Up in Smoke

Does anyone remember the Cheech & Chong movie 'Up in Smoke?'

Today was one of the more interesting days as we spent the entire day learning about drugs. A team of undercover narcotic officers from Chandler brought in all kinds of pipes, bongs, and other drug paraphernelia seized during raids. They also brought in some actual marijuana for everyone to examine. The marijuana was then lit and the room was filled with smoke so that we could all become familiar with the smell (which will serve as a basis for making arrests in the future). The table containing all of the dirty bongs and pipes was directly behind me so I had the pleasure of smelling the pungent odor all day. I got to see and handle crack cocaine, black tar heroin, and LSD for the first time. We also saw a picture of the effects of taking PCP (Angel Dust). A man high on PCP spent a night slicing all of the flesh from his face with a piece of broken glass and feeding the scraps to his dog. By the time police arrived, his nose, eyes, ears, and all of the skin and flesh were gone. The only recognizable feature was his perfectly white teeth set in a bloody red mess of muscle.

For the past two days, our class was dismissed from morning inspection. Instead of the usual dress inspection, our sergeant sent us to class. This was a sigh of relief from all of us since every failure is met with a punishment of trail runs or essays. We were even given permission to conduct our morning warm-up on the rubberized running track instead of the cold, wet, muddy grass.

I'm starting to get used to waking up at 0415 (that's 4:15 a.m. to you civilians) and have even had a chance to witness some of the nocturnal wildlife in the city. On different mornings, I've seen a racoon and a skunk wandering a mall parking lot. I have no idea where they came from and had no idea those kinds of critters would be running around in the middle of the city.