STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The nation celebrates the Fourth of July holiday today.
And right on time, I got an email from a stranger, asking me if I can help them score weed while they visit Washington, D.C.
I’m not a drug dealer. But in 2017, I did a photo essay on how to buy weed legally in the nation’s capital, and the story has taken on a life of its own.
Not only has it continued to help me meet my page-view goals here at the Advance (thank you, Google search), but it’s brought me in contact with hopheads from all over the place.
Here’s the text of an email I got on July 3: “Hey I read your article and I’m going on a trip to DC this weekend and was wondering if you had anymore tips??”
Back in May, I got this email: “Hey I was planning a trip to DC and wanted in on some cannabis goodies and your guide was really helpful. Thanks! Also I would like to acquire seeds and maybe some the cartridges there, do you think the process to obtain would be similar?”
I get one or two of these emails every few weeks. There’s usually an uptick in readership of the piece, and a corresponding increase in emails, around any holidays. Fourth of July. Memorial Day. Thanksgiving.
I also get emails around April 20 of every year, the unofficial National Weed Day. Hey, securing your recreational drugs is a big part of vacation planning.
I’ve also noticed an uptick in traffic (story traffic, not drug trafficking) around Election Day. There was a noticeable spike on the days leading up to and following the election of Donald Trump as president.
Coincidence?
I was hesitant to answer the emails at first. I was paranoid that it was some kind of DEA sting operation. But then I figured that I’d already openly written about scoring weed in Washington, where it’s legal. Would answering an email about how I did it get me into any deeper trouble? Besides, weed has been decriminalized in so many places as to be practically legal anyway.
This email arrived last month: “Hi, I was reading your article on your trip to Dc. Sounded exciting and a little scary just because was taking a chance meeting someone.. lol It caught my attention because I’m ready to take a trip as well with some friends. Which to be honest is one of the main reasons for going, Edibles and weed .. Was wondering if you had any suggestions or ideas .. I see you shared the Pink website information. Did you really have to pay $100.00 for delivery the next day ?? Were they the only ones ??”
I have a standard response to the emails. I tell folks that everything I learned on my trip, I pretty much put in the story. Then I give them the website of the folks I used down there, Pink Fox (pinkfox202.com). I figure this is a pretty safe way to go about things.
The whole thing all started pretty innocently: The Advance had assigned me to go to D.C. to talk to then-Rep. Dan Donovan and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer about what it was like to work with Trump.
In case the story didn’t put a lot of points on the board (which I was right to be concerned about), I wanted to have a backup, something else I could do down while I was down there. Since New York was thinking about legalizing weed at the time, I figured a delve into the D.C. marijuana situation would be good.
Weed is legal in D.C., but actually buying it is quite a convoluted process. So I thought a primer would be helpful. And, you know, I could kind of brag about how my newspaper paid me to buy weed.
The whole thing involved some repeated phone calls, a connection made outside Ford’s Theatre, and a street buy near a Washington D.C. Metro station. You can read all about it here.
I keep thinking I could be making money on this somehow. There’s clearly a market for weed tourism. And people are nervous about doing something that’s been illegal for a long time. I could be their weed guide.
Maybe after I’m done with journalism.
Credit:www.silive.com