This comment is from Paul Winkler to the author of the post about her brother, “What Marijuana Means to Me“.
Paul Winkler said:
Hi Grace,
My brother-in-law did not fall for marijuana and other drugs like your brother has done. Instead, for fear of becoming an addict, he turned to alcohol, and became an alcoholic. By the time he died at age 50, he had lost everything: home, partner, job, family. All he had left were debts and an old camper truck that didn’t work and was ransacked when he died.
When any substance, illegal or not, grabs one’s soul, that person is just a statistic-in-waiting; not much humanity left. Occasional flashes of the old personality, immersed in the continuum of misery and hopelessness, violence and petty crime.
And then there’s my other brother-in-law, who likely *was* addicted to marijuana – but it did him little harm, because he used it mainly for pain management for his acute arthritis and numerous other health problems. For him, marijuana was a godsend.
I am sorry your brother got “hooked” so early, but unless he can somehow save himself, he will be gone by age 30 as you predict; and it would be a blessing for him not to drag on for another decade or two. One day perhaps we’ll solve these types of mental illness, but until then they represent great tragedies of life.; not much humanity left. Occasional flashes of the old personality, immersed in the continuum of misery and hopelessness, violence and petty crime.
And then there’s my other brother-in-law, who likely *was* addicted to marijuana – but it did him little harm, because he used it mainly for pain management for his acute arthritis and numerous other health problems. For him, marijuana was a godsend.
…One day perhaps we’ll solve these types of mental illness, but until then they represent great tragedies of life.
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