In my hometown, Oakland, there is a huge movement toward medical marijuana and flat out decriminalization. I counted 28 dispensaries in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, according to these guys. Plus, weed has a strong tradition going back to at least the 60s where it was front and center at the protests in and around Berkeley and Oakland. Hip Hop stars like Hieroglyphics and Tupac and rockers like Green Day glorified its use in my developmental years. At my high school, sometimes known rappers would show up at lunch to visit friends or teachers. Weed was all part of that growing up in Oakland.

I remember playing catch with a friend and I missed the ball, I ran through four rows of six foot weed plants in his backyard to fetch it. From this comes the dealer/buyer culture for many suburban folks. Weed always came from friends in Oakland, not shady dudes on street corners. Dads grew it, sold it or moved it and kids pinched it from them. And so that brings us to an old friend of mine who sells weed in Oakland today. When I asked him about the dispensaries he could name three former customers who now go to the dispensaries in Oakland. He cited better selection, regular business hours and the fact that it's LEGAL for them as the main reasons. So he is, in effect, getting shut down by legal pot. He said he notices the difference in income. To add to that, I know a former college dealer who now goes to a dispensary.

Did anyone hear that? Conservatives? Liberals? Legal pot is putting ‘dangerous’ drug dealers out of business and putting control in the hands of regulated business people. Holy shit. Holy shit. What are we going to do now with all this out of control legalized pot?? There will be more kids in the streets, stoned to the bejuzzes, unable to read or write… oh wait, I can read and write… well, I’m stoned RIGHT NOW and I’m writing!!

Anyway, this might be the first proof that all those freaky conservatives, who decry this as the opening of Pandora’s skunky green box, that controlling and regulating is better than prohibition and a full scale war against your own people. Anyway, time to toke kids, and remember, keep weed illegal, non-corporate, cheap and untaxed!