🚀 go-pugleaf

By far the most interesting case is that of marihuana. For this
particular substance the need of side effects is most notorious as it
is a well known that it does not cause addiction, unlike tobacco,
which is most addictive and very difficult to stop using. The
compulsion to use marihuana is practically nonexistent, leaving only a
vague melancholy that cannot even be confused with depression, while
the lack of tobacco turns people very aggressive and single minded.
One of the most recurrent speculations in science fiction stories (at
least those that are near to our current societies), is that of the
banning of tobacco and the legalization of marihuana. Since the
effects of marihuana are short lived, the problem of personal
responsibility is also almost nonexistent, leading to the necessity of
implementing strong side effects, for the popular image is that of the
hippie drug addict, smoking and smelling flowers, totally oblivious of
everything and living in total irresponsibility. It is easy to accept
a homeless individual smoking marihuana in the street, (like Skid Row
in LA where it is quite common), but not so easy to accept a
professional incurring in the same "vice". In that case the vested
interests that keep marihuana banned will react causing strong side
effects so that the successful smoker is reduced to the stereotype of
poor addict. In a way, marihuana is a privilege of the very rich, who
can smoke and even grow their own plants, far from the reach of the
police, and keep that fact hidden. It is also a prerogative of power;
in Mexico for instance, it is common the rumor of legislators smoking
marihuana in their office or attending meetings under the effects of
dope.

As was mentioned above, it must be obvious that most drug users (and
assuming that marihuana is by far the most popular drug most smokers),
must be people with means and normal lifes, who are able to pay for
the substance. It should be a clear consequence that little real
effects exist to the use of marihuana so that whenever "bad things
happen", is because it was forced by vested interests. One of these is
of course the Army. Fact is that marihuana has the known effect of
making people calm and moody, introspective and very concentrated,
instead of agressive and alert as tobacco and other drugs or even
alcohol. A country where there is no forced draft will rely on the
willingness of youth to follow the martial career, so marihuana is a
danger both as it would lead people away from the career of arms as
would too make them "irresponsible" and undisciplined. Paradoxically,
smokers tend to be very disciplined, as they have to solve the problem
of buying the substance. The fact that marihuana tends to turn people
inwards means that, as an alternative to tobacco, it is ideal for
people under routinary tasks, as long, of course, that those tasks do
not require very keen reflexes.