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rants and cries on the rainy sun 
I believe in ghost...~scythes~
What Spirits Look Like
By Tom Cooney
When you think of the word, spirit, you do not imagine it as something that can be seen. However, spirits ... good and evil ...do occasionally appear to people. They take different shapes and forms depending on what they are and why they are appearing. A ghost or a human spirit may be seen as a person, albeit a transparent one. A demon on the other hand may appear as anything it chooses. Obviously, if it wants to scare you, it will appear in such a manner as to do that.
Throughout history, spirits have been portrayed in different ways. Everyone knows what Casper looks like, right? There is the infamous white sheet over the head routine. Devils have appeared as horned creatures and in many cases, demons took on a reptilian quality. You sometimes come across an old movie or two where the spirit looked very much like a person, albeit a misty one. I have seen ghosts portrayed as humans complete with rotting flesh. We can go on and on this way but the question is, just what do spirits look like? Well, some of the above mentioned descriptions are not all that far off. In fact, in some cases, they are right on the money. Let us take a look at the various types of spirits and how each one may be seen.
Human Spirits
In many cases, a human spirit may appear in much the same form as it did in life. It is usually not in solid form although that does sometimes happen. Many people have reported seeing spirits with defined features. In a large number of these instances, the spirit seemed to be transparent. In other words, while the spirit certainly resembled a person, you could see clear through it. These spirits have been widely reported to have no legs that can be seen. They usually appear as from the waistline up, although that is certainly not always so. It is common for the spirits hair to move around, as if there is a light breeze in the air. The same is true with the clothing they are wearing. I have seen this myself. On several occasions, back in my haunted house, I and many others saw the spirit of a lady. She was wearing a flowing white gown, which appeared to be moving in response to a breeze. When she moved, the gown flowed some more. As is common with this type of spirit she did not walk ... she seemed to float. Although she did react to those of us who witnessed her, she never attempted to come towards us or otherwise threaten us. Let me use an example. If she was appearing to me when someone walked into the room, she would turn around and look at that person. When she decided she no longer wanted to be seen, she simply faded away, growing lighter and lighter until she was no longer there. At that point, I shook my head and began questioning whether I really saw her or was it all my imagination? Despite numerous appearances over the years, I always found myself asking that same question. I want to point out something about that particular spirit. Aside from being frightened the first few times I saw her, I came to believe she was a benign spirit, possibly even a benevolent one. I felt she was watching over me since she most often manifested when I was either sick or injured. We had a spirit in that house that would cry and sob from time to time. At least I believe that was the spirit.
There are times when a spirit will appear exactly as it did during life. It will be as solid as you and me. There are scores of stories of people seeing deceased loved ones appear as alive as they had before death. They are there one minute and when they finish their business, they suddenly just disappear. Poof! A common experience, according to many stories I have read about, heard, and even experienced, has to do with seeing someone you know on the street. Sometimes, you just wave at them and they return your greeting. Later, you arrive home and receive a telephone call telling you that so and so died two days before. You profess amazement to the person you are talking to and you tell them all about the encounter you just had with that person. A little while later, after the shock wears off, you begin to question yourself again. I have even heard of people talking to someone who had just passed away. It is a startling but common occurrence. There have also been many instances where people have seen very solid spirits who they did not know. This is not limited to haunting alone. These apparitions will sometimes appear for other reasons.
Once I awoke to find someone standing next to my bed. This apparition was as solid as I am. I stared at this entity for several seconds. He was wearing a black pinstriped, three-piece suit with a gold pocket watch in his vest. The suit was of a style from long ago. He appeared to be in his late sixties, with neatly cut white hair and he wore a well-trimmed mustache. Although he was staring at me, his eyes appeared lifeless. I watched him for several seconds, frozen at the sight. Suddenly, he pitched forward, stiff as a board and came crashing down on me. I braced for the impact, which I felt. It hurt and actually left a bruise on my ribs. He seemed to lay on me for a few seconds as I struggled to push him off. His body was very stiff and cold. Then, just like that, he was gone. I jumped out of that bed and charged out of the room. I woke my mother up and started to explain to her what I had just seen. I was talking a mile a minute and she was doing her best to calm me down so I could tell her what had just happened. As I was talking to her, the telephone rang. It was from one of my uncles, informing us that my Grandfather had just died. After the wake and funeral, I spent a considerable amount of time looking at old pictures, trying to identify my visitor. I never did. Was this spirit a messenger sent to herald the passing of my Grandfather? It would seem so.
Most of the time though, human spirits do not appear that solidly. They are often transparent. From sight alone, it is hard to tell whether the human spirit you encounter is benign or evil. During my haunting, I saw another spirit from time to time. This spirit was also a woman and she too wore a white dress. She appeared to be considerably younger than the other spirit I mentioned. The astonishing thing about her was she was always engulfed in flames. Although she never appeared blackened or burned, the flames engulfing her did move. She and the flames were both transparent. When she appeared, we could see most of her body. She too reacted to us and she floated around as opposed to walking. I always felt very uncomfortable when she appeared. I found her to be very frightening. Unlike the other spirit, I sensed this one meant trouble. I am not saying she was definitely evil, but I never sensed benevolence from her. Perhaps the flames bothered me. Was she a human spirit or an inhuman one? There is no way to be sure.
Inhuman Spirits
When it comes to the inhuman spirits, things are a little different. Demons can take on any appearance they choose. You name it they can do it. However, they do seem to have some preferences. One of the most common sightings has to do with a half-man, half-animal creature. It may have the head of an animal, the torso of a man and an animal's hairy legs. Very often through history, they have cloven hooves. They will sometimes appear with a goat's head. There are many depictions of creatures with bright, red eyes wearing ram's horns. Although hearing pig squealing is associated with the demonic, they rarely appear as pigs. They do have the capability of appearing as a human, either the see through kind or the solid kind. When you are doing an investigation, this can confuse things a bit. You may see what appears to be a human spirit but in actuality, it could well be a demon. That is why I said earlier that it can be difficult to determine what you are dealing with by sight only. Obviously, if the spirit appears as a half-man, half-animal creature, you know you are dealing with a demon. Human spirits cannot take on the form of an animal. However, seeing the human figure does not tell you much. Could my flaming lady have been a demon? ... Possibly. To determine what type of spirit you are dealing with, you have to go more by action and intent than by looks.
Demons are androgynous, in other words, they have no sex. Although they are usually depicted as males, they can and do appear as females, if that suits their needs. An incubus, as you know, is a demon that will have sex with a woman. A succubus is a demon that will have sex with a male. However, it could be the same demon doing both. Demons will sometimes change appearances right in front of you. If you see an old hag one-minute and a small child the next, you are looking at a demon. This is beyond the realm of the human spirit. A common form of appearance for a demon is a black, mist like figure. This is a shadow ghost. It is often amorphous, without definite shape. This shape can be translucent, it can also be solid looking. When I refer to the solid form of this spirit, I use the phrase, absence of light, as opposed to being black. We are probably just talking semantics here but to me, an absence of light is like looking at a void. This is my idea of a demon. Again, it probably makes no difference how you describe it. You know what I mean, six of one and a half a dozen of the other. There have been many reported instances of headless animals running around. This is another form demons like to take. Their aim is to horrify and disgust you and I would say this is an excellent way to accomplish it.
Angel Spirits
Having looked at the dark side of the inhuman spirit, it is only fair to look at the good, human spirit. We know them as Angels. For the record, demons are angels. Like the good angels, God created them. They chose to try to take over heaven and we all know the rest. Anyway, if the bad angels or demons can appear as anything they want to be, so too can the good angels. Therefore, they can be rock solid. However, they do not appear as mists like the bad guys do. They tend to prefer the human look. They too, are androgynous. Women often picture their angels as males ... men do the reverse. Angels are always with us, walking the earth and performing great deeds. We all know about our Guardian Angels but it appears that angels serve many purposes. The name, angel, means messenger. Therefore, they sometimes deliver messages from God, most of which probably go unheeded. There are recorded instances, where in times of great trouble, someone will appear out of nowhere and save the day, whether it is in the form of protection or rescue.
It is quite likely that we see angels often but do not realize it. If you stop and think about it long enough, you wonder how many times you pass a person who seemed to radiate goodness and kindness. That person may give you a quick smile and move on. Could that person be an angel? It could well be. It is believed by many that have studied these loving creatures that we can all see angels. These experts all believe that our own beliefs are essential to our being able to see them. However, there are enough cases recorded throughout history where even the biggest nonbelievers met an angel while they were in a time of great need. Do angels always appear human? The consensus is no. Angels often appear in the form of animals. They sometimes appear as the lovely, winged creatures depicted in so many books. Much of it has to do with your own concept of what an angel should look like. They appear to a person exactly as that person thinks they should look so that person can believe what they are seeing is, in fact, an angel. Whatever form they take, angels are always described as beautiful creatures that radiate love, kindness, and warmth.
Do spirits take on other forms?
Yes they do. They sometimes appear as circles known as globules or orbs. They may be perfect circles or they may be less than perfect circles. They may be perfectly clear or they may be white. Sometimes they are a solid white, other time they appear less dense. They will sometimes appear to be streaking upward with what resembles a comet tale. These globules are usually seen in photographs, they are rarely seen by the naked eye. Digital cameras are great because you can see these spirits in the viewing mechanism immediately after the photograph is taken. I once did a shoot with someone who had a digital camera. He found some spirits while walking through the woods. I rode his coat tails, so to speak and took some pictures where he had seen the globules. I got a couple of good pictures that day.
What exactly are these globules? These globules are actually balls of electromagnetic energy. Where the energy is coming together, you get the globules. Their density depends on whether they are forming or vanishing. They sometimes appear as an amorphous mist. Although not visible to the naked eye, these mists often come out in pictures. These mists or psychic fog as they are often referred to, is electromagnetic energy fields. It is my belief that these mists are the results of the globule forming or vanishing. In other words, when the mist condenses itself, you get the globule. Sometimes you will see a face or some other shape in these mists. I have a picture that strongly resembles what to me appears to be a demonic face. I have also seen one that strongly resembles a winged angel. However, with most of them, it is like staring at a cloud or a Rorschach test. You see whatever you want or expect to see. These electromagnetic energy fields will register on specialized equipment such as a EMF detector, also known as a Gauss meter.
Nature Spirits
There are other types of spirits as well. The nature spirits, or elementals as they are called, photograph as squares or rectangular shapes of light. They can also be cylindrical in appearance. These nature spirits are said to be cousins to the angels. They represent each of the natural elements, air, earth, fire, and water. These spirits are friendly but a bit mischievous. You are very lucky when you capture one of them on film. It is believed that wherever you have a plant, you have an elemental spirit who watches over it. These spirits do sometimes appear to people in their homes. They may take on different shapes, squares, triangles, or other shapes. They may be quite colorful too. They will sometimes float lazily around, just out of your reach. You are truly lucky when this happens to you. I have never experienced this but I hope that someday it will happen.
Fairy lights are just that, lights. Seeing them in the woods is like looking at Christmas tree lights. They tend to blink on and off. While doing a cemetery shoot, my wife and a friend of ours were taking pictures. My wife asked me if I felt anything. I told her, yes, I was feeling a lot of energy. Of course, who wouldn't in a cemetery? However, I was more specific since I believe that feeling energy can be a copout answer. I explained to her that I felt we were being watched and that I think we were being checked out. My feeling was that there was something there that was as curious of us as we were of it. I did not fell threatened, however. Well, while sitting by a tree loading my camera, I felt something lightly brush my neck. It almost felt like a breeze but the touch seemed just a bit harder. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw a blinking light. It stayed on for a second or so then went out. After that, it blinked on and off again. After a few seconds, it stayed on and began to move lazily away. After travelling about thirty feet or so, the light went out. Nothing else approached me but I saw a spectacular light show in the woods where my little friend had gone.
Spirit energy can also take the form of an electrical arc. Usually bluish in color, these arcs of electricity will produce a sound much like the sound of static. On some occasions, it will appear as if you have an electrical storm in your house. Can you imagine seeing mini lightning in your bedroom? Wild, right? Of course, if you are being haunted, this light show is anything but appreciated. Since we know that manifesting spirits create electromagnetic energy fields, it would make sense they appear in this form. Therefore, it is no surprise that spirits are often seen, in many different forms, during electrical storms.
Balls of light are common in haunting situations. They may be of any color and they will often shoot across a room. If they impact a wall, there is usually that static like sound. Although they usually fly overhead, there have been instances where they have been "shot", for want of a better term, right at someone. When touched by these balls, the victims often report having felt a shock. Many pictures of this type of electrical activity have been caught on film. This is also true of the arc and the lightning type of energy.
Do all of these many forms of spirits come out on photographs? Most of them do. These light shows commonly do. Ditto for the globules. Rare are the shots of ghosts looking like a person. There have been some really good shots published but getting those are pretty rare. I have never heard of anyone capturing a demonic form such as the half-man, half-animal creature or anything resembling a creature with a goat's head. I have also never heard of anyone capturing a headless animal on film. The shadow ghosts do sometimes come out. However, if there are pictures out there showing any other form of demonic creature, I have never seen one or met anyone that claims to have one. That does not mean they do not exist. If someone has such a horrific picture of a demon, he may well have chosen to keep it a secret. I just think that if there is a shot like that out there, someone would have published it by now.
rants and cries on the rainy sun from whimsicality, to insanity URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n2089/a02.html
Newshawk: Sledhead
Pubdate: Thu, 18 Oct 2001
Source: Salt Lake City Weekly (UT)
Copyright: 2001 Copperfield Publishing
Contact: csmart@slweekly.com
Website: http://www.slweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/382
Author: Brenda Baird
POT SHOTS
Marijuana: Dangerous Narcotic Or Soothing Herb?
The aroma surrounding the apartment's entryway is unmistakable"a frat- house combination of incense, bachelors and pot. Inside, the presence of marijuana becomes quite evident -- roaches fill the ashtray, a glass "bubbler" pipe sits discarded ( for the moment ) on the coffee table beside a small baggie, half full of a leafy green substance. But mostly, it can be seen in the haphazard attitudes and relaxed faces of the apartments' residents.
It's OK to label Jack, Ted and David -- who requested that their real names not be used in this article. They happily admit to being "stoners" of varying degrees. Especially now, while the drug is in full effect.
The apartment belongs to David and Jack. Ted just stopped by to share his new DVD of Scarface, which plays silently on the television throughout the interview. Later, they turn up the volume so we can watch Tony Montana's brilliantly violent demise.
Ted, the only one with a full-time job, qualifies his participation in the discussion, saying he's left the lifestyle behind him except for a little weed on the weekends. David and Jack are daily smokers. Both have part-time jobs; David as a substitute teacher and Jack as a waiter. If they need extra cash, they could sell a quarter-ounce bag, but they prefer to stay out of the sales arena except among their tight-knit group of friends.
Life is relaxed and for the most part, stress-free. They certainly don't act like criminals.
The first question is easy, and they smile at the memories. "I was hanging out at Cottonwood Mall the first time I smoked pot," said 20- year-old Jack, the most talkative and, as the conversation reveals, the one with the best connections to high quality "kind" bud. "I was 14 years old. I tried it with three of my buddies; we laughed our asses off and had such a good time. I liked it the very first time I tried it, and I knew I would do it again soon."
Ted, 21, thinks hard for a moment. "I don't really remember the first time. It was while I went to Kearns Junior High ..."
"Dude, I remember your first time," interjects Jack, playfully smacking Ted on the arm. "I was out playing ball and you came up and told me you'd been smoking pot."
"Oh yeah! I told you it was the shit and you had to try it. You were scared, though. I was in 7th grade. It was crazy. I didn't think it would do anything, but I got so fucked up. I was all self-conscious and paranoid, but I was happy. I liked it."
David, the oldest of the group at 28, said he was about 12 years old when he first tried marijuana. "I was walking home from school with my friend Ricky"I lived in Phoenix, Arizona, then"we found a bag somebody had stashed. It freaked us out, but we tried it anyway. Somebody was probably pissed that we stole their bag."
"That's Where I Am Today"
Marijuana, the three young men reveal, has been a constant presence in their lives since they first stumbled upon it. They relate, one by one, that they had normal childhoods, marked by the typical pitfalls faced by young Americans today. They weren't bad kids, just curious, adventurous and a little rebellious, with too much time on their hands.
And they don't have bad parents, just out-of-touch, preoccupied with their own lives, and a little in denial about their sons' extracurricular activities.
Jack's parents divorced when he was 7 years old, and he was caught in a custody battle, shuttled back and forth between Salt Lake City's suburbs. He attended a different school almost every year, sometimes changing mid-semester. Once you hit junior high, he explains, the most welcoming group for a new kid is the stoners.
His first possession charge came in the ninth grade in Sandy. Jack's parents' reaction was to move him again, back to Kearns. He joined the debate team and tried to stay out of trouble, but was lured again by marijuana's charms.
"All of the debaters smoked, especially the older ones, the people I admired and wanted to hang out with. I'm sure smoking weed made my grades worse, but I kept going so I could debate. But of course, that got fucked up," he looks down as he speaks, clearly angry at the injustice. "My parents somehow managed to have a conversation about me smoking pot, and I had to move back with my dad, and they told me I couldn't debate." He didn't go back to school after 11th grade.
Jack's dad set him up with a job at a ski resort. "He said there were respectable people there, that they would be a good influence. Almost every person there puffed weed all the time. Instead of straightening me out, my dad sent me to Marijuana Camp." Cheerful again, he grins and begins to load the pipe, carefully separating the seeds and stems from the leaves and buds that they'll smoke.
Jack got his GED six months ago, but has not steered clear of trouble. He earned another possession charge, for which he served 45 days in jail this summer, and has already violated his probation once. "Yeah, but that was bogus," he said. "They weren't even my beers." He's been thinking about moving to Minnesota, where his mom lives now, but will have to wait out his probation in Utah first.
Dark and handsome, Ted says he has found peace with his marijuana use now, after his curiosity led him to much more dangerous drug use. He's more dressed up than the other two, in black slacks and a button-up shirt compared to their jeans and T-shirts. He sits up straight and chooses his words carefully. "My mom knows I smoke only on weekends with Jack now"and that's the truth." But that wasn't always the case, he said. "She was so oblivious! I don't think she even realized I had tried pot until well into my teenage years. I was stoned at home all the time, and she was just blind. It turned into a game, trying to see what we could do without her noticing.
"It wasn't always a big party, though. Pot was just something we did. We'd smoke, then we'd get the munchies so we'd find something to eat, play video games, go to movies, go for walks. It was all regular kid stuff."
The pot slowed him down mentally, Ted admits, but it also kept his temper in check. That temper, he says, prevented him from graduating from high school. "I had problems with anger and authority," he says frankly. "I got in trouble for hitting a teacher and throwing him down the stairs. I wasn't smoking at all then. I think pot mellows me out, takes some weight off my shoulders."
Ted and Jack found an apartment together after high school, and together they began to experiment more. "We ate acid almost every day, did a lot of coke ..." Ted said. "This Mormon kid that lived with us freaked out and we ended up losing the house." They dissolve into chuckles over their adventures. Behind us, Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino silently seduce one another onscreen.
After that incident, Ted said, his experimentation led to addiction. "A year ago, I was smoking all the time. I did anything I could get my hands on ... I got addicted to crystal meth and coke, and I did Special K [ketamine]. Anything you could snort up your nose, I would do.
"My brother saved me. He kicked all the tweekers out of my place and took me to live with him. And he ruined all of my connections"that was the smartest thing"he told all my dealers if they ever sold to me again, he'd kill them. And they haven't. My brother's a big dude.
"And that's where I am now. I have a good job, I listen to a lot of music. I quit doing everything except weed, and only with Jack."
Noticeably less gregarious than his friends, David quietly begins his story. "I grew up in one of the worst neighborhoods in Phoenix. I was surrounded by hard drugs"people smoked crack cocaine and embalming fluid. Both of my brothers are in the penitentiary right now, addicted to crack cocaine. I think pot was actually a healthy choice for me.
"The schools I went to were useless. They'd pass you just to get you the fuck out. I was a terrible student. I stole; I vandalized. I went to a special school for a little while, but I got kicked out. I was so tired of my brothers stealing from me and everybody I cared about. I had family in Utah, and I came here with nothing but the clothes on my back.
"Pot takes the edge off my problems," David says of why he continues to smoke daily. "Where I grew up, smoking weed brought people of different ethnic groups together peacefully. It wasn't violent, like cocaine. I can't believe it's bad. I think the world would be a better place if everybody just sat down together and smoked pot."
Pros and Cons
Marijuana has held a number of distinctive roles in American culture, particularly when it became mainstream in the 1960s. Celebrities from Cheech & Chong to Woody Harrelson have openly admitted to smoking regularly. Publications like High Times print information ranging from how to grow it to who allegedly smokes it. Its advocates seek legalization, pointing to its proven medical benefits, theorizing that the only reason it's illegal at all is because it's easy to grow and hard for the government to control.
But law enforcement officials say pot is a "gateway" drug. People who smoke it are more likely to become curious and seek something stronger. Although its dangers are less obvious than heroin or cocaine, marijuana is not safe for recreational use, according the federal Drug Enforcement Agency's website.
"Marijuana users experience the same health problems as tobacco smokers, such as bronchitis, emphysema and bronchial asthma. Some of the effects of marijuana use also include increased heart rate, dryness of the mouth, reddening of the eyes, impaired motor skills and concentration, and frequent hunger. Extended use increases risk to the lungs and reproductive system, as well as suppression of the immune system. Occasionally, hallucinations, fantasies and paranoia are reported," warns the site.
Barry Jamison, special agent in charge of the Utah DEA, says he is all for enforcing marijuana laws. "The credible studies"and I've seen lots of studies, not all of them credible"indicate that it is a gateway drug. I'm not going to say marijuana is as dangerous as heroin, but it still exacts a toll on society. And that's why heroin possession penalties are harsher than marijuana possession penalties."
He referred to a train wreck attributed to marijuana that occurred in 1987 near Chase, Md., in which an engineer drove three linked Conrail engines through a closed switch into the path of an Amtrak train, killing 16 and injuring 175. "Incidents like that are happening more and more around the country," said Jamison.
He said he doesn't support the medical marijuana movement because the drug's active ingredient, THC"delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol"is already available by prescription, in the form of a drug called Marinol. "People don't want to go to a doctor and take the liquid form, they want to smoke pot. I can't think of any legal drugs that you smoke."
Marinol is marketed as having the ability to reduce nausea and increase the appetite of patients being treated for cancer or AIDS. But medical marijuana advocates say cannabis has many more positive side effects than negative, most of which are not addressed on Marinol's website.
An independent study by Joan M. Bello, titled "The Physical, Psychological and Spiritual Benefits of Marijuana," disputes marijuana's classification as a drug at all: "The term 'drug' connotes concentration of a substance to its most powerful form, but marijuana is unprocessed, dried vegetation from a strong-smelling annual herb. The intact marijuana compound has no known level of toxicity and the amount needed to produce a lethal reaction has been estimated at from eating five pounds at one time to smoking 40,000 joints in one day, far beyond any physical possibility."
The extensive and well-documented study outlines cannabis' positive impact on mind, body and spirit. According to Bello, it's a miracle drug, able to relieve virtually every negative human condition except death. Among the benefits: stress relief""Marijuana ingestion has been shown to change the worried state by producing alpha waves, experienced as well-being." Heightened senses""The enhanced capacity of all the body's sense organs ( including the sense one has of him or herself ) accounts for the mental interpretation of intense perceptions, known as the 'high.'" Spiritual awakening""Deep within each of us, an essential need for a higher meaning of life is waiting to be awakened. Because of its ability to unlock this yearning and allow us that glimpse of the deeper reality, marijuana is both feared by the establishment and loved by the user."
Is Joan Bello's study one of the many non-credible sources of information to which Agent Jamison referred? Probably. But still, sides are being chosen across the country. Several states, including California and Maryland, have attempted to decriminalize, even legalize marijuana for medical purposes, but the federal DEA overruled them.
A Sept. 10 debate held at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque-"Directing America's Drug War: Which Way to a Safer Society?"-between DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson and New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, a nationally recognized legalization advocate, addressed the most current issues. While Johnson maintained that "drug abuse needs to be viewed as a medical problem, not a criminal problem," Hutchinson said the DEA is unequivocally opposed to legalization. "If we have a strong law enforcement presence that shows drugs are illegal and harmful, then that adds to the education, and many times triggers treatment [for users.]"
Taking Sides
Such are the issues a twenty-something pot user wrestles with. But if you ask Jack, the pros far outweigh the cons. "Pot is a part of my circle," he says. "It has been readily available to me for such a long time now. It's not the same as the stupid shit you inject into your arm. It's much better than fighting or breaking into places and stealing shit."
Agent Jamison had to laugh at this reasoning. "I've never heard marijuana called a 'healthy choice' before. It's like asking how would you prefer to die."
The young pot smokers disagree with those sentiments. "Making marijuana illegal puts a mindset to people," says Jack. "Morality comes from the laws. And all the stupid, gullible people out there think it's wrong just because it's illegal. The government knows just as well as we [pot users] do that it's a tree and money grows on it. And that's why it's illegal. More people die from cigarettes and alcohol than pot."
Quite true. But would legalizing marijuana alleviate that"proving true the theory that saying something is bad makes it twice as desirable"or would stoned drivers simply add to the drunken driving problem already plaguing America's streets? Several schools of thought exist, Agent Jamison and Jack and Co. representing two extremes. And a trip to Amsterdam, a haven for the drug-induced stupor, can't help but influence anyone's opinion.
Whether or not marijuana enthusiasts admit it, marijuana has been proven to dull the mind and create complacency and inactivity, a situation that Ted sees ending his pot use sometime soon. "I think there comes a point when sobriety is important. You think so much clearer when you don't smoke for a long time. There comes a time when you need that clarity, to cope with life without using external substances. It's part of being a man, to see things in the light they're supposed to be seen in."
Even Jack concedes he may someday grow out of his pot use. At 20, he's stopped experimenting with other drugs almost completely. "I still take acid [LSD] once in a blue moon, but I don't ever go out of my way to get anything besides weed. Bad experiences have turned me off to a lot of drugs. I don't even like mushrooms anymore. And I had a really bad coke trip like two years ago and haven't touched it since."
Punishing young adults for experimenting doesn't help them get on with their lives, Jack theorizes. Adults should act as role models for their families instead of handing them money and plenty of free time. That, he says, is what's wrong with the young adults of today. Filling the jails with kids isn't solving any problems; it's just ruining a bunch of kids' lives.
"Parents who hand their kids lots of cash might as well be giving them drugs," he says, even in Salt Lake City with its religious overtones. "I'd be willing to bet that 99.99 percent of working Mormons don't smoke pot. But their kids are a different story. I know plenty of Mormon kids who experiment just like everyone else."
Are authorities wasting their time with quarter-bags of marijuana? Jack, Ted and David think so. Many legislators and lawmakers agree. But until somebody makes a decision on whom to fight in the "War on Drugs," the prisons will continue to fill with the peers of these three young men. And they certainly don't act like criminals.
Undies and Hairs
I woke up with none.And it feels not so nice, imagine peter poking halfway through your flimsy shorts.Walking the hallway with only that piece.And the people's gazes at you..Well that's typical occurence to me.since i am not a good washer of my clothes.Sometimes I go to school with a pants only .Then when peter get a stoned ...the trouble begins..adjustment here and tuck there.
Sometimes its so annoying ...but I ahve to bear it.
But having none is much better than having your peter stuck between the hair.The hair which pulls your skin
like a deranged woman pulling your hair.Its painful and so |
