There are a lot of reasons for people to refer to the state in which I live as "The People's Republic of California." This sobriquet along with the assertion that the Golden State is a lot like a bowl of granola, as what you're next to is probably a fruit or a nut, if not some sort of flake. You can pretty much go ahead and put that blue in on those electoral maps in permanent ink. Independent and fiercely proud of it, Californians let their freak flag wave as a matter of course.
Let's take, for example, the New Year's Eve assault on the Hollywood sign. A prankster climbed up on the hills' landmark and did a quick and careful rearrangement of the letters to read "Hollyweed." Get it? It's a reference to the newly permitted use of recreational marijuana here on the Left Coast. While the rest of the country was having their arms twisted into electing a seventy year old Twitterer, California voters were continuing their streak of pushing a liberal agenda unique to the lower forty-eight.
Okay. Maybe not exactly unique. Colorado made a similar change three years ago. If you're twenty-one, it's legal to possess on ounce of pot. If you're a tourist, you can pick some up while passing through the Centennial State. It's nice to share. Now, California wants to catch up. The west coast, besides being blue, is pretty solidly green. This is a pretty substantial accomplishment, considering the general effort exuded by recreational cannabis users. You may have missed the campaign that utilized the backs of snack food wrappers, encouraging consumers of Pringles and Ho-Hos to get out the stoner vote.
Ha ha. Just a little pot humor there. That didn't really happen. It was a pretty slippery slope after medical marijuana had already been approved a few years back. Plenty of Californians developed all manner of nagging chronic conditions at that point. Once again, I kid, in a wacky weed sort of way. Chronic. Get it?
Well, now we can all get it, if we want it. Now comes the ironic part: Back when pot was illegal in all fifty states, I never bought any. Not that I didn't consume a bit here and there, but I generally relied on the kindness of others when it came to my inhalation. Now that I can do as I please when it comes to pot purchase, I don't expect that I will change my ways. I guess it's just nice to know in a world that seems to be shrinking in terms of its personal liberties, I've got this going for me. Which is nice.
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