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February 24, 2024 8:10 AM Subscribe
Legal weed in New York was going to be a revolution. What happened? (Jia Tolentino for The New Yorker (archive.is))
(See also Brad Racino's reporting for syracuse.com.)
(See also Brad Racino's reporting for syracuse.com.)
Commercialization aside, it's nice to not be paranoid anymore. Since regulation is under the heath department, it's OK to smoke weed anywhere it's OK to smoke tobacco.
posted by mikelieman at 8:42 AM on February 24 [7 favorites]
posted by mikelieman at 8:42 AM on February 24 [7 favorites]
I'm disappointed that this article only had two "ë"s (reëlection and preëmptive). Try harder, New Yorker! I want more articles about coöperation and deëscalation!
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 8:56 AM on February 24 [45 favorites]
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 8:56 AM on February 24 [45 favorites]
It upset me too, diëreses beïng the main reasons I read the New Yorker. What are they even doïng??
posted by aubilenon at 9:04 AM on February 24 [27 favorites]
posted by aubilenon at 9:04 AM on February 24 [27 favorites]
It’s also because the N.Y.P.D. [...] seems uninterested in policing for weed at all.
This is the actual reason.
posted by phooky at 9:05 AM on February 24 [11 favorites]
This is the actual reason.
posted by phooky at 9:05 AM on February 24 [11 favorites]
Crystal Peoples-Stokes, currently the Majority Leader of the New York State Assembly, was one of the key people holding up legalization until the legislation focused on making sure Black people were not left behind. She wanted to make sure that rich white dudes from California--and nearly every LP is white-owned--didn't take over all the licenses for dispensaries. She wanted to make sure that the communities who were profoundly affected by the War on Drugs would be given an equal chance to participate in the lucrative economy of legal weed. IIRC, she didn't want white LPs choosing a token Black person on their boards just to get a cut of the looming legality. You can read more about her in Waiting to Inhale: Cannabis Legalization and the Fight for Racial Justice.
I am of the belief that if you use cannabis, you have an obligation to promote and fight for folks of colour who are still in jail for a plant that has seen a huge boom. It's why I am on a board up here in Canada regarding this.
posted by Kitteh at 9:10 AM on February 24 [56 favorites]
I am of the belief that if you use cannabis, you have an obligation to promote and fight for folks of colour who are still in jail for a plant that has seen a huge boom. It's why I am on a board up here in Canada regarding this.
posted by Kitteh at 9:10 AM on February 24 [56 favorites]
I'm disappointed that this article only had two "ë"s (reëlection and preëmptive). Try harder, New Yorker! I want more articles about coöperation and deëscalation!
Now, now, don't preëmpt their decisions. It's naïve to think that these things happen in a vacuüm. Rather, it's a coöperative process betwixt writer and editor, skiïng through the woods of modern prose to find that poëtic expanse of timeless punctuätion...
Ahem. One New Yorker writer has shared that we almost avoided decades of diaereses:
Lu Burke used to pester the style editor, Hobie Weekes, who had been at the magazine since 1928, to get rid of the diaeresis. Like Mr. Hyphen, Lu was a modern independent-minded reader, and she didn’t need to have her vowels micromanaged. Once, in the elevator, Weekes seemed to be weakening. He told her he was on the verge of changing that style and would be sending out a memo soon. And then he died.
This was in 1978. No one has had the nerve to raise the subject since.
posted by rory at 9:22 AM on February 24 [33 favorites]
Now, now, don't preëmpt their decisions. It's naïve to think that these things happen in a vacuüm. Rather, it's a coöperative process betwixt writer and editor, skiïng through the woods of modern prose to find that poëtic expanse of timeless punctuätion...
Ahem. One New Yorker writer has shared that we almost avoided decades of diaereses:
Lu Burke used to pester the style editor, Hobie Weekes, who had been at the magazine since 1928, to get rid of the diaeresis. Like Mr. Hyphen, Lu was a modern independent-minded reader, and she didn’t need to have her vowels micromanaged. Once, in the elevator, Weekes seemed to be weakening. He told her he was on the verge of changing that style and would be sending out a memo soon. And then he died.
This was in 1978. No one has had the nerve to raise the subject since.
posted by rory at 9:22 AM on February 24 [33 favorites]
It’s also because the N.Y.P.D. [...] seems uninterested in policing for weed at all
now do Black people!
posted by supermedusa at 9:38 AM on February 24 [14 favorites]
now do Black people!
posted by supermedusa at 9:38 AM on February 24 [14 favorites]
It's insane that these hundreds of bodega style crappy weed/vape shops that litter every block were allowed to ruin the upcoming market. I mean if you're serious about having the industry benefit affected groups then allowing these illegal places to undermine the whole thing is stupid. But this in NYC and somehow I'm not surprised.
posted by Liquidwolf at 9:39 AM on February 24 [2 favorites]
posted by Liquidwolf at 9:39 AM on February 24 [2 favorites]
Has any state or country managed to roll this out in a way that does account for the drug war's wrongs?
posted by Selena777 at 9:41 AM on February 24 [4 favorites]
posted by Selena777 at 9:41 AM on February 24 [4 favorites]
sheesh, everyone's a diacritic!
(here's an excellent example of the New Yorker flexing its umlauts, in an article that not only deploys the accent aigu but also the slashed o: She grew up listening to the Beatles; when she was around eight, an uncle got her into American glam metal. “I was this little kid, still wearing pink, and listening to Mötley Crüe,” she said. “I didn’t have a lot of people to share my particular interest for this weird music with.”)
posted by chavenet at 9:42 AM on February 24 [4 favorites]
(here's an excellent example of the New Yorker flexing its umlauts, in an article that not only deploys the accent aigu but also the slashed o: She grew up listening to the Beatles; when she was around eight, an uncle got her into American glam metal. “I was this little kid, still wearing pink, and listening to Mötley Crüe,” she said. “I didn’t have a lot of people to share my particular interest for this weird music with.”)
posted by chavenet at 9:42 AM on February 24 [4 favorites]
I wonder if NYC will end up like Portland, where it sometimes seems like there’s a weed store on Every. Single. Block. There no way in heaven even this city can support half that many. I’d love to know how the economics of the industry makes that even remotely possible. Are potential profits that big that investors just assume 3/4 of them will fail?
posted by gottabefunky at 9:53 AM on February 24 [6 favorites]
posted by gottabefunky at 9:53 AM on February 24 [6 favorites]
My town is like that with liquor stores and I found out that it's because the adjacent higher income towns are "dry".
posted by Selena777 at 9:56 AM on February 24 [5 favorites]
posted by Selena777 at 9:56 AM on February 24 [5 favorites]
It's insane that these hundreds of bodega style crappy weed/vape shops that litter every block were allowed to ruin the upcoming market. [...] But this in NYC and somehow I'm not surprised.
this sounds rather similar to how things have played out in Vancouver. A rather Darwinian situation. Survival of the fittest, adapt or perish, yada-yada-yada. For me, an easy walk (less than ten minutes) gets me to at least four separate storefronts, probably more. They've become at least as ubiquitous as convenience stores.
Every now and then I hear someone who's involved in the business complaining about how shitty it is, how little money is being made by the various concerns. I just shrug and think of my old friend (call him Ralph), who was a grower for at least two decades, back when it was a dangerous but remunerative trade. He still grows a few plants for friends and families but has otherwise moved on to a different trade. "the whole thing's been stupid since forever," is his basic line, "it should never have been illegal in the first place. In terms of basic stuff that you want to smoke to get high, there should be no profit motive at all. Granted, a lot of work has gone into finetuning the stuff over the years, but all that paid off long ago. I look forward to a future where the weed is literally everywhere, growing in ditches, getting weeded out of playgrounds. Because that's what it is, a fucking weed. God wants it everywhere."
posted by philip-random at 10:01 AM on February 24 [19 favorites]
this sounds rather similar to how things have played out in Vancouver. A rather Darwinian situation. Survival of the fittest, adapt or perish, yada-yada-yada. For me, an easy walk (less than ten minutes) gets me to at least four separate storefronts, probably more. They've become at least as ubiquitous as convenience stores.
Every now and then I hear someone who's involved in the business complaining about how shitty it is, how little money is being made by the various concerns. I just shrug and think of my old friend (call him Ralph), who was a grower for at least two decades, back when it was a dangerous but remunerative trade. He still grows a few plants for friends and families but has otherwise moved on to a different trade. "the whole thing's been stupid since forever," is his basic line, "it should never have been illegal in the first place. In terms of basic stuff that you want to smoke to get high, there should be no profit motive at all. Granted, a lot of work has gone into finetuning the stuff over the years, but all that paid off long ago. I look forward to a future where the weed is literally everywhere, growing in ditches, getting weeded out of playgrounds. Because that's what it is, a fucking weed. God wants it everywhere."
posted by philip-random at 10:01 AM on February 24 [19 favorites]
I think running a weed store is a dead loser of a business idea.
So many popped up here in Seattle, and most of them have closed. There is way too much weed for growers to make any money. I could likely buy an eighth for $12 right now. And security and all that? Not going into that business...
posted by Windopaene at 10:01 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]
So many popped up here in Seattle, and most of them have closed. There is way too much weed for growers to make any money. I could likely buy an eighth for $12 right now. And security and all that? Not going into that business...
posted by Windopaene at 10:01 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]
mikelieman: Commercialization aside, it's nice to not be paranoid anymore.
If a clerk at one of these stores wants to see my id to make sure I’m not three kids in a trench coat, that’s fine. My paranoia won’t permit me to go into one of these places that scan your id and do who knows what with that data. Seems like they all do just to get beyond the vestibule. Thanks but no thanks.
posted by dr_dank at 10:14 AM on February 24 [4 favorites]
If a clerk at one of these stores wants to see my id to make sure I’m not three kids in a trench coat, that’s fine. My paranoia won’t permit me to go into one of these places that scan your id and do who knows what with that data. Seems like they all do just to get beyond the vestibule. Thanks but no thanks.
posted by dr_dank at 10:14 AM on February 24 [4 favorites]
Weed stores I have been to in the US--where legal--are interesting. A small area to show ID to someone behind glass and then to get buzzed in. So different from Ontario where you just walk in, show your ID to someone on the floor, and start browsing.
posted by Kitteh at 10:22 AM on February 24 [2 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 10:22 AM on February 24 [2 favorites]
It was never going to work, and no expected it to do so.
Even with the best of leadership, you don’t combine a regulatory agency with an economic development agency with a welfare bureau, and social justice advocates aren’t the best of leadership. In the real world, drug convicts aren’t likely prospects to run competitive regulated legal businesses.
It got passed this way because it felt good to certain people in the legislature who had the swing votes, so that’s how it went.
posted by MattD at 10:23 AM on February 24 [6 favorites]
Even with the best of leadership, you don’t combine a regulatory agency with an economic development agency with a welfare bureau, and social justice advocates aren’t the best of leadership. In the real world, drug convicts aren’t likely prospects to run competitive regulated legal businesses.
It got passed this way because it felt good to certain people in the legislature who had the swing votes, so that’s how it went.
posted by MattD at 10:23 AM on February 24 [6 favorites]
I'm pleased for my friends who enjoy cannabis that their indulgence is no longer unfairly criminalized. Just like I don't really have a problem with gambling. Personal freedom and all.
But some days it feels like the main two kinds of business opening near me are marijuana dispensaries and video gambling joints.
That gives very strong End of an Empire vibes.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:33 AM on February 24 [16 favorites]
But some days it feels like the main two kinds of business opening near me are marijuana dispensaries and video gambling joints.
That gives very strong End of an Empire vibes.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:33 AM on February 24 [16 favorites]
Weed stores I have been to in the US--where legal--are interesting. A small area to show ID to someone behind glass and then to get buzzed in. So different from Ontario where you just walk in, show your ID to someone on the floor, and start browsing.
They're big robbery targets in the US, because they have to do business in cash, because it's still illegal at the federal level.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 10:36 AM on February 24 [24 favorites]
They're big robbery targets in the US, because they have to do business in cash, because it's still illegal at the federal level.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 10:36 AM on February 24 [24 favorites]
Has any state or country managed to roll this out in a way that does account for the drug war's wrongs?
Illinois was the first state to legalize recreational cannabis by legislature, led by the governor. I won't say there have been no problems and I don't know about POC ownership stake in any production or retail, but I do know a hell of a lot of people got out of prison, and there has been no huge boom in crime as the carceralists claimed. Also many more people have had their cannabis-related criminal records expunged. Obviously a huge proportion of those people are black, due to extremely racist enforcement. I don't have a great link handy showing numbers, but if you look around you'll find them.
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:51 AM on February 24 [8 favorites]
Illinois was the first state to legalize recreational cannabis by legislature, led by the governor. I won't say there have been no problems and I don't know about POC ownership stake in any production or retail, but I do know a hell of a lot of people got out of prison, and there has been no huge boom in crime as the carceralists claimed. Also many more people have had their cannabis-related criminal records expunged. Obviously a huge proportion of those people are black, due to extremely racist enforcement. I don't have a great link handy showing numbers, but if you look around you'll find them.
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:51 AM on February 24 [8 favorites]
Literally the second sentence of the article is about a guy who ran a competitive regulated legal business AND a grow op.
posted by youthenrage at 10:58 AM on February 24 [7 favorites]
posted by youthenrage at 10:58 AM on February 24 [7 favorites]
In the real world, drug convicts aren’t likely prospects to run competitive regulated legal businesses.
Man, most of the cannabis and drug dealers I've ever met were some of the sharpest, most driven (and self taught!) business-minded people I've met whether or not they caught charges or time. Especially if they actually grew cannabis themselves where there's significant financial and legal risks.
Even the low-level doofuses that sat around playing X-box and getting stoned all day knew how to watch their bottom line and keep their bank rolls fat despite razor thin profit margins.
A lot of those people could easily be very skilled accountants, managers or business owners with a little spit and polish.
And I know there's a TON of people in WA state that used to be involved in the black (or grey) markets for cannabis that became producers or retailers. They were the ones that actually knew how to produce cannabis at scale. They had the seed libraries, the knowledge and the skills.
Similar trends happened after the Prohibition era with bootleggers, moonshiners and distillers.
posted by loquacious at 11:44 AM on February 24 [24 favorites]
Man, most of the cannabis and drug dealers I've ever met were some of the sharpest, most driven (and self taught!) business-minded people I've met whether or not they caught charges or time. Especially if they actually grew cannabis themselves where there's significant financial and legal risks.
Even the low-level doofuses that sat around playing X-box and getting stoned all day knew how to watch their bottom line and keep their bank rolls fat despite razor thin profit margins.
A lot of those people could easily be very skilled accountants, managers or business owners with a little spit and polish.
And I know there's a TON of people in WA state that used to be involved in the black (or grey) markets for cannabis that became producers or retailers. They were the ones that actually knew how to produce cannabis at scale. They had the seed libraries, the knowledge and the skills.
Similar trends happened after the Prohibition era with bootleggers, moonshiners and distillers.
posted by loquacious at 11:44 AM on February 24 [24 favorites]
In the real world, drug convicts aren’t likely prospects to run competitive regulated legal businesses.
I think you may be a little unclear on just how large a population people with drug-related convictions actually is.
One of the licensed shops is run by a guy who's run a gym for several years, for instance.
posted by praemunire at 11:45 AM on February 24 [10 favorites]
I think you may be a little unclear on just how large a population people with drug-related convictions actually is.
One of the licensed shops is run by a guy who's run a gym for several years, for instance.
posted by praemunire at 11:45 AM on February 24 [10 favorites]
they have to do business in cash, because it's still illegal at the federal level.
Point of fact: some dispensaries in IL absolutely take debit cards. I'm not sure how they juggle it, it think somehow their POS system gets classified as an ATM, bc they will round up and then hand you a few paper dollars back. Not that they don't have a lot of cash and aren't still sometimes targets of robberies, just wanted to point out that some take cards.
Also I don't think it's very smart to hit a drug cartel, even the legally regulated kind.
posted by SaltySalticid at 11:51 AM on February 24 [4 favorites]
Point of fact: some dispensaries in IL absolutely take debit cards. I'm not sure how they juggle it, it think somehow their POS system gets classified as an ATM, bc they will round up and then hand you a few paper dollars back. Not that they don't have a lot of cash and aren't still sometimes targets of robberies, just wanted to point out that some take cards.
Also I don't think it's very smart to hit a drug cartel, even the legally regulated kind.
posted by SaltySalticid at 11:51 AM on February 24 [4 favorites]
I think it’s more like - the economics of legalized cannabis aren’t really amenable to sustaining a business for all of the (many) people with drug-related convictions.
posted by atoxyl at 11:54 AM on February 24 [2 favorites]
posted by atoxyl at 11:54 AM on February 24 [2 favorites]
I'm shocked to say this, but Massachusetts seems to have gotten this a lot more right than NY has, or at least NYC. In Mass licenses seem to be ubiquitous, to the point that there's no reason for crappy unlicensed weed bodegas to exist.
Here in Brooklyn, we have illegal, unlicensed weed shops all over my neighborhood. Some of them are bright and clean looking, some of them look like actual crime dungeons, but because they're illegal and unlicensed there's no way to know whether anything they're selling is safe, never mind being what it claims to be. Bootlegged name brands are all over the place, and nearly 100% of the refined products you can buy at the illegal shops are outright fakes, claiming to be popular brands from California, but they're not. Apparently you can buy empty boxes and cartridges for every major known brand directly from China, complete with fake holographic stickers and fake California tax stamps.
I've called OCM because we have two shops right down the block that are causing an actual nuisance. I've never gotten a call or email back, and the shops are still operating right out in the open, complete with zombies and gang members shouting out front at all hours of the day and night. It's like NY wanted this to fail.
posted by 1adam12 at 12:51 PM on February 24 [5 favorites]
Here in Brooklyn, we have illegal, unlicensed weed shops all over my neighborhood. Some of them are bright and clean looking, some of them look like actual crime dungeons, but because they're illegal and unlicensed there's no way to know whether anything they're selling is safe, never mind being what it claims to be. Bootlegged name brands are all over the place, and nearly 100% of the refined products you can buy at the illegal shops are outright fakes, claiming to be popular brands from California, but they're not. Apparently you can buy empty boxes and cartridges for every major known brand directly from China, complete with fake holographic stickers and fake California tax stamps.
I've called OCM because we have two shops right down the block that are causing an actual nuisance. I've never gotten a call or email back, and the shops are still operating right out in the open, complete with zombies and gang members shouting out front at all hours of the day and night. It's like NY wanted this to fail.
posted by 1adam12 at 12:51 PM on February 24 [5 favorites]
Mod note: One comment removed for telling someone to 'fuck off'. Please avoid cussing at someone, thanks.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 1:01 PM on February 24 [5 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 1:01 PM on February 24 [5 favorites]
As a NYCer, the whole thing has honestly been kind of a mystery to me. Basically every story on the issue, including this one, paints the corner weed shops as a universally-unloved scourge. Tolentino manages to talk to everyone from nearly every facet of the industry... except for a satisfied corner-weed-shop patron. But these patrons must exist! And they must exist in enough quantity to support a shop on basically every block!
So to me, the grand unsolved mystery remains: who exactly is buying from the corner weed shops? And how do they manage to be profitable at massive scale in a business environment in which basically every other instantiation of in-person retail in the city is barely holding on?
posted by rishabguha at 1:41 PM on February 24 [4 favorites]
So to me, the grand unsolved mystery remains: who exactly is buying from the corner weed shops? And how do they manage to be profitable at massive scale in a business environment in which basically every other instantiation of in-person retail in the city is barely holding on?
posted by rishabguha at 1:41 PM on February 24 [4 favorites]
I wonder if NYC will end up like Portland, where it sometimes seems like there’s a weed store on Every. Single. Block. There no way in heaven even this city can support half that many. I’d love to know how the economics of the industry makes that even remotely possible. Are potential profits that big that investors just assume 3/4 of them will fail?
It's that way everywhere. There are four weed stores within an easy walk from my house. There is a weed store at the mall, a short stroll away from the Baskin Robbins. There are a couple of weed stores right in the historic downtown, nestled in with the big hotels, which seems to me like a genius location with all the tourists coming in from non-legal states. I've wondered how much money they all make since there are so many, but every time I've been in one there are plenty of customers, so they are staying busy at least.
Here in Brooklyn, we have illegal, unlicensed weed shops all over my neighborhood. Some of them are bright and clean looking, some of them look like actual crime dungeons, but because they're illegal and unlicensed there's no way to know whether anything they're selling is safe, never mind being what it claims to be.
I've been living in legal-weed states for quite a few years now, and this just sounds wild to me. In all the states I spend time in, weed stores are everywhere, but they are all legal and licensed, just like the liquor stores are. The state wants its tax revenues!
posted by Dip Flash at 1:50 PM on February 24 [4 favorites]
It's that way everywhere. There are four weed stores within an easy walk from my house. There is a weed store at the mall, a short stroll away from the Baskin Robbins. There are a couple of weed stores right in the historic downtown, nestled in with the big hotels, which seems to me like a genius location with all the tourists coming in from non-legal states. I've wondered how much money they all make since there are so many, but every time I've been in one there are plenty of customers, so they are staying busy at least.
Here in Brooklyn, we have illegal, unlicensed weed shops all over my neighborhood. Some of them are bright and clean looking, some of them look like actual crime dungeons, but because they're illegal and unlicensed there's no way to know whether anything they're selling is safe, never mind being what it claims to be.
I've been living in legal-weed states for quite a few years now, and this just sounds wild to me. In all the states I spend time in, weed stores are everywhere, but they are all legal and licensed, just like the liquor stores are. The state wants its tax revenues!
posted by Dip Flash at 1:50 PM on February 24 [4 favorites]
As I recall the sixties, there was a common idea that legalizing grass would lead to a friendlier, more relaxed society. This doesn't seem to have happened. Granting that grass isn't fully legalized in the US, it's still a lot more available.
Is it that the grass is different?
Is it that, while people are consuming more THC, they're mostly not substituting it for alcohol and stimulants, they're just adding it on?
Or whqt?
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 1:57 PM on February 24 [4 favorites]
Is it that the grass is different?
Is it that, while people are consuming more THC, they're mostly not substituting it for alcohol and stimulants, they're just adding it on?
Or whqt?
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 1:57 PM on February 24 [4 favorites]
One of the biggest losses for New York in this, is that the 24-hour bodegas that used to double his crime dungeons have been crowded out by 24-hour weed shops that double is crime dungeons, which still have a lower overhead because you’re not having as many perishable items to restock. But I can’t get a quart of milk at a weed shop at three in the morning.
posted by Jon_Evil at 2:01 PM on February 24 [5 favorites]
posted by Jon_Evil at 2:01 PM on February 24 [5 favorites]
It's like NY wanted this to fail.
A hallmark of 21st century NYC and NYS politics is grandstanding politicians declaring support for sweeping policies while defunding the very agencies charged with implementing those policies; there's a huge chasm between getting elected and actually managing a bureaucracy. And when policies get written by committee you end up with a completely knotted, senseless regulatory environment.
posted by entropone at 2:07 PM on February 24 [4 favorites]
A hallmark of 21st century NYC and NYS politics is grandstanding politicians declaring support for sweeping policies while defunding the very agencies charged with implementing those policies; there's a huge chasm between getting elected and actually managing a bureaucracy. And when policies get written by committee you end up with a completely knotted, senseless regulatory environment.
posted by entropone at 2:07 PM on February 24 [4 favorites]
Michigan made three billion dollars in marijuana sales in 2023.
New York, 137 million.
Michigan is exceedingly good at shutting down shops that do illegal business or conduct themselves in illegal behavior.
I read the article but essentially after the 44 lb.baller got caught, I pretty much lost interest in any apparent why isn't this working.
posted by clavdivs at 2:42 PM on February 24 [5 favorites]
New York, 137 million.
Michigan is exceedingly good at shutting down shops that do illegal business or conduct themselves in illegal behavior.
I read the article but essentially after the 44 lb.baller got caught, I pretty much lost interest in any apparent why isn't this working.
posted by clavdivs at 2:42 PM on February 24 [5 favorites]
> As I recall the sixties, there was a common idea that legalizing grass would lead to a friendlier, more relaxed society
I think that it has. But other stuff has gotten worse for unrelated reasons.
posted by constraint at 2:45 PM on February 24 [1 favorite]
I think that it has. But other stuff has gotten worse for unrelated reasons.
posted by constraint at 2:45 PM on February 24 [1 favorite]
Or whqt?
The world is full of assholes. An asshole who smokes weed is still an asshole.
posted by mikelieman at 2:46 PM on February 24 [5 favorites]
The world is full of assholes. An asshole who smokes weed is still an asshole.
posted by mikelieman at 2:46 PM on February 24 [5 favorites]
As I recall the sixties, there was a common idea that legalizing grass would lead to a friendlier, more relaxed society. This doesn't seem to have happened.
Turns out that the people in charge still want to put the screws to everybody else and work them to the bone to extract surplus value at every conceivable opportunity, creating misery from cradle to the grave that cannot be offset by the occasional relief that cannabis offers to some.
posted by entropone at 2:55 PM on February 24 [14 favorites]
Turns out that the people in charge still want to put the screws to everybody else and work them to the bone to extract surplus value at every conceivable opportunity, creating misery from cradle to the grave that cannot be offset by the occasional relief that cannabis offers to some.
posted by entropone at 2:55 PM on February 24 [14 favorites]
is that the 24-hour bodegas that used to double his crime dungeons have been crowded out by 24-hour weed shops that double is crime dungeons
Yeah I'm about exactly as un-thrilled at having a weed shop on the edge of my neighborhood as I am having a gas station/mini-mart. It's ugly, etc. But I do actually have a weed shop now, next to the gas station. It's no more a problem than that. I guess the utility of the gas station is that I do sometimes need gas myself, while I'm not a weed customer. I haven't gotten the sense that the weed shop attracts crime or anything.
posted by ctmf at 3:24 PM on February 24 [1 favorite]
Yeah I'm about exactly as un-thrilled at having a weed shop on the edge of my neighborhood as I am having a gas station/mini-mart. It's ugly, etc. But I do actually have a weed shop now, next to the gas station. It's no more a problem than that. I guess the utility of the gas station is that I do sometimes need gas myself, while I'm not a weed customer. I haven't gotten the sense that the weed shop attracts crime or anything.
posted by ctmf at 3:24 PM on February 24 [1 favorite]
Yeah I'm about exactly as un-thrilled at having a weed shop on the edge of my neighborhood as I am having a gas station/mini-mart. It's ugly, etc.
Everywhere I've lived with legal weed, the market seems to bifurcate. Some of the stores go high-end, looking like Apple Stores or expensive organic co-ops and advertising a premium experience; many of these stores explicitly target women consumers. But perhaps two-thirds of the stores basically look like sketch vape shops or used tire stores. There's a market for both, but not a lot of cross-shopping.
As I recall the sixties, there was a common idea that legalizing grass would lead to a friendlier, more relaxed society. This doesn't seem to have happened.
There were a lot of goofy ideas in the sixties, and that was one of them. Jailing people for weed was always dumb and legalizing it is smart and ethically correct. It gives people safe and legal access to a low-risk product for pain control, anxiety, and just plain having a good time, and it generates a ton of tax revenue. But increased access isn't going to change society.
posted by Dip Flash at 3:52 PM on February 24 [8 favorites]
Everywhere I've lived with legal weed, the market seems to bifurcate. Some of the stores go high-end, looking like Apple Stores or expensive organic co-ops and advertising a premium experience; many of these stores explicitly target women consumers. But perhaps two-thirds of the stores basically look like sketch vape shops or used tire stores. There's a market for both, but not a lot of cross-shopping.
As I recall the sixties, there was a common idea that legalizing grass would lead to a friendlier, more relaxed society. This doesn't seem to have happened.
There were a lot of goofy ideas in the sixties, and that was one of them. Jailing people for weed was always dumb and legalizing it is smart and ethically correct. It gives people safe and legal access to a low-risk product for pain control, anxiety, and just plain having a good time, and it generates a ton of tax revenue. But increased access isn't going to change society.
posted by Dip Flash at 3:52 PM on February 24 [8 favorites]
The weed regulator / promoter / cannabis convict preference agency is plenty well funded, but was fitted with an impossible mission.
Would have made far more sense to set it up as an ordinary commercial business with a tax break for hiring people with drug convictions.
posted by MattD at 5:21 PM on February 24 [2 favorites]
Would have made far more sense to set it up as an ordinary commercial business with a tax break for hiring people with drug convictions.
posted by MattD at 5:21 PM on February 24 [2 favorites]
In Michigan, politicians get charged with bribery for dealing in weed.
posted by clavdivs at 5:44 PM on February 24 [2 favorites]
posted by clavdivs at 5:44 PM on February 24 [2 favorites]
I haven't gotten the sense that the weed shop attracts crime or anything.
Yours may not, but they do generally (cash and weed together in one place, it's one-stop shopping!). They also sell to kids. Annnnnd maybe it's different elsewhere, but here they look like absolute shit.
I supported (and support) legalization, but this is just a tremendous fuck-up on the part of the state.
posted by praemunire at 5:52 PM on February 24
Yours may not, but they do generally (cash and weed together in one place, it's one-stop shopping!). They also sell to kids. Annnnnd maybe it's different elsewhere, but here they look like absolute shit.
I supported (and support) legalization, but this is just a tremendous fuck-up on the part of the state.
posted by praemunire at 5:52 PM on February 24
As a middle aged female from Minnesota, I have only shopped so far at one legal dispensary, woman-owned in the UP (a two hour drive from me). (I'm not naming the shop, but they are a major competitor chain up here and it ain't hard to figure out.)
It is obviously targeted toward my demographic; most of its clientele seemed like male Gen X and older folks who are pleased as punch to be able to browse allllll the possibilities instead of just taking what the weed dealer's got, which is how I've spent my entire adult life. It's super clean, waiting room with a check in front desk (no glass) that takes your ID and insists on calling you by your first name from start to finish. Everything is clearly labeled, plenty of chit chat with your clerk/professional/whatever-they-call-it. Everything is supposedly grown in Michigan, this one almost exclusively with her own growing operation. (Edibles is another question, but everything I've bought is made in MI.)
I actually really like the way the place is run, and I'm totally not going to be buying my weed from a typical smoke shop/gas station type place. I'm just not. Call it snobbery, but I can't wait for something akin to this opens up soon in MN. (There are a few "herbal healing" places that I'm presuming are setting themselves up for the shop licenses to be open.) Do all weed dispensaries have tip jars, because I'm thinking that even the clerks do pretty damn well, considering that it's in the northern Midwest, where jobs paying over minimum wage are hard to come by if you don't have professional credentials. Also, I have noticed that, despite it being the UP, diversity seems to be a company effort in hiring front end staff.
posted by RedEmma at 6:55 PM on February 24 [13 favorites]
It is obviously targeted toward my demographic; most of its clientele seemed like male Gen X and older folks who are pleased as punch to be able to browse allllll the possibilities instead of just taking what the weed dealer's got, which is how I've spent my entire adult life. It's super clean, waiting room with a check in front desk (no glass) that takes your ID and insists on calling you by your first name from start to finish. Everything is clearly labeled, plenty of chit chat with your clerk/professional/whatever-they-call-it. Everything is supposedly grown in Michigan, this one almost exclusively with her own growing operation. (Edibles is another question, but everything I've bought is made in MI.)
I actually really like the way the place is run, and I'm totally not going to be buying my weed from a typical smoke shop/gas station type place. I'm just not. Call it snobbery, but I can't wait for something akin to this opens up soon in MN. (There are a few "herbal healing" places that I'm presuming are setting themselves up for the shop licenses to be open.) Do all weed dispensaries have tip jars, because I'm thinking that even the clerks do pretty damn well, considering that it's in the northern Midwest, where jobs paying over minimum wage are hard to come by if you don't have professional credentials. Also, I have noticed that, despite it being the UP, diversity seems to be a company effort in hiring front end staff.
posted by RedEmma at 6:55 PM on February 24 [13 favorites]
plenty of chit chat with your clerk/professional/whatever-they-call-it
"Bud-tender." Yes, really.
Yours may not, but they do generally (cash and weed together in one place, it's one-stop shopping!). They also sell to kids. Annnnnd maybe it's different elsewhere, but here they look like absolute shit.
This seems like a phenomenon that is mostly unique to NYC. Everywhere I have lived with legal weed, this is not the case because of all the regulation and enforcement. Some weed stores look (and are) low-end, like a run-down vape shop, but that's about as down-market as it gets. The stores get robbed sometimes because of all the cash, but they aren't otherwise crime-magnets. My understanding is that the kids get their weed the same way we used to get beer, by hanging out in the parking lot and waiting for a guy (always a guy) with the right seedy demeanor who will buy for you in exchange for a small gratuity. You get good at spotting the right guy after a few times. Or someone has an older sibling who is cool about buying.
And if you want the old-school experience of calling a guy and meeting up to exchange cash for rando weed in a bag, you can do that too. Plenty of budget growers and sellers are still at it, it is just cheaper now that the legal risk is gone and supply is way up.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:24 PM on February 24 [4 favorites]
"Bud-tender." Yes, really.
Yours may not, but they do generally (cash and weed together in one place, it's one-stop shopping!). They also sell to kids. Annnnnd maybe it's different elsewhere, but here they look like absolute shit.
This seems like a phenomenon that is mostly unique to NYC. Everywhere I have lived with legal weed, this is not the case because of all the regulation and enforcement. Some weed stores look (and are) low-end, like a run-down vape shop, but that's about as down-market as it gets. The stores get robbed sometimes because of all the cash, but they aren't otherwise crime-magnets. My understanding is that the kids get their weed the same way we used to get beer, by hanging out in the parking lot and waiting for a guy (always a guy) with the right seedy demeanor who will buy for you in exchange for a small gratuity. You get good at spotting the right guy after a few times. Or someone has an older sibling who is cool about buying.
And if you want the old-school experience of calling a guy and meeting up to exchange cash for rando weed in a bag, you can do that too. Plenty of budget growers and sellers are still at it, it is just cheaper now that the legal risk is gone and supply is way up.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:24 PM on February 24 [4 favorites]
That sounds like it's probably where my roommate keeps picking up our (also MN) weed supplies on drives through the UP. My contributions have been via trips to Colorado, DC, and Chicago and we've all concluded that her options are scads better than mine, and for a better price too. (And yes: I look forward to having access to something like that in driving distance, too.)
posted by sciatrix at 8:25 PM on February 24
posted by sciatrix at 8:25 PM on February 24
One of the other things about all of these weed stores being cash businesses is that they are great for money laundering, both for real estate and for whatever else is going on in cash, and the fact that the mayor of New York is a huge Crime Guy means that all the enforcement is looking the other way and/or taking a cut.
posted by Jon_Evil at 10:35 PM on February 24 [4 favorites]
posted by Jon_Evil at 10:35 PM on February 24 [4 favorites]
Instead of slow walking the licensing rollout to allegedly ensure that the victimized groups had first dibs, they should've just handed out licenses to anyone who wanted to conduct business legally but given a preferred tax rate to the victimized groups. Plus, hefty fines on unlicensed businesses.
posted by xigxag at 11:26 PM on February 24 [8 favorites]
posted by xigxag at 11:26 PM on February 24 [8 favorites]
I actually really like the way the place is run, and I'm totally not going to be buying my weed from a typical smoke shop/gas station type place. I'm just not. Call it snobbery, but I can't wait for something akin to this opens up soon in MN.
Same! I have friends (all male) who complain that dispensaries are too nice and start talking about their guy who they used to buy from, who I guess gave them a frisson of danger? But as a woman, I like the nice places, and I think the men who do miss the illegality/naughtiness of weed don't understand that women will not have the same nostalgia.
posted by Kitteh at 6:35 AM on February 25 [12 favorites]
Same! I have friends (all male) who complain that dispensaries are too nice and start talking about their guy who they used to buy from, who I guess gave them a frisson of danger? But as a woman, I like the nice places, and I think the men who do miss the illegality/naughtiness of weed don't understand that women will not have the same nostalgia.
posted by Kitteh at 6:35 AM on February 25 [12 favorites]
Guess who isn’t experiencing any consequences at all for the incredible proliferation of illegal weed shops? LANDLORDS.
I am a huge supporter of legal weed. But now on my three block walk home from the subway, I see ten weed stores, all unlicensed. One of them used to be the only produce store on my block. And I don’t blame the new store for the fact that the old store vanished - I blame the landlord, who will suffer zero consequences because this city is run by landlords for landlords and god forbid you suggest that any of them have any obligation to the communities they extract wealth from.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:17 AM on February 25 [11 favorites]
I am a huge supporter of legal weed. But now on my three block walk home from the subway, I see ten weed stores, all unlicensed. One of them used to be the only produce store on my block. And I don’t blame the new store for the fact that the old store vanished - I blame the landlord, who will suffer zero consequences because this city is run by landlords for landlords and god forbid you suggest that any of them have any obligation to the communities they extract wealth from.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:17 AM on February 25 [11 favorites]
Kitteh, I'm fascinated. Thank you for sharing those complaints. I hadn't heard those!
posted by brainwane at 7:28 AM on February 25
posted by brainwane at 7:28 AM on February 25
Same! I have friends (all male) who complain that dispensaries are too nice and start talking about their guy who they used to buy from, who I guess gave them a frisson of danger? But as a woman, I like the nice places, and I think the men who do miss the illegality/naughtiness of weed don't understand that women will not have the same nostalgia.
I'm a guy and I have zero nostalgia for the old days of dealing with some sketch guy in a 7-11 parking lot and getting rando product. The places that are offering the upmarket atmosphere, that are well-lit and welcoming to women and a diverse clientele, are the places I would want to shop at. Those are also the places where I see lots of older shoppers (some of whom are old hippies but mostly they look like very average retirees and probably skew conservative) -- a welcoming, clean atmosphere is good for everyone.
But also, the down-market places that look like vape shops are meeting a legitimate market need also and there are lots of people who prefer shopping there. I like that there is currently a really varied market that is meeting the needs of a wide range of people.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:43 AM on February 25 [3 favorites]
I'm a guy and I have zero nostalgia for the old days of dealing with some sketch guy in a 7-11 parking lot and getting rando product. The places that are offering the upmarket atmosphere, that are well-lit and welcoming to women and a diverse clientele, are the places I would want to shop at. Those are also the places where I see lots of older shoppers (some of whom are old hippies but mostly they look like very average retirees and probably skew conservative) -- a welcoming, clean atmosphere is good for everyone.
But also, the down-market places that look like vape shops are meeting a legitimate market need also and there are lots of people who prefer shopping there. I like that there is currently a really varied market that is meeting the needs of a wide range of people.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:43 AM on February 25 [3 favorites]
I have friends (all male) who complain that dispensaries are too nice and start talking about their guy who they used to buy from, who I guess gave them a frisson of danger?
That, and sitting around for a half hour doing bong hits and playing xbox...
posted by mikelieman at 8:02 AM on February 25 [5 favorites]
That, and sitting around for a half hour doing bong hits and playing xbox...
posted by mikelieman at 8:02 AM on February 25 [5 favorites]
I like that there is currently a really varied market that is meeting the needs of a wide range of people.
Absolutely! Of the dispensaries that are near me, one has an old school stoner vibe (the owners are, in fact, old school stoners and were just waiting to sell weed legally), one is geared towards the university students (cheaper prices, limited selection due to students pretty much just wanting to get high AF), and the remaining three are shiny with glass cases displaying attractively lit products, sleek decor, etc. I often shop at the old school place because they have the best selection of interesting products at very good prices, but I also like one of the shiny shops because I always end up in interesting conversations about terpenes and cultivation with the staff.
posted by Kitteh at 8:09 AM on February 25 [1 favorite]
Absolutely! Of the dispensaries that are near me, one has an old school stoner vibe (the owners are, in fact, old school stoners and were just waiting to sell weed legally), one is geared towards the university students (cheaper prices, limited selection due to students pretty much just wanting to get high AF), and the remaining three are shiny with glass cases displaying attractively lit products, sleek decor, etc. I often shop at the old school place because they have the best selection of interesting products at very good prices, but I also like one of the shiny shops because I always end up in interesting conversations about terpenes and cultivation with the staff.
posted by Kitteh at 8:09 AM on February 25 [1 favorite]
I've been to a few dispensaries in Illinois (Chicago). Maybe five. The ones I immediately bristled at were like walking onto the Apple Store. No joke, employees in matching polo shirts, everything spotlessly clean, under glass, even more like a jewelry shop because at least Apple has locked down models you can play around with on their display counters! Anyway, these places are so slick and well lit and corporate that I just did not like the vibe at all. I like clean, but they oozed the essence of venture capital, enormous investments up-front to create a brand. Some even look like big-box stores from outside. I have always liked every employee I've ever interacted with in these places, but the ones I dislike are so corporate/sterile that it was really off-putting.
I don't consume much, but my wife partakes more often than me when we are at home alone, so I buy her things from time to time. I have found an Hispanic owned store out near Humboldt Park that has a much friendlier, lower-key vibe. Old but refinished wood floors in a vintage retail rehabbed storefront building, like it used to be a bicycle shop or something back in 1910. Plants growing in pots against the windows. Still very clean and welcoming, but a warmer, softer vibe that doesn't feel as alienating. Very friendly employees (who I noticed are bilingual Spanish/English).
I have no idea about prices. I'm sure today it's still far cheaper to go to a private dealer. But in my smoking days, I always detested having to go to a weed dealer's place and all the bullshit it usually entailed. I'm willing to pay more for regulated, good quality product, and a range of potency. There's Heads all over online who rail against the outrageous prices and how much cheaper they buy their half-ounces every couple weeks. But for a couple like us that are dabblers, I am immensely satisfied by the New Legal Reality and never having to go to some semi-sketchy dude's apartment I barely know ever again.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:29 AM on February 25 [2 favorites]
I don't consume much, but my wife partakes more often than me when we are at home alone, so I buy her things from time to time. I have found an Hispanic owned store out near Humboldt Park that has a much friendlier, lower-key vibe. Old but refinished wood floors in a vintage retail rehabbed storefront building, like it used to be a bicycle shop or something back in 1910. Plants growing in pots against the windows. Still very clean and welcoming, but a warmer, softer vibe that doesn't feel as alienating. Very friendly employees (who I noticed are bilingual Spanish/English).
I have no idea about prices. I'm sure today it's still far cheaper to go to a private dealer. But in my smoking days, I always detested having to go to a weed dealer's place and all the bullshit it usually entailed. I'm willing to pay more for regulated, good quality product, and a range of potency. There's Heads all over online who rail against the outrageous prices and how much cheaper they buy their half-ounces every couple weeks. But for a couple like us that are dabblers, I am immensely satisfied by the New Legal Reality and never having to go to some semi-sketchy dude's apartment I barely know ever again.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:29 AM on February 25 [2 favorites]
I have no idea about prices. I'm sure today it's still far cheaper to go to a private dealer.
Here in Ohio, about a year ago, I joined in a conversation at a brewery between a patron and a bartender where the patron made it clear that she dealt. Ohio has been slowly opening up at this point and medical had been legal for a bit. I asked a question in your vein about how the laws impacted her business and she mentioned that due to the taxes her sales were through the roof since she could undercut the legal route on price.
posted by mmascolino at 8:36 AM on February 25 [1 favorite]
Here in Ohio, about a year ago, I joined in a conversation at a brewery between a patron and a bartender where the patron made it clear that she dealt. Ohio has been slowly opening up at this point and medical had been legal for a bit. I asked a question in your vein about how the laws impacted her business and she mentioned that due to the taxes her sales were through the roof since she could undercut the legal route on price.
posted by mmascolino at 8:36 AM on February 25 [1 favorite]
Adding: as a 50-something guy, I miss some of the-old school stoner stuff at these places. It's like Business School convinced every one of the places to go 180 degrees on that vibe! No I don't wanna see crack pipes, or sexualized photos of nude women around, I don't want it to be dingy or grimy. But why not some psychedelic art? Even contemporary psychedelic art, with some throwback stuff? Some warm, friendly music playing? A friendly resident store cat? Some handmade arts and crafts?
Why is it all these places are trying to hard to just deny any and all of that? The Hispanic-owned store I mentioned is the closest I've seen to this. At least they play quiet music, and it has a bit of a softer edge. But it's nothing like an old head shop! And the corporate slick places are more like bank branches than a store about fun times and relaxation!
If anyone knows about a dispensary in Chicago that has a head-shop vibe, please DM me!
And mmascolino: if the private dealers are making out like bandits (heh) I'm happy for them. It's people like me willing to pay a premium for a different experience and controlled, regulated goods. I always say, you can buy a cheap car or an expensive luxury car. Both of them will get you to Reno.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:41 AM on February 25 [5 favorites]
Why is it all these places are trying to hard to just deny any and all of that? The Hispanic-owned store I mentioned is the closest I've seen to this. At least they play quiet music, and it has a bit of a softer edge. But it's nothing like an old head shop! And the corporate slick places are more like bank branches than a store about fun times and relaxation!
If anyone knows about a dispensary in Chicago that has a head-shop vibe, please DM me!
And mmascolino: if the private dealers are making out like bandits (heh) I'm happy for them. It's people like me willing to pay a premium for a different experience and controlled, regulated goods. I always say, you can buy a cheap car or an expensive luxury car. Both of them will get you to Reno.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:41 AM on February 25 [5 favorites]
Guess who isn’t experiencing any consequences at all for the incredible proliferation of illegal weed shops? LANDLORDS.
I think enforcement on this issue may be slowly gathering steam, but a lot of the damage has already been done.
That, and sitting around for a half hour doing bong hits and playing xbox...
Many reasons I never got into drugs, but among the most important: the having to sit around and chat with sketchy dudes hoping for someone to show up with something. "First thing you learn is that you always gotta wait..."
posted by praemunire at 8:56 AM on February 25 [3 favorites]
I think enforcement on this issue may be slowly gathering steam, but a lot of the damage has already been done.
That, and sitting around for a half hour doing bong hits and playing xbox...
Many reasons I never got into drugs, but among the most important: the having to sit around and chat with sketchy dudes hoping for someone to show up with something. "First thing you learn is that you always gotta wait..."
posted by praemunire at 8:56 AM on February 25 [3 favorites]
That, and sitting around for a half hour doing bong hits and playing xbox...
Hey, don't rush me!
posted by achrise at 9:27 AM on February 25 [3 favorites]
Hey, don't rush me!
posted by achrise at 9:27 AM on February 25 [3 favorites]
Why is it all these places are trying to hard to just deny any and all of that? The Hispanic-owned store I mentioned is the closest I've seen to this. At least they play quiet music, and it has a bit of a softer edge. But it's nothing like an old head shop! And the corporate slick places are more like bank branches than a store about fun times and relaxation!
There is a dispensary in Picton--a cottage town about an hour from me, heading towards Toronto--that I fucking love. It is family-owned and has an old school apothecary vibe: all dark wood, carefully labeled drawers, soft warm lighting, and everything looks incredible. I wish they were in my town because that place was so so my personal vibe.
posted by Kitteh at 10:15 AM on February 25 [3 favorites]
There is a dispensary in Picton--a cottage town about an hour from me, heading towards Toronto--that I fucking love. It is family-owned and has an old school apothecary vibe: all dark wood, carefully labeled drawers, soft warm lighting, and everything looks incredible. I wish they were in my town because that place was so so my personal vibe.
posted by Kitteh at 10:15 AM on February 25 [3 favorites]
Adding: as a 50-something guy, I miss some of the-old school stoner stuff at these places. It's like Business School convinced every one of the places to go 180 degrees on that vibe! No I don't wanna see crack pipes, or sexualized photos of nude women around, I don't want it to be dingy or grimy. But why not some psychedelic art? Even contemporary psychedelic art, with some throwback stuff? Some warm, friendly music playing? A friendly resident store cat? Some handmade arts and crafts?
I stopped at a place in Colorado that had some of that vibe, but also with displays of their single-origin in-house weed varieties and super specific blends of edibles. Sort of a friendly head shop crossed with a third-wave coffee roastery where they serve expensive slow pour-over coffee.
I find the pathways of legalization very interesting, but I personally barely ever use. My partner uses for medical reasons, however, so I always stop in places while traveling to see if there is anything I should bring home.
posted by Dip Flash at 10:51 AM on February 25 [1 favorite]
I stopped at a place in Colorado that had some of that vibe, but also with displays of their single-origin in-house weed varieties and super specific blends of edibles. Sort of a friendly head shop crossed with a third-wave coffee roastery where they serve expensive slow pour-over coffee.
I find the pathways of legalization very interesting, but I personally barely ever use. My partner uses for medical reasons, however, so I always stop in places while traveling to see if there is anything I should bring home.
posted by Dip Flash at 10:51 AM on February 25 [1 favorite]
If Science could find some way to make pot not smell like absolute ass that makes your stomach churn, I think that would be great. In theory, I think pot should be legal, but in real life every time I'm within 100 feet of pot stench I want Judge Dredd to stroll along and deal with the offender. Can't we just build huts for potheads to smoke in? Or, I don't know, create massive adult-sized ballpits they could play in all day, something that would make them happy. A big video game room full of Christmas lights, with a door.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 2:14 PM on February 25
posted by kittens for breakfast at 2:14 PM on February 25
When and why did pot stop smelling like burning fibers and start smelling like skunk spray? I stopped smoking pot in 1992 or so, but I knew what it smelled like and smelled it at concerts and stuff every so often, and I always liked the smell, and then sometime in the mid-2000s my husband and I were staying at a country inn in California and a certain smell came into the air, and I said, wow, someone must have run over a skunk, and he looked at me like I was insane and said "They're smoking pot." Now I smell that skunk smell all the time, and I haven't smelled the "burning fiber" smell in ages. I assume the skunky stuff is better? Is this an effect of legalization, that the stuff smells different, because the "good" stuff is easier to grow and distribute?
posted by Daily Alice at 3:39 PM on February 25 [3 favorites]
posted by Daily Alice at 3:39 PM on February 25 [3 favorites]
It’s also because the N.Y.P.D. [...] seems uninterested in policing for weed at all.
This is the actual reason.
Sure, but I'm curious why. As the story mentions, they have no problem arresting people selling churros on the subway, and I doubt the powers that be would look the other way if someone opened an unlicensed liquor store or restaurant in the middle of New York City.
posted by smelendez at 5:08 PM on February 25
This is the actual reason.
Sure, but I'm curious why. As the story mentions, they have no problem arresting people selling churros on the subway, and I doubt the powers that be would look the other way if someone opened an unlicensed liquor store or restaurant in the middle of New York City.
posted by smelendez at 5:08 PM on February 25
As the story mentions, they have no problem arresting people selling churros on the subway
It's a lot easier to knock over an abuela with a cart than it is to deal with grown men.
Plus, I assume some of them are on the take.
posted by praemunire at 7:40 PM on February 25 [4 favorites]
It's a lot easier to knock over an abuela with a cart than it is to deal with grown men.
Plus, I assume some of them are on the take.
posted by praemunire at 7:40 PM on February 25 [4 favorites]
"O.C.M. employees likened their task to building a plane while trying to fly it."
Amused to see that this phrase is still common parlance in the industry. If I had a nickel for every time I heard the airplane metaphor at my Corporate Weed Job…
(I worked on licensing applications. None of which were in NYS, which ironically means I know less about my own state's weed regulations than I do most others. And yes, I fought for every scrap of restorative justice I could squeeze in.)
'That, and sitting around for a half hour doing bong hits and playing xbox...'
'Many reasons I never got into drugs, but among the most important: the having to sit around and chat with sketchy dudes hoping for someone to show up with something. "First thing you learn is that you always gotta wait..."'
Someone should set up a chain of legal dispensaries that are run like the medical marijuana place in this old Mr. Show sketch. Where the licensed pharmacist makes you sit around in the back and listen to his demo tape while he fills your order. (Oh, and Brian Posehn is playing video games in the background.)
posted by Eideteker at 6:18 AM on February 28 [2 favorites]
Amused to see that this phrase is still common parlance in the industry. If I had a nickel for every time I heard the airplane metaphor at my Corporate Weed Job…
(I worked on licensing applications. None of which were in NYS, which ironically means I know less about my own state's weed regulations than I do most others. And yes, I fought for every scrap of restorative justice I could squeeze in.)
'That, and sitting around for a half hour doing bong hits and playing xbox...'
'Many reasons I never got into drugs, but among the most important: the having to sit around and chat with sketchy dudes hoping for someone to show up with something. "First thing you learn is that you always gotta wait..."'
Someone should set up a chain of legal dispensaries that are run like the medical marijuana place in this old Mr. Show sketch. Where the licensed pharmacist makes you sit around in the back and listen to his demo tape while he fills your order. (Oh, and Brian Posehn is playing video games in the background.)
posted by Eideteker at 6:18 AM on February 28 [2 favorites]
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I'll read the rest, really! Just... what a great lead-in.
posted by May Kasahara at 8:33 AM on February 24 [5 favorites]