Saturday, March 25, 2006

Herbal link? The "Why is this news" story of the day.

A recent study has found that teens that use herbal remedies are more prone to using illicit drugs. In my house right now crickets are chirping and nobody has noticed I said anything at all. There is no surprise here.

Actually, that's not entirely true, I'm surprised that the people that conducted this study got the relationship backwards. What it really should say is that teens that use illicit drugs (specifically marijuana) are more likely to use herbal remedies.

You know why? Because herbal has the word herb in it. That's it, that is all there is to it. The thought processes go something like this:

1. I like the way this herb makes me feel.
2. I would like some nachos and a bowl of ice cream.
3. My stomach hurts.
4. I wonder how that herb will make me feel.

It's really that simple. And unfortunately, speaking as a former teen that smoked pot, I can confirm that the best part of using an herbal remedy is that you get to say the word herb. You get to be in the herb club.

I once knew a guy we called Herb, and whenever he entered a room we would call out his name like he was Norm from Cheers. I know they have all kinds of names for the stuff now, but back in the day we just said "Hey, got any herb?" because we liked calling it herb.

Wouldn't it be nice if someone would spend some money on something like, I don't know, actually doing something to prevent teens from smoking herb?

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