My first time was when I was 18 or 19. The circle of immediate stoners who initiated me were my friend Mike, my friend Jeanie, my friend Beth and two others whose names I no longer remember. Jeanie was a big-time stoner, and Mike practically grew cannabis out of his ears he was so into it. The wider circle of stoners pretty well included the entire undergraduate and graduate population of the University of Texas. This was Austin, Texas, an unfailingly cool town, in 1979 or 1980, a time and place where weed was ubiquitous. Those were the days . . . .