>>> Part 2 of 9...
Studies on the effects of marijuana, from the Nixon commission report
to a comprehensive review of pot literature by Drug Enforcement
Agency Judge Francis Young continue to assert that marijuana is less
harmful to the human body - even for heavy users - than alcohol or
cigarettes. Critics of pot refer to studies showing marijuana smoking
can irritate lungs, affect motor skills and behavior and lead to
psychological addiction. Still, those studies are disputed by reform
advocates. "The most striking thing that can be said about the
physiological effects of marijuana on humans," writes UC Professor
Charles Tart in one study, "is that there are practically no
observable effects of consequence."
Yet those adults who through their own firsthand experience with pot
could have confirmed all this have yet to speak out en masse. At the
South Bay club San Jose Live! last year, a visiting comedian asked
"stoners" in the house to raise their hands. The club, filled with
co-workers from Hewlett-Packard and some other Silicon Valley
companies where pre-employment drug screening is practiced, fell
eerily silent. According to one woman in the audience who does smoke
pot, but did not raise her hand, "The chill in that room could have
been cut by a knife. The atmosphere just turned poisonous."
Seeking Professional Pot Smokers
Despite the self-conscious silence, evidence indicates many middle-
aged adults do continue to smoke dope. In the latest National
Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 72 million people - roughly 30
percent of the U.S. population - reported having once tried
marijuana. Some 18 million smoked in the last year, and 5 million
were "regular" smokers, age 35 or older.
While college-age kids continue to smoke most and most often, the
baby boomers have had an elephant-in-a-snake effect on marijuana-
use numbers. "Every year we do the survey, we get an older population
of users, as the baby boomers move through the age groups," survey
director Joe Gfroerer says.
Where are these invisible dopers? I placed an ad in this paper to see
if smokers might respond, guessing that no one would. The ad, seeking
"professional" pot smokers for anonymous interviews, ran for four
weeks, until my voice-mailbox was jammed with lengthy messages.
I got calls from people who work in law enforcement, elementary
school teachers, professors, physicians, geologists, artists,
dentists, publicists, systems administrators, nurses, stock-option
traders, business owners, scientists, engineers and computer
programmers. They claimed to know lawyers, police officers and
congressional representatives who smoke. (I also got calls from
people who apparently thought "professional" meant professional "at
pot smoking".) Annual salaries ranged from zero to well over
$100,000. I received 77 calls, eight email messages, five letters and
one poem.
The majority were clearly in support of marijuana smoking, mostly
for recreational use. These people say, simply, they *enjoy*
marijuana and use it to relax. They offer parallels to having a drink
after work. A few believe the drug inhibits productivity. But most
respondents seemed to feel that marijuana contributes to their lives,
either to their creativity, their productivity or their post-
productive leisure time.
Channel to the Muse
Frederick *  is a leading bioscientist for an East Bay-based
biotechnology firm. A fitness-minded family man in his mid-40s, he
pulls in more than $100,000 a year, plus stock. Because he will not
discuss his habit over the phone, we meet at a downtown San Jose
coffee shop. Tall, brainy and athletic, the scientist has been
described by some as "intimidating." Frederick says has been smoking
marijuana for the last 18 years. He smokes marijuana about four times
a week and dabbles in psychedelic drugs like mushrooms and LSD.
According to Frederick, use of marijuana and psychedelics has
contributed to his enviable position at the leading edge of
biotechnology today, and he says this is true for many of his
colleagues. "I go to scientific meetings and I see leading
neuroscientists giving presentations who were selling drugs in the
'60s and '70s - the ideas we're working on now were germinal then
amongst pot smokers. There are people in the background who did not
end up like Timothy Leary who are being very creative and coming up
with theories about how the world works today."
Although he is rarely stoned at work, Frederick says pot smoking
contributes to his research. His use of marijuana, he says, "comes
from my understanding of consciousness: Humans learn through
repetition, and repetition builds patterns of thinking. THC is a
factor in the process of relaxing those patterns, and it gives you
a new way of looking at things. You break this barrier to pure,
flowing creativity - and that's where I love to be."
When he smokes, he plays music, exercises or sits with a notebook,
jotting down thoughts. "I think about work all the time. Sometimes
I'll go without smoking for two weeks or so, and then I'll smoke and
see new ways around problems. With the correct perspective, it's a
very powerful addition to your life."
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