by "Nimsu"

First and foremost, I am a persistent pot smoker of nearly 4 years. It all began one month in my sophomore year of High School. I wasn't exactly the most popular person in High School, and I was looking for new friends all the time, but little did I know that I would soon stumble across who I was. I began smoking pot one weekend with a new group of friends I had acquired, whom I had known for some time engaged in the occasional use of smoking marijuana. It wasn't long before I spent ever more time with them.

It's interesting to note that during this time my studies improved. I found myself more engaged and intrigued during class. I even improved from a B in math class to an A from first semester. Not to say that it's a direct correlation, but the math that we were doing second semester was harder, of course. So to say that it had no effect on my studies is silly.

I also owe pot the glory of realizing just how stupid the church and religion is. I am now an active Buddhist. This all started one day after I had sat down and passed a hitter around for about 3 hours with my smoking pals. I then had to go to church for my Wednesday night confirmation class. It was that night when I discovered just how little sense the church and religion made. I won't go into my specifics reasoning to save you the boredom of reading it, and for those of you who know little about Catholicism. Ever since then, I have regarded church as a waste of my time. Instead, I actively engage in meditation because I firmly believe that life is about enjoyment, freedom, and finding of self.

I feel that marijuana has helped me find aspects of myself that I would never have stumbled across without it. I am a more humble sort of person. I enjoy nearly every activity now, and my views on life are greatly geared to the improvement of myself. I never smoke cigarettes, or do any other drugs that have been proven to be severely hazardous. I only drink occasionally, and very moderately. I'm a guy who will have only 1-2 beers at a party. I don't believe in bringing out your id, as Freud would say, but rather enjoy the flavor, like beer was intended. I know too many families that have been wrecked by alcohol.

My mother knows I am a user of marijuana. She doesn't encourage it, but she doesn't condemn it, either. She knows I smoke it occasionally (1-2 times per week), and is very supportive of me and my schooling. I am currently enrolled at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse for computer science and physics.

I hope that marijuana will someday be legal in the U.S , or I'm afraid I will seek to live else, because I can not stand to live in a society that more or less would rather destroy itself than improve itself.