Rocky Mountain High

With pot now legal in Colorado people from other states ask if things have changed. My observations are hardly a scientific study. Pot use is a lot more open.

Case in point. About 1:30 am last night I stopped by the Post Office and found a check waiting. The credit union, which is in a strip mall with a Safeway Store, is nearby so I stopped and deposited the check. Three individuals were lounging outside the closed Safeway. As I drove by, it was easy to tell they were toking (is that current slang or am I showing my age?) Ages seemed to be twenty to thirty. The store is across the street and two blocks away from the main city police complex. Seemed rather bold to me, legal or not.

What is disturbing is to smell pot while sitting at a red light. I often drive with my window down and at least once a week I smell it. Personally I don't much care what people willingly do unless they involve others in their behaviors. Sharing the road with an impaired driver goes way past my tolerance level. But, what can you do?

One misconception I had was corrected by a neighbor. I thought the street price was lower than the legal stores. He says an ounce at the store is around $100 and on the street around $150. Damn. That kind of money will buy a lot of sour mash.

We don’t seem to have a great increase in traffic accidents attributed to pot. Decreasing the cash flow to criminals seems to me to be a benefit. The drug that is causing the most harm is meth. Maybe it is the circles I move in but I know far too many people who are impacted. It is usually a family member or an entire family. So sad when infants and young children are harmed by the actions of the adults they should be able to depend on.

While there are no easy answers, it seems to me the “War on Drugs” has caused far more harm than the drugs themselves.