Legalizing marijuana …

When I was young and working in a rock band in the 1960s, my parents always thought everybody in that band, including me, smoked pot. 

They were wrong. I never smoked pot in the 1960s, nor did I do any other drugs back then; I didn’t even drink alcohol before or during a job.  The reason was simple: performing was a job. We got paid for performing. The group’s belief was you couldn’t be high and perform your best; that might work for the Rolling Stones, but we weren’t the Stones by a long shot.    

In fact, the one and only time one of our guitarists – who had been with us almost from the beginning – showed up high was the last time he worked with us. We fired him the next day.

Sure, we were performing songs about peace, love and dope, at times. That was the music. And I’m certain a lot of the crowds we played for were toking up big time and enjoying our music and light show. But a job was a job and we thought ourselves to be professionals.

I didn’t even try pot until I was away at college.  I remember the first time quite well.  A bunch of us were in a room and someone pulled out a baggie and rolling papers. A joint was made and passed.  I tried it and didn’t feel any difference.  There was another joint, then another, and I finally said this is stupid and a waste of their pot and I tried to get up to leave.

That’s when I felt it.  And to be completely honest, I liked it.  Really, really liked it.

Pot was cheap and pretty weak back then. People would come by the place on campus where we lived and sell us a pound of it for as little as $160 – which made an ounce only $10. But as I said, it wasn’t very potent; smoking a joint with a couple of friends would give you about the same buzz as a couple of beers.  It was so cheap there were often ounce parties.

Just about everybody smoked pot back then.  It was cheaper than booze and didn’t leave you with a hangover. But it did give you the munchies, which led to weight gain.

And it was everywhere, despite being illegal. When I hear people in my generation now say they never even tried it once I know they are probably lying. Maybe they never did more than take a puff but I’d bet dollars to doughnuts they at least did that.  I’m sure there are some among my generational peers who really didn’t ever try it, but they’d be hard to find. 

Aside from the weight gain, there was another side effect of pot – it made you stupid, albeit temporarily, but stupid nonetheless. That fact didn’t stop some folks from claiming that pot made them smarter.  Classmates who made smoking pot a regular part of their daily life – before class, after class, and between classes – usually ended up dropping out.

You can forget those BS stories from people who claimed pot gave them valuable insights. Nobody I ever knew then found Jesus, saw God, or solved important life questions while stoned.

For us boomers, that’s what we remember about pot. Maybe that’s why so many boomers can’t understand why there’s such a big deal about legalizing marijuana. We were all in favor of legalization back then. In a way it already was.  In reality, unless you were caught with a lot of pot, or had the misfortune to be caught by some gung-ho county cop, or were a complete jerk, if you were found to have a joint on you most cops at the time would let you skate.

We never saw pot as that much of a menace. The people we bought from were ordinary folks, not pushers trying to get you to move on to harder stuff, or mobsters bent on literally killing off their competitors. In one memorable instance, someone left a bag with $10,000 cash in it for the local Jerry Lewis Telethon with a card saying it was from the marijuana dealers of Gainesville.   

It’s a lot different now. The pot we remember isn’t the same anymore.

Years ago, after years of no pot at all, some friends had us over and after dinner – and after that curious verbal dance to find out if you ever smoked pot – they brought out a joint.  It was the most potent stuff I’d ever experienced; after two hits I was wasted. And uncomfortably wasted at that. I actually felt sick. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears and I felt clammy. It was awful. 

It scared the crap out of me. 

Does that mean I’ll never try pot again? No, to be absolutely truthful I can’t say that. But I can tell you that science and technology have advanced the potency of pot exponentially and the price has apparently risen accordingly. I haven’t bought any in decades but people I know who have tell me that an ounce of “decent stuff” is up to $400-$500 or more.

Prices like that have also tempted a number of states to legalize recreational use of marijuana while slapping huge taxes on it at the same time. All of a sudden, pot’s gone from a public health issue to a way to boost state budget coffers.   

Still, marijuana remains a controlled substance under Federal law.  Under Obama and the Democrats there was no effort to enforce that law and rein in states like Colorado and others that are clearly defying existing Federal law.

That leaves me in an awkward position.

On one hand I believe pot for recreational use should be legalized and treated much the same as alcohol – regulated for quality, weight, potency and additives, and also restricted to licensed distributors and adults. On the other hand, I have a great deal of trouble with allowing individual states to determine which Federal laws they will or will not enforce; that’s a terrible precedent. 

Pot, like alcohol, is a drug no matter how you look at it. Yes, it has some medical applications, which the media like to promote, but the real widespread use of pot will always be for recreation. And like alcohol, pot can dramatically diminish your ability to perform complex tasks such as driving a car or operating certain machinery.  That’s not in question.  But there’s no way to measure for now. 

Some states are now trying to determine the metrics to define when someone using pot meets or exceeds a new legal standard for “under the influence.”  There are established blood tests for alcohol but none for pot so far. Bloodshot eyes, laughing at stupid stuff and Doritos dust all over you aren’t enough to put you in the slammer; there needs to be a standard.  

There’s also the issue of workplace drug testing, whether that’s for a private sector job, a government position, or to maintain your job as a professional or student athlete.  I’m not sure how that works if you’re a pot user and a resident of a place where pot use is legal.

Should marijuana be legalized?  I suppose it should under the right circumstances, and with the right controls in place. And only if it’s legalized by Federal law that covers the entire country.  If it was legalized for recreational use nationwide I’d buy some, if for no other reason than to see what it’s like now. But I’d be really careful with it.

As should most everybody else in my generation.

It’s not the same pot we remember.