BELIEVE ME, I DO KNOW

Devastation Caused By Illicit Drugs All Too Familiar

Reefer madness? No kidding.

And here I thought all along that pot smokers were laid back and
happy-go-lucky.

However, ever since July 31 when the Ontario Court of Appeal struck
down the federal government's marijuana possession law as
unconstitutional, the letters to the editor section of virtually every
paper in the land has been flooded by cannabis crusaders.

Recently several letter writers e-mailed me personally asking me why I
am opposed to legalizing marijuana.

One asked "what studies have you read -- what do you know about
marijuana anyway?" So I thought I'd use my column to share my answers
with everyone.

When it comes to studies, I've read just a few -- mostly on the
Internet a couple of years ago while researching the topic.

Ah ha! I can almost hear all of the stoners shout at once (about two
minutes after reading the line) -- candy wrappers and empty chip bags
falling to the floor around them.

She doesn't know and yet she writes all of those maddening little
comments at the bottom of our letters.

But not so fast. While I may not have read every study on marijuana, I
still know tonnes about it. After all, that's about how much of the
stuff I smoked many years ago when I was young and foolish.

There are a few things on earth that I'm an expert on. Food is one of
them and another one is illicit drugs.

I'm not proud of this, it's simply a fact -- a part of my past. And I
have the memory -- or rather the lack of one -- to prove it. In other
words, my memory is vastly diminished from what it once was.

Before I started smoking marijuana, I had a memory like a
vice.

Something went in there and it never came out. I mean, I can still
remember what I got for my birthday when I turned five and who gave it
to me. (My sister's memory is even better, she can tell you the
birthdates of most of the people in her Grade 1 class and stuff from
her
teens like the definition of Meiosis and Mitosis because, unlike me,
she
never touched drugs.)

Needless to say, after my five-year intensive foray into drug use, my
memory of events since then is not what it once was.

Heck, I sometimes have to stop and think how old I am. So, as soon as I
remember what I was going to write I'll get on with this column....

Oh yeah, let me espouse a few truisms about pot that affect most real
stonies.

When a person first starts smoking marijuana they continue doing it
because it's fun.

It makes you laugh, it relaxes you, it puts an interesting slant on
things.

But after a while, instead of having a good time with pot, it gets to
the point where you can't have a good time without it!

It gives you the munchies too which, needless to say, is bad for the
waistline.

I can remember practically cleaning out entire chip aisles at the
corner store some evenings with my girlfriends. Couple the munchies
with
the tendency to get lethargic and crave sleep, and once energetic and
fit people start to pack on the pounds.

But none of these are valid reasons for opposing the legalization of
marijuana.

My main reason for being opposed has more to do with the fact that
marijuana -- because of its relative benevolence -- gives users an
unrealistic belief that other "social" drugs will be equally
"harmless." In other words, marijuana is a gateway drug -- it leads
many
of its users to try other drugs, which is what I did.

But I was lucky.

One of the girls who was at my fifth birthday party (she gave me paper
dolls) that I mentioned earlier wasn't so lucky. Sue was adorable and so
smart she skipped a grade in elementary school. Her birthday was --
still is -- just 10 days after mine.

By the time she reached high school, she got involved in marijuana and
dropped a grade, which put her back in my grade for our final two years
of high school.

Sue always had the best drugs -- pungent buds and powerful coke. She
could cook up a batch of freebase faster than Martha Stewart can list
the ingredients for bouillabaisse.

But it soon became very evident to me that her drug use was way out of
control.

After a 10-year hiatus, I saw her again recently in Vancouver. She had
recently celebrated four years of being clean, celebrating through
Narcotics Anonymous what they call her fourth-year cake.

She told me that while she was 37 like me, she really felt 27 because
she had lost 10 years of her life.

While I was pleased she had realized that drugs were a loss, not a
gain, I wanted to weep.

Sue didn't lose 10 years, she lost 20, and untold potential,
experiences and joy.

She lost 20 years of living -- really living.

While many of us got degrees, travelled the world, married and had
kids, she's had very limited experiences -- mostly getting stoned in
some filthy living room.

Drugs ruin lives and I think lives are precious -- a gift from God to
be used wisely.

Now if it was just adults who started using drugs, I would say fine.

But nobody starts using drugs in their 30s. They start when they're
kids.

So, like many Canadians out there -- four out of five according to
recent polls -- I am in favour of decriminalizing the possession of
marijuana.

It simply makes no sense to lock someone up -- or to even bring them
before a judge -- for having a little pot on hand for their own use.

But I'll never be in favour of legalizing it.

That would mean that society endorses its use, and that would
negatively affect our youth.

I have many other reasons why I'm opposed to legalizing marijuana.
When I remember them, I'll let you know.

E-mail: licia.corbella@cal.sunpub.com