America and Drugs - Marijuana

All these years later, I am still not sure how I feel about cannabis. First, let me say that it should be cheap and easy to get for medical reasons. If a doctor legitimately sees a use for it, then the patient should be able to go to a pharmacy and get his supply at a fair cost. Total legalization? Well, that's a little different.

One thing for sure, giving or selling the drug to anyone under the age of 21 should be illegal and firmly punished. The human brain is not finished growing until the early 20s and the use of mind altering drugs should not be allowed until then.

I used to smoke a lot, a whole lot, of weed. I haven't smoked in about 25 years. Why? That gets into the nature of the drug. It is usually called a mild hallucinogenic and that is sort of true. I have, in more recent years, heard it called a hypnotic, and there is also some truth in that. The thing is, different strains of weed have different effects and each person reacts a little different to marijuana than others do. On top of that, it seldom effects someone the same way all the time. In truth, we really don't understand just how it works. We do know that just as the body produces endorphins, its own opiate, and DMT, its own psychedelic, it produces endocanabbinols. They seem to be involved in regulating sleep, hunger, and body temperature, but, we simply don't understand the exact mechanisms.

On a practical level, the drug is not as harmless as some would have you think. Smoked, here and there, it probably is okay, although it is hard to define what 'here and there' means. But on a regular basis, it does effect short term memory, it makes you lazy, and, the ability to focus is impaired. You can still focus, but on 1 thing at a time and it is very difficult to shift focus. This is the problem I have with total legalization. That inability to shift focus makes driving a really bad idea, yet, just as with alcohol, a person high on weed will think they can drive. Trust me, they can't, not well.

At this time, we cannot test for marijuana usage as we can alcohol. Blood must be drawn and lab work done, and we have no way of setting the level at which the driver is impaired. Until we understand that better, we need to think twice about complete legalization.

Still, at the same time, I find it barbaric to put people in jail for smoking marijuana. I really have no good ideas on how we should deal with this issue. I will say this. Most folks I knew, went through periods when they smoked a lot, then they quit. Why? Simple. once you stop making a big deal out of it, you learn that the drug is really pretty darn boring. Sitting around buzzed, staring into space or at the tube, munching on snacks, and smiling, gets old fairly fast. Maybe the best idea is to just not make a big deal out of it. Fine people for possession if they don't have a prescription. Stop the importation of the stuff and ignore domestic growth. Just wait out the fascination and let folks get bored with it.

America and Drugs, Some Facts and Thoughts

For more than 40 years, going back to Nixon, America has been fighting a so called War on Drugs, and losing. We have spent an amazing amount of money on law enforcement and treatment centers and we have a bigger problem that ever. One would think that one of our leaders would say, "Hey, we need a new approach," but, alas, no. Instead, they wring their hands and bemoan the problem and promise action and then continue doing the same things. Such madness must stop.

I am going to write a series on drugs and try to tell you folks the truth about them. You see, much of what we have been taught about these chemicals is nonsense. I am not anti-drug, but I am against ridiculously harmful drugs and I am against the mis-use of any drug. I have a bit, well okay, a lot of experience with these various substances, some personal and some from dealing with the problems of my friends and families.

First. let's be honest. We all, with only a very few exceptions, use drugs. Just today, I have consumed nicotine, caffeine, naproxen, pseudoephedrine, and soon will have a little alcohol, and trust me, many, many folks will have similar patterns of consumption and we would not be considered to be drug users by most people because we do not consume illegal drugs. Yet, if I upped my consumption of those chemicals by just a little bit, I could catch a fairly good buzz. We all use drugs, we just have to use them wisely and we cannot do that until we learn about them.

Over the next few posts, I will cover, depressants, stimulants, inhalants, delirients, tranquilizers, opiates, and hallucinogens. I will also touch on drugs used by psychiatrists and give special attention to two drugs that are hard to classify, alcohol and marijuana.

I hope you will read this series because it is important that we develop a realistic approach to drug use. These chemicals should not be irrationally feared nor should they be taken haphazardly and, of course, many of them should never be touched. One thing for sure, what we are doing is not working.