How smoking pot is like enjoying a single malt scotch
Oct 10, 2012, 4:47 PM | Updated: Oct 11, 2012, 6:14 am
Will thinking about pot as more of a cocktail than drug change the way you vote in November? (AP Photo/File)
(AP Photo/File)
He was just sitting on the beach watching the sandflies jump into the flame. Then, Seattle Times editorial columnist Bruce Ramsey wrote about his experience on the beach.
It wasn’t the sandy time that has had people talking – it’s what Ramsey was doing on the beach. KIRO Radio’s Luke Burbank thinks he might as well have been drinking a single malt scotch. After all, that’s what a respectable Northwesterner would have been doing.
But Ramsey wasn’t enjoying liquor, the 61-year-old was smoking pot.
In November, Washington voters will consider a yay or nay on I-502, in the initiative that would legalize marijuana. According to Ramsey, while it’s highly contested by Washington residents on both sides of the issue, what he hasn’t heard is a personal argument.
What about the people that want to light up, because they enjoy it?
Ramsey said that when he was 19 or 20, he smoked frequently, but it tapered out over time. “I’ve lived a sober life. I’ve worked and had a family and done everything else everyone does, and I wasn’t interested in that.”
Of course, he wasn’t interested in courting a legal case. Being a public figure as a member of the Times editorial board didn’t hurt his disinterest in the illegal, but as he believes, mostly inane, drug.
After smoking a blend called “Thor’s hammer” and putting pen to paper, the response has been widely positive. He got notes from a number of readers, including one state senator.
While Ramsey makes the case for marijuana’s recreational use, Luke said that for his friends that is marijuana’s only use. These friends have their green card – a prescription – from the doctor so they can get their pot. Yes, they say it’s for stress. Luke said one of his friends was stressed and used the doctor’s visit as a therapy session more than anything else. But even then, the intent had been to use the drug recreationally.
According to recent poll numbers 57 percent of voters are in favor of I-502. About 10 percent are undecided, with 33 percent saying they will vote against the legalization of marijuana.
It won’t be until November, that we learn if lighting up on the beach will hold the same consequences as enjoying a fine, single-malt scotch.
