Donna sighed as she began to clean up the coffee table. Coffee table? Looks like a cigarette table. She wished Bud would control his anxieties by drinking coffee instead of smoking cigarettes. She was scared. For thirty-two years he had smoked! They neither one admitted it but the cough had gotten bad and his voice sounded scratchy. They had no insurance. With these symptoms, they certainly had no assurance.
She was glad their children were not cigarette smokers. They were millennials; they smoked marijuana. How will they be in thirty-two years? Is marijuana a new coffin nail?
Donna sighed.
******************
Have you become acquainted with Rochelle and her challenges? If not, try it; you’ll like it! /https://rochellewisoff.com/2018/08/15/17-august-2018/
About oneta hayes
ABOUT ME
Hello. To various folks I am Neat’nee, Mom, Grandma Neta, Gramma, Aunt Neta, Aunt Noni, Aunt Neno, and Aunt Neto (lots of varieties from little nieces and nephews). To some I’m more like “Didn’t you used to be my teacher?” or “Don’t I know you from someplace?” To you, perhaps, I am a Fellow Blogger. Not “fellow” like a male or a guy, but “fellow” like a companion or an adventurer. I would choose to be Grandma Blogger, and have you pull up a chair, my website before you, while I tell you of some days of yore. I have experienced life much differently than most of you. It was and is a good life. I hope to share nuggets of appreciation for those who have gone before me and those who come after me. By necessity you are among those who come after me and I will tell you of those who came before. Once upon a time in a little house on a prairie - oops, change that lest I commit plagiarism - and change that “house on the prairie” to “dugout on the prairie.” So my story begins...
Sweet aroma 
Yes cigarette smoking is bad. Nice plot.
Thank you.
Well done, Oneta… it is a fear all non-smokers have of their partners who do still smoke…
For many fear of losing one’s spouse is more troublesome than causing one’s own death. Thanks for the comment, Dale.
Interesting question about the long-term effects of pot smoking. I do know that medicinal marijuana is very helpful for pain management and other health issues.
Many drugs are. Does that equal making them available for daily use as desired by the user. When I was in rehab pain pills helped me, but my prescription was useful for a limited time – usually 30 days. I’m not convinced that anything going through the lungs has no negative effects; neither do I think drugs that give a “high” are not without damage to the brain. I remember when the “church” shouted against tobacco and “science” said okay. My question still is “What will it look like in thirty years?” Can marijuana be no different than an aspirin? I won’t be around long enough for “science” to have caught up and druggies to have moved on to something stronger.
I do wonder, also, what our country will look like in 30 years after 30 years of marijuana smoking. Will our children have brains that do not function to their full potential? How many will have moved on to something bigger in the way of drugs. I fully agree that it may have uses as medicinal but should be regulated as such just as other pain killers are.
Agreed. That would not include grow your own. It will likely be the same as other “edgy” things. Once it is accepted the new trend will become more extreme.
Interesting thoughts expressed in this piece. I wonder indeed what our world will be like. Legal drugs now. Children being brought into the world by mixed ways without any true indication of identity or real parents and quite screwed up attitudes. Maybe ok now but what about in thirty years time. My mind boggles! Thanks again for sharing.
Thanks for the comment.
Nice story. The fear (for her partner and her children) was so nicely depicted. You packed in a lot in 100 words.
Thank you, Piyali. I read your story about the bread. Rather sad but nicely written.
Thank you, Oneta 🙂
A strong nip of reality… great write
Yes, our bad habits keep getting “badder” it seems. Your “Reward Yourself” is sadly too true for many. Thanks for the comment, Jelli.
These sorts of ‘ponderings’ definitely leave most people sighing…
A perfect ending!
Thanks. I sigh.
great creativity … weed has long term affects similar to alcohol … nobody wins with intoxicants and the health cost is enormous 😦
Thank you for the comment. There is a lot I don’t know about it. Lack of experience or research. But observation makes me sigh.
sadly I’ve worked with it … and watched the damage done … 😦
I’m sure you have. Counselling the abused.
yes those abused as children tend to continue the abuse with self harm … hard to turn that cycle around … we need to protect our kids!
Someone has to decide to model proper behavior. It is so much easier said than done. Thanks for the discussion. 😀
Alas, tall. hat is a question still not definitively answered. Some studies show that pot hurts babies, others that there are no ill effects. Some say pot affect the brain, others that it has no effect at all.
Glad I’ve never touched nicotine or pot. Chocolate, on the other hand. . . . well, I CAN go without it. I just don’t LIKE going without it 🙂
I guess we will know sometime. If pot doesn’t affect the brain, why smoke it? I thought it caused a high of some kind. Doesn’t make sense if it has no effect. Yes, I also like chocolate. It doesn’t give me a high, and it doesn’t do anything to my body that a normal healthy body is not built for. Maybe pot smokers just smoke because they like the “taste.” I don’t know. I’ve never heard of chocolate impairing drivers. Well, as Donna did in my story – I sigh.
You’re right–pot does have an obvious immediate effect, so I think it’s not too much of a leap to assume it will eventually have a permanent effect.
Well my state, Oklahoma, has just legalized marijuana for medical use (isn’t that always the entryway). They are now onto the next step. Marijuana for recreational use “A constitutional petition would make marijuana legal for citizens 21 and older and allow for commercial entities to set up a recreational marijuana industry in the state.” I might be a bit cynical when I question the public’s ability to be sure about that age limit being kept! Next step will be to point out that a person can join the army at 18 so surely he is old enough to smoke marijuana. Well you have probably lived long enough to know how the pattern develops. Thanks for making me delve deeper into this matter. But I am sure I will be voting “No” and equally sure I will lose – maybe not the first time, but the next year, or the next…
It makes me very sad. We’ve come a long way down the path to utter disregard for truth and righteousness.
Amen.
I don’t know what happened in the first line of my comment. I should read, Alas, that is a question. . . . .
Dear Oneta,
I would think that anything involving inhaling smoke would be risky business. Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks, Rochelle. You do a fantastic job of hosting this challenge. Best to you.
Very well-depicted.
Thank you.