CANNABIS-INFUSED SODA, AND OTHER BLESSINGS.

     I started smoking pot in about my 18th year. It was not love at first sight, more of an occasional dalliance. Alcohol had place of honor for a while. At some point it became clear to me that the famous slippery slope to heroin abuse was a rightwing trope. People did not use the word trope at that time, there were more colorful descriptions, bullshit would be one. Since that time, so long ago, we have seen changes in alcohol, and the public houses you can go, "where everybody knows your name". Beer is now, more often made locally, or regionally. Taverns are now pubs, Stewart sandwiches and pickled hard-boiled eggs, have been replaced by bistro food or other edible delights. Wine is much better, and produced in American Viticultural Areas that are not dominated by California. Even distilled spirits are being produced by local craft distilleries. 

     More recently Marijuana has, in smarter states, been legalized, usually regulated by the same people who regulate fermented and distilled spirits. Since legalization, the Marijuana in the dispenseries has undergone the same quality progression as the distilled and fermented spirits. Early legalization was for medicinal use only; CBD creams and edible gummies were available, and the dispensery employees were aware of, and competent in describing how one particular product can help, and for what ailments. Even Aaron Rogers has a CBD brand that has his backing, (hint: buy from your local dispensery unless you're desperate for a picture of a Packer has-been). I want to make sure you heard the A in Packer. Later, as recreational use became legal in states not dominated by rightwing nutjobs, the quality of product has risen. The dispensery staff has kept pace with the increased knowledge.

     Back in the day, we got our "stash" from casual acquaintances of people we were slightly better acquainted with. We could be getting sativa or indica and wouldn't know which. Likely there was a lot of ersatz Panama Red. I did get to know Maui bud in the mid-70s, but that was as likely from Molokai. Still great, though. The use of great in this context, is not accompanied by, again. An ounce of 'bud', then, was at least 25% stems and seeds. No one, including the source, knew what trichomes (the crystalline substance on the Marijuana leaf) are, or their importance. About the time that Humboldt County became a growth center of medicinal pot, the quality of product grew exponentionally. Walk into a dispensary today, you can buy flower, called bud in times past. The trichomes can be seen without a magnifier, and a smart consumer will pack their pipe over a screen to collect the trichomes that fall off the flower. Edibles abound. Gummies, chocolates, even a beverage (which I will get to). And most importantly we can read on the package which strain is present, and the percentage of THC or CBD, CBG and CBN. Those distinctions can be explained to you in the same way your local publican can explain porter, stout, and hefeweizen. Or Rye whiskey, Bourbon whisky or Scotch whisky And as soberly. Publican in this context would mean a garralous bar employee and does not need the prefix 're' for some sort of empty validation.

     This year for New Years eve, I bought some cannibis-infused rootbeer from my dispensary. There were ten servings in each 12 Oz can. Some of you know that I used to make a living pouring shots. I know a thing or two about free-pour, and can recognize an ounce and a quarter in the bottom of a rocks glass. So I opened the can and pour out my shot, added some uninfused root beer, and had my beverage, minus the swizzle-stick. The people who designed the can were geniuses. Instead of the traditional pop-top you would find on a pop can or (God forbid) beer can, this can can be leveled up to unseal the can and, reveal the opening. When you are finished, slide the pop-top back and refrigerate for later enjoyment. I have gone a week under refrigeration. 

     I was listening to All Things Considered a couple days ago and they were saying that more people are abstaining from alcohol, or having alcohol-free nights out. There are some craft distilleries in Eugene that make alcohol-free craft beer. I say that with my tongue only slightly in cheek. I suppose it is a more exciting beverage than tea. Somehow I don't think it's  gonna matter if you're out on the town drinking tea, or alcohol-free craft beer. At least the bar-tender won't have to take your keys at closing time. 

      I have noticed a change in cultural conditions since Covid 19 protocols drove rightwingers to strong drink and Ivermectin. There's elbow room at the bar for one. Matter of fact, you can social distance at the bar. With the exception of jazz clubs, dance music is being replaced by comedy clubs. Instead of losing our problems in the music, as we used to do, we have somebody tell us how truly messed up we are. I'm getting a picture of a Goth guy who met a Goth girl at the comedy club and they hook-up. "Wow, wasn't that comedian funny?" "I don't know" replies the girl, closing her bedazzled jeans jacket around her chest and zipping it, "he lost me when he made fun of Simone de Bouvier". I think I know where this night is going.

     I sense a renewal of interest in the small corner bar of literary fame. The kind of place Studds Terkel would have hung out where conversation and wit are on display. Or the new order of sports bar; the sports bra. A bar that caters to female sports enthusiasts. And all of that's good. We have choices. Far more choices than in the days of Stewart sandwiches. After the next presidential inauguration they may be the only choices remaining. There will be "woke bars" and MAGA bars. It will be good to know the difference.

     Maybe they should legalize pot in public. Serve the gummy appetizer, or the brownie dessert with a heaping scoop of ice cream. At least things are gonna be mellow. An even more interesting possibility presents itself in this new era of MAGA; small bars give rise to revolutions. There's a HAND-written bill from a tavern where some of our founding fathers spent the better part of the night arguing over rights and liberty. They finished with a bottle of Port.  Drunk as they must have been, don't forget, Thomas Jefferson grew hemp, which adds another element, they probably knew more about the subject of rights and liberties, then the people who misuse those words today.

But, I wandered off the topic. Do you think Thomas Jefferson wandered off-topic? Does Mother's for Liberty have a topic? Revolutions. Right. Revolutions are not started in bars, but revolutionaries are nurtured in bars. Here, in France, England, Holland, Spain, Portugal. I suppose, given their prohibition of alcohol, muslim countries have revolutionaries who drink Turkish coffee and smoke something from a houkka, hashish maybe. Which, in its round-about way, leads us to the greatest love story/wartime film of all time, Casablanca. Where even there, in Vichy France, the Horst Wessel song gets drowned out in a small pub where desperate people went for ersatz travel visas.