The Broken Language of Cannabis

From 'Baked' to 'Buzzed': Why Talking About Cannabis is Like Playing Telephone at a Party

The Loose Lexicon of ‘La Lazy Lettuce:

The language we use to talk about cannabis is as hazy as the smoke from a puff—vague, elusive, and, quite frankly, failing us. We limp along with fuzzy terms that rarely convey what one person actually experiences, let alone describe what they’re buying or consuming. Medicine? Well, medicine is barely at the starting line—struggling to explain how cannabis affects things like sleep, exercise, mood, or illness.

We use phrases like “one big puff” or “one edible,” but what do those even mean? Did you hold that puff in? Was the edible mixed evenly? Was it baked with love or half-heartedly thrown together by someone who had the munchies? And after consuming, are you “high”? “Wasted”? “Just a little baked”? These words are so imprecise they practically beg for a collective facepalm.

Sure, we know we’re getting compounds that have been processed, tested (kind of), and sold, but how do we put the cannabis experience into words? It’s like trying to explain a…