By Angela Dun Dee
Whenever I have a few extra bucks, maybe every other month or so, I walk down to 17th
and Downing to the Health Center and pick up a gram of legal pot. Sorry I’m an old
hippy from the 1960’s and sometimes I like to kick back and remember old times while
indulging in a toke. They say “if you remember the 60’s, you weren’t there.” Well, I was
there and I remember, at least most of it, I think.
OK so I am indulging in a sin and I suppose I should pay a “sin tax,” if that is the way
you think. That is certainly the way most politicians were thinking when they realized
how much money they could make taxing all those potheads through the nose so they
can have a toke and not get arrested in their own homes.
The politicians did not pass this law, the people passed this law. The politicians still get
to make the rules though. Ok so they tax pot to the point that it cost more than it used to
cost on the street. At least you can walk up to a counter and take your pick of what you
want in the many varieties of cannabis they have, and not get thrown in jail. They are all
the same to me; I’m still trying to find something like the Mexican laughing weed we
used to buy for $15 an ounce in 1965. I think it went extinct though, at least the price
certainly did. It was driven to extinction by these new age breeders. Oh well, you make
do with what is available.
So every other month or so I make my way down to 17th and Downing. I hit Park Ave
(23rd St) at 18th and Ogden, that makes a shortcut. I take Park Ave straight to the Health
Center from there. There are usually two or three guys, sometimes a woman, flying
signs at this busy intersection.
That is where I pay my “sin tax.” I give them all a buck, and I don’t care what they spend
it on. I am on my way to indulge myself with something which helps me cope with this
world we live in, so I hope they can use that buck to do the same thing for themselves. It
doesn’t matter to me if it is a meal or a drink or helps toward a warm place to sleep. It is
their money and they can spend it any way they want. They are in a better position to
know what they need than I am.
Who are we to judge?
Everybody has to make their own way in this world the best they can. We didn’t wreck
the economy--the bankers and the politicians did that. We are just the pieces that fell
out. Now the powers that be, which happen to be bankers and politicians, want to
sweep us off the street. You yell, you scream, you write letters, you vote, nothing
happens. What can you do?
After indulging in an occasional toke, you help those you can help and weep for those
you can’t while surviving in your own crazy world, and you wonder why we smoke pot.
and Downing to the Health Center and pick up a gram of legal pot. Sorry I’m an old
hippy from the 1960’s and sometimes I like to kick back and remember old times while
indulging in a toke. They say “if you remember the 60’s, you weren’t there.” Well, I was
there and I remember, at least most of it, I think.
OK so I am indulging in a sin and I suppose I should pay a “sin tax,” if that is the way
you think. That is certainly the way most politicians were thinking when they realized
how much money they could make taxing all those potheads through the nose so they
can have a toke and not get arrested in their own homes.
The politicians did not pass this law, the people passed this law. The politicians still get
to make the rules though. Ok so they tax pot to the point that it cost more than it used to
cost on the street. At least you can walk up to a counter and take your pick of what you
want in the many varieties of cannabis they have, and not get thrown in jail. They are all
the same to me; I’m still trying to find something like the Mexican laughing weed we
used to buy for $15 an ounce in 1965. I think it went extinct though, at least the price
certainly did. It was driven to extinction by these new age breeders. Oh well, you make
do with what is available.
So every other month or so I make my way down to 17th and Downing. I hit Park Ave
(23rd St) at 18th and Ogden, that makes a shortcut. I take Park Ave straight to the Health
Center from there. There are usually two or three guys, sometimes a woman, flying
signs at this busy intersection.
That is where I pay my “sin tax.” I give them all a buck, and I don’t care what they spend
it on. I am on my way to indulge myself with something which helps me cope with this
world we live in, so I hope they can use that buck to do the same thing for themselves. It
doesn’t matter to me if it is a meal or a drink or helps toward a warm place to sleep. It is
their money and they can spend it any way they want. They are in a better position to
know what they need than I am.
Who are we to judge?
Everybody has to make their own way in this world the best they can. We didn’t wreck
the economy--the bankers and the politicians did that. We are just the pieces that fell
out. Now the powers that be, which happen to be bankers and politicians, want to
sweep us off the street. You yell, you scream, you write letters, you vote, nothing
happens. What can you do?
After indulging in an occasional toke, you help those you can help and weep for those
you can’t while surviving in your own crazy world, and you wonder why we smoke pot.