And, as far as that goes, if you are young or impressionable enough to be swayed by my opinion: Oh yeah, it is. Seriously. Really, trust me on this one. All drugs are bad, bad, bad. If you start, you will end up on the streets giving $5 blowjobs. And statistics show, pot is how it all begins. It's the "gateway drug", you see -- you start with nicotine, you start drinking -- the first step into the "hard stuff" is pot.

So yeah -- if you're that impressionable: for the love of god, stay away from mary jane. And, for that matter, I'm not really sure if you should be reading my diary at all. Please do me a favor, if you've felt your own opinion sway in the least either way, thus far: Do not read the rest of this entry.

Okay, good. Now that I've gotten my civic-minded public service anouncement out of the way (you know -- who wants to meet a 20 year old 8 years from now, who claims your advice ruined their life?) I can actually make my point.

Yes, weed does make you stupid. I'm not just talking about the hyper-mellow, slow-responding, easily forgetfull mood that it temporarily induces, which is so hilariously portrayed often enough. No no. Because what I'm talking about is the long-term effects of pot.

Ever known anyone over the space of ... I dunno ... 15, 20 years? ... who smoked a lot of pot during that time? If you had, along with all the other changes that life and experience bring, one thing you might have noticed: That person will have gotten quite noticably a bit stupider, as the years progress.

Now. You might think at this point, that I'm therefore saying you should not smoke pot. And since it's illegal, you really shouldn't. Nope. Just Say No, kids. What is illegal is always wrong, no two ways about it.

But, if you were going to ignore my opinion anyway, and you are/have/will smoke pot, here's what I think: Say you're not exactly the brightest bulb right out of the chute, I mean you maybe have only a few IQ points on Forrest Gump with no more than sugar having been your mood-alterer so far.

(Which, btw, is no joke either. We need sugar, but nowhere near the amount most of us consume. But anyway...)

Point is, if in your estimate you're average intelligence or maybe a bit below -- unless you think you'll be okay with having a low-paying, menial job when you're 50, maybe you shouldn't pick up a hardcore pot habit when you're young.

But let's say you think you have a few brain cells to spare. Or, if such is the case, you simply think you'd be better off with a bunch less regardless (hey, who can explain why people want what they do?), then I would have to suggest you go ahead and give the wacky tabacky a chance.

However, note that I do say a chance, and not that it's a good idea to just commit your life to Rastafarianism right now. (Which, btw, I will leave out of this, except for that one caveat. I've actually a lot of respect for the Rasta religion, or at least as much as I can knowing really ver little about it. But, I think they have to smoke it as part of their religion -- thus the reference. Anyhow, onward.)

The reason you may not want to do that -- what if you're only a bit brighter than usual in the first place? Okay, so maybe you get 3-5 years -- 7-8 if you really want to push it (I know how 'edgy' you kids today are) -- but after that you've pretty much burned what extra smarts you may have had, plus have a years-long life ritual at this point to avoid for the rest of your life.

So once more -- stay away from the stuff in the first place. Except if you happen to be smarter than -- I dunno, I guess the law on this one -- then by all means, indulge. But, as is true with all things, know your limits.

Yet finally -- what if you think you're Einstein? You're Shakespeare, Mozart, Socrates. I mean, you got some shit going on between your ears it would make the Vulcans think twice. Well, in that case -- you're obviously much smarter than me, and will be wise to ignore my opinion anyway. But my opinion is -- if you're that smart, maybe it would be good if you were dumbed down just a bit.

Good for whom, you may ask? Would any of the above still have accomplished as much, if they were potheads? Well, unfortunately we really just can't say -- after all, many individuals we admire a great deal, or at least who accomplished quite a bit, did a great many things we think immoral/inadvisable now. And they may be both those -- but a genius who is immoral may still create genius works.

So if all it does is spin the roulette wheel a bit on your genius being expressed, how is it good?

Well, because being way way smarter than most everyone is good for everybody else. In the land of the morons, the half-intelligent man is the ultimate public servant. But really, if you think about it -- what a shitty job.

Nope. Don't fly quite so high, you evolutionary quirk, you. So by random chance you have gifts it will take eons for the rest of us to develop to make it "normal" -- ultimately, that just makes you a freak. And if you hadn't noticed, freaks don't really get the cushiest of places, societally speaking.