The light smoke fills my lungs as I take a drag from a rolled-up joint. The smoke wafts into the air and I sniff it in. A minute later, I feel light-headed and giddy. Suddenly my friends and I start laughing and giggling for no reason at all. We were what they call, ‘High’. Later, we’re all hungry. They call it “the munchies.”

Now I’ve never smoked marijuana before. Actually, I’ve never smoked anything before. And this situation never happened. But this is what I imagine it’s like, from reading and from watching other people. I know that marijuana is illegal, the hippies used it in the ‘60s and, on the occasion, it is prescribed by a doctor for those with cancer. What I don’t know is why it’s illegal, what else it can be used for to make it legal, and how it could possibly help anyone.

In the beginning, I didn’t know too much. But I figured there would be books on this exact subject. I was right. When our class went to the school library, I immediately took to the computer card catalogue and typed in ‘hemp uses.’ Okaaayy…..that didn’t work. I typed in ‘hemp.’ That didn’t work either. Ah ha! Instead I replaced it with a word I knew would work. Marijuana. The computer catalogue showed me the book, Through A Glass Darkly: Psychological Effects Of Marijuana And Hashish. Now I don’t believe this goes for the uses but at least it goes through the reason why. Why people do it in the first place.

I learned that marijuana’s scientific plant name is Cannabis Sativa. The cannaboid present in the plant is actually responsible for the psychological effects. SUSPENSE! And the percentage of marijuana has increased greatly since the late 1960s. Gee, one may wonder why. All those happenings and be-ins. All of the Freaks would get wasted beyond point of brainless. There are, also, many street names. Great! Now I’ll know what the drop-outs are talking about. Pot, doob, grass, reefer, weed, tea, MJ and maryjane are just some of the popular nicknames. But I want to know what the mixtures are. The plant, I read about, brings about many forms and terms. A joint is just a marijuana cigarette. Kiff is marijuana and tobacco, a roach is butt end of the joint. That’s why they need those roach clips. An A-bomb, (more SUSPENSE), is marijuana. Oh, gross. How can they stand it? AMP is marijuana and formaldehyde. Okay, that really gets me……I imagine that it would be like smoking a dead science experiment. Supergrass, as they call it, is marijuana and PCP. Oh, boy, Angel Dust. That’ll really kill someone. Illy, which is an odd name, is marijuana, formaldehyde, methanol, and PCP. Poor sucked-up souls. I feel sorrow on behalf of their brain cells. Great, I have to leave the library. Hopefully, I could find stuff in the public library later.

As it turns out I didn’t do research there. I tried to find books on graphic art design of the ‘60s. Pointless.

Now, from where I left off, the other mixture is primos, which is marijuana and crack-cocaine. Lovely combination, huh? No. But one thing. I know how, from reading, though, that people smoke it and eat it for depression and to feel good and all, but still, it doesn’t explain the uses. This is kind of upsetting. But I’ll find it.

Ah! Luck. Industrial Hemp. Same book. It has other uses besides a drug. It can be made into rope, clothing, paper, and insulation materials. The seeds can also be pressed to extract an oil which is high in nutrition and used in cosmetics. Who knew? Not me. It is also a fuel and used in printing inks. (That’s what that funny smell was coming from printer. Not!) Dude! How could they illegalize it? It has so many useful parts in it, man! If I find any more stuff, I’ll likely as not be as shocked as I am now.

Hemp seeds are high in essential fatty acids and proteins, and these are nutrients which are rarely found in a most complete form in other vegetable foods. The government must have their eyes closed. But how can it be so nutritious and brain-damaging at the same time. I see, the government opens their eyes toward those who grow it for industrial purposes, but are also reluctant to legalize it. The Drug Enforcement Agency is also concerned because any legalized cultivation of hemp could be a perfect cover for growing illegal marijuana. Which is the female form of Cannabis Sativa.

In the book, Illegal Drugs and Alcohol the penalties clearly state that, “special penalties exist for marijuana because it has no medical use and the very large quantities in which it is manufactured, transported, and sold. Trafficking of 1,000 kg or more of marijuana can carry life imprisonment and up to a $20 million fine. Smaller quantities or less than 50kg carry a minimum penalty of not more [than] five years for first offense, and not more than 10 years for a second offense. Fines range from $250,000 to $2 million.”

So you see, as illegal use, it’s not worth it at all. It’s not worth it to lose all that money. But I could swear that there were used for medicinal purposes. Maybe I was wrong. I guess I’ll find out.

At www.changetheclimate.org, I found facts and myths dealing with uses of the marijuana plant. The first myth is that it has no medicinal value. (Medical use: exactly what I was looking for) Actually, the fact is that it "has been shown to be effective in reducing nausea-induced by cancer chemotherapy, stimulating appetite in AIDS patients, and reducing intraocular pressure in people with glaucoma." As said on the site.

A couple of weeks later, found this weird e-mail that a company sent us. I found out that they do, in fact, produce a marijuana ALTERNATIVE that IS legal. Interesting, eh? They said,

Now Offering for your Sensitive Delight ... NEW & IMPROVED *** KATHMANDU 2 *** Thanks to recent dramatic advances in the laboratorial processes for the extraction of botanical/herbal alkaloids and glycosides, we are now able to offer what has already been the most incredibly potent marijuana/cannabis alternative available on the planet .... KATHMANDU TEMPLE KIFF!!! It is NEW, IMPROVED and 20 times more stokin'-tokin' potent in its formulation. KATHMANDU 2 ... a viripotent cannabis alternative for blissful regressions of vexatious depressions... * BURNS AND SMOKES EASIER! * TOKES DEEPER! * TASTES SWEETER! * LASTS LONGER!

Kathmandu Temple Kiff is a proprietary; Nepalese, sensitive, pipe-smoking/stoking substance. Kathmandu Temple Kiff is indeed the most substantial marijuana/cannabis alternative on the planet. Absolutely Legal! Marvelously Potent! Kathmandu Temple Kiff possesses all of the positive virtues fine ganja/cannabis without any of the negatives. An amalgamation of high concentrates of rare euphoric herbas, Kathmandu is offered in a solid jigget/bar format and is actually more UPLIFTING & POISED than cannabis / marijuana while rendering Euphoria, Happiness, Mood-Enhancement, Stress/Depression Relief and promoting contemplativeness, creativity, better sleep, lucid dreaming ... and enhancing the sexual experience!!!……….

There’s more to this ad, but it was too many pages, but you get the general idea.

I never believed that one product could easily do so much for a person. One thing, I bet they were lying and what they’re giving you is either real marijuana and they don’t want to get in trouble, or some vile chemical that’ll eat you from the inside-out. Another point, sex isn’t everything. Sure it’s a process that one has t live with, but it’s a NATURAL process for reproduction, not amusement. And certainly using a drug to enhance your ability to reproduce, illegal or not, is a no-no. Unless, of course you WANT to have kids, and it is prescribed by a doctor who is very sane. Doctors should not prescribe unhealthy drugs, such as marijuana. Any kind of product that you have to smoke is always bad for your lungs.

I also found out from my mom, that most marijuana is illegal because it is imported from other countries. The imported and “kept secret” kind is the kind that is active in making people high, and supposedly killing their brain cells. She explained that police are always on the watch for that kind of stuff and it is hard to tell what kind is the good kind, (the male cannabis sativa) and which is the kind that they want to arrest people for, (the female cannabis sativa which is harvested, hung to dry, and sold in bulks to pushers.)

Now, as for my interview, I was thinking if I should’ve interviewed my sister, who “accidentally tried” it once, but my dad said it was a bad idea. Then I though I should call that 600-number that the Kathmandu Kiff people included in their letter. But, once again, my dad came in and said it was a bad idea because the people answering the phone only took orders and probably wouldn’t know much about the product. So then I said, “You’re so darn smart, Dad, why don’t I interview you!” Of course I didn’t mean this in a rude way. He laughed, but said I could talk to him about it. Then, I also thought, that since my dad is a 60s man, you know, that I could easily interview him for information on uses and abuses. He never did any of it, but I assumed that he knew someone that did. He willingly answered my list of questions.

“First of all, Dad, what do you know about people who have used marijuana?” I asked him. I presumed that he knew something about someone. He came back with a long answer.

“In college back in the 60’s, I was a ‘hippie’, or ‘freak’ as we actually called ourselves back then. The crowd I hung around with there tended to use a lot of drugs, some more than others.” He said that he admired their political and social beliefs, and identified with them in almost every way, but he never “agreed with the drugs.” A majority of them who used marijuana also took other drugs. “Many of them thought nothing about taking speed to stay up all night hoping to get work done, but mostly they just bounced off the walls, and accomplished very little.” A good percentage of them also took LSD, which always worried him because one never knew how they’d react, whether they would have “a good or bad ‘trip’”. All in all, there were a lot of people who were ‘wasted’ a lot of the time. It was hard enough dealing with the pressures of college courses, social causes, and self-discovery without marijuana and other drugs. I pondered over this for awhile, and it surprised me that they, meaning his friends and acquaintances, would bother to do all the other illegal stuff. They probably thought it was ‘cool.’ I also wonder if he could remember and particular person that ‘used’ it, so I asked.

“Yes, I can think of a recent example.” he said. He stated that he casually knows someone who smokes it regularly. “Every time I see him, the smell of it on him is overpowering.” He also points out, “Like tobacco smoke, marijuana smoke gets into your clothes, your skin, your hair, and your breath. I look upon this person as highly irresponsible and a bad influence to his kids.”

I personally agree that he seemed irresponsible, but some people smoke it for medical reasons and such. “I don’t know him well enough to ask him about it.” he said. But the main reasons that kids back in college used it was to be ‘cool’, to escape from everyday pressures, or just because they liked that ‘high’ feeling.” I seem to have remembered reading somewhere before I started this project, that after having smoked pot or being around someone who did, would give you the ‘munchies.’ A feeling that you need something to eat afterwards.

“I’ve heard people talk about the ‘munchies’ when they’re smoking it, but it’s hard to tell because college kids always had the ‘munchies’.” He remembered that as a college student, they spent a lot of free time sitting in the Student Union discussing various things, and eating snacks and drinking Cokes. And they ate a lot of pizza. He ate his share of snacks, no more than usual after being around a marijuana smoker. “But then, I didn’t tend to hang around when people were taking drugs.” He winced at the thought.

I cracked my knuckles, sighed, and perplexed him with my next query. “Did you know that marijuana does not really kill brain cells, but intoxicates the user for the time they are using it and a small length of time afterwards?”

He scratched his head. “I’m not an expert on the neurological effects of marijuana, but the issue of whether or not it actually kills brain cells seems largely irrelevant,” he said.

I guess that was an intelligent answer. Better than I could come up with if I didn’t know about that. He does know, though, that studies show that it affects one’s memory, and also one’s ability to pay attention. “I can vouch for this because marijuana smokers in college, while smoking and studying, could not keep their mind on either their studies or any other topic of conversation. Instead, they got generally poor grades, and tended to forget what you were talking about.” He said that they often believed that their minds were sharper and more focused, and sometimes more creative while they were smoking, but actually managed to accomplish very little other than waste time and babble on with no particular train of thought.

Sounds ominous to me. As a kid, anyway. Of course being the daughter of a flower child does have its unclassified sections. I don’t know specific details of what happened exactly. “I know the 60s was a time of big change. I’m wondering if you’ve ever gotten in trouble with your parents for befriending another freak that has used cannabis in the past,” I asked, staring at a hole in the wall.

He responded by saying that it was not a problem for him because by the time he was in college hanging around with people who used marijuana, he was no longer living at home. “My parents didn’t know any of my friends at college.”

I was still staring at the hole, imagining a bug crawling out of the wall when I realized I was still interviewing my dad for my stupid topic on marijuana. I asked him what he would do if he had a friend, a really close friend mind you, who was in trouble with themself for the abuse of marijuana, “would you A) Immediately call the police, have him/her arrested, and lose all hope of ever being good friends with this person again; B) Offer to help them recuperate and spend every waking moment with them until they’ve fully developed an intolerance for any drug; C) Ignore them and do nothing; or D) Tell them that they’re and idiot for having gotten involved in drugs in the first place.”

Laughing but completely serious he said, “You left out E) None of the above. I would try to help them as best as I could, but unless they were someone in our immediate family (in other words, you or mom), I could not spend ‘every waking moment with them’. It’s difficult to reason with a person who thinks they don’t have a problem.” He continued by saying that if he could get them to see how it was a problem in their life, he’d suggest counseling, and even support them by taking them to a counselor if they needed that. “If they refused to go to counseling, I might try calling a priest, rabbi, or other religious person they trusted, and get them to try and help. Generally, one has to see a problem and want help first. Having someone arrested would certainly be a last resort, and would probably ruin the friendship, but I would consider it if the problem were bad enough and all else failed.”

I nodded and picked a piece of Muffin’s dog hair off the keyboard. I still had one last question, but was hesitant to ask it, thinking it might offend someone as sensitive as my dad. “And, uh, lastly, Dad, if someone, um, told you that a form of cannabis was legal now and that it could prevent heart diseases, lung diseases, and/or terminal cancer, would you or would you not and what would you say to them? Would you have thought it was POPPYCOCK? Or would you believe it was the TRUTH?”

He doubts if he would use it. I knew he might say that, considering his health history, which is not too bad. He told me the side effects would be unacceptable to him, and no one could convince him that any kind of smoke could be good for a person’s lungs. “Whatever its differences with tobacco smoke, marijuana smoke is still the byproduct of burning,” he noted, “and contains substances that are deposited in your lungs. I do a lot of hiking, backpacking, and mountain climbing. On top of that, I had TB when I was a teenager. I value my breathing too much to smoke anything.”

I thought that I actually learned something. I learned that I shouldn’t stare at the wall when I’m talking to people, and that my dad was, surprisingly, paying attention to what was going on. Haha, just kidding. Anyway, he taught me that he wouldn’t want to see me get into this kind of trouble and that the side effects and results of this drug are not worth all the trouble and all the work that was put into it. I’ve decided to side with him on the subject and never to do optional reports on drugs again. I am also glad that he was the person I interviewed because he’s almost always available to talk to if I want to.

I know I learned a lot from the I-search. I learned marijuana’s uses and that there are things we all need to be careful about since there is a masculine cannabis sativa and a feminine one. I also read of a lady who spilled some bird seed in her greenhouse, so she watered it, and it grew. She thought it was a kind of tomato until it hadn’t grown any flowers. She took it to a gardener’s club where she learned of its illegal existence. It seems as though the manufacturers of the birdseed have some explaining to do, because if there is an illegal kind of seed and it is put into a thing of birdseed, we’ll end up with birds who can’t concentrate. I’m really not sure if this experience has anything to do with it, but a couple years back before I even learned of the I-search, I was in our side yard when I happened to witness a bird dive-bombing, and right into our glass storm door! The bird was okay and I didn’t think it had anything to do with the marijuana plant, but now that I look back on it, knowing what I know now, it may have been irresponsible birdseed packaging.

I’m actually glad that I picked this topic, even though my parents didn’t think that researching a drug was a good idea. They probably didn’t realize that at this day in age, it’s easy for children and teenagers to get sucked into the ‘drug-crazed’ crowd. I’m not saying this would’ve happened, but what if I hadn’t researched this particular topic, something I was interested in, something I felt I needed to know….? I may have eventually worked up the guts to ‘try it and see what happens,’ which I knew I didn’t want to do.

Anyway, I think reading about a particular thing that’s hard to do, is better than trying to do it. I think that, if I don’t know ahead of time what could happen, then I would be reluctant, but daring. But, because I LIKE to read about such things as drugs, alcohol, and the unmentionable topic, I have more ‘experience’ than if I had actually tried to do something like that. For instance, if I am feeling a particular way, I wouldn’t know why I was feeling like that and what caused it if I read about it. If it’s something I should never ever do, like drugs, for example, I’d rather read about it and risk a headache than to try them and risk my life. Thanks, Ms. xxxxxxxxx. I feel smarter already. I’m on my way to “Psychology 101.” And by that, I mean that it helps to know what goes on inside a person’s head.