“Did you know America ranks the lowest in education but the highest in drug use? It’s nice to be number one, but we can fix that. All we need to do is start the war on education. If it’s anywhere near as successful as our war on drugs, in no time we’ll all be hooked on phonics.” Leighann Lord, comedian and actress.

Our nation used to be called a melting pot, a place where people of many nations, races and beliefs would assimilate into the same society. Today that trend is gone and replaced by multiculturalism. In more and more states, citizens are using the referendum process in order to legalize not only medical marijuana, but recreational marijuana as well, and Maine is one of those states. If citizens approve Question 1 on the ballot this November, Maine might be known as the Smoking Pot in the future, much like Colorado has done. If recreational marijuana use is approved, I certainly hope that Maine taxes the living daylight out of every ounce of it sold legally.

Some say that by fully legalizing pot, it will put drug dealers out of business. I imagine in some places it could, but overall I suspect that those who deal with illegal pot will just keep their prices lower than that of legal pot. I have seen far too many people these days that are stoned out of their gourd, and I have no doubt that they didn’t obtain medical marijuana. Many people who smoke marijuana think that people will not notice their smoking it, but the smells that reek from their clothes makes it more than obvious to those of us who don’t smoke it. I guess it’s like those of us who quit smoking cigarettes notice of smell of cigarette smoke more after we quit smoking.

In the end, I guess I really don’t care if someone wants to fry their own brain but my personal belief is that they probably didn’t have much of a brain anyways. At the same time, voters will decide whether or not to raise the minimum wage which could shut down some of Maine’s small businesses. With a looming shortage of workers in Maine, it’s more than likely it won’t help the situation if a good portion of the remaining possible workers are always stoned. Some say that marijuana is the gateway that leads some people to use hard drugs like cocaine or heroin, which evidently is cheap and already readily available. It makes sense to me that those drug pushers will be in a sales mode if you get my gist.

I will have to dig deeper into the recreational marijuana proposal and see if there are any restrictions on where it can be sold and if municipalities have any control like they do with the sale of fireworks. There have already been numerous citizens of Windham complaining about the serious misuse of fireworks which some of us living here did easily foresee. The greatest problem I sense about a possibly increase in people using marijuana products relates to how the local police department will be able to detect and prosecute those who are driving while stoned. I suspect most of us already know that, in fact, there are already plenty of drivers doing exactly that.

Now, I am just an old fart who doesn’t know much except for what I witnessed while tromping through areas of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. I am sure that the marijuana plants growing in that country were far more potent than even Mexican Gold, whatever that is. All I know is that anyone who smoked pot in Vietnam was definitely stoned beyond a doubt. That’s not a good feeling when one is in a combat zone. I think I just gave myself an idea to import and sell some … forget about it.

So if the recreational marijuana and minimum wage initiatives pass this November, I strongly suggest that local Mom and Pop stores immediately increase their stocks of snacks, especially sweet ones. May I suggest having rolling papers on hand?

Lane Hiltunen of Windham lives where? Inhale, exhale, what a relief this is.