Odin and Friends

I guess all this talk about medical marijuana in the news made me want to do a cartoon about reefer.

That, and I just like the idea of the gods getting smoked out now and then. Burnt offerings are a mainstay of world religion, after all. So what you really have here is a cartoonish attempt at comparative religion.

Now, regarding the whole medical marijuana thing, I’m a bit torn…

On the one hand, I don’t think it should be illegal to grow plants and if you so choose, light those plants on fire and breath in the smoke. I mean, we’re not talking about some demonic carnivorous flower from outer space fed with the sacrificed blood of virgins here, we’re talking about a roadside weed.

On the other hand, I don’t really like the idea of the guy driving me through traffic to the airport fighting off his buzz from the night before. Or of my young nieces thinking a righteous doobie is an acceptable cure for a headache. Or our military becoming like those guys in Somalia who are always hopped up on that narcotic chewing tobacco of theirs.

I know what you’re saying. “But Vato, we’re not talking about complete legalization here… we’re talking about marijuana for medical purposes.”

Okay, so here’s what I say to that. What is the first thing a non-hippy, non-medical-marijuana-dope-doctor asks you about when you get a physical? You know, the kind of doctor that works in a hospital, not an apartment on Venice Beach. The doctor you see not when you need a hook up, but when you have a cough that won’t go away?

Do you smoke?

The United States government has spent tens of millions of dollars taking down the tobacco industry because of the effect smoke has on your lungs. If you apply for health insurance and tell the insurance company you smoke, your rates are doubled. Corporations are fined millions of dollars for the noxious smoke they pump into the atmosphere.

So now all of a sudden smoke is good for you?

Just remember, Odin drinks wine.