When a lot of us here at the Daily were young, anti-drug messages were everywhere, and they were out of control. "Just say no" was the big idea of First Lady Nancy Reagan, a concept that assumed kids were being seduced by drug dealers at every turn, not bored and looking for something to enliven the monotony of their lives, as was too often the case.

Back then, crack was the big target of most anti-drug campaigns. It's probably a safe guess that most CU students have never been in the same room as a crack pipe, so encouraging you to stay away from something concocted from cocaine, househould cleaners and God knows what else is probably a waste of time.

So what's ruining people's lives these days? Meth, for one. Stay away from that stuff for sure. Seemingly innocuous stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin are pretty popular with the college crowd these days because they supposedly helps you study longer and better, but honestly we think they just make people feel good and so it's no different than any other drug. Take too much and you're going to get hooked, plain and simple.

And on it goes. There's no end to the things people will smoke, shoot, snort or ingest to get high. But none is so universally accepted among the college crowd as marijuana, a plant that some 10,000 of you gathered to honor this past week with a little party on the Norlin Quad.

Now far be it from us to tell students they should or should not smoke pot. There's no evidence marijuana is dangerous or a true gateway to harder drugs. It is illegal though, so if you get caught with a pound of pot don't say we didn't warn you.

Don't be fooled though, marijuana can have its downside. Which brings us back to those anti-drug campaigns. In the '80s and '90s, anti-drug commercials were like horror films gone bad. The whole "This is your brain on drugs" thing got kind of funny after a while, with people smashing up their kitchens while ranting about the effects drugs will have on one's family, friends and life. Who could take that seriously?

These days, anti-drug campaigns are a little more subtle and, to the point, more accurate. There's one where a young man and his friends sit on the stoop of a row house smoking weed while a young girl raps about the young man's life. The essence of the commercial is that the pot-smoking teen just sits and sits and sits.

Another commercial shows a teenage boy building a cocoon from pot. Soon he's totally encased and when he finally awakens he's a balding, middle-aged man who looks something like KG from Tenacious D. Still, kind of funny. But honestly, who doensn't know that guy, the one that always talks about what he's going to do but never does anything. The guy that's 35 and still showing up at college keggers. The guy that spends more time smoking and playing Guitar Hero than studying or even going out with friends.

No, pot won't kill you. But it can suck the life out of you. College is a great time to have fun, explore new things and, if you're so inclined, experiment with "mind expansion." Just make sure you're being honest with yourself about where it's taking you.