The wildfires in California are no joking matter. Fires killed two firefighters and have destroyed many homes. The Telegraph Fire, a 26,000 acre blaze in Mariposa County threatens Yosemite National Park and the town of Midpines. Over a million acres have burned since June when lightning ignited thousands of fires. 98% have been contained thanks to the efforts of firefighters.
But a recent quote attributed to the 'Governator' that "Caulifornia is filled with smoke." reminded me of another kind of smoke of which California has a lot. Yes, Ahnold, if you smell that smell, the smell of it surrounds you. Since the state passed Proposition 215, legalizing the use and growing of medical marijuana, the cannabis crop has exploded. Californians grew an estimated twenty million plants in 2006 worth billions of dollars. While growing weed for medical purposes may be legal at the state level, it is still a federal offense to grow, sell or smoke marijuana. The state and twelve others that passed medical marijuana laws now have a growth industry of quasi legal growers and dispensaries supplying 200,000 pot users with doctors' notes in California alone. The laws have elevated what used to be a totally underground industry to a gray zone of business occupied by porn shops and strip joints. Between 1981 and 2006 domestic marijuana production increased ten fold replacing corn as America's leading cash crop. A State Department put the 2005 crop at more than twenty-two million pounds. These figures are from an article in the July 28 New Yorker by David Samuels. According to Mr. Samuels first hand reporting the medical grade stuff produces better highs, is better tasting, and consequently is much more expensive than the right-of-way weed available when I was a teen angel. It's not considered polite in the medicinal cannabis trade to ask legal buyers if they are going to smoke it all themselves. So who would not fire up their bong with a quarter bag of O.G. Kush if your doctor said its good for your nerves? Wackydoodle sez: Smoke 'em if you got 'em.