| Marie Claire editor-in-chief Joanna Coles disagreed with Hollands view that there is a large social stigma attached to smoking marijuana. I have to say, thats not what we are hearing from readers, she said on the Today Show. First of all, its decriminalized in 13 states, and I dont think this is a generation of people who get excited about the fact that its illegal. The inspiration for the article, Coles said, was hearing from readers that they were feeling stressed. Clearly, the economy is a great deal of stress for people and they wanted a way to unwind. And they found more and more of them were doing this [smoking marijuana] and they found it had less impact on them when they were going to work the next morning. So they didnt want to drink. Its cheap and they felt they could do it in the privacy of their own home, and it was a very effective way to calm down. Holland agreed that marijuana may be a less harmful drug than alcohol, saying that marijuana has psycho-therapeutic properties that booze lacks. Its more of a mind drug, she said. Alcohols sort of a deadening, numbing maybe more like a body drug. On pot, people are unwinding and theyre relaxing, but theyre also able to think and maybe analyze or think clearly I think cannabis is more functional than alcohol, certainly in terms of anxiety. It can be a treatment or a medicine. Coles added that the Marie Claire article seems to have struck a nerve with readers. For additional information: Contact: Cheryl Shuman ... |
