ABOVE THE INFLUENCE OF YOUR STUPID FUCKING COMMERCIALS

You know, I am TOTALLY never going to smoke pot, simply because I saw a thirty-second, poorly-drawn cartoon about aliens and a stick-person sitting on a park bench.

Poorly-drawn emotionally-driven-rather-than-logically-explained PSAs will totally keep the kids from tokin' up!

*eyeroll*

A nitpick: "Above the influence." If you were above influence, then wouldn't you be immune to THIS influence as well, and thusly, you would be able to make your own damn decisions rather than obeying the demands of either friends OR a television advert? And I always thought "influence" was a different creature than an absolute, irrefutable, DO-IT-OR-DIE!!!! order from your supposed higher-ups.

I do not care what comes in, on, or out of your body. As long as one does not harm another being on this Earth, it is none of my business. And so far, I have never seen a pothead harm anybody else (though my brother and his friends did some sizable damage on that freezer full of food I was planning to eat over that weekend) while stoned. I've heard a pothead laugh his ass off at children's cartoons. I've listened to a circle of 'em chat about reincarnation and stray cats and the nature of reality. Never seen a pothead knife someone else.

However, I have seen a lot of bad things come out of alcohol and cigarettes. Yes, not every boozer and smoker is a nasty person. Lots of them are nice. But some of them turn into rather nasty beasts when drinking, yet alcohol is fully legal. Huh.

I've also never noted that my pothead friends are evil homicidal fucks who care nothing for my well-being, as pothead friends are portrayed in commercials and after-school specials. Most of my friends are kinda spacy, but they're friendly people. Get even friendlier when stoned (though sometimes they get more annoying with giggles and munchies). I turn down their offer--smoke bothers my lungs and sinuses--and they leave it alone, then go get stoned a little bit away from me, so it won't bother me.

Not all stoners are angelic, not all boozers are evil. Of course not! But I'm rather annoyed with the fact that stoners are continually portrayed as evil, evil fucks and boozers as good, upstanding members of society who just happen to be drinking a smelly drink. Depends on what your poison is on whether you get nasty or nice, really. But seriously--think for JUST A SECOND about these kinds of things.