I tend to agree with Little Hawk.

I tried the stuff twice back in the early Sixties. The first time, I experienced some "space-time dilation" which was pretty weird, but I can't really say I got "high." The following day I felt a little fuzzy around the edges—hard to concentrate—which was annoying as hell because I was at the Berkeley Folk Festival, there were workshops I was attending, and I wanted to be alert. And despite thoroughly brushing my teeth, I had a mouth like the bottom of a bird cage.

I mentioned to one of the guys who was at the affair where I first tried it that, frankly, I couldn't really see what all the shouting was about. He said, "You're being to analytical. You have to just 'go with the flow.'" A month or two later, back in Seattle, I tried it again. I got a bit woozy, but two beers on an empty stomach could do that, and I can't get arrested for drinking two beers in someone's private home.

I figured "to hell with this!" I drank unhealthy amounts of coffee, I smoked like a chimney (really bright for a guy who sings!!), and although I rarely got tiddly, I enjoyed many a convivial brewski with friends, and the hard stuff when I could afford it. I already had enough bad habits.

When at songfests and such where my pot-smoking friends were indulging, in their euphoric state they would say glowing things like, "God, man, I've never played this well!" or "I've never heard you play this well!" attributing their brilliance to the weed. But that was not what I heard! I heard a lot of singing off-pitch and out of rhythm and a lot of arrhythmic, fumble-fingered guitar playing. Many well-known musicians claim that pot and other drugs enhance their performing and creativity, but not according to what I've seen and heard with my own two eyes and ears.

Should anyone say that I didn't get "The Good Stuff," how do you explain that the joints were circling the room and we were all suckin' up the same stuff? Those who were the most enthusiastic pot-heads were the ones orbiting the chandelier while the rest of us were not. I have two possible explanations: 1) different brain chemistry; or 2) placebo effect.

I don't see that marijuana should be any more illegal than a lot of other things like booze and tobacco—and the so-called "War on Drugs" is an idiotic joke. As for myself, though, I chose to abstain. I like to keep my head on straight

Don ("Hey, man . . . what time is it?") Firth

P.S.: Of course, there are those who claim that if you can remember the Sixties, you weren't really there.