A recent NY Times opinion piece waxed rhapsodically on the benefits of medical marijuana for transforming a stressed-out father into a calmer, more medicated daddy of toddlers. The breezy delivery, complete with the now standard nudge-nudge-wink-wink at the pot-doc-in-the-box who approved the author’s cannabis use, includes references to a “brownie-based” drug delivery system and makes jokes about marijuana affecting his short-term memory.

Now, it’s all well and good that the vaunted NY Times is covering actual medical marijuana patients in a generally positive way. And I’d be the last person to suggest that medicinal cannabis is a bad thing. But some of this worries me, because without a bit of very relevant context and facts, the average reader of this piece is liable to assume that the father in question is, to use his word, “baked” while taking care of his small children.

This is not only the kind of thing that makes people think that marijuana users in general are irresponsible, but also just the kind of thing that could get the author’s children forcibly taken from him, even right here in “enlightened” California.

The fact is that responsible medical marijuana patients don’t even get high most of the time, because it’s not necessary and it interferes with our daily work and life. We certainly don’t get “baked” if we’re doing something that requires focus and sobriety, such as driving or taking care of others who can’t supervise themselves. And if I were advising the author of the article, I’d tell him that he isn’t necessarily getting medicated properly anyway, if he still has his back pain.