ABCs of MMJ

I have been a budtender for 10 years in our green state, and I’m still baffled why we in the culture still refer to medical marijuana as “pot,” “weed,” “grass,” etc. It seems to me that we, as patients, will never get the same treatment or respect as a patient taking pharmaceuticals simply because it’s been downgraded and laughed at for so long. I love Tommy Chong, but his character Chong is just that: a character and not a fair or even just representative of an MMJ patient. We have a responsibility to ourselves as patients, advocates, budtenders, etc., to get away from the stereotypes and start respecting marijuana for what it is: a medicine.

—Bud

You kinda have a point, but I am not sure I agree with you. What do you suggest we do? Already, people say things like “medicating” instead of “getting high.” It’s not a “pot shop” or even a “cannabis club,” it’s a “medical-marijuana dispensary.” It’s not a “joint,” it’s a “prerolled cannabis cigarette.” I mean, you refer to yourself as a “budtender” and not a “medical-cannabis-dispensing professional.”

Even the word “marijuana” is considered a pejorative by some of my more radical activist friends. “It’s ’cannabis’!” they yell. “’Marijuana’ is a slang term popularized by the evil prohibitionist Harry Anslinger so people would think it was a different drug than cannabis.” And they are right. But so what?

If I used the word “cannabis” every time I mentioned cannabis, this column would get hella repetitive.

Language is fluid, and don’t forget that the names of most over-the-counter drugs are completely made up. The real name for Lipitor is atorvastatin calcium. Viagra is sildenafil citrate. The names don’t mean much. I know it sounds weird when someone says something like, “Man, that doob of God’s Pussy really did wonders for my arthritis.” But the important thing is that it did wonders for her arthritis, and not that the strain has a horrible name. The same is true of strains like “Green Crack” and “Girl Scout Cookies.” Horrible names, great strains.

Ultimately, I don’t think it matters much. Use the words you like, and listen to what people mean and not just what words they use, and we will all get along fine.

(And leave Tommy Chong alone! That man has done wonders for the cause of cannabis freedom.)

What’s up on the hemp front?

—Shirley Hemple

I’m glad you asked. The new farm bill, recently signed by President Barack Obama, has provisions for hemp farming. The bill allows state agriculture departments, colleges and universities to grow hemp for research purposes as long as they have a hemp-growing law in place. Kentucky already has a law to allow hemp farming, so it will quickly jump in. Oregon and Colorado are also onboard. Gov. Jerry Brown recently vetoed a hemp bill, citing federal restrictions, but I am hoping he will revisit this bill in light of recent developments.