amsterdam.

I knew that in Amsterdam people could walk into a "coffee shop" and buy
marijuana just like any other commodity, and that's exactly what I found.

Upon arriving and checking into my hotel, I walked a few blocks and went
into one of the shops. I told the counter person that I was interested in
trying something really strong, and he recommended I try the "White Widow."
I bought some and sat at a nearby table to smoke it.

I took two or three hits then waited to see what happened. Holy smokes,
this was indeed some very powerful weed. I sat in the coffee shop for a
good hour in a state that can only be described as "totally baked."

After a short while, I left to walk about in the city and stopped in
several other shops, sampling the wares along the way. I spent three days
in the pot capital of the world and tried many varieties of weed and hashish.

The conclusion I draw from the experience was much the same as the one I
drew from my first experience with smoking marijuana: no way should this be
illegal.

Today's marijuana is more powerful, but no matter how hard I tried, I could
not smoke myself unconscious.

Yes, I was very, very stoned, but the most pronounced effect of that was
laughing hysterically, and yes indeed, I had a huge case of the "munchies."

I suffered none of the effects I have experienced with drinking too much:
no staggering, no bumping into anyone, and best of all, no throwing up or
waking up wondering how I'd gotten home.

Don't lie to your kids and don't swallow the propaganda. The most dangerous
thing about today's super weed is the same one that we faced in our youth:
getting caught.