Dave
Well-known member
So a little background. You all know that Washington State legalized pot about 4 years ago. I was against it as I am against the general moral decay in this country. So back in the first of October I moved from a county that was very liberal to one that is very rural. Thurston County (where I moved from) is home to the state capital and Ultra liberal Evergreen State College. Along with being liberal it is fairly highly populated. it has 368 people per square mile. When they legalized pot a pot shop or growing operation sprang up on every corner. That was no surprise to me. Then I moved to Klickitat County. A much more conservative area with a lot less people. The population is 21,301 and the area is 1,904 square miles. The population density here is 11 people per square mile. To the best of my knowledge there are two pot shops in the entire county. One about 45 miles from here and one at the end of my driveway. It has been a real eye opener. Over in Thurston I just didn't pay attention to the pot shops. Here I drive right by it every time I pull out the driveway.
So what I have observed is that there is almost always someone there buying pot. It doesn't matter if it is 9:00 in the morning or 9:00 at night. On Friday evening and most of the day on Saturday there will be 5 or 6 cars there. It is rare to see the parking lot empty.
I doubt all these people started smoking pot just because it became legal. And who were they buying it from before? How many pot smokers are there in your area? I would be willing to bet the number is much higher than you realize. Is it better to have people buying it from a local business that gets taxed or from a Mexican cartel? My observation is the pot smokers are a cross section of the population. I see more well dressed people driving newer vehicles than run down vehicles one would expect from a bunch of pot smokers. Business suits are very common.
Again I am not in favor of legal pot. I am very worried about the moral decay in this country and where that is leading us. These are just my observations living a couple hundred yards from the pot shop in what is a very rural area that has an agriculture based economy.
So what I have observed is that there is almost always someone there buying pot. It doesn't matter if it is 9:00 in the morning or 9:00 at night. On Friday evening and most of the day on Saturday there will be 5 or 6 cars there. It is rare to see the parking lot empty.
I doubt all these people started smoking pot just because it became legal. And who were they buying it from before? How many pot smokers are there in your area? I would be willing to bet the number is much higher than you realize. Is it better to have people buying it from a local business that gets taxed or from a Mexican cartel? My observation is the pot smokers are a cross section of the population. I see more well dressed people driving newer vehicles than run down vehicles one would expect from a bunch of pot smokers. Business suits are very common.
Again I am not in favor of legal pot. I am very worried about the moral decay in this country and where that is leading us. These are just my observations living a couple hundred yards from the pot shop in what is a very rural area that has an agriculture based economy.