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Executives Who Inhale
New York Business ^ | July 25, 2005 | Matthew Flamm

Posted on 07/25/2005 5:01:43 PM PDT by Wolfie

Executives Who Inhale

New York -- Some New York executives unwind in the evening with a glass of wine. Others go out for a beer. And some take the edge off in a way they rarely discuss with their colleagues. Particularly in the summer, when children are at camp, these Gothamites are kicking back in a fashion reminiscent of their college days. "When my son's away, I keep my bong and my bag out on the dining room table," says Jim, co-owner of a furniture manufacturing company, who, like every other pot smoker interviewed in this article, asked not to be identified. "It makes me feel young again.

Despite the ongoing war on drugs and the stigma surrounding any illegal activity, a certain portion of the New York business community never turned in its rolling papers. For many of these otherwise law-abiding citizens, taking a few tokes of their favorite illicit substance is simply their preferred way to decompress. Though they might conceal their after-hours smoking from their co-workers, they insist that, used in moderation, the evil weed doesn't have to hurt job performance.

"It's an asset to the conceptualizing part of the business," Jim says. "It's a liability to the implementation part."

Among New York professionals, smokers tend to be discreet, even when children aren't in the picture. There's too much to lose from being typecast as a stoner. After all, Cheech and Chong--the pothead comedians of the 1970s--weren't exactly known for productivity.

"It's not something I would discuss with clients, even if they brought the subject up," says Sam, who has his own architecture firm. "And I only smoke with close friends."

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But statistics suggest that some of those clients are probably indulging as well. According to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services, 97 million Americans have smoked marijuana at least once, and it is the most widely used illicit drug in the United States.

In the marijuana underground, New York has a reputation not only for widespread use but for the buying habits of its upscale users. City dwellers fork over as much as $600 an ounce for top-quality product, while dealers brag about selling strains grown from winners of the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup.

The city is also famous for its efficient delivery services.

"It's the only place in the country where you can get cannabis delivered, uptown and downtown, faster than pizza or Chinese food," says Allen St. Pierre, the executive director of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, based in Washington.

New York is also known for strict enforcement of laws against marijuana. Under the Giuliani administration, marijuana-related arrests peaked in 2000 at about 74,000; about 90% of those busts were for possession.

Arrests for grass have dropped by more than half under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, to about 34,000 last year--a number that still makes the city among the national leaders in marijuana arrests per capita, according to NORML.

Though there is disagreement about government policy, even critics of the laws warn that heavy pot use can stunt ambition and accomplishment, as well as destroy personal relationships.

Growing Use

"Marijuana is the most difficult drug to get people to give up, because it allows them to keep functioning," says Andrew Park, a Manhattan psychotherapist who specializes in addiction. "You can't see the damage to a person's life that you would if they were smoking crack or shooting dope."

But neither the law nor the dangers of abuse have dampened the nation's appetite for cannabis: the government's survey recorded 15 million current users in 2003, compared with 10 million in 1995.

"Alcohol dulls everything," says Abe, a litigator at a Manhattan law firm who says he would rather toke than imbibe. "Pot sharpens certain things, like creativity."

Marijuana is also the one illicit substance that appears to enjoy widespread appeal across social and economic lines.

"Lawyers, accountants, actors, cooks ... I deal with people across the board," says Jason, who has been selling marijuana full time in New York since 1996. "From people living in hellholes who can't really afford it, to people whose secretaries I have to talk to before I can talk to them."

But longtime aficionados find that, just like the sports they played in college, the drug is something they can no longer partake of as often as they did when they were young.

"The lifestyle changed when I had kids," says Bill, who manages a short-term apartment complex in midtown Manhattan and smokes only on those rare occasions when his children are not around. "Yet I still have a roach, wrapped in aluminum foil, in the back of my sock drawer."


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: anslingerslegacy; bongbrigade; jackbootedthugs; lawbreakers; potheads; weaklings; wodlist
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To: somemoreequalthanothers
They have service jobs. One should aspire to a more lucrative career.

Sure ... but some don't have what it takes for a more lucrative career. Better we allow them a legal way to earn their living.

121 posted on 07/30/2005 8:52:08 PM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: robertpaulsen
Given that most pot users quit in their early 30's, these guys got serious addiction problems.

So not doing what most people do makes them addicts? Since they hold down good jobs, I don't see any serious problem there.

122 posted on 07/30/2005 8:54:08 PM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: Know your rights
"If they could make a legal profit selling to adults, they'd have an economic disincentive to endanger that legal profit by elling to kids."

Sell to legal adults and make 10% profit, or sell to the illegal underage market and make, what, 1000% profit? 5000% profit?

Gee, what will they do?

Currently, the underage market represents 30% of all pot smokers. With legalization, that could rise to 50%.

Big market with a big mark-up.

123 posted on 07/30/2005 8:58:33 PM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: Know your rights
"Since they hold down good jobs"

Addicts don't hold down good jobs?

124 posted on 07/30/2005 9:01:18 PM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: GoldCountryRedneck

A $600 ounce will last u 6 months its that potent.


125 posted on 07/30/2005 9:03:09 PM PDT by KingNo155
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To: robertpaulsen
Sell to legal adults and make 10% profit, or sell to the illegal underage market and make, what, 1000% profit? 5000% profit?

Gee, what will they do?

Many (although not all) will prefer a smaller profit margin with no risk of prison.

Currently, the underage market represents 30% of all pot smokers. With legalization, that could rise to 50%.

Or it could fall.

126 posted on 07/30/2005 9:04:28 PM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: robertpaulsen
Addicts don't hold down good jobs?

Of course they do.

127 posted on 07/30/2005 9:05:33 PM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: Know your rights
"Many (although not all) will prefer a smaller profit margin with no risk of prison."

Coulda fooled me with all the current, prison-risking drug dealers. And, according to you, many more eager to take their place upon their arrest.

It's not like they can't find a small profit activity in today's world.

"Or it could fall."

Based on what?

I say it would rise based on the University of Alaska study. What do you base your statement on? Wishful thinking?

128 posted on 07/30/2005 9:26:56 PM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: robertpaulsen
It's not like they can't find a small profit activity in today's world.

Switching from selling drugs to one of those unrelated activities is quite different from simply ceasing to sell to one part of one's former market.

I say it would rise based on the University of Alaska study.

What study ... what's the title and author(s)?

Wishful thinking?

I'm savoring the irony.

129 posted on 07/30/2005 9:34:23 PM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: robertpaulsen

...good times...

:-D )))


130 posted on 07/30/2005 9:40:44 PM PDT by RichInOC (...Phi Kappa Sigma, Beta Rho '87...we accept all colors. Just as long as you don't turn green.)
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To: RichInOC

The best.


131 posted on 07/30/2005 9:45:14 PM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: Know your rights
"I agree that we should legalize and regulate marijuana for adults first, then see how it goes before talking concretely about legalizing other drugs."

So we should just talk in vague terms about legalizing meth and heroin until we get pot legalized? WTF? I'd rather just say concretely that those drugs are too addictive and cause too much harm to innocent third parties to be legal and regulated like alcohol. As far as I'm concerned there is no need to wait until we legalize marijuana before we say that.
132 posted on 07/30/2005 10:08:13 PM PDT by TKDietz
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To: TKDietz
If a constitutional argument can be made for the legalization of marijuana, then the same argument holds true for all drugs.

The end of Prohibition resulted in the legalization of all forms of alcohol, not just beer or wine.

Pretty funny. The ex-pot smoker argues constitutional law and the lawyer argues practicality.

133 posted on 07/30/2005 10:23:33 PM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: TKDietz
I'd rather just say concretely that those drugs are too addictive and cause too much harm to innocent third parties to be legal and regulated like alcohol.

You're certainly entitled to do so right now ... and I'm entitled to ask how drugs, rather than their users, harm innocent third parties. As it stands, "cause too much harm to innocent third parties" sounds like what gungrabbers say about guns.

134 posted on 07/31/2005 7:34:27 AM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: Know your rights
You know perfectly well how abuse of these drugs and addictions to these drugs harms other people. You just refuse to acknowledge it. If you did the kind of work I do in an area like mine with high numbers of meth addicts you wouldn't ask such silly questions.
135 posted on 07/31/2005 11:38:42 AM PDT by TKDietz
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To: TKDietz
how drugs, rather than their users, harm innocent third parties.

You know perfectly well how abuse of these drugs and addictions to these drugs harms other people.

No, what I do know is how some abusers of these drugs harm other people ... just like some users of guns harm other people.

136 posted on 07/31/2005 11:42:32 AM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: robertpaulsen
I'm calling for the legalization of all forms of marijuana, not just unprocessed plants, but also hash and kif and whatever else you can make with it. I don't know what the heck you are talking about with your silly argument about just legalizing beer and not wine and liquor. These are all alcoholic beverages, different preparations of the same thing. It seems that you are trying to say all illegal drugs are the same and that you can't legalize one without legalizing them all. If that is what you are saying, it's just plain silly.
137 posted on 07/31/2005 11:44:13 AM PDT by TKDietz
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To: Know your rights
Some just play around with these substances a little and grow out of that phase in their lives before they become addicted. Others get addicted and become a burden on society soon after trying the drugs for the first time. Other others go on using the drugs occasionally for a long time hurting no one and never becoming addicted. Others though may seem like they'll never become addicted and the wham, the next thing you know their lives are falling apart around them and they are bringing others down with them.

The thing is though that a high percentage of people who use these drugs do become addicts. No doubt you can produce some bogus chart where some incompetent researchers will claim that drugs like heroin are less addictive than alcohol or whatever, but I just don't believe that. People who use drugs like meth and heroin who never become addicted don't tend to use these substances very often and they don't tend to use them for very long. If they used these drugs all the time like many drink beer, a high number of them would become hardcore addicts. Can I produce data to prove this? No. I don't know how they'd come up with data like that unless they used human test subjects and to my knowledge no such experiment has been performed. All I can do is base my opinion what I have seen with my own two eyes and what I've learned dealing on a regular basis with users and people addicted to these substances, methamphetamine in particular. You just don't find many people who can be frequent methamphetamine for an extended period of time and not become addicted to it sooner or later, and addiction to this drug is incredibly destructive to the addict and those around him.
138 posted on 07/31/2005 11:59:48 AM PDT by TKDietz
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To: kellynch
Alcohol at least doesn't stink.

Ahhhh... You've never been a broke college student who bought Weidemans Beer (IIRC, the deposit on the bottles was about the same as the actual price of the case of beer), and then made the mistake of pouring it out of the "long neck" bottle, into a glass! We called it "Skunk Beer" for a reason! You could drink it, as long as you couldn't smell it!

Mark

139 posted on 07/31/2005 12:09:05 PM PDT by MarkL (It was a shocking cock-up. The mice were furious!)
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To: Servant of the 9

Youth is wasted on the young...

Mark


140 posted on 07/31/2005 12:14:01 PM PDT by MarkL (It was a shocking cock-up. The mice were furious!)
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