If you want to know what marijuana is like, ask your co-workers. Or your neighbors. Or fellow PTA members. You won't be hard-pressed to find someone who knows.
But getting a straight answer is another matter.
More than one in four Americans -- 83 million -- admit they've tried marijuana, according to the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Here in the conservative Midwest, however, the percentage is -- surprise! -- even higher. More than 38 percent of Buckeyes age 12 or older admit smoking dope at least once in their lives, according to the 2001 Ohio Drug Threat Assessment by the National Drug Intelligence Office.
Please note the operative word: "admit." Careful persons never acknowledge to a government agency that they broke the law; one can therefore theorize that even more PTA members have smoked pot than actually admit it.
Careful persons also hesitate to talk to reporters about smoking marijuana. Thus you'll see many pseudonyms in this package of stories. All of the growers and sellers and most of the consumers we spoke to agreed to interviews only on condition of anonymity.
Marijuana is everywhere in Cincinnati. One of the most accommodating dealers in the not too distant past was a sergeant at the downtown Cincinnati recruiting office for the U.S. Army. He was a dealer from the old school, not only giving fair weight but also allowing buyers to sample the product while riding in a government car.
Teachers smoke dope. Lawyers smoke dope. Doctors smoke dope. Officeholders smoke dope. Cops smoke dope. Some smoke dope with reporters. But just try to get them to talk about it on the record.
Given the number of people who smoke marijuana, studying it poses surprisingly difficult journalistic challenges. How does one report the way marijuana is enjoyed without glamorizing it? How does one see and smell and taste the substance without breaking the law? How does one speak frankly -- let alone get others to do so -- about a widespread, illegal phenomenon without risking reputation, employment, family harmony?
Made illegal by the federal Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, the weed is increasingly on the minds of voters 65 years later. Ohio last year rejected a state constitutional amendment that would have mandated treatment, rather than prison, for first-time and second-time nonviolent drug offenders.
Other states have considered reforms specific to marijuana. In Nevada, voters last year rejected Question 9, a ballot initiative that would have decriminalized possession of less than 3 ounces of marijuana.
In 1999 voters approved the Oregon Medicinal Marijuana Act, which provides that marijuana be treated like any other kind of medicine and controlled by the state. Possession of more than 1 ounce, however, remains a felony.
Washington, D.C.'s Medical Marijuana Initiative was widely supported, but the courts blocked it from the ballot last year.
The United States might not legalize marijuana for many years, if ever. But the idea has gained renewed interest now that Canada's Justice Minister has endorsed legalization.
The mainstream media almost invariably report on marijuana as a law enforcement issue or a health problem. We decided to approach the subject from a different perspective. Our goal is to show readers what marijuana is about: how it's grown, how much it costs and why so many risk so much in order to get high.
Bear in mind that reporting on Cincinnati's marijuana culture is akin to reporting on its alcohol culture or its chocolate culture. The substance is too widely used for anyone to say anything definitive about it. Your experience with marijuana is bound to be as unique as your experience with sex or driving.
That, of course, is the point. Marijuana is as close as the fourth cubicle from your own, as near as the closet in your respectable neighbor's bedroom.
Many know it, but few want to publicly talk about it. This is our effort to help wear down the taboo.
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