Drugs and Heavy Drinking on and along the AT

[Hairbear]

dont worry when they legalize it,and they will,you can move on to things like the mentaly hadicaped,unemployed ,other race,sexual orientation to find a position of superiority in self.we cant find anything good in ourselves to achieve god status in our own minds,so we look for things in others that are (in our own opinion)inferior to acomplish this.improve self with the same effort and watch your life really change for the better.

[mrcoffeect]

I don't care what you all do out there, have a fing blast. Just don't let me catch you stealing from me or anyone else for that matter. I caught a kid taking a cigarette out of my pack this spring in the smokys,I about blew a gasket. that kid to this day probably doesn't know how close his thru hike came to ending with an ambulance ride. lucky for him i didn't want mine to end in the back of a police car. Instead i dogged that kid in every town i came to, i let all the business owners to watch that little f---er he's a thife.

[atmilkman]

.educate yourself on the impact of proabition of marjuana,the statistics are 87 percent of the population admits to trying it ,40 percent use it daily,74 percent think it should be lagalized.proabition is big business,but truely pales in the posibility for profit from taxation.marijuana was criminalized to take the political power away from the counter culture movement.you know lets make it a felony so the hippies cant vote when we bust them.even if you dont smoke it at 40 percent daily use statistics there is a good chance that one of your loved ones could face criminal action, effecting you even though you dont smoke it.there are more people in prison over pot than all violent crimes combined.when these non violent people become institutionalized they become more violent,and better trained criminals from their contact with violent inmates.the soviet union is the only country that has a higher incarseration rate than the u s.doe you really want to see all your tax monety used to enforce laws that the population does not think needs to be there?

Instead of making it a felony to get control of the vote it would have been better to just legalize it and the percentage of daily users would probably go up and then they would just forget when to vote. Oh man, we were supposed to vote yesterday.

[turtle fast]

Its still illegal, and sometimes due to its use I have seen its use get out of hand....especially when combined with alcohol at a shelter. The last time when the folks were about to have festivities...a guy asked me what I do for a living and I said jokingly "I work for the DEA as a weapons specialist in an entry team"....they took it as real and I killed their festivities. It was funny... I have though really run into active Federal agents who were hiking and you would of never known it. Once I ran into elements of a reserve Marine unit who were actively looking for marijuana grow operations.

[Slo-go'en]

..marijuana was criminalized to take the political power away from the counter culture movement.

Smoking pot by white kids first became popular in the 1930's during the jazz era. Since Jazz was primarly coming out of the Black community, along with smoking marijuana, this did not sit well with white politicians who felt thier youth were being corrupted. Marijuana was made illegal in order to make criminals out of black jazz musicians and as a side benifit another way to harrase black people in general. A classic anti-marijuana film produced at that time is called "Reefer Madness". It's probably available on line somewhere and is a hoot to watch.

[atmilkman]

Smoking pot by white kids first became popular in the 1930's during the jazz era. Since Jazz was primarly coming out of the Black community, along with smoking marijuana, this did not sit well with white politicians who felt thier youth were being corrupted. Marijuana was made illegal in order to make criminals out of black jazz musicians and as a side benifit another way to harrase black people in general. A classic anti-marijuana film produced at that time is called "Reefer Madness". It's probably available on line somewhere and is a hoot to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbjHOBJzhb0

[SassyWindsor]

How can the people doing the heavy drinking and drugs on and along the AT be keep away?

Provide more drinks and drugs along another trail.

[coach lou]

OH, the humanity........those poor souls lost to the demon weed.......................................

[Drybones]

It's interesting to me that so many folks promoting Mary Jane are against cigarettes...go figure???

[Lone Wolf]

It's interesting to me that so many folks promoting Mary Jane are against cigarettes...go figure???

both bad for your lungs and both are addictive

[Nean]

both bad for your lungs and both are addictive

One physical, the other mental

[daddytwosticks]

...I'm mentally addicted to snack cakes and corn chips...

[WingedMonkey]

It's interesting to me that so many folks promoting carrying booze are so offended by weed.

[atmilkman]

...I'm mentally addicted to snack cakes and corn chips...

At one time I wanted to marry Little Debbie.

[Dogwood]

While there is drinking and smoking on the trial, it is almost always done in moderation and often discretely. Heavy drinking isn't very common nor is "drug" use. At worse, you'll see someone take a few sips from a flask or a couple of tokes off a pipe and that's it for the evening.

On rare occasions you might run into a group of locals partying at a shelter or campsite which is an easy walk from a road. Usually on a Saturday night. If you happen to run into a group like that, it is usually a good idea to push on, although it can be fun to join them.

+1 Problems can occur at shelters that are close to roads but even then it's usually not a major issue. There aren't a great number of AT shelters near roads either. Stay away from shelters if you don't like the social inter-reactions there. And, don't be afraid to make your desires known even if it means doing so clearly and loudly!

However, IMHO, weed and tobacco smoking hikers, while at AT shelters, tend to imbibe discreetly or away from the shelter in moderation. Personally, I have no problem with someone or a few hikers sharing A FEW beers, a bottle of wine, a sip of brandy, or taking a few tokes on the trail as long as they are discreet, do so in moderation, and clean up after themselves. Drinking to excess, getting intoxicated, puffing up a 1/4 oz in one sitting, or getting obliterated at AT shelters, now that can rear it's head in ugly ways though.

[Sarcasm the elf]

It's interesting to me that so many folks promoting carrying booze are so offended by weed.

A decade of random drug tests from one's employer makes it fairly unpleasant to be around weed. I've got no moral issue with it, but there are plenty of us that don't want to be in the immediate proximity of people using it. That said, it's also one of those issues that is a far larger problem on Internet message boards than it ever is on the trail.

[Lone Wolf]

That said, it's also one of those issues that is a far larger problem on Internet message boards than it ever is on the trail.

it's become a larger problem at The Place hostel. alcohol and dope. but at least the police stop in there regular and i don't hesitate to call them when i catch the jerks

[StylinLP38]

+1 Problems can occur at shelters that are close to roads but even then it's usually not a major issue. There aren't a great number of AT shelters near roads either. Stay away from shelters if you don't like the social inter-reactions there. And, don't be afraid to make your desires known even if it means doing so clearly and loudly!

However, IMHO, weed and tobacco smoking hikers, while at AT shelters, tend to imbibe discreetly or away from the shelter in moderation. Personally, I have no problem with someone or a few hikers sharing A FEW beers, a bottle of wine, a sip of brandy, or taking a few tokes on the trail as long as they are discreet, do so in moderation, and clean up after themselves. Drinking to excess, getting intoxicated, puffing up a 1/4 oz in one sitting, or getting obliterated at AT shelters, now that can rear it's head in ugly ways though.

100% agree with Dogwood and Slo-go'en

[Sarcasm the elf]

it's become a larger problem at The Place hostel. alcohol and dope. but at least the police stop in there regular and i don't hesitate to call them when i catch the jerks

True, I haven't hiked as far as Damascus yet, but anyone who would bring drugs/alcohol into a church hostel show a serious lack of basic respect and decency.

[atmilkman]

True, I haven't hiked as far as Damascus yet, but anyone who would bring drugs/alcohol into a church hostel show a serious lack of basic respect and decency.

+1 on that and LW correct me if I'm wrong but didn't you say in an earlier post The Place doesn't care if you go and have a beer or a drink just don't bring it back on the property.