Betty's (Little Basement) Garden by Laurel Dewey

credenza before she had to stop, due to the room spinning.
    â€œListen, this is a beautiful thing, Betty. Because of your chocolates and my cannabis addition, Aunt Peggy and I were finally able to connect for the last nine hours of her life. I’m eternally grateful to you for giving me that gift.”
    A horrifying thought crept up. “How do you know it wasn’t the marijuana that killed her? Do you have any idea the kind of trouble you could put me in?”
    â€œAre you serious, dude? You’re, like, channeling a crazed character from Reefer Madness .” He stood up, moving closer to her. “Betty, Google is your friend. Please use it and get educated. You’re repeating gossip and hysteria and belief systems that are false. I’ve read the stats. Nearly eight thousand people die every year from aspirin. One hundred die from peanut allergies. Nobody has ever died from cannabis, which makes cannabis safer than peanuts. Ha! Put that on a bumper sticker!”
    â€œListen, kid, I don’t need to hear your propaganda about how marijuana is legal and safe –”
    â€œFirst off, the word marijuana should not be used. It’s a Mexican slang term given to the cannabis plant by the U.S. government in the early 1920’s to marginalize it. And if you want to talk about propaganda, it’s not coming from me! The propaganda is coming from our own government, that – and here’s some bold irony – currently holds at least one patent for the Cannabinoids in the cannabis plant which work as antioxidants and actually generate new brain cells. Makes you kinda wonder why they tell the public it’s dangerous, addictive and has zero medical value on one side and then they tell their god, Big Pharma, that it’s potentially life saving. Gee, follow the money trail and let’s see where it leads!”
    She held her head in pain. “I can’t effectively argue with you at this moment –”
    â€œGood! Because there’s nothin’ to argue about. I can’t make up this shit, Betty. You gotta wake up and see where the propaganda is really coming from, hear the lies and taste the truth. Oh, and Colorado has an amendment to our state constitution that allows for legal use of medical grade cannabis. And yeah, cannabis is safe when you use the right strain at the right dose. It’s a whole lot safer than that little cocktail of pills and booze that are still percolating through your bloodstream right now!”
    Betty felt as if she were hanging on by her teeth. “Those pills and that bottle of bourbon are legal.”
    â€œGeez, Betty, are you not hearing me? So is the medical cannabis! It’s just not culturally accepted by some individuals, so there’s that damn stigma. But once people start researching it and stop buying into the bullshit lies, eventually it will be accepted. And, heads up, just because the almighty Feds have deemed pills and booze legal, doesn’t make them safe! It just makes them available to anyone because the government says so and they can make a shitpot of profit from them.”
    â€œI’m not listening to this!” She attempted to move a few steps but her legs felt like rubber.
    â€œBut you have to listen!” He moved around to face her. “Don’t you want to know the truth? I’ve memorized lots of stats for occasions just like this. Like more people died in 2008 from prescription painkillers than all the deaths that year from heroin and cocaine combined. And check this out, twelve million people admit to taking those painkillers just for the high.” He paused momentarily to gather his thoughts. “Betty, you saw Aunt Peggy today. She was riding the wave when you visited with her. Did that look terrible to you? Or did that look peaceful and introspective?”
    Another surge of realization sunk in. “Good God! You tainted my gourmet chocolates, and then you lured me there so