STILL GRAZING IN THE GRASS

Longtime Pot Smokers Have Various Reasons for Sticking to Their Own High Road

Let's look back into the haze - 25 to 40 years back. Part the veil,
and peer into that basement rec room, where a Led Zeppelin drum solo
rumbles, faded jeans glow under a black light and the air is steeped
in killer weed.

Those were the days when marijuana became a national sensation, when
the original burnouts wandered high school hallways and pot-smokers'
paraphernalia included everything from pipe screens to the huge
rolling paper included in Cheech & Chong's "Big Bambu" album.

For most people who indulged in the 1960s and '70s, the sights,
sounds and smells of the marijuana culture linger only in memory.
Some, however, truck on. They may have lost their old posters and
stopped staring at their hands, but for various reasons, pot has
remained part of their lives.

Take Bob (not his real name). The electrician from central
Connecticut says he typically burns a joint each day after work,
often with his wife. He says the drug helps him relax, and it's a
better choice than alcohol.

"I don't really drink that much," says Bob. "I feel more in control
if I smoke than when I drink. I don't like to get out of control."

Marijuana use among young people peaked in the 1970s. In 1979, some
51 percent of 12th-graders reported having used the drug during the
past year. The numbers fell to less than half that percentage by the 1990s.

Mark Braunstein, 54, described himself as "a teenage pothead," but he
only smoked occasionally for fun until a diving accident at age 39
made him a paraplegic. Since then, Braunstein has used cannabis
regularly to control spasms and pain, preferring what he sees as a
natural alternative to tranquilizers and opiates.

A nature photographer, author and art librarian at Connecticut
College in Waterford, Braunstein is an upfront advocate of
legalization and looks on current marijuana laws as "chemical fascism."

"I think marijuana is less addictive than coffee," he said.

Of course, the drug remains illegal in Connecticut, and a
psychologist who recently completed gathering data for a five-year
study says that chronic, heavy use has consequences far beyond cotton
mouth and the munchies.

Dependence An Issue

The study - begun in 2001 at the University of Connecticut Health
Center and sponsored by the National Institute of Drug Abuse -
involved 240 men and women ages 18 to 60-plus from across a wide
socioeconomic range. Study leader Ronald Kadden said the subjects
shared a history of smoking pot for at least nine years (an average
of 2 1/2 joints a day) and a desire to quit.

"They had low energy. They were procrastinating. Their memory wasn't
what it used to be," Kadden said. "They were feeling down on
themselves. They had lost their self-confidence."

About half the subjects, Kadden said, had money problems because of
the cost of weed (an ounce in the suburbs costs $200 to $240,
Farmington police Lt. Bill Tyler said). Some subjects, Kadden said,
also complained the drug was damaging relationships with loved ones.

"They would make promises to their families that they would end up
breaking because they were getting high," he said.

Researchers found that the longtime pot smokers fit criteria for drug
dependence. Among other problems, they used more of the drug than
they intended. Also, some had lost their appetites, had trouble
sleeping and were irritable.

"Sometimes they knew it was causing medical and other problems, and
despite that, they continued to use and found they needed more,"
Kadden said. "They developed a tolerance."

UConn researchers tried to teach the smokers coping skills they could
use to navigate the day rather than flaring up a bone, but they had
more success getting people to cut down than to quit, Kadden said.

"We have had more trouble getting chronic marijuana users to give up
than alcoholics or heroin addicts," he said. "The dependence is so
great, they are afraid they won't be able to function."

An Herbal Remedy For Some

A West Hartford native who goes by the name "Captain Joint" readily
allowed that he can't function without his daily doobies. Marijuana
relieves an array of physical and psychological problems, he said,
but causes no ill side effects.

"I really didn't straighten out until I started smoking pot," said
the Captain, 52, a legalization activist who first toked at age 16.
"It normaled me right out."

He acknowledged, however, numerous arrests for pursuing his remedy.
Asked how he supports himself, the former convenience-store clerk
says he is disabled and currently relying on family and friends.

Bob said he doesn't smoke on the job or while he's driving, but he's
noticed that, rather than dimming his aptitude, doing a few hits
actually helps him concentrate on tedious tasks around the house.

"You can actually focus on what you're doing and not hear anything
else," he said.

Bob conceded that smoking pot isn't good for his lungs or blood
circulation and that it's also fairly expensive. He says he doesn't
smoke in front of his three young children, and he wouldn't want them
to take it up. When they get old enough, he said, they'll make up
their own minds.

Arguments For Legalization

The position of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws (NORML) is that only adults should smoke pot, and not while
they're driving. But organization leaders also say current laws
demonize a drug that millions of people enjoy responsibly.

"The vast majority of marijuana smokers, like most other Americans,
are good citizens who work hard, raise families, pay taxes and
contribute in a positive way to their communities," according to the
NORML website.

Kadden, the UConn psychologist, said there is a distinction between
longtime marijuana smokers and those who use other drugs.

"Addiction is often referred to as physiological addiction, and
dependence more as psychological dependence," he said. "For instance,
while alcohol and heroin have a substantial psychological dependence
component, they have a strong physiological addiction component,
whereas with marijuana it's kind of the other way.

"There are signs of physical addiction and withdrawal," Kadden
continued, "but the psychological dependence seems to be a greater factor."

Clifford Thornton of Glastonbury, a marijuana-legalization advocate,
said only adults should smoke, but he never met a person who was
controlled by the drug. In any case, for lots of people who inhaled
years ago, reefer madness faded out with platform shoes and Pet Rocks.

"The older you get, the less you are inclined to look for altered
states," Thornton said. "That's a given. I've seen that with everybody."