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Most of the IIEstablishmentll myths about
Mari¡uana hove been exploded. Only
to be replaced by new myths from
the users themselves.
by
Charles Vinson
M
ARIJUANA
has been the catalyst
for more misunderstanding than
almost any other drug.
Speed kills. LSD can blow your mind.
Heroin is addictive. Abuse of alcohol
can wreck your liver - and your life.
No one questions the potential harm
in any of these substances.
Then there's marijuana.
lt's presented as a cheap, mild, pleas–
ant euphoriant which leaves no apparent
hangover. In fact, by many, it is called
the perfect "turn-on." Its worst fault,
Jarge numbers of people say, is its
illegality.
New Myths for Old
The day is gone when anti-marijuana
forces could comfortably launch a tirade
against the drug, capitalizing on sen–
sationalized accounts and "scientifically
proveo" dangers. Most young people -
especially those who have tried pot–
simply label this as so much uninformed
propaganda.
There is possible evidence that pro–
longed heavy use can cause brain dam–
age, but this likelihood affects relatively
few marijuana users. But most people
now realize that sorne of the Establish–
ment's "old myths" are either wrong,
distorted or exaggerated.
In their place, unfortunately, sorne
new and more dangerous marijuana
myths have developed - this time
among those who advocate pot. The
new myths are more dangerous because
they reside in the minds of the users
themselves.
This new marijuana mythology daims
that pot can fill the empty void of a
purposeless life, provide an escape
batch, bring instant happiness, reveal
spiritual truth, or bring "love" to the
Ambossodor Col/ego Photos
world. For millions, the myth simply
praises pot as a better alternative to get·
ting drunk oo weekends.
Many young people are trading in the
old myths for the new. Here are three
typical
NEW
myths analyzed - the
happiness myth, the love myth, and the
religious myth.
The Happiness Myth
Everyone, it seems, wants to
be
happy. But happiness is elusive.
So
it
seems logical for people today to turn
to a drug for relief of mental unhappi–
ness. After all, there are antacids for
the tummy, decongestant spcays for the
sinuses, and "spirits" for the pleasure
seeker. Now we have marijuana for the
mind.
Trying to cure unhappiness with
marijuana, however, is like treating
cancer with aspirin. It may deaden the
pain for a while, but in the end the
symptoms ooly become more severe.
And the reintroduction to pain is fre–
quently more painful than the continua!
endurance of that pain.
But sorne twenty million Americans
are willing to give the happiness myth
a try. That's the estimated number of
marijuana experímenters in the U. S.
The heaviest users are called potheads.
To them, marijuana-induced escape is
prefecable to reality, because the lives of
these marijuana "addicts" can hardly
be
called happy. Potheads often develop a
pattern of inertia, lethargy, and indif–
ference. Their heavy marijuana indul–
gence often inhibits their attention span.
It
makes verbal expression of thought
more difficult. lt decreases the ability to
formulate complex plans and causes
more problems in carrying them out.
A typical pothead indulges in self-
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