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neglect, usually excusing this by claim–
ing that marijuana enlarges his seU–
understanding - when the opposite
effect is apparent to everyone else.
Ironically, many potheads say they are
searching for a set of true values that
middle-class, materialistically oriented
society lacks. Perhaps this is why many
potheads ultimately give up marijuana
or go on to different, harder drugs.
Many of the establ ished members of
society - doctors, Jawyers, businessmen,
and those who have been traditionally
opposed to this kind of drug use -
are now beginning to use marijuana,
for nearly the same reasons potheads
do: to block life's shortcornings, petti–
ness, inequities, and purposelessness.
They want to find a shortcut to happi–
ness and pleasure.
The Jar.gest group of users are not
confirmed "potheads" but
weekenden.
The pothead is like the confirmed al–
coholic; the weekender is Jike the
party boozer. Weekenders smoke pot at
parties, social events or with friends -
the times when everyone else is doing
it- and in what they consider mod–
eration. To them, marijuana is like a
cocktail - no big deal.
Most occasional pot-users aren't partic–
ularly striving for a better lifestyle,
but are merely satisfied at the prospect
of finding a "better" intoxicant than al–
cohol. This is their shallow definition of
"happiness" - their own happiness
myth.
But all types of marijuana smokers,
whether they realize it or not, are trying
to achieve the same end: relief from
the gnawing symptoms of reality.
Reality (which is often depressing)
keeps people returning to the euphoria
in the Jittle brown cigarette. The pot–
head indulges in fantasy, while his
chance to find a true direction in Jife
slips by.
Weekend grassblowers may not be
any worse off than if they had gotten
plasteced with alcohol. Yet they could
keep on inhaling psychedelic smoke for
the next forty years and never be any
happier than when they started. And
they will probably be a lot worse off,
Marijuana is basically
a philosophical problem
-
not
physical or mental.
having graduated from weekend to pot–
head status.
T he Love Myth
Devotees of marijuana are often
associated with bumper stickers like
"Make Love Not War" and songs pro–
claiming the same message. But true
!ove should not be confused with a
hazy allegiance to "brotherhood" or a
relaxed outlook toward sex. This is
the essence of the !ove myth.
In terms of actual social effect, mari–
juana is like a giant wedge that widens
even further the already gaping genera–
tion chasm.
Don't misunderstand. It's not really
the drug itself that so upsets the older
generation. Marijuana is only a symbol
- an emblem of a l ifestyle.
This is what the use of one renegade
drug, marijuana, symbolizes - the re–
jection of a comfortable, worn-out set
of Establishment values. Marijuan.1
frightens Mom and Dad more than any
Friday night beer party would. Dad
might take his son aside to instruct him
on how to keep his 15-year-old gi
rl
friend from getting pregnant. Or he
might call his son a "man" after his
first booze party. But marijuana is for–
bidden fruit. And this double standard
confuses and alienates young people.
Marijuana has become a symbol of
the battle between the generations. In
this war, the older generation lashes out
with accusations that young people have
become the "turned-on generation," have
been given too much, have no responsi–
bility, have no respect for their elders,
and grow their hair too long.
Youth responds with charges that
the older generation won't communi–
cate, have based their lives on material–
ism, are concerned only with empty
status-seeking goals, don't know what's
going on in the world, and don't par–
ticularly care to do anything abot1t it
even if they do.
Marijuana's use has encouraged
strife, disillusionment and hatred -
not love and understanding.
But there's more to the love myth.
In the fi rst optimistic surges of the
hippie movement, marijuana was hailed
as a medium for increasing sensuallove
between a man and a woman. Certainly,
if sexual prorniscuity can be called
"love," then marijuana has done much
more than its share to encourage it.
Technically, the drug is not an aphro–
disiac; it simply removes inhibitions,
much like alcohol.
This type of sexual performance
( with any and every partner), how–
ever, is not !ove.
Jt
is
LUST.
True !ove, in the real sense of the
word, involves concern for the well–
being of others. A person high on
marijuana is concerned primarily with
his own physical enjoyment. lnstead of
promoting !ove, marijuana has en–
couraged exploitation, disillusionment,
promiscuity, illegitimate babies, and a
plague of venereal disease.
The Religious Myth
Many other people tuco to marijuana
to find a replacement for what they
find missing in traditional religion. It
is a secret to no one that the established
religions of our time have lost what–
ever virility they once might have had.
According to the latest Gallup Poll,
churchgoing in the United States for
1971 continued a 13-year downward
trend. One of the most dramatic
reversals m history was observed
by Gallup. In 1957, 86 percent of the
American people felt that religion had
a definite influence in their lives. By
1971 the statistics had reversed them–
selves almost completely. Now, 75 per–
cent of the populace said religion did
NOT
have any infiuence in their lives.
As a result, a new generation is
shopping for religious experience in
new spiritual supermarkets. One of the
products in those supermarkets is mari–
juana.
There is no question that, while
under the influence of the drug, sorne
smokers experience a flow of words and
ideas, shapes and forms, and fantasies
and visions to which they give religious
significance.
Drug-induced religiosity, however, is
nothing new. The attempt to weave a