Amidst the ever-increasing pressure to commercialize marijuana I’d like to offer a different perspective. Vermont has now decriminalized pot possession and private growing. This I applaud. It’s long overdue. Our society now should be dealing with restorative justice by cleaning out our prisons and wiping the slate clean. Possession of marijuana is no longer illegal and nobody should continue to be punished.
Although the logical next step might seem be to commercialization like other states, it appears this is primarily driven by the desire for tax revenues. Alternatively, if we just live with the existing law, I think we might see another, better path emerge.
Where I live weed is now so common that the commercial value is approaching zero. We don’t need commercialization to expand or control access. Anybody with even an ounce of garden experience, a small plot or even a garden pot, can have all they want or need. Furthermore, we now trade and share our crops and enjoy the bounty just as we do with our tomatoes, peppers, zucchinis and other garden produce.
I’ve been to the other states where cannabis has been legalized and I have shopped widely for the latest strains, the newest products and the edibles. There is now clearly a strong product oriented commercial market that is being fully developed. The corporate interests, the big money has moved in. The inevitable result of a “free” market I guess but it sort of worries me that the full-on commercial hype coupled with the desire for more tax revenue might produce unwelcome results. No wonder our state, like many others, has had a hard time figuring out how to effectively and safely create regulated commercial markets.
I suggest we just let our current law stand. Then maybe we could see how this all would work out. We have eight to 10 states with legal, regulated commercial markets, all with different rules for where and when a citizen can consume, who can grow, who and how you can sell and what licenses are needed, etc. I think Vermont might do well to skip this phase, and let our own unregulated, non-commercialized version mature. It might actually be more interesting and more creative.
For myself, I’m plenty busy trying to adjust to the new social norm, understand how to be sensitive and discrete as needed, and help my community understand that, after almost 100 years of criminalization, fear and suspicion, marijuana isn’t the boogeyman it was made out to be.
Everything doesn’t need to be driven by money, by corporations and by government regulations. Weed is legal now and maybe that’s good enough.
Credit: vtdigger.org
