Pubdate: Thu, 04 Dec 2014
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Ngaio Bealum

THE FUTURE IS GREEN

With the coming decriminalization and legalization of marijuana in so 
many states, do you believe there will be new advances in marijuana 
science and culture? Weed farmers markets? New devices for getting 
high? GMO weed?

- -Dollface Rae

Thank you for your questions. Speaking of coming legislation, Georgia 
state Senator Curt Thompson just introduced two bills in the General 
Assembly: One to legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and 
over, and one to legalize medical cannabis for people suffering from 
a wide variety of conditions. I hope it passes, because I am sure 
someone will create a strain called Georgia Peach. Also, getting 
stoned at Stone Mountain would become a life goal.

Moving on.

New advances in science: As soon as cannabis is removed from the 
DEA's schedule of harmful drugs (I am advocating for a complete 
removal from the list, not just bumping it down to schedule II or 
III. Marijuana is not a harmful drug), the U.S. will see an immediate 
increase in cannabis studies. It is so hard to perform studies here 
because the DEA keeps blocking proposals any chance they get.

Culture: This is an interesting one. As weed goes mainstream, 
marijuana etiquette may have to change. Is smoking weed on the street 
still acceptable? Or is it akin to swigging a beer in a brown paper 
bag? Will people that have liquor cabinets at their house also have a 
weed box? (I have a weed box, but no liquor cabinet. Go figure.) Will 
there be Amsterdam-style coffee shops or will it be more like a cigar 
club? If weed is legal but they won't let you smoke it in public, 
what do you do at a concert while everyone else is having a beer? 
These are things we must address.

Farmers markets: They are already here. The one in Los Angeles got 
shut down, but there are thriving markets in Washington, and I just 
visited one in Lake County a few weeks ago on my way to the Humboldt 
Harvest Fest. Marijuana farmers markets are awesome, and we ought to 
encourage them. I talked to Hezekiah Allen, head of the Emerald 
Growers Association, about the future of pot growing and he said 
farmers are starting to organize for 2016: "We need regulation before 
legalization. The word from Sacramento is we need a framework in 
place before 2016. I would like to see the CA Department of Food and 
Agriculture in charge of cannabis from the seed to the bag. Once it's 
off the farm, someone else can regulate it. I would also like to see 
small, sustainable, decentralized farms."

New devices: Vaporizers are all the rage now. In fact, "vape" just 
won the Oxford English Dictionary's Word of the Year. ("Budtender" 
came in at third place. Go pot culture!) I don't know what would be 
next, except for some sort of Star Trek-type thing that would inject 
THC right into your bloodstream, but I like the flavor of marijuana 
even more than I like the buzz, so I wouldn't want one.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom