I Have a Love/Hate Relationship with the Month of June, but that isn’t what this is about

June is great month.  The weather improves. Kids get out of school, making morning commutes easier.  Patios, Balconies and backyards become places of mass merriment and BBQ.  There’s a lot to like this month.

The downside of June is that it has Father’s Day, my Dad’s birthday, and not too far into July, the anniversary of my father’s passing from cancer.  These past few years it’s been an adjustment to not think about gifts and menus.

There’s nothing special about it, most people go through the same process when they lose their parents.  I’m no different than the next person, or the person after them.  The only reason I’m bringing this up, is to give emotional context to what I’m about to say.

I’d really like to ‘hit’ on a recent topic here in Kentucky: How “legal” are our laws against marijuana.  You can read up on a recently filed lawsuit in this Herald Leader article.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’ve never been into the stoner scene - even in college.  It’s just not my thing - mainly because I’m fully capable of making an ass out of myself completely sober.  I’ve demonstrated this on numerous occasions - none of which I will outline here.  And, I was basically on the non-legalization bandwagon myself a few years ago - until my Dad got sick.

If you’ve not experienced it, or are not currently experiencing it, I can’t begin to tell you how gut-wrenching it is to watch someone you love deteriorate and waste away before your eyes. The only way I can try to explain it is to imagine yourself being dumped into a pool of water without knowing which way is the surface. You can’t breathe, you know you are drowning, and you don’t know which way is up.

After this experience, I can’t help to question why medicinal marijuana is so bad?  Is it bad to use a possibly organic drug to help ease pain without making someone nauseous?  How about a drug that makes them WANT to eat?  I can’t tell you the number of conversations I’ve had with people about sick loved ones that just won’t or can’t eat.  The body looks for other ways to nourish itself, so it starts breaking itself down, which further weakens the patient and starts the downward slide.

I hear the argument of “gateway drug” used often, but aren’t opioids gateway drugs for heroin?  I hear arguments about the effects of marijuana on undeveloped brains - are opioids any different (I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking)?  Alcohol affects developing brains, we just put an age limit on it.    (Side note:  just with some quick googling on alcohol vs marijuana affecting the teenage brain, I came across this study).

Think about it.  What if medicinal marijuana were legal?  

• How much more affordable could health costs be if people could grow their own medicine?
• How much of an economic impact could it be to the Bluegrass, if this were an industry?
• How less of an ecological impact would growing marijuana be vs mining coal?

I’m not saying go all in, carte blanche, doobie-doobie-doo on the issue.  I’m just thinking we can get some real tangible benefits if we were to legalize marijuana for medicinal use.

Why not let them eat space cake?  

btw - this wikipedia post has the funniest unintentionally funny statement I've seen in a while:

"Hash brownies" redirects here. It is not to be confused with hash browns

Yeah, if you confuse these two, you might just have a bad time...