Headlines
As reported by The Hartford Courant, March 26, 2006.
Still Grazing in the Grass
Longtime Pot Smokers Have Various Reasons For Sticking To Their Own High Road
By Jesse Leavenworth
Let's look back into the haze - 25 to 40 years back. Part the veil, and peer into that basement rec room, where a Led Zeppelin drum solo rumbles, faded jeans glow under a black light and the air is steeped in killer weed.
Those were the days when marijuana became a national sensation, when
the original burnouts wandered high school hallways and pot-smokers'
paraphernalia included everything from pipe screens to the huge rolling
paper included in Cheech & Chong's "Big Bambú" album.
For most people who indulged in the 1960s and '70s, the sights, sounds and smells of the marijuana culture linger only in memory. Some, however, truck on. They may have lost their old posters and stopped staring at their hands, but for various reasons, pot has remained part of their lives.
Take Bob (not his real name). The electrician from central Connecticut says he typically burns a joint each day after work, often with his wife. He says the drug helps him relax, and it's a better choice than alcohol.
"I don't really drink that much," says Bob. "I feel more in control if I smoke than when I drink. I don't like to get out of control."
Marijuana use among young people peaked in the 1970s. In 1979, some 51 percent of 12th-graders reported having used the drug during the past year. The numbers fell to less than half that percentage by the 1990s.
Mark Braunstein, 54, described himself as "a teenage pothead," but he only smoked occasionally for fun until a diving accident at age 39 made him a paraplegic. Since then, Braunstein has used cannabis regularly to control spasms and pain, preferring what he sees as a natural alternative to tranquilizers and opiates.
A nature photographer, author and art librarian at Connecticut College in Waterford, Braunstein is an upfront advocate of legalization and looks on current marijuana laws as "chemical fascism."
"I think marijuana is less addictive than coffee," he said.
Of course, the drug remains illegal in Connecticut, and a psychologist who recently completed gathering data for a five-year study says that chronic, heavy use has consequences far beyond cotton mouth and the munchies.
Dependence An Issue
The study - begun in 2001 at the University of Connecticut Health Center and sponsored by the National Institute of Drug Abuse - involved 240 men and women ages 18 to 60-plus from across a wide socioeconomic range. Study leader Ronald Kadden said the subjects shared a history of smoking pot for at least nine years (an average of 2½ joints a day) and a desire to quit.
"They had low energy. They were procrastinating. Their memory wasn't what it used to be," Kadden said. "They were feeling down on themselves. They had lost their self-confidence."
About half the subjects, Kadden said, had money problems because of the cost of weed (an ounce in the suburbs costs $200 to $240, Farmington police Lt. Bill Tyler said). Some subjects, Kadden said, also complained the drug was damaging relationships with loved ones.
"They would make promises to their families that they would end up breaking because they were getting high," he said.
Researchers found that the longtime pot smokers fit criteria for drug dependence. Among other problems, they used more of the drug than they intended. Also, some had lost their appetites, had trouble sleeping and were irritable.
"Sometimes they knew it was causing medical and other problems, and despite that, they continued to use and found they needed more," Kadden said. "They developed a tolerance."
UConn researchers tried to teach the smokers coping skills they could use to navigate the day rather than flaring up a bone, but they had more success getting people to cut down than to quit, Kadden said.
"We have had more trouble getting chronic marijuana users to give up than alcoholics or heroin addicts," he said. "The dependence is so great, they are afraid they won't be able to function."
An Herbal Remedy For Some
A West Hartford native who goes by the name "Captain Joint" readily allowed that he can't function without his daily doobies. Marijuana relieves an array of physical and psychological problems, he said, but causes no ill side effects.
"I really didn't straighten out until I started smoking pot," said the Captain, 52, a legalization activist who first toked at age 16. "It normaled me right out."
He acknowledged, however, numerous arrests for pursuing his remedy. Asked how he supports himself, the former convenience-store clerk says he is disabled and currently relying on family and friends.
Bob said he doesn't smoke on the job or while he's driving, but he's noticed that, rather than dimming his aptitude, doing a few hits actually helps him concentrate on tedious tasks around the house.
"You can actually focus on what you're doing and not hear anything else," he said.
Bob conceded that smoking pot isn't good for his lungs or blood circulation and that it's also fairly expensive. He says he doesn't smoke in front of his three young children, and he wouldn't want them to take it up. When they get old enough, he said, they'll make up their own minds.
Arguments For Legalization
The position of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is that only adults should smoke pot, and not while they're driving. But organization leaders also say current laws demonize a drug that millions of people enjoy responsibly.
"The vast majority of marijuana smokers, like most other Americans, are good citizens who work hard, raise families, pay taxes and contribute in a positive way to their communities," according to the NORML website.
Kadden, the UConn psychologist, said there is a distinction between longtime marijuana smokers and those who use other drugs.
"Addiction is often referred to as physiological addiction, and dependence more as psychological dependence," he said. "For instance, while alcohol and heroin have a substantial psychological dependence component, they have a strong physiological addiction component, whereas with marijuana it's kind of the other way.
"There are signs of physical addiction and withdrawal," Kadden continued, "but the psychological dependence seems to be a greater factor."
Clifford Thornton of Glastonbury, a marijuana-legalization advocate, said only adults should smoke, but he never met a person who was controlled by the drug. In any case, for lots of people who inhaled years ago, reefer madness faded out with platform shoes and Pet Rocks.
"The older you get, the less you are inclined to look for altered states," Thornton said. "That's a given. I've seen that with everybody."