Reefer States Super Bowl


Once we stop laughing at all the Super Bowl pot jokes, the sober truth awaits. Even the NFL considers marijuana a banned substance, so it can’t be all that innocent. 

Legalizing pot brings in new tax revenues, however many in Washington State are still waiting for fully funded schools thanks to all the extra revenue from lottery ticket sales. Better court systems and fewer pot-related incarcerations are pending. Okay. But what else can we expect?


My friend can tell you. Although we’re polar-opposites politically, we enjoy our friendly debates about running the country. Our votes cancel each other out, except for when we both voted against legalizing pot. 

While she totally admires President Obama, she wonders how he can promote health care and at the same time say that pot is no more dangerous than alcohol. She knows better. As a former pot addict, she wonders what her life could have been like if dope hadn’t been in control of it.


Back in her early 20’s she used pot as an after-work tonic. Hey, it didn’t have calories, she joked. Then she began smoking it before work and during lunch. Chewing gum and perfume masked the smell. She needed a buzz to feel normal and felt uptight without it. Too bad she couldn’t see her diminished productivity, but her boss and co-workers did.

She tried quitting for all the right reasons. But enduring the roller-coaster emotions made her lash out. In frustration, she’d go buy more pot because it was easier to live with it than live without it.  Finally she stopped hiding it from her teenaged kids and used it as a life lesson for them to avoid the pit she was in.


Alcohol remains the nation’s leading addictive substance, but pot could soon become its rival. The Drug Enforcement Agency still classifies pot as Schedule I—along with heroin, LSD and Ecstasy.

That doesn’t surprise my friend, because she says she met Satan when she tried to quit—the drug had woven its greedy tentacles throughout her mind. Treatment involved learning what pot was doing to her—and her family.

According to the statistics, my friend isn’t alone. In 2011, 4 million people had abused pot or were addicted. Sadly, even though my friend beat her addiction, her son became a user. She knows his judgment is warped—a feeling she remembers well. 

Even with the supposed medical benefits and tax revenues, my friend sees what pot cost her and her family—and it's something no one wants to pay. She wonders why the President wants to encourage it? That is an excellent question but I told her not to expect an answer.

Images courtesy of Bing

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