Just looked it up and law enforcement agencies across America have their feelings about legalized recreational marijuana. A major concern is those that drive after smoking too much of it. It alters the "state of mind", which can mean trouble. Basically, many people in America want to do whatever they want to do, even if it does "alter state of mind". In being high, there are those that would do things that are dangerous on a dare or whatever. No doubt there is money to be made from growing/selling marijuana and that's part of the problem. There is a huge/major call for getting high, with young people. And, what about smoking pot and drinking alcohol at the same time? Or, do we want to even go there???
Legalizing homegrown pot will damage the market for pot-laced with dangerous other drugs, fentanyl for instance. If young people that are being poisoned with laced pot switch to lower potency homegrown, then much of the issue with pot causing intoxication even in small amounts will lessen. I submit a comparison of moonshine to distilled alcohol produced and bought legally. No one is going blind or being poisoned in reasonable amounts of legally distilled alcohol. When the big profits in illegal production subside, then the dangers also subside. Bootleggers with the most potent alcohol made the most money just like dealers get more money for a more potent pot than the plant grown by their granny for medicinal purposes. When pot is legalized nationwide, then the price of laced illegal pot will drop because of demand, and deaths related to pot will lessen as will accidents.
Since this thread is about Denver, Colorado (or supposed to be about Denver), here is an interesting picture of one of the paintings from the Denver airport. It fits our reality today so well, that you have to wonder what they were planning when they put this picture at the airport. All the little school children, from so many different countries, now looking a lot like this painting .
I had a friend who was a carpenter by trade. If Jim was awake, Joe was smoking pot. After decades of this, Joe was never really "high," per se. He was self-employed, was reliable and did really good work...he was a genuine craftsman. Joe called me one day wanting to know if I would give him a sample of my urine to spoof a pee test...he was applying to be a county cop. Joe was my friend, but I had to say "No." I had quit drinking and "other stuff" at this time, and was in recovery long enough to know the guy had to stop doing things that were in the way of the life he wanted. He understood. After all these years, I still feel a little guilty for not helping him out. During my aforementioned recovery, the stories that truly broke my heart was when I attended 12 Step Meetings that were attended by kids in their mid-late teens and early 20s. It's one thing to hear people grasping with the years of lost adult life, and it's quite another to hear these kids mourning the loss of their adolescence.
There are a lot of web postings about that mural. If you believe the fact-checkers, even Reuters has thrown the B.S. Flag on this one. It was created by a Filipino artist in 2020, and has never been on display at the Denver airport. The internet is a fickle mistress. I will say that the OP's first post is about pot use in Denver...it's just his title that lacks clarity. He must be downwind of that red-eyed guy with all the ink... Faye reminded me that the "always buzzed" coworker I had was from Boulder and not Denver.
I met a man and his wife who were from Denver when I was living in Nevada. The both of them have died since I left Nevada 17 years ago. Jerry was a retired Denver detective and his wife Vera was born on the Yellowstone living in a 14 room house that her Father had built over his life time. The place was within sight of the Yellowstone river. They had 250 acres but most was rocky and what was good land leased to local ranchers. When her Mother died the two of them went to clean out the house and get things in order, no one lived in the house since her Mothers death. I ask why there was no one living there she told me that it was too harsh in the winter time and people that worked did not want to be so far out in the really bad winters. It was 25 miles to the nearest town so it would have been a very hard road trip to work and back each day. They said you had a large propane tank because you would not be able to have propane delivered during the late winter months, the road was usually impassable. They told me I would not be able to live there, they were probably right. Jerry was an old Korean War veteran who was wounded by a Chinese hand grenade causing him some issues with his eyes. The both of us went to the new VA hospital in Vegas a couple times. He would laugh and point to all the old guys in wheel chairs and an oxygen tank on the back all puffing on a cigarette. He would tell me they were just hanging around to die heh. Jerry would go to the local Moose Club in Pahrump where we lived and I would have to go drive him home and leave my truck in the Moose parking lot. He would get crocked and not able to drive himself home two miles. I really miss the old guy he was a really good person. As far as Denver and the state of it now, it is due to the massive influx of liberals from all over the nation. Most people think of them all coming in from California but there were people from all over that left and moved to Denver 20 years ago.
The only thing that surprises me about this is that he survived so much of his work life enjoying weed during the era of the Drugs in the Workplace Act, with employers getting in our private affairs, and all of that stuff. I have vague memories of just one employer requiring that I pee in a cup (may have been a temp company), and another employer who had an in-house polygraph guy who they let subject new-hire admin types to the lie detector process. Gotta love an ex-military type coming back from a 4 beer lunch, then hooking people up to a machine to see if they do weed on their own time. Maybe it was a larger blip on my radar screen from having spent my entire career in the DC area with the Fed being such a large presence in the market. And maybe from all that I've seen I shouldn't even think it was a significant issue in the lives of anyone but those with a high-level clearance.
He also mentions his narrow interest in rodeo (surprise surprise) so whether this thread is about Denver, pot, or rodeo is up to personal interpretation. This post reminds me of David Allan Cole's song where he says his friend Steve Goodman wrote the perfect country and western song. Perhaps this is the perfect all-inclusive thread. He told me it was the perfect country & western song so I wrote him back a letter and I told him it was not the perfect country & western song because he hadn't said anything at all about mama, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or getting' drunk. Well, he sat down and wrote another verse to the song and he sent it to me, and after reading it, I realized that my friend had written the perfect Country & western song. The last verse goes like this here: Well, I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison And I went to pick her up in the rain But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck She got runned over by a damned old train And I'll hang around as long as you will let me And I never minded standing in the rain No, a' you don't have to call me darlin', darlin' You never even call me Well I wonder why you don't call me Why don't you ever call me by my name
"Narrow interest in rodeo"???? Heck, I bought my PRCA Permit, for Team Roping, in 1985! On weekends, I covered every single rodeo in So. California, plus, after I stopped roping, I helped Stock Contractors at rodeos in So. California. Luckily, I met a lady who had an interest in rodeo and helped her really break into knowledge of it. We are Bronz members of the Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs and go to the Induction each year. IOW, Faye.........we KNOW rodeo!!
. It wasn't a criticism, just an observation that if anyone mentions anything about rodeo, ranch living, western fun events, or "cowboy" lifestyle you let us know you are not interested except PRCA with select events, and mainly in hob-knobbing with Hall of Fame inductees. Nothing wrong with that at all but you must realize that if you look at the entire scope of western ranch and rodeo living or even just rodeo in general that your likes are very narrow and your idea of rodeo doesn't even begin to cover the entire scope of rodeo. Again no criticism or put down just based on your past post. NBR doesn't interest you. Rough stock, in general, doesn't interest you, Indian horse races and hide races don't interest you, mounted shooting doesn't interest you, trick riding doesn't interest you, drill teams don't interest you, parades before rodeos hold no interest to you, Rodeo Indian pow wows hold no interest for you, etc., etc. Getting to know unfamous ranch rodeo or just plain ranch folks doesn't interest you. Attending ranch or cowboy events doesn't interest you. A good example is my suggestion to go to an afternoon and evening at The Bar D Wrangler Suppers and western fun. Your reply was not your kind of cowboy fun. Other suggestions I have made for areas that I thought you would enjoy seeing and meeting the folks were met with some excuse and generally it was that it isn't your interest. You know about your interest in PRCA rodeo and know it well, but the many other aspects of rodeo and associated cowboy events you don't. That is why I say your interest in rodeo and ranch life as a whole are very narrow and that is not a bad thing just my observation.
A bronze buckle member sounds impressive until one knows that anyone can become a bronze member for $75 paid annually and that is the lowest category of membership they offer to adults. Just think if you upgraded to Copper, then you could attend the National Convention and all for just $25 more a year.
First, my wife wants to know just how many of these events you go to, that you have suggested to us??? Anyway, we've been to a WRCA rodeo, when we lived in Colorado before. We watched a WRCA rodeo that was in, I believe Austin, when was part of the Austin Livestock Show & Rodeo. This WRCA rodeo was on the Cowboy Channel. Second, when I was doing rodeo on weekends, in the Sierra Circuit, now known as the California Circuit, I was in Timed Events. And, other than a few, like Phil Lyne, didn't do both Rough Stock and Timed Events. After I stopped roping, I got more interested in both. IOW, Faye, I know all there is to know about Timed Events, including many of the rules. I know about the "jerk-down rule" in Tie-Down, which use to be called Calf Roping until the Animal Rights Groups protested. Also know that there are states that don't allow Steer Roping, aka Steer Tripping. Yes, we are "public" members of the Hall of Fame and extremely enjoy meeting MRA there along with other state rodeo queens and the Inductees when they go in. I've already posted pictures of us with 11-Time Barrel Racing Champion Charmagne James and others. When we lived in Orange County, CA, we went to an event call End Of Trail in an open field in Norco, CA. It was highly interesting and all about the Old West, including people wearing the clothing and SAS was there. Faye, we can't, go to everything "western/cowboy" related in Colorado, let alone in the U.S.. Wish we were that rich, but....... And, I don't see what my thread here has to do with my past rodeo experience and wife and mine very much knowledge of PRCA rodeo. We have the Cowboy Channel and watch a heck of a lot of PRCA rodeos on it. The last one, from Clovis, CA.. Lots and lots of sponsor flags, but payout was only $400,000. Compared to Ft. Worth, Houston, The American (Arlington, TX) and even Austin, $400,000 isn't much of a payout. But, there are other rodeos in PRCA that have a much less payout. So, where our interest definitely isn't the same as yours, we are still very, very serious rodeo fans. We know all of the events and many of the rules, like in Bareback and Saddle Bronc, the "Mark-Out" rule. Now, on with smoking pot and how some are against it being legal/growing and others are fine with it.