USE Marijuana --- Responsibly

by Willy Chaplin

No, you didn't read that title wrong. I said USE marijuana...not LEGALIZE marijuana, although I believe very strongly that should be done as well. I also said to use it responsibly, but I will get to that later. For now, I am happy to simply defend my advice to use the drug.

Now, I know it isn't considered nice to advocate the use of a substance that is currently illegal. In fact, it is essentially illegal to do so. I did time in prison for advocating the use of another drug at another time (LSD). But, marijuana wasn't always illegal. Until the 1930's, when alcohol was re-legalized, no one considered marijuana to be a bad or particularly dangerous substance, since it is not. Then, Harry Anslinger, the leader of the alcohol prohibition task force, about to be legislated out of his post, did a masterful job of demonizing marijuana, and, with the help of the revitalized booze peddling industry, succeeded in getting it declared illegal almost everywhere in the world.

Today, Harry's Band of Merry Perverts has been replaced with a new and even more disgusting breed of control freaks...still mostly financed, in their non-governmental propaganda efforts, by the liquor purveyors, but now joined by that ever popular group of reformers, the tobacco lobby.

What stimulated this particular essay...I have held my true thoughts in abeyance out of the simple fear of government repression, was a TV "commentary" show. I confess that my prison experience...not prison itself, but what the experience did to the rest of my life...scared the hell out me. But, I can remain silent no longer. The recent flurry of CEBBTO activity over the medical use of marijuana has so outraged me...there has been so much nasty bullshit spread by the marketers of social repression, that I can't take it anymore. To keep still in the face of all the utter nonsense that is being peddled attempting to keep marijuana illegal for ANY use, would be far more criminal than anything I can say in defense of the use of the drug.

And, I have a lot to say about it. I not only believe that marijuana is good for helping the pain and suffering of seriously ill patients, but that the routine use of this substance would go a long way toward saving the world from barbarism. Make no mistake about it. People like Dan Lundgren, currently attorney general of the state of California and about to run for governor, if he were not a privileged white male political hooker, would be robbing Seven Eleven's or selling his mother's body to make a living. He has a lot of company. Last week, I saw an episode of Crossfire on CNN where some pinhead congressman, who has the personal morality of a garter snake, said with a straight face that there have been many deaths due to marijuana and used, as an example, the death of a child killed in the crossfire of a "marijuana war." I have news for you congressman, those guys were not shooting each other over marijuana, but MONEY. How, of course, this asshole, as well as his Crossfire defender, Lynn Cheney, has plenty of money, so this may not have occurred to him or her. But, the average Joe with an IQ above 40 knows that people don't shoot at one another over packages of herbs! Especially herbs that readily grow just about anywhere and are practically without monetary value if it were not for the absolutely ridiculous "War on Drugs" that was declared and is being waged by the likes of the congressman and his ilk.

People, get REAL! We can't let these creeps keep dominating the discussion about marijuana and other drugs. To hear them talk, the only reason people ever use drugs is to ruin their lives and disgrace their families. That people who sell drugs are evil and are out to enslave our souls.

Nonsense...UTTER nonsense! People use drugs because those drugs make them FEEL GOOD! Other people sell drugs in order to make a living...a meager living at that, but better than flipping burgers at McDonalds...AND because so many people want to buy them! As I have said elsewhere, the only drug PUSHERS I have ever met have been M.D. doctors trying to get me to take one or another "prescription" (read: legal) "medication."

But, there are other equally valid reasons for using drugs, especially marijuana, my all time favorite. In 1962, when I first started smoking marijuana, I was a graduate student studying pure mathematics. I was married with four children, going to school full time and working full time as well. I taught my first class at 7:30 am and my last one ended at 10:00 pm. On weekends I parked cars at athletic events to earn extra money. Nor, did my wife have an easy life. Raising four children, soon to become six (abortion was illegal then...and we were both opposed to it...and all six of our children were birth control failures...this was before the birth control pill as well) and running the household completely without any assistance from me was a VERY tough job. When I came home at night, neither one of us was in the mood to "socialize" much. Our sex life, despite the results thereof, was minimal and we hardly talked at all.

Then we, both of us, discovered marijuana. It made us STUPID. That is, after smoking a single joint, we could stop thinking about all the important stuff we had to deal with all day and just enjoy one another. The love that had brought us together in the first place was renewed. Our sex life became wondrous, instead of just a way to occasionally relieve the pain and tedium of our daily lives. We TALKED to one another...about life, about love, about our wonderful children. In short, our lives became joyous!

Then, the cost of marijuana was minimal. A "dime bag" (ten dollars worth) was an entire ounce and would last us a month or so. Compared to liquor, the only other way we had of chasing away demons of living, it was a REAL BARGAIN...psychological as well as financial.

Of course, there was a down side. When one steps over the line and uses one illegal substance...and discovers that they had been lying through their teeth about it to us...why, maybe they were lying about all the rest as well (they were, but that is another story). So we tried other drugs. Eventually, we dropped out and became hippies...a decision that led to many other important consequences, some bad, some good, but that too is another story. Then, the 60's ended, the "War on Drugs" started, the price of marijuana, both financially and otherwise, escalated enormously.

So here we are. Until ten years ago, I had smoked marijuana EVERY DAY since the day I started, including each and every day during the time I was incarcerated (where it was quite easy to get). Along with my wife, I finally quit when we decided that the "price" had finally gotten too high. During that time, I learned that I had better not smoke it while I was working (with some important but rare exceptions), when I was driving or when I wanted to appear focused (rather than stupid or funny). I learned that it isn't a good drug for students or study...thus probably should be restricted for young people. But, I have never, for one minute regretted that I personally used the stuff. It enriched my life and opened up avenues of mental inquiry that I would never have investigated if it were not for pot.

So USE it...use it responsibly...LEGALIZE it, for ANY USE by an adult...and cut out all the bullshit. As for Dan Lundgren and all the other CEBBTO monsters...vote them out of office and make them get honest jobs...or, failing that, put THEM all in prison and let all those potheads out. Our society will be much the better for it.

Talk to you later...

CEBBTOs: Those who wish to (C)control (E)verybody's (B)ehavior (B)ut (T)heir (O)wn.

Willy Chaplin is a man who calls himself a libertarian and thinks he has something to say to us all. This rant was previously published on How Can You Laugh at a Time Like This?