Originally Published November 15, 1976
L&L (OBITER DICTA – November 15, 1976)
“Since”, they said “we are doing an issue on dope, and since”, they continued, “you are among the biggest dopes in the school, we thought maybe you might cover that topic in your column this week.” So here goes.
I find that my views on dope (confined here to marijuana or close approximations of same) are somewhat of a paradox. Perhaps I better start back at the beginning. I write from some experience, having used the stuff to some extent in high school and first year of university. (Sorry, Dad). Five years ago, that would have been an admission one would not’ have made in an esteemed journal such as this; however times have changed, and it would now seem more unusual for someone to confess in print that they had not tried the odd toke at sometime in their life.
At the time, I really saw nothing wrong with it, although on certain occasions in certain circumstances, I was somewhat paranoid of the badge swooping down and carting me away. Like the time we were entering a well-known Lake Simcoe Marina with a half pound on board, only to notice that we were being followed by another boat with a powerful searchlight. All this at 3 a.m. I managed to persuade my accomplice not to ditch the stuff, so he stuffed it down his pants and we made it to the dock without incident. It is occasions like that which make you think about the stigma of a criminal conviction though, and I suppose that’s one of the big issues.
It does seem rather unjust and antiquated to continue to give people such a cross to bear, simply because they have been unfortunate enough (or in some cases stupid enough) to be caught with the goods. It goes to show a number of the more ludicrous things about our enforcement system. Firstly, you might think Toronto’s Top Cops (and those elsewhere) had better and more important things to do with their time. Second, in a day and age where people are concerned about respect for the law, surely it is difficult to find a more perfect example of the law as an ass than the inclusion of marijuana possession in the Criminal law. It is merely an open invitation to flaunt the law, something we supposedly discourage.
Carrying the point further, it seems equally absurd to be throwing people in jail for possession for the purpose of trafficking (anything over a joint or two will qualify you it seems) when our prisons are bursting at the seams as it is. All this because Parliament, in a different day and age, saw fit to provide a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for traffickers. This makes it tough for the people on the bench to hand out any less than a small prison term at best, even if sentence is suspended.
Looking just a bit further down the line, the whole mess causes unbelievable confusion in the courts, to the point where the two courts which hear drug cases in Toronto are known to take as long as two years to deal with such a matter. In the meantime, the accused suffers under the burden of the charge, which may or may not be justified.
On the other hand, and this is where the paradox comes in, I do have some reservations about dope in my own mind, which don’t apply to others who use it, but merely to myself. I haven’t touched the stuff for close to four years now, and I’m not expecting to in the near future. Why? Well, for one thing, I find I don’t really have any need for it. Sure, I can remember the laughs, the munchies, the unbelievable thirst, the euphoria and all that. But I really don’t find on most days that I need those particular highs. While I can realize how some people feel an occasional need for such a high, I really question why some people need it every day, or even twice a day. If people wish to see marijuana treated like alcohol, in terms of legality and method of control, then they should think about how they feel about people who drink more than, say, one drink a day or a couple of beers. Is there a dope equivalent to alcoholism? Not a physical equivalent necessarily, but a mental dependence on that daily high? I don’t know, but I do know I don’t need that reaction these days, and I certainly never needed it on a daily basis anytime.
Secondly, in terms of my negative thoughts, there is a question of impairment. While it is quite obvious to me from my own experience and from watching others, that the impairment produced by a few tokes is in no way equivalent to that produced by several drinks, there is, in my head anyway, a definite impairment caused by marijuana. I know from stoned driving experience that it affects my depth perceptions quite markedly. Like the time I was driving down Highway 48, and pulled to a stop at a stop sign which was 200 yards further down the highway. Or the time I sat on a hotel bed in a far distant land, convinced that I couldn’t speak for more than an hour (a blessing some would say). I’m sure the stuff has different effects on different people but I do know that I wasn’t operating completely normally when I was “under the influence”, and I can usually spot people nowadays who have had something to smoke. At least your breath doesn’t smell though.
And so, I come to the conclusion that marijuana and related products of the cannabis plant should be decriminalized, or perhaps even legalized and sold in the manner of alcohol. To do otherwise would be to laugh in the face of reality and hope it will go away. I also feel, however, that we must seek to avoid the failures many people have experienced in handling alcohol. People must be aware of the full nature of the effect of enjoying a joint, some of which we don’t even know yet. And more important, they must be educated to use dope in moderation, so that we don’t end up in a world which is more artificial than the one we already have. That will be a tall order.
So there are my thoughts. Put them in your pipe and smoke them. In moderation of course.