Word: pots
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What should the boomers tell their children about marijuana? Should the parents be candid about their own pot use when young? On what authority can the parents persuade their children to avoid pot when the parents have made it to full adulthood more or less seemingly intact, none the worse for their youthful indulgences...
During the '70s, when a certain amount of marijuana burnout from the '60s became evident, pot fell into relative disfavor. But in the past decade, media stories registering disapproval of marijuana have tapered off. It has hardly discredited the substance that Head Boomer Bill Clinton, after stating four years ago that he hadn't inhaled, told an MTV audience that he wishes he could have done so. The President's sneaking snickering line (a kid still putting one over on his parents) suggested the boomers' ambivalence about pot and a kind of time-warping refusal to see it or themselves...
...case against marijuana remains relatively undramatic. It is true that the new generation of weed is stronger than what the boomers remember; that potency means it takes fewer puffs to get high, thus cutting down on damage to the respiratory system, for example. On the other hand, stronger pot and higher kids lead to more reckless driving and car accidents. It is true that smoking pot is less harmful than heavy drinking and does not threaten one's life, as do addictions to harder drugs. Proselytical pot smokers love to point out that a fatal overdose would require...
...realm of emotional development that marijuana does its damage. In any case, it seems there has been a mistake. Pot is not the drug of youth but rather of old age, the threshold of death--a little buzz before Kevorkian. It is a dulling drug, certainly useful as a palliative for the elderly. The young don't need to have their pain dulled. They need to learn from it. Perhaps baby-boomer parents, as they grow old, should reserve the world's marijuana supply for themselves and for what will no doubt be the gaudy and self-important theatrics...
...contrast, guilt nipped my fun right in the bud. Yes, I went on to disobey my mother, but only so much. I felt O.K. in doing so because on most other fronts, I went along with her. Thou Shalt Not Smoke Pot is not the 11th Commandment, I rationalized. Armed with that perspective and the sound of my mother's voice in my head, I could tinker with the rules and push the boundaries without being afraid I would cross them. So, Mom, it was your fault after...