An Open Letter to the Prohibitionists, From an Old School Stoner

I’m an old school stoner. I was here before legalization was a punchline on late-night television, before dispensaries had loyalty programs, before anybody put a leaf on a billboard. I remember when this plant could cost you your kids, your job, your freedom, your life, and people smoked it anyway, because some things are worth the risk. So when I hear rumblings about reversing course, about reclassifying, recriminalizing, rebuilding the machinery of the drug war one quiet regulation at a time, I don’t feel panic. I feel something closer to recognition. We’ve been here before. We know how this goes.