I smoke a little weed somewhat regularly before class. Not right before, but about an hour or so before I show up. I am a sophomore in college, I do fairly well academically, and I am way past the point of having trouble masking being stoned. I make sure that I am completely lucid for lectures and labs, but even I realize that my actions are mildly foolish.
We live in a time where there is so much anti-drug hysteria and miss information that I wont even go out into public while on hallucinogens. I am afraid of people who brag about going out in public (particularly an intimate environment like class) high. It risks giving us responsible explorers of the mind a bad reputation and every time someone becomes a victim of the US government's "war" on drugs, it fuels the paranoia of those who don't understand. If no one went out and made an ass of themselves in public, then the military/police establishment here in America would have very little proof to make their case to the uninformed.
Bill Hicks said it all. "Why don't we never hear a positive drug story in the news?" The "liberal media" (I use this word contrarily because most of the American media is actually run by conservative and reactionary-capitalist interests) latches on to drug tragedies and levels responsibility for a great many social ills at the youth drug culture. And while we do have a rather large drug "problem" here in the states, most of the issues revolve around hard narcotics and the crime that a policy of drug prohibition bring about (organized crime, untreated addicts, etc.). Responsible use of psychedelics within the constitutionally protected privacy of our own homes is not the concern of the government or police. And yet, many seekers have been forced into the same prisons as those who cause harm to others in the wake of addiction.
Enough of us are already persecuted in the eyes of those who have no place for magic in their lives. Churches condemn the prehistoric sacraments, drug screenings are used to prevent us from easily permeating into the upper social echelon, and the media has nothing positive to say about ancient techniques of self exploration. It seems we are losing the "war." The last thing any of us should do is help to ruin what little bit of freedom we do enjoy and acting irresponsibly with these tools is same as taking them away from your children, or your brother and sister psychonauts.
The only way to loosen the prohibition we suffer is to peacefully dissent. Passive resistance to unfair policy can make a difference, as long as there aren't a bunch of fools out there trying to rub it in "The Man's" face. Drug users, even the responsible ones, are going to be held up to the highest social standard we could imagine. One day, when the debate is once again open, we are going to have to be paragons of virtue if we hope for true and real change. We have to become walking, talking, thinking proof that the stereotypes are wrong. And we are going to have to do all of this in the public eye. The good that can be done with hallucinogens must out weight any perceived blights that their use may cause the "common man."
So please, do not trip at school. Study, learn, become the best and most educated person you can while you are in school. Act responsibly and explore psychedelics with the utmost care and respect. We are all representatives of this counterculture, and if we are going to ever accomplish anything more than just "getting high" then we are forced to work within the confines of a social structure that wants us gone. Blend into the fabric of society, yet harbor the truth in your heart. Someday it will be our turn to speak on this, and we had all better be pretty damned articulate.
