Since early fall of 1968, cannabis has been a part of my life. Not each and every day, not even each and every year. Staying employed, raising a family, succeeding as a member of a workforce as well as a member of a community, all contributed to moderating how I allowed myself to enjoy cannabis. That being said, cannabis was always a factor (among many other factors) when I considered choices that life brought my way.
In 2013, at the ripe old age of 61, I and my much younger wife were finally able to plan our retirement. I look at retirement as “paying myself to do what I want to do.” To keep myself fit, I try to walk a few miles a day. Because I don’t have the responsibilities of raising a family or working a job, anything that needs to be done can be done on whatever timetable I choose. Since I choose to live in a state that allows recreational use of cannabis, I can legally choose to indulge.
My college days earned for me a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Science, with Microbiology as my major. I have always believed in experimentation and the scientific method. Those pieces of my personality lead me to seek answers to the many questions that come to me regarding the many facets of cannabis.
I consider my personal prime directive to be that of hedonism. If it feels good to me, if it brings pleasure to others, even if the pleasure is just theoretical and in my mind, then I will give that idea major thought. So, as long as I don’t have anything else that needs to be done in a non-stoned way (driving, grocery shopping, working on our home finances, things like that), I can and will spend my days wonderfully high.
Health has always been on my side of things; I am a large (extra-large☺) gentleman who has had few health issues until recently (as happens as we get older). The past couple of weeks have been exceptionally daunting. I am recuperating as I write this, but there is still some healing to go until I am wander-ready.
Here is a photo of all the goodies I managed to collect while attending PDX Weed Week, November 30 through December 4 this year.
On November 14 at the Roseland Theater in downtown PDX, Chalice Farms hosted an event in which they covered 100% of veterans OMMP card application fees. From this event I received my OMMP (Oregon Medical Marijuana Program) letter dated December 5. I am now able to consider a few other products, as well as different dosage amounts, when it comes to cannabis products.
With this blog, I am asking any and all of you to follow along as I wander greater Portland, Oregon (affectionately termed PDX here), visiting every dispensary and attending all of the Cannabis events that I can find (and that I can financially afford). I will be writing as a Cannabis Consumer, letting all the other consumers learn what I learn as I wander and interact with many others involved in this ever-changing lifestyle.
I will not (cannot) stop learning. Apparently I also cannot stop teaching, or at least trying to teach.
by Redhat Ralph
About the Author
Redhat Ralph is a happily married grandfather. He and his wonderfully tolerant wife of 30 years relocated from a small town in the middle of North Dakota to an apartment in downtown Portland and eventually to a home they own in Beaverton. Ralph and Flo have led a rich and fulfilling life while raising two daughters, including living in Frankfurt Germany while she was a soldier in the US Army (and a broadcaster on AFN), and living in the Grand Canyon National Park where he was the Computer Operations Manager. Ralph is extremely happy that he is still healthy enough to participate in a cannabis lifestyle and looks forward to seeing the end of the federal prohibition of cannabis.