We’re back with our weekly Advocate chats. Everyone was pretty busy, but we managed to say a few words about marijuana, weed, Mary Jane. This is the week that Massachusetts recreational pot law goes into effect. As always, the chat has been lightly edited.
kristinpalpini (Kristin Palpini, editor): Let’s do a chat lightning round 10 minutes. The topic is weed. GOGOGOGO
dave.eisen (Dave Eisenstadter, web editor): Love it.
kristinpalpini: I’m writing my O, Cannabis column about how to come out as a pot head now that weed is legal [come Dec. 15, 2016]. Any advice?
hunterstyles (Hunter Styles, arts editor): I love this idea.
kristinpalpini: Multiple people to come out to: parents, friends, family, kids, work? Maybe not work.
dave.eisen: You could wear a Bob Marley shirt.
petevancini (Peter Vancini, staff writer): Yeah, people should still make sure that their workplaces don’t have an explicit policy against it, though.
hunterstyles: Well, surely it’s more likely to come up in conversation with coworkers now … right? I guess it depends.
petevancini: So, look before you leap out of that weed closet.
kristinpalpini: And it’s not like you can just ask your boss, “Soooo, how do you feel about weed? Just askin’.”
petevancini: Right, haha. Consult your workplace agreement.
dave.eisen: Do you think it will take a long time for the stigma to go away?
kristinpalpini: I think the stigma will hang around until edibles are more accessible.
dave.eisen: Oh yeah, even after the weed stigma is gone, there is still the smoke stigma that is alive and well. Smoking is bad, mmkay.
kristinpalpini: Since I write a weed column, I’ve been out of the closet as pro-pot for a while now. I had to have the weed talk with my five-year-old.
hunterstyles: What was your weed talk with your daughter like, KP?
kristinpalpini: My weed talk with my kid was … weird. I told her Mom smokes dried up flowers. She asked if it was drugs. I said yes.
petevancini: Awwww.
dave.eisen: !!
kristinpalpini: She asked if I was going to lose my family. And I said no. She also asked if I was going to die. Negatory.
petevancini: Oh no! She was worried?
dave.eisen: Wow, where do you think she got all of those questions from?
kristinpalpini: She was worried. I’ve talked about addiction and drugs with her before – there’s a history in my family and, well, I write about this stuff an awful lot. So I wanted to be the one to talk to her about this stuff. I didn’t want it to come up from someone else, like “you’re mom smokes pot” and I hadn’t said anything.
dave.eisen: Ah, so these were likely from previous conversations you had with her on that subject.
kristinpalpini: Exactly.
hunterstyles: She asked you if you were gonna lose your family?? Jesus, lol.
kristinpalpini: When talking about addiction I told her people get addicted to drugs when they decide that drugs is all they want to do. They don’t want to go to school, or see friends, or go to work or see family. They just want to do drugs.
petevancini: So did she come away with a better understanding do you think?
kristinpalpini: Yeah, I think she did. She seemed okay after.
dave.eisen: I love how you were trying to soften the blow by saying that you smoked flowers, and she instantly asked, “you mean drugs, mom?”
kristinpalpini: lol, the flowers were my husband’s idea. I thought that was pretty damn good. She didn’t instantly ask that, but she did call BS on the flowers.
petevancini: I can see a lot of parents having to have that conversation in the near future.
kristinpalpini: I told her they’re not like roses and sunflowers. They’re green.
hunterstyles: I can’t wait until your kid has this talk with you in like a decade. Telling your parents for the first time that you smoke weed doesn’t seem like much of anything to me, but maybe others feel different, or they have families that would care.
kristinpalpini: Can anyone remember when they had to tell their parents they smoke weed? Maybe this didn’t come up for anyone else.
petevancini: Right, I remember talking kind of casually about it with my parents back in college.
kristinpalpini: For me, the cat was out of the bag when I fell on my mom at age 16.
hunterstyles: You fell on your mom?
kristinpalpini: Yeah, not so slick.
dave.eisen: Is that a euphemism, like falling off the wagon?
kristinpalpini: I got home late, went in to give her goodnight kiss – she was sitting down- and I lost my balance and fell on her.
petevancini: Wait – so you got stoned and fell on your mom when you were 16? haha
kristinpalpini: What was your talk like, Pete?
petevancini: I remember just telling a story and mentioning in passing that I might have been stoned at the time. It was greeted, I think, with some nervous laughter. My mom is a bit of a saint, but my dad’s been around the block once or twice.
kristinpalpini: lolz 4 Pete.
jlevesque (Jennifer Levesque, art director): My dad used to hound me and my brother for being “pot heads” now with medical Mary Jane, which is the only thing that helps him, he’s the biggest stoner I’ve ever met. :joy:
kristinpalpini: Think we’ll be seeing more of that kind of thing, Jen.
dave.eisen: Wow, that is an amazing turn around.
petevancini: Interesting role reversal, Jen!
kristinpalpini: Lightning round coming to a close people. Final thoughts?
jlevesque: I think it is good to talk to your kids about it, though, in a positive way.
dave.eisen: Yes, it was impressive the questions your daughter asked. It shows that she is really thinking about it.
dave.eisen: It is interesting because it is possible that weed will not be a part of the “drugs” conversation anymore. It will be drugs and alcohol and weed.
jlevesque: ^Very true
dave.eisen: OK, thanks guys! Glad we had this chat.
hunterstyles: Looking forward to our Top 10 Edibles to Stuff Your Stocking article in 2017.
