Pubdate: Thu, 31 Oct 2002
Source: Phoenix New Times (AZ)
Copyright: 2002 New Times, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/640
Author: Amy Silverman
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

REEFER MAINSTREAM, Part 3 of 4

"With pot," she says, "you get hungry, horny and sleepy. And none of those 
are conducive to work." Now Sally waits for friends to come in from out of 
town. She takes time off, and they binge.

"When they come in, then we just know we're going to get baked the first 
night they're here."

And the first morning. "As I'm cooking breakfast, he'll bring it in and 
say, It's probably time.'"

Sally and her friends don't go out. They stay inside her central Phoenix 
apartment. Sometimes she'll have a series of dinner parties for different 
friends who smoke-- she doesn't introduce her smoking pals to each other, 
fearing it would make them uncomfortable.

And often, if no one's around, Sally's supply will sit in the freezer for a 
month. When she does spark up, she prefers a pipe. Or, in a pinch, a toilet 
paper bong.

Doesn't the toilet paper roll catch fire?

"You have to know how to do this, hon," Sally says, explaining the 
intricacies of lining the roll with foil and poking the holes just so.

Sally has a steady supply. "I have a friend who is a lawyer who has a 
sibling who always manages."

The quality varies, but that's okay with Sally, who can't handle really 
strong weed anymore.

"The super-duper stuff -- a couple of hits and you're catatonic. This is a 
social thing. Who wants to be catatonic?"

THE SALESMAN

Robert is clean-cut, in a nicely ironed, muted Hawaiian shirt, his hair 
buzzed and mustache trimmed. No wonder the 49-year-old gets funny looks 
when he goes to Trails to buy screens. Last time, he just knew the clerk 
was wondering if he was a cop.

Robert laughs, shakes his head. If that clerk could only see the hippie 
pictures. Just out of high school, living on the East Coast and working in 
a factory, Robert roomed with a bunch of guys who kept a huge candy bowl on 
the coffee table filled with weed. Everyone -- even those operating heavy 
machinery -- smoked several times a day.

"Everyone did. It was more about who didn't -- at least in our circle of 
friends."

His friends all still smoke, Robert says, but like him, they've slowed down.

"I got married, grew older. More responsibilities," Robert says. Like a 
wife of 18 years, a 16-year-old daughter and a new house in Gilbert.

"The only time I do it is in the backyard at home, alone, when I know I'm 
going to be alone for at least an hour or two."

What does his wife think? Robert pauses, considering the question. Frankly, 
he's not sure she knows. She hasn't smoked since they were dating, as far 
as Robert is aware.

Robert works in sales; he's held down the same job for the past three 
years. The only person at work who knows he smokes pot is the co-worker who 
sells it to him.

He would be devastated if his daughter knew he smoked, more so if she 
started herself.

"If I found out that she started smoking it, I'd be disappointed in her," 
Robert says. "She's better than I am. She's got a 4.5 grade average, 
cheerleader -- she doesn't need that right now."

Marijuana is only a small part of Robert's life these days. "I don't even 
really crave it. Sometimes, I'll be sitting around by myself and think, 
Hey, this would be a good time to get high.'"

He's much more focused on his golf game. "Now there's an addiction," Robert 
says.

THE STATE EMPLOYEE

Hal's parents were hippies.

"There was this one time when I was in fourth grade, and my mom pulled out 
this bag of weed and put it in the refrigerator. She said, Don't tell 
anybody we have this. Nobody needs to know.'"

Hal thought his mom had some expensive gourmet herbs. He figured out the 
truth at 16, when he shared a joint with some friends on the Encanto Park 
golf course. Hal was a junior at Brophy Preparatory Academy, the fanciest 
Catholic school in town.

"It was kind of demystified for me early on. It was no big deal," Hal says 
of pot. And pot has been part of his life since that day on the golf course.

Hal smoked through college and his first job, as a landscaper. Then he 
smoked through graduate school at Arizona State University. Now, at 29, he 
works for the state, spending grant money for a small agency. Hal figures 
he smokes two or three times a day.

"Sometimes, I get up and smoke before work, but mostly just on a Friday," 
he says.

"I usually come home, smoke after I come home. Make dinner, play with the 
dog. Smoke some more, watch some TV and go to bed. Just like somebody 
having a drink."

Hal's wife, who also has a master's degree from ASU, works as an academic 
counselor and smokes with him. He's never smoked with his mom -- he's not 
sure she knows he does it -- but whenever Hal gets together with his dad, 
who lives out of state, they toke up.
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