At last week’s public editorial board meeting, we thought we had come up with a real hot-button issue to wrangle with: recreational marijuana and the various moratoriums, mores and morasses associated with the newly legal undertaking in Colorado. Turns out, nobody cares.
Despite the fact that both the city of Durango and La Plata County are considering moratoriums on recreational marijuana businesses until the devilish details are ironed out, and that a previously illegal substance is now perfectly legal, these are not issues of pressing concern akin to, say, accessory dwelling units or plastic bags. Or at least no one wants to brand himself, in a public forum, a recreational marijuana user. More likely, the lack of interest in the topic is that marijuana use is a non-issue for most people. If you want to use it, fine. If you don’t, fine. If you can’t wait to purchase it legally from a recreational retailer, too bad. Put simply, there is little debate left.
It is interesting, though, how quickly public opinion on the matter has moved. It is reminiscent of the speed with which most of the culture has become comfortable with same-sex marriage to the point that it is a virtual non-issue. Setting aside the much larger concerns about civil rights and discrimination inherent to that topic, gay marriage and marijuana use are similar in that people are increasingly and quickly realizing that neither represents a threat to society at large or to themselves personally. They are, it seems, content to let each to his own.
