A Trip To The Dope Store

It's legal to buy recreational marijuana now in Michigan. . .hey, Michigan is cool!

I wondered what it's like to buy dope?  I mean, is it just like walking into a 7-Eleven and buying a pack of KOOLs?

No. [sigh.]  No. [sigh.]   

No, it's not just like walking into a 7-Eleven and buying a pack of KOOLs.  No.  It's more like driving to the pot store (with the rather cumbersome name Exclusive Ann Arbor Medical & Recreational Marijuana) and then being directed into a huge semi-heated tent attached to the pot store and then standing in a 200 person line for two hours and forty-five minutes and then being admitted, ten at a time, into the pot store inner sanctum where a crew of 5 *budtenders* take your order at the pot counter and charge you $24 a gram (+16% for various taxes).   That's what it's like. . .

I don't smoke dope.  I smoked a little dope in my teens, but it just made me tired.  I should say, it just made me more tired.  I've always been tired, I was born tired, and I've lived my entire life tired, not because I can't sleep, I have no problem sleeping, it's just that when I wake up, I'm still tired because I've always had a tiring sleep, when I was a child I had nightmares, and as an adult I dream I am at work, so. . .I'm always tired, and hence dope doesn't do anything for me except exaggerate my natural tired state.

A friend wanted to buy some dope, so I decided to tag along, just to see what it was like.  Neither the friend nor me had any idea it was going to be a three hour ordeal.

Well, apparently dope stores are a good business with a future of solid growth.@@

It was no aberration, the long line. . .

It's like that everyday. . .all day, every day, according to the *budtender* when asked if there was a less busy time to visit.

You see, it's not just people in my town who go to the dope store.  It's not just people in my state who go to the dope store.  There were people waiting in line who had driven from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.  I suppose if you can afford to buy in bulk it's worth the trip? 

Well, I must say the loooonnng wait in line (where the back half of the tent where the space heater is located is warm, and the front half of the tent is chilly) was as pleasant as could be expected, the people were quiet and orderly.  No jostling.  Everybody respected a small amount of personal space.  The crowd was probably 90% white, which surprised me, I was expecting a more *Cypress Hill* crowd.  There were all ages, though mostly young.

The store staff and *budtenders* were a mix of hipsters, thug life wannabes and old school stoners.  The store had a small collection of disappointingly dull t-shirts and no obviously apparent *Cheech&Chong-ish* paraphernalia. 

All told, it was a long, boring three hours. . .recommended only for those who REALLY REALLY want to buy dope legally.

@@I suppose as robots and AI take more and more jobs, and as more and more people sit around with nothing to do but wait for their universal basic income checks, these are the types of *new industries* that will flourish: vices that were previously illegal.  More and more drugs will be legalized, just as more and more forms of gambling are now being legalized, and just as sex will probably become legalized.