Now that the pandemic is (sort of) over it’s time to fly back home and spend time with your parents after over a year of being away. And if anything, these long months apart has taught us that time is one of the most valuable things we have—so is now a good time to talk to your parents about legal cannabis?

Let’s get one thing clear: your parents know what’s up. They’ve been around the block, they remember Rock N’ Roll, Ronald Reagan, and Rick James (hello! what else could the song Mary Jane be about??). They know about weed, they’ve probably even smoked weed at least one time at a party. And it would probably come as no surprise to them that you smoked weed and watched a lot of Spongebob over quarantine.

But just because they know the deal doesn’t mean that weed has helped them lately. Your parents are getting older, which is actually a great reason to talk to them about medical marijuana. But how you ask? In this article, we’ll give you all the juicy details on how to talk to your parents about legal cannabis and how it may be able to help them in their daily life.

How Weed Can Help Your Parents

I think we can all agree that Boomers and Generation X could afford to have some chill in their lives. Whether they’re a free-loving flower child or a straight-laced businessman, chances are your parents have spent their entire lives working way too hard. So let’s face it. Their bodies hurt.

Ask your parents how their bodies are feeling lately. Most likely, they’ll tell you something hurts.

Our parents take anti-inflammatories like Advil daily, they drink alcohol to ease their aching bones at night, or addiction-prone opioids to deal with pain the “traditional way”—but things are beginning to shift.

Nowadays, we’re seeing adults over 65, who make up  2.9% of the population, are sparking up because weed has a good reputation for helping people simply feel better. If you live in a state (like Michigan or Arizona) where you are able to legally purchase topicals, we suggest gifting your parents a cannabis-infused topical that may be able to relieve some of those aches and pains—think of it like offering them a little getaway in a jar.

But if your parents are retired and are not partaking in weed, they could be missing out on some amazing leisure time. If your family likes The Weather Channel and Seinfeld reruns, they’re about to like them a whole lot more.

But isn’t weed illegal?

Even though medical marijuana is not a big deal to us, our parents probably know that weed is technically classified as a schedule 1 drug (along with heroin and ecstasy), and it’s still illegal on a federal level. According to this scheduling, weed is thought to be more addictive than Ketamine and Xanax, but all of my stoner friends can confirm that this is just not the case.

Every day 38 people die from overdosing on prescription opioids. Meanwhile, ZERO people have died from getting stoned to the bone, eating snacks, and going on a very nice walk. So respectfully tell your parents to put that in their pipe and smoke it. And remember that the United States used to deem alcohol and desegregation illegal. Can you imagine?

As of May this year, the use of medical cannabis products is legal in 36 states and 4 territories, and the laws are changing all the time for good reason. Medical marijuana may be able to a slew of conditions, including pain and stress management. Plus, communities that legalize pot and free up the police force to concentrate on actual crime are on the path to being more anti-racist.

Sure, some people are sticklers for the rules. But most states have decriminalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. And according to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, fewer than 8% of people in the US think that marijuana should be totally illegal (and those people who are not in favor of legalization are likely to be over 75, white, and Republican...arguably they could stand to spark up a doobie more than any of us).

Okay, but my parents don't want to get high.

No problem. They don’t have to get lit to reap the benefits of pot, thanks to a little something everyone has been talking about called cannabidiol, or CBD for short. CBD is great for any cannabis newbies. It has many of the same potential wellness benefits as THC without the psychoactive effects that can be overwhelming or intimidating to someone that is new to the weed game.

Although weed seems to be more effective when there are both THC and CBD components present (this is referred to as the entourage effect), THC is not necessary. Especially for someone who is getting started, or re-acquainted with the sticky-icky.

There are many CBD-infused edibles, tinctures, capsules, and balms available, and are specifically known to help people get a good night’s sleep, something all of us could use a little more of.

And if you don’t know where to start, just ask your friendly and knowledgeable JARS budtender for some good parental recommendations. They get questions on behalf of parents all the time, and they’ve probably helped their own parents find some relief.

Final Thoughts

We hope this guide has helped you figure out exactly how to talk to your parents about legal cannabis. Now that you know it might not be as big of a deal as you thought, what are you waiting for? Encourage them to talk to their primary care physician about medical marijuana to get a bonafide referral from someone with an M.D. and figure out what kind of medical marijuana products might be right for them.

And remember, if they are not receptive or have a vendetta against the devil’s lettuce, and hate that you are talking to them about weed, you can always blame some article you read that told you to try and get your parents high. We don’t mind being your scapegoat.

But, if they are interested, we challenge you to smoke with your parents and listen to all of their favorite music for extra credit. Even though it might seem like that is an impossibility, you would be surprised how many parents are happy to open up and share a smoke with their kid. It’s definitely a vibe.

Not to scare you, but bongs can be notoriously gross. In 2017, there was a case study conducted on a man who developed necrotizing pneumonia from dirty bong use, which caused him to have permanent lung tissue death. There have also been reports of people who have smoked from the same bong developing pulmonary tuberculosis. 

In other words, go clean your bong right now.

How To Change Your Bong Water

It might seem like a lot of work, but changing the water in your bong before each use is pretty easy. Especially considering that you already spend time grinding cannabis and packing the pipe, what’s one more little task gonna hurt?

Before you go to load a fresh bowl of cannabis, take your bong to the sink and dump it out. Then, turn the sink on and with cold water fill the bong up with enough water that the stem is covered. 

If your bong has 3 little notches inside of the top cylinder, that is called an “ice catcher” and meant to hold a couple of ice cubes. When smoke percolates up through the clean water of a bong and into your lungs, it is getting filtered through the water. If the smoke passes over ice on the way to your mouth, it makes the hit of smoke even more cold and smooth.

My Glass Bong has Sticky Brown Spots on the Inside

Your bong needs more than a rise of water if this is the case. Luckily, you don’t need to perform the following process every single time you smoke, unlike changing the water. Once a week should be enough. 

You’re going to need isopropyl alcohol, a big plastic baggie, salt (preferably a thick salt, like kosher), and pipe cleaners. If you don’t have rubbing alcohol, baking soda and white vinegar will do, but you will need to let the piece soak for a couple of hours. 

First, you need to pour isopropyl alcohol into your bubbler or bong, then add a spoonful or two of salt. Next,  place your glass bong carefully into the plastic bag and gently swirl her around. From here you will need to set a timer for thirty minutes and let that crusty bong soak. 

Repeat the same process for the bowl piece that goes with your bong, but this time in a separate and smaller baggie. You can use your fingers to do a little preliminary scrubbing through the bag before letting the glass sit for thirty minutes. 

When thirty minutes have passed it’s time to break out the pipe cleaners. Give your bong another swirl to see if any of the gunk has been loosened, and then start carefully scrubbing the spots with a pipe cleaner. 

Voila! With a little elbow grease, your bong should be good as new. 

Warning! Do not use alcohol on a silicone bong! Alcohol can strip and break down certain acrylic materials. Warm water, dish soap, and pipe cleaners (or a straw brush) will be enough to provide you with a squeaky clean non-glass bong.

The Moral of the Story

Being an adult means adding a little responsibility to your routine and performing tasks like sweeping the floor, doing your taxes, and changing your bong water. 

It’s not hard, it only takes a couple of seconds, and your lungs and house guests will thank you!

We know there’s a ton of anecdotal evidence that supports the theory of a secondhand high, but is there any science to prove or disprove this concept? One 2015 study, in particular, seems to suggest that a contact high may be rooted in truth. 

In this study, researchers gathered 12 participants, six of whom were smokers, and six of whom were nonsmokers. In their first experiment, they had the participants enter a small, unventilated room and gave each smoker 10 joints (our kind of research), each with a THC content of 11.3%. They also asked each subject to wear protective clothing so as not to mix up any of the final data with lingering smells. 

Then, the smokers enjoyed each joint while sitting around a table with the nonsmokers over the course of an hour. Once the time was up, all of the participants left the room, discarded their protective clothing, washed their hands and faces, and proceeded to a different room to complete the study assessment.

This exact scenario was replicated in a second experiment, with one important exception: the small room was now ventilated. Believe it or not, researchers discovered significant differences between the two experiments — so let’s discuss. 

In the first, where participants were essentially hotboxing the room with zero ventilation, the nonsmokers were indeed found to have detectable levels of THC in both their blood and urine tests. Researchers also added, “Exposure to secondhand cannabis smoke in an unventilated chamber the size of a small room produced minor increases in heart rate, mild to moderate subjective drug effects, and minor, but detectable, levels of performance impairment on some behavioral/cognitive assessments.” 

So it’s true! When under extreme conditions, like in a tiny room without ventilation and tons of smoke going around in a short period of time, it is possible to feel high even if you haven’t smoked anything — you could even fail a drug test under the right circumstances. 

However, in the second experiment, the ventilation made all the difference. Even though it was the same exact small room with the same exact amount of THC floating around, the non-smoking subjects did not have any detectable levels of THC or any other cannabinoids in their blood following the experiment. They also did not screen positive for THC in urine tests and did not report any psychoactive effects. In other words, this study proved that secondhand high is real, but it may only manifest itself in a noticeable manner under very specific circumstances. 

And, unfortunately, we don’t have much data beyond this study to say whether or not these findings are true. While there is other research available, much of it is dated and does not take into account the potency of cannabis these days. With that said, these findings are incredibly persuasive but we need more research to certainly determine the specifics on secondhand high. 

Final Thoughts

When all is said and done, it’s just courteous to be considerate with your smoke. If you’re in a comfortable environment, feel free to enjoy yourself as much as you want. Otherwise, you may want to ask others if they're okay with smoke in the same room before sparking up your next joint — and if they are, you know where to stock up on the best buds.