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THE GENERAL IDEA

For as long as I can remember, the debate over cannabis has centered on whether it is harmful. I would like to focus instead on marijuana’s uses and possible benefits. Some ten million Americans smoke marijuana regularly. Millions more use it occasionally. But why, exactly? I know that some people use marijuana as a medicine, while others use it simply to “party.” But between these two poles are many other uses and effects that might best be described by words like enhancing, therapeutic, exploratory, expansive, and so on. The Uses of Marijuana will explore these various possibilities. I hope you will join me by writing about your experience.

Here are a few suggestions:

  • You could write a personal essay or contribute to our blog — serious, whimsical, or some of each — about the place of marijuana in your life, or why you use it, or what you especially enjoy about it.
  • Or you could cover the same ground in other ways: by exchanging a series of letters (or e-mails) with a friend and sending them on to us; by writing up a dialogue about marijuana with your spouse or partner; by sending sections from a journal; or perhaps even by keeping a journal for a few weeks and sending us some excerpts from it.
  • Or you might write up an interview with yourself on the subject of marijuana, or ask a friend to interview you; or send us something you have already written on this subject — or any other writing about marijuana that you’d like us to be aware of.

THE FINE PRINT

Whether or not we can use your name, please identify who you are and how to contact you. And kindly provide at least four basic details: your age, your gender, your occupation, and what part of the country you live in. If you’d like to identify yourself further, please do.

Submissions to The Uses of Marijuana should be typed and easy to read. Longer contributions are fine, but whatever you send, please keep a copy. I hope to respond to all contributions within 2-3 weeks. If you have questions or comments about this project, I’ll do my best to respond.

Please forward your submissions as soon as possible!

Please send all submissions and correspondence via this form…

Or via email to Lester_Grinspoon@hms.Harvard.edu

Cordially,
Lester Grinspoon, M.D.