It may take many years before all the facts about smoking pot are known, documented and made available to the public. But for now, it is not necessary to wait for studies to be documented for us to realize that singing and smoking pot do not mix.

Now let's just say you are a singer who has been having a joint now and then or you only smoke on the weekends or only half a joint before you go to sleep. Well, I don't want to kid you about this matter and you shouldn't kid yourself -no pot at all is how much you should have. It burns your mucous membrane. Your larynx, which is what makes the vowel sounds, is mucuous membrane. How can you hope to sing -at your best- with what amounts to a burned voice.

O.K., let's say you have decided to quit smoking pot. What do you do first? Well, the very first thing to do is congratulate yourself. Just by stopping you've taken the most important step towards healing your voice. But you have a lot more work to do. Proper breathing is essential to a well produced sound.

To re-develop your vital lung capacity you should do breathing exercises and breathe steam regularly. If you can get to a steam room on a weekly basis you can greatly increase the healing process. In a steam room, your whole body releases toxins through the pores of your skin. The THC from pot is stored in your cell tissue, so in essence, your body has a chance to breathe itself well again.

There is an herb called Breathe-Ease which can be found in most health food stores. It is manufactured by Nature's Way and is recommended for helping the lungs eliminate mucous. Many people have had very good results with this herb. Golden Seal is another well known herb and its healing powers are almost magical. You can buy this herb in capsule form. some people suggest making tea with it, but I wouldn't. The taste is so awful that you couldn't possibly continue using it for long! Buy the capsules and take a few each day.

In addition, you must increase your intake of water, fruit and vitamin C. Also drink Aloe Vera juice. This juice has wonderful healing properties even though it, too, tastes pretty bad. However, if you want to get well you'll have to make some sacrifies.

During your healing time, cut way down on mucous forming foods. Stay away from dairy products in any excess. Avoid white flour, sugar, caffeine, processed foods and junk foods. Eat the foods that nature provides. Eat all your vegetables raw. Eat sprouts of any kind until they are coming out of your ears -they are high in vitamin C and rich in protein.

Drink lots of fresh carrot, beet, cucumber and celery juices. Avoid citrus juices, however you can eat the fruits. Eat melon, grapes, and tons of green vegetables and fresh fruits. You'll also need chlorphyll in your body to rebuild damaged cell tissue. You can buy liquid chlorophyll or you can grow your own wheat grass and juice it fresh.

Rice Bren syrup is also recommended by Naturepath physicians to help give you the valuable B complex vitamins and yeast that are necessary for rebuilding your body's damaged cells. It should be taken by the tablespoon after meals. Lecithis and alfalfa tablets will aid in the assimilation of fats and in the digestive process. These can be taken with your meals.

TCH loves fat tissue and stays there. It also stays in the brain cells. Not only does this limit your attention span, it also greatly affects your nervous system. Your voice is governed by motor reflexes and involuntary responses to brain signals and that delicate balance is easily upset by heavy drug use -even by not so heavy drug use!

The next step is to re-establish a healthy circulatory system. That can be accomplished by exercise. Swimming is excellent -it increases aerobic capacity and, since it involves moisture and water, your lungs are in an excellent environment. Running and bicycle riding are also wonderful. Remember that you have severely lessened your lung capacity. You'll need to either race, walk or run for many long months before your lung capacity is restored.

Calisthenics are next in line since they loosen up the body and allow for a complete recycling of your blood. A body which has been subjected to pot and its side effects is in a weakened state. The pectoral muscles must be built up and upper-body strength must be increased. Calisthenics are a great way to achieve this.

The first part of your voice to go is your ability to hit high notes. Your lung power decreases and then you lose breath velocity and your ability to compress air. Pulling your tongue and saying consonant combinations like Gee, Hee, Hee Yah Gee, etc. can begin to restore the upper partials (overtones) to your voice. You simply take a gauze pad or a paper towel (gauze pads are more sanitary) and pull your tongue while you sing Gee-hee-hee three times, holding the "hee" the very last time. It should sound like Geeheehee, Geeheehee, Geeheeheeeeeeeee.

Begin on the middle pitch and descend by half steps slowly and carefully. Take lots of rests. Then, after you have gotten to the lowest pitch you can possibly sing, rest again for a few minutes. Then begin this process again by starting just a tiny bit higher than the first time. Repeat the Geeheehee's and again go down as low as possible. A good way to do this is to start on the F of and F7 chord and work down. (The F7 chord is F-A-C-E flat). Each time you begin a few notes higher. So the second time, begin on A and work down. Then start on C and work down, then E flat and work down. Be sure to take rests between each downward group. Finally, work up from the very bottom note all the way up the keyboard and far as you can by half steps.

This exercise will help re-establish your fundamental pitch. It is not to be used to warm up your voice for perfomances (although it does come in handy the day after a performance). It is to be done cautiously, softly and with frequent rests. It is a most strenuous exercise so proceed with caution. You may find youself coughing up mucous and your throat may tickle a lot. Those are good signs. They show that the healing process has begun!

Believe it or not, there is still more that must be done to heal your body. However, if you simply do half of these things, you are making enormous strides. Since pot does do so much harm to the singer, the road to recovery and total elimination of the substance from you body is long and costly. The sooner you begin, the sooner you'll be healthy again. Your body was never meant for these things and certainly your voice is no match for such a potent thing as marijuana.

Good luck with this. It is not an easy thing to do, but if you want to be a great singer you have no choice.

See you next month.