Re: commeents

>Mark L.,
>
>Why do you assume so much about me simply because in my *Opinion* people 
>who are high are boring, etc? You assume I don't get out much, I'm 
>trendy, I watch too much TV, I'm not hip to reality, that I let Nancy 
>Reagan inspired commercials do my thinking for me and that I've never 
>smoked pot. You also imply that I don't know what I speak of.

Mark S:

Because your "opinion" is a classic stereotyping of Pot smokers, and it
appears to be the opinion of someone who knows little about his subject. Why
is there this insistance that Pot is the cause of people being "boring
etc.?" When it's clear that if people are boring without they will be boring
with, and so on. It's not the drug that makes someone this or that. That
comes from within. The same goes for the "social ills caused by drugs" as
was mentioned earlier by someone else. It's not the drug, it's the person.
Like it's not the gun that kills, but the guy who pulls the trigger. Too
often people want to blame something else for their behavior, but they
should take responsibility for their actions. Drugs are an easy target...
And you don't understand why I might take offense when Pot smokers are
characterized as "boring" or "fat old slobs" or whatever distasteful words
one might come up with...but you should, because it's just not true. And an
insult, on top of that. I KNOW a LOT of Pot smokers...and ALL of them have
responsible lives, great and intelligent kids, good jobs (Doctors, Lawyers,
etc) and so on. One the whole, I find them to be above average people. They
also tend to be law-abiding, for the most part, as strange as that might seem. 
The below average ones never make it very far, and move on (usually) to
alcohol. And destroy their lives, which is social "survival of the fittest."
My contention is that those who destroy their lives with drugs would destroy
them with something else if the drugs weren't available. I mean, this stuff
DID happen before drugs were on the scene, after all.
But it comes down to this: Pot smokers are the same as everyone else. When
they're high, they're just in a better mood.

> It's real simple. Two equally intellegent people confronted with the 
>exact same set of facts can come to different opinions.

But facts are facts (and pigs is pigs). Your characterization of Pot smokers
is inaccurate and insulting. Look at it this way: if you inserted the word
"black" or "homosexual" or "Mexican" in your "opinion" of Pot smokers, would
you feel comfortable saying it in public? Well, then...

> I'm not trying to get you to stop smoking pot. Are you trying to get me 
>to start again?

That's entirely your decision. I could not (and would not) make it for you.

> To say I'm at odds with Townshend is to say I'm one with Townshend 
>because for every statement Pete makes in an intereview he also makes an 
>equal but opposite statement in another interview, sometimes in the same 
>interview. It's all part of the Zen of Pete:)

Well, on this particular subject I tend to believe him. Since I've
experienced the same effect myself.
Just to give you something to think about...
Why do you think Pot is illegal in the first place? Because it's clear that
alcohol (the number 2 killer in the US) is more dangerous and addictive, for
one example. Marijuana is also a cheap source of clothing, plastic, paper,
fuel oil, food, rope, and more. And also creates four times as much oxygen
as a tree. So it doesn't make sense, does it?
But consider this: the alcohol lobby in Congress has a definite vested
interest in keeping Pot illegal...they know what it would do to their
sales...and they are one powerful lobby, let me tell you! Also, there is the
element that actually profits on the illegal sale of marijuana...you know
that it would be quite a bit cheaper if it was legal...and they too cloak
themselves with puritan names and do their damnedest to make sure it
continues to be illegal (or should I say: profitable).
So what you're doing, by supporting the continued illegality of Pot, is to
aid the goals of these two groups. Since there's no medical or rational
reason Pot shouldn't be legal...are you sure you want to do this?





                   Cheers                   ML


"For three generations, Pepsi has trying to make people to believe it's `The
Pepsi Generation.' This is the first one dumb enough to believe it."
                                                                    Unknown