Dear Stoner: Is there actually a strain known as Polio Pot? A friend was telling me that she'd smoked some and it paralyzed her legs for a while — hence the name. But I'm not sure I buy it — and if it does exist, I don't think I'll be buying any Polio Pot.
Apprehensive in Arvada
Dear AA: Polio pot? That's one I haven't heard in a long time. No, there isn't a strain of pot that literally cripples you like polio for a short time. "Polio pot" is just old slang for really good herb. If you're unable to move after smoking a joint, either you've got no tolerance or you're not smoking marijuana.
Still, myths of this uber-potent pot have been around for decades by one name or another. When I was in high school in the mid-'90s, I had a girlfriend with a brother at boarding school in Florida who would bring home "crippy" weed, which I was told was named for the crippling effects the buds had. Remembering it now, I realize it was just a dark, sticky, indoor Northern Lights hybrid. But in my youthful enthusiasm, I certainly tried to smoke enough to get the rumored effects. (I've since read that the name "crippy" could have come from an old Colombian "creeper" haze.)
It's worth noting that pot can truly help with actual polio. More specifically, pot can help you recover from post-polio syndrome and the nausea, insomnia, muscle spasms, general pain and depression that come with it.
Dear Stoner: Now that recreational pot is legal, I sometimes smoke with my 22-year-old son — but it still feels kind of creepy after telling him for years that he can't go near the stuff. Do you recommend that parents and their (adult) kids smoke together?
Dad or Dude
Dear D or D: Think about it this way — most people wouldn't bat an eye at a father and son having a legal, locally brewed beer together, so why should it be any different now with cannabis in Colorado? As for feeling creepy: Just like you didn't want your kid drinking booze before he was ready for it, you don't want him getting into cannabis use too early, either. No harm there. You're a parent, you worry. That's your job.
But he's an adult now, and so are you. If you both enjoy cannabis, I see no problem in breaking down some societal barriers and burning a spliff with your son.
