Ask Amy, February 6 2024 “My husband ‘smokes pot morning, noon and night.’”

Amy, Amy, Amy...

Link to the original letter here.

My take: To recap, the LW’s husband “smokes pot morning, noon, and night.” He knows the LW doesn’t like this, so he tokes on the sneak, and lies to her about it.

The LW says she doesn’t like the smell, so Amy advises gummies. This is bizarre. Amy, when a spouse is high every waking minute, it’s really not about the smell. The LW herself says–as well she might–that the far greater problem is her husband’s “altered state.” So gummies would actually be enabling.

Amy also recommends the usual support groups, which is fine.

What’s not fine, though, is the way she dances around calling the husband an addict. Amy acknowledges, though without endorsing it, “a somewhat common belief that marijuana is not addictive.” She then cites the Centers for Disease Control and says “approximately 3 in 10 people who use marijuana have marijuana use disorder … meaning that they are unable to stop using marijuana even though it’s causing health and social problems in their lives.” The LW’s husband might have that, Amy suggests, or maybe he has “a dependence on pot,” or just likes it a lot.

So I gather it’s not comme il faut to say that marijuana can be addictive. But my kingdom to the reader who can explain the difference between being addicted and being “unable to stop using marijuana even though it’s causing health and social problems.”

And for Amy to lean on the CDC to justify a non-responsive response is just cowardly.

Chance this letter is fake: Sadly, too real.