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A mom whose 19-yr-old died by suicide has a vital message for parents about marijuana today

"You may be thinking, 'C'mon, Laura, it's no big deal – it's just pot.' 'Pot's legal, so it must be safe.'"

Laura Stack/Facebook

Johnny Stack

Laura Stack's son Johnny lost his life to suicide three months ago when he was just 19 years old. Though she says the grief of his death is "still fresh," Stack took to Facebook to share something that happened three days before Johnny died, hoping it will help other parents whose kids may be at risk.

She wrote:

"On Sunday, November 17, 2019 around 5:30 PM, he came over for dinner. He lived in our condo a couple miles down the street and would often pop in for a home-cooked meal. This evening, he was a bit agitated but lucid. 'I need to tell you that you were right,' he told me. 'Right about what?' I asked. 'Right about the marijuana and the drugs. You told me weed and drugs would hurt my brain, and it's ruined my mind and my life. You were right all along. I'm sorry, and I love you.' He died by suicide three days later.

Stack explained that Johnny had "dabbed" since he was 15 or 16. "Do you understand the difference between smoking pot (and some edibles) and dabbing high-THC wax, shatter, or butter?" she asked. "Most of my friends look at me blankly when I say these words and say, 'I've never even heard about this.' If you don't know what cannabis extracts are, and you have children, grandchildren, sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews between the ages of 14 and 24, PLEASE keep reading."

"I am NOT talking about those of you who are supporters of legal recreational marijuana for adults over 21 years old—it's your life—do what you want," Stack clarified. "I know some people who take it successfully for specific medical purposes, so please don't write comments in my post about my personal experience. I'm specifically talking about illegal usage by children and young adults under 21, whose adolescent brains are still forming. You may be thinking, 'C'mon, Laura, it's no big deal – it's just pot.' 'Pot's legal, so it must be safe.' Or 'I did pot when I was a kid, too, and look, it didn't hurt me.'

Well, have you recently studied TODAY'S pot, and have you personally seen its effects on your children like I have?"

Stack explained why today's recreational cannabis is so different:

"First, the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a crystalline compound that is the main active ingredient of cannabis that gives the 'high,' is extracted out of the cannabis so that it's nearly pure. THC is the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis. Then a butane torch is used to heat the crystals (similar to beeswax) or oil in a 'rig' (just google it), or a vaping device with a heating element called a dab pen can be used. Forget the 'grass' or 'papers' that were rolled in the 70s and 80s. The pot we grew up with (10% or less THC content) is HUGELY different than today's high-concentrate extracts (often 80% THC content or higher)."

She also explained why young people tend to be affected more by these high THC concentrations, and that the earlier they start the more likely it is that they'll develop a disorder.

"The brain is still developing through a person's 20s, and psychotic disorders typically develop in the late teenage years. During brain formation, heavy cannabis use has been shown to have a negative effect on the formation of neural pathways. It can also lead to heavier drug use. While the vast majority of marijuana smokers never experience CIP, researchers have found that the earlier and heavier someone starts dabbing, the more likely it is that they will develop a disorder at some point (often years later). We must educate our children when they are young (10-12 years old) and use hyper-vigilance in the early teen years, which we found was much easier before the age of 16, when they could drive. We couldn't lock him up or monitor him 24/7. Keep talking and keep trying!!

The harmful combination of a still-forming mind, high-potency THC products, and a high frequency of use = Cannabis-Induced Psychosis. Yes, that's a real diagnosis (or High-THC Abuse – Severe). Repeated CIP incidents can trigger schizophrenia or other mental illness, and even when the cannabis is withdrawn, the psychosis doesn't go away. This is what happened to my beautiful boy. When he died, the toxicology report showed he had ZERO drugs in his system. He wasn't depressed, neglected, drugged, or unloved. He was psychotic, paranoid, and delusional by the time he reached 19, and he refused the anti-psychotic drugs that he now needed, because he thought he wasn't sick (common to schizophrenia)."

It's so easy to think that marijuana use isn't that big of a deal, especially since some states have begun legalizing the drug for recreational use and many people see it as "natural." But the mild, laid-back high many people picture with pot use is not the reality of many of today's marijuana products or methods. Parents need to be aware of the dangers cannabis-derived drugs pose to their children's mental health and educate them as early as possible.

Stack included the following links to articles and studies backing up what she's learned about today's THC products. These are things we all should read and share, as this knowledge and awareness could literally save someone's life.

Potent pot, vulnerable teens trigger concerns in first states to legalize marijuana - The Washington Post

The contribution of cannabis use to variation in the incidence of psychotic disorder - The Lancet Journal

Association of Cannabis Use in Adolescence and Risk of Depression, Anxiety, and Suicidality in Young Adulthood - Journal of the American Medical Association

Dabs, Wax, Vaping Weed, Edibles and the Real Impact of High Potency THC Products: What Parents Need to Know - Resources to Recover

How Marijuana May Damage Teenage Brains in Study Using Genetically Vulnerable Mice - Johns Hopkins

Significant link between cannabis use and onset of mania symptoms – Science Daily

Cannabis-induced psychosis: A Review – Psychiatric Times

Summary of literature on marijuana and psychosis - Moms Strong

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on 02.21.20. The opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author and the subjects written about or quoted.

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mental health

Culture

Basketball legend John Salley opens up about becoming vegan and his new Disney movie

Four-time NBA champion John Salley is a true renaissance man. He's who you'd be if you were bright, thoughtful, charming, intellectually curious, and had millions of dollars at your disposal and the experience with which to make savvy business investments. He's also a vegan chef, restaurateur, philanthropist, health coach, a girl-dad of three daughters, actor, TV host, technology freak (we'll talk more about that), owns a cannabis company with his 25-year-old daughter Tyla Salley, and he's met the Dalai Lama. Did I mention he was charming?

We Zoom'd with Salley about his busy life and plethora of pursuits while he sat patiently waiting for his wife of 28 years, Natasha Duffy, to finish an appointment with her ophthalmologist. Most people of his stature would likely have canceled the interview, but Salley's not your average celebrity.

Upworthy: What was your interest initially in becoming vegan?

John Salley: My mother was a kosher caterer in Brooklyn growing up. She got together with a bunch of other folks from South Carolina and created a farm in the backyard of an old house. They grew cabbage, cucumbers, okra, collard greens, peppers, and I was always that kid growing up around this. I was a vegetable kid. My treat was a cucumber and ice tea. Then in 1992, my cholesterol was 271. There were guys on the team [Miami Heat] who were 12 years older with lower cholesterol than mine. They wanted to put me on a pill and it had a side effect of erectile dysfunction. So, I said there has to be a better way. I went to see a doctor, had my first colonic, I lost like 30 pounds, I was so impacted. Then I started off macrobiotic. I was jumping higher. I was happier. My libido was through the roof and my cholesterol was nowhere to be found. To this day I don't eat any oil. I only eat algae oil and I saute vegetables using water, onions, or garlic.

UP: What are your other keys to staying healthy?

JS: Walking 45 minutes a day. Stretching. I add trace minerals and one teaspoon of baking soda to my water and drink about 12-16 ounces first thing in the morning. When I get up I try not to moan.

UP: Why did you get into the cannabis business?

JS: For starters, it was the wild wild west. And the fact that so many people were in jail because of a weed that was set up for them to have. They're not growing weed in the hood. They don't make machine guns in the hood. They don't make heroin or cocaine in the hood. But now there were going to be people making billions in the weed business and it was open. I'm the first NBA ballplayer to be in the cannabis business. Obviously, the NBA didn't hire me to do any more appearances and I was fine with that. I got in [to cannabis] because I could be an entrepreneur. I wasn't grandfathered in. But, it's still not equal. They give you a license, but when you find a building, the landlord won't rent to you if you're growing. They're still redlining as many Black folks as they can. I didn't want another industry where my people were kept out. I realized the future was female. So, when we started Deuces 22 my daughter became the CEO at 19-years-old. We wanted to get in and make a difference. We're focused on destigmatizing the cannabis industry, and want to emphasize the science that is within it. This benefits the entire sector. We're also doing a reality TV show. And I film everything we do to destigmatize the industry and show the world what Tyla is doing.

UP: Tell me about your interest in IKIN, the San Diego-based hologram technology company.

JS: As soon as I saw what they were doing and after I heard the CEO and founder Joe Ward, I texted my partner and said move everything to the side. We're in! I'm a tech kid. I graduated from Georgia Tech because I love that kind of engineering. I drive a Tesla, not because it's cool, but because it's the future. When I saw the hologram, the first person I told about was my friend [actor] Will Smith. I said these guys have figured out how to bend light. If you can bend light, you can bend time. If you can bend time, you can see the future. All these things we're seeing in movies, the team at IKIN are making into a reality.

* According to IKIN,the technology turns all smart phone content into 3D experiences, including games, video, photos, driving directions, social media, etc. It becomes a much more immersive experience.Business use cases include teleconferencing, remote healthcare, warehousing, hospitality and online shopping.

UP: Talk about your upcoming Disney flick "Sneakerella."

JS: I'm a huge movie buff. One of my favorite movies is "West Side Story." I know every song. So, when I got to be in a musical, a Disney musical, I was excited. I love that the director [Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum] is an editor and allowed me to try a lot of different takes. Seriously, I was with the next Denzel Washington [Chosen Jacobs] and Angela Bassett.[Lexi Underwood] and I told them that. And I get to play this great role, who's a lot like me. He has daughters and I have daughters. When people ask me about not having sons, I say, 'I don't have time for dummies.'But, seriously, this movie is one of the best things I've ever done.

UP: Who was the best coach you've ever worked with and why?

JS: In my life, I would say Ted Gustis. He started working with me at 12. And now I'm his health coach. He became a vegan five years ago. Chuck Daly was my favorite and first NBA coach. He never talked down to me. I'd also say Barney Davis who literally taught me fundamentals, Joe Reynolds who made me tough, and Phil Jackson gave me two shots. Although he didn't allow me to continue with the Lakers, he allowed me to jump two feet into entertainment. Because when I didn't have a chance to go back to the Lakers, he told me in June he 'didn't have any real estate for me,' in September I had my own late-night talk show on BET. As the Dalai Lama says, "Sometimes not getting what you want is an unbelievable stroke of good luck."

UP: Talk about meeting the Dalai Lama?

JS: I've always been enamored with India. So when a friend offered to do a documentary with me in India, I said, 'when do we leave?' I had the most terrifying ride for five hours up to Dharamsala. I'm understanding that this is big, but I've had championships, so I understand the pressure. You get to the palace. You get to the first floor and people are looking at you and bowing and whispering. Then you go to the second floor. And again, they're looking at you and whispering. They're checking your energy. When you get to the third level, there's one dude. He tells you don't touch him [Dalai Lama] , don't bum-rush him, and be very respectful. Then he walks in and everyone's bowing. I look at him and he says 'you've got a very nice smile.' And I say, 'I was thinking the same thing.' He tells me to come up and sit with him. He says you've got two questions. So, the first thing I ask him is to sign my shirt. Which he does in Tibetan. Then I asked him, 'How did you know you were the one?' And he says, 'How did you know you were the one?' And I said 'when I was 12-years-old I knew I'd be a pro and it all came spurting out.' And he said he had the same feeling when he was 6-year-old. Look, I've jumped out of a plane, and meeting him was the same feeling. He was ultra-human.

UP: Who do you think are the top 5 greatest NBA players? Why?

JS: They should be judged by decades. Michael Jordan was the best in the 90s. Kobe Bryant was the best in the 2000s. LeBron is the best after 2010. Now you have Kevin Durant who is the best of 2017. The best big man ever is Wilt Chamberlain and then you have Magic and Bird who changed the way we look at sports.

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The gubernatorial candidate did not mince words.

The world already knows Cynthia Nixon, the actress.

But now, New Yorkers are getting the first glimpses of Cynthia Nixon, the gubernatorial candidate.

Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images.

In March, the "Sex and the City" star and longtime progressive activist announced her candidacy for governor of New York. She's focused on curbing inequality, stomping out big money influence in politics, and fixing a subway system that's currently in shambles.

She also hopes to end New York's "racist war on drugs" while she's at it.

In a campaign video shared on April 11, Nixon clarified her position on cannabis — and she didn't mince words.

"A lot of you have been asking about my position on marijuana, so here it is," she began. "I believe it's time for New York to follow the lead of eight other states and D.C. and legalize recreational marijuana."

— (@)

Her reasoning came down to two critical, fact-based points.

1. Let's get real: White people can use weed with little fear of repercussion. It's a different story for people of color.

Despite the fact white people and people of color use marijuana at roughly the same rates, the vast majority of New Yorkers arrested for possession are Black and Latino, as Nixon emphasized.

This form of systemic racism forces a ripple effect onto communities of color. Beyond jail time, a flawed record creates even more barriers to securing employment and housing.

You don't have to look far to see exactly what Nixon is talking about.

[rebelmouse-image 19398090 dam="1" original_size="694x413" caption="Image via @norcross/Twitter." expand=1]Image via @norcross/Twitter.

"The simple truth is, for white people, the use of marijuana has effectively been legal for a long time," Nixon said. "Isn't it time we legalize it for everybody else?"

2. New York — and every state, really — could put the tax revenue raked in from regulated weed to great use.

Last year, Colorado hit a milestone: It raised over $500 million in tax revenue from marijuana since weed became legal there in 2014. Most of that money went toward funding public schools.

In Oregon, where legal weed hit the market in 2016, sales for recreational cannabis boosted schools, public health, and local governments.

Nixon wants the same for New York.

"In addition to ending a key front in the racist war on drugs, regulating and taxing marijuana would generate hundreds of millions of dollars of tax revenue for our people and create important agricultural opportunities for our state," she said.

Legalizing marijuana is the smart and fair choice for leaders aiming to make a practical, positive change.

Their communities could have better schools and fewer people behind bars — as well as one less reason for law enforcement to target people of color for harmless drug offenses.

All those leaders need now is a little bit of nerve.

"If there was more political courage coming out of Albany, we would have [legalized marijuana] already," Nixon said.

Let's be more like Canada, eh?

Canada announced plans to legalize the recreational use of marijuana by July 2018, proving again they are the U.S.'s cool next-door neighbor.

The move to legalize the recreational use of pot fulfills one of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's campaign promises. While medicinal marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001, this would be an unprecedented move for a large, industrialized country. It's also something the U.S. should consider.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in March 2016. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images.

Even if "But Canada is doing it" isn't a good enough reason to throw your support behind the legalization push in the U.S., there are plenty of other compelling cases to make for legalized recreational pot.

1. For one, more than half of Americans support legalization.

A 2016 Pew Research study found that 57% of U.S. adults (and rising) believe marijuana should be made legal. 37% believe it should be illegal.

A medicinal marijuana vending machine in Canada. Photo by Don MacKinnon/AFP/Getty Images.

2. The idea that pot is a "gateway drug" is not entirely accurate.

It's not actually a gateway drug, at least in the way your D.A.R.E. classes suggested. Yes, regular users are more likely to try other drugs, such as cocaine, than those who don't smoke marijuana, but there's not a whole lot of evidence that it's because of pot.

3. Enforcing marijuana-related violations is expensive, and resources could be better used elsewhere.

According to a 2016 report from Human Rights Watch and the ACLU, almost 600,000 people were arrested for marijuana possession in the U.S. Add on the costs of keeping people behind bars and the court system, and it's clear this is a mess.

Flowering medicinal marijuana plants. Photo by Lars Hagberg/AFP/Getty Images.

4. Legalization would add tens of billions of dollars to the U.S. economy overnight.

A 2010 CNBC article pinned estimates at a somewhat vague figure of anywhere between $10 billion and $120 billion per year. That's some serious cash, which leads to the next point...

5. There's a whole lot of tax revenue to be made off legalized marijuana, and there are a lot of government programs that could use the extra cash.

From July 2014 to June 2015, Colorado generated nearly $70 million in taxes from legalized marijuana. The next year, the state brought in around $200 million in taxes.

A Vancouver man sits on a beach smoking a bong on April 20, 2016. Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images.

6. Test cases in states like Colorado and Washington show that it doesn't actually cause an increase in crime.

While Denver has experienced a slight uptick in crime in recent years, there's nothing to suggest that it's due to the state's marijuana legalization, with "marijuana-related" crimes making up less than 1% of all offenses.

7. It's less dangerous than a lot of other things that are legal, so hey, why not?

Excessive alcohol use is responsible for an estimated 88,000 deaths each year. Cigarettes are responsible for more than 480,000 deaths annually. Prescription drug overdoses make up another 25,000 deaths. But marijuana? There's not a single reported case of someone overdosing on marijuana, and indirect effects (it can impair your ability to drive, for example) can be avoided.

A medicinal marijuana vending machine at the BC Pain Society in Vancouver. AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward.

8. And speaking of those other drugs, many are a lot more addictive.

Cigarettes, opioids, alcohol, and caffeine are all more addictive than marijuana. While some people report getting "addicted" to marijuana, 91% of those who have used it do not.

9. And finally, the continued "war on drugs" directly and indirectly leads to thousands of deaths in the U.S. and Mexico each year at the hands of violent cartels.

Legalizing marijuana could take power away from violent drug cartels, reduce illegal border crossings, and save countless lives.

Canada's Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Ralph Goodale, Justice Minister and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould, and Health Minister Jane Philpott discuss legalization of marijuana. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP.

Only time will tell if the U.S. follows in the footsteps of our neighbors from the north, but hey, there's a bunch of reasons why we probably should.

A marijuana plant grows in the middle of a residential neighborhood in Vancouver. Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP.

Efforts to help the homeless are on the up and up.

If you had high hopes about how Colorado's legal weed situation would pan out, you're probably feeling pretty lit right about now.

Photo by Jose Cabezas/AFP/Getty Images.

I won't get too far into the weeds, but basically, many Coloradans are really enjoying their mile-high lives.

The state made $135 million from marijuana tax revenue last year, making cannabis a smoking-hot Colorado commodity right now.

Photo by Marc Piscotty/Getty Images.

The city of Aurora, Colorado, is using all that extra green to help improve the lives of its homeless citizens.

Of that $135 million figure, Aurora raked in $2.65 million and expects the total to be in the $5.4 million range for 2016, according to The Denver Post.

A significant portion of that revenue will be going toward nonprofits aimed at curbing homelessness.

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

Aurora City Council allocated $220,000 for Colfax Community Network — a nonprofit that, among other services, provides homeless families living in area motels with crucial aid, like food, clothing, and hygiene kits.

Two other groups — Comitis Crisis Center and Aurora Mental Health — will get vans to help with their street outreach programs.

As decided last September, significant chunks of the remaining pot revenue for 2016 will bolster efforts from other city charities and help fund a rec center.

"We wanted to be able to show citizens that we are having a positive impact on the community and point to specific projects or initiatives to where that money is going to," Aurora city councilman Bob Roth told The Denver Post last year.

Weed has been a big hit in the Centennial State, and fighting homelessness isn't the first worthy cause to benefit from it.

Last year, legal weed created a nearly $1 billion industry in Colorado, and more than $35 million in sales went into funding school construction projects.

"These are amazing numbers," according to attorney Steve Fox, who helped push for weed legalization in the state. "Especially on the tax revenue side."

Photo by Theo Stroomer/Getty Images.

"The additional tax revenue far exceeds the cost of regulating the system," Mason Tvert, the director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement in February. "Regulating and taxing marijuana has been incredibly successful in Colorado, and it represents a model for other states to follow."

The perks to legalizing weed, both recreationally and medicinally, are stacking higher and higher.

Some research has suggested relaxing marijuana laws may lower incarceration rates without sacrificing public safety. Medicinal marijuana is backed by a large majority of doctors as a better alternative to alleviate pain for certain chronic conditions.

And, as Colorado and other states have learned, there are plenty of reasons to celebrate a pot industry that ups funding for important causes. It's no wonder Americans are increasingly in favor of legalizing marijuana from sea to shining sea.

Photo by Marc Piscotty/Getty Images.

At the end of the day, the money brought in from legalizing marijuana is money the state, the city, and these programs wouldn't otherwise have.

When you put it that way, the decision to make weed legal seems pretty straightforward for those in Aurora: create an industry that can pump millions of dollars into causes that benefit struggling Coloradans who could use a hand-up or ... don't do that?

Every city could do with taking a page out of Aurora's playbook.

What might change if the DEA 'reschedules' marijuana.

The way state governments treat marijuana has changed a lot over the past decade.

In fact, states with more relaxed marijuana laws now outnumber states with stricter policies. In many states, governments have decriminalized marijuana, legalized the use of the compounds in marijuana for medical purposes, and even legalized weed altogether.

This gives a pretty good look at which states have decriminalized and legalized marijuana, or passed medical marijuana laws. Map from April 2016 via NORML, used with permission.

If you just look at our drug laws on the federal (not the state) level, you won’t see those changes.

According to the federal government, marijuana is still completely illegal. The Drug Enforcement Agency even categorizes marijuana as a Schedule I drug, part of the group of controlled substances that the DEA deems most dangerous.

But the DEA just sent a letter to Congress suggesting that the winds of change are blowing.

Lawmakers and activist groups have been asking the DEA to assign marijuana to a different schedule group for a while, and according to the new letter, they're about to act on that request.

"[The] DEA understands the widespread interest in the prompt resolution of these petitions and hopes to release its determination in the first half of 2016," the letter stamped April 4, 2016, reads.

Something tells me this plant isn't as dangerous as the DEA thinks it is. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

"But ... wait," you may be thinking. "We're in the first half of 2016."If a federal change happens, it's happening soon. Here's what you need to know about what the new rules could mean:

A lot of people disagree with drug scheduling because it seems pretty random.

Back in the 1970s, Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act, which created five classifications for drugs based on their potential for abuse, medical usefulness, and potential safety. According to the DEA, drugs that belong in Schedule I are the ones you definitely don't want to mess with.Schedule I substances supposedly have a high potential for abuse, no "currently accepted medical use," and are generally unsafe.

But here's the big problem: Lots of people disagree with the way the DEA and the FDA scheduled drugs in the '70s. Heroin, which is in Schedule I, was behind more than 17,000 fatal overdoses last year while marijuana hasn't caused a single fatal overdose in, well, recorded history. However, they're both in the same scheduling category.

Also, given that doctors in many states now prescribe cannabis and its chemical compounds to treat conditions like depression, arthritis, and epilepsy, there are plenty of reasons to take marijuana off the mega danger zone list.

Why does rescheduling matter that much?

One word: research.

It's really, really, really, REALLY hard to research marijuana if you're a scientist in the United States because the government heavily restricts research on Schedule I drugs. It's kind of a catch-22: We don't have many clinical trials involving marijuana, so we have limited knowledge about its medical uses and abuse potential, and it stays in Schedule I.

But according to the letter, "We [the DEA] support research on marijuana and its components that complies with applicable laws and regulations to advance our understanding about the health risks and potential therapeutic benefits of medications using marijuana or its components or derivatives."

Bottom line, rescheduling marijuana means that we would know a lot more about that little green plant, what it does, and how to use it safely. Which is important, since people in lots of states have started using the substance more freely in recent years.

Rescheduling marijuana could also mean big changes for our criminal justice system, too.

Photo via A7nubis/Wikimedia Commons.

Even if the DEA reschedules marijuana, that doesn't mean the government is going to fully decriminalize it any time soon. Thousands of people (and disproportionately people of color) are arrested for marijuana possession each year — often outpacing arrests for violent crimes.

Rescheduling could also put us closer to the FDA approving marijuana as a "safe and effective drug" with legal uses, though. Ultimately, criminal justice reform is going to take some time ... and a lot more cooperation from Congress. But this is a good start.

No matter what happens with the schedule, though, this conversation is important for a lot of reasons.

The DEA might end up keeping marijuana in the category of drugs that are even more dangerous than cocaine, meth, and steroids, but it's important that they're at least having real, nuanced discussions about cannabis. This whole thing proves that we’re moving forward, which is a good progress by any standard.

The state of Oregon just had its first week of legal recreational cannabis sales.

And from the looks of it, people are in fantastic spirits.

Photojournalist Josh Edelson was on the scene during the historic week. Here's what I learned from some what he captured.

The dispensaries are like real stores.

Here's one called Farma. It's right next to a restaurant. Like a real store!

All photos by Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images.

As long as you have an ID showing you're 21 or older, you can just walk right in off the street.

No special documentation needed.

Some dispensaries might even feel like you're in a cutesy-rustic spice or tea shop.

Look at Oregon's Finest, with its wood and jars and the absence of security glass and armed guards.

Buying weed in the Beaver State is turning into a proper customer experience.

You can casually stroll through shops, browsing a variety of products.

You can visually inspect different types of cannabis. I mean, you can really get in there.

You can even smell-test different strains to sniff out something that suits your fancy.

And like a good customer experience, Oregon's dispensaries offer something for everyone.

From your standard bud...

...to edibles for the smoke averse (although these are only available if you have a valid Oregon Medical Marijuana Program ID card).

And once you've settled on a product, you can rest assured that you're getting your money's worth. They'll weigh it, package it, and send you on your way in no time.

With $11 million in revenue in the first week alone, it's hard to argue Oregonian voters made a bad economic decision.

According to KGW Portland, "That figure could mean the state's estimate is shockingly low for how much money it'll make when pot taxes kick in this January."

Part of the reason is because cannabis has a diverse customer base. It's not just your usual suspects.

It's not just men.

It's not just women.

It's not even just young people.

Cannabis users span generations.

"Obviously, we're seeing a young crowd," one worker at a dispensary called Freshbuds told KGW. "But we're also seeing people in their 50s and 60s that would never have bought the product if it wasn't legal."

All Oregon residents, whether they toke or not, stand to benefit from the harvest.

When voters approved the ballot measure legalizing recreational cannabis, the state estimated it would bring in $9 million in taxes and fees. But the Oregon Retail Cannabis Association thinks the industry could generate three to four times as much.

And tax revenues from cannabis sales are earmarked for schools (40%), mental health services (20%), law enforcement (35%), and the state health authority (5%).

Legalizing cannabis is more than just a tax win.

It is, to be sure, a tax win. According to Huffington Post, Colorado and Washington, the "pioneer pot states," made at least $200 million in their first year. But if that doesn't sway you in the way of the weed, think about it like this:

It's also a matter of freedom. The freedom of access to a medicine with tons of health applications and from the fear that your life will implode because you wanted or needed it.

If there are two things this country's all about, they're freedom and money. So here's hoping more states follow. Because they only have something to gain from it.