Three Important Cannabis Milestones in 2014

Leafly magazine released a list of a few cannabis-culture milestones that happened during 2014. Head on over there to see it in full detail, but here’s a short summary with my personal commentary:

1. The Oxford Dictionary’s ‘Word of the Year’ is “Vape.”

Even as I write this article, “vape” calls forth that little red, squiggly line from the bowels of Microsoft Word to inform me, in no uncertain terms, that I have typed a word that the dictionary does not know. Well, it’s time for the rest of the digital lexicon to catch up with Oxford. Read it and weep, prohibitionists: vape is a real word now, suckas!

2. Cannabis Seeps into High Society

No, I’m not making an obvious and overused pun. Events began to crop up in 2014 that sought to intertwine classy, upper-crust type of entertainment, with cannabis use. A full-on pot PR overhaul is underway. Pulling cannabis use from the tie-dyed basement dwellers who smell like old bong water, and infusing it into the archetypical activities of “classy” folk. For instance, in Colorado, the Colorado Symphony hosted a symphonic performance with a cannabis use theme. I’d get ripped and listen to some live Beethoven. Saying you would not enjoy that is like saying you don’t like Journey. Be gone with you!

3. States Fight for Right to State Industrial Hemp Farming

Washington, Kentucky, Arizona and a few other states went to court in 2014 to try to lift the ban on hemp farming. Touted as a cheaper, faster growing plant that could be used for many things like clothes, paper, and building materials, hemp could be poised to become the American bamboo (fast growing with many great uses). I would love if we could stop devastating forests for paper and timber and replace them with hemp products that are just as good (if not better) and can be grown/harvested in a fraction of the time.

There are several other cool trends from 2014. Cruise on over to Leafly to see the full list.