Friday, February 12, 2010

Ski Lift Attendant With Chronic Pain

Pot is not for me, but I have a good friend whose nickname is the "One Hitter".

The One Hitter's lapses in judgment are legendary, but I won't get into those now.

He called me from Colorado to tell me that he's gone legal.

"Say what?"

"I got my medical marijuana card!"

“For what!”

"Chronic pain."

I asked, how do you find a doctor to give such a prescription, and what's in it for the doctor?

It's easy he said. You wait in line. It takes about five minutes and $175.00. You leave with a big grin on your face and offer suggestions to those waiting in line, like “chronic pain.”

I asked, "I suppose you're paying for this with health insurance?"

He said he looked into that and also into using a flexible spending account but decided against it because it's still illegal at the federal level and he doesn't want to raise any flags.

He lives in a moderately sized town. There are at least 20 medical marijuana dispensaries there. He said they are like head shops of old but with jars of various types of marijuana, hash, medical marijuana brownies, marijuana oils and marijuana creams.

His dispensary is run by a guy he described as “a 23 year old stoner snowboarder dude”.

There are a lot of out of work drug sniffing dogs in Colorado now. The One Hitter said he even saw a cop sitting on a porch, rolling up a big one.

He told me that well over half of his co-workers also suffer pain. You can get a prescription for any complaint.

My friend is an out of work banker. He tells me that he is enjoying the best job and life he has ever had. He is ski-lift attendant with chronic pain.