The Day When “The Druggie” Became “Mr. Expert”

March 2015 has been a very interesting month. The fight for cannabis legalization has moved forward in Washington D.C. and Georgia, Idaho and Italy, Utah and Texas, and I am sure I am forgetting some place somewhere. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that we are sitting here, smoking some excellent cannabis (which you can buy here http://greenhouseseeds.nl/ if you want some too) and thinking about the fact that the character once known as “The Druggie” is now slowly turning into a new figure: “Mr. Expert”. Have you noticed the change too?

Let me tell you more about it.

Last Thursday I was in Washington D.C. at the event organized by Adam Eidinger and his DC Cannabis Campaign. I was there, looking at all the people asking questions and getting free cannabis seeds. It was a crowd made of young and old folks interested in knowing more about what cannabis does, what kind of strains make you HIGH, what THC actually is, etc. and I found myself thinking “wow, is this really happening?”And what’s happening is very complicated and simple at the same time: cannabis is becoming legal, and cannabis users are becoming “the experts”. This is a second chance for an entire generation of cannabis lovers and fighters, people who never gave up their battle, who never compromised and always claimed that cannabis is good.

It is an emotional moment, and it is also a fantastic chance to open a huge box, a container made of experience and struggles, knowledge and (why not) case studies. How many people, men and women, out there spent a lifetime trying to erase the label “druggie”or “pothead”from their porch? And how many of them are now quickly and righteously turning into some of the best experts within a growing field?

I am also thinking about all the people who graduated in cannabis studies, and who were standing with me in DC. These are scholars who were rejected by departments all over the US and beyond, because what they study was too “controversial”or even “useless”. Now, they get interviewed evan by the CNN and everyone seems to treat them with the respect they deserve.

These are the sign of a big cultural wave that is slowly entering academia and our own lives. Now that “The Druggie”is turning into “Mr. Expert”, many people will have the chance to live a different life, and many interesting characters will have a lot of stories to tell.

We will be there listening. I certainly will be!