>>> Part 4 of 9...
In his study _On Being Stoned_, which recorded in exhaustive detail
the effects of marijuana on 150 regular smokers, author Tart writes:
"With a psychoactive drug like marijuana the variability across
subjects is very high." If a user is upset when she smokes, she might
become more upset. And, similarly, if a user is a highly motivated
person, marijuana use and its effects will play into a pattern of
achievement.
The professionals I spoke with confirm this dynamic. Bioscientist
Frederick, for example, is highly driven, athletic and intelligent;
his use of marijuana conforms to these traits. Tart's findings also
support the claims of working marijuana smokers who claim pot
improves their productivity. One very common effect of marijuana, he
found, is that stoned people become more absorbed in "ordinary" tasks.
Other cross-cultural studies report that hard laborers in some
countries like Jamaica smoke marijuana to alleviate the burdensome
nature of their work. Conversely, those people I spoke with whose
jobs involved frequent, involved contact with colleagues and self-
initiated projects use marijuana less than those with more physical
jobs, and are more careful about the conditions surrounding their use.
Those "normies" I interviewed who seem to have a healthy relationship
with the drug share the opinion that there are others who most
definitely do not. "If you get high three or four times a day, you're
not breaking any patterns," Frederick says. "You're just creating a
new one."
Author Herbert admits, "I have a kind of contempt for people who
smoke every day. To me, that implies a lack of respect for the drug."
Another user writes: "Moderation is the key. Whether wine tasting,
beer-after-working [or] vegging before the TV, any behavior when
taken to the extreme can interfere with our primary tasks of
survival, procreation and seeking enlightenment."
Lighting Up And Enlightenment
Most adult pot smokers with whom I spoke say they enjoy smoking more
than drinking. "I don't drink much," says Mickey, a 35-year-old
account executive for a Bay Area radio station. "Pot hasn't made us
boomers into alcoholics, drug dealers or child beaters."
Many adult dope-smokers express a sober, contemplative reverence for
the herb, often describing it as natural and unadulterated, a gift
from God. They do not share these feelings about alcohol. Frederick,
for example, refers to marijuana as "a holy substance," the proper
use of which is "dependent on respect." One woman who says she's been
smoking for 35 years asserts that "toking has created quite a bit of
power in my life. ... It's contributed a tremendous amount to my
consciousness."
"For more than 30 years," author Herbert asserts, "I have used
marijuana for inspiration and connection with people, nature and the
Holy Spirit. ... I suppose alcohol can also put you in touch with
that place, but usually it doesn't."
Marijuana has been used in religion and spiritual practice for
thousands of years, in dozens of religious traditions. In the Taoist
text _The Secret of the Golden Flower_, references to "incense"
contain this potent advice: "If there is time in the morning, one
may sit during the burning of the incense stick, that is the best.
In the afternoon, human affairs interfere and one can easily fall
into indolence." Author Robinson observes that while many spiritual
traditions include the use of marijuana, all do so with caution.
"While substances [like marijuana] may introduce some seekers to
the possibilities of higher consciousness, they can't deliver
enlightenment itself."
Many users I interviewed shared this perspective. Pot is a means to
an end for them, not the end itself. In any event, it is not a
substance to be taken lightly, if it is taken at all.
Pot-Proper Parenting
One significant effect of the baby-boom generation on pot smoking
today is reflected in their children, many of whom have by now
reached or surpassed the age when their parents began experimenting
with legal and illegal drugs. 
After a decade of declining teenage use, marijuana smoking is on the
rise again in the teenage population. The National Institute on Drug
Abuse reports a near doubling of marijuana use among eighth- and
10th-graders in two years. Anti-drug pundits like Steve Dnistrian
believe the increase may be due to the maturation of bong-hitting
boomers. They further attribute the increase to silence on the part
of pot-smoking parents. "It's the baby-boomer conflict," Dnistrian
says. "They wonder, 'How am I going to talk to my child about drugs
if *I* did them?'" A flurry of recent articles on the subject echo
this refrain: Parents cannot talk about marijuana with their children
because they are "conflicted" about its use.
But the anti-drug crowd's analysis of increased teenage use contrasts
starkly with stories of pot-smoking parents I interviewed, most of
whom feel comfortable discussing marijuana use with their children -
some of whom have introduced the drug to their children. Indeed,
young people may be smoking more not because their parents are
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