The Weed Smokin' days. PART 1
Following fresh on the heels of the 3 part mini-series on Alcohol:
Smoking dope (aka marijuana, weed, ganga, pot, dagga) played an even bigger part in my life than alcohol. OK, so lots of the things I said about alcohol and the BiPolar temperament hold true for Weed and the BiPolar temperament - but there is more.
I started smoking dope at 14. It took everyone by surprise as prior to that I had been a star pupil, buried in my studies and consistently cracking top marks. But I can see now, looking back, that at age 13 I hit my first SERIOUS depression. At that point BiPolar Disorder wasn't even on the radar screen so it went largely unnoticed. And there were other issues - an unhappy family caused largely by a father who had had a terrible childhood, because his father had had a terrible childhood, because his father had.... you get the picture.
So when I hit high school I just kind of retreated into this isolated black cuccoon, and the only way that i could emerge from said cucoon was to completely re-invent myself. Dope smoking seemed the obvious choice.
Problem was, true BiPolar that I was (and am), nothing could be done in half measures. Everything must be taken to excess. And that's what happened with dope smoking. Within 6 months it was a daily affair and sometimes my friends and I would even smoke during lunch break at school. And it's not just joints I'm talking about. Clay Pipes, Bongs, Hubbly Bubblies, Bottlenecks - anything that had a bowl shape and place to suck. On some days we fashioned little hollows in the soil and "sucked the earth".
I reckon that out of the whole crowd I got into, I came out least scathed. In a way (anyway). It wasn't long before some of the other dudes were into acid, mandrax, coke, dieting pills, in fact any schedule 5 and above drug that you could get your hands on. And they paid the price: One guy OD'd. One guy got sentenced for breaking into a pharmacy (drug store). Another guy is completely addicted to crack and beyond any repair. As for the rest - I don't know. It's been 20 years and I've lost contact with them.
BiPolar Guy paid a price too. But you'll have to wait til PART 2 of this mini-series to find out what.......DA DA dadaaa (suspenceful music...)
I can relate to your last three paragraphs. I write about it often.
ReplyDeleteThat I too did it all in excess. I'd smoke 24x7. My drug friends even said I was going overboard and cut me off from my supplier-them. I know all too well about excess. (you'll have to read the other half of my college experience-coming soon!)
Yeah, I came out best of the bunch. The rest of them are fucking hoosiers, still into drugs, no career, etc. and one OD'd.