via PinterestI mean, hasheesh louieesh. There are more pot dispensaries in my neighborhood than there are restaurants AKA everyone is doing it. And yet... shhhhhh.... don't you dare tell a soul that I'm am a medical marijuana patient. Meanwhile "xanax" and "valium" are name-dropped in professional bios like badges of honor while WEED remains a four-letter word. Even when it's being legally consumed, prescribed and purchased. How is this so?
In Morgan's words:
Why do we have to create parenting identities out of our vices anyway? Wine-swilling Mom. Cursing Mom. Pill-popping Mom. Is being a parent so terribly uncool that we must compensate by showing the world how hard we can party regardless of who is under our supervision?
The stigma is a real problem for many reasons and Morgan breaks it down in her post:
We have so far to go in this country with just the simple stigma of Marijuana as street drug rather than beneficial natural medicine which as an added bonus can also be made in to useful cloth, paper, oil, and is easily renewable. We stand by as children have life-threatening seizures and give them drugs so strong they risk shutting down their brain stem when just a few drops of CBD extract (a non psychoactive element in marijuana — meaning it doesn’t make you feel “stoned”) can give them something closer to a normal life than many of their families have ever dreamed. We watch as pregnant women lose babies and risk death from illnesses like hyperemesis gravidarum while science has shown time and time again that marijuana could have wildly positive effects on morning sickness of all severities with no negative effects on the unborn child. Instead, we continue a manufactured war on a valuable renewable resource that’s been portrayed by the US Government as a class I drug while they are simultaneously funding studies that determine that marijuana has medical value....
(As a parent, I would far rather my kids use cannabis for their anxiety than pop a xanax and many of my friends and family members regularly use LEGALLY, thanks to California law, and are happier and healthier because of it.)
If we’re going to have a conversation about pot, medicinal or otherwise, I think it needs to start with the stigma even those of us who support it and benefit from its medicinal properties have trouble shaking. For me that starts with the decision that there doesn’t need to big a big secret or a big confession. I’m a Mom. I’m a card carrying medical marijuana patient. Those are just two of about a million things about me.
A (to the) men. (Read her whole essay, here.)
P.S. The following song has little to do with Morgan's post but it's been on heavy rotation in our house as of late and the band is called The War on Drugs so... it... felt... somewhat... apropos.
201. Red Eyes by: The War on Drugs
P.P.S. My mom just sent me this essay by Carl Sagan via this post when I sent her a link to Morgan's. Worth a read as well.
Sagan ultimately concluded that it was easy to use marijuana in moderation. For that reason he wrote that "the illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world."
GGC
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