I went as far as Denver then circled back to Los Angeles, in total driving about 2500 miles and spending almost two weeks on the road. We actually recorded episode 10 of Dope Stories, "Ridin' Dirty," while I was in Durango, CO and Pauly was set up at the usual studio. We used the occasion to reflect on past experiences traveling around America, including a couple situations where we would have been busted if not for some eleventh hour ingenuity.
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I was situated in a condo in Durango owned by an old boss of mine named Spal. Back when I worked for Spal as a bike messenger in the mid-90s in NYC, he would loan couriers everything from winter clothes when the weather was bad to classic works of literature on paperback. The spare room of his small East Village apartment was always occupied by a messenger who needed a cheap place to stay, and whenever someone bummed a cigarette from him on the streets of New York or at a music venue, he would give them two Camel Lights instead of one.
In 2014, Spal isn't loaning me copies of Thomas Mann books but instead providing spontaneous opportunities to crash along "The Spalonius Hobo Highway," in a way still dispatching me on runs like those that would take me home from midtown to uptown Manhattan. Now those runs go from state to state and there is no signature required at the destination, instead a bed waiting for me at one of the properties Spal owns and amortizes. I think he was probably the first person to explain to me the concept of "amortization" and also probably the reason I smoke "Camel Blues" today.
I called my old employer and friend to occupy some time on the long drive from LV to ABQ, and he casually reminded me that he had a place where I could stay in Durango. With no particular direction to travel after New Mexico and a desire to explore Colorado--especially at a crucial moment in the history of marijuana regulation--I soon accepted his offer.
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The first thing I did after we wrapped up recording episode 10 at Spal's condo was head to Telluride, the closest town to Durango where "recreational marijuana" is currently sold. The policies that went into effect in Colorado at the beginning of 2014 essentially created two systems of regulated marijuana distribution which exist side by side: One set of rules for in-state "medical marijuana" patients and another for "recreational" purchases of weed, the latter allowing people from all over the world to buy cannabis at licensed shops in Colorado, de-facto statewide legalization.
As I understand it, some shops are allowed to sell both medical and recreational marijuana under the same roof, and there are many other inconsistencies between the two systems, including the fact that you can purchase medical marijuana but not recreational marijuana in Durango, sending my "pot tourist" dollars up the highway.
It turned into a welcome excursion through the winding mountain roads, as Telluride was one of the most enjoyable American towns I've ever visited. On the last weekend of the ski season, I stayed at a well appointed hotel at the bottom of the mountain, Camel's Garden Inn, with an outdoor hot tub from which you could view the closest "recreational marijuana dispensary," Telluride Green Room.
While it might be apt to comment on the quality of weed I bought or the price, I remember more distinctly an intangible feeling more along the lines of "liberty" or "progress" as I hurried to the shop 20 minutes before closing time, handed over my money, and bought the maximum allowed amount of pot, seven grams of a variety of strains.
I was halfway giddy throughout the transaction and declared "congratulations to us all!" to the shopkeepers as I walked out the door. Reflecting back on twenty years of smoking weed, I can appreciate the difference between being taken to Central Booking for smoking a joint in Central Park vs. strolling into a storefront in an adorable ski town and legally purchase marijuana.
Made it to pot shop in Telluride just before closing time for 1st ever "legal, recreational" purchase of marijuana! pic.twitter.com/7Nh7rGoIsz
— Shane Schleger (@ShaneSchleger) April 2, 2014
But the stay in Telluride, and the trip through Colorado, is less memorable for the weed I bought than for the experience of seeing a beautiful part of America and being on the road again. It was even more meaningful thanks to the locals I met, who showed me the town and made sure I ate well and lived right the entire time. I also had an acupuncture session that left me feeling more intoxicated than any amount of cannabis I could have consumed.
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With the perspective and momentum from the Colorado exploration, Pauly and I had an ideal opportunity to interview a guest we had wanted on the show since before the first episode of Dope Stories was released--Sean Azzariti, the first person to purchase a bag of "recreational marijuana" legally when the Colorado regulations went into effect on January 1st, 2014.
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| Sean Azzariti, seen during the "first ever recreational marijuana purchase" The pink cellphone near Sean's left hand is his mother's! |
Later that week he appeared on the new Arsenio Hall show to explain how the opportunity came about, and it wasn't because he woke up early to be first in line. Rather, Azzariti was given the honor as a result of his work discovering and explaining the benefits of medical marijuana for people suffering from PTSD. Currently, PTSD does not qualify as eligible condition to be treated under Colorado's medicinal marijuana guidelines, a situation Azzariti is dedicated to changing.
An Iraq war veteran who served in the Marines, he came on the show on episode 11 to explain how he discovered that certain strains of marijuana provided an alternative to treating PTSD that didn't rely on a mixture of high-dosage pharmaceutical medications prescribed by doctors, all of which had fewer benefits and worse side effects than weed.
One aspect that Azzariti emphasized was that he didn't instantly cure his PTSD symptoms by smoking weed but rather found what worked by experimenting with different strains. It reminded me how closed-off we still are regarding subtle truths about drugs in America, and we currently rely on free-thinking individuals like Azzariti, who are passionate and willing to battle an entrenched system to find reasonable solutions.
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This Thursday, episode 16, we are broadcasting an interview with the creators of the web series High Maintenance, a scripted show that Pauly and I are big fans of and which doesn't conform to the typical tone of "stoner humor."
The show is about an unnamed courier in Brooklyn who delivers weed to a variety of "stressed out New Yorkers," and premise serves as a means of getting inside the lives of a variety of fictional, but very true-to-life, New York characters and situations.
We discuss a range of topics that related only peripherally to drugs and sometimes pertaining to the struggle of creating an economically sustainable piece of DIY entertainment, which relates to the aforementioned effort that we are starting to raise funds for our podcast, all of which I'll write about more next time!