I see it much the same way you do, Sawzaw. Yes, they are all a crutch. I first encountered dope smokers at about age 20 when I moved to Toronto. Every young person I knew at that time smoked dope on a casual basis...except for me...and a few smoked it on a really heavy basis (several times every day). The whole thing struck me as idiotic. Mind you, I think smoking cigarettes is idiotic too, and almost everyone I knew was a tobacco smoker as well back then.

I was always a real nonconformist to (most) common and popular youth trends. There was something in me that allowed me to look at it from outside the social expectations of my peers, and I could plainly see that it was stupid, self-defeating, and bad for your health to smoke anything, as well as to drink very much alcohol. Yet everyone around me went for that stuff. It was strange to be part of that scene and yet not part of it at the same time. Here I was, a long-haired musician, had "the look", but didn't do the substance abuse. ;-) I can't tell you how many cops have stopped me on suspicion and found nothing.

I agree that it fucks up your thinking. I have smoked it a handful of times over the last 40 years...about 5 or 6 times. When I did so, I did it in order to educate myself as to what the heck it was that the other people were doing it for? My conclusion was that they were doing it for quite a variety of reasons, but that none of those reasons gave me any further impulse to join them. It seems to have different effects on different people, depending on their personality and their nervous system. Some people become much more relaxed under the influence, and that's why they like it. Others get paranoid and stressed out, and they don't enjoy the experience. In my case, it just complicates and to some extent confuses my mind...and I don't like that at all. So there is no reason whatever that I would want to smoke dope.

Looking back to all those friends I had, I'd say that the ones who smoked casually suffered little negative effect from it, while the ones who smoked heavily usually became more lazy, disorganized, and irresponsible than they would have without it...plus they wasted a lot of attention and money on it which might have been better spent elsewhere. Hell, some of them even turned it into a sort of religion! ;-)

I have one friend, a very nice and kindly person, who swears by it. He has medical conditions that it seems to alleviate. What can I say? Maybe for him it's an okay thing. That's something he has to decide, not me. I do think it's unfortunate that the stuff is illegal, because this very nice and totally harmless guy could have his whole life messed up if the cops happen to catch him...and that would be a shame, and would be of no benefit to society. He's a benefit to society right now just as he is, because he does a lot of things to help other people.