Are 'Marijuana Moms' Any Worse Than Moms Who Drink Wine?

More and more moms are smoking pot or using pot alternatives like edibles in medicinal ways in order to stay calm and parent better. Just like moms who unwind with wine at the end of the day, albeit with a bit more judgment thrown their way. But in a time when a majority of Americans are cool with pot, which has paved the way to making it legal in 10 states and growing, and with 55 million American who regularly use pot in some way, what’s up with treating pot moms as cultural fringe?

I still remember sitting in class in the sixth grade as Officer Fitzgerald, a local cop and also our D.A.R.E. teacher opened a giant black box filled with every kind of drug known to man. He pulled out something that looked like grass or clumps of my mom’s dead houseplants and asked us all if we knew was “pot” was. I raised my hand and said, I think that’s a begonia?

Officer Fitzgerald told us that pot was a dangerous drug because it was a “gateway” drug. Basically, if we smoked “the pot” then we would all end up as heroin addicts. No one would go to college or get married or have jobs and we’d end up in prison gangs. It was a bleak picture.

And I remember as a teenager when I realized that the kooky neighbor lady with her eight cats and hippy dresses smoked pot and I quietly wondered if she was shooting up too. Because isn’t that what pot smokers do?

Now that I’m a mom and I see the terrible effects of wine culture on my mom friends, some of whom have been to rehab, some are in AA, and others are in various stages of problem drinking or alcoholism, I have to wonder if the pot smoking moms are actually on to something.

It turns out that of the two, pot is far safer to use than alcohol.

According to CBS News, alcohol has been associated with violent assaults, high numbers of crimes, damaged relationships, behavioral problems, dangerous driving, and even alcohol-related deaths. Pot? Not so much. Not only is pot not really a gateway drug, but of the people who use pot, only around 9 percent will become dependent as opposed to alcohol which has greater than 20% of the people who use it who will abuse it.

Pot, as it turns out, may be the least dangerous choice for people who want to unwind with the help of chemical aid. And yet we still associate moms who drink wine as classier and more responsible than moms who toke.

The clichéd idea that moms need to relax by having a glass of wine is simply outdated, dangerous, and creates a chasm for bias toward moms who don’t drink but who do use pot in some form.

The real point is that moms, whether they drink or smoke or do something entirely different like yoga or yell, need to feel like the choices they make to self soothe shouldn’t be judged. As long as that mom is healthy and her family is safe and thriving then who are we to tell her how to enjoy her “me time”?

So, the next time you meet a mom who tells you that she prefers a joint over a glass, don’t throw her any side eye. Instead, tell her you are down with it, and go about your business.