Going To Pot

Last weekend, my wife and I took a much-needed short vacation to Asheville, NC, in the Great Smoky Mountains. The mountains weren't all that was smoky, though. Marijuana dispensaries were to be found almost every three shops or so downtown. Quite a few people were "taking the pot." The smell wafted here and there in a triumph over the vanquished cigarette smoke that you used to smell on city streets. During our stay in the mountain city, the New York Times published an opinion piece admitting mistakes in their almost unqualified support for marijuana legalization.

It is now clear that many of these predictions were wrong. Legalization has led to much more use. Surveys suggest that about 18 million people in the United States have used marijuana almost daily (or about five times a week) in recent years. That was up from around six million in 2012 and less than one million in 1992. More Americans now use marijuana daily than alcohol.

Asheville has an epidemic of unhoused people. Most of them are using harder stuff than Mary Jane. My niece who lives in the area refers to them as "tweakers." Despite a noticeable lack of law enforcement, we rarely felt unsafe in downtown Asheville. However, at one point we crossed the street to avoid a man standing on the corner, pants down around his knees, punching and kicking the air, occasionally accompanying the blows to his imaginary opponent with shouts. After dinner, we came back the same way, the same man was on the same corner, and had only ratcheted up his aggression, screaming at passer-by's. We followed close to a group of women, and just as we were entering his vicinity, another man who also looked unhoused just about tackled him. As the new arrival restrained the man, he yelled at the one who was acting out, "I know who you are. This isn't you. You need to tighten the f*ck up." As I walked by, I made eye contact with the original man from the corner, and his eyes were wild. I realized I had given him a couple of bucks earlier in the day.

It's cliché to say that progressive city governance tends to allow downtowns to get to this state, and there's probably some truth to that. I can't pretend that homelessness and drug addiction are easy problems to solve, but they certainly seem to be worse in some cities than others. I pray that local government can find humane and appropriate ways to deal with these issues.

Our trip to Asheville was mostly very pleasant. It included visiting two museums, one dedicated to pinball and the other to Bob Moog, pioneer of portable electronic music composition systems (AKA synthesizers). We took in the various works of art for sale in the quaint shops and larger emporiums. It was joyous to see my niece, soon to be a mother, and meet her boyfriend.