“I identified as a stoner from the 70s for decades, until I presented with cancer in my 50s; now I’m an Educated Stoner.” – Sharon Letts
The first time I smoked weed was in 1975. I was 16 years old and on my way to high school, stopping in at a gas station bathroom, when one of the girls lit a joint and passed it around.
I was considered a good girl and had been a Girl Scout since Brownies. With Florence Nightingale as my first Shero, I became a Candy Striper in high school. I volunteered at the local hospital and delivered flowers, candy, newspapers and books to patients after school, while earning badges for community service.
Sharon smoking a joint in 1975, next to plants she grew in her mom’s rose garden when she was 16 years old – the year she became a patient, but didn’t know it.But I was never considered a good student. Failing high school, struggling with an undiagnosed processing problem, the general misconception was that I just wasn’t very bright.
After a few hits off the joint that morning, that was the first time I was able to focus in school. An assignment of writing one Haiku poem turned into writing ten in rapid concession, and I was first published as a poet at 19.
Even then, I didn’t understand why it felt right; I was only told it was wrong. For decades I thought I was just a stoner who had to hide my cannabis use; even though it helped me focus and feel better, emotionally and physically.
From Stash to Apothecary
After working as a producer in television in Los Angeles, I was brought up to Humboldt County to produce a news show. While working in media in the cannabis capital of …
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Author: Sharon Letts / High Times
