“You drop a pebble in a pond, you get ripples. Soon the ripples cross the whole pond.” – Bruce Lee
I was scrolling through HighTimes, as one does on a snow covered Tuesday morning while smoking a joint and drinking coffee, and came across an article with a title so wild, I had to read it twice: “California Bill Would Ban Tobacco Sales to All Born After 2006.” I mean, talk about a bold move! In a state where they can’t even get everyone to agree on whether or not there’s a homeless problem, someone’s out there proposing a ban on tobacco sales to an entire generation.
The Audacity! 😉
However, there’s generally a weird butterfly ripple effect that comes out of that place. It’s weird but it’s true. Rippling water, butterfly effect; you catch my drift, right?
Now, before we get into the nitty-gritty of what this could mean for legal and medical marijuana, let’s just take a minute to appreciate the absurdity of this proposal Assembly Bill 935. Can you imagine a world where people born after 2006 are just wandering around, blissfully unaware of smoking a cigarette? No smoking breaks at school or work, no bumming a cig off your friend outside the bar, no awkward conversations with your doctor about how you really should quit because you’re dying. It’s a bold move, Connolly. Let’s see if it pays off.
But what about legal and medical marijuana, you ask? Well, they say it has nothing to do with cannabis but it’s hard to say for sure what the long-term impact of this type legislation could be bring in. On one hand, it could lead to increased regulation of cannabis products.
On the other hand, there are already strict regulations in place for legal and medical/recreational marijuana. Most states that have legalized marijuana have put in place age limits and packaging requirements specifically designed to prevent children from accessing them. Adults too, have you tried opening some of these things? But this legislation might signal a shift in the way they think about regulating cannabis products.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that this type of legislation could contain unintended consequences. Maybe people born after 2006 will rebel against the system and start smoking tobacco as a form of protest. I’ll attend smoking blunts. By that point they may have banned all forms of smoking, even joints. The horror of it all. NO JOINTS!?! Maybe they’ll turn to other substances instead, like alcohol or caffeine or, God forbid, TikTok. Or maybe this whole proposal will just fade into obscurity, like so many other half-baked ideas dreamed up by politicians looking to make a name for themselves.
It’s hard to know what the future holds for legal and medical marijuana in the wake of this proposed tobacco ban, if it even happens at all… I’ll say this: Medical Marijuana was a pebble dropped in the pond back in 96. There is one thing that I do know for sure: you’ll always have Dabbin-Dad to keep you up-to-date on all of the weed news, even if the world around us changes faster than I can roll a joint.
And here’s to you, HighTimes, for keeping me informed and entertained on a chilled-air and snow covered Tuesday morning. Cheers!
Stay Weird
