Being the Author Of Your Own Happiness

Depending on culture (especially who you hang out with), anti-depressants and related medication (psychopharmaceuticals) are either considered "bad medicine" or "cure-all".

IMHO anyone who considers psychopharmaceuticals "happy pills" may be substituting a socially acceptible form of medication for whatever recreational drug they used in their youth.

Rather than realizing that they are the authors of their own happiness, they may use magical thinking regarding their "meds".

Despite being a socially acceptable drug in moderation, alcohol is actually a "dirty" way of "being happy" when compared to psychopharmaceuticals because of its effects on brain chemistry (it targets all of them) and tolerance (you begin to need to drink more to get the same effect).

IMHO recreational drug users who consider psychopharmaceuticals to be "bad drugs" but refuse to consider their drug of choice to be a drug may also be ignorant of being authors of their own happiness without drugs.

Legal or not, it's not the drug that puts a smile on your face.

It's you.

Just as a person chooses to smile, he chooses to be happy. At the root of this choice is taking responsibility for one's happiness.

Of course, I am not talking about the giggly kind of happiness that is found at parties.

IMHO the closest example of happiness is serenity i.e. being the eye of the storm.

Where around me uncertainty may exist, deep within me, my heartmind is calm.

That's what makes me smile. :)

Less is More: The Sane Harm Reduction

With regard especially to marijuana and all recreational drugs, LESS IS MORE.

In short, do enough to be happy not delirious, psychotic, or out of your mind.

If you haven't the willpower to have fun on one drink, one puff, one hit, one line, or one pill, then you have no concept of the word MODERATION.

And yes, when your substance use becomes abuse, I hope you find it in yourself to check yourself into the nearest mental health & addictions centre.

This goes for cigarette smokers and hungry people too.

Doing anything to excess is almost a form of mental illness.

The Propaganda of Drug Prohibition

"The propaganda that caused people to believe that Germans were a master race and Jews were an inferior race and needed to be exterminated has an exact parallel in the war on marijuana. You create false evils, create fear and hatred for a certain class of people and proceed to inflict horrific punishment on the targets of your lies. All the while seizing totalitarian power for yourself and your cronies based on the need for people to abandon their normal concepts of right and wrong and leave those decisions entirely to the propagandists." -- Daryl Verville, in his documentary The Naked Queen

In a recent example, the US FDA indicates it has bought the propaganda about medical marijuana which it claims has no benefits. At the same time, the FDA has historically allowed SSRI anti-depressants go on the market while pharmaceutical companies have hidden data which shows risk of suicide amongst patients, especially teenagers.

Meanwhile, marijuana has been considered a dangerous narcotic which causes anxiety and paranoia, but only among one out of four people who have used it since they were teens. This means that among people who use it occasionally (less than once a week) as adults, more than 75% of them will experience no ill effects, apart from mild intoxication, increased ability to get to sleep at night and associated changes in sleep patterns. In short, for the majority of users, marijuana is a non-addictive alternative to habit-forming benzodiazepines, used by consumers by prescription as sleep aids and sedatives.

Does the propaganda against marijuana indicate the relative harmlessness of the drug when compared to cigarettes (nicotine) and alcohol? No, most anti-marijuana literature addresses the health risks, including cognitive deficits and especially high use side effects, and claims marijuana is addictive. Indeed, most anti-marijuana literature uses subtle scare tactics and promotes abstinence.

However, neither the pro-marijuana nor the anti-marijuana proponents advocate moderation of use. It is barely brought up in debates for or against the drug.

Quite possibly, moderation of use may be covered under harm reduction. If moderation works for some alcoholics, it can work for marijuana users.

"Because let's face it: there's no bigger pusher than the state. There are far more dangerous and mind-altering drugs than marijuana being pushed on us every day by huge pharmaceutical companies, with the blessings of our doctors and the government. And no one's raiding the drug companies." -- Bonnie Burstow, senior lecturer at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

In Moderation Marijuana Beats Alcohol

420 beats alcohol. Here's how:

Alcohol, when consumed during binge drinking - the pastime of today's youth - can lead to violence. It is also a dangerous gateway drug, like tobacco!

Pot, when consumed in moderate amounts - two puffs - leads to the typical stoned feeling with momentary lapses of consciousness.

Only in people who associate violence with getting drunk or stoned, and binge drink and/or smoke too much pot, may become violent.

Please pass it on! Puff puff!

The Occasional Drug User's Manifesto

1. I will research any drug, its side effects, pharmacology, and toxicology before procuring any such drug.


2. I will take 25% of the minimum dose to feel a noticeable effect.


3. I will not take more if I feel no reaction to prevent intoxication.


4. I will urge at all times moderation in use of any substance


5. I will report my experiences after use including how others could benefit from the experience.


6. Less is more. Therefore I will advocate against drug binges or swift reaction to stress with a drug.