I’m sick of the Whole Foods parking lot smelling like pot

I just got back from shopping at my neighborhood Whole Foods with all the other middle class white people in San Francisco and as usual, the parking lot reeked of pot. Seriously, every time I go, that place smells so bad I can taste it in my throat. This time, my 11 year old daughter told me the smoker was a guy on the stairwell. (She takes the stairs, I take the elevator to get to my car.) I’m sick of smelling pot everywhere I go in San Francisco. I mean, you can’t drink a beer in the Whole Foods lot, so why is it socially acceptable to smoke pot there?

I ask myself, is my irritation due to my age? I am 45, after all. But it’s not just young people who smoke pot in the Bay Area. It seems like everyone does, even middle aged people like me. It’s the new Chardonnay. Like many of these habitual pot smokers, I totally agree that pot is better for you than alcohol. You don’t drive drunk on pot, you don’t get violent and beat up your girlfriend on pot. But you know why? Because you don’t do shit on pot except lie around on a couch. In my old age, I’ve seen marriages and careers destroyed by the mental and physical lethargy exacerbated by pot smoking. In my experience, pot fucks with your emotions, your drive, and your inner-compass to know what’s right and what’s wrong, just like alcohol does. Obviously, I’m referring to regular pot use, but in my world, I see more and more people using pot all the time, like it’s totally cool. Almost like it’s good for you and good for society. It’s a nice drug. I don’t smoke pot, I don’t drink either, and I’ve got to say, I feel like a fucking superhero. When I’m around people who start to slur their words, repeat what they’ve said, and get uncoordinated, it feels like I have special powers. I’m super-articulate! I can remember what I’ve said! I don’t trip! Also, I sleep well. I wake up not hungover. So yes, at 45, I feel like I’ve grown out of alcohol and drugs. They were fun but they’re not fun anymore. Maybe that will change for me. Maybe when I’m 50, I’ll have another epiphany, but I’ve got to say, right now life is so much better and happier without alcohol or pot bringing me down. I’m writing this blog I guess because I live in the Bay Area where the tide is turning the opposite way. I wish more people would try not using drugs, not because you should, but because life can be so much better without them.

6 thoughts on “I’m sick of the Whole Foods parking lot smelling like pot

  1. I’m in my 20’s, but I don’t really want to hang around people who drink or do drugs. I didn’t want to hang around people who did stuff like that even when I was a teenager. I have never drank alcohol or done drugs and have no desire to.

    And if people want to get high or drunk, that’s fine. But I think they should do it at home and not in a parking lot of any store.

  2. “You don’t drive drunk on pot” — actually, you do drive impaired if you’re high on pot, and you can be cited for DWI/DUI. Your reaction times are significantly slowed, and frankly I don’t want to be on the road with a stoner any more than I do the idiots on the road after last call.

    I’m a bit younger than you (44), and I share your irritation, but I suspect I am naturally grouchy.

  3. Agreed. I guess the thing that bugs me about it most is the undercurrent implication that SO many people would rather “check out” than deal with their lives head on. A sort of “my life is stressful so let me put myself in an altered state rather than just deal with these issues and create a less stressful life so I don’t have to be on drugs to deal with it” approach.

    And you’re exactly right: Nobody invented the cure for cancer while stoned…

    • Yeah and the guys who discovered DNA didnt do LSD… do your homework, you have no proof of what you just said. It’s just what you want to believe. I know tons of productive stoner scientists

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