Just to give one example of how marijuana (or as the hip youth call it, “Mary Jane”) can destroy a person’s life, a childhood friend started experimenting with the drug while in high school. Pretty soon, we noticed his odd behaviour–taking an interest in Jazz music and constantly talking about how Thelonius Monk was an under-appreciated genius. Eventually, he ended up learning to play the saxophone, winning a ‘Down Beat’ readers poll award for Best New Talent, and signing a recording contract with Arista Records. He is now on his 14th world tour supporting his latest album. This sad, sad tragedy could have been averted had we friends had the courage to notice the warning signs and intervene.

(a/…duh)