Ganja never hurt no one

 

July 1, 2015. Portland, Oregon. It has finally happened. As of 12:01 am this morning, marijuana is legal for recreational use here in the Beaver State.

It is now legal in Oregon to possess as much as 8 ounces of marijuana in one's home. It is legal to carry up to an ounce of marijuana on one's person at any time. It will soon be legal to purchase marijuana at grower-affiliated businesses. (Just as soon as the OLCC can figure a way to get its fingers in the pie). It is also legal to have up to four mature plants in your home. Smoking in public is still prohibited. (Good luck trying to hold anybody to that.)

I tell you from the heart, I thought I'd never see this day. I've been smoking dope since I was 13 years old. Marijuana is a part of my life, and always has been. Sentiments in Oregon have always been tolerant toward marijuana (don't forget, I've lived here all my life), but this common sense change is both overdue and proof positive that people in Oregon make things happen.

In the eyes of the federal government, marijuana is a Schedule I drug, equivalent to heroin. But, oddly, alcohol, which destroys far more lives than does ganja, is absent from the list. It's good to live in a state where people dismiss such an absurdity.

And done in the Oregon way: through ballot initiative. Put forth by the people. Approved by the people.

Hats off to the folks at NORML, who have worked tirelessly on this issue for many long years. They certainly have my gratitude.

And for the uptight folks out there right now, worrying about this new, more open, more tolerant world we're about to enter?

Rest easy.

Life is going to go on the same way it always has.

People are going to use marijuana to get high. They're going to be stoned.

They're going to be all around you.

Just like they always have been.

It's okay.

Ganja never hurt no one.