This is too perfect. I'm listening to an NPR program about medical marijuana. Diane Rehm is interviewing a distinguished panel of experts. And one of them, Dr. Lester Grinspoon, associate professor of psychiatry (emeritus) at Harvard Medical School, is calling in from his present location at the Burning Man festival.
Burning Man is the Labor Day weekend bacchanal that started out as a bonfire on San Francisco's Baker Beach in 1986, and then got so out of hand that it was moved to the Black Rock desert 100 miles north of Reno, Nevada. Imagine 1960s Haight Ashbury druggieness overlain with New Age shamanism and transported to an Anarcho-Libertarian utopian community. Not my cup of tea, but it's okay with me so long as they keep it in the desert. (Not all the participants are impressed by Burning Man. Here's an unfavorable review.)
But to get back to Dr. Grinspoon, after a quick Google search I am bowled over by his credentials. According to an impeccable journalistic source, Dr. Grinspoon has a special strain of gourmet cannabis named after him. A laid-back salute to his long advocacy on behalf of the weed's almost magical medicinal properties.
Spark up another J, Dr. G., the holiday weekend won't be over for another four days.
6 comments:
comments you can delete....
Why labor day, L, comes after memorial day, M, will forever puzzle us furriners.
But you are stumped by why "burning man" is equal to any holiday, so we're even.
I'm reading you. And I'm heading to Amsterdam so no doubt will come back with an even-more pro-legislate opinion.
J
Les is so cool he has a rick band named after him, as well! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grinspoon
I hadn't heard of him before today, but I will say that he sounded very, very, very, enthused about the subject of marijuana. When he said he was calling in to NPR from Burning Man, I laughed so hard I just about fell out of my chair.
Snake's Mommy,
Labor Day in the U.S. is observed in September so that it won't be confused with that other Labor Day which is observed in May and is known to foreigners around the world as International Workers' Day (AKA May Day).
Enjoy Amsterdam. It's a very mellow city even without pharmaceuticals.
Actually it was one of the other guys on the show who was calling in from Burning Man. Dr. G has never been to burning man. Just in case you are interested in facts and accurate representation of the links you post - it appears from a brief look at your blog that these may not be concerns of yours...
Anonymous,
Thanks for your comment. Your recall of an NPR program from way back in 2010 is extraordinary. I guess it's not true that marijuana causes memory loss! I had to look up a program transcript to see what happened.
You are quite correct. I heard another guy call in from Burning Man, and then confused him with Grinspoon. I remember that I found Grinspoon far more interesting than anyone else on that program.
Please accept my apologies. My mistake seems to have stepped on some tender regard you have for Grinspoon, or maybe for Burning Man, I can't tell which. Either way, I am terribly sorry to have sent you into a snit.
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