06 Aug Corona-Cannabis Update #17: And So it Goes…

In the classic 1969 novel Slaughterhouse Five, whenever death arrives, author Kurt Vonnegut’s somewhat tortured Billy Pilgrim shrugs and says, “So it goes.” The phrase is actually repeated over 100 times in the book. It is not meant to be flip, as the time-traveling character knows that death is fixed in time and each deceased character’s life continues in the moments when it happened. But the book, released during the US anti-Vietnam War movement, also is meant to point out how war often desensitizes us to death.

Maybe too early in the morning for Tralfamadorian philosophy or to recall the horrors that young Pilgrim experienced in the Battle of the Bulge and a German prison camp during World War II. I have decided, however, to use Vonnegut’s Pilgrim to explain the decision to suspend the regular corona-cannabis updates. We are in about month six since the first US COVID-19 cases. It appears this crisis has at a minimum many more months to be upon us until a vaccine is approved and distributed. It is, indeed, the “new normal.” Thus the pandemic will continue to affect all businesses, including the cannabis and hemp worlds, and I will continue to comment on it along with other topics I have traditionally covered, and a few new ones like psychedelics.

There also appears to be some numbness occurring in our country with the overwhelming amount of death we have faced. At this point, over 160,000 Americans have perished from the virus and there have been nearly five million confirmed US cases of COVID-19. It took from late January to late May to reach the 100,000 death mark and only a little more than 2 months to get from there to 160,000. Putting aside all the political wrangling, and the clear need for us all to do more to fight the pandemic, we need to avoid looking at the death toll as just some sort of number or even a political scorecard of sorts.

When does it hit you? When someone you know has it and either faces serious illness or death. We were feeling a bit better here in New York the last few months before things ticked up again in the South and West (and now Midwest). And just a few weeks ago, a close life-long friend’s parents in Pennsylvania both sadly succumbed to the virus within a week of each other, and their daughter, and her immuno-compromised daughter, got it as well, though thankfully both of them are recovering. The father faced pneumonia and hospitalization just days after losing his wife, and was not able to have any visitors until the very end. All this started with a health aide who had been assisting my friend’s parents. I’m protecting their identities but want to say rest in peace to M&J, both wonderful and caring individuals.

Let us not be complacent or abandon our emotional response to the overwhelming enormity of this crisis. Please. Wear a mask (just as you wear seat belts). Socially distance when you cannot. Avoid large groups. Don’t assume age or health or zip code protects you. And be there when people in your life face their diagnosis. Cannabis and hemp are going to be just fine. Let’s keep doing all we can to just move as fast as possible from the obliteration of lives and families from this awful disease.