Just when you thought it could not get any weirder….
The complex nature of cannabis law reform usually makes me want to scream. It is a strange world where the truth can cease to exist, and hyperbolic bullshit rules the day. It is a puzzle, or maybe it is a trap…it is often hard to tell. It can be beautifully frustrating, or frustratingly beautiful. It is uncertain, and many times uncomfortable.
As a weed activist, it is difficult to tell where reality and fiction colide; and where weed will emerge from the underground back into an accepted and understood part of our society. It can boggle your mind if you try to think too hard about it. It is a hard concept to grasp. How the fuck did we get here?
I cannot even comprehend the concept of why weed was ever made illegal in the first place. I have thought long and hard about the evolution of our nation’s drug laws, and how we have ended up in such a terrible mess. For me, it is unconscionable to think that people lock other people in a cage because they like weed. I just do not get it. What the hell is going on? How did this happen? Where were the defenders of the Constitution when we needed them back in the day when they began this whole mess about locking people up for what they put in their own bodies? Why are we putting up with this shit now?
Yet somehow, this nation of freedom-loving, gun-toting, patriotic defenders of liberty have allowed the big governement nanny state to tell us what we can, and cannot consume. What is that all about?
“You like weed? It makes you feel good and you do not hurt anyone? Sorry, chump…You are going to prison.”
The absurdity of this concept is coming to the surface more and more each day. It is only a matter of time before cannabis re-enters the mainstream markets again, and becomes another boring commodity like booze, tobacco, pills, or even tomatoes. Think about it. Rarely does a beer company make the news just for making beer. It is just not interesting copy.
So how will weed go from being this hot-button outlaw topic to just another boring industry that serves a certain portion of the population with their products? What twists and turns will we experience along the way? How will the evolution unfold? Will it take a couple of decades to see a truly unadulterated weed market that is not hampered by overly-burdensome regulation and taxation? How long will it be before the market shifts completely to a level playing field where the person with the best goods and services wins?
Will it be a series of slow moving changes that take baby steps to a long-term freedom; or will there be a sudden social and political shift that will drastically open the floodgates of freedom and justice?
One thing is certain. It will be strange….hopefully in a good way.
We already see strange positioning and posturing, with this person selling their bag full of miracles to any sucker who wants in on the early action. The snake oil salesmen (some literally) are out in force to separate the fool from his money. That is just the nature of the beast.
The insane part will be the strange interpretations of what weed is and where it belongs in our society. We have already seen the medical vs. adult use argument heat up. There is the matter of production to figure out…who, where, how etc. Personal cultivation rights will be interesting. Driving will matter, of course, as we already see the drama happening in WA and CO. Retail sales….how does that work? Weed stores? Weed in stores? Internet weed store? All of that….
For every little issue and concept, there are a million ideas and rationales for implementation. There will be fighting. There will be winners and losers. There will be fierce competition. There will be supply and demand. The thought of it all boggles my mind.
It will be a strange trip indeed, but one I am certainly exited to take. I have my thoughts and ideas, just like anyone else. Some are brilliant; others stink, I am sure. The hope is that we realize a world with less people in jail and more people using weed instead of booze, or pills, or whatever….However we get there is how we will get there, and there is likely not a hell of a lot I can do about it personally.
But fate is seldom wrong, and certainly we will see the fate of our beloved cannabis plant find its way back to the surface one way or another. For all of the money, time, energy, and human resources we have seen go into fighting weed and promoting its prohibition, weed has endured and is stronger than ever. If anything, their efforts to prohibit it have backfired, and have made it so much more interesting and intriguing.
It will only get fucking weirder from here…..until it gets boring. Hopefully that will happen sooner than later.
The only thing that needs to be “exciting” about weed is that it smells, tastes, ans works better than usual. You can keep all the rhetorical politics and grandstanding bullshit…. Keep the swat team kicking in peoples’ doors for weed and searching their car…and taking their kids…and losing their jobs….and being treated like lesser citizens. The eye rolls and snarky comments. The stereotypes. Keep all that shit. Whatever we need to do to get there, let’s get moving.
I can sassure you it will never get weird enough for me….I will be here regardless.