I like watching systems evolve after a drastic change has occurred. So it's only natural that this article caught my eye. I guess in my simplemindedness, I envisioned only good times when laws that rendered weed more readily available --by decriminalization or the introduction of laxer criteria for obtaining ID cards--were passed. I imagined a scene from That 70's Show.

However, it seems the reality of the situation, at least for a small, struggling town, is otherwise. It goes without saying that differing locations, county sizes, populations, what their economies run on...etc, are all factors that govern the extent to which different areas will be affected. So despite that this account of one county's issues can't be generalized to describe the whole of the new US-cannabis situation, it's an interesting and informative case study.

It seems that apart from keeping the local economy afloat--if people are growing weed there, they need supplies, so they buy them from the hardware stores. They have to eat, so groceries are bought locally also--, most locals believe the effects have been negative. The author does a thorough job in pointing out those effects by including costs of cleaning up illegal farms, and quotes from dismayed locals.

The issue is more complicated than just laxer laws and fewer people being thrown in jail for petty weed-sales. And by quoting authority figures, the author informs us of some of the larger effects that are unknown to most--myself at least.

"I just wish recreational pot smokers could understand what they are supporting," said Joshua Smith, natural resources project manager at the nonprofit Watershed Research & Training Center in Trinity County. "They're supporting clear-cutting the forest, pesticides, de-watering the streams, poaching wildlife, Mexican drug cartels and human trafficking."