THE TRUTH ABOUT GANJA AND ME

This is the third in a series of articles intended to help clarify negative
propaganda surrounding the prohibition of Cannabis Sativa.

I see the prohibition of Cannabis as four different issues that need to be
addressed separately, both because of the importance of the specific issues
and the negative stigma surrounding one particular issue. One industrial
hemp, second medical marijuana, third recreational marijuana, and fourth
our government's war against the other three.

The recreational use of marijuana is the evil stepchild of the cannabis
re-evaluation, beaten on by every politician, clergyman and Middle American
as the reason pot in all its forms should be illegal.

I find the lack of social acceptance of recreational use humorous. My
parents are straight out of the sixties (the working-class sixties), and
my father likes to tell how he was cleaning carpet during the riots in
Detroit. He had no time for such diversions as music, travel or drugs; he
was too busy working. Both my parents have experimented with cannabis and
both have great concerns with my herbal excursions.

My mother, who doesn't think twice about taking a couple of Excedrin PM to
help her sleep, makes the comment every time I forget something: "I thought
you stopped smoking that stuff." My father, who loves to stock my liquor
cabinet with multiple bottles of whiskey, vodka and wine every time he
visits, regardless of the fact that it would take me a decade to drink so
much liquor, is afraid I'm losing my mind and wasting my time "smoking grass."

The impression most Americans have of somebody who uses cannabis is of a
total pothead sitting on the couch, bong in hand, empty pizza box on the
floor, trying to find the remote control in the cushions. How can you
blame them, it's the only exposure most have had to marijuana users?

If Hollywood depicted everyone who drinks and smokes cigarettes as the
factory worker sitting in the bar at 4 a.m. with a breakfast of cigarettes
and whiskey just before his shift, rather than 007-shaken-not-stirred,
America would have a much smaller smoking and drinking problem. It's all
just a matter of perception.

Caffeine, tobacco and alcohol are so socially acceptable it baffles me.
Glamorized by movies, television and everyday Americans, these drugs are
some of the worst we have. Tobacco alone kills 400,000 Americans every
year! While alcohol has been proven to be one of the main contributors to
violent crimes, when abused it has severely detrimental effects on one's
life. Caffeine, perceived to be harmless and even given to children just
off the bottle, has serious health consequences when abused. All of these
drugs have been proven to be highly addictive.

Cannabis on the other hand has very slight addictive qualities and not a
single reported death by overdose. Pot has the exact opposite effect of
alcohol on male hormones, it actually decreases the amount of testosterone
produced. Even when abused, pot has very little detrimental effect on one's
life.

So why are some drugs not only legal, but socially acceptable, while
cannabis with its many benefits is demonized as the Devil Weed?

I think the effects of the different drugs, and people's perception of what
they derive from them, help to determine which drugs are socially
acceptable. Both tobacco and caffeine are abused mostly at work to help
cope with the 70-hour workweek that's so fashionable in today's society,
and alcohol is the relaxant at the end of the day. So if these things help
you obtain the almighty $dollar$, then they must be OK. Forget the fact
that stress-related illness will become one of the major health concerns of
the new millennium.

Cannabis on the other hand has a tendency to make people very content with
right now; it relieves the anxiety of your house not being the biggest on
the block, or your boss being an asshole. Pot allows you to enjoy the
little things, and be happy with right now.

All of a sudden it becomes obvious why marijuana is so very evil to
America's corporate machine. People happy with what they have! Not
wanting to buy more! What would happen to the quarterly earnings?
Marijuana is not good for America's bottom line and that's the only reason
it's so socially unacceptable.

If every artist, attorney, musician, doctor, athlete came forward with
their cannabis habits, I think most of America would be blown away at just
how many "successful" people use grass on a regular basis.

In 1970, the American government commissioned a study on the effects of
marijuana called the Jamaica Study. This is some of what they found.

"While Americans are concerned with the alleged a-motivational and
drug-escalation effects of marijuana, Ganja in Jamaica serves to fulfill
values of the work ethic; for example, the primary use of ganja by
working-class males is as an energizer. Furthermore, there is no problem of
drug escalation in the Jamaican working class; as a multipurpose plant,
ganja is used medicinally, even by nonsmokers, and is taken in teas by
women and children for prophylactic and therapeutic purposes. Further the
use of ganja appears to be as a benevolent alternative to heavy consumption
of alcohol by the working class. Alcoholism rates are less than one
percent annually, in contrast to other Caribbean areas where ganja use is
not pervasive and alcoholism rates are as high as 55 percent."

I would think the government would be pumping pot into our prisons, not
putting people there for using it. They should be prescribing this to our
violence-crazed youth instead of an amphetamine like Ritilin.

The same reason cannabis is socially unacceptable is the same reason it's
illegal, money! A majority of the revenue generated by police departments
is through drug seizures, so legalization would translate to a reduction in
government funds.

I can personally attest to the theory that a serious user of marijuana can
have a successful, productive life. In the morning when most people NEED a
cup of coffee to get things going, I need a hit to slow things down. When I
wake up, my mind is going one million miles a second in a thousand
different directions. After I smoke (sometimes a little, sometimes a lot,
depending on what the rest of the day has in store) things slow down, I'm
able to concentrate on one task and I have extremely productive days. If I
drink caffeine in the morning, I'm completely lost and I'll have the worst
day getting nothing done.

Since I have discovered this herb, I have become very successful (by my
standards). I'm in the best shape of my life, I am less moody and more
productive. More important than anything else, I'm more relaxed and I'm a
happier person.

Legal recreational use of marijuana will come one day but it should not be
on the coat tails of industrial hemp or medical marijuana. Open
communication regarding our smoking habits will help to change the negative
stigma surrounding people who use marijuana recreationally.