my co-worker smokes
getting high in my office
i try not to mind.


At work, we have this thing where we call our children, spouses, and pets co-workers, and we document their comings and goings.  My co-worker peed on the floor, wrote on the wall with crayons, is having a tantrum, etc.

My co-worker smokes weed in my office.

A little about weed, from my perspective.  Don't be offended.  I grew up and never touched the stuff.  The only people who smoked at my high school were the stoners - the group of kids who were only at our high school for the vocational offerings, and who were clearly headed to low paying jobs as soon as they completed grade 10 (often in the amount of time it took me to finish grade 13).  It was the smell of no ambition, of laziness, and of wanting less out of life.  It wasn't mind blowing or a miracle, it was a cheesy little high school drug that made people slow and kinda dumb.

Fast forward 30 years.  It's a miracle.  Bob's ex-wife has come out as a "pot advocate" - it's all but cured her chronic fatigue.  Our mentally ill addicted son is a pot advocate.  Who needs actual, science driven medical and behavioural therapy when you can smoke the devil's lettuce and feel okay?    My point, with these two - yes, there are claims for weed's amazingness - but these continue to be the type of people who support cannabis.  Someone "suffering" from a pseudo-real disease that's a cover story for laziness (is it just me or do people with chronic fatigue still find ways of doing what they want, they just don't seem to be able to work without chronic bitching?) or a serious mental illness.  AND it's always people who smoked recreationally, who are suddenly advocates for its many medical wonders - big shock - that they HAPPEN to be diagnosed with!

Now, my husband.  He has serious pain with his spasms and pot helps.  He's tried a lot of things and nothing else really worked.    I try to be patient as he dabbles in cannabis, but while it helps with the spasms and pain, it also makes him incredibly annoying.  He trips, as it were, through one idea after another that sound terribly alert and astute to him and only manage to make me roll my eyes and imagine taking his weed and flushing it down the toilet.  Instead of chilling him out and making him quiet, it gives him energy - and he does it after dinner when I want to wind down and chill out.


He had one PSW, once, who also smoked and they kind of bonded over that until I told him that I'd report her if the pot talk didn't stop.  She was a little rough, the kind of 30-something that still goes to bars and smokes weed in the parking lot, and I was not amused by them bonding over shared use.  Medical use, I reminded my co-worker, doesn't happen in parking lots of bars, and no one bonds with their medical staff over their use of antacids.  So.. yeah.

Being a caregiver to your spouse means overlooking things you might not have before.  But this is really a struggle for me.