I have been a psychologist, specialist, and a researcher for many years, but I have recently become concerned over something because it has become a joke. is being described as an acceptable drug. It's subtle, but standup comedians, sitcoms, talk shows; even some news stories turn the use of marijuana into a joke. Just think of the Bill Maher show "Real Time." Maher is a very bright guy but every show he talks about - almost brags of his use of marijuana. I don't get it! Marijuana is grown in such a way that we have no idea how many chemicals are in it - when they (whoever they are) grow it in what is described as an organic fashion (without pesticides) in water baths, for example, they boast at how much stronger it is. Is anybody listening? The level of THC is stronger and we know that THC is dangerous to developing brains of tweens and teens and even to the adult brain. As a jazz musician, "tea" (as it was called back then), could always be smelled in the back rooms of jazz clubs and nobody really knew any better. But now we do. All I am asking is for the reader of this blog to note that marijuana is a drug; it can affect the brain and body in a deleterious manner and we as a society need to start taking it more seriously.