Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jan 2012
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2012 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/send_a_letter
Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author: Don Marks
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

LEGALIZE POT BUT GET OVER 'HARMLESS' PIPE DREAM

How many of your friends or colleagues at work like to "sneak out for 
a toke" during the day? At lunch or during a coffee break?

Or friends who come over to watch a movie and always slip outside for 
a "tug on the pipe."

Like many other people, I used to believe that grass isn't addictive. 
After observing the behaviour of some of my friends, I've changed my mind.

Of course, my pot-smoking friends deny they are hooked on the weed. 
After all, they never miss work because they are too hungover. They 
don't go into withdrawal or even the mild shakes if they are deprived 
of their drug of choice.

"We're not like alcoholics, who miss work and get violent and stuff," 
they chant.

True, but anybody who likes to have a joint on his way to work to 
"set the day up," has at least a few tokes at various times 
throughout the day, then a joint on the way home and before and after 
dinner would seem, to me, to have a problem. Don't we frown upon 
employees who have cocktails at lunch? And if they slip into the 
washroom for a few swigs from a flask throughout the day they 
certainly do have a problem.

I've noticed that far too often we overlook similar kinds of 
behaviour if it involves marijuana, a soft drug that many people want 
legalized.

Count me in, because I believe we should legalize most drugs so we 
can control their use, take all those profits away from criminals and 
use the taxes we collect to provide treatment programs for drug 
addicts who hurt themselves and the rest of us through heartache, 
harm and heinous acts.

But legal or not, grass is as readily available as booze and I think 
it's time we started to take this supposedly mild, recreational drug 
more seriously.

I used to smoke marijuana during my college days and I enjoyed the 
giggles and the munchies with my friends, but our use was usually 
restricted to parties on the weekend and we didn't think of smoking 
up while studying for an exam and absolutely not if we happened to be 
working at some job.

I had to give up the weed because I find the stuff they make nowadays 
simply too damn strong. Nobody enjoys a babbling idiot or a paranoid 
freak at a party and I certainly wouldn't be able to work while high 
on the modern, hybrid, inbred, grafted, cloned or whatever it is they 
do to make "maui" so "wowie" these days.

But I have noticed friends and colleagues toking up during the day 
and I bet many of you have, too. They certainly are not as sharp 
after a toke and I have taken car keys when somebody tries to float 
out of my office or home after their last flint of the evening.

It's easy to imagine more than a few less productive people in the 
workplace and a toker wrapping his car around one of those beautiful 
trees they stop to admire on their way home (just not the way they 
intended to).

The debate over marijuana used to be more focused on whether it leads 
to harder drugs. Instead of worrying about whether Mary Jane is a 
gateway drug, I think it's time to get a grip on the effect this drug 
has all by itself.

They used to say cocaine wasn't addictive because there was no 
physical withdrawal when the user stopped using. But we have learned 
that "Peruvian marching powder" has a control over the individual 
that borders on the military.

It doesn't make any difference if you slip out for a drink or a toke 
during the day. When it happens every day, you have a problem.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom