Most of us baby boomer-types gave up drug use soon after getting a job, or after realizing that drug use was hurting our ability to do our jobs well and making us mentally ill, too. For, me it was the latter. I quit the devil weed over 20 years ago (after a dozen years of abuse) and have never touched it again. I wouldn’t even know where to get it at this point, nor do I care to know. The prospect of confused thinking and paranoia is not all that compelling. I’ll stick to my Scotch and cigars, thanks.
I wholeheartedly agree about the Scotch and Cigars!!!
You did not, given your post, give up drugs. You gave up illegal drugs and went to the legal variety. You just switched from one poison to another.
Putting aside the legal differences and the political arguments about drugs vs alcohol, the people I’ve seen who use one or the other or both addictively seem to stop developing emotionally during their period of addiction. So we end up with folks in their fifties and sixties who are emotional children. Democrats, mostly. These are the folks who went wild for Bill Clinton.
There are a couple differences I’ve noticed between pot and booze. Pot smokers tend to use daily or not at all. Booze drinkers tend to use daily, not at all, or only on social occasions.
I remember my parents had a liquor cabinet stocked with a variety of bottles. When a holiday or a special occasion came around, they would serve their guests “high balls” and have one or two themselves. Then the liquor cabinet would go untouched for weeks or months. I know many people who follow this pattern.
I’ve never known a pot smoker who kept a stash for entertaining on the holidays only. I’m sure their are one or two out there, but almost every pot smoker I have ever known was a regular, heavy user. I think that might be because a drink or two can relax a person without getting him high, while the whole point of smoking pot IS to get high. That would explain why pot smokers resemble hard core alcoholics.