I’ve noticed a lot more substance abuse on Muni lately. I’m not talking about the teenagers smoking pot or even drunk USF frat boys on a Friday night. I’m talking about morning and evening rush hour, regular-looking adults boozing it up on the bus. It started a few weeks ago on my evening commute home on the 5. This late-twenties-looking redheaded guy in hipster work attire busted out a flask. Now, since a flask is classier than a brown bag and it was the evening I guess he can be excused. I know I enjoy a glass of red wine with dinner. Maybe he was just getting a head start.
Then last week the morning substance abuse started to appear. I was on the 30 heading down to SoMa. Sitting across from me was a perfectly upstanding-looking, 50-something man who appeared to be on his way to work. Then what did he pull from his messenger bag, not an iPhone or a muffin, but a wine cooler. A fuzzy navel, bright orange, enjoyed by 18-year-old girls, wine cooler. At first I was unsure what it was, since I don’t think I’ve seen a wine cooler in 6 years, but it was Bartels and James in its full glory. He meticulously wrapped a paper towel around it and began sipping away. When I relayed the story to a co-worker, she responded quickly, “It’s the economy, he probably doesn’t have a job.” I can’t say I agreed at the time, if I didn’t have a job and I had a drinking problem I would be in bed on Tuesday morning at 9 a.m., but I’ve never been a morning person.
Fast-forward to Thursday morning, the 5-Fulton heading downtown. I took my usual seat in the back of the bus and was immediately overwhelmed by the stench of pot. It was obviously coming from the back row of people. The smell came and went throughout the 30-minute ride, but was so strong I was afraid of a contact high (and the consequences of showing up to a meeting smelling of pot).
Maybe my co-worker was right, maybe the economy has driven people to drink (or smoke) and ride. Are people so depressed about their finances or paranoid about being laid off that they can’t wait to drown their sorrows on Friday night like the rest of us? Maybe they are, or maybe I’ve just noticed the usual train wrecks a lot more lately. But as I got on my second bus Thursday morning, it smelled deliciously of Krispy Kreme donuts, and after that first bus ride, I found myself craving an old-fashioned.
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I haven’t noticed much new or unusual substance abuse on the 23, BART, or N, during my daily commute.
Sure there’s the guy who is usually smoking a joint at Ellsworth and Crescent at 8 AM and smells like he’s been steeping in it for years. And the odd alcoholic draining mini-bottles while waiting for the 44 in Glen Park.
But for the most part, it’s just these same usual characters.
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One morning a few years ago on an inbound N Judah, around 8:00 a.m., I saw this guy who looked like the typical SOMA worker drone – khakis, blue shirt, fleece vest, glasses – pull out one of those 24 oz. cans of Miller High Life in a paper bag and start drinking it. I couldn’t believe it! I don’t even think it was a Friday. That’s some serious commitment to your drinking.
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you gotta give it a man who can drink a wine cooler unabashedly. morning or night, that takes serious nerve. i was nearly force fed a mike’s hard lemonade at a recent super bowl party, and the effect induced frequent regurgitation.
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“Stench of pot”?! But you enjoyed the smell of a KK? Hmmm…. you need to get out more. Anyway, “contact high” is a myth– it’s anxious anticipation, something you mention, giggling, when you want somebody you don’t know to pass you the joint.
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not to get all comment-tangent on you, but TommyC, i have not once in my life wanted anyone to pass me the joint, but am certain i’ve gotten slightly high when in the vicinity of marjuana. could be my mind playing tricks on me, sure. but yeah … as with tobacco cigarettes and loud music, i don’t much appreciate when i have to sensorially experience others’ habits on a level like that.
$0.02
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Ha, I think I was on that 5 bus on Thursday morning. I was near the back and I suddenly wanted some Little Debbie Oatmeal Cremes on my morning commute.
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my family owns a bar – bad economy = good business for bars
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I used to take the 48 to high school and there was weed going in the back every morning. That was 1994-1998. I used to take the 5 daily, and while I never drank on the bus by myself, there were times we took the bus to ball games or such and discreetly hit the flask. This is definitely nothing new.
I only get troubled by dirty-ass people on the bus. And the overtly crazy who talk nonsense to you for your entire trip.
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