Why do American mothers use marijuana
'27.04.2017'
Source: Lenta.ru report
The American Catherine Van Eaton suffered from mental illness from a young age. At first it was clinical depression, then anxiety psychosis, then panic attacks. When she became an adult, got married and had a baby, then another, she was prescribed antidepressants and a sedative. For a while she felt better, but the depression returned again. After Catherine's marriage broke up, doctors prescribed marijuana for her medicinal purposes. “The only drug that can fight depression is cannabis,” says Katherine. In the state of Colorado, where Van Eaton lives, medical marijuana was allowed back in 2000 and fully legalized in 2014. It would seem that nothing illegal, but society condemns women who are trying to combine such methods of fighting depression and raising children. Katherine now has 4 children, 2 from her first marriage and 2 children from her second husband.
Despite the fact that the attitude towards marijuana has now changed and many say that this drug needs to be completely legalized, the attitude towards women who use cannabis for medicinal purposes is still negative, writes Lenta.ru.
Women who use marijuana prefer not to advertise this fact among friends and acquaintances. The only place where moms can discuss this problem is the internet. The hashtag #stonermom is distributed over the network, under which mothers with a bad habit unite.
“We have to do it in secret. And we are exactly the same mothers as everyone else. We cook food, take children to school, pick up from training, go grocery shopping. From the outside, looking at us, no one would have guessed that we are using grass, ”says Katherine.
In 2014, Win-Eaton started a blog and a YouTube channel about how to combine marijuana and raising children.
In 28 states, marijuana is allowed on the advice of a doctor, and 20% of the population lives in states where marijuana is fully legalized. Statistics say that more than 14 of millions of Americans between the ages of 12 and older use marijuana at least 1 once a month. And almost every second resident of the United States tried cannabis before the age of 21.
In 2012, the famous actor Arnold Schwarzenegger joked about his area of Los Angeles: “Enough in the morning to cycle around the area and breathe the local air. Around so many people use marijuana, that it can breathe and passers-by. "
According to Kathryn Win-Eaton, no one is surprised by smoking young people and aged hippies, but the attitude towards mothers is completely different.
“A responsible mother, even in a state with legalized marijuana, cannot admit that she uses them, they will look at her sideways,” she says.
In one of her videos, Catherine says that women should not be afraid of condemnation or the fact that social services can pick up children. Mothers who use marijuana are exactly the same as those who do not.
According to her, she and her husband use only in those cases when children are not at home or they sleep. In one of the articles on her website, she warns about the need for parents to lock up cannabis and never do it at the same time with a partner. Then there will always be at least one sober adult in the house.
In Sherry Sicard, the story is a bit like the story of Catherine. Before 40 years, she tried all sorts of antidepressants and sedatives. In addition, she had chronic nausea. The doctor suggested she try marijuana as a medicine.
“If I had been told in 1996, when the medical use of marijuana was legalized in California, that I would be associated with this drug, I would not have believed,” says Sherri.
Marijuana relieved Sherry Sicard from both chronic nausea and depression and in 2015 she published the book Mary Jane. A comprehensive guide to marijuana for women. " One of the chapters of this book is called “Marijuana moms: cannabis and child care.”
Sicard fights stereotypes associated with marijuana. “It's ridiculous that people go to jail for using a drug that does less harm than alcohol,” she says.
In 2013, marijuana was legalized in the state of Colorado. Survey conducted Gallup in October, 2016, showed that 60% of adult Americans approve the legalization of marijuana. Among Americans before 34, support is even stronger - 77%. Also, sociologists note that the abolition of the prohibition of drugs in Colorado and Washington did not cause an increase in the use of marijuana among adolescents.
Only the tax revenues that the statutory drug trade brings to the states have increased - up to several hundred million a year, and the amount continues to grow.
