Letter to the Editor 8-11-16

Marijuana in the mainstream
Editor: Kudos to Jonah Raskin for his Commentary in the August 4 edition of the Reveille. I, too, have done my best creative writing “under the influence” of marijuana. I have been using both pharmaceuticals and marijuana for chronic severe pain for many years. Early on I discovered that in addition to muting my pain, I could actually feel my mind opening up and ideas flowed into it much more freely. There is a physical reason for this. One of the effects of this drug is to boost, increase, enhance or enlarge whatever one is already feeling. Thus if one is feeling creative, it will expand one’s imagination. Of course, if one is feeling depressed or paranoid about taking the drug, it will increase those feelings as well. For this reason it often does not mix well with strong pharmaceuticals or with alcohol, so it is important to be cautious and sensible about combining those things.
Back to expanding the limits of one’s creative mind: when I compare pieces I have written stoned with pieces I have written straight, the quality of the former always wins, hands down. To Jonah I say, if you had never smoked marijuana yes, you may have written 28 books instead of 14 … but they wouldn’t have been nearly so good. Marijuana slows you down; you notice more and you feel peaceful and more accepting of others. The idea that it promotes violence is ridiculous; it just wouldn’t happen. And the idea that marijuana leads to taking hard drugs is true only because on the black market the same people who sell it also sell cocaine and heroin – and they will do everything they can to promote the real drugs to their marijuana buyers.
As Jonah points out, marijuana is joining the mainstream. Right now it is in the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” phase of becoming accepted. People pretty quickly figured out that this idea is silly. I have just busted two myths about marijuana, but there are more myths out there than a chicken has feathers. Let’s take the fear factor out of it. There is nothing to fear. The one caveat is a still-developing brain. We don’t know, and it will be years yet before we can know what effect it would have on a growing brain, from the womb until age 25, when most brains become fully developed. The effect won’t be the same for all; it may be helpful, harmful or neutral – we just don’t know, so better not to chance it. No different from the common sense rules of alcohol use. Both affect the brain. But alcohol often does lead to violence, whereas marijuana does not.
 Virginia Carroll
Cloverdale
Thanks for ‘Stock’ support
Editor: Our community schools are ready and the teachers are excited but are our students prepared with all the supplies they need to be successful when the school doors open on August 17? “Stock a Student Classroom” project has over 20 boxes waiting for your contribution of school supplies when you are out shopping in the community.
For everyone shopping locally, there are seven businesses carrying student supplies: Cloverdale Pharmacy and Ace Hardware; Mail Center, Low Knob and The UPS store; Ray’s and CVS. This community project has three distinct benefits as it gives our students the strong message of community encouragement, provides support for the local businesses and donors comes away with the warm glow that comes from assisting others. Thank you for your gifts.
Linda Clapp, Chairperson,
Stock a Student Classroom
Cloverdale