Change is a strange thing. As much as we may accept the inevitability of change – for better or for worse, the shape of change often surprises us.

This Observations, then, is about change, despite the click-bait headline I gave it.

Legalization of marijuana continues its slow march through the states. Ten years after Colorado became the first state to legalize the recreational use and sale of cannabis, eighteen other states and Washington D.C. have joined the mile high state decriminalizing the use and sale of limited amounts of marijuana. There is no reason to believe that the number of states allowing legal sale and use of cannabis products won’t continue to grow.

Change. It is rarely as good as its proponents hope and often not as harmful as its opponents suggest. The Journal of the American Medical Association published a study on the effects of the decriminalization of marijuana use and, in its scholarly article sort of way, suggests the change has a low side in addition to its high side: This study’s findings suggest that possible increases in the risk for cannabis use disorder among adolescent users and increases in frequent use and cannabis use disorder among adults after legalization of recreational marijuana use may raise public health concerns and warrant ongoing study.

The libertarian Cato Institute conducted its own research and concluded that the strong claims made by both advocates and critics are substantially overstated and in some cases entirely without support from existing legalizations. 

Whether the legalization of marijuana makes sense from a public policy standpoint is a debate I will leave to others. Personally, I am not very enthusiastic about the change, but am more concerned about the cultural shifts it represents than the policies themselves. Besides, and as we say too often, “That ship has sailed.”

This Observations is about change rather than social policy.

Michigan legalized marijuana in 2018.  Indiana has yet to do so. The pot shops in Michigan are eager for our business. Still, I was taken aback by the junk mail that came the other day. Along with the ads for gutter guards, new windows, and Lands’ End catalogues, was a slick marketing postcard for First Class Cannabis in Camden, Michigan, just 40 miles north if you cut across the very northwest corner of (still illegal) Ohio.

“Come fly high with us!” the ad says. The business hours are listed, and, on the back, there are a number of coupons – 25% off for veterans, a free penny roll if you bring in the ad, and 4 100-mg gummies for $25. I am not conversant with cannabis deals, but I suppose they are good enough to entice some of my fellow Hoosiers to use some $5.26 per gallon gas to make the trip north.

Change.  Legalized marijuana neither makes for a more mellow world, nor does it make us all drug-crazed criminals. I didn’t expect either outcome. But neither did I expect reefer junk mail.

I’m not the least bit interested in driving to Camden, Michigan, for my free penny roll. I’m not wild about pot-promoting junk mail. I’m not very happy about $5.26 per gallon gasoline, either.

Change. It is what it is. Sometimes you need to ignore it as best you can, and cling to those things that don’t change. Faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.