The future is green

With the coming decriminalization and legalization of marijuana in so many states, do you believe there will be new advances in marijuana science and culture? Weed farmers markets? New devices for getting high? GMO weed?

—Dollface Rae

Thank you for your questions. Speaking of coming legislation, Georgia state Senator Curt Thompson just introduced two bills in the General Assembly: One to legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and over, and one to legalize medical cannabis for people suffering from a wide variety of conditions. I hope it passes, because I am sure someone will create a strain called Georgia Peach. Also, getting stoned at Stone Mountain would become a life goal.

Moving on.

New advances in science: As soon as cannabis is removed from the DEA’s schedule of harmful drugs (I am advocating for a complete removal from the list, not just bumping it down to schedule II or III. Marijuana is not a harmful drug), the U.S. will see an immediate increase in cannabis studies. It is so hard to perform studies here because the DEA keeps blocking proposals any chance they get.

Culture: This is an interesting one. As weed goes mainstream, marijuana etiquette may have to change. Is smoking weed on the street still acceptable? Or is it akin to swigging a beer in a brown paper bag? Will people that have liquor cabinets at their house also have a weed box? (I have a weed box, but no liquor cabinet. Go figure.) Will there be Amsterdam-style coffee shops or will it be more like a cigar club? If weed is legal but they won’t let you smoke it in public, what do you do at a concert while everyone else is having a beer? These are things we must address.

Farmers markets: They are already here. The one in Los Angeles got shut down, but there are thriving markets in Washington, and I just visited one in Lake County a few weeks ago on my way to the Humboldt Harvest Fest. Marijuana farmers markets are awesome, and we ought to encourage them. I talked to Hezekiah Allen, head of the Emerald Growers Association, about the future of pot growing and he said farmers are starting to organize for 2016: “We need regulation before legalization. The word from Sacramento is we need a framework in place before 2016. I would like to see the CA Department of Food and Agriculture in charge of cannabis from the seed to the bag. Once it’s off the farm, someone else can regulate it. I would also like to see small, sustainable, decentralized farms.”

New devices: Vaporizers are all the rage now. In fact, “vape” just won the Oxford English Dictionary’s Word of the Year. (“Budtender” came in at third place. Go pot culture!) I don’t know what would be next, except for some sort of Star Trek-type thing that would inject THC right into your bloodstream, but I like the flavor of marijuana even more than I like the buzz, so I wouldn’t want one.