I’m enough of a realist to understand the world is full of good and bad. Of course, as my friends needled, where do you draw the line? Sugar? Social media? Fast food? Football? Notably, many people who profess to be sober curious use pot as an alternative to alcohol, but to me the movement causes second-guessing of many things common in our daily lives and whether, in an idealistic world, we’d be better off without much of it. The concept is essentially about questioning why alcohol is so present in our society. Ultimately, I wish our world was moving more toward the movement that’s taken root in recent years, especially among Millennials, emerging from the 2019 book by Ruby Warrington called “Sober Curious.” My reservations come down to this: I harbor a kind of elegiac longing for a world that never existed. In our text chain, my friends were sure to point out my flawed way of thinking, quick to note arguments I agree with about tax revenue and the improved safety that comes from a regulated, legal market. Its legalization represents just the latest potentially addictive and harmful habit that’s about to be normalized and legitimized in our area. Overall, I support the legalization of retail pot, if for no other reason than the social justice factor.īut the problem is pot use isn’t isolated from other behaviors. It’s long past time that a substance that is used by all races equally but has been used to unfairly target people of color will no longer result in any arrests. In fact, if the legalization of pot could somehow be isolated from other already legal vices in our society – alcohol, tobacco, the lottery – I’d probably be popping a celebratory gummy. No, I’m not about to launch into attacks to do with strong odors in public places, nor am I going to spout outdated and misinformed mythology about cannabis being some especially dangerous gateway drug. Given some of the stances I take, it may surprise readers to learn that I’m not all that enthused about upstate’s legal retail pot market that a spokesperson for the state’s Office of Cannabis Management said should spring up by the end of winter, with nine licenses currently granted in the Capital Region and Mohawk Valley.
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