I don't try to keep up with the gossip columnist on Salon; I tend to find Cary Tennis's words of wisdom to be treacly, preachy, and not particularly relevant to how I do things. However, a recent question by a total freaking prude - er, excuse me, a concerned reader - gave me a tiny sliver of hope that Tennis might just possibly know what he's talking about.
The question is from a man who has a complete and total aversion to drugs. Now look, that's fine - I don't expect anyone I know to give a shit about drugs or be supportive of anyone's drug habits or anything like that. But this guy takes it a step beyond:
I have a crippling emotional distrust of people who do drugs or abuse alcohol. I'm sure many people judge others who do drugs, but I feel that when I hear someone has done drugs, even if it was in college, that I view them in a completely different light -- I now think of them as stupid, selfish or insecure. I feel like I have less judgment for people who smoked marijuana, but I still feel like I look down on them.
I'm a graduate student and I have never done drugs and I only drink socially. I have no desire to take drugs because a) I don't like losing control of my body and b) I don't think it adds anything to a person's character.
He goes on to indicate that his new girlfriend recently admitted to trying cocaine over a year ago, and now he's freaking out; he can't handle the dangerous slide this woman is on.
I'm not ignorant about the dangers of cocaine, but I'm also not sucking down propaganda one mouthful at a time either. The woman experimented and hasn't developed any kind of crippling, debilitating addiction; this guy just doesn't like that she ever tried it.
Tennis's response is surprisingly rational:
So you have a real conflict, don't you? You really, really hate drug use, and this woman you're seeing tried cocaine once.
Can't you just admit to her how crazy this makes you feel, without getting all uppity about it? Can't you admit it humbly? Believe me, your lack of drug use doesn't make you superior to anyone. It's just a choice you've made. It's a good thing. But it doesn't make you better than anyone else. It's just who you are.
Besides, she only used cocaine once.
It's just totally nice to see relatively mainstream outlets, even ones with liberal bias (which in no way inherently equals a clever outlook on personal drug use), put the smack down on those who can't grok that it's possible to try a drug without destroying your life. It's possible to
enjoy a drug without destroying your life. People do it
all the fucking time. As the Lectroid at the very end of
Buckaroo Banzai says, "So what?... Big deal."
