There are plenty of things I regret in my life. However, I have a feeling this post will be very “high” on the list. I know I will be inundated with ads that will never end but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. Spoiler alert…I do not have an Aunt Mary.
The Government of Canada legalized, regulated and restricted access to cannabis on October 17, 2018. First, let me say that I am not against that. It really should have happened a lot sooner. In my humble opinion the benefits far exceded the risks. However, full disclosure I do not partake.
That does not mean I’ve never tried it. It was a regular part of my “youth”. I just didn’t enjoy it. Because of that I usually volunteered to be designated driver and had a good excuse to pass the joint away from me. Most of my friends and family indulged. It didn’t bother me. We were actually taught the “dangers” of marijuana in health class, where we were shown a film that was produced in 1936 called “Reefer Madness”. There is no way to tell you how hysterically funny this film was. By the time I saw it in the ’70s it was a cult classic and everyone would get high and watch it at the theatre while laughing our butts off. This is the trailer for it …
If you have time and need a good laugh, watch the whole film. It’s on YouTube.
It was definitely a different quality of product then. We would roll joints and carry them in a pack of cigarettes (I know! We all smoked cigarettes then, too!). As an adult, but before weed was legal, well-meaning friends and family convinced me to try it again while I was undergoing chemotherapy. Let me tell you, the only thing worse than chemo is being high on chemo. That was my personal experience. There were all kinds of fellow cancer patients who used it and it helped them a great deal. I know people who would never have gotten through without it. Now that it’s legal you can smoke it, drink it, and eat it. Not too long ago I was having some health issues and I was convinced to try an edible “to help me sleep”. I had some chocolate. Apparently, I had way too much and wound up wide-awake in the wee hours of the morning…panicing. I woke up He-Who telling him I was dying and couldn’t breathe. I made him wake up our house guest to help. She explained to me that I wasn’t going to die and that I was just really, really high and that there was nothing to be done but wait it out. The two of them sat there with me for several hours. Every once in awhile they would look at each other and giggle, which in turn would have me screaming at them to stop laughing and that I was going to die. Another spoiler alert: I survived and have sworn off the stuff for life.
Ok. So now it’s legal. They have practically replaced our maple leaf on the flag with a cannabis leaf.
It has also become quite pretentious. It is available in high end, designer boutique stores! They are very much like the Apple stores — expensive and swarming with a Cannabis Geek Squad to educate us.
Heaven forbid you should slip up and call it anything but cannabis. With one quick search I found a list of 41 names that apparently are no longer acceptable. Although I am not familiar with all 41, I admit to have used several of these in my lifetime. Marijuana, Weed, Pot, Grass, Dope, Mary Jane, Reefer, Ganja, Blunt, Aunt Mary and my personal favourite, Skunk. I say my personal favourite because to me, it’s the most appropriate name. There is no getting around it. It stinks!
He-Who and I have been confined to quarters because of the pandemic for 14+ months. In this case, “quarters” are 900 square feet on the 30th floor. We do not know any of our neighbours but in that 14+ months we have come to know an awful lot about them. Number one on the list is that it seems everyone in the building partakes of cannabis. When a neighbour sparks one up, I get the munchies. Two, they never partake at the same time. First our neighbours on the left will spark one up, then the people below us and then the ones to the right of us. They finish just in time for the cycle to start over. Needless to say, the munchies are a permanent part of my evenings. The uncontrollable weight gain is tolerable. Disgusting, but tolerable. The smell is not. Our apartment permanently smells like Pepé Le Pew and not in a cute way. The hallways smell like skunk. Every time we get on the elevator someone who has skunk odour clinging to them always ends up sharing our ride. How on earth can they not smell it?
With all the money and research they are throwing at the cannabis industry you would think they would figure out how to make it smell better. For the love of Aunt Mary, someone please figure out how to make it smell better!
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I think it’s scary that so many people use it. Medical use I’m okay with, no argument. I hate the general term ‘recreational drugs’. It has been around for ever it seems and gives drug use (not just weed) a false label of safety and acceptance; especially to the young and vulnerable. Long term use and dependency will show the damage.
I admit, the usage in this country has become overwhelming. I have seen it do some really good things for people medically,but hopefully, the novelty of it being legal here will calm down somewhat to a calmer level.
I’m not sure where the legalization stands in Australia. Thanks for stopping by Bruce.
It’s been made legal for medical use in Australia (only in the last year or two. In Australia’s capitol, Canberra, personal use in now legal. I think it’s still illegal to drive under the influence there. I hope. Many use it but many abuse it, especially the young and troubled. It doesn’t help them from I have seen, just makes them worse.
It falls under the same category as alcohol here. Anything that is illegal to do under the influence of alcohol (driving, etc.) is illegal under the influence of any drug…even if it is prescribed. I suspect the abusers are much the same as well. Definitely parallel paths.
Hee hee hee… I remember walking on Parliament Hill on Canada Day when I was a kid, and this incredible smell came into my nostrils… my parents wouldn’t tell me what it was. Such taboo. Now, it’s everywhere. A designer cannabis shop just opened up in my neighbourhood… then a second one. Do we really need two? We’ll see where this journey goes. I think legalization was a good thing, a significant thing. I just wish they would ban cigarettes though… maybe alcohol too (did I just say that???). I no longer know what’s good for me, the government is making everything legal!
As horrible as cigarettes smell and how that smell clings to your clothes and hair and pretty much makes you want to gag…upon occassion, (as an ex smoker) someone lights one up and I’m, “Damn that smell good. I want a cigarette”. After all this time, I still have to fight the urge. Still not tempted with the “skunk” though. Scotch…that’s a whole different story. 😉
It’s true, this whole country smells like weed these days – and sanitizer.
It’s true. If only the sanitizer would cancel out the weed smell.
Watching from outside – and I have watched it more closely in the State of Washington – it’s quite amazing how the cannabis industry has just completely taken off, wherever it’s legal. It’s million or billion or trillion dollars business. I do understand you sentiment, and feel sorry for you. I find the smell not too pleasing either.
It really wasn’t an issue until we got trapped in a high rise for 14+ months. The ventilation systems must be connected throught the condos. We can step outside on the balcony but there is always someone smoking it out there too.