I've written a few times in recent months about the issue of marijuana legalization (see here), and one of the points I've made repeatedly is that most otherwise serious reporters seem unable to write about the issue without throwing in a bunch of pot jokes, stoner slang, and tongue-in-cheek references to the Grateful Dead. What's really going on there? Is it contemptuousness, a way of demeaning those who advocate for legalization as a bunch of silly hippies? Or is it the reporter's own way of saying, "Hey, I'm hip -- back in the day I went to some Dead shows, and I know where the carb is." Who knows? It could be both. Or it could be just something reflexive, that they barely think about. For instance, Sunday's New York Times business section contains a long article about the marijuana business in Colorado, which unlike California allows for-profit marijuana dispensaries. It's an interesting piece, marred only by a lead saying that anyone who thinks it's easy to get rich selling medical marijuana should talk to one of the dispensary owners profiled: "She will harsh your mellow."
