DRUGS DON'T SEEM TO BE THE ENEMY

Nat Sherman Lights. They're New York cut, luxurious and delicious.
The fresh scent of additive-free tobacco echoes through the foamy
filter and into its buyers' soon-to-be milky lungs. It's friggin'
beautiful. You light, the tobacco sparks, the paper crinkles and
glows as nicotine rushes through you. Frankie says relax, and you do.

Smoking may not be for everyone, but then again what is?

It's dangerous, repugnant and the precursor to a myriad of terminal
diseases. But the question remains, is it safer than other drugs?

No.

The traditional argument between wrong, right and stupid continues
feverishly in our nation's capital over the legalization of marijuana
as a recreational substance. We're talking about a drug that's been
in use by dozens of cultures for thousands of years for medicinal,
ceremonial and religious reasons. It has yet to kill a single
individual and poses a quarter of the health risks associated with
alcohol and tobacco. Am I missing something?

The debate doesn't end with cannabis. Mushrooms, LSD and other herbs
have also been used to enhance the human spirit and open minds to new
ideas and cognition. Granted, I do not expect these substances to be
legalized, I still consider them as an invaluable artistic tool. How
else would we have traveled with Alice down the rabbit hole?

People underestimate the power of moderation. How often during the
weekend do you see ambulances rushing into campus to take away some
poor bastard who drank him or herself into oblivion?

Knowing how, and when, to stop, in any aspect of life, results in
healthy living. It is easy to bash substances for what they do to
people, for how they alter human consciousness. Substance abuse,
however, poses a problem for anyone and transcends legality.

Stigmatizing people for dabbling in drugs also seems blindly
hypocritical, even fallacious. At any given party, the two immutable
concerns for virtually everyone are "How much can I drink?" and "Will
the alcohol keep flowing?"

Freshmen, sophomores and even underage juniors can be seen stumbling
outside DX or down Main Street in a haze. Authorities overlook this
form of substance abuse, internalized by the population as socially
acceptable. Keeping other drugs illegal simply for their social
stigmas is not only ridiculous, but completely illogical.

Then again, logic has never played much of a role in politics or the
media. Such is the case with drugs. In a material world where the
average teenager sensationalizes brand awareness, cultural trends and
Paris Hilton, the moral agenda of our youth is ambiguous and
politically apathetic.

The freedom to vote and push for change, activities pursued by
earlier generations, have been trivialized. Drugs are a non-issue in
that they will be pursued regardless of the restrictions imposed on them.

Ever seen the commercial where the one boy kills the other
inadvertently with a gun because he is high? What the creators don't
show you is the behind-the-scenes footage where Jess and James eat
Doritos and play Super Smash Brothers before vegging out to Chapelle.

I'd like to think the parents are to blame for giving the young man
such easy access to a firearm. Fear can be a wonderful motivator,
even if it delineates complete and utter ignorance. What's next? A
chimp choking on bark because it decided it was too heady for
bananas? High people don't shoot other high people because they're
high. That's what cocaine is for -- and those shootings aren't by accident.

Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" details the
journey of a journalist and a lawyer on a hallucinatory trip into
Vegas. As the trip continues and the pair descend further and further
into a mescaline-like fantasy, the presence of narcotics takes second
to a cultural statement made by Thompson.

Drugs are not the enemy. They aren't worth the fight, the time or the
hype. Drugs are what they are for better or for worse. Some people
trip on God, others on drugs and others over their own two feet.
Whatever your poison, never go quietly into the night. That is the
American Dream.