I smoked my first joint as a teenager. Four decades later, I've yet to smoke my last.

Yup, count me among the estimated 30 million Americans who occasionally dabble in the evil weed and still manage to hold down a job, function fairly well in polite society, and eschew the harder drugs that pot opponents insist await those who indulge. Despite the dire warnings, my mind has yet to disintegrate. To paraphrase Tyrion Lannister on "Game of Thrones," I drink, I smoke pot and I still know things.

I consider myself in good company. Politicians, entertainers, writers, world-class athletes and even Supreme Court justices have admitted that they smoked marijuana or still do. Morgan Freeman calls it God's weed and once told a reporter, "Never give up the ganja." Maya Angelou reportedly "smoked marijuana with abandon," according to her biography. In 2009, Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps was suspended for three months after he was photographed inhaling from a bong. Even Martha Stewart has said she knows how to roll a joint; Bill Maher writes some of the most biting political satire in America, and he's an outspoken user.

"Look, I have never made a secret of the fact that I have tried marijuana ... About 50,000 times,” he once quipped.

So much for the myth that people who smoke weed are slackers. Sure, pot makes some people tired, hungry or paranoid. For others, pot stimulates the brain, enhances things and helps people relax. And recreational users aren't potheads, the same way people who enjoy an occasional glass of wine have little in common with alcoholics. As with most vices, moderation is key.

It's important to blow these pothead stereotypes up in smoke as Massachusetts considers a ballot question in November calling for the legalization of recreational marijuana. Interestingly, lots of elected officials have voiced opposition to the measure despite growing public acknowledgement that pot is no big deal. District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said he supports pot for medicinal use but not for recreation. In an op-ed in The Boston Globe, the governor, the mayor of Boston and the attorney general urged voters to say no, claiming young people would be more likely to use pot if it's legal. They also make claims more suited to the anti-drug exploitation film"Reefer Madness," saying there's a "frightening correlation between regular marijuana use and severe mental health issues."

And they say this: "Here in Massachusetts, we face the possibility that any new revenue would be vastly insufficient to cover the cost of ambulance rides, emergency room visits, and treatment. And these are just the hard costs; they don’t include the suffering of the injured and their families."

Those claims are absurd. Alcohol and prescription drugs cause far more "suffering" than pot, and no one has ever died from overdosing on weed. In 2010, 38,329 people died from drug overdoses; 60 percent of those were tied to legal prescription drugs. That same year, 25,692 people died from alcohol-related causes. And I've never heard of anyone embarking on a pot-fueled violent rampage.

In 2013, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, wrote a public apology for his previous opposition to medical marijuana and said pot has no high potential for abuse. He noted that marijuana leads to dependence in nine to 10 percent of adult users, while cocaine hooks about 20 percent, heroin, 25 percent, and tobacco at 30 percent. As for prescription pill addiction, we're in the throes of a horrifying epidemic.

"We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that," Gupta wrote. As a father, he said, he wouldn't let his kids smoke pot until they're adults, the same way he wouldn't let them drink alcohol. But he rejected as nonsensical the Drug Enforcement Agency's listing of marijuana as a schedule 1 substance, in the category of the most dangerous drugs.

I respect Gupta's honesty. It's important we be candid during the cannabis debate, which is why I come forward now. Locally, I know plenty of accomplished people who smoke pot but would never admit it because of the stigma. It's probably easier for me because I don't have kids and my parents are dead, although this newspaper has many elderly readers who will likely frown at my admission. But it would be hypocritical to write about this ballot question without disclosing that I occasionally smoke pot and don't apologize.

Every year, more and more people favor pot legalization. Here in Massachusetts, it's been decriminalized and approved for medicinal use. When opiates claim a life in this country every 19 minutes, efforts to enforce marijuana laws cost far more than they're worth. Let's get real - it's high time to legalize weed.