by Mario Balderas

Created on: July 15, 2009   Last Updated: July 16, 2009

Is getting high worth all the hype ? After all what's the use of getting high ? How about to feel good for starters ? I mean why do we have pre-marital sex ? Because it feels good right ? Same goes with the good ol' use of substance abuse. Whether it's illegal or legal I would assume we are discussing the Willy Nelson and Johnny Cash type of preference here aren't we ? Who wants to discuss the rush you can obtain from a Caramel Latte' while smoking a Marlboro Light on a Tuesday afternoon.

That is so not Janis Joplin dude. We all know cigarettes kill people year after year but last time I checked suicide wasn't considered murder or manslaughter . On that note I don't think Little Johnny smoking a cigarette while driving is any more of a threat than the 5 o'clock soccer mom behind the wheel yelling at the kids while talking to Suzie Q about the PTA meeting in the morning. While in my years I have dibbled in anything you could possibly imagine I will not say I didn't have control ever. I liked the feeling of getting " high".

While I would never advocate the legalization of narcotics except for marijuana I can't lie and say the rush you get from some of those substances don't feel good. Isn't that why they were created? While I lived a lot of my single life at the bar I can't think of one time that I drank and wanted to play soccer ( I still play 3 nights a week). On that same note I can't count the hundreds of times I got advice from good old mary jane before a game and functioned just fine. It's not life threatening, it doesn't cause harm to those around me, it relaxes me, and it makes me feel good. Who doesn't want that ? The majority of the population that don't get near any drug is for the fact that it's an illegal act .

Can it make you lazy sometimes ? Yes. Can it alter your mind yes? However the question is what is the use of getting high not what is the good use of getting high? Friday night bored at home , pop in a comedy and take a good old hit of some Jungle Juice and tell me that you won't have a great time in the comfort and safety of your home. What's the use of getting high on speed? The same. Because they can and it makes them feel non sober which is what the big alcohol corporations count on. If they wanted us to drink responsibly then wouldn't they make liquor weaker ? Do people get hooked on painkillers because it takes away the pain? Negative. They like the high and that's the devil inside.

It's easy for the outside critic to say they don't see the purpose but different strokes for different folks is true to the T. Just like alcohol if abused these drugs are definitely not safe for the user and those around them. For as long as humans have been around mind altering ritual and celebrations have been part of cultures all over the world. Christopher Columbus himself had several missions on his voyage around the world and one was to find opiates. Why? Because they smoked it for the effect it gave. They didn't have acetimenophen back then to convert it to a " legal drug " back then. Humans ( some not all ) can only do so much before the curiosity or boredom gets to them. Besides marijuana , the harmful effects of substances outweigh the high that other narcotics can offer so I am definitely not glorifying any illegal drug, but I can comprehend the want for a high here and there. Like many of life's temptations without control a forest fire can burn a lot of acres. So the answer is obvious here, the only use to getting high is exactly that , to get high.

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