CLOAKED in the shadow of a lonesome alley, a transaction is made. This scene may go unnoticed, but it repeats itself night after night across the globe, the product of a human behavior stretching back to the beginnings of civilization. It is illegal, but that's only a small concern for those who participate. Their indifference is hardly surprising. For years, efforts to combat its occurrence have taken a backseat to the national obsession with alcohol abuse and have seen funds slip away in favor of certain wars in the Middle East. But marijuana remains a problem, and here in Charlottesville, the story is little different than in other parts of the country.
Those who go about warning of the dangers of marijuana have it all wrong. It's obvious that their insistence on abstinence doesn't work, and their dire counsel on its health consequences isn't much better -- after all, for every negative effect there seems to be a matching medical benefit, as any stoner would be quick to point out. The same cannot be said of binge drinking. But opposition is the right stance to take. I only wish the leaders of resistance would make it easier on themselves, because they're not mentioning its social implications. That's the key.
The people I know at the University who smoke pot regularly are civil-minded and easygoing, rarely prone to outbursts of anger or rash decision-making. They sit comfortably in their rooms and smoke, and seem to harm no one but perhaps themselves. But pot is an ambition-killer that stifles most motivation and effort. There may not be a physical addiction, but psychologically the bind is enormous. After all, laziness is pretty easy to manage and you can get hooked on that pretty quick. These same people are doing little to better themselves or their surroundings while spending extraordinary amounts of money on a drug that stifles their work ethic and eats away at friendships, relationships and their general reputation.
I have never heard a story of someone who made a name for themselves and used marijuana every day. It just doesn't happen. And I am absolutely sick of those who tell me to relax a little bit and be prepared to see the world in a whole new light. There are infinite ways to think about things without resorting to an altered state of being, and though exciting, such conditions fail to provide lasting commitment and follow-through. An idea borne in the smoky haze is only as good as the frequency of the haze which produced it, and I've rarely seen examples of the same conversation being sustained over multiple nights. You may be high on your so-called "revolutionary thinking," but the unemployment line is very low indeed.
And shouldn't the very fact that you couldn't think of this "groundbreaking new way of looking at things" until you were baked give you pause? Is that not a testament to your inability to accomplish anything while sober? Munch on it. It remains to be seen whether a social revolution is truly coming, but if it is, it certainly will not be led by the disciples of the weed. Revolution implies action, and getting high is the very antithesis of such. If a profound new way of thinking exists, it's a figment of the abuser's imagination that unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) will never come to fruition.
The American public seems to have a problem with seeing things in the long term. In contrast to alcohol, for instance, marijuana use involves few negative health consequences, at least at first. How else could it be so alluring? It is only much later, and often too late, that its real effects are known. That, more than anything, is why it is dangerous.
Meanwhile, according to a 2004-2005 National Institute on Drug Abuse and University of Michigan study, 17 percent of college students reported smoking pot at least once a month, and a third had done so in the past year. Nearly half all of respondents reported trying it at some point in their lives. And we're combatting these statistics with grim predictions of lung cancer! Why not focus instead on a life unfulfilled and unsuccessful? That, to me, is much scarier.
Oscar Wilde once said, "Everything in moderation -- especially moderation." Sadly, this is easier said than done. It may be true that potheads pose little threat to society, but they also pose little hope. For those who can successfully balance a productive lifestyle with that of the drug culture, I salute you, but I find you few and far between. For the rest, it is a daily conviction that enormous change, man, is soon coming and a daily awareness that it never will.
Alex Lane's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at alane@cavalierdaily.com.
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