Jimmy the Pot Head

There seems to be no middle ground when it comes to drugs. People love them or hate them. Keith Richards, for example, used every kind of drug and somehow managed to have an amazing career and, it seems, a decent family life.

He is not the only one. Johnny Depp will be starring in a movie based on Hunter Thompson, a celebrated author who also happened to love and celebrate drugs.

The other end of that spectrum would be John Belushi, dead of a heroin overdose at the tender age of 33 and who could forget the death of River Phoenix at 23, much too young? Of course, there are many more examples from both ends of the spectrum, famous and not so famous.

What I’ve always wondered is where the differences lie. Why is Keith Richards not dead? Logically, he should probably have been dead at least ten times over. Why instead was it some 23 year old kid with his whole life ahead of him?

I am not making an attempt at glorifying drug use nor am I defending it. I am trying, like everyone else, to figure it all out. What makes one person capable of recreational use while someone else becomes a junkie?

Does anyone really believe that some young girl taking her first puff wants to become a crack whore? Does anyone believe that anyone tries drugs for the first time hoping that one day they will be incapable of caring for their kids or functioning in the world? Does anyone smoke pot the first time with Keith Richards in mind?

What’s the answer? Does anyone really know? I don’t believe there will ever be a law that can eradicate drugs. I don’t believe that there will ever be a way of stopping someone who wants to get high from getting high. I certainly don’t believe that there is any way of stopping someone who liked their first high from getting high again.

More worrisome to me are the people who are getting high to escape their problems. I’m not a drug expert but I’ve noticed a thing or two. Again, I’m not an expert but please humor me for a bit.

“Jimmy” is a kid I know. He lived in a beautifully decorated house in a wealthy area. Mom was always home doing fun things with the kids while Dad made a very nice living. Life was good. Until one day, Dad didn’t come home, a For Sale sign went on the lawn, and the money was gone. Dad, it seemed had a bit of a gambling problem.

Jimmy’s mom went from always being home to always being at work. Dad told anyone who would listen that his soon to be ex-wife was a (insert expletive) for not understanding how the number7 horse was supposed to double up but instead was the start of the depletion of the life savings as well as any college funds, the house, and life as Jimmy knew it. Mom and Dad were busy fighting and when eventually Jimmy came home one day stinking of marijuana, they also fought over how to handle Jimmy.

Jimmy was sent to rehab, which he promptly walked out of. I lost count over how many times he was sent back because his mother wanted to keep it quiet and his father wanted to use it as an example of why his soon to be ex-wife was such a (insert expletive). It was also his father’s belief that his son’s drug use was not because of any problems faced at home but because his “lenient” mother allowed him to get a facial piercing.

Maybe Jimmy’s problems are drugs. Maybe Jimmy likes the way being high is a way of escaping the war brewing between his parents and that, to me, is the beginning of a drug problem.

All I know is I’m worried for Jimmy and I don’t know of any new law that will fix the problems he faces or the reasons he began to get high. I’m not bashing Jimmy’s parents, just pointing out that maybe addressing their problems may be a better way of helping Jimmy than any new proposed law. What will arresting Jimmy solve? Certainly not his father’s gambling problem nor will it solve any of the problems that made Jimmy get high that first time and decide that being high made dealing with his life easier than not being high. Just something to think about.