Hopegrown Spotlight: Me, My Mom & Reefer Madness

When I was growing up, I never heard anything positive about marijuana. The first time I started being curious about it was when I was about nine years old and my brother was seventeen. My mom flushed a full bag of my brother's pot down the toilet right before my eyes. I waited anxiously for him to get home and didn’t understand why all hell was breaking loose because he was saving a little bag of grass clippings. Unfortunately, this would not be the last time she flushed this funny smelling stuff down the sewer. He never hid it very well because she found it on a regular basis. 

I remember my mom crying one time and heard her tell my dad that my brother was on drugs. She also said, “He’s on that stuff that makes you want to kill your mother.” You see my mom was born in the year of the Great Depression, 1929. By the time Prohibition started in 1937 she was at a very impressionable age. I’m sure the “Reefer Madness” propaganda along with all those horrible ads and terrible lies scared her to death more than I could ever imagine. Along with my dad,  I’m sure there were plenty of other parents out there who had no idea what marijuana was truly like or that it had medicinal purposes. I wanted to learn more about this smelly green plant but it would be another nine years before I got “high” for the first time.

When I finally found out what all the fuss was about, I couldn’t believe it! It was nothing like I thought it would be and definitely nothing like what my Mom had said. It was a very pleasant experience and I had no desire to kill her whatsoever. I wanted to tell her about the truth I discovered but I knew I wouldn’t be able to reach her thanks to the programming and propaganda of Reefer Madness. She was strictly against cannabis and we never discussed it again. 

Since then, cannabis has helped me many times in my life with stress and anxiety. As a parent and working professional I always had a job, paid my bills , raised three great kids and have never been addicted to pharmaceuticals, or anything else. It has been beneficial to me and to many others I know. I decided to start researching the benefits of marijuana and I learned some life changing and amazing facts! A lot has changed since the “REEFER MADNESS” days. I wish my Mom was here today so I could tell her about all the good things about cannabis; like how using CBD oil helped a little girl with epilepsy go from hundreds of seizures a day down to just a few every couple of weeks or how it treats chronic pain and multiple sclerosis, or how it helps people with Crohn’s disease, autism and dementia. Most of all I would like to tell her how one day, it might cure her great granddaughter’s (my granddaughter) Type 1 diabetes and that ongoing research is proving it’s effectiveness in stopping and killing cancer cells.

Sometimes, I wonder what if my mom knew the truth about cannabis would she have maybe ever tried it? And if she did, could it have let her spend a few more precious years with us? Since I will never have the chance to tell her about the amazing health benefits of marijuana, I would like to take the opportunity to tell all of you. I’m giving you the facts so you can decide if you want to live a happier and healthier life. Cannabis could make all the  difference for you or your loved ones so take the time to educate yourself and talk to a trusted doctor. Reefer Madness might be a thing of the past but it still haunts the memories of some of our parents and grandparents to this day. Let them know the truth about this life saving miracle God given plant.