It's good to get input like yours @oliveoil. I get a lot of support on this site, but in the "outside world" I sometimes feel a little shaky. There are so many of us who look at each other knowingly when there is mention of cannabis. Yet you hesitate to say anything outright. It's a valid protective mechanism, especially in these days of police crackdowns. I understand that the last couple years have seen some of the highest numbers of arrests for possession across the country. But how are we going to counter the myths and get some justice - finally - if everyone keeps their mouth shut?
As for kids, I have made the decision not to throw it in front of their faces, but not to deny or hide away either. That means that if they find something and ask a question, I don't shy away from it. I think they deserve an honest answer and truthful information. I have pro-marijuana literature in the house and if someone wants to read it, they're welcome to it.
I think about when I was a kid and how my dad got horribly drunk about 3 nights a week. As kids we truly suffered. We were never physically abused, but my mother was. I remember huddling beside my bedroom door in the dark crying and wishing they would just stop, stop, STOP. All the yelling, the hideous verbal attacks that were like poison entering directly into the skull. Not knowing if my mom was hurt.... That was alcohol. I told myself when I was six that when I grew up I would burn every bar in my hometown down. I still don't like what drinking does. It killed my brother-in-law, a wonderful man, prestigious heart surgeon. It killed my dad. It's killing my brother. I feel so much emotion and indignance on this subject of marijuana vs. alcohol. It's very clear why I would feel that way. I'm not going to have my kids grow up the way I did, dealing with the results of alcohol abuse and bereft of the knowledge that there are better options. Simply put, humans are going to use intoxicants. I think we should try to use the best ones, the ones that don't tear us down, but bring us up.
On another topic, but related to visibility (marketing to women), I found this article a while back about how perceptions about pot have to change to include women. Here's the article and an excerpt:
http://www.thecannabist.co/2014/03/05/potheads-pumps/5549/
“Women tend to buy more edibles than men,” she says. “It could be because of health concerns, or maybe the difficulty of masking marijuana’s odor leads to concerns of being outed as the farcical pot-head. Regardless of gender, most people do not want to be labeled a pot-head.”
That may be particularly true for moms and professionals, and West says that even though the stigma against women is changing, more work needs to be done. As part of that work, businesses can take female consumers seriously – and gain a huge hold on the market.
“The culture hasn’t been very proactive in reaching out to women,” West notes. “Now, where it’s available legally, the stigma is changing, both for men and women. We just need to do a better job of showing how to fit cannabis into a lifestyle that’s attractive for women.”
So true. I remember partying back in the 80s, wondering why I was the only woman passing the joint. There were a few girls in high school who smoked, but they belonged to the "freaks" group (as opposed to "nerds", "greasers" or "jocks"). The rest of us were not willing to carry the title of 'pothead'. Or maybe, at that time at least, we felt ourselves to be too innocent of such things? I read books about drugs, practically cleaned out the high school and public library. I immersed myself in the high philosophic ramblings of Timothy Leary and Aldous Huxley, thrilled to the sardonic Hunter S. Thompson and entered the dark side of William Burroughs. But all that stuff I couldn't show to anybody, couldn't talk about to anyone. Not even the party people. They wouldn't have listened to me. They were too busy getting just stoned to the point of passing out (i.e falling asleep in the living room Lazy Boy - what a great party huh?) or cranking up the stereo (admittedly awesome stereo systems, far better than what anyone I know has now). For a long time I felt wierd, like I was between worlds. Here I looked like this innocent young know-nothing but underneath I was very much aware of what constituted the drug scene (in fact I invented worlds beyond it through my reading and imagining). Such a divided sense was alienating. I learned not to express myself in it, but to kind of file away my experiences, hoping I think for a better time. I've attached some of it to Zen meditation (as in using the pristine clarity of an acid trip to describe fresh and insightful ways of seeing). But now things are becoming freer. And there's so much to talk about, so much nuance to explore and share. It's like adding a new vocabulary. I'm finally starting to "come out" as a woman and a mother - who, yes, vapes. I know there are a lot of other people like me. To be recognized as both an activist and consumer force is something I hope for more women.
As for kids, I have made the decision not to throw it in front of their faces, but not to deny or hide away either. That means that if they find something and ask a question, I don't shy away from it. I think they deserve an honest answer and truthful information. I have pro-marijuana literature in the house and if someone wants to read it, they're welcome to it.
I think about when I was a kid and how my dad got horribly drunk about 3 nights a week. As kids we truly suffered. We were never physically abused, but my mother was. I remember huddling beside my bedroom door in the dark crying and wishing they would just stop, stop, STOP. All the yelling, the hideous verbal attacks that were like poison entering directly into the skull. Not knowing if my mom was hurt.... That was alcohol. I told myself when I was six that when I grew up I would burn every bar in my hometown down. I still don't like what drinking does. It killed my brother-in-law, a wonderful man, prestigious heart surgeon. It killed my dad. It's killing my brother. I feel so much emotion and indignance on this subject of marijuana vs. alcohol. It's very clear why I would feel that way. I'm not going to have my kids grow up the way I did, dealing with the results of alcohol abuse and bereft of the knowledge that there are better options. Simply put, humans are going to use intoxicants. I think we should try to use the best ones, the ones that don't tear us down, but bring us up.
On another topic, but related to visibility (marketing to women), I found this article a while back about how perceptions about pot have to change to include women. Here's the article and an excerpt:
http://www.thecannabist.co/2014/03/05/potheads-pumps/5549/
“Women tend to buy more edibles than men,” she says. “It could be because of health concerns, or maybe the difficulty of masking marijuana’s odor leads to concerns of being outed as the farcical pot-head. Regardless of gender, most people do not want to be labeled a pot-head.”
That may be particularly true for moms and professionals, and West says that even though the stigma against women is changing, more work needs to be done. As part of that work, businesses can take female consumers seriously – and gain a huge hold on the market.
“The culture hasn’t been very proactive in reaching out to women,” West notes. “Now, where it’s available legally, the stigma is changing, both for men and women. We just need to do a better job of showing how to fit cannabis into a lifestyle that’s attractive for women.”
So true. I remember partying back in the 80s, wondering why I was the only woman passing the joint. There were a few girls in high school who smoked, but they belonged to the "freaks" group (as opposed to "nerds", "greasers" or "jocks"). The rest of us were not willing to carry the title of 'pothead'. Or maybe, at that time at least, we felt ourselves to be too innocent of such things? I read books about drugs, practically cleaned out the high school and public library. I immersed myself in the high philosophic ramblings of Timothy Leary and Aldous Huxley, thrilled to the sardonic Hunter S. Thompson and entered the dark side of William Burroughs. But all that stuff I couldn't show to anybody, couldn't talk about to anyone. Not even the party people. They wouldn't have listened to me. They were too busy getting just stoned to the point of passing out (i.e falling asleep in the living room Lazy Boy - what a great party huh?) or cranking up the stereo (admittedly awesome stereo systems, far better than what anyone I know has now). For a long time I felt wierd, like I was between worlds. Here I looked like this innocent young know-nothing but underneath I was very much aware of what constituted the drug scene (in fact I invented worlds beyond it through my reading and imagining). Such a divided sense was alienating. I learned not to express myself in it, but to kind of file away my experiences, hoping I think for a better time. I've attached some of it to Zen meditation (as in using the pristine clarity of an acid trip to describe fresh and insightful ways of seeing). But now things are becoming freer. And there's so much to talk about, so much nuance to explore and share. It's like adding a new vocabulary. I'm finally starting to "come out" as a woman and a mother - who, yes, vapes. I know there are a lot of other people like me. To be recognized as both an activist and consumer force is something I hope for more women.
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I had the wrong date and place. Turns out it wasn't being held in Milwaukee, but in Union Grove - and the time was 4:30 pm. I couldn't go because it overlapped with another event. I'm going to make sure I go next time, though.
