News (Media Awareness Project) - US WI: 'Regular Users' Talk About Why They Smoke Pot |
| Title: | US WI: 'Regular Users' Talk About Why They Smoke Pot |
| Published On: | 2002-06-25 |
| Source: | Reporter, The (Fond du Lac, WI) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-08-30 08:46:16 |
'REGULAR USERS' TALK ABOUT WHY THEY SMOKE POT
Following are conversations with two people who regularly use
marijuana. They gave their permission to use their first names.
Ben, 33, single, self-employed.
Q: How long have you been smoking pot?
A: Since about age 15 or 16.
Q: How often do you smoke?
A: Nowadays, at least every other day.
Q: What do you feel are some of the myths society has?
A: That we are drooling idiots watching pornos all day and eating
Cheetos.
Q: Do you live in fear of getting caught?
A: The last few years I have been out of the closet. I try to be a
good witness if you will and set a good example. If people know you
smoke dope and you are 10 minutes late, they say it's because you
smoke dope. So I'm punctual.
Q: Are you working for reform of drug laws?
A: I'm very in favor of the repeal of prohibition of marijuana laws. I
give money to organizations.
Q: How does being high differ from having a few drinks?
A: It's like apples and avocados. When you are drunk, things are a
blur, you don't have control over your body and if you drink too much,
you die. People see someone who gets high and think they look like a
zombie but there are thousands of thoughts that go on in the mind.
Q: Is pot a gateway drug for you?
A: From what I've seen, most people start with liquor. Liquor is the
gateway drug. Coke is a monkey that didn't jump on my back. I've seen
it wreck some people's lives. For some people, the Internet ruins
their lives; some people get hooked on sweets and chocolate; and some
people put a little powder in their nose.
Q: Did you ever try cocaine?
A: I first saw coke in college. My first reaction was that is deadly
and addictive, and next thing I knew I had a straw in my nose and was
trying it out for myself.
I consider myself lucky that it didn't jump on my back and be an
addiction monkey. Cocaine is addictive for certain people. When I
smoked cigarettes, I had no problem. But do not let me go a day
without a candy bar. I am very addicted to chocolate. Different people
are wired differently. I don't think there is anything in marijuana
that makes people do other substances.
Mary, 51, a psychologist. Married with three teen-agers. Says
marijuana helped her achieve a sense of spirituality.
Q: How long have you been doing pot?
A: Around 30 years. In 1969 it was the culture at the time. Who didn't
smoke? We were young and curious and idealistic. It promised a new
doorway to a new kind of consciousness and experiencing other ways of
being in the world.
Q: Has it done that for you?
A: Absolutely. I would not be who I am today if I had not experienced
altered states of consciousness at an early age.
Q: How so?
A: I was raised in the 1950s in a very buttoned-down repressive and
repressed, controlling social environment that had just about killed
my spirit by the time I reached adulthood. My experience with the drug
culture of the late 1960s and 70s reawakened my spirituality, because
marijuana in particular is the substance that allows you to rise above
your current perspective, and from that broader stance you see the
connections between things. You feel compassion for yourself and
others. Additionally, the perceptual alterations that you experience
when you are high sometimes can reveal to you the beauty of the
natural world that you are close to and that escapes you in everyday
consciousness.
Q: Has marijuana made you lazy?
A: I maintained a 4.0 grade point average through graduate school in
my 40s. I got my Ph.D and I continue to be a highly functioning
individual. I have three children. I take care of my aged mother and
my husband. I am living proof that it doesn't make you lazy or destroy
your brain.
Q: What about amotivational syndrome?
A: That amotivational syndrome stuff is a bunch of crap. When people
start altering their consciousness and they gain a little perspective
on their lives, they take a look at the world and realize that the
things they were told were valuable aren't valuable anymore from that
new perspective.
People may not know what they want. They say wait a minute, there's
got to be something better, something else. And that is why they opt
out. The lack of motivation stems from discovering from a new
perspective the futility of playing the capitalist, corporate,
material game.
Q: Does your family know?
A: Yes, my mother knows and is OK with it. My kids know and they are
fine. They don't drink or use drugs.
Following are conversations with two people who regularly use
marijuana. They gave their permission to use their first names.
Ben, 33, single, self-employed.
Q: How long have you been smoking pot?
A: Since about age 15 or 16.
Q: How often do you smoke?
A: Nowadays, at least every other day.
Q: What do you feel are some of the myths society has?
A: That we are drooling idiots watching pornos all day and eating
Cheetos.
Q: Do you live in fear of getting caught?
A: The last few years I have been out of the closet. I try to be a
good witness if you will and set a good example. If people know you
smoke dope and you are 10 minutes late, they say it's because you
smoke dope. So I'm punctual.
Q: Are you working for reform of drug laws?
A: I'm very in favor of the repeal of prohibition of marijuana laws. I
give money to organizations.
Q: How does being high differ from having a few drinks?
A: It's like apples and avocados. When you are drunk, things are a
blur, you don't have control over your body and if you drink too much,
you die. People see someone who gets high and think they look like a
zombie but there are thousands of thoughts that go on in the mind.
Q: Is pot a gateway drug for you?
A: From what I've seen, most people start with liquor. Liquor is the
gateway drug. Coke is a monkey that didn't jump on my back. I've seen
it wreck some people's lives. For some people, the Internet ruins
their lives; some people get hooked on sweets and chocolate; and some
people put a little powder in their nose.
Q: Did you ever try cocaine?
A: I first saw coke in college. My first reaction was that is deadly
and addictive, and next thing I knew I had a straw in my nose and was
trying it out for myself.
I consider myself lucky that it didn't jump on my back and be an
addiction monkey. Cocaine is addictive for certain people. When I
smoked cigarettes, I had no problem. But do not let me go a day
without a candy bar. I am very addicted to chocolate. Different people
are wired differently. I don't think there is anything in marijuana
that makes people do other substances.
Mary, 51, a psychologist. Married with three teen-agers. Says
marijuana helped her achieve a sense of spirituality.
Q: How long have you been doing pot?
A: Around 30 years. In 1969 it was the culture at the time. Who didn't
smoke? We were young and curious and idealistic. It promised a new
doorway to a new kind of consciousness and experiencing other ways of
being in the world.
Q: Has it done that for you?
A: Absolutely. I would not be who I am today if I had not experienced
altered states of consciousness at an early age.
Q: How so?
A: I was raised in the 1950s in a very buttoned-down repressive and
repressed, controlling social environment that had just about killed
my spirit by the time I reached adulthood. My experience with the drug
culture of the late 1960s and 70s reawakened my spirituality, because
marijuana in particular is the substance that allows you to rise above
your current perspective, and from that broader stance you see the
connections between things. You feel compassion for yourself and
others. Additionally, the perceptual alterations that you experience
when you are high sometimes can reveal to you the beauty of the
natural world that you are close to and that escapes you in everyday
consciousness.
Q: Has marijuana made you lazy?
A: I maintained a 4.0 grade point average through graduate school in
my 40s. I got my Ph.D and I continue to be a highly functioning
individual. I have three children. I take care of my aged mother and
my husband. I am living proof that it doesn't make you lazy or destroy
your brain.
Q: What about amotivational syndrome?
A: That amotivational syndrome stuff is a bunch of crap. When people
start altering their consciousness and they gain a little perspective
on their lives, they take a look at the world and realize that the
things they were told were valuable aren't valuable anymore from that
new perspective.
People may not know what they want. They say wait a minute, there's
got to be something better, something else. And that is why they opt
out. The lack of motivation stems from discovering from a new
perspective the futility of playing the capitalist, corporate,
material game.
Q: Does your family know?
A: Yes, my mother knows and is OK with it. My kids know and they are
fine. They don't drink or use drugs.
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