Port Angeles Washington Goes to Pot

Article by Jack Knox, Times Colonist

Pot shops in Port Angeles look a lot like Victoria’s marijuana dispensaries. But there’s one big difference: You don’t need to be suffering from a medical ailment to buy a joint. Recreational pot use is legal under Washington state law in an

industry the government controls from front to back.

The first guy through the pot shop door Wednesday morning figured he had good reason to buy a joint. “I woke up to Trump as president,” he said.

Which, according to Washington state law, is a perfectly valid reason for getting high.

Unlike Victoria, where the patrons of our three dozen or so (cough cough) medical marijuana dispensaries are supposed to be suffering from some sort of ailment, recreational pot is legal across the strait. It has been since the summer of 2014.

That offers a glimpse of what Canada, where a federally appointed task force is due to report this month ahead of legalization legislation expected in the spring, might look like soon.

The biggest surprise? The age of the consumers. Marijuana use by teens might not have changed, but the same can’t be said of greyhairs willing to buy, now that it’s legal.

Read full article here.