Jim Hightower: This bud's for you!

http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/08/05/marijuana-from-demonization-to-legalization-to-celebration/

Earlier this year, music legends Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard teamed up to make a pro-marijuana video titled “It’s All Going to Pot.”

And, apparently they were right, for I’ve now learned that even the state fair is going to pot — literally. A press release from the organizers of the DC State Fair exclaims: “It’s true! For the first time ever, we’re hosting a new contest for local cannabis growers to show off their plants’ finest buds.” They’re not just blowing smoke, for it turns out that Washington, D.C., voters passed a referendum in November to legalize marijuana — even to allow locals to grow up to six plants at their residences.

With the nationwide renaissance in urban agriculture, why not invite the proud cultivators of the happy weed to show off the finest produce from their pot plots? After all, state fairs already have contests for the best ice cream, pickles, homebrew, compost, flower arrangements, crafts and such — so it’s not a stretch to see who can win the Marijuana Bud Blue Ribbon. The buds are to be judged on characteristics such as appearance, smell, and stickiness, but not such consumer-satisfaction qualities as “duration of high” or “development of mellowness.” In fact, contrary to the judging of the Tastiest Tomato category, the entry form for the Best Bud Contest specifies rather sternly that judges “will not sample or consume your submission.” That’s probably smart, since the whole panel of judges could dissolve into uncontrollable giggles halfway through the sampling.

From the demonization of marijuana to legalization and now to celebration — it’s a trajectory of progress that reflects some mellowing in society itself. As the DC State Fair people put it, “Now that it’s legal, we wanted a way to highlight this new freedom while also showing off the agricultural talents of the District’s people.”