When we were young we smoked a ton of weed.
We bought it by the kilo around here.
It didn’t lead to heroin or speed
addiction. Alcoholics don’t use beer
as gateway drinks, and while we smoked a lot,
and added ‘shrooms and acid when we would,
and spiced with rock and roll and blues our pot,
our bodies processed all, and all was good.

And though reports say drugs are stronger now,
we wonder if the issue is our years.
Perhaps we’ve worn away the path to how
we handled combinations. It appears
that some of us are dying from abuse.
More likely we’re too old for compound use.