I am relatively fortunate to live in a state that is full of awesome people with strong values.
We have been at the forefront of numerous positive social changes in this nation, especially before the movements started in adjacent areas.
For instance, my home town implemented a marijuana decriminalization program back in the day. They made it a $5 finet to be caught with minor amounts of cannabis, & the ticket was mailed to the offender’s property. This wasn’t the first instance of a city-wide decriminalization effort done in the country, but it became of the most notorious as critics tried to pin a tremendous amount of crime in the town on that law which had little effect among public opinion. In actuality, the law stayed around and increased to $25 in 1990 when the fines were reviewed by the city. This state has both medical marijuana & recreational marijuana products at this point. Although medical marijuana patients pay lower prices at pot shops by avoiding state & town taxes, they also have to pay money to the state every year to keep their card. There is a particular tradeoff, but anyone else can easily make their way into a pot shop & purchase products as long as they’re over the age of 21. In my state the taxes aren’t completely ridiculous yet, but some areas in CA have combined taxes of over 26% on all recreational marijuana sales. Some states also tax medical marijuana purchases too, with CA being a particular example. It makes me seriously proud to be living in my current state knowing that marijuana would only get more extravagant if I chose to move to the west.