Have You Ever Smoked Marijuana?

Answering the questions people have
asked (or I have asked myself) about
my past, present, or future.

The Queen Mother recently asked me this question with California's new recreational pot law dominating the new year's headlines. I had a simple answer: "No. The stuff smells horrible."

I told the truth. She knows, however, about that college dorm neighbor who openly lit up and put tape on the door so the smoke wouldn't escape. I also hung out after hours with a couple of guys from work back in my Texas days, when they lit up some reefer in a room and passed it back and forth. I didn't inhale. Honestly, I didn't. I also know a co-worker who used to actively smoke pot.

I have good reasons for not wanting to go near weed. First, besides the smell, I'm afraid of what it's going to do to my brain. I don't want to end up like Sean Penn. I want my brain to remain in this galaxy.



Second, you never know when an employer or somebody else might require a drug test. I have had to have them at both TV jobs I have worked.

I will acknowledge smoking the occasional cigarette from time to time at a party or at a bar after hours, along with a few cigars. I wrote about that in a previous edition of "30/30," which you can view here.

The drug legalization revolution can leave me behind. I don't care. I will, however, if that revolution means I end up having to deal with a disproportionate number of stoners.