As an individual who once consumed marijuana and worked in the marijuana industry for a year and a half, I believe that it is OK to use the word “pot” (“Stop calling marijuana by the ’70s perjorative ‘pot’,” Aug. 20).
My corporation instructed us budtenders to use the word “cannabis” when selling marijuana. When I was talking to patients in the dispensary using the word “cannabis,” some of them had no idea what I was talking about. There was confusion, then they would exclaim,“Oh, you mean pot!”
Pot has been a frequently used and understood historical term for marijuana. Pot is also an accurate word. Using the sanitized word “cannabis” does not change the actual negative properties of marijuana usage: amotivation, addiction and physical and mental harm to users.
Anne Hassel, Chicopee, Massachusetts
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