(By an Arizona Resident)
This is picture in taken in a small town in Arizona, Prescott. It’s a smoke shop in a business area with the 420 code word on the sign.
We do NOT have legalized retail marijuana in Arizona, nor is it legal on the federal level. Does this represent brazen black market sales going on right in our neighborhoods? Are we going to continue to allow the drug culture and industry to worm their way into the fabric of our society? I have been in smoke shops that look like this in Tempe, AZ, home of Arizona State University. I was offered a $10 bag of pot in one. I was given a sample of Kratom, another addictive natural herb in another, apparently legal because the law has not yet made it illegal. That store has a large display of that drug Kratom right on their counter in full view, with printed disclosure on the package that it is addictive. They recommended it to me as a better alternative for headaches than aspirin. Give me a break!!! They enrage me!!!
The Twenty After Four store is right across from one now empty but made famous in town for their brazen sales of Spice, K-2, and Bath Salts before our County Attorney Sheila Polk cracked down on that drug industry and made them illegal several years ago. Are we going to allow this industry to market to kids right in front of our faces? The sign on the door welcomes all over the age of 18, not the 21 that the pot industry tells you will be required for purchase of the products. This store may appear VERY attractive to 18-21-year-olds, less attractive to older adults.
Many know that “420” is a code word for marijuana, April 20 is world-wide Weed Day. Wonder why? A Los Angeles Times article dated April 19, 2013 elaborates on it and traces it back to high school students in Marin County in the early ’70s meeting to smoke at 4:20 pm after school. Others speculate it is because Hitler’s birthday was April 20. The Columbine shootings in Colorado took place on April 20, too.
Maybe this “Arizona resident” should move back to California if they don’t like the way Prescott does things. Just sayin.