The Hallway Moment No One Talks About
No one yelled. No one made a scene.
A group of parents stood off to one side, drinks in hand, laughing a little louder than usual after a long night. Their kids were nearby—playing, watching, absorbing everything like kids do.
Across the hall, one person sat quietly with a cannabis drink. Calm. Relaxed. Present.
And that’s when it happened.
“Is he really drinking that around the kids?”
Here’s the part that sticks with me.
The concern wasn’t about the volume of alcohol.
Not about staying up half the night.
Not about being visibly intoxicated in front of their children.
It was about the other thing.
The thing we’ve been taught to question.
But kids don’t see stigma.
They see who gets louder as the night goes on.
Who starts repeating themselves.
Who stops paying attention.
And they also see who stays grounded.
The Morning After Tells the Truth
Fast forward to the next morning.
Four adults sit around a breakfast table, wincing at the light, nursing coffee, blaming it on “just being tired.” The energy is low. Conversations are short. Everyone is just trying to push through.
And then there’s the other side.
Someone awake. Smiling. Making breakfast.
Engaged. Talking. Showing up.
No shame. No struggle to get through the moment. Just… present.
The Double Standard We Don’t Question
We’ve normalized one thing so deeply that we barely notice it anymore.
Alcohol is part of everything:
It’s joked about. Encouraged. Even expected.
That’s where people pause.
That’s where concern shows up.
That’s where judgment lives.
Even when the outcomes tell a different story.
This Isn’t About “Good” vs “Bad”
Let’s be clear—this isn’t about saying one thing is perfect and the other is terrible.
It’s about asking why one behavior is accepted without question… while another is dismissed without consideration.
It’s about recognizing that for some people, cannabis can be part of a harm reduction approach—a way to step away from something that was causing more damage.
Not everyone’s path looks the same.
Not everyone’s recovery looks like complete abstinence.
At the end of the day, kids don’t grow up remembering what was in your glass.
They remember how you made them feel.
Maybe it’s time we shift the conversation.
From: “What are they using?”
To: “How are they showing up?”
Because sometimes the person being judged in the hallway…
is the one who changed their life the most.