420 to the future

What will the marijuana world look like in 25 years?

—SN&R

Staring into my crystal bong, I see the future spread out gloriously in front of me.

By 2017, weed should be legal in all of the Western states. I am including Alaska and Hawaii in the West. Canna-tourism will be booming, with all kinds of festivals and competitions, and I expect a farm or two to open its doors to visitors. Maybe guests will even be able to take part in the harvesting and the trimming (would you call that a “doob ranch”?).

I also expect most of the East Coast (although maybe not New York for some reason) to have legal cannabis by 2020. I think Florida will try to get on the legalization train as well. Once we get the East and West Coast, we can start to make our way inland. Michigan is almost ready. Missouri may take a little longer. Illinois is getting there. Texas will probably be the last state to “go green.” Heh.

When it comes to how we will ingest weed, who knows? What’s after dabs? Tabs? They already have cannabis-infused breath strips. I don’t think anything will ever replace a joint, but there could be an even bigger explosion in art glass and cool smoking devices. There will probably be more vaporizing and less smoking, though.

And yes, many big corporations will try to get in on the mass production of cannabis. It will be up to us to make sure that the mom-and-pop growers don’t get cut out of the market. Just think, in 25 years, the hipster kids will smoke “PBR” (Pot’s Blue Ribbon) ironically while us O.G.s and chronissuers will enjoy small-batch, superspecial strains while we sit in our fancy pot parlors.

I could be completely wrong. I remember when Bill Clinton got elected president, and we all thought marijuana legalization was right around the corner. That was almost 25 years ago. Weed is not yet legal all over the country, but we are definitely getting there.

Here’s to 25 more years of smoking weed and writing about it!

I like to get high and surf the Web. Can you recommend any sites I might dig?

—P.C.

If you are looking to learn more about pot, YouTube has some cool things. Master grower Subcool has a really cool channel, as does my homegirl Coral Reefer. Oh, and Doug Benson has a show called Getting Doug With High that comes out on YouTube every Wednesday. I was just on it, and it is hella fun.

If you are looking for noncannabis things to look at, there’s always www.thisiswhyimbroke.com and searching for exploding-zit videos. Both of those will entertain you and probably gross you out a little. Have a good one.