POT STICKLERS

Another mini-blog...

There is a good chance marijuana will become legal in my state of Ohio after the November elections. There is just as good a chance that two opposing issues will both pass and throw the whole thing into chaos.

One issue allow marijuana to be grown only at ten sites, awarding a virtual monopoly to a handful of “Big Pot” corporations. You just know some political folks are getting their beaks wet if this issue passes.

Another issue would outlaw such monopolies. I don’t know what that issue’s passage might do to the legalization of marijuana because I need to do more research on this issue.

I’m in favor of decriminalizing marijuana. I’m not really in favor of legalizing it because, while it has medicinal value and should not be illegal for those purposes, it makes people who smoke it for recreational purposes more stupid than they normally are.

However, I am okay with legalizing marijuana because there are many equally and even more stupid things that are legal: cigarettes and other tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, watching any TV show involving any of the Kardashians, believing anything on Fox News, taking selfies and voting Republican. Stupid is still legal in so many ways.

The best thought on these issues I’ve read so far did not come from a politician or pundit. It came from Akron Beacon-Journal reader Patty Martell, who wrote to columnist Bob Dyer:

I’ve been reading so much in the ABJ lately about the woes of the University of Akron and also about the push to pass legislation to legalize marijuana in Ohio.

It got me thinking … how about if we legalize marijuana with the stipulation that it can only be grown by the agricultural centers of our state universities?

Naturally, all the profits would go to those institutions to help finance higher education. Imagine the potential for students in research, marketing, sales, PR, product design, etc.

Wooster could become one of the largest growing centers in the state with its two university extensions! Perhaps the local Amish could offer their expertise on how to grow it organically.

Oh, the possibilities!

Like Dyer, I would vote for this plan in a heartbeat.

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This column is dedicated to the former Marvel and DC Comics artist who insisted I try smoking pot in the 1970s. For whatever reason, it didn’t affect me. This artist kept smoking pot. Today he is a moronic right-wing zealot. I rest my case.

There were two other (repeated) incidents in which pot did affect me. While living in New York, I used to go to this movie theater which would show classic movies on Saturday night. We would catch the last showing of the previous week’s double feature and the first showing of the coming week’s double feature. The atmosphere of the place in those days before smoking of any kind was outlawed in most public places was...heady. After the last of the movies, I and my comics-industry companions would crave breakfast. Lots and lots of breakfast. No wonder the area restaurant owners always had such big smiles on their faces on Sunday mornings.

Also while living in New York, I had a beautiful girlfriend who, on several occasions, would smoke pot with mutual friends. I did not smoke pot, but she would inhale and then kiss me. Really kiss me. I will contend to my dying day that I got high from her kisses and not from the pot.

© 2015 Tony Isabella